Information gathering facility employing dictionary file containing inquiry invoking an external process

• US 6,427,144 B1
• Filed: 11/18/1999
• Issued: 07/30/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 11/18/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Murray, Douglas George
• Primary Examiner(s): Breene, John
• Assistant Examiner(s): Pham, Linh
• Application Number:
  US09/442,908
• Time in Patent Office: 985 Days
• Field of Search: 707/1-10, 707/100-104, 707/200-205, 707/500.1, 707/511-512, 711/1, 711/210, 711/207
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/60 Software deployment
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching

Abstract

An information gathering facility is provided to gather information on a state of a computer system. The information gathering facility includes a dictionary file data structure having at least one inquiry which comprises at least one instruction to call a pre-existing executable on the computer system. The pre-existing executable is executed in response to processing of the at least one instruction and data is obtained from the executable. This data is used in accordance with the at least one instruction to derive a result to be included as part of the state information on the computer system.

Claims

1. A method for gathering information on a state of a computer system, said method comprising:

providing a dictionary file having at least one inquiry for ascertaining state information on said computer system, said at least one inquiry comprising at least one instruction to call a preexisting executable on said computer system;

executing said pre-existing executable in response to processing of said at least one instruction and obtaining data therefrom; and

using said data obtained from said pre-existing executable in accordance with said at least one instruction to derive a result to be included as part of said state information on said computer system.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said result is predefined in each of said at least one instruction and is output as part of said state information if a condition defined in said instruction is met by said data obtained from said pre-existing executable.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein said obtaining comprises placing said data obtained from said pre-existing executable in a temporary file for analysis in accordance with said instruction.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising for each said instruction evaluating at least one line of data in said temporary file for a key identified in said instruction, and if found, determining whether a value of said key matches a value defined in said instruction, and if so, outputting said value in said result to be included as part of said state information on said computer system.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said using comprises outputting as said result at least a portion of said data obtained from executing said pre-existing executable.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein said using comprises examining at least a portion of said data obtained from executing said pre-existing executable and based thereon, outputting said result in a format defined by said at least one instruction of said dictionary file.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein said at least one inquiry comprises a plurality of inquiries, and wherein at least some of said plurality of inquiries comprise instructions to call at least one pre-existing executable on the computer system, and wherein said method further comprises executing said at least one pre-existing executable during processing of said at least some instructions of said dictionary file.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein said computer system comprises one computer system of a plurality of computer systems coupled together across a network, and wherein said method further comprises creating a file of said state information on said computer system and transferring said file to an information repository coupled to said computer system via said network.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein said dictionary file comprises a rules database located at said information repository, and wherein said providing comprises retrieving said dictionary file from said information repository prior to processing of said at least one instruction.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein said executing of said pre-existing executable provides said data in at least one of an INI file, an ASCII file, or a registry file.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein said at least one instruction defines in a first field said pre-existing executable to be called, and in a second field how to format said result to be included as part of said state information on the computer system, output of which is dependent upon at least one inquiry specified in at least one additional field contained within said at least one instruction.

12. A memory for storing a dictionary file data structure, the dictionary file data structure facilitating gathering of information on a state of a computer system, the dictionary file data structure comprising:

at least one inquiry for ascertaining state information on said computer system, said at least one inquiry comprising at least one instruction to call a pre-existing executable on said computer system; and

wherein executing of said pre-existing executable responsive to processing of said at least one instruction produces data, and wherein said at least one instruction provides a result to be included as part of said state information on said computer system using said data obtained from said executing of said preexisting executable.

13. A system for gathering information on a state of a computer system, said system comprising:

means for providing a dictionary file having at least one inquiry for ascertaining state information on said computer system, said at least one inquiry comprising at least one instruction to call a pre-existing executable on said computer system;

means for processing said at least one instruction to execute said pre-existing executable and for obtaining data therefrom; and

means for using said data obtained from said pre-existing executable in accordance with said at least one instruction to derive a result to be included as part of said state information on said computer system.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein said result is predefined in each of said at least one instruction and is output as part of said state information if a condition defined in said instruction is met by said data obtained from said pre-existing executable.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein said means for obtaining comprises means for placing said data obtained from said pre-existing executable in a temporary file for analysis in accordance with said instruction.

