Flexible display of management data in a programmable event driven processing system

• US 6,131,118 A
• Filed: 07/07/1998
• Issued: 10/10/2000
• Est. Priority Date: 07/07/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP (Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Company)
• Original Assignee: Compaq Computer Corporation (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Rozzi, James A., Justice, William D. Jr., Stupek, Richard A. Jr.
• Primary Examiner(s): Maung, Zarni
• Application Number:
  US09/111,042
• Time in Patent Office: 826 Days
• Field of Search: 709/223, 709/224, 709/225, 709/226, 709/217
• US Class Current: 709/223
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/542 Event management; Broadcasting; Multicasting; Notifications

Abstract

A management server for a network that facilitates and performs programmable event driven processing including event detection logic that receives and processes any of a plurality of event notifications transmitted via the network and that invokes at least one corresponding construction. Each event notification corresponds to the occurrence of management events and supports registration of listeners of each management event. The management server further includes executable components that each performs a basic function and a construction editor that enables access of the plurality of executable components. The construction editor facilitates defining a relationship between the executable components to generate constructions and performs registration of the constructions with the event detection logic as a listener of management events. Each construction, when invoked, executes its components according to the defined relationship to perform at least one desired management operation.

Claims

1. A management server for coupling to a network that facilitates and performs programmable event driven processing, comprising:

event detection logic, for coupling to the network, that receives any of a plurality of event notifications transmitted via the network, each event notification corresponding to the occurrence of at least one of a plurality of management events, and that supports registration of at least one listener of any of the plurality of management events;

a plurality of executable components that each perform a basic function;

a construction editor that enables access of the plurality of executable components to generate at least one construction including at least one instance of the plurality of executable components, that facilitates defining a relationship between instances of executable components comprising the at least one construction;

the at least one construction, when invoked, executing the at least one instance of the plurality of executable components to perform at least one desired operation in response to the occurrence of the at least one of the plurality of management events; and

the event detection logic receiving an event notification corresponding to the at least one of the plurality of management events and invoking the at least one construction.

2. The management server of claim 1, further comprising:

the at least one construction comprising a plurality of constructions, each registered with the event detection logic as a listener of at least one of the plurality of management events.

3. The management server of claim 2, the event detection logic further comprising:

interconnection logic that enables registration of internal and external events including the plurality of management events;

the plurality of constructions including a first construction that generates an internal event when invoked;

the plurality of constructions including a second construction registered with the interconnection logic as a listener of the internal event generated by the first construction; and

the interconnection logic invoking the second construction in response to the internal event generated by the first construction.

4. The management server of claim 1, the at least one construction comprising:

the at least one construction including at least two instances of the plurality of executable components;

interconnection data that incorporates a relationship between the at least two instances of the plurality of executable components; and

a dispatcher that facilitates execution of the at least two instances of the plurality of executable components according to the interconnection data.

5. The management server of claim 4, the at least two instances of the plurality of executable components further comprising:

a first executable component that generates a boolean result;

a second executable component;

a third executable component; and

the dispatcher selecting one of the second and third executable components to be executed after executing the first executable component based on the boolean result.

6. The management server of claim 5, further comprising:

the first executable component generating at least one output parameter;

the second executable component receiving at least one input parameter;

the third executable component receiving at least one input parameter; and

the dispatcher further copying the at least one output parameter of the first executable component to the at least one input parameter of the selected one of the second and third executable components.

7. The management server of claim 1, the at least one construction further comprising:

an event listener proxy;

the at least one instance of the plurality of executable components including an event listener component that registers with the event listener proxy as a listener to the at least one event; and

the event listener proxy registering with the event detection logic as a listener of the at least one event.

8. The management server of claim 1, the construction editor comprising an interactive tool to enable a user to interactively retrieve instances of any of the plurality of executable components and to define interconnections and relationships between the retrieved instances of the plurality of executable components.

9. The management server of claim 1, each of the plurality of event notifications comprising a message, for transmission via the network, that includes an Event IDentifier and event properties.

10. The management server of claim 1, the event detection logic comprising:

interconnection logic;

a server interface that interfaces with the network according to Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP); and

an event handler, coupled to the server interface and the interconnection logic, that routes event notifications received by the server interface to the interconnection logic.

11. A management system for a network, comprising:

at least one managed device, for coupling to the network, that detects occurrence of any one of a plurality of management events occurring on the at least one managed device and that transmits one of a corresponding plurality of event notifications via the network; and

a management server, for coupling to the network, comprising;

event detection logic, for coupling to the network, that receives any of the plurality of event notifications transmitted via the network and that supports registration of at least one listener of any of the plurality of management events;

a plurality of executable components that each perform a basic function;

a construction editor that enables access of the plurality of executable components, that facilitates defining a relationship between instances of executable components comprising the at least one construction, and that performs registration of the at least one construction with the event detection logic as a listener of at least one of the plurality of management events;

the at least one construction, when invoked, executing the at least one instance of the plurality of executable components to perform at least one desired operation in response to the occurrence of the at least one management event; and

the event detection logic receiving an event notification corresponding to the at least one management event and invoking the at least one construction.

12. The management system of claim 11, further comprising:

the at least one construction comprising a plurality of constructions, each registered with the event detection logic as a listener of a corresponding one of the plurality of management events.

13. The management system of claim 11, each of the plurality of event notifications comprising a message, for transmission via the network, that includes an Event IDentifier and event properties.

14. The management system of claim 11, the event detection logic comprising:

interconnection logic;

a server interface for interfacing with the network; and

a server event handler, coupled to the server interface and the interconnection logic, that routes event notifications received by the server interface to the interconnection logic.

15. The management system of claim 14, further comprising:

a client system, for coupling to the network, that generates a request event;

the at least one construction being registered with the interconnect logic to listen for the request event and generating a reply event in response to the request event; and

the server event handler receiving and routing the request event to the interconnect logic and receiving and transmitting the reply event to the client system via the server interface.

16. The management system of claim 15, further comprising:

the client system logging onto the management server and receiving a session identifier, wherein the client system includes the session identifier in the request event; and

the management server providing the client system the session identifier, and the server interface uses the session identifier in the request event to respond to the client system when transmitting the reply event.

17. The management system of claim 15, further comprising:

the client system and the server interface of the management server operating according to Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP);

the client system transmitting the request event to the management server as a hypertext transmit protocol (HTTP) post transaction; and

the server interface submitting the reply event as a response to the HTTP post transaction.

18. The management system of claim 15, further comprising:

the client system transmitting the request event to the management server as an initial transaction and then periodically transmitting a query to the management server to poll for the reply event; and

the server interface responding to the initial transaction and each query and eventually responding to the request event by providing the reply event in response to a query.

19. The management system of claim 18, further comprising:

the client system and the server interface of the management server operating according to TCP/IP;

the client system transmitting the request event to the management server as a hypertext transmit protocol (HTTP) post transaction and transmitting each query as an HTTP get transaction; and

the server interface submitting the reply event as a response to a last HTTP get transaction.