System and method for managing object based clusters

• US 7,603,327 B2
• Filed: 07/08/2002
• Issued: 10/13/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 07/06/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Computer Associates Think Inc. (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Computer Associates Think Inc. (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Esfahany, Kouros H.
• Primary Examiner(s): Vincent; David R
• Assistant Examiner(s): BUSS, BENJAMIN J
• Application Number:
  US10/190,759
• Publication Number:
  US 20030214525A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,654 Days
• Field of Search: 706/15, 706/16, 706/26, 706/18, 382/104, 719/310, 719/130, 700/18
• US Class Current: 706/15
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2209/505 Clust
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5061 Partitioning or combining of resources
• 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 41/046 comprising network management agents or mobile agents therefor
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0893 Assignment of logical groups to network elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/12 Discovery or management of network topologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/16 using machine learning or artificial intelligence
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/22 comprising specially adapted graphical user interfaces [GUI]

Abstract

A method, system, API, GUI, and computer readable media for managing object-based clusters is provided. The method provides a computer executable methodology for discovering, monitoring, and managing object-based clusters. The system provides a computer-based system for facilitating interactions with heterogeneous cluster solutions. The system includes computer components for detecting clusters and supervising detected clusters and/or components.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for managing object based clusters, comprising:

receiving data associated with each of a plurality of clusters from one or more agents, wherein each cluster comprises a plurality of computer components;

automatically identifying a cluster based on the received data;

generating a cluster object set for the identified cluster, wherein the cluster object set comprises a cluster object that models the cluster and a vendor cluster object that inherits from the cluster object and models vendor specific solutions;

storing, in an electronic memory, one or more values associated with the generated cluster object set; and

managing the identified cluster based on the one or more values.

2. The method of claim 1, where identifying a cluster comprises analyzing data received from the one or more agents, each agent operable to discover one or more components associated with the cluster.

3. The method of claim 2, where the agents are neural network agents.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising discovering one or more resources associated with one of the clusters and wherein storing one or more values associated with each of the clusters comprises storing, in an electronic memory, one or more values associated with the one or more resources associated with that cluster in one or more objects that model a resource.

5. The method of claim 4, where discovering a resource comprises receiving and analyzing data from one or more agents.

6. The method of claim 5, where the agents are neural network agents.

7. The method of claim 1, comprising:

monitoring the one or more clusters; and

updating one or more values associated with the one or more objects that model a cluster.

8. The method of claim 7, where updating the one or more values comprises invoking one or more methods of one or more objects that model a cluster.

9. The method of claim 7, where monitoring the one or more clusters comprises receiving and analyzing data from one or more agents.

10. The method of claim 9, where the agents are neural network agents.

11. The method of claim 7, comprising:

monitoring one or more resources associated with the one or more clusters; and

updating one or more values associated with one or more objects that model a resource.

12. The method of claim 11, where updating the one or more values comprises invoking one or more methods of one or more objects that model a resource.

13. The method of claim 11, where monitoring the one or more resources comprises receiving and analyzing data from one or more agents.

14. The method of claim 13, where the agents are neural network agents.

15. The method of claim 7, where managing the identified cluster comprises performing at least one of, defining a cluster, viewing a cluster, calling a system function on a cluster, calling a user function a cluster, sending a command to a cluster, confirming an action to be performed on a cluster, starting a cluster, halting a cluster, registering a trap destination, listing a trap destination, listing an agent process, listing a cluster process, and launching a local application.

16. The method of claim 7, where managing the identified cluster comprises performing at least one of, failover processing for a cluster, load balancing within a cluster, and maintenance processing for a cluster.

17. The method of claim 15, comprising managing one or more resources, where managing a resource comprises performing at least one of, defining a resource, viewing a resource, starting a resource, halting a resource, and calling a function on a resource.

18. A computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions that are operable, when executed by a computer, to:

receive data associated with each of a plurality of clusters from one or more agents, wherein each cluster comprises a plurality of computer components;

automatically identify a cluster based on the received data;

generate a cluster object set for the identified cluster, wherein the cluster object set comprises a cluster object that models the cluster and a vendor cluster object that inherits from the cluster object and models vendor specific solutions;

store, in an electronic memory, one or more values associated with the generated cluster object set; and

manage the identified cluster based on the one or more values.

19. The computer-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the computer-executable instructions are operable to present at least one of data and control to the one or more clusters.

20. The computer-readable medium of claim 19, wherein the computer-executable instructions are operable to store data, in the electronic memory, in one or more objects that abstract at least one of a cluster and a cluster component.

21. The computer-readable medium of claim 20, where the one or more objects are arranged in an object hierarchy.

22. The computer-readable medium of claim 20, where the computer-executable instructions are operable to communicate with the one or more objects through a standardized, normalized command set.

