Dynamic identification and administration of networked clients
First Claim
1. A system comprising:
- a network administered by a network administrator, wherein the network includes at least one network administration server in communication with a plurality of client computers over which the network administrator has administrative responsibilities;
network administration software operative on the at least one network administration server to perform the following functions;
maintain a list of client computers over which the network administrator has administrative responsibilities;
define one or more configurations of interest, wherein the configurations of interests include a state of a configuration parameter of a client computer;
define and associate one of the configurations of interest with one or more actions to be taken, wherein the action includes at least updating software and one or more of;
installing a file, overwriting a file, removing a file, adding a registry setting, changing a registry setting, removing a registry setting, and modifying an operating system file permission;
distribute data to a plurality of the client computers selected from the list of client computers, wherein the data defines at least one of the configurations of interest; and
receive from each particular computer in the plurality of client computers a state of a configuration of the particular client computer relative to a configuration of interest distributed to the particular computer;
wherein, the plurality of client computers include at least one program operative on the plurality of client computers to;
receive the data defining the at least one configuration of interest;
store the at least one configuration of interest on the client computer;
repeatedly determine the state of the configuration of the client computer relative to the at least one configuration of interest;
report to the network administration server the state of the configuration of the client computer relative to the at least one configuration of interest;
repeatedly determine whether the state of the configuration of the client matches the at least one configuration of interest, and when the state of the configuration of the client matches the configuration of interest, determine whether at least one of the one or more actions to be taken associated with the at least one configuration of interest is a client-side action; and
automatically perform the client-side action associated with the at least one configuration of interest;
and further wherein the network administration software is further operative on the at least one network administration server to;
receive the reported state of the configuration of the plurality of client computers relative to the respective at least one configuration of interest;
record an indication of each state of the configuration of the plurality of client computers relative to the respective configurations of interest;
determine whether the reported state of the configuration of the plurality of client computers matches at least one of the distributed configurations of interest, and when the reported state of the configuration of at least one of the plurality of client computers changes with respect to at least one of the distributed configurations of interest, determine whether at least one of the one or more actions to be taken associated with the at least one of the distributed configurations of interest is a server-side action;
automatically perform the server-side action associated with the at least one of the distributed configurations of interest; and
provide at least one indication of one of the client computers with at least one of the configurations of interest.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
The present inventive subject matter relates to networked computing environments and more specifically to dynamic identification and administration of networked clients. Various embodiments of the present inventive subject matter include systems and methods for defining, on a server, a configuration of interest comprising one or more potential properties of a client, communicating the configurations of interest over a network to one or more clients, dynamically evaluating a client state relative to the configurations of interest, and communicating a representation of the client state in relation to the configuration of interest to the server. Further embodiments include automatically creating and displaying associations of clients based on configurations of interest. Yet further embodiments include clients requesting and receiving updates to the configurations of interest. Still further embodiments include actions associated with configurations of interest. Such actions, in various embodiments, include performing administrative actions on various networked clients.
