System and method for scripting explorer for server configuration

• US 8,078,971 B2
• Filed: 01/24/2006
• Issued: 12/13/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 01/24/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Ghattu, Satya Srinivas
• Primary Examiner(s): Lo, Weilun
• Assistant Examiner(s): WIENER, ERIC A
• Application Number:
  US11/339,103
• Publication Number:
  US 20070174776A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,149 Days
• Field of Search: 715734-739, 715/853, 715/854, 709220-226, 717/115
• US Class Current: 715/736
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/44505 Configuring for program initiating, e.g. using registry, configuration files
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45512 Command shells

Abstract

The present invention provides provide GUI-type server scripting explorer that allows a user to browse, invoke, and update via its GUI all kinds of management objects available on a server. The explorer embeds a command interpreter through which the user can invoke server scripting commands directly from within the tool. All the actions that the user performed can be recorded to a file to build a server configuration script that can be used to repeat the same actions to config the server in the future. This description is not intended to be a complete description of, or limit the scope of, the invention. Other features, aspects, and objects of the invention can be obtained from a review of the specification, the figures, and the claims.

Claims

1. A system to provide a scripting framework for server configuration, comprising:

a plurality of management objects maintained on one or more servers, wherein each management object represents a manageable resource of a plurality of manageable resources that are associated with the one or more servers; and

a scripting explorer, running on one or more processors, operable to;

establish a connection to the one or more servers;

present a first set of management objects in the plurality of management objects in a configuration information traversable hierarchy on a graphical user interface (GUI) of the scripting explorer, wherein each management object in the configuration information traversable hierarchy manages configuration information associated with the one or more servers;

present a second set of management objects in the plurality of management objects in a runtime information traversable hierarchy on the GUI of the scripting explorer, wherein each management object in the runtime information traversable hierarchy manages runtime information associated with the one or more servers;

enable a user to perform one or more operations in a sequence on both the configuration information traversable hierarchy and the runtime information traversable hierarchy to configure the plurality of servers via the GUI, wherein the one or more operations performed by the user are not pre-defined; and

allow the user to start recording the one or more operations by the user into a script file in the sequence that can be reused later.

2. The system according to claim 1, wherein:

each said server can be one of a web server, an application server, a database server, and an administrative server.

3. The system according to claim 1, wherein:

the one or more servers can locate on one or more domains.

4. The system according to claim 1, wherein:

the connection by the scripting explorer to the one or more servers can be persistently maintained as a user session, wherein operations performed by the user in the user session are captured and operable to be referenced during the user session.

5. The system according to claim 1, wherein:

each traversable hierarchy is a tree.

6. The system according to claim 1, wherein:

an operation in the one or more operations can be one of browsing, creating, deleting, and updating the plurality of management objects.

7. The system according to claim 1, further comprising:

a command line scripting interpreter operable to;

accept one or more scripting instructions directly from the user; and

interpret and execute the one or more scripting instructions against the one or more servers.

8. The system according to claim 7, wherein:

the one or more scripting instructions can be based on Jython syntax.

9. The system according to claim 7, wherein:

the command line scripting interpreter can be synchronized with the GUI.

10. The system according to claim 1, wherein:

the configuration information traversable hierarchy and the runtime information traversable hierarchy two separate traversable hierarchies, and wherein the scripting explorer is adapted to allow a user to navigate directly to a node in the configuration information traversable hierarchy from the runtime information traversable hierarchy, wherein the node in the configuration information traversable hierarchy is where the user last visited before the user moved to the runtime information traversable hierarchy.

11. The system according to claim 1, wherein:

the scripting explorer is further operable to;

initiate a session for the user that have access to the connection;

maintain the connection persistently in a persistent store throughout the session; and

capture the one or more operations by the user in the session.

12. The system according to claim 1, wherein:

the scripting explorer is further operable to allow the user to stop recording the one or more operations by the user into the script file.

13. The system according to claim 1, wherein:

the scripting explorer includes a record button that can, upon choosing by the user, start recording the one or more operations by the user into the script file.

14. A method to provide a scripting framework for server configuration, comprising:

maintaining a plurality of management objects on one or more servers, wherein each of the plurality of management objects represents a manageable resource of a plurality of manageable resources that are associated with the one or more servers;

establishing a connection to the one or more servers via a scripting explorer;

presenting a first set of management objects in the plurality of management objects in a configuration information traversable hierarchy on a graphical user interface (GUI) of the scripting explorer, wherein each management object in the configuration information traversable hierarchy manages configuration information associated with the one or more servers;

presenting a second set of management objects in the plurality of management objects in a runtime information traversable hierarchy on the GUI of the scripting explorer, wherein each management object in the runtime information traversable hierarchy manages runtime information associated with the one or more servers;

enabling a user to perform one or more operations in a sequence on both the configuration information traversable hierarchy and the runtime information traversable hierarchy to configure the plurality of servers via the GUI, wherein the one or more operations performed by the user are not pre-defined; and

allowing the user to start recording the one or more operations by the user into a script file in the sequence that can be reused later.

15. The method according to claim 14, further comprising:

browsing, creating, deleting, or updating the plurality of management objects to configure the one or more servers.

16. The method according to claim 14, further comprising:

performing at least one of the following via a command line scripting interpreter;

accepting one or more scripting instructions directly from the user; and

interpreting and executing the one or more scripting instructions against the one or more servers.

17. The method according to claim 16, further comprising:

synchronizing the command line scripting interpreter with the GUI.

18. A machine readable medium having instructions stored thereon that when executed cause a system to:

maintain a plurality of management objects on one or more servers, wherein each of the plurality of management objects represents a manageable resource of a plurality of manageable resources that are associated with the one or more servers;

establish a connection to the one or more servers via a scripting explorer;

present a first set of management objects in the plurality of management objects in a configuration information traversable hierarchy on a graphical user interface (GUI) of the scripting explorer, wherein each management object in the configuration information traversable hierarchy manages configuration information associated with the one or more servers;

present a second set of management objects in the plurality of management objects in a runtime information traversable hierarchy on the GUI of the scripting explorer, wherein each management object in the runtime information traversable hierarchy manages runtime information associated with the one or more servers;

enable a user to perform one or more operations in a sequence on both the configuration information traversable hierarchy and the runtime information traversable hierarchy to configure the plurality of servers via the GUI, wherein the one or more operations performed by the user are not pre-defined; and

allow the user to start recording the one or more operations by the user into a script file in the sequence that can be reused later.