Methods and media for a protocol abstraction layer for information handling systems

• US 7,805,533 B2
• Filed: 05/28/2008
• Issued: 09/28/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 05/28/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CA, Inc. (d/b/a CA Technologies) (Broadcom, Inc.), Dell Products LP (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Dell Products LP (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Inventors: Burns, Ross Kevin, O'Connell, Thomas T., Shetty, Sudhir
• Primary Examiner(s): Jean Gilles; Jude J
• Application Number:
  US12/128,594
• Publication Number:
  US 20090300199A1
• Time in Patent Office: 853 Days
• Field of Search: 709/228, 709/219, 709/203, 709/230, 709/227, 709/237, 709/217, 709/223, 709/225
• US Class Current: 709/230
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0213 Standardised network management protocols, e.g. simple network management protocol [SNMP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0266 using meta-data, objects or commands for formatting management information, e.g. using eXtensible markup language [XML]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0273 using web services for network management, e.g. simple object access protocol [SOAP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/046 comprising network management agents or mobile agents therefor
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/344 Out-of-band transfers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/14 Multichannel or multilink protocols
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/50 in wire-line communication networks, e.g. low power modes or reduced link rate

Abstract

A method for communicating with remote devices wherein the method includes sending a request through an application programming interface (API), formatting the request and routing the request to a first connection associated with a first protocol. The method further includes mapping the request into a first command, wherein the first command conforms to the first protocol and sending the first command to a remote device.

Claims

1. A method for communicating with a remote devices, the method comprising:

performing a request utilizing a protocol abstraction layer (PAL) interface, wherein the PAL interface comprises an application programming interface (API);

configuring data of the request into at least one command;

analyzing each of the at least one command for determining a connection to the remote device;

mapping the connection to a protocol associated with the connection utilizing a device support file (DSF) specified by the remote device; and

communicating with the remote device through the protocol.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the PAL interface comprises an extensible markup language (XML) interface.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the API interacts with each of a plurality of layers of a PAL architecture.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein each of the plurality of layers of the PAL architecture utilizes the DSF for supporting requests from an XML interface or the API.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein configuring data of the request comprises joining the data after splitting the data into at least two commands.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the connection to the remote device comprises selecting one connection from a set of connections grouped based on the remote device, selecting one connection comprising prioritizing a first connection over a second connection.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein analyzing each of the at least one command for determining the connection to the remote device comprises performing a discovery setup, the discovery setup utilizing a connection profile (CP) in combination with the DSF to generate a device support mask (DSM) for indicating whether a single connection or multiple connection is supported by the remote device.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the connection comprises connection properties and connection criteria for the protocol, and instances of a protocol plugin and a mapper corresponding to the protocol.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein mapping the connection to a protocol associated with the connection comprises prioritizing a first protocol over a second protocol.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein mapping the connection to a protocol associated with the connection comprises translating the request from an application-domain command into a protocol specific command by utilizing a mapper DSF.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein mapping the connection to a protocol associated with the connection comprises managing a plugin protocol and a mapper, the plugin protocol and mapper configured to register with a management layer of a PAL architecture.

12. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

providing an additional protocol by modifying a protocol plugin or mapper wherein modifying the protocol plugin or mapper comprises updating a DSF of each layer of a PAL architecture through an existing protocol plugin or mapper.

13. A computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable instructions stored thereon for performing a method for communicating with a remote devices, the method comprising:

performing a request utilizing a protocol abstraction layer (PAL) interface,

wherein the PAL interface comprises an application programming interface (API);

configuring data of the request into at least one command;

analyzing each of the at least one command for determining a connection to the remote device;

mapping the connection to a protocol associated with the connection by utilizing a device support file (DSF) specified by the remote device; and

communicating with the remote device through the protocol.

14. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the PAL interface comprises an extensible markup language (XML) interface.

15. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the API interacts with each of a plurality of layers of the PAL architecture.

16. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein each of the plurality of layers of PAL architecture utilizes the DSF for supporting requests from an XML interface or the API.

17. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein configuring data of the request comprises joining the data after splitting the data into at least two commands.

18. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein determining the connection to the remote device comprises selecting one connection from a set of connections grouped based on the remote device, selecting one connection comprising prioritizing a first connection over a second connection.

19. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein analyzing each of the at least one command for determining the connection to the remote device comprises performing a discovery setup, the discovery setup utilizing a connection profile (CP) in combination with the DSF to generate a device support mask (DSM) for indicating whether a single connection or multiple connection is supported by the remote device.

20. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the connection comprises connection properties and connection criteria for the protocol, and instances of a protocol plugins and a mappers corresponding to the protocols.

21. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein mapping the connection to a protocol associated with the connection comprises prioritizing a first protocol over a second protocol.

22. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein mapping the connection to a protocol associated with the connection comprises translating the request from an application-domain command into a protocol specific command by utilizing a mapper DSF.

23. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein mapping the connection to a protocol associated with the connection comprises managing a plugin protocol and a mapper, the plugin protocol and the mapper configured to register with a management layer of a PAL architecture.

24. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the method of claim 13 further comprising:

providing an additional protocol by modifying a protocol plugin or a mapper, wherein modifying the protocol plugin or the mapper comprises updating a DSF of each layer of a PAL architecture through an existing protocol plugin or existing mapper.

25. A method of communication with a remote device, the method comprising:

registering a callback through an application programming interface (API) of a protocol abstraction layer (PAL);

subscribing to asynchronous data from the remote device through the API;

providing the asynchronous data from the remote device to a first formatter, wherein the first formatter translates the asynchronous data from a protocol domain command to an application domain command; and

returning the asynchronous data to the callback.