Software appliance management using broadcast data

• US 8,868,721 B2
• Filed: 05/29/2008
• Issued: 10/21/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 05/29/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Inventors: Boggs, Joseph, Faus, Norman Lee, Huff, David P., Kearney, Bryan
• Primary Examiner(s): EDWARDS, LINGLAN E
• Application Number:
  US12/129,356
• Publication Number:
  US 20090300164A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,336 Days
• Field of Search: 709223-226, 717/168, 717/170, 717/171
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1433 during software upgrading
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/08 Monitoring or testing based on specific metrics, e.g. QoS, energy consumption or environmental parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0817 by checking functioning
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/20 the monitoring system or the monitored elements being virtualised, abstracted or software-defined entities, e.g. SDN or NFV
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/10 for controlling access to devices or network resources
• 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 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34

Abstract

Systems and methods for managing software appliances using a broadcast mechanism, embodiments of which incorporate a centralized appliance monitor that collects software appliance state information from a community of clients having software appliance installations. Software appliances can include a reduced-component operating system combined with pre-configured application(s), for instance distributed via optical disc or Web download. When a software appliance instantiates on a client in the network or at other times, the identity and execution state of the application is broadcast to an appliance monitor. The appliance monitor aggregates the appliance state information for all clients in the network, and manages their deployment and execution on the network. The appliance monitor can for example transmit an appliance control instruction to a client to terminate or otherwise manage an uncertified or unapproved appliance, or take other network management action.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving a plurality of broadcasts comprising information identifying execution states and configurations of a plurality of software appliances, each broadcast is from a client system of a plurality of client systems, wherein at least two of the plurality of software appliances are installed on each of the plurality of client systems;

determining, by a processor, whether a first software appliance of the plurality of software appliances that is installed on a first client system of the plurality of client systems is unauthorized in view of an execution state of the first software appliance and a configuration of a second software appliance of the plurality of software appliances; and

generating a control action for the first client system when the first software appliance is determined to be unauthorized.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the control action comprises one or both of:

an instruction to terminate execution of the first software appliance, and an instruction to install an updated copy of the first software appliance on the first client system that hosts the first software appliance.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the control action comprises an instruction to uninstall the first software appliance from the first client system that hosts the first software appliance.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the first software appliance comprises a pre-configured application and a reduced operating system configured to support the pre-configured application.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining is also in view of an I/O state of the first software appliance.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising updating information pertaining to the execution state of the first software appliance to reflect the control action.

7. A system comprising:

a network interface device; and

a processor coupled to the network interface device and to;

receive a plurality of broadcasts comprising information identifying execution states and configurations of a plurality of software appliances, each broadcast is from a client system of a plurality of client systems, wherein at least two of the plurality of software appliances are installed on each of the plurality of client systems;

determine whether a first software appliance of the plurality of software appliances that is installed on a first client system of the plurality of client systems is unauthorized in view of an execution state of the first software appliance and a configuration of a second software appliance of the plurality of software appliances, and

transmit, via the network interface device, a control action for the first client system when the first software appliance is determined to be unauthorized.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the control action comprises one or both of:

an instruction to terminate execution of the first software appliance, and an instruction to install an updated copy of the first software appliance on the first client system that hosts the first software appliance.

9. The system of claim 7, wherein the control action comprises an instruction to uninstall the first software appliance from the first client system that hosts the first software appliance.

10. The system of claim 7, wherein the first software appliance comprises a pre-configured application and a reduced operating system configured to support the pre-configured application.

11. The system of claim 7, wherein the determining is also in view of an I/O state of the first software appliance.

12. The system of claim 7, wherein the processor is further to update information pertaining to the execution state of the first software appliance to reflect the control action.

13. A non-transitory machine-readable medium having stored thereon instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:

receiving a plurality of broadcasts comprising information identifying execution states and configurations of a plurality of software appliances, each broadcast is from a client system of a plurality of client systems, wherein at least two of the plurality of software appliances are installed on each of the plurality of client systems;

determining, by the processor, whether a first software appliance of the plurality of software appliances that is installed on a first client system of the plurality of client systems is unauthorized in view of an execution state of the first software appliance and a configuration of a second software appliance of the plurality of software appliances; and

generating a control action for the first client system when the first software appliance is determined to be unauthorized.

14. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 13, wherein the control action comprises one or both of:

an instruction to terminate execution of the first software appliance, and an instruction to install an updated copy of the first software appliance on the first client system that hosts the first software appliance.

15. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 13, wherein the control action comprises an instruction to uninstall the first software appliance from the first client system that hosts the first software appliance.

16. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 13, wherein the first software appliance comprises a pre-configured application and a reduced operating system configured to support the pre-configured application.

17. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 13, wherein the operations further comprise updating information pertaining to the execution state of the first software appliance to reflect the control action.