Graphical display of management data obtained from an extensible management server

• US 8,356,309 B1
• Filed: 09/15/2009
• Issued: 01/15/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 09/15/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: American Megatrends Incorporated
• Original Assignee: American Megatrends Incorporated
• Inventors: Burrell, Brandon, Reddy, Bakka Ravinder, Inbaraj, Joseprabu
• Primary Examiner(s): Puente, Emerson
• Assistant Examiner(s): Labud, Jonathan R
• Application Number:
  US12/559,750
• Time in Patent Office: 1,218 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 719/328
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45512 Command shells
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/22 comprising specially adapted graphical user interfaces [GUI]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/75 Indicating network or usage conditions on the user display

Abstract

An extensible management server (XMS) is disclosed that includes a management interface, a scripting engine, and a data store having management scripts and a management class library stored therein. The management interface provides functionality for receiving and responding to commands received from a management application. The management scripts include functionality for retrieving and setting management data on managed computers. The management scripts are configured to utilize classes contained in the management class library to perform the actual interaction with the managed server computers for retrieving or setting management data. The management scripts may also be configured to utilize a graphical display application programming interface for generating graphical display instructions for use by the management application in graphically displaying the management data.

Claims

1. A system for graphically displaying management data retrieved from an extensible management server, the system comprising:

a management application configured for execution on a client computer; and

a server computer configured with a management interface, a scripting engine, and a data store having a plurality of management scripts, a management class library, and a graphical display application programming interface (API) stored therein,

wherein the management interface is configured to receive and respond to requests from the management application to execute the management scripts by way of the scripting engine, and

wherein the management class library has a plurality of management classes communicating with one or more managed computer systems,

wherein the management scripts are specific for the management classes and configured to instruct the scripting engine to execute the management classes,

wherein the scripting engine is configured to execute a selected management class of the management class library as instructed by the management scripts,

wherein the selected management class is configured to retrieve management data from at least one of the managed computer systems,

wherein the management scripts are configured to utilize the graphical display API to generate graphical display instructions for use by the management application in graphically displaying the management data, and

wherein the management scripts are configured to instruct the scripting engine to execute a first class of the management classes to obtain handles to at least two of a database, a device, a sensor, an event log, a FRU component, power control, OBSM power management, and OBSM cooling management.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the management scripts are further configured to provide the management data and the graphical display instructions to the management application.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the management application is further configured to utilize the graphical display instructions to graphically render the management data.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the management application is further configured to utilize a rendering API to graphically render the management data.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the management application comprises a desktop application program.

6. The system of claim 4, wherein the management application comprises a Web browser program and wherein the rendering API is provided by a plug-in to the Web browser program.

7. The system of claim 4, wherein the management class library comprises one or more classes for obtaining management data from an event log of one or more of the managed computer systems.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the management class library further comprises one or more classes for obtaining management data regarding a field replaceable unit of one or more of the managed computer systems.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the management class library further comprises one or more classes for obtaining the management data regarding a power supply of one or more of the managed computer systems.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the management class library further comprises one or more classes for obtaining the management data regarding a cooling component of one or more of the managed computer systems.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the management classes and the managed computer systems are configured to communicate through Intelligent Platform Management Interface.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein a first management script is configured to instruct the scripting engine to execute the first class to obtain a handle to a database, and wherein a second management script is configured to instruct the scripting engine to execute the first class to obtain a handle to a sensor.

13. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions stored thereon which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to:

expose a management interface on a computer for use by a management application;

receive a request at the management interface from the management application to execute a management script stored in a data store; and

in response to receiving the request, to cause the management script to be executed thereby executing one or more classes of a management class library stored in the data store to retrieve management data from one or more managed computer systems and thereby executing a graphical display application programming interface (API) to generate graphical display instructions for use by the management application in graphically displaying the management data, wherein the management class library has a plurality of management classes communicating with the one or more managed computer systems, wherein the management script is specific for the management classes and configured to execute the management classes, and wherein the management script is configured to instruct the scripting engine to execute a first class of the management classes to obtain handles to at least two of a database, a device, a sensor, an event log, a FRU component, power control, OBSM power management, and OBSM cooling management.

14. The computer-readable medium of claim 13 having further computer-executable instructions stored thereupon which, when executed by the computer, cause the management interface to return the management data and the graphical display instructions to the management application in response to the request to execute the management script.

15. The computer-readable medium of claim 14 having further computer-executable instructions stored thereupon which, when executed by the computer, cause the management application to graphically display the management data using the graphical display instructions.

16. The computer-readable medium of claim 15 wherein the management application program is configured to utilize a rendering API to graphically display the management data.

17. The computer-readable medium of claim 13, wherein each management script stored in the data store comprises a package name, a script name, a script description, a creation date, an author list, a list of arguments to the management script, a list of data returned by the script, and script code for implementing the management script.

18. The computer-readable medium of claim 13, wherein the management class library comprises one or more classes for obtaining management data from an event log of one or more of the managed computer systems, one or more classes for obtaining management data regarding a field replaceable unit of one or more of the managed computer systems, one or more classes for obtaining the management data regarding a power supply of one or more of the managed computer systems, and one or more classes for obtaining the management data regarding a cooling component of one or more of the managed computer systems.

19. A computer-implemented method for graphically displaying management data, the computer-implemented method comprising performing computer-implemented operations for:

exposing a management interface for use by a management application;

receiving a request at the management interface from the management application to execute a management script stored in a data store; and

in response to receiving the request, causing the management script to be executed, thereby executing one or more classes of a management class library stored in the data store to retrieve management data from one or more managed computer systems and thereby executing a graphical display application programming interface (API) to generate graphical display instructions for use by the management application in graphically displaying the management data, wherein the management class library has a plurality of management classes communicating with the one or more managed computer systems, wherein the management script is specific for the management classes and configured to execute the management classes, and wherein the management script is configured to instruct the scripting engine to execute a first class of the management classes to obtain handles to at least two of a database, a device, a sensor, an event log, a FRU component, power control, OBSM power management, and OBSM cooling management.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising providing the management data and the graphical display instructions to the management application in response to the request to execute a management script.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the management application is further configured to utilize the graphical display instructions to graphically display the management data on a display of a client computer.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the management application is further configured to utilize a rendering API to graphically display the management data on the display of the client computer.