Systems and methods for testing results of configuration management activity

• US 8,166,341 B2
• Filed: 08/31/2009
• Issued: 04/24/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 08/31/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Inventors: DeHaan, Michael Paul, Likins, Adrian Karstan, Vidal, Seth Kelby
• Primary Examiner(s): LOHN, JOSHUA A
• Application Number:
  US12/551,458
• Publication Number:
  US 20110055636A1
• Time in Patent Office: 967 Days
• Field of Search: 714/21, 714/37, 714/38.14, 714/49
• US Class Current: 714/21
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2247 Verification or detection of system hardware configuration
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2294 by remote test

Abstract

Embodiments relate to systems and methods for testing results of configuration management activity. In embodiments, a configuration management server can control and maintain the configuration state of one or more targets, hosts, servers, clients, or other machines in a managed. In aspects, a testing tool hosted on the configuration management server can verify the correct implementation of configuration instructions. In embodiments, the testing tool can access or receive an anticipated or target configuration state for one or more target(s) or other machines, indicating the status of services, memory, security, storage, and/or other configuration parameters after a selected configuration command is to be transmitted and run on the recipient machine. After the configuration change or update is performed, the test tool can receive results indicating the actual configuration state achieved after running the configuration management command(s), and compare those to the anticipated configuration state. Any discrepancies can be flagged, and corrective commands can be issued.

Claims

1. A method of testing an implementation of configuration management activities in a network, comprising:

adjusting a configuration of at least one target machine by transmitting at least one configuration management command to the at least one target machine to be executed on the at least one target machine, wherein adjusting the configuration of the at least one target machine generates configuration results for the at least one target machine indicating an adjusted state of a corresponding adjusted target machine; and

in response to adjusting the configuration of the at least one target machine, comparing the adjusted state of the at least one adjusted target machine to a target predicted configuration state for the at least one target machine to determine whether discrepancies exist between the adjusted state of the at least one adjusted target machine and the predicted configuration state to indicate a configuration fault condition exists in the at least one adjusted target machine.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the configuration fault condition comprises at least one of an activated service fault, a security fault, a memory management fault, a storage management fault, a library fault, an application fault, a file version fault, or a user authorization fault.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the configuration fault condition comprises an activated service fault, and the activated service fault comprises at least one of at least one detected running service not specified in the predicted configuration state or at least one undetected service specified in the predicted configuration state.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising issuing a further corrective configuration command from a configuration management server to a corresponding adjusted target machine based on results of the determination of whether a fault condition exists.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the further corrective configuration command comprises at least one of

at least one command to turn off the at least one detected running service on the at least one adjusted target machine not specified in the predicted configuration state, or

at least one command to turn on the at least one service not running on the at least adjusted predicted machine specified in the predicted configuration state.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the predicted configuration state comprises at least one of a configuration state specification supplied by a user or a configuration state specification generated by a testing tool.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one target machine comprises at least one of a server, a host, or a client.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the comparison is performed via a testing tool hosted in a configuration management server.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising storing a record of the at least one executed configuration management command to a configuration file.

10. A configuration management system, comprising:

an interface to a set of target machines in a network; and

a testing tool, communicating with the set of target machines via the interface, the testing tool being configured to

adjust a configuration of at least one target machine by transmitting at least one configuration management command to the at least one target machine to be executed on the at least one target machine, wherein adjusting the configuration of the at least one target machine generates configuration results for the at least one target machine indicating an adjusted state of a corresponding adjusted target machine,

in response to adjusting the configuration of the at least one target machine, compare the adjusted state of the at least one adjusted target machine to predicted configuration state for the at least one target machine to determine whether discrepancies exist between the adjusted state of the at least one adjusted target machine and the predicted configuration state to indicate a configuration fault condition exists in the at least one adjusted target machine based on the comparison.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the configuration fault condition comprises at least one of an activated service fault, a security fault, a memory management fault, a storage management fault, a library fault, an application fault, a file version fault, or a user authorization fault.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the configuration fault condition comprises an activated service fault, and the activated service fault comprises at least one of at least one detected running service not specified in the predicted configuration state or at least one undetected service specified in the predicted configuration state.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the testing tool is further configured to issue a further corrective configuration command via the configuration management system to a corresponding adjusted target machine based on results of the determination of whether a fault condition exists.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the further corrective configuration command comprises at least one of

at least one command to turn off the at least one detected running service on the at least one adjusted target machine not specified in the predicted configuration state, or at least one command to turn on the at least one service not running on the at least one adjusted target machine specified in the predicted configuration state.

15. The system of claim 10, wherein the predicted configuration state comprises at least one of a configuration state specification supplied by a user or a configuration state specification generated by a testing tool.

16. The system of claim 10, wherein the at least one target machine comprises at least one of a server, a host, or a client.

17. The system of claim 10, wherein the testing tool is hosted in a configuration management server.

18. The system of claim 10, wherein the testing tool is further configured to store a record of the at least one executed configuration management command to a configuration file.

19. A computer readable storage medium including instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform a method comprising:

adjusting, by the processor, a configuration of at least one target machine by transmitting at least one configuration management command to the at least one target machine to be executed on the at least one target machine, wherein adjusting the configuration of the at least one target machine generates configuration results for the at least one target machine indicating an adjusted state of a corresponding adjusted target machine; and

in response to adjusting the configuration of the at least one target machine, comparing the adjusted state of the at least one adjusted target machine to a predicted configuration state for the at least one target machine to determine whether discrepancies exist between the adjusted state of the at least one adjusted target machine and the predicted configuration state to indicate a configuration fault condition exists in the at least one adjusted target machine.

20. The computer readable storage medium of claim 19, wherein the predicted configuration state comprises at least one of a predicted configuration state entered by a user or a predicted configuration state generated via a testing tool.