System uses application manager and master agent to communicate with mini-agents for remotely managing application resources distributed across multiple Java virtual machines

• US 6,874,020 B1
• Filed: 08/28/2000
• Issued: 03/29/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 08/28/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Da Palma, William V., Nusbickel, Wendi L.
• Primary Examiner(s): Luu, Le Hien
• Assistant Examiner(s): BAYARD, DJENANE M
• Application Number:
  US09/649,121
• Time in Patent Office: 1,674 Days
• Field of Search: 709/223, 709/202, 709/224, 709/227, 709/316
• US Class Current: 709/223
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/548 Object oriented; Remote method invocation [RMI] non-remote method invocation G06F9/449
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0213 Standardised network management protocols, e.g. simple network management protocol [SNMP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0233 Object-oriented techniques, for representation of network management data, e.g. common object request broker architecture [CORBA]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/044 comprising hierarchical management structures
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/046 comprising network management agents or mobile agents therefor
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/40 using virtualisation of network functions or resources, e.g. SDN or NFV entities

Abstract

A method of remotely managing an application distributed across multiple application hosts can include, in a master agent, receiving from an application manager in a second application host a management command for performing a management operation directed to a manageable resource in a remote application host; communicating the management command to a mini-agent in the remote application host; and, in the mini-agent, performing the management operation on the manageable resource by accessing an exposed member of the manageable resource according to the management operation. The step of communicating the management command to the mini-agent can include accessing the mini-agent through a JMX communications connector. The step of accessing the mini-agent can include invoking methods of the mini-agent through an RMI communications interface. Additionally, the step of performing the management operation can include accessing a method of the manageable resource through a management interface to the manageable resource. Notably, the management interface can be an MBean registered in an MBean server in the mini-agent. Accordingly, the step of accessing the method through the interface can include accessing the method exposed by the MBean through the MBean server according to the management operation.

Claims

1. A system for remote management of manageable resources distributed across multiple application hosts comprising:

an application manager in a first application host;

a master agent in a second application host; and

,

a plurality of mini-agents in remote application hosts separate from said first and second application hosts, wherein each of said first application host, said second application host, and said remote application hosts are software machines configured to interpret compiled machine-independent code;

said master agent receiving from said application manager a management command to perform at least one management operation directed to at least one manageable resource;

said master agent communicating said management command to a mini-agent in a remote application host containing said at least one manageable resource;

said mini-agent commanding said at least one manageable resource to perform said at least one management operation responsive to receiving said management command from said master agent, wherein each of said first application host, said second application host, and said remote application hosts are Java Virtual Machines (“

JVMs”

).

2. The system of claim 1, wherein said master agent comprises:

a JMX communications protocol adaptor for providing a protocol-adapted view of said master agent to said application manager.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein each manageable resource has a managed bean (“

MBean”

) interface, and wherein said master agent comprises an MBean server.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein each said mini-agent comprises an MBean server exposing said MBeans to said master agent application through a JMX communications connector.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein said master agent acts as a communication intermediary between said application manager and said mini-agents, wherein communications between said application manager and said master agent as well as communications between said master agent sand said mini-agents utilize a common remotely accessible communication protocol.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein said master agent comprises a Java Management Extension (“

JMX”

) communications connector for communicating with said application manager and said mini-agents.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein said JMX communications connector comprises a Java Remote Method Invocation communications interface.

8. A method of remotely managing manageable resources distributed across multiple application hosts comprising:

in a master agent in a first application host, receiving from an application manager in a second application host a management command for performing a management operation directed to a manageable resource in a remote application hosts having a mini-agent, wherein each of said first application host, and second application host, and said remote application hosts are software machines configured to interpret compiled machine-independent code;

communicating said management command to said mini-agent in said remote application host; and

,

in said mini-agent, performing said management operation on said manageable resource by accessing an exposed member of said manageable resource according to said management operation, wherein each of said first application host, said second application host, and said remote application hosts are Java Virtual Machines (“

JVMs”

).

9. The method of claim 8, wherein said step of communicating said management command to said mini-agent comprises:

accessing said mini-agent through a JMX communications connector.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein said step of accessing said mini-agent comprises:

accessing said mini-agent through an RMI communications interface.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein said step of performing said management operation comprises:

accessing a member of the manageable resource through a management interface to said manageable resource according to said management operation.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein said management interface is a managed bean (“

MBean”

) registered in an MBean server in said mini-agent.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein said step of accessing said method comprises:

accessing a member of the manageable resource exposed to said mini-agent by said MBean through said MBean server according to said management operation.

14. A method for configuring a system for remote management of manageable resources distributed across multiple remote application hosts comprising:

starting a master agent in a first application host;

starting a plurality of mini-agents in a plurality of corresponding remote application hosts separate from said first application host, each corresponding remote application host containing one of said plurality of mini-agents, wherein each of said first application host and said remote application hosts are software machines configured to interpret compiled machine-independent code;

communicatively linking each mini-agent to said master agent; and

,

registering manageable resources in each remote application host with a corresponding mini-agent,

whereby the distributed manageable resources can be remotely managed by an application manager in an application host remote from said remote application hosts containing the manageable resources, wherein each said first application host and said remote hosts are Java Virtual Machines (“

JVMs”

).

