System and related methods for accessing management functionality through a command line utility

• US 7,676,815 B2
• Filed: 07/12/2007
• Issued: 03/09/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 06/28/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Muhlestein, Travis J., Thompson, John P., Retik, Arieh A., Snover, Jeffrey P.
• Primary Examiner(s): Truong; Lechi
• Application Number:
  US11/777,011
• Publication Number:
  US 20080016501A1
• Time in Patent Office: 971 Days
• Field of Search: 719/310, 719/328, 707/102, 707/100, 707/1, 715/200
• US Class Current: 719/328
• 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 41/0803 Configuration setting
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0879 Manual configuration through operator
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0807 using tickets, e.g. Kerberos cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication using tickets or tokens H04L9/3213

Abstract

A command line utility is described that overlays the management infrastructure of an enterprise to provide easier command options for administrators to effectively manage the enterprise. The primary intent of the command line utility is to facilitate management of the environment without requiring administrators to write scripts or navigate a vast schematized enterprise exposed through the management infrastructure. The command line utility provides command options through class aliases that enable the mapping of management queries and operations to a common term or friendly name that can be extended both in an alias file or at run time in the command line.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving at an executable file a command entered into a command line interface;

switching from at least a first namespace to a second namespace in response to a global switch in the command, wherein the global switch permits a user to set an authentication level that the command line interface is configured to authenticate when Application Program Interface calls are made;

retrieving Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) data through an application program interface (API) call that is placed based on at least the second namespace specified by the global switch;

transforming the retrieved WMI data into an extensible markup language (XML) form and returning the XML form to the command line interface;

applying an extensible style sheet language (XSL) to the XML form to format the WMI data, wherein the XSL style sheet is based on an XSL file designated through format specifications; and

presenting the formatted WMI data through the command line interface;

wherein a WMI command line enables a user to enter a command to go into an interactive mode, wherein the interactive mode enables the user to enter multiple commands while sharing a same WMI connection, and to terminate the interactive mode with an exit command;

wherein the receiving, switching, retrieving, transforming, applying and presenting are performed by at least one processor.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first namespace is located on a management station and the second namespace is located on a target station.

3. A computer readable storage medium comprising instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to:

present a Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) command line;

receive at an executable file a command entered into a command line interface associated with the WMI command line;

switch from at least a first namespace to at least a second namespace in response to a global switch in the command, wherein the global switch permits a user to set an authentication level that the command line interface is configured to authenticate when Application Program Interface calls are made;

retrieve Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) data through an Application Program Interface (API) call that is placed based on at least the second namespace specified by the global switch;

transform the retrieved WMI data into an extensible markup language (XML) form and returning the XML form to the command line interface;

apply an extensible style sheet language (XSL ) to the XML form to format the WMI data, wherein the XSL style sheet is based on an XSL file designated through format specifications; and

present the formatted WMI data through the command line interface;

wherein the command line comprises a WMI command line prompt and one or more global switch categories permitting a user to set one or more parameter commands, the one or more global switch categories comprising at least one of a namespace switch, a role switch, a node switch, an impersonation level switch, or an authentication level switch; and

wherein the command line enables a user to enter a command name to go into an interactive mode, wherein the interactive mode enables the user to enter multiple commands while sharing a same WMI connection, and to terminate the interactive mode with an exit command.

4. The computer readable storage medium of claim 3, wherein the WMI command line prompt enables a user to perform at least one of:

enter one or more necessary commands;

or

enter an incomplete portion of a command and get help on completing the command.

5. The computer readable storage medium of claim 3, wherein the namespace switch permits a user to enter a namespace for a target namespace.

6. The computer readable storage medium of claim 3, wherein the impersonation level switch permits the user to set a level for the command line to impersonate a connection to a target station.

7. The computer readable storage medium of claim 3, wherein the authentication switch permits the user to set a level that the command line is to authenticate when a call is made against WMI data.

8. The computer readable storage medium of claim 3, the one or more global switch categories comprising at least one of:

a language identifier switch;

a privilege switch;

a trace switch;

a record switch;

an interactive switch;

a user switch;

a password switch;

or

a help switch.

9. The computer readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the language identifier switch permits the user to set the language identifier the command line should use.

10. The computer readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the privilege switch permits the user to enable or disable program privileges using a property parameter.

11. The computer readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the record switch permits the user to enter a file path where one or more commands may be logged.

12. The computer readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the interactive switch permits a user to be in the interactive mode, entering multiple commands while sharing an WMI connection and terminating the interactive mode when an exit command is entered.

13. The computer readable storage medium of claim 3, the command line further comprising a command line category defined by an alias, wherein the alias is an instance of an alias class and the alias is unique in a context of a namespace in which the alias is defined.

14. The computer readable storage medium of claim 3, the command line further comprising a command line category defined by a standard command, wherein the standard command comprises at least one of CLASS, PATH, WHERE, or EXIT.

15. The computer readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein the WHERE command permits the user to query WMI data.

16. The computer readable storage medium of claim 14, the command line further comprising a verb clause category, wherein the verb entry comprises at least one of:

CALL, SET, LIST, GET, or ASSOCIATE.