Deployment of asynchronous agentless agent functionality in clustered environments

• US 8,266,301 B2
• Filed: 03/04/2009
• Issued: 09/11/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 03/04/2009
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Moore, David Paul, Radenkovic, Zoran, Robertson, John T.
• Primary Examiner(s): HOANG, HIEU T
• Application Number:
  US12/397,734
• Publication Number:
  US 20100228849A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,287 Days
• Field of Search: 709201-203, 709/223, 709/224, 709/226, 709227-229
• US Class Current: 709/228
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/54 Interprogram communication

Abstract

A mechanism for the deployment of asynchronous agentless agent functionality in clustered environments. An agentless agent execution node in an agentless agent execution node cluster receives a context message comprising an asynchronous operation request and an execution context from a messaging service. The agent node determines if an entry for the execution context exists in an execution context state table of the agent node. If no entry exists, the agent node creates an execution context entry in the execution context state table of the agent node. The agent node retrieves an asynchronous code module associated with the asynchronous operation from a central repository. The asynchronous code module is then executed on a managed resource to detect asynchronous code events occurring on the managed resource. When asynchronous code events are detected at the managed resource, the agent node sends a message comprising the asynchronous code events to a management server.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method for deploying asynchronous agentless agent functionality in a clustered node environment, the computer implemented method comprising:

receiving, at an agentless agent execution node in an agentless agent execution node cluster, a context message from a messaging service, wherein the context message includes a management operation request comprising an asynchronous operation and an execution context of the asynchronous operation;

determining, by the agentless agent execution node, if an entry for the execution context exists in an execution context state table of the agentless agent execution node;

responsive to a determination that no entry for the execution context exists, creating an entry for the execution context in the execution context state table of the agentless agent execution node;

retrieving an asynchronous code module associated with the asynchronous operation in the management operation request from a central repository;

executing the asynchronous code module on a managed resource to detect asynchronous code events occurring on the managed resource; and

responsive to detecting asynchronous code events at the managed resource, sending a message comprising the asynchronous code events to a management server.

2. The computer implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

updating an execution state in the execution context entry of the asynchronous operation in the execution context state table of the agentless agent execution node; and

propagating, via the messaging service, the updated execution state to auxiliary agentless agent execution nodes in the agentless agent execution node cluster.

3. The computer implemented method of claim 2, further comprising:

receiving, at an auxiliary agentless agent execution node in the agentless agent execution node cluster, a context message from the messaging service, wherein the context message comprises the updated execution state of the asynchronous operation; and

updating the execution state in the execution context entry of the asynchronous operation in the execution context state table of the auxiliary agentless agent execution node.

4. The computer implemented method of claim 3, further comprising:

receiving, at the auxiliary agentless agent execution node in the agentless agent execution node cluster, a failover message from the messaging service, wherein the failover message specifies the auxiliary node assume asynchronous operations executing on a failed agentless agent execution node;

identifying an execution context in an execution context state table of the auxiliary agentless agent execution node for each asynchronous operation running on the failed agentless agent execution node;

retrieving asynchronous code modules associated with the asynchronous operations for each identified execution context;

executing the asynchronous code module on the managed resource for detecting asynchronous code events occurring on the managed resource; and

responsive to detecting asynchronous code events at the managed resource, sending a message comprising the asynchronous code events to the management server.

5. The computer implemented method of claim 4, further comprising:

updating an execution state in the execution context entry of the asynchronous operation in the execution context state table of the auxiliary agentless agent execution node; and

propagating, via the messaging service, the updated execution state to auxiliary agentless agent execution nodes in the agentless agent execution node cluster.

6. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the execution context comprises information used to manage the asynchronous operation, and wherein the execution context comprises at least one of an asynchronous code module reference comprising a code module identifier known by the management server, an execution state indicator reflecting a current state of the asynchronous operation, configuration or connection information of the managed resource used by the agentless agent execution node to identify the managed resource and provide execution parameters for the asynchronous code module.

7. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein an instance of a distributed execution context state manager runs within each of multiple ones of the agentless agent execution node in the agentless agent execution node cluster, and wherein the distributed execution context manager within an agentless agent execution node creates the entry for the execution context in the execution context state table within the agentless agent execution node.

8. An apparatus, comprising:

a bus;

a storage device connected to the bus, wherein the storage device contains computer usable code;

at least one managed device connected to the bus;

a communications unit connected to the bus; and

a processing unit connected to the bus, wherein the processing unit executes the computer usable code to receive, at an agentless agent execution node in an agentless agent execution node cluster, a context message from a messaging service, wherein the context message includes a management operation request comprising an asynchronous operation and an execution context of the asynchronous operation;

determine if an entry for the execution context exists in an execution context state table of the agentless agent execution node;

create, in response to a determination that no entry for the execution context exists, an entry for the execution context in the execution context state table of the agentless agent execution node;

retrieve an asynchronous code module associated with the asynchronous operation in the management operation request from a central repository;

execute the asynchronous code module on a managed resource to detect asynchronous code events occurring on the managed resource; and

send, in response to detecting asynchronous code events at the managed resource, a message comprising the asynchronous code events to a management server.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the processing unit further executes the computer usable code to update an execution state in the execution context entry of the asynchronous operation in the execution context state table of the agentless agent execution node;