23. The computer-readable medium of claim 22, where the command set comprises commands to perform at least one of, defining a cluster, defining a cluster component, viewing a cluster, viewing a cluster component, calling a function on a cluster, calling a function on a cluster component, invoking a process on a cluster, invoking a process on a cluster component, sending a command to a cluster, sending a command to a cluster component, starting a cluster, starting a cluster component, halting a cluster, halting a cluster component, starting a failover process, stopping a failover process, starting a maintenance process, stopping a maintenance process, starting a load balancing process, and stopping a load balancing process.

24. The computer-readable medium of claim 18, where the computer-executable instructions are operable to receive data from one or more intelligent, automated data gatherers.

25. A computer-implemented method for object-based cluster management (OCBM), comprising:

receiving data associated with each of a plurality of a clusters from one or more agents, wherein each cluster comprises a plurality of computer components;

automatically identifying a cluster based on the received data, wherein the cluster includes a plurality of computer components;

generating a parent object that models a managed object;

generating a cluster object that inherits from the parent object and models the identified cluster;

generating one or more vendor cluster objects that inherit from the cluster object and model one or more vendor specific cluster solutions;

storing the parent object, the cluster object, and the vendor cluster object in an electronic memory; and

managing the identified cluster based on the vendor cluster object.

26. The method of claim 25, further comprising:

generating an agent object that inherits from the parent object and models an agent;

generating one or more vendor agent objects that inherit from the agent object and model one or more vendor specific agents; and

storing the agent object and the vendor specific agents in the electronic memory.

27. The method of claim 25, further comprising:

generating a task space object that inherits from the parent object and models a task space;

generating a task object that inherits from the parent object and models a task;

generating one or more vendor task objects that inherit from the task object and model one or more vendor specific tasks; and

storing the task space object, the task object, and the vendor task objects in the electronic memory.

28. The method of claim 25, further comprising:

generating a resource space object that inherits from the parent object and models a resource space;

generating a resource object that inherits from the parent object and models a resource;

generating one or more implemented resource objects that inherit from the resource object and model at least one of, a service, a process, a subnet, an address, a file system, an application, and a disk volume; and

storing the resource space object, the resource object, and the implemented resource objects in the electronic memory.

29. The method of claim 25, further comprising:

generating a folder object that inherits from the parent object and models a folder that facilitates a hierarchical display of objects in a graphical user interface;

generating a resource folder object that inherits from the folder object and models a resource that facilitates a hierarchical display of objects in a graphical user interface;

generating one or more implemented folder objects that inherit from the resource folder object and model at least one of, a service folder, an address folder, a process folder, a subnet folder, a file system folder, an application folder, and a disk volume folder; and

storing the folder object, the resource folder object, and the implemented folder objects in the electronic memory.

30. A computer readable medium storing computer executable instructions that are operable, when executed by a computer, to:

receive data associated with each of a plurality of clusters from one or more agents, wherein each cluster comprises a plurality of computer components;

automatically identify a cluster based on the received data, wherein the cluster includes a plurality of computer components;

generate a parent object that models a managed object;

generate a cluster object that inherits from the parent object and models a cluster, wherein the cluster comprises a plurality of computer components;

generate one or more vendor cluster objects that inherit from the cluster object and model one or more vendor specific cluster solutions;

generate an agent object that inherits from the parent object and models an agent;

generate one or more vendor agent objects that inherit from the agent object and model one or more vendor specific agents;

generate a task space object that inherits from the parent object and models a task space;

generate a task object that inherits from the parent object and models a task;

generate one or more vendor task objects that inherit from the task object and model one ore more vendor specific tasks;

generate a resource space object that inherits from the parent object and models a resource space;

generate a resource object that inherits from the parent object and models a resource;

generate one or more implemented resource objects that inherit from the resource object and model at least one of, a service, a process, a subnet, an address, a file system, an application, and a disk volume;

generate a folder object that inherits from the parent object and models a folder that facilitates a hierarchical display of objects in a graphical user interface;

generate a resource folder object that inherits from the folder object and models a folder that facilitates a hierarchical display in a graphical user interface;

generate one or more implemented folder objects that inherit from the resource folder object and model at least one of, a service folder, an address folder, a process folder, a subnet folder, a file system folder, an application folder, and a disk volume folder;

store the parent object, the cluster object, the vendor cluster objects, the agent object, the vendor agent objects, the task space object, the task object, the vendor task objects, the resource space object, the resource object, the implemented resource objects, the folder object, the resource folder object, and the implemented folder objects in an electronic memory; and

manage the identified cluster based on the stored objects.