Method and system for communicating with a managed system located behind a firewall
First Claim
1. A system for communicating with a plurality of managed systems located behind a firewall, the system comprising:
- an agent computer communicatively coupled to the plurality of managed systems, the agent computer being external to the plurality of managed systems and located behind the firewall;
the agent computer including a polling module to poll a management system periodically to determine if there is an envelope for the agent computer to receive;
the management system to communicate to the agent computer the envelope including at least one executable task, the executable task to be executed on at least one of the plurality of managed systems, the management system being located on an opposed side of the firewall with respect to the agent computer and the plurality of managed systems;
the agent computer including an interpretation module to extract the at least one executable task from the envelope, analyze contents of the envelope and, in response thereto, selectively communicate the at least one executable task to at least one of the plurality of managed systems using a communication protocol identified in the envelope; and
the plurality of managed systems to receive from the agent computer the at least one executable task.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method and system for communicating with at least one managed system located behind a firewall are provided. The system includes an agent computer, located behind a firewall, to communicate with the at least one managed system and a management system. The management system communicates with the agent computer to provide computer related services. The management system is located on an opposed side of the firewall and communicates an envelope including at least one executable task to the agent computer for communication to the managed system. The executable task may be included in a script and the agent computer may poll the management system to determine if there is an envelope for it to receive.
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Citations
31 Claims
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1. A system for communicating with a plurality of managed systems located behind a firewall, the system comprising:
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an agent computer communicatively coupled to the plurality of managed systems, the agent computer being external to the plurality of managed systems and located behind the firewall; the agent computer including a polling module to poll a management system periodically to determine if there is an envelope for the agent computer to receive; the management system to communicate to the agent computer the envelope including at least one executable task, the executable task to be executed on at least one of the plurality of managed systems, the management system being located on an opposed side of the firewall with respect to the agent computer and the plurality of managed systems; the agent computer including an interpretation module to extract the at least one executable task from the envelope, analyze contents of the envelope and, in response thereto, selectively communicate the at least one executable task to at least one of the plurality of managed systems using a communication protocol identified in the envelope; and the plurality of managed systems to receive from the agent computer the at least one executable task. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A method of communicating with a plurality of managed systems located behind a firewall, the method comprising:
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periodically polling a management system by a polling module of an agent computer to determine if there is an envelope for the agent computer to receive; receiving the envelope at the agent computer located behind the firewall, the envelope being communicated from the management system on an opposed side of the firewall; extracting a task from the envelope at the agent computer; analyzing the envelope at the agent computer to identify a communication protocol; and selectively communicating the task to at least one of the plurality of managed systems for execution, using the communication protocol. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A machine-readable medium storing a sequence of instructions that, when executed by a machine, cause the machine to execute a method of communicating with a plurality of managed systems located behind a firewall, the method comprising:
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periodically polling a management system by a polling module of an agent computer to determine if there is an envelope for the agent computer to receive; receiving the envelope at the agent computer external to the plurality of managed systems and located behind the firewall, the envelope being communicated from the management system on an opposed side of the firewall; extracting a task from the envelope at the agent computer; analyzing the envelope at the agent computer to identify a communication protocol; and selectively communicating the task to at least one of the plurality of managed systems for execution, using the communication protocol. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
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23. An agent computer for managing a plurality of managed systems located behind a firewall, the agent computer being external to the plurality of the managed systems and comprising:
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memory; a processor coupled to the memory; a polling module executed by the processor to periodically poll a management system located on an opposed side of the firewall with respect to the agent computer and the plurality of managed systems, and to determine if an envelope is to be communicated to the agent computer; and an interpretation module executed by the processor to extract a task from the envelope and to analyze the envelope to identify a communication protocol and, in response thereto, using the communication protocol, to selectively communicate the task to at least one of the plurality of managed systems for execution on the plurality of managed systems. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25)
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26. A management system for managing a plurality of managed systems, the management system comprising:
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a processor; memory coupled to the processor; a control center, retained by the memory, at which a plurality of tasks to be executed on the plurality of managed systems are defined; an envelope generator, executed by the processor, to generate an envelope including at least one of the plurality of tasks; a systems tool, executed by the processor, to communicate the envelope to an agent computer in response to a communication from a polling module of the agent computer to the control center periodically polling the control center to determine if there is at least one envelope for the agent computer to receive; and the control center to task the agent computer to analyze the envelope to identify a communication protocol and, using the communication protocol, to selectively communicate the at least one of the plurality of tasks to at least one of the plurality of managed systems. - View Dependent Claims (27)
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28. A method of managing a plurality of managed systems, the method comprising:
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initiating at a control center a plurality of tasks to be executed on at least one of the plurality of managed systems; generating at the control center an envelope including at least one of the plurality of tasks; communicating the envelope to an agent computer in response to a communication from a polling module of the agent computer to the control center periodically polling the control center to determine if there is at least one envelope for the agent computer to receive; and at the agent computer analyzing the envelope to identify a communication protocol and using the communication protocol, selectively communicating the at least one of the plurality of tasks to at least one of the plurality of managed systems, the agent computer being external to and communicatively coupled to at least one of the plurality of managed systems. - View Dependent Claims (29, 30)
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31. An agent computer for managing a plurality of managed systems located behind a firewall, the agent computer being external to the plurality of managed systems, the agent computer comprising:
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storing means; processing means coupled to the storing means; polling means, executed by the processing means, for periodically polling a management system located on an opposed side of the firewall with respect to the agent computer and the plurality of managed systems to determine an envelope is to be communicated to the agent computer; receiving means, executed by the processing means, for receiving the envelope and extracting a task from the envelope; analyzing means, executed by the processing means, for analyzing the envelope to identify a communication protocol; and communicating means, executed by the processing means, for selectively communicating the task to at least one of the plurality of managed systems for execution, using the communication protocol.
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Specification