Identification of discrepancies in actual and expected inventories in computing environment having multiple provisioning orchestration server pool boundaries

• US 8,606,659 B2
• Filed: 12/22/2008
• Issued: 12/10/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 12/17/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation, ServiceNow Incorporated
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Aggarwal, Vijay Kumar, Lawton, Craig, Peters, Christopher Andrew, Ramachandran, Puthukode G., Ullmann, Lorin Evan, Whitfield, John
• Primary Examiner(s): SHEIKH, ASFAND M
• Application Number:
  US12/341,261
• Publication Number:
  US 20090099942A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,814 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 705/28
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063 Operations research, analysis or management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders

Abstract

A system for establishing and maintaining inventories of computing environment assets comprising one or more custom collector interfaces that detect movement of assets from one environment to another, and an inventory scanner which modifies inventories for each environment based on monitored asset movements. The present invention is of especial benefit to autonomic and on-demand computing architectures.

Claims

1. A system for identification of discrepancies in actual and expected inventories in a physical computing environment having physical asset relocation boundaries comprising:

at least one collector interface disposed in relation with at least two of the physical computing environments such that movement of a physical computing asset from one physical computing environment to another physical computing environment is detected by a physical asset tracking system providing a physical asset relocation output;

at least one asset inventory disposed in a tangible, computer-readable storage memory device, each asset inventory being associated with at least one of the physical computing environments;

at least one backup copy of a physical computing environment disposed in a tangible, computer-readable storage memory device, each backup copy comprising a software image of one or more configured computing systems within the physical computing environment;

an inventory scanner portion of a computer system for establishing an initial asset inventory for each of the physical computing environments, for receiving the physical asset relocation output from the collector interface, for modifying at least one asset inventory responsive to detection of relocation of a physical asset from or into a physical computing environment, and for comparing a backup copy of a physical computing environment with an inventory to detect discrepancies between a compared backup copy and an inventory.

2. The system as set forth in claim 1 wherein the collector interface and the inventory scanner are for cooperating with a self-managed computing system.

3. The system as set forth in claim 2 wherein the collector interface and the inventory scanner are for cooperating with a system selected from the group consisting of an autonomic computing system, an on-demand computing system, a utility computing system, and a grid computing system.

4. The system as set forth in claim 1 wherein the inventory scanner is further for maintaining a history of each asset in each inventory, and for producing a history report regarding the life of an asset as first introduced to a physical computing environment, throughout movements from environment to environment, including final removal from the environments.

5. The system as set forth in claim 1 wherein at least one of the collector interfaces is disposed to monitor asset movement between any two environments selected from the group consisting of one or more development environments, one or more test environments, and one or more production environments.

6. The system as set forth in claim 1 wherein the inventory scanner is further for adding a previously unknown asset to an inventory associated with a physical computing environment in which the previously unknown asset has or will be configured.

7. The system as set forth in claim 1 wherein the inventory scanner is further for removing a previously known asset from an inventory associated with an environment in which the previously known asset was configured.

8. The system as set forth in claim 1 further comprising a license inventory report generator for generating a report containing locations and status of licensed assets, the report being receivable by a license management system.

9. The system as set forth in claim 1 wherein the inventory scanner is for accessing one or more asset revision level indicators, for comparing an inventory associated with a monitored environment to determine if all applicable patches and upgrades have been configured into the environment, and for generating a report detailing any discrepancies between a compared backup and inventory.

10. A method for identification of discrepancies in actual and expected inventories in a physical computing environment having physical asset relocation boundaries comprising:

utilizing in a computer at least one collector interface in relation with at least two physical computing environments such that movement of a physical computing asset from one environment to another environment is detected by a physical asset tracking system providing a physical asset relocation output;

accessing by an inventory scanner computer an initial asset inventory in a tangible, computer-readable storage memory device for each of the physical computing environments and accessing at least one backup copy of a physical computing environment, each backup copy comprising a software image of one or more configured computing systems within a physical computing environment;

receiving by a computer to receiving a physical asset relocation output from the collector interface indicating detection of physical relocation a of a physical asset from one physical computing environment to another physical computing environment, modifying by a computer at least one of the computer asset inventory, the modified inventory being associated with at least one of the physical computing environment to reflect the relocation, and comparing a backup copy of a physical computing environment with an inventory to detect discrepancies between a compared backup copy and an inventory.

