Autonomic computing: management agent utilizing action policy for operation
First Claim
1. An installation management system, comprising at least one processor and further comprising:
- a management program containing management elements capable of providing monitoring and management for a plurality of applications;
a set of policies for use in conjunction with said plurality of applications, said set of policies containing, for each application supported, information regarding a respective management element of said management program;
a policy-based engine connected to use knowledge of the content of a server and said set of policies to determine needed ones of said management elements for the server;
an agent configured to run on the server; and
an agent manager configured to act as an interface between said policy-based engine and said agent and to download programs to said agent;
wherein said agent contains an address of said agent manager and is further configured to request a scanner from said agent manager,to install and execute said scanner, and to pass an output of said scanner to said agent; and
wherein said agent is a vendor-neutral agent and further comprising a set of weightings that provides, for each application supported, (a) a list of management programs from a plurality of vendors that are available to manage said application and (b) a respective weighting value.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Setting up management and monitoring programs on one or more servers is simplified. When a pre-selected monitoring/management vendor is to be used, a general-purpose agent is installed after the vendor agent is installed and can determine the contents of the server(s), then manage additional setup for the vendor agent, such as configurations, best practices, and license management. When the user has not yet determined which vendor or vendors to utilize, a vendor-neutral agent will determine the contents of the server(s) and can then choose between various vendor programs, utilizing weightings according to the strengths and weaknesses of each vendor, as well as user preferences, to determine the best vendor or vendors to select. Any needed vendor agents are then downloaded by the vendor-neutral agent and installed. The vendor-neutral agent also includes the capabilities of the general-purpose agent and manages other setup needs, such as configurations, best practices, and license management.
37 Citations
20 Claims
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1. An installation management system, comprising at least one processor and further comprising:
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a management program containing management elements capable of providing monitoring and management for a plurality of applications; a set of policies for use in conjunction with said plurality of applications, said set of policies containing, for each application supported, information regarding a respective management element of said management program; a policy-based engine connected to use knowledge of the content of a server and said set of policies to determine needed ones of said management elements for the server; an agent configured to run on the server; and an agent manager configured to act as an interface between said policy-based engine and said agent and to download programs to said agent; wherein said agent contains an address of said agent manager and is further configured to request a scanner from said agent manager, to install and execute said scanner, and to pass an output of said scanner to said agent; and wherein said agent is a vendor-neutral agent and further comprising a set of weightings that provides, for each application supported, (a) a list of management programs from a plurality of vendors that are available to manage said application and (b) a respective weighting value. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A method for managing a server, comprising the steps of:
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maintaining a set of policies containing, for each application supported, respective information regarding an associated management element, preferred practices, preferred configurations, and a need for a license; installing an agent on the server, said agent being provided with an address that is usable to contact an agent manager; operating said agent to request a scanning program from said agent manager, wherein said scanning program is capable of providing an inventory, said inventory containing a list of applications installed on the server; operating said agent manager, in response to said request for said scanning program from said agent, to provide said agent with said scanning program; using said inventory and said set of policies to determine one or more elements from a group including at least a needed management element, preferred practices, preferred configurations, and a need for a license for the server; and forwarding said preferred practices and preferred configurations and, if not already present, said needed management element, to said agent for instantiation on the server. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A computer program product having executable instructions stored on a computer recordable storage medium, said instructions being executable and said computer program product comprising:
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first instructions for maintaining a set of policies used in conjunction with a plurality of applications, said set of policies containing, for each application supported, respective information regarding management elements, preferred practices, preferred configurations, and a need for a license; second instructions for installing an agent on the server, said agent being provided with an address that is usable to contact an agent manager; third instructions for operating said agent to request a scanning program from said agent manager, wherein said scanning program is capable of providing an inventory, said inventory containing a list of applications installed on the server; fourth instructions for operating said manager, in response to said request for said scanning program from said agent, to provide said agent with said scanning program; fifth instructions for using said inventory and said set of policies to determine one or more elements from a group including at least needed management elements, preferred practices, preferred configurations, and a need for a license for the server; and sixth instructions for forwarding said needed management elements, preferred practices, preferred configurations, and a need for a license to said agent for instantiation on the server. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20)
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Specification