Embedded system administration and method therefor

• US 8,661,548 B2
• Filed: 03/06/2010
• Issued: 02/25/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 07/21/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Snow Software, Inc. (Snow Software AB)
• Original Assignee: Embotics Corp. (Snow Software AB)
• Inventors: Shannon, John P., Brown, Thane, McCarthy, John, Watson, David A., White, Anthony Richard Phillip
• Primary Examiner(s): Cervetti, David Garcia
• Application Number:
  US12/718,962
• Publication Number:
  US 20100186094A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,452 Days
• Field of Search: 726/26
• US Class Current: 726/26
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0709 in a distributed system consisting of a plurality of standalone computer nodes, e.g. clusters, client-server systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0751 Error or fault detection not based on redundancy power supply failures G06F1/30; network fault management H04L41/06
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0793 Remedial or corrective actions recovery from an exception in an instruction pipeline G06F9/3861; by retry G06F11/1402; for recovering from a failure of a protocol instance or entity H04L69/40
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3055 Monitoring arrangements for monitoring the status of the computing system or of the computing system component, e.g. monitoring if the computing system is on, off, available, not available error or fault processing without redundancy G06F11/0703; error detection or correction by redundancy in data representation G06F11/08; error detection or correction by redundancy in operation G06F11/14; error detection or correction by redundancy in hardware G06F11/16
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3082 the data filtering being achieved by aggregating or compressing the monitored data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3409 for performance assessment
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3476 Data logging G06F11/14, G06F11/2205 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/50 Monitoring users, programs or devices to maintain the integrity of platforms, e.g. of processors, firmware or operating systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/815 Virtual middleware or OS functionality using virtual machines to implement generic software techniques for error detection or fault masking G06F11/1484
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/86 Event-based monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/87 Monitoring of transactions

Abstract

An administration system for use within a server system is provided. The server system having a server that provides host management functions and the server system being able to accept computer cards inserted therein. The administration system comprises a computing system that is inserted in the server system, the computing system having a controller that assumes control over the communications bus.

Claims

1. An administration system, embedded within a server system comprising a server computer having a processor, for providing an embedded autonomic control over the server computer, the administration system comprising:

a separate processor and an autonomic controller, operating independently of the server computer;

the autonomic controller comprising computer readable instructions stored in a memory, causing the separate processor to perform an autonomic computing based administration of hardware, operating system and software application programs running on the server computer, comprising;

monitoring the server computer and making observations;

analyzing the observations;

determining a policy violation in the server computer;

managing the server computer; and

executing specific actions in relation to the policy violation.

2. The administration system of claim 1, wherein the autonomic controller is adapted to receive software upgrades from an external device, or from a computer network, including communication with an external device.

3. The administration system of claim 1, wherein the computer readable instructions further cause the separate processor to receive input from and provide output to a management console.

4. The administration system of claim 1, wherein the computer readable instructions further cause the separate processor to:

execute an action to correct the operation of the server computer in response to the policy violation; and

take over host management functions from the server computer in response to the policy violation.

5. The administration system of claim 4, wherein the policy violation comprises security violation, and the action comprises restoring security of the server system.

6. The administration system of claim 4, wherein the action comprises rebooting the server system.

7. The administration system of claim 1, wherein the computer readable instructions further cause the separate processor to perform self configuration, comprising customizing functional modules required for the autonomic control of the server computer.

8. The administration system of claim 7, wherein the customizing comprises modifying a policy on the server computer in real-time.

9. The administration system of claim 8, wherein the policy includes a set of one or more rules that can be modified in real-time.

10. The administration system of claim 7, wherein the customizing comprises modifying policies on the server computer through a web server.

11. The administration system of claim 1, wherein the administration system comprises a power supply independent from the server computer.

12. The administration system of claim 1, wherein the administration system is located on a card inserted within a server system.

13. A method for embedded autonomic administration of a server computer having a processor, in a server system containing the server computer, the method comprising:

a) providing an administration system, comprising a separate processor and an autonomic controller, the administration system operating independently of the server computer;

b) at the administration system, by the autonomic controller, performing an autonomic computing based administration of hardware, operating system and software application programs running on the server computer, comprising;

monitoring the server computer and making observations;

analyzing the observations;

determining a policy violation in the server computer;

managing the server computer; and

executing specific actions in relation to the policy violation.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising receiving software upgrades for the autonomic controller from an external device, or from a computer network, including communicating with an external device.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the step (b) further comprises:

taking over host management functions from the server computer in response to the policy violation; and

executing an action to correct the operation of the server computer in response to the policy violation.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the determining the policy violation comprises determining a security violation, and the executing the action comprises restoring security of the server system.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the determining the policy violation comprises determining one or more rules, capable of being modified in real-time.

18. The method of claim 13, further comprising self configuring the administration system, including customizing functional modules required for the autonomic computing based administration of the server computer.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the self-configuring comprises modifying a policy on the server system in real-time.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the modifying comprises modifying the policy through a web server.

21. The method of claim 13, further comprising providing a power supply to the administration system, which is independent from the server computer.

22. The method of claim 13, comprising placing the administration system on a card inserted within the server system.

23. A server system, comprising:

a server computer having a processor;

an administration system embedded within the server system, providing embedded autonomic control over the server computer, the administration system comprising;

a separate processor, and an autonomic controller, operating independently of the server computer;

the autonomic controller comprising computer readable instructions stored in a memory, causing the separate processor to perform an autonomic computing based administration of hardware, operating system and software application programs running on the server computer, comprising;

monitoring the server computer and making observations;

analyzing the observations;

determining a policy violation in the server computer;

managing the server computer; and

executing specific actions in relation to the policy violation;

and

a communications bus providing communications between the server computer and the administration system.

24. The server system of claim 23, wherein the autonomic controller is adapted to receive software upgrades from an external device, or from a computer network, including communication with an external device.

25. The server system of claim 23, wherein the computer readable instructions further cause the separate processor to:

execute an action to correct the operation of the server system in response to the policy violation; and

take over host management functions from the server computer in response to the policy violation.

26. The server system of claim 25, wherein the policy violation comprises security violation, and the action comprises restoring security of the server computer.

27. The server system of claim 23, wherein the computer readable instructions further cause the separate processor to perform a self configuration, comprising customizing functional modules required for the autonomic control of the server computer.

28. The server system of claim 27, wherein the customizing comprises modifying a policy on the server computer in real-time.

29. The server system of claim 23, wherein the administration system is located on a card inserted within the server system, comprising the server computer, and independently powered from the server computer.

30. The server system according to claim 23, wherein the administration system has a power supply independent from the server computer.