16. The system of claim 15, further comprising for each said instruction means for evaluating at least one line of data in said temporary file for a key identified in said instruction, and if found, for determining whether a value of said key matches a value defined in said instruction, and if so, for outputting said value in said result to be included as part of said state information on said computer system.

17. The system of claim 13, wherein said means for using comprises means for outputting as said result at least a portion of said data obtained from executing said pre-existing executable.

18. The system of claim 13, wherein said means for using comprises means for examining at least a portion of said data obtained from executing said pre-existing executable and based thereon, for outputting said result in a format defined by said at least one instruction of said dictionary file.

19. The system of claim 13, wherein said at least one inquiry comprises a plurality of inquiries, and wherein at least some of said plurality of inquiries comprise instructions to call at least one pre-existing executable on the computer system, and wherein said system further comprises means for executing said at least one pre-existing executable during processing of said at least some instructions of said dictionary file.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein said computer system comprises one computer system of a plurality of computer systems coupled together across a network, and wherein said system further comprises means for creating a file of said state information on said computer system and for transferring said file to an information repository coupled to said computer system via said network.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein said dictionary file comprises a rules database located at said information repository, and wherein said means for providing comprises means for retrieving said dictionary file from said information repository prior to processing of said at least one instruction.

22. The system of claim 13, wherein said means for processing provides said data obtained from said pre-existing executable in at least one of an INI file, an ASCII file, or registry entry.

23. The system of claim 13, wherein said at least one instruction defines in a first field said pre-existing executable to be called, and in a second field how to format said result to be included as part of said state information on the computer system, output of which is dependent upon at least one inquiry specified in at least one additional field contained within said at least one instruction.

24. At least one program storage device readable by a machine, tangibly embodying at least one program of instructions executable by the machine to perform a method for gathering information on a state of a computer system, said method comprising:

providing a dictionary file having at least one inquiry for ascertaining state information on said computer system, said at least one inquiry comprising at least one instruction to call a pre-existing executable on said computer system;

executing said pre-existing executable in response to processing of said at least one instruction and obtaining data therefrom; and

using said data obtained from said pre-existing executable in accordance with said at least one instruction to derive a result to be included as part of said state information on said computer system.

25. The at least one program storage device of claim 24, wherein said result is predefined in each of said at least one instruction and is output as part of said state information if a condition defined in said instruction is met by said data obtained from said pre-existing executable.

26. The at least one program storage device of claim 25, wherein said obtaining comprises placing said data obtained from said pre-existing executable in a temporary file for analysis in accordance with said instruction.

27. The at least one program storage device of claim 26, further comprising for each said instruction evaluating at least one line of data in said temporary file for a key identified in said instruction, and if found, determining whether a value of said key matches a value defined in said instruction, and if so, outputting said value in said result to be included as part of said state information on said computer system.

28. The at least one program storage device of claim 24, wherein said using comprises outputting as said result at least a portion of said data obtained from executing said pre-existing executable.

29. The at least one program storage device of claim 24, wherein said using comprises examining at least a portion of said data obtained from executing said pre-existing executable and based thereon, outputting said result in a format defined by said at least one instruction of said dictionary file.

30. The at least one program storage device of claim 24, wherein said at least one inquiry comprises a plurality of inquiries, and wherein at least some of said plurality of inquiries comprise instructions to call at least one pre-existing executable on the computer system, and wherein said method further comprises executing said at least one pre-existing executable during processing of said at least some instructions of said dictionary file.

31. The at least one program storage device of claim 30, wherein said computer system comprises one computer system of a plurality of computer systems coupled together across a network, and wherein said method further comprises creating a file of said state information on said computer system and transferring said file to an information repository coupled to said computer system via said network.

32. The at least one program storage device of claim 31, wherein said dictionary file comprises a rules database located at said information repository, and wherein said providing comprises retrieving said dictionary file from said information repository prior to processing of said at least one instruction.

33. The at least one program storage device of claim 24, wherein said executing of said pre-existing executable provides said data in at least one of an INI file, an ASCII file, or registry entry.

34. The at least one program storage device of claim 24, wherein said at least one instruction defines in a first field said pre-existing executable to be called, and in a second field how to format said result to be included as part of said state information on the computer system, output of which is dependent upon at least one inquiry specified in at least one additional field contained within said at least one instruction.