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

providing a managed bean (“

MBean”

) interface to the manageable resources through which selected members of the manageable resources can be accessed.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein said step of starting a plurality of mini-agent comprises:

starting a managed bean (“

MBean”

) server in each of said plurality of mini-agents, said MBean server exposing MBeans in said corresponding remote application hosts.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein said registering step comprises:

registering said MBeans with said MBean server.

18. The method of claim 14, wherein said step of communicatively linking each mini-agent to said master agent comprises:

creating RMI connector servers in said master agent and each said mini-agent; and

,

creating RMI connector clients in said master agent and each said mini-agent;

said master agent communicating with said mini-agents and said mini-agents communicating with said master agent through RMI interfaces created by said RMI connector servers and said RMI connector clients.

19. A system for remote management of manageable resources distributed across remote application hosts comprising:

a master agent in a first application host for receiving from an application manager in a second application host management commands to perform management operations directed to selected manageable resources; and

,

a plurality of mini-agents in the remote application hosts, each remote application host containing only one mini-agent, wherein each of said first application host, said second application host, and said remote application hosts are software machines configured to interpret compiled machine-independent code;

said master agent communicating said received management commands to said mini-agents in the remote application hosts;

said mini-agents communicating said received management commands to said selected manageable resources, wherein each of said first application host, said second application host, and said remote application hosts are Java Virtual Machines (“

JVMs”

).

20. The system of claim 19, wherein said master agent comprises a Java Management Extension (“

JMX”

) communications connector for communicating with said mini-agents in the remote application hosts.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein said JMX communications connector comprises a Java Remote Method Invocation (“

RMI”

) communications interface.

22. The system of claim 19, wherein said master agent comprises:

a JMX communications connector for providing a view of said master agent to a JMX-compliant application manager; and

,

a JMX communications protocol adaptor for providing a protocol-adapted view of said master agent to an application manager residing in a non-JVM environment.

23. The system of claim 19, wherein the manageable resources have a managed bean (“

MBean”

) interface.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein each mini-agent in a corresponding remote application host comprises a managed bean server (“

MBean Server”

) for exposing MBeans contained in said corresponding remote application host to said master agent through a JMX communications connector.

25. A machine readable storage, having stored thereon a computer program for remotely managing manageable resources distributed across multiple application hosts, said computer program having a plurality of code sections executable by a machine for causing the machine to perform the steps of:

in a master agent in a first application host, receiving from an application manager in a second application host a management command for performing a management operation directed to a manageable resource in a remote application host having a mini-agent, wherein each of said first application host, said second application host, and said remote application hosts are software machines configured to interpret compiled machine-independent code;

communicating said management command to said mini-agent in said remote application host; and

in said mini-agent, performing said management operation on said manageable resource by accessing an exposed member of said manageable resource according to said management operation, wherein each of said first application host, said second application host, and said remote application hosts are Java Virtual Machines (“

JVMs”

).

26. The machine readable storage of claim 25, wherein the step of communicating said management command to said mini-agent comprises:

accessing said mini-agent through a JMX communications connector.

27. The machine readable storage of claim 26, wherein said step of accessing said mini-agent comprises:

accessing said mini-agent through an RMI communications interface.

28. The machine readable storage of claim 25, wherein said step of performing said management operation comprises:

accessing a member of said manageable resource through a management interface to said manageable resource according to said management operation.

29. The machine readable storage of claim 28, wherein said management interface is a managed bean (“

MBean”

) registered in an MBean server in said mini-agent.

30. The machine readable storage of claim 29, wherein said step of accessing said method comprises:

accessing a member of the manageable resource exposed to said mini-agent by said MBean through said MBeans server according to said management operation.

31. A machine readable storage, having stored thereon a computer program for configuring a system for remote management of manageable resources distributed across multiple remote application hosts, said computer program having a plurality of code sections executable by a machine for causing the machine to perform the steps of:

starting a master agent in a first application host;

starting a plurality of mini-agents in a plurality of corresponding remote application hosts separate from said first application host, each corresponding remote application host containing one of said plurality of mini-agents, wherein each of said first application host and said remote application hosts are software machines configured to interpret compiled machine-independent code;

communicatively linking each mini-agent to said master agent; and

,

registering manageable resources in each remote application host with a corresponding mini-agent,

whereby the distributed manageable resources can be remotely managed by an application manager in an application host remote from said remote application hosts containing the manageable resources, wherein each of said first application host and said remote hosts are Java Virtual Machines (“

JVMs”

).

32. The machine readable storage of claim 31, further comprising:

providing a managed bean (“

MBean”

)interface to the manageable resources through which selected members of the manageable resources can be accessed.

33. The machine readable storage of claim 32, wherein said step of starting a plurality of mini-agents comprises:

starting a managed bean (“

MBean”

) server in each of said plurality of mini-agents, said MBean server exposing MBeans in said corresponding remote application hosts.

34. The machine readable storage of claim 33, wherein said registering step comprises:

registering said MBeans with said MBean server.

35. The machine readable storage of claim 31, wherein said step of communicatively linking each mini-agent to said master agent comprises:

creating RMI connector servers in said master agent and each said mini-agent; and

,

creating RMI connector clients in said master agent and each said mini-agent;

said master agent communicating with said mini-agents and said mini-agents communicating with said master agent through RMI interfaces created by said RMI connector servers and said RMI connected clients.