11. The method as set forth in claim 10 wherein the collector interface and the inventory scanner cooperate with a self-managed computing system.

12. The method as set forth in claim 11 further comprising wherein the collector interface and the inventory scanner cooperate with a self-managed system selected from the group consisting of an autonomic computing system, an on-demand computing system, a utility computing system, and a grid computing system.

13. The method as set forth in claim 10 further comprising:

maintaining by a computer a history of each asset in each inventory; and

producing by a computer a history report regarding the life of an asset as first introduced to a environment, throughout movements relocations from environment to environment, including final removal from an environment when not currently located in a monitored environment.

14. The method as set forth in claim 10 wherein the disposing of a collector interface comprises disposing a collector interface to monitor asset movement between any two environments selected from the group consisting of one or more development environments, one or more test environments, and one or more production environments.

15. The method as set forth in claim 10 further comprising adding by a computer a previously unknown asset to an inventory associated with an environment in which the previously unknown asset has or will be configured.

16. The method as set forth in claim 10 further comprising removing by a computer a previously known asset from an inventory associated with an environment in which the previously known asset was configured.

17. The method as set forth in claim 10 further comprising generating by a computer a license inventory report containing locations and status of licensed assets, the report being receivable by a license management system.

18. The method as set forth in claim 10 further comprising:

accessing by a computer one or more asset revision level indicators;

comparing by a computer an inventory associated with a monitored environment to determine if all applicable patches and upgrades have been configured into the environment, and

generating by a computer a report detailing any discrepancies between a compared backup and inventory.

19. A computer program product for identification of discrepancies in actual and expected inventories in a physical computing environment having physical asset relocation boundaries comprising:

a tangible, computer readable storage memory device;

an initial asset inventory stored in a tangible, computer-readable storage memory device for each of two or more physical computing environments;

at least one backup copy of a physical computing environment stored in a tangible, computer-readable storage memory device, each backup copy comprising a software image of one or more configured computing systems within a physical computing environment;

first program instructions to receive an event from an physical asset tracking system indicating detection by at least one collector interface in relation with at least two of physical computing environments movement of a physical asset from one physical computing environment to another physical computing environment;

second program instructions to access the initial asset inventory;

third program instructions to modify according to the event an asset inventory associated with at least one of the physical computing environments; and

fourth program instructions for comparing the backup copy of a physical computing environment with an inventory to detect discrepancies between a compared backup copy and an inventory;

wherein the first, second, third and fourth program instructions are stored by the tangible, computer-readable storage memory device.

20. The computer program product as set forth in claim 19 further comprising program instructions stored by the tangible, computer-readable storage memory device to cooperate with a self-managed computing system.

21. The computer program product as set forth in claim 20 further comprising program instructions stored by the tangible, computer-readable storage memory device to cooperate with a system selected from the group consisting of an autonomic computing system, an on-demand computing system, a utility computing system, and a grid computing system.

22. The computer program product as set forth in claim 19 further comprising program instructions stored by the tangible, computer-readable storage memory device to:

maintain a history of each asset in each inventory; and

produce a history report regarding the life of an asset as first introduced to an environment, throughout movements from environment to environment, including final removal from the environments when not currently located in a monitored environment.

23. The computer program product as set forth in claim 19 wherein the collector interface comprises program instructions stored by the tangible, computer-readable storage memory device to monitor physical asset movement between any two environments selected from the group consisting of one or more development environments, one or more test environments, and one or more production environments.

24. The computer program product as set forth in claim 19 further comprising program instructions stored by the tangible, computer-readable storage memory device to add a previously unknown asset to an inventory associated with an environment in which the previously unknown asset has or will be configured.

25. The computer program product as set forth in claim 19 further comprising program instructions stored by the tangible, computer-readable storage memory device to remove a previously known asset from an inventory associated with an environment in which the previously known asset was configured.

26. The computer program product as set forth in claim 19 further comprising program instructions stored by the tangible, computer-readable storage memory device to generate a license inventory report containing locations and status of licensed assets, the report being receivable by a license management system.

27. The computer program product as set forth in claim 19 further comprising program instructions stored by the tangible, computer-readable storage memory device to:

access one or more asset revision level indicators;

compare an inventory associated with a monitored environment to determine if all applicable patches and upgrades have been configured into the environment; and

generate a report detailing any discrepancies between a compared backup and inventory.