Unified service management

• US 8,838,755 B2
• Filed: 11/15/2007
• Issued: 09/16/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/23/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Sanghvi, Ashvinkumar J., Bice, Shawn, McKinnon, Casey, Rajarajan, Vij, Jacobsen, Jens K, Schultz, Kristoffer S
• Primary Examiner(s): Lazaro, David
• Assistant Examiner(s): KOROBOV, VITALI A
• Application Number:
  US11/940,545
• Publication Number:
  US 20090228579A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,497 Days
• Field of Search: 709/220, 709/223
• US Class Current: 709/221
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/20 Software design
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/70 Software maintenance or management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/046 comprising network management agents or mobile agents therefor
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0806 for initial configuration or provisioning, e.g. plug-and-play
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0816 the condition being an adaptation, e.g. in response to network events
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0843 based on generic templates
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0869 Validating the configuration within one network element
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0883 Semiautomatic configuration, e.g. proposals from system
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0893 Assignment of logical groups to network elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/145 involving simulating, designing, planning or modelling of a network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/22 comprising specially adapted graphical user interfaces [GUI]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0817 by checking functioning

Abstract

The described unified service management system provides a unified console to perform functions of individual management specialists. A unified console facilitates an administrator to perform the complex tasks that were performed by the individual management specialists. The unified console provides a “wizard” based approach to the administrator to design all aspects of the complex tasks including placement of components or computing devices, deciding on policies of the components or computing devices, deciding on health policies of components or computing devices, fixing data protection policies of components or computing devices, etc.

Claims

1. A system for managing a network, comprising:

one or more management servers to provide instructions for implementation by one or more managed nodes that are operatively coupled to the network and that are configured to run an application program, the one or more management servers comprising;

a configuration management module to perform the following;

receive a request that identifies changes to be implemented on the one or more managed nodes;

select a model from a plurality of models associated with the changes, the plurality of models depicting various software applications and hardware components included in the network;

provide a plurality of deployment profiles associated with the model, the deployment profiles including lists of criteria pertaining to implementation of the model, at least one of the lists of criteria including a number of applications that can be processed within a period of time;

configure administration policies associated with a deployment profile selected from the plurality of deployment profiles;

create change order instances from a chosen change template, the chosen change template based on the selected deployment profile, the change order instances including work flow definitions to be followed during implementation of the changes;

validate the change order instances; and

implement the changes based on the validated change order instances.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the changes are based on statuses of the software applications and the hardware components on the network.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the model is selected based on received responses to queries displayed in a user interface.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of deployment profiles are suitable to an appropriate model.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the administration policies are configured based on a consideration of service level agreement (SLA) constraints defined in the selected deployment profile.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the change template is one of a group of predefined change templates for the selected deployment profile.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more managed nodes include one or more of the following:

personal digital assistants, desktops, workstations, servers, and laptop computers.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein unifying agents are employed on the one or more managed nodes and employ instructions to automatically collect status of the one or more managed nodes and of other resources in the network.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the unifying agents include an application monitor, a configuration module, and a notification reporter.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more management servers employ a unified console and are configured to employ one or more of:

an operating mode, a changing mode, a supporting mode, and a planning mode.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the unified console is configured to address operations, changes, and planning of the network.

12. The system of claim 1, further comprising a configuration management database configured to track the changes.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the lists of criteria pertain to one or more of a size of an enterprise network that can be implemented, a type of servers that may be used, and a required security type.

14. The system of claim 1 wherein the administration policies include one or more of health policies, network policies, and protection and recovery policies.

15. A method comprising:

receiving a request that identifies changes to be implemented on one or more managed nodes that are operatively coupled to a network;

selecting a model from a plurality of models associated with the changes, the plurality of models depicting various software applications and hardware components included in the network;

providing a plurality of deployment profiles associated with the model, the deployment profiles including lists of criteria pertaining to implementation of the model, at least one of the lists of criteria including a number of transactions that can be processed within a period of time;

configuring administration policies associated with a deployment profile selected from the plurality of deployment profiles;

creating change order instances from a chosen change template, the chosen change template based on the selected deployment profile;

validating the change order instances; and

implementing the changes based on the validated change order instances.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the lists of criteria further include criteria pertaining to a size of an enterprise network that can be utilized to implement the model.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the lists of criteria further include a type of server that can be used to implement the model.

18. A computer-readable memory storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:

receiving a request that identifies changes to be implemented on one or more managed nodes that are operatively coupled to a network;

selecting a model from a plurality of models associated with the changes, the plurality of models depicting various software applications and hardware components included in the network;

providing a plurality of deployment profiles associated with the model, the deployment profiles including lists of criteria pertaining to implementation of the model, at least one of the lists of criteria including one or more types of security policies that can be used to implement the model;

configuring administration policies associated with a deployment profile selected from the plurality of deployment profiles;

creating change order instances from a chosen change template, the chosen change template based on the selected deployment profile;

validating the change order instances; and

implementing the changes based on the validated change order instances.

19. The computer-readable memory of claim 18, wherein the lists of criteria further include a number of applications that can be processed within a period of time.

20. The computer-readable memory of claim 18, wherein the change order instances including work flow definitions to be followed during implementation of the changes.