User interface to display and manage an entity and associated resources

• US 7,730,408 B2
• Filed: 10/18/2004
• Issued: 06/01/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 06/28/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Grant, Justin, Multerer, Boyd C., Schliiter, Kent S., Dillingham, Lara N., Sutton, Alexander M., Sprague, Roger W., Travison, Daniel T., Amiga, Ori M., Clark, Quentin J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Vu; Thanh T
• Application Number:
  US10/967,739
• Publication Number:
  US 20050081157A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,052 Days
• Field of Search: 715/734, 715/735, 715/736, 715/771
• US Class Current: 715/736
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/328 Computer systems status display G06F11/327 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3409 for performance assessment
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3495 for systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/88 Monitoring involving counting

Abstract

A user interface to display and manage a plurality of entities as if a single entity is provided. The user interface includes a representation of the collection of entities as a whole, and a representation of members associated with the entity. If an action is performed on the representation of the entities as a whole, then the action is propagated to the collection of entities, if the action is performed on the representation of the member associated with the entity, then the action is directed to the member.

Claims

1. A user interface to display, manage and configure an entity, comprising:

display objects that represent one or more entities as a whole and individual members a plurality of configurations for members which form the one or more entities, the display objects providing a unified interface for the entity to facilitate user configuration of the entity as if the entity was a single member and the display objects that provide an interface to facilitate the user configurations for individual members;

a scope pane that includes the display objects for selection by the user;

a results pane that displays output of selected display objects from the scope pane, includes further display objects, and receives user input for configuration of the entity as a whole or receives user input for configuration of the individual members, wherein an output of a selected entity display object comprises an entity-wide view of the aggregate information of all of the members which form the entity represented by the selected display object and wherein an output of a selected individual member display object comprises an individual member view of the information of the individual member, the information comprises at least one of;

status, performance, applications, events, or health monitor; and

an application deployment wizard configured to facilitate deployment of applications and application resources across the entity and/or to remote computer systems not associated with the entity, wherein the application deployment wizard is configured to expose a manifest that maintains a list of valid application resources that may be deployed, managed and monitored across the entity and/or remote computer systems, wherein the application deployment wizard'"'"'s list of valid application resources displays at least two selectable load-balancing options for each entity and wherein one of the at least two selectable load-balancing options configures third-party load-balancing and the other option configures no load-balancing.

2. The user interface of claim 1, the display objects that enable the user to adjust drain time for applications.

3. The user interface of claim 1, the display objects that enable the user to automatically synchronize members when content is updated.

4. The user interface of claim 3 further comprising a display object for adjusting time between automatic synchronization.

5. The user interface of claim 3 further comprising display objects that enable the user to replicate permissions to the entity for resource access.

6. The user interface of claim 1, the display objects enable the user to select load balancing options.

7. The user interface of claim 6, the load balancing options are at least one of an integrated operating system load balancing and an extensible third party load balancing.

8. The user interface of claim 1, the display objects enable the user to enable session coherency for at least one of the entity web sites.

9. The user interface of claim 1, the display objects provide for system optimization by enabling the user to select file types of resources not to forward.

10. The user interface of claim 1, the display objects enable the user to define a list of members to route requests for load balanced components.

11. The user interface of claim 1, the display objects enable the user to cause synchronization for a member associated with the entity.

12. The user interface of claim 1, the display objects enable the user to select a network interface address for communicating management information.

13. The user interface of claim 1, the display objects enable the user to adjust a load balance amount for a member.

14. The user interface of claim 1, the display objects enable the user to select events to log for the entity.

15. The user interface of claim 14, the display objects enable the user to at least one of define event types and exclude events from being captured.

16. The user interface of claim 1, the display objects enable the user to select how long to retain logged events.

17. The user interface of claim 1, the display objects enable the user to turn logging on or off.

18. The user interface of claim 1, interface wizards are provided to enable the user to at least one of create an entity, add a member to an entity, and deploy content across the entity.

19. The user interface of claim 18, the display objects enable the user to at least one of proceed to the next step, proceed to the previous step, cancel the wizard, and obtain additional information.

20. The user interface of claim 18, the display objects enable the user to initiate a computer analysis associated with at least one of creating an entity and adding a member to an entity.

21. The user interface of claim 18, the display objects enable the user to name the entity and provide a description of the entity.

22. The user interface of claim 18, the display objects enable the user to specify the type of entity.

23. The user interface of claim 22, the display objects enable the user to select at least one of web cluster, COM+ application cluster, COM+ routing cluster.

24. The user interface of claim 18, the display objects enable the user to configure load balancing options.

25. The user interface of claim 24, the display objects enable the user to select a network interface address.

26. The user interface of claim 24, the display objects enable the user to configure client affinity.

27. The user interface of claim 18, the display objects enable the user to configure monitoring notifications to at least one user.

