Method and system for model-based heterogeneous server configuration management

• US 8,549,114 B2
• Filed: 04/16/2003
• Issued: 10/01/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 06/12/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: BladeLogic Incorporated (KKR & Co., Inc.)
• Original Assignee: BladeLogic Incorporated (KKR & Co., Inc.)
• Inventors: Reddy, Ravi, Manwani, Vijay G., Kraus, Thomas Martin
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Thuong
• Application Number:
  US10/414,887
• Publication Number:
  US 20030233431A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,821 Days
• Field of Search: 709/221, 709/223, 709/220, 709/224, 707/102
• US Class Current: 709/221
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1471 involving logging of persistent data for recovery
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/84 Using snapshots, i.e. a logical point-in-time copy of the data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/466 Transaction processing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/022 Multivendor or multi-standard integration
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0803 Configuration setting
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0806 for initial configuration or provisioning, e.g. plug-and-play
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/082 the condition being updates or upgrades of network functionality
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/084 Configuration by using pre-existing information, e.g. using templates or copying from other elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0853 by actively collecting configuration information or by backing up configuration information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0863 by rolling back to previous configuration versions
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/01 Protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1001 for accessing one among a plurality of replicated servers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1008 based on parameters of servers, e.g. available memory or workload monitoring of computer activity G06F11/30
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1014 based on the content of a request
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1034 Reaction to server failures by a load balancer

Abstract

A method and system for configuring heterogeneous servers across a network through modules that can browse, snapshot, track changes, track compliance, correct server objects on each of the servers, and provision new servers is provided. In one embodiment, server objects on multiple servers can be browsed in real time. While browsing, a collection of server object identifiers can be selected and collected in a template. The values of the server objects identified in the template can be recorded for a “gold server” through a “snapshot” process, which collects the values and saves them in a reference model. By comparing other live servers to the reference model, discrepancies in configuration of the other live servers can be identified and corrected. The reference models can also be used to provision a new server. Alternative to the reference model, an arbitrary snapshot or scheduled snapshots of a server can be used to track change and compliance in that server.

Claims

1. A method for configuring a plurality of heterogeneous servers across a network, the method comprising:

browsing, using at least one processor, in response to user input, server objects in one or more of a plurality of servers across a network to examine current configuration of the server objects in the servers, the server objects comprising server assets that store configuration settings for the servers and configuration parameters that provide configuration settings for the servers;

creating, using the at least one processor, a template by selecting identifiers of one or more of the browsed server objects;

creating a reference model by recording values of server objects retrieved from a server selected from the plurality of heterogeneous servers, the recorded values being for the server objects specified by the identifiers in the template and providing values for baseline server objects and the reference model including a compliance range for at least one baseline server object that is based on the value of the at least one baseline server object, the compliance range being a range of configuration values considered acceptable for compliance with the reference model;

comparing, using the at least one processor, values for server objects from a second server from the plurality of heterogeneous servers to the reference model to discover discrepancies between the server objects of the second server and the baseline server objects of the reference model, wherein a discrepancy for the at least one baseline server object is outside of the compliance range; and

correcting the second server objects based on the discrepancies discovered by the comparing.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the reference model is capable of recording values for files and configuration file fields.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the template includes identifiers that identify the files and the configuration file fields.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the server objects comprise at least one of a primitive server object, a compound server object, an abstract configuration server object, and a component server object.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein each primitive server object is an elemental server object selected from a set of elemental server objects comprising:

files, directories, access control lists (ACLs) application programs, hot fixes, packages, configuration file entries, registry entries, component object model (COM/COM+) catalog entries, meta-base entries, users and accounts.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the compound server object comprises a plurality of server objects, each of the plurality of server objects in the compound server object selected from the set of primitive server objects, abstract configuration server objects, component server objects and compound server objects.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein the abstract configuration server object comprises an entry in a configuration file stored in an abstract configuration file format according to a cross-platform configuration file grammar that is not platform-specific.

8. The method of claim 4, wherein the component server object comprises a sequenced collection of server objects.

9. The method of claim 4, wherein each primitive server object is an elemental server object selected from a set of elemental server objects comprising:

files, directories, package manager files, and configuration file entries.

10. The method of claim 4, wherein each primitive server object is an elemental server object selected from a set of elemental server objects comprising:

files, directories, packages, patches, and configuration files entries.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the template is created manually.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the template is created externally and imported.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the template comprises at least one previously defined template.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising repeating the recording of values of the server objects retrieved from the selected server, thereby taking a plurality of snapshots of the values for the baseline server objects for the selected server at predetermined time intervals and capturing a more recent version of the baseline server objects with each snapshot.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising repeating the comparing, thereby auditing a live server at different times to track compliance against baseline over time.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein each of the audits are against a specific version of the baseline.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein each of audits are against the then most recent baseline.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the selected sever is a live server and the reference model is a live reference model comprising values obtained from the live server for the server objects specified in the template.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein the second server does not initially have any of the server objects identified in the reference model and the second server is provisioned by the correction of discrepancies against the reference model.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein the correcting the second server objects further comprises:

collecting the discrepancies identified in a transaction package to execute a plurality of server change operations on the second server, the transaction package including server objects, a parameter file, and instructions to carry out the server change operations; and

synchronizing the second server with the reference model.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the transaction package synchronizes the second server in a transaction-safe manner.

22. The method of claim 20, wherein the second server accesses a dependency graph to provide an execution sequence for the server change operations.