and propagate, via the messaging service, the updated execution state to auxiliary agentless agent execution nodes in the agentless agent execution node cluster.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the processing unit further executes the computer usable code to receive, at an auxiliary agentless agent execution node in the agentless agent execution node cluster, a context message from the messaging service, wherein the context message comprises the updated execution state of the asynchronous operation;

and update the execution state in the execution context entry of the asynchronous operation in the execution context state table of the auxiliary agentless agent execution node.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the processing unit further executes the computer usable code to receive, at the auxiliary agentless agent execution node in the agentless agent execution node cluster, a failover message from the messaging service, wherein the failover message specifies the auxiliary node assume asynchronous operations executing on a failed agentless agent execution node;

identify an execution context in an execution context state table of the auxiliary agentless agent execution node for each asynchronous operation running on the failed agentless agent execution node;

retrieve asynchronous code modules associated with the asynchronous operations for each identified execution context;

execute the asynchronous code module on the managed resource for detecting asynchronous code events occurring on the managed resource; and

send, in response to detecting asynchronous code events at the managed resource, a message comprising the asynchronous code events to the management server.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the processing unit further executes the computer usable code to update an execution state in the execution context entry of the asynchronous operation in the execution context state table of the auxiliary agentless agent execution node;

and propagate, via the messaging service, the updated execution state to auxiliary agentless agent execution nodes in the agentless agent execution node cluster.

13. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the execution context comprises information used to manage the asynchronous operation, and wherein the execution context comprises at least one of an asynchronous code module reference comprising a code module identifier known by the management server, an execution state indicator reflecting a current state of the asynchronous operation, configuration or connection information of the managed resource used by the agentless agent execution node to identify the managed resource and provide execution parameters for the asynchronous code module.

14. A computer program product for deploying asynchronous agentless agent functionality in a clustered node environment, the computer program product comprising:

a tangible computer usable storage device having computer usable program code tangibly stored thereon, the computer usable program code comprising;

computer usable program code for receiving, at an agentless agent execution node in an agentless agent execution node cluster, a context message from a messaging service, wherein the context message includes a management operation request comprising an asynchronous operation and an execution context of the asynchronous operation;

computer usable program code for determining if an entry for the execution context exists in an execution context state table of the agentless agent execution node;

computer usable program code for creating, in response to a determination that no entry for the execution context exists, an entry for the execution context in the execution context state table of the agentless agent execution node;

computer usable program code for retrieving an asynchronous code module associated with the asynchronous operation in the management operation request from a central repository;

computer usable program code for executing the asynchronous code module on a managed resource to detect asynchronous code events occurring on the managed resource; and

computer usable program code for sending, in response to detecting asynchronous code events at the managed resource, a message comprising the asynchronous code events to a management server.

15. The computer program product of claim 14, further comprising:

computer usable program code for updating an execution state in the execution context entry of the asynchronous operation in the execution context state table of the agentless agent execution node; and

computer usable program code for propagating, via the messaging service, the updated execution state to auxiliary agentless agent execution nodes in the agentless agent execution node cluster.

16. The computer program product of claim 15, further comprising:

computer usable program code for receiving, at an auxiliary agentless agent execution node in the agentless agent execution node cluster, a context message from the messaging service, wherein the context message comprises the updated execution state of the asynchronous operation; and

computer usable program code for updating the execution state in the execution context entry of the asynchronous operation in the execution context state table of the auxiliary agentless agent execution node.

17. The computer program product of claim 16, further comprising:

computer usable program code for receiving, at the auxiliary agentless agent execution node in the agentless agent execution node cluster, a failover message from the messaging service, wherein the failover message specifies the auxiliary node assume asynchronous operations executing on a failed agentless agent execution node;

computer usable program code for identifying an execution context in an execution context state table of the auxiliary agentless agent execution node for each asynchronous operation running on the failed agentless agent execution node;

computer usable program code for retrieving asynchronous code modules associated with the asynchronous operations for each identified execution context;

computer usable program code for executing the asynchronous code module on the managed resource for detecting asynchronous code events occurring on the managed resource; and

computer usable program code for sending, in response to detecting asynchronous code events at the managed resource, a message comprising the asynchronous code events to the management server.

18. The computer program product of claim 17, further comprising:

computer usable program code for updating an execution state in the execution context entry of the asynchronous operation in the execution context state table of the auxiliary agentless agent execution node; and

computer usable program code for propagating, via the messaging service, the updated execution state to auxiliary agentless agent execution nodes in the agentless agent execution node cluster.

19. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein the execution context comprises information used to manage the asynchronous operation, and wherein the execution context comprises at least one of an asynchronous code module reference comprising a code module identifier known by the management server, an execution state indicator reflecting a current state of the asynchronous operation, configuration or connection information of the managed resource used by the agentless agent execution node to identify the managed resource and provide execution parameters for the asynchronous code module.

20. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein an instance of a distributed execution context state manager runs within each of multiple ones of the agentless agent execution node in the agentless agent execution node cluster, and wherein the distributed execution context manager within an agentless agent execution node creates the entry for the execution context in the execution context state table within the agentless agent execution node.