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Citations
15 Claims
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1. A system comprising:
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a network administered by a network administrator, wherein the network includes at least one network administration server in communication with a plurality of client computers over which the network administrator has administrative responsibilities; network administration software operative on the at least one network administration server to perform the following functions; maintain a list of client computers over which the network administrator has administrative responsibilities; define one or more configurations of interest, wherein the configurations of interests include a state of a configuration parameter of a client computer; define and associate one of the configurations of interest with one or more actions to be taken, wherein the action includes at least updating software and one or more of;
installing a file, overwriting a file, removing a file, adding a registry setting, changing a registry setting, removing a registry setting, and modifying an operating system file permission;distribute data to a plurality of the client computers selected from the list of client computers, wherein the data defines at least one of the configurations of interest; and receive from each particular computer in the plurality of client computers a state of a configuration of the particular client computer relative to a configuration of interest distributed to the particular computer; wherein, the plurality of client computers include at least one program operative on the plurality of client computers to; receive the data defining the at least one configuration of interest; store the at least one configuration of interest on the client computer; repeatedly determine the state of the configuration of the client computer relative to the at least one configuration of interest; report to the network administration server the state of the configuration of the client computer relative to the at least one configuration of interest; repeatedly determine whether the state of the configuration of the client matches the at least one configuration of interest, and when the state of the configuration of the client matches the configuration of interest, determine whether at least one of the one or more actions to be taken associated with the at least one configuration of interest is a client-side action; and automatically perform the client-side action associated with the at least one configuration of interest; and further wherein the network administration software is further operative on the at least one network administration server to; receive the reported state of the configuration of the plurality of client computers relative to the respective at least one configuration of interest; record an indication of each state of the configuration of the plurality of client computers relative to the respective configurations of interest; determine whether the reported state of the configuration of the plurality of client computers matches at least one of the distributed configurations of interest, and when the reported state of the configuration of at least one of the plurality of client computers changes with respect to at least one of the distributed configurations of interest, determine whether at least one of the one or more actions to be taken associated with the at least one of the distributed configurations of interest is a server-side action; automatically perform the server-side action associated with the at least one of the distributed configurations of interest; and provide at least one indication of one of the client computers with at least one of the configurations of interest. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4)
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5. A system comprising:
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a network administered by a network administrator, wherein the network includes at least one network administration server in communication with a plurality of client computers over which the network administrator has administrative responsibilities; network administration software operative on the at least one network administration server to perform the following functions; maintain a list of client computers over which the network administrator has administrative responsibilities; define one or more configurations of interest, wherein the configurations of interests include a state of a configuration parameter of a client computer; define and associate one of the configurations of interest with one or more actions to be taken; distribute data to a plurality of the client computers selected from the list of client computers, wherein the data defines at least one of the configurations of interest; and receive from each particular computer in the plurality of client computers a state of a configuration of the particular client computer relative to a configuration of interest distributed to the particular computer; wherein, the plurality of client computers include at least one program operative on the plurality of client computers to; receive the data defining the at least one configuration of interest; store the at least one configuration of interest on the client computer; repeatedly determine the state of the configuration of the client computer relative to the at least one configuration of interest; report to the network administration server the state of the configuration of the client computer relative to the at least one configuration of interest; repeatedly determine whether the state of the configuration of the client matches the at least one configuration of interest, and when the state of the configuration of the client matches the configuration of interest, determine whether at least one of the one or more actions to be taken associated with the at least one configuration of interest is a client-side action; and automatically perform the client-side action associated with the at least one configuration of interest; and further wherein the network administration software is further operative on the at least one network administration server to; receive the reported state of the configuration of the plurality of client computers relative to the respective at least one configuration of interest; record an indication of each state of the configuration of the plurality of client computers relative to the respective configurations of interest; determine whether the reported state of the configuration of the plurality of client computers matches at least one of the distributed configurations of interest, and when the reported state of the configuration of at least one of the plurality of client computers changes with respect to at least one of the distributed configurations of interest, determine whether at least one of the one or more actions to be taken associated with the at least one of the distributed configurations of interest is a server-side action; automatically perform the server-side action associated with the at least one of the distributed configurations of interest; and provide at least one indication of one of the client computers with at least one of the configurations of interest. - View Dependent Claims (6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A method of administering a computer network, the computer network administered by a network administrator, and the computer network including at least one network administration server in communication with a plurality of client computers over which the network administrator has administrative responsibilities, the method comprising:
at the at least one network administration server; maintaining a list of client computers over which the network administrator has administrative responsibilities; defining one or more configurations of interest, wherein the configurations of interests include a state of a configuration parameter of a client computer; defining and associating one of the configurations of interest with one or more actions to be taken, wherein the action includes at least updating software and one or more of;
installing a file, overwriting a file, removing a file, adding a registry setting, changing a registry setting, removing a registry setting, and modifying an operating system file permission;distributing data to a plurality of the client computers selected from the list of client computers, wherein the data defines at least one of the configurations of interest; and receiving from each particular computer in the plurality of client computers a state of a configuration of the particular client computer relative to a configuration of interest distributed to the particular computer. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
Specification