Method, system and apparatus for managing computer identity

• US 8,554,889 B2
• Filed: 08/26/2004
• Issued: 10/08/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 04/21/2004
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Holtz, Eric, James, David, Healy, Michael
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Thuong (Tina)
• Assistant Examiner(s): NAJEE-ULLAH, TARIQ S
• Application Number:
  US10/926,686
• Publication Number:
  US 20050256973A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,330 Days
• Field of Search: 709/223, 709/245
• US Class Current: 709/223
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/12 Discovery or management of network topologies

Abstract

Embodiments of the present invention provide the ability to accurately match a particular computing device within a networked computing environment with an identity of that computing device. According to one aspect, a method for identifying a client computing device in a networked computing environment is provided. The method receives a discovery data record that includes a hardware identification and a logical identification, and in response, queries a plurality of client records for a matching client record. If a matching client record is identified by the query it is compared with the received discovery data record to identify the client computing device.

Claims

1. A method, implemented at a computer system that includes one or more processors, for identifying a client computing device in an asset management application, comprising:

receiving, at a discovery data manager, a discovery data record transmitted by the client computing device, the discovery data record including;

(i) a hardware identification representing a physical identity of the client computing device and comprising a deterministic value that identifies hardware of the client computing device, and (ii) a logical identification representing a logical identity of the client computing device and comprising a random value that represents a unique installation of a client identification module at the client computing device, the hardware identification and the logical identification having been generated by the client identification module, which is configured to;

deterministically generate the hardware identification based on one or more properties of one or more hardware components of the client computing device, and to re-generate the hardware identification when the one or more hardware components change at the client computing device; and

randomly generate the logical identification upon installation of the client identification module at the client computing device when a logical identification does not already exist for the client computing device, and to generate a new logical identification when one or more of the following occur;

(i) the client identification module detects that it has been transferred to a different client computing device, or (ii) the client identification module detects that the one or more hardware components have changed at the client computing device;

maintaining, by the discovery data manager, a store of client records comprising a plurality of previously received discovery data records, the store of client records representing the identities of a plurality of client computing devices that are managed by the asset management application;

querying, by the discovery data manager, the store of client records for a client record corresponding to the received discovery data record to locate the identity of the client computing device;

identifying, by the discovery data manager, a client record in the store that includes a corresponding hardware identifier that matches the hardware identification of the received discovery data record, but that includes a corresponding logical identification that does not match the logical identification of the received discovery data record;

marking, by the discovery data manager, the identified client record with the matching hardware identification as obsolete based on the corresponding logical identification of the client record not matching the logical identification of the received discovery data record;

generating, by the discovery data manager, a new client record in the store that includes the hardware identification and the logical identification of the received discovery data record; and

after identifying the client computing device, the discovery data manager using the hardware identification and logical identification of the new client record to query the client computing device for hardware components located on the client computer device, and software installed on the client computing device, and receiving a new discovery data record from the client computing device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the hardware identification is based on a serial number on a Basic Input/Output System of the client computing device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the hardware identification is based on a Media Access Control address of the client computing device.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the hardware identification is based on an asset tag of the client computing device.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the hardware identification is based on a combination of a plurality of hardware identifiers.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the logical identification is a randomly generated number.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the logical identification can be changed.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the logical identification is changed in response to reinstalling an operating system of the client computing device.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the logical identification is changed in response to changing a hardware component in the client computing device.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein the logical identification can be changed by a user of the client computing device.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein querying the plurality of client records for a client record corresponding to the received discovery data record includes, comparing the logical identification of the received discovery data record with a logical identification for each of the client records maintained in the store of client records.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein comparing the corresponding client record with the received discovery data record includes determining whether the hardware identification of the received discovery data record matches a hardware identification of the corresponding client record.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

when a corresponding client record is identified in the results of the query, updating the corresponding client record to include additional information contained in the received discovery data record.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein updating the corresponding client record includes, updating the hardware identification of the matching client record to include the received hardware identification.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein comparing the corresponding client record with the received discovery data record includes determining whether the received discovery data record includes a logical identification matching a logical identification of a previously received discovery data record;

and

in response to a determination that the received discovery data record includes a logical identification matching a logical identification of a previously received discovery data record, marking each of the plurality of client records that include a logical identification that matches the received logical identification as obsolete.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

when a matching client record is not identified in the query, marking each of the plurality of client records that include a hardware identification that matches the hardware identification of the received discovery record as obsolete.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein comparing the corresponding client record with the received discovery data record includes determining whether the received discovery data record includes a logical identification matching a previously received logical identification;

and

in response to a determination that the received discovery data record includes a logical identification matching a previously received logical identification, marking each of the plurality of client records that include a previously received logical identification that matches the received logical identification as obsolete; and

creating a new client record.

18. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

in response to comparing the corresponding client record with the received discovery data record, setting the corresponding client record to active.

19. The method of claim 1 wherein the discovery data record is created by the client identification module by performing the following acts:

searching the client computing device for an existing logical identification and stored hardware properties for the client computing device;

when existing logical identification and stored hardware properties are located on the client computing device, the client identification module determines whether the located stored hardware properties are similar to existing hardware properties; and

when it is determined that the located stored hardware properties are similar to the existing hardware properties, the client identification module generates the discovery data record including the located logical identification and a hardware identification derived from the stored hardware properties.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

when it is determined that the located stored hardware properties are not similar to the existing hardware properties;

creating a new logical identification;

creating a hardware identification derived from the existing hardware properties;

storing the new logical identification and the new hardware identification on the client computing device;

storing the existing hardware properties on the client computing device; and

generating a discovery data record including the new logical identification and the hardware identification.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the generated discovery data record further includes the located logical identification in addition to the new logical identification.

22. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

when existing logical identification and stored hardware properties are not located on the client computing device;

creating a new logical identification;

creating a hardware identification derived from existing hardware properties;

storing the new logical identification and the hardware identification on the client computing device; and

generating a discovery data record including the new logical identification and the hardware identification.

23. The method of claim 1, wherein the discovery data record further includes a name of the client identification module that is installed on the client computing device, and wherein the method further comprises:

determining that the store of client records does not contain a client record having the same logical identification as the logical identification received in the discovery data record from the client computing device;

comparing the name of the client identification module included in the discovery data record to a name of a client identification module included in each of the client records in the store of client records; and

upon determining that a first client record contains a name of a client identification module that matches the name of the client identification module included in the discovery data record, identifying the client computing device using the first client record.

24. A physical computer storage device having stored thereon computer executable instructions which, when executed by a processor, perform a method comprising:

receiving, at a discovery data manager, a discovery data record transmitted by the client computing device that includes a first operating system, the discovery data record including;

(i) a hardware identification representing a physical identity of the client computing device and comprising a deterministic value that identifies hardware of the client computing device, and (ii) a logical identification representing a logical identity of the client computing device and comprising a random value that represents a unique installation of a client identification module at the client computing device, the hardware identification and the logical identification having been generated by the client identification module, which is configured to;

deterministically generate the hardware identification based on one or more properties of one or more hardware components of the client computing device, and to re-generate the hardware identification when the one or more hardware components change at the client computing device; and

randomly generate the logical identification upon installation of the client identification module at the client computing device when a logical identification does not already exist for the client computing device, and to generate a new logical identification when one or more of the following occur;

(i) the client identification module detects that it has been transferred to a different client computing device, or (ii) the client identification module detects that the one or more hardware components have changed at the client computing device;

maintaining, by the discovery data manager, a store of client records comprising a plurality of previously received discovery data records, the store of client records representing the identities of a plurality of client computing devices that are managed by the asset management application;

querying, by the discovery data manager, the store of client records for a client record corresponding to the received discovery data record to locate the identity of the client computing device;

when a client record is identified as corresponding to the received discovery data record in the results of the query, the discovery data manager comparing the corresponding client record with the received discovery data record to confirm the identity of the client computing device;

after identifying the client computing device, the discovery data manager using the identity of the client computing device to query the client computing device for hardware components located on the client computer device, and software installed on the client computing device; and

receiving, at the discovery data manager, a second discovery data record transmitted by the client computing device, wherein the second discovery data record includes the hardware identification of the client computing device and a second logical identification of the client computing device, wherein the second logical identification is generated in response to a new operating system being installed on the client computing device.

25. A computer system, comprising:

one or more processors; and

one or more computer-readable storage devices having stored thereon computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the computer system to implement a method, comprising;

receiving, at a discovery data manager, a discovery data record transmitted by the client computing device, the discovery data record including;

(i) a hardware identification representing a physical identity of the client computing device and comprising a deterministic value that identifies hardware of the client computing device, and (ii) a logical identification representing a logical identity of the client computing device and comprising a random value that represents a unique installation of a client identification module at the client computing device, the hardware identification and the logical identification having been generated by the client identification module, which is configured to;

deterministically generate the hardware identification based on one or more properties of one or more hardware components of the client computing device, and to re-generate the hardware identification when the one or more hardware components change at the client computing device; and

randomly generate the logical identification upon installation of the client identification module at the client computing device when a logical identification does not already exist for the client computing device, and to generate a new logical identification when one or more of the following occur;

(i) the client identification module detects that it has been transferred to a different client computing device, or (ii) the client identification module detects that the one or more hardware components have changed at the client computing device;

maintaining, by the discovery data manager, a store of client records comprising a plurality of previously received discovery data records, the store of client records representing the identities of a plurality of client computing devices that are managed by the asset management application;

querying, by the discovery data manager, the store of client records for a client record corresponding to the received discovery data record to locate the identity of the client computing device;

identifying, by the discovery data manager, a client record in the store that includes a corresponding hardware identifier that matches the hardware identification of the received discovery data record, but that includes a corresponding logical identification that does not match the logical identification of the received discovery data record;

marking, by the discovery data manager, the identified client record with the matching hardware identification as obsolete based on the corresponding logical identification of the client record not matching the logical identification of the received discovery data record;

generating, by the discovery data manager, a new client record in the store that includes the hardware identification and the logical identification of the received discovery data record; and

after identifying the client computing device, the discovery data manager using the hardware identification and logical identification of the new client record to query the client computing device for hardware components located on the client computer device, and software installed on the client computing device and receiving a new discovery data record from the client computing device.

26. The computer system of claim 25, wherein the hardware identification is based on a serial number on a Basic Input/Output System of the client computing device.

27. The computer system of claim 25, wherein the hardware identification is based on a Media Access Control address of the client computing device.

28. The computer system of claim 25, wherein the hardware identification is based on an asset tag of the client computing device.

29. The computer system of claim 25, wherein the hardware identification is based on a combination of a plurality of hardware identifiers.

30. The computer system of claim 25, wherein the logical identification is a randomly generated number.

31. The computer system of claim 25, wherein the logical identification can be changed.

32. The computer system of claim 31, wherein the logical identification is changed in response to reinstalling an operating system of the client computing device.

33. The computer system of claim 31, wherein the logical identification is changed in response to changing a hardware component in the client computing device.

34. The computer system of claim 31, wherein the logical identification can be changed by a user of the client computing device.