Computer-implemented systems and methods for analyzing product configuration and data

• US 8,296,732 B2
• Filed: 01/04/2008
• Issued: 10/23/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 03/23/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAS Institute Incorporated
• Original Assignee: SAS Institute Incorporated
• Inventors: Fraley, Jessica Marie, Tomlinson, Benjamin Jeffress, Nasuti, William John, Lehman, Katherine R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Zhen, Wei
• Assistant Examiner(s): Rampuria, Satish
• Application Number:
  US11/969,611
• Publication Number:
  US 20080235611A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,754 Days
• Field of Search: 717120-136, 715735-737, 715744-747
• US Class Current: 717/121
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/44505 Configuring for program initiating, e.g. using registry, configuration files
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/451 Execution arrangements for user interfaces

Abstract

Computer-implemented systems and methods are provided for analyzing configuration data associated with a plurality of software applications. For example a system and method can be configured to receive configuration data about the software applications, wherein the configuration data about the software applications includes configuration items that have relationships with other configuration items. An interface display screen is provided to the user, wherein the user interface display screen is configured to display an evaluation of the retrieved configuration data.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for analyzing configuration data, comprising:

receiving, using one or more data processors, a selection of software configuration tests, wherein a software configuration test determines whether a specified relationship exists between software configuration items associated with multiple software applications;

determining, using the one or more data processors, software configuration items needed to perform the software configuration tests, wherein the software configuration items are retrieved from the multiple software applications, and wherein many to many relationships exist among the software configuration items;

retrieving, using the one or more data processors, values for the software configuration items, wherein retrieving values includes using a search engine and a remote agent, wherein the search engine communicates with the software applications or reads configuration files associated with the software applications, and wherein the remote agent reads software application configuration files on a remote machine;

executing, using the one or more data processors, the software configuration tests using a comparator that determines whether the specified relationship exists by comparing the retrieved values for the software configuration items needed to perform the software configuration tests; and

providing, using the one or more data processors, data for display, wherein the data includes a list of executed software configuration tests, and wherein the data includes a pass indication when an executed software configuration test is passed.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein software configuration tests are associated with software configuration items, and wherein the selection of software configuration tests is based upon a selection of an associated configuration item from a list on a graphical display.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the graphical display includes a first list of configuration items and a second list of configuration items, and wherein selection of a software configuration item on the first list causes a software configuration test associated with the selected software configuration item on the first list and all software configuration items on the second list to be selected.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein many to many relationships exist among the software configuration items in the first list and the software configuration items in the second list.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein a particular software configuration item is a software object having classes and properties.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein a particular software configuration test is based upon a software configuration test model.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the software configuration test model of the particular software configuration test references a rule or an additional software configuration test model.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the rule specifies a criteria for evaluating the retrieved values to see if the specified relationship exists between software configuration items.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the software configuration items include configuration information about a workspace server, a library, and a configuration file.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one software application resides in a different and disparate computer environment.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the different computer environment is a different server.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the disparate computer environment includes a different software manufacturer vendor source, machine type or tier, software or hardware architecture, or software operating system.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

storing test results for future analysis to evaluate changes of configuration settings over time.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

storing test results as a benchmark of a proper system configuration.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing test results to a third party for analysis.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing a test group indicator, wherein the test group indicator identifies whether all of the selected configuration tests were passed.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the data provided for display is sorted according to software applications.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein one or more of the software applications are executing when the software configuration tests are executed.

19. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving an edit to one or more of the configuration tests.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein a particular configuration test includes a relationship indicator, and wherein the relationship indicator identifies the specified relationship to be tested.

21. The method of claim 1, wherein the configuration items include an object, wherein the search engine is provided with parameters of the object, and wherein the parameters of the object include a pointer to the object, a class of the object, a value of the object, a name of a property of the object, a type of the property of the object, or a potential value of the property of the object.

22. The method of claim 1, wherein the values are retrieved from metadata repositories in different and disparate computer environments.

23. The method of claim 1, wherein the configuration items include software application installation configuration data.

24. The method of claim 1, wherein the configuration items include post-installation production configuration data.

25. A computer-implemented system for analyzing configuration data, comprising:

one or more data processors;

one or more computer-readable storage mediums containing instructions configured to cause the one or more processors to perform operations including;

receiving a selection of software configuration tests, wherein a software configuration test determines whether a specified relationship exists between software configuration items associated with multiple software applications;

determining software configuration items needed to perform the software configuration tests, wherein the software configuration items are retrieved from the multiple software applications, and wherein many to many relationships exist among the software configuration items;

retrieving values for the software configuration items, wherein retrieving values includes using a search engine and a remote agent, wherein the search engine communicates with the software applications or reads configuration files associated with the software applications, and wherein the remote agent reads software application configuration files on a remote machine;

executing the software configuration tests using a comparator that determines whether the specified relationship exists by comparing the retrieved values for the software configuration items needed to perform the software configuration tests; and

providing data for display, wherein the data includes a list of executed software configuration tests, and wherein the data includes a pass indication when an executed software configuration test is passed.

26. A computer-program product for analyzing configuration data, tangibly embodied in a machine-readable non-transitory storage medium, including instructions configured to cause a data processing apparatus to:

receive a selection of software configuration tests, wherein a software configuration test determines whether a specified relationship exists between software configuration items associated with multiple software applications;

determine software configuration items needed to perform the software configuration tests, wherein the software configuration items are retrieved from the multiple software applications, and wherein many to many relationships exist among the software configuration items;

retrieve values for the software configuration items, wherein retrieving values includes using a search engine and a remote agent, wherein the search engine communicates with the software applications or reads configuration files associated with the software applications, and wherein the remote agent reads software application configuration files on a remote machine;

execute the software configuration tests using a comparator that determines whether the specified relationship exists by comparing the retrieved values for the software configuration items needed to perform the software configuration tests; and

provide data for display, wherein the data includes a list of executed software configuration tests, and wherein the data includes a pass indication when an executed software configuration test is passed.