Scalable systems management abstraction framework

• US 8,185,620 B1
• Filed: 07/07/2008
• Issued: 05/22/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 04/02/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Bank of America Corp.
• Original Assignee: Bank of America Corp.
• Inventors: Boone, Jim, Olds, Todd, Kapil, Ryan, Ferris, Todd, Bauer, Mike
• Primary Examiner(s): Ibrahim, Mohamed
• Application Number:
  US12/168,715
• Time in Patent Office: 1,415 Days
• Field of Search: 709/205, 709/217, 709/219, 709220-224
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/66 Arrangements for connecting between networks having differing types of switching systems, e.g. gateways

Abstract

A system and method for scalable systems management where a plurality of devices in a system is managed with a systems management infrastructure. An abstraction layer software application is implemented overlaying the systems management infrastructure for managing task distribution and status gathering for the plurality of devices in the system. A web interface is provided by the software application, the web interface being useable by a user to manage the task distribution and the status gathering. The task distribution may include gateway load balancing, distributing software updates, distributing new software for installation, or distributing software fixes. The status gathering may include performing a hardware inventory scan of a device, performing a software inventory scan of a device, identifying what software is installed on a device, or identifying types of hardware components in a device.

Claims

1. A method for scalable systems management comprising:

managing a first plurality of networked devices in a system using a first systems management infrastructure;

managing a second plurality of networked devices in the system using a second systems management infrastructure;

implementing an abstraction layer software application that is independent of and in communication with both the first and second systems management infrastructures, wherein said abstraction layer software application is configured to, via communications with both the first and second systems management infrastructures, centrally manage task distribution and status gathering for all of the networked devices of the first and second plurality of networked devices of the system; and

providing a web interface, the web interface being useable by a user to communicate with the abstraction layer software application and to use the abstraction layer software application to allow the user to centrally manage the task distribution and the status gathering for all of the first and second plurality of networked devices in the system.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein said implementing comprises using the abstraction layer software application to scan the first plurality of networked devices and the second plurality of networked devices for device specific information.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein said implementing comprises using the abstraction layer software application for at least one of performing a hardware inventory scan of a device associated with the first or the second plurality of networked devices, performing a software inventory scan of a device associated with the first or the second plurality of networked devices, scanning to identify what software is installed on a device associated with the first or the second plurality of networked devices, or scanning to identify types of hardware components in a device associated with the first or the second plurality of networked devices.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein said implementing comprises using the abstraction layer software application for manipulating code of at least one of the first systems management infrastructure and the second systems management infrastructure to cause the first plurality of networked devices managed by the first systems management infrastructure and the second plurality of networked devices managed by the second systems management infrastructure to automatically send a message to a web service of the abstraction layer software application when any of the first or second plurality of networked devices logs into the system.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein said implementing comprises using the abstraction layer software application for manipulating code of at least one of the first and second systems management infrastructures to cause the first or second plurality of networked devices managed by the first or second systems management infrastructures to automatically send a message to a web service of the abstraction layer software application when any of the first or second plurality of networked devices logs into the system, where the message contains detailed information about the device.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the first plurality of networked devices and the second plurality of networked devices comprises at least one of a server, a workstation, a computer, an automatic teller machine (ATM), or a storage device.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein one of the first and second systems management infrastructures further comprises an IBM Tivoli Configuration Manager (TCM).

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the web interface is further providing a federated view of, at least, the first plurality of networked device and the second plurality of networked devices.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein said implementing comprises using the abstraction layer software application to manage task distribution for the first plurality of networked devices and the second plurality of networked devices comprises at least one of gateway load balancing, distributing software updates, distributing new software for installation, or distributing software fixes.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein said implementing comprises using the abstraction layer software application for providing a security framework for verifying whether the user is authorized to manage the task distribution and the status gathering for a specific networked device.

11. The method according to claim 1, wherein said implementing comprises using the abstraction layer software application for providing a security framework for verifying whether the user is authorized to manage the task distribution and the status gathering for a specific software module on one of the first plurality of networked devices or one of the second plurality of networked devices.

12. The method according to claim 1, wherein said implementing comprises using the abstraction layer software application for throttling of tasks to be distributed and performed, the throttling comprising limiting the execution of tasks based on at least one of a total number of tasks executing at one time, a number of unique tasks executing at one time, or conditions requiring execution of a task only if other specified tasks are not executing.

13. The method according to claim 1, wherein said implementing comprises using the abstraction layer software application for specifying a start time, a deadline time and an associated offset for each task distribution for any of the first or second plurality of networked devices, the associated offset identifying a relative time zone of a location of the device.

14. The method according to claim 1, wherein said implementing comprises using the abstraction layer software application that is scalable to support any increase in a number of plurality of networked devices in the system.

15. The method according to claim 1, wherein said implementing comprises using the abstraction layer software application that is capable of splitting the task distributions based on networked devices with task distributions in a same region, and submitting the task distributions by region.

16. A system for scalable systems management comprising:

at least, a first plurality of networked devices and a second plurality of networked devices;

a first systems management infrastructure configured for managing the first plurality of networked devices;

a second systems management infrastructure configured for managing the second plurality of networked devices;

a business process automation (BPA) server, the server executing an abstraction layer software application that is independent of and in communication with both the first and second systems management infrastructures, wherein said abstraction layer software application is configured to, via communications with both the first and second systems management infrastructures, centrally manage task distribution and status gathering for all of the networked devices of the first and second plurality of networked devices in the system, the server providing a web interface being useable by a user to communicate with the abstraction layer software application to allow the user to centrally manage the task distribution and the status gathering for all of the first and second plurality of networked devices in the system.

17. The system according to claim 16, further comprising at least one task router, the task router operating on the BPA server and identifying a network location where a task must execute when the task is submitted for execution.

18. The system according to claim 17, further comprising at least one task executor, each at least one task executor running on a server of the first or second systems management infrastructure, the task router submitting the task for execution to an appropriate task executor of the at least one task executor for execution.

19. The system according to claim 18, further comprising each least one task executor being capable of executing in at least one of a synchronous mode where a task is executed immediately and a result from the task execution is sent to the BPA server after completion or an asynchronous mode where each at least one task is submitted to a priority queue for execution.

20. The system according to claim 18, further comprising each least one task submitted to the priority queue for execution being executed based on at least one of a limit on a total number of tasks executing at one time, a limit on a number of unique tasks execution at one time, or a conditional execution only if other specific tasks are not executing.

21. The system according to claim 16, wherein the first plurality of networked devices and the second plurality of networked devices comprise at least one of computing devices, desktop systems, laptops, automatic teller machines (ATMs), servers, storage devices, input devices, or output devices.