System and method for tracking configuration changes in enterprise product

• US 9,059,898 B2
• Filed: 11/19/2011
• Issued: 06/16/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 12/07/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: General Electric Company
• Original Assignee: General Electric Company
• Inventors: Sreeramudu, Thokala, Sagar, Vidya, Venkataramanan, Arun, Uppaiapati, Silpa, Thakkar, Dhaval, Mallya, Nitin, Gakhar, Nitin
• Primary Examiner(s): DANG, THANH HA T
• Application Number:
  US13/300,551
• Publication Number:
  US 20120143821A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,305 Days
• Field of Search: 707/639, 707/694
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/046 comprising network management agents or mobile agents therefor
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0853 by actively collecting configuration information or by backing up configuration information

Abstract

In one embodiment, an automatic, remote and centralized configuration management system for tracking configuration changes in an enterprise product is provided. The system comprises at least one subsystem forming a part of the enterprise product, an agent coupled to the subsystem, the agent