System and method for distribution of software licenses in a networked computing environment

• US 7,133,917 B2
• Filed: 06/07/2004
• Issued: 11/07/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 06/06/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Computer Associates Think Inc. (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Computer Associates Think Inc. (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Lutz, George, Re, Vincent, Scovetta, Vincent
• Primary Examiner(s): VU, VIET DUY
• Application Number:
  US10/862,590
• Publication Number:
  US 20040260765A1
• Time in Patent Office: 883 Days
• Field of Search: 709/203, 709/217, 709/219, 709/223, 709/224, 709/226, 713/201
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/121 Restricting unauthorised execution of programs
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2463/101 applying security measures for digital rights management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/104 Grouping of entities

Abstract

A system and method of distributing software licenses in a networked computing environment is provided. The system and method in one aspect comprise a management application and a plurality of agents. The plurality of agents each reside on computers in a network, for example, remote from the management application. The management application includes a user interface from which information about the plurality of computers in a network may be obtained via the plurality of agents and license information may be distributed to the plurality of computers.

Claims

1. A system for distributing software licenses in a networked computing environment, comprising:

an agent residing on a computer in a network, the agent operable to gather configuration information about the computer on which the agent resides and one or more products installed on the computer; and

a management application in the networked computing environment, the management application in communication with the agent and operable to;

receive the configuration information from the agent;

use the configuration information to identify a particular product installed on the computer of which use by the computer is not allowed by a valid license agreement;

in response to the identification of the particular product of which use is not allowed by a valid license agreement, automatically communicate with a vendor computer of the particular product to request a new license from the vendor; and

provide information associated with the new license to the agent when received from the vendor computer.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the agent is further operable to:

update license information on the computer on which the agent resides in response to receiving the information associated with the new license from the management application; and

generate a new key for the updated license information.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the management application includes a graphical user interface.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the new license comprises a new license for a newly installed product.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the new license comprises an updated license for an updated product.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein one or more reports are generated using the configuration information.

7. A system for distributing software licenses in a networked computing environment, comprising:

a client agent residing on a computer in a network, the agent operable to gather configuration information about the computer on which the client agent resides and one or more products installed on the computer;

a server agent operable to communicate with the client agent, the server agent further operable to maintain the configuration information received from the client agent in a central network location; and

a management application in the networked computing environment, the management application in communication with the server agent and operable to;

receive the configuration information from the server agent;

use the configuration information to identify a particular product installed on the computer of which use by the computer is not allowed by a valid license agreement;

in response to the identification of the particular product of which use is not allowed by a valid license agreement, automatically communicate with a vendor of the particular product to request a new license from the vendor; and

provide information associated with the new license to the server agent, when received from the vendor computer, for communication of the information to the client agent.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the server agent operable to update the configuration information in the central network location with information from the new license.

9. The system of claim 7, wherein the client agent is operable to periodically and automatically push the configuration information to the server agent.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the server agent synchronizes the configuration information pushed from the client agent with the configuration information stored in the central network location.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the server agent responds to the request from the management application regarding configuration information about the client agent using the configuration information stored in the central network location.

12. The system of claim 7, wherein the client agent needs not run continuously.

13. The system of claim 7, wherein the management application provides one or more reports about the computers in the network based on the configuration information stored in the central network location.

14. A method of distributing software licenses in a networked computing environment, comprising:

using an agent installed on a computer in a network to retrieve configuration information about the computer and one or more products installed on the respective computer;

communicating the configuration information to a management application installed on a network device within a networked computing environment, the network device being remote from the agent;

using the configuration information to identify a particular product installed on the computer of which use by the computer is not allowed by a valid license agreement; and

in response to the identification of the particular product of which use is not allowed by a valid license agreement, automatically communicating with a vendor computer of the particular product to request a new license from the vendor.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the method further includes enabling the management application to communicate with a vendor computer to receive information associated with the new license for the one or more products installed on the computer where the agent resides when received from the vendor computer.

16. The method of claim 14, further including:

producing one or more reports using the configuration information.

17. A method of distributing software licenses in a networked computing environment, comprising:

providing a management application including a user interface on a network device within a networked computing environment;

using a client agent installed on a computer remote to the network device on which the management application is provided to retrieve configuration information about the computer on which the client agent resides;

communicating the configuration information to a server agent operable to receive and store the configuration information in a central network location;

using the server agent to identify, from the configuration information, a particular product of which use by the computer is not allowed by a valid license; and

in response to the identification of the particular product of which use is not allowed by a valid license agreement, automatically communicating with a vendor computer of the particular product to request a new license from the vendor.

18. The method of claim 17, further including pushing the configuration information periodically and automatically from client agent to the server agent.

19. Logic for formatting and indexing data, the logic encoded in computer readable media and operable when executed by a computer to:

use an agent installed on a computer in a network to retrieve configuration information about the computer on which the agent resides and one or more products installed on the computer;

communicate the configuration information to a management application installed on a network device within a networked computing environment, the network device being remote from the agent;

use the configuration information from the agent to identify a particular product installed on the computer of which use by the computer is not allowed by a valid license agreement; and

in response to the identification of the particular product of which use is not allowed by a valid license agreement, automatically communicate with a vendor computer associated with the particular product to request a new license from the vendor.

20. Logic for formatting and indexing data, the logic encoded in computer readable media and operable when executed by a computer to:

provide a management application including a user interface on a network device within a networked computing environment;

use a client agent installed on a computer remote to the network device on which the management application is provided to retrieve configuration information associated with the computer on which the client agent resides and one or more products installed on the computer;

communicate the configuration information to a server agent operable to receive and store the configuration information in a central network location;

use the server agent to identify, from the configuration information, a particular product installed on the computer of which use by the computer is not allowed by a valid license agreement; and

in response to the identification of the particular product of which use is not allowed by a valid license agreement, automatically communicate with a vendor of the particular product to request a new license from the vendor.