23. The method of claim 1, wherein the user selects the selected server from the plurality of heterogeneous servers as a gold server that provides values for the baseline server objects.

24. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

restoring a configuration of a third server using the reference model after a failure of the third server, the configuration of the third server having the values of the baseline server objects.

25. A system for configuring a plurality of heterogeneous servers across a network, the system comprising:

at least one processor; and

memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the system to;

execute a browser for browsing, in response to user input, server objects in on or more of a plurality of servers across a network to examine current configuration of the server objects in the servers, the server objects comprising server assets that store configuration settings for the servers and configuration parameters that provide configuration settings for the servers;

generate a template comprising identifiers of one or more of the browsed server objects,

execute a recorder for recording values of the browsed server objects specified by the identifiers in the template from a selected server of the plurality of servers,

generate a reference model from the recorded values from the selected server, the reference model providing values for baseline server objects for comparison to others of the plurality of servers and the reference model including a compliance range for at least one baseline server object that is based on a value of the at least one baseline server object, the compliance range being a range of configuration values considered acceptable for compliance with the reference model,

execute a comparator, in communication with the reference model, for comparing values for server objects from a second server from the plurality of heterogeneous servers to the reference model to discover discrepancies between the server objects of the second server and the baseline server objects of the reference model, wherein a discrepancy for the at least one baseline server object is outside of the compliance range, and

execute a corrector, in communication with the comparator, for correcting the second server objects based on the discrepancies discovered by the comparator.

26. The system of claim 25, wherein the server objects comprise at least one of a file and a configuration file entry.

27. The system of claim 26, wherein the server objects are each a server object selected from the set of server objects comprising a primitive server object, a compound server object, an abstract configuration server object, and a component server object.

28. The system of claim 27, wherein each primitive server object is an elemental server object selected from a set of elemental server objects comprising:

files, directories, access control lists (ACLs), application programs, hot fixes, packages, configuration file entries, registry entries, component object model (COM/COM+) catalog entries, meta-base entries, users, and accounts.

29. The system of claim 27, wherein the compound server object comprises a plurality of server objects, each of the plurality of server objects in the compound server object selected from a set of primitive server objects, abstract configuration server objects, component server objects, and compound server objects.

30. The system of claim 27, wherein the abstract configuration server object comprises an entry in a configuration file stored in an abstract configuration file format according to a cross-platform configuration file grammar that is not platform specific.

31. The system of claim 27, wherein the component server object comprises a sequenced collection of server objects.

32. The system of claim 27, wherein each primitive server object is an elemental server object selected from a set of elemental server objects comprising:

files, directories, package manager files, and configuration file entries.

33. The system of claim 27, wherein each primitive server object is an elemental server object selected from a set of elemental server objects comprising:

files, directories, packages, patches, and configuration files entries.

34. The system of claim 25, wherein the template comprises a manually created template.

35. The system of claim 25, wherein the template comprises an imported template.

36. The system of claim 25, wherein the template comprises at least one previously defined template.

37. The system of claim 25, wherein the recorder repeatedly takes a plurality of snapshots of the values for baseline server objects for the selected server at predetermined time intervals, thereby capturing a more recent version of a baseline with each snapshot.

38. The system of claim 37, wherein the comparator repeatedly takes a plurality of audits of a live server at different times to track compliance against the baseline over time.

39. The system of claim 38, wherein each of the audits are against the same version of the baseline.

40. The system of claim 38, wherein each of audits are against the then most recent baseline.

41. The system of claim 25, wherein the selected server is a live server and the reference model is a live reference model comprising values obtained from the live server for the server objects specified in the template.

42. The system of claim 25, wherein the second server does not initially have any of the server objects identified in the reference model and the second server is thereby provisioned by the correction of discrepancies against the reference model.

43. The system of claim 25, wherein the corrector uses discrepancies identified to generate a transaction package to execute a plurality of server change operations on the second server;

and synchronizes the second server with the reference model using the transaction package.

44. A computer program product comprising a computer useable storage device including control logic stored therein, the control logic enabling configuration of a plurality of heterogeneous servers across a network, the computer program product causing at least one computing device to perform operations comprising:

browsing, in response to user input, server objects in one or more of a plurality of servers across a network to examine current configuration of the server objects in the servers, the server objects comprising server assets that store configuration settings for the servers and configuration parameters that provide configuration settings for the servers;

creating a template by selecting identifiers of one or more of the browsed server objects;

creating a reference model by recording values of server objects retrieved from a server selected from the plurality of heterogeneous servers, the recorded values being for the server objects specified by the identifiers in the template, the reference model providing values for baseline server objects and the reference model including a compliance range for at least one baseline server object that is based on the value of the at least one baseline server object, the compliance range being a range of configuration values considered acceptable for compliance with the reference model;

comparing values for server objects from a second server from the plurality of heterogeneous servers to the reference model to discover discrepancies between the server objects of the second server and the baseline server objects of the reference model, wherein a discrepancy for the at least one baseline server object is outside of the compliance range; and

correcting the second server objects based on the discrepancies discovered by the comparing.

45. The computer program product of claim 44, wherein one or more of the server objects are a file or a configuration file entry.

46. The computer program product of claim 44, wherein each of the server objects are one of:

a primitive server object, a compound server object, an abstract configuration server object, or a component server object.

47. The computer program product of claim 46, wherein each primitive server object comprises one of the following elemental server objects:

files, directories, access control lists (ACLs), application programs, hot fixes, packages, configuration file entries, registry entries, component object model (COM/COM+) catalog entries, meta-base entries, users, and accounts.