Method and apparatus for configuring a computer
First Claim
1. A method for configuring a computer, the method comprising:
- obtaining, over a network, from a server that is remote from said computer, a script having commands for configuring said computer;
parsing said script;
selecting, based on results of parsing said script, and from among a plurality of Plug-Ins, a Scripting Plug-In that maintains communication protocol-specific information that is not possessed by a Scripting Server that performs said parsing and said selecting; and
forwarding said script to said Scripting Plug-In, wherein said Scripting Plug-In executes the commands to configure one or more network communication protocols of said computer.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method and apparatus for configuring a computer. One embodiment of the invention combines all of the prior art control panels related to networking into a consolidated Network Setup Control Panel. In addition, the invention provides for computer configuration by scripting. The configuration may be for a type of system setting or for network configurations and protocols. Through scripting, a computer may be configured locally or remotely on a network. One embodiment of the invention provides for a centralized database or Configuration Library consisting of collected data relating to available configuration settings. This database is not limited to configuration information and can be used as a general database containing information the user desires to store. To modify a configuration by scripting, the invention provides for a Scripting Interface consisting of a Scripting Server and Scripting Plug-In. The Scripting Server receives the script forwarded from a user or network administrator, parses the script and determines the appropriate Scripting Plug-In to forward the desired action to. The Scripting Plug-In receives the commands and executes the appropriate actions to modify the configuration as directed.
4 Citations
30 Claims
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1. A method for configuring a computer, the method comprising:
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obtaining, over a network, from a server that is remote from said computer, a script having commands for configuring said computer; parsing said script; selecting, based on results of parsing said script, and from among a plurality of Plug-Ins, a Scripting Plug-In that maintains communication protocol-specific information that is not possessed by a Scripting Server that performs said parsing and said selecting; and forwarding said script to said Scripting Plug-In, wherein said Scripting Plug-In executes the commands to configure one or more network communication protocols of said computer. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 30)
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8. A system comprising:
a scripting interface comprising a Scripting Server and at least one Scripting Plug-In, wherein said Scripting Server receives, over a network from a server that is remote from a computing machine on which said Scripting Server executes, a script having commands for configuring one or more network communication protocols of a computer, said Scripting Server parses said script to select, from among a plurality of Plug-Ins, and based on results of parsing said script, one of said at least one Scripting Plug-In that maintains communication protocol-specific information that is not possessed by said Scripting Server, wherein said one of said at least one Scripting Plug-In is configured to access said computer and modify said configuration settings. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. An apparatus for configuring a computer comprising:
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one or more processors; and
a non-volatile storage that comprises instructions for;obtaining, over a network from a server that executes on a computing machine that is remote from said computer, a script having commands for configuring said computer; parsing said script; selecting, based on results of parsing said script, and from among a plurality of Plug-Ins, a Scripting Plug-In that maintains communication protocol-specific information that is not possessed by a Scripting Server that performs said parsing and said selecting; and forwarding said script to said Scripting Plug-In, wherein said Scripting Plug-In executes said commands thereby configuring one or more network communication protocols of said computer. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. A computer program product comprising:
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a computer usable medium having computer readable code embodied therein for configuring a computer, said computer program product comprising computer readable code configured to cause a computer to; obtain a script having commands for configuring said computer; parse said script; select, based on results of parsing said script, and from among a plurality of Plug-Ins, a Scripting Plug-In that maintains communication protocol-specific information that is not possessed by a Scripting Server that parses said script and selects said Scripting Plug-In; and forward said script to said Scripting Plug-In, wherein said Scripting Plug-In executes said commands thereby configuring one or more network communication protocols of said computer. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 29)
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28. A method for configuring a computer, the method comprising:
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a server transmitting a set of one or more configuration commands over a network to a set of two or more computer systems that are remote from said server; wherein each computer system of said set of one or more computer systems contains one or more Scripting Plug-Ins; at each particular computer system of said set of two or more computer systems, performing steps comprising;
(a) parsing said set of configuration commands;
(b) selecting, based on results of said parsing, and from a plurality of Plug-Ins, a Scripting Plug-In that maintains communication protocol-specific information that is not possessed by a Scripting Server that performs said parsing and said selecting; and
(c) forwarding said set of configuration commands to said Scripting Plug-In, wherein said Scripting Plug-In executes said set of configuration commands to configure said particular computer system.
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Specification