28. The user interface of claim 18, the display objects enable the user to select a member and provide credentials with administrative privileges for the member.

29. The user interface of claim 18, the display objects enable the user to select a controller for the entity to which a member is being added.

30. The user interface of claim 18, the display objects enable the user to select the deployment targets and provide credentials with administrative privileges for the deployment targets.

31. The user interface of claim 18, the display objects enable the user to select the deployment content.

32. The user interface of claim 18, the display objects enable the user to select the deployment options.

33. The user interface of claim 32, the display objects enable the user to select at least one of:

deploy folder and file permissions;

deploy COM+ applications; and

deploy global ISAPI filters.

34. The user interface of claim 18, the display objects enable the user to name the deployment.

35. The user interface of claim 1, the display objects are at least one of textual or graphical.

36. The user interface of claim 1, the display objects are arranged to provide a topological representation of the entity and members.

37. The user interface of claim 1, the display objects enable the user to traverse more or less granular selections of the topological representation.

38. A user interface to display, manage and configure an entity, comprising:

display objects that represent a plurality of configurations for members which form an entity, the entity including homogeneous and non-homogeneous members, wherein the non-homogeneous entity includes members configured other than identical;

the display objects provide a unified interface for the entity to facilitate a user configuring the entity as if the entity was a single machine and configure a subset of the members comprising the entity, any member is promoted to operate as a controller to configure the entity as if the entity was a single machine, wherein the controller configures the entity as if the entity was a single machine by at least one of;

distributing the configuration to all members of the entity and modifying a master file that describes the configuration of each member;

the display objects arranged to provide a topological representation of the entity and members, the display objects provide aggregated information for the entity, individualized information of the members, and aggregated information for the subset of members comprising the entity; and

an application deployment wizard configured to facilitate deployment of applications and application resources across the homogenous and non-homogenous entities, wherein the application deployment wizard is configured to expose a manifest that maintains a list of valid application resources that may be deployed, managed and monitored across the homogenous and non-homogenous entities, wherein the application deployment wizard'"'"'s list of valid application resources displays at least two selectable load-balancing options for each homogenous or non-homogenous entity and wherein one of the at least two selectable load-balancing options configures third-party load-balancing and the other option configures no load-balancing.

39. The user interface of claim 38, the display objects enable the user to perform at least one of:

traverse more or less granular selections of the topological representation;

adjust drain time for applications;

automatically synchronize members when content is updated;

select load balancing options;

enable session coherency for at least one of the entity web sites;

provide for system optimization by enabling the user to select file types of resources not to forward;

define a list of members to route requests for load balanced components;

cause synchronization for a member associated with the entity;

select a network interface address for communicating management information;

adjust a load balance amount for a member;

select events to log for the entity;

at least one of define event types and exclude events from being captured;

select how long to retain logged events; and

turn logging on or off.

40. The user interface of claim 38, interface wizards are provided to enable the user to at least one of create an entity, add a member to an entity, and deploy content across the entity.

41. The user interface of claim 38, the display objects are at least one of textual or graphical.

42. A user interface to display, manage and configure an entity, comprising:

display objects that represent a plurality of members which form an entity;

display objects that represent a plurality of configurations for members of the entity;

the display objects that provide a unified interface for the entity to facilitate user configuration of the entity as if the entity was a single machine, wherein the configuration includes creating the entity, joining an existing entity, adding and removing a subset of the plurality of members, deploying content across the entity, and load balancing, the deployed content includes components, DLLs, and data files, wherein the display objects are at least one of textual or graphical; and

an application deployment wizard configured to facilitate deployment of applications and application resources across the entity and/or to remote computer systems not associated with the entity, wherein the application deployment wizard is configured to expose a manifest that maintains a list of valid application resources that may be deployed, managed and monitored across the entity and/or remote computer systems, wherein the application deployment wizard'"'"'s list of valid application resources displays at least two selectable load-balancing options for each entity and wherein one of the at least two selectable load-balancing options configures third-party load-balancing and the other option configures no load-balancing.

43. The user interface of claim 42, the display objects are arranged to provide a topological representation of the entity and members and the display objects enable the user to traverse more or less granular selections of the topological representation.

44. The user interface of claim 42, the display objects enable the user to perform at least three of:

traverse more or less granular selections of the topological representation;

adjust drain time for applications;

automatically synchronize members when content is updated;

select load balancing options;

enable session coherency for at least one of the entity web sites;

provide for system optimization by enabling the user to select file types of resources not to forward;

define a list of members to route requests for load balanced components;

cause synchronization for a member associated with the entity;

select a network interface address for communicating management information;

adjust a load balance amount for a member;

select events to log for the entity;

at least one of define event types and exclude events from being captured;

select how long to retain logged events; and

turn logging on or off.

45. The user interface of claim 42, interface wizards are provided to enable the user to at least one of create an entity, add a member to an entity, and deploy content across the entity.