Remote computer management system
First Claim
1. A method of managing, from a server computer, tasks to be performed on remote computers in a distributed network, the method comprising the steps of:
- representing, to a user of the server computer, the remote computers in the distributed network as a hierarchical arrangement of nodes, including at least one group node representing a group of remote computers with like characteristics, and computer nodes representing respective remote computers in the distributed network;
defining at least one action to be performed on at least one of the remote computers;
assigning the at least one action to the at least one remote computer by associating the at least one action with at least a selected one of the nodes; and
executing the at least one action on the at least one remote computer represented by the at least one selected node.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A computer management system for managing files and executing applications on multiple, remote networked computers from a single server. A hierarchical system is defined where each computer is a named node and computer nodes are organized into group nodes. Children nodes inherit the characteristics of their parent nodes. Actions or computer commands are assigned to nodes. The actions are made generic by use of variables whose values are set uniquely for each node. Thus a single action script or group of computer commands is applied to multiple computers having different characteristics. The user need only define a single generic script to affect changes and actions at multiple, different platform computers.
75 Citations
35 Claims
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1. A method of managing, from a server computer, tasks to be performed on remote computers in a distributed network, the method comprising the steps of:
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representing, to a user of the server computer, the remote computers in the distributed network as a hierarchical arrangement of nodes, including at least one group node representing a group of remote computers with like characteristics, and computer nodes representing respective remote computers in the distributed network; defining at least one action to be performed on at least one of the remote computers; assigning the at least one action to the at least one remote computer by associating the at least one action with at least a selected one of the nodes; and executing the at least one action on the at least one remote computer represented by the at least one selected node. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for managing from a server computer tasks to be performed on remote computers in a distributed network, the method comprising the steps of:
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representing, to a user of the server, the remote computers in the distributed network as a hierarchical arrangement of nodes, including at least one group node representing a group of remote computers with like characteristics, and computer nodes representing respective remote computers in the distributed network; defining at least one action to be performed on at least one of the computers; assigning the at least one action to the at least one computer by associating the at least one action with at least a selected one of the nodes; and executing the action on the at least one computer represented by the at least one selected node. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29)
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30. In a computer system having a graphical user interface including a display and a selection device, a method of managing files on a distributed network comprising multiple networked computers each having different characteristics, the method comprising the steps of:
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displaying a hierarchy window representing the distributed network as a hierarchy of nodes, including group nodes, which represent respective groups of computers in the distributed network with like characteristics, and computer nodes, which represent respective computers in the distributed network; displaying an action window for permitting a user to assign to a selected one of the nodes one or more selected actions to be performed on computers represented by the selected node, the action window including a field containing the name of the node to which the action applies, the field containing a variable name for assuming a variable value associated with the selected node; displaying a variable window for permitting a user to assign a variable value to the variable name for the selected node; selecting a node in the hierarchy window; defining variables for the node; assigning actions to the node, the actions including variable names assigning values to the variables defined for the selected node; and executing the actions assigned to the node using the variables assigned to the node by first applying the actions and variables assigned to a parent node to the selected node and then applying to the selected node the actions and variables assigned thereto.
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31. A method of managing computer tasks to be performed on remote computers in a distributed network, including a server computer, a display and a user interface selection device, the method comprising the steps of:
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displaying to a user of the server computer a hierarchy window representing the remote computers in the distributed network as a hierarchical arrangement of nodes, including at least one group node representing a group of remote computers with like characteristics, and computer nodes representing respective remote computers in the distributed network; displaying to the user of the server computer an action properties window representing properties of an action to be performed on at least one of the remote computers, the action properties window having a node field for receiving information specifying at least one node to which the action is to be assigned; in response to the user input of information specifying the at least one node to which the action is to be assigned, assigning the action to at least one of the remote computers represented by the at least one node; and executing the action on the at least one of the remote computers. - View Dependent Claims (32, 33, 34, 35)
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Specification