Configuration system and methods including configuration inheritance and revisioning
First Claim
1. A computer implemented method for generating an effective configuration for a managed product comprising:
- generating a configuration object for a managed product, said configuration object specifying a configuration for said managed product, said configuration object representing a certain behavior or desired functional state for a software feature of said managed product;
generating a derived configuration object of said configuration object, said derived configuration object representing a modification to said configuration for said managed product;
wherein said configuration object and said derived configuration object comprise a configuration object inheritance chain; and
processing said configuration object inheritance chain using a parent-child inheritance merge process to obtain an effective configuration for said managed product,wherein said parent-child inheritance merge process resolves collisions between elements of said configuration object and elements of said derived configuration object having the same collision detection name and merges the configuration object and said derived configuration object to obtain a merged configuration.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A system includes a security management system for a plurality of managed products. The security management system stores configuration data for managed products and managed nodes in a directory. Configuration data is stored in the directory in the form of configuration objects and setting objects. A revision history of a configuration object and/or a setting object can be maintained. Inheritance between configuration objects is supported so that a configuration inheritance chain is available. To determine an effective configuration at a point in time, a parent-child inheritance merge process is used. To assist the parent-child inheritance process, name attributes and collision resolution mode attributes are used.
79 Citations
14 Claims
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1. A computer implemented method for generating an effective configuration for a managed product comprising:
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generating a configuration object for a managed product, said configuration object specifying a configuration for said managed product, said configuration object representing a certain behavior or desired functional state for a software feature of said managed product; generating a derived configuration object of said configuration object, said derived configuration object representing a modification to said configuration for said managed product; wherein said configuration object and said derived configuration object comprise a configuration object inheritance chain; and processing said configuration object inheritance chain using a parent-child inheritance merge process to obtain an effective configuration for said managed product, wherein said parent-child inheritance merge process resolves collisions between elements of said configuration object and elements of said derived configuration object having the same collision detection name and merges the configuration object and said derived configuration object to obtain a merged configuration.
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2. A computer implemented method for generating an effective configuration for a managed product from a configuration object inheritance chain comprising:
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obtaining a configuration object inheritance chain for a managed product, said configuration object inheritance chain comprising; a configuration object, said configuration object representing a certain behavior or desired functional state for a software feature of said managed product; and a derived configuration object of said configuration object, said derived configuration object representing a modification to said configuration for said managed product; obtaining a mark-up language string for a most-derived configuration object; converting said mark-up language string for said most-derived configuration object to a derived tree structure having nodes wherein a plurality of nodes in said derived tree structure include collision detection names; obtaining a mark-up language string for a parent configuration object of said most-derived configuration object; converting said mark-up language string for said parent configuration object to a base tree structure having nodes wherein a plurality of nodes in said base tree structure include collision detection names; and combining said derived tree structure and said base tree structure, by resolving at least one collision between a node in the derived tree structure having a collision detection name and a node in the base tree structure having said collision detection name, to form a merged tree structure. - View Dependent Claims (3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A computer-program product comprising a computer-readable storage medium containing computer program code for a method for generating an effective configuration for a managed product comprising:
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generating a configuration object for a managed product, said configuration object specifying a configuration for said managed product, said configuration object representing a certain behavior or desired functional state for a software feature of said managed product; generating a derived configuration object of said configuration object, said derived configuration object representing a modification to said configuration for said managed product, wherein said configuration object and said derived configuration object comprise a configuration object inheritance chain; and processing said configuration object inheritance chain using a parent-child inheritance merge process to obtain an effective configuration for said managed product wherein said parent-child inheritance merge process resolves collisions between elements of said configuration object and elements of said derived configuration object having the same collision detection name and merges the configuration object and said derived configuration object to obtain a merged configuration.
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14. An apparatus for generating an effective configuration for a managed product, said apparatus comprising:
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a memory having stored therein at least a portion of an application for generating an effective configuration for a managed product, said application comprising; means for generating a configuration object for a managed product, said configuration object specifying a configuration for said managed product, said configuration object representing a certain behavior or desired functional state for a software feature of said managed product; means for generating a derived configuration object of said configuration object, said derived configuration object representing a modification to said configuration for said managed product, wherein said configuration object and said derived configuration object comprise a configuration object inheritance chain; and means for processing said configuration object inheritance chain using a parent-child inheritance merge process to obtain an effective configuration for said managed product wherein said parent-child inheritance merge process resolves collisions between elements of said configuration object and elements of said derived configuration object having the same collision detection name and merges the configuration object and said derived configuration object to obtain a merged configuration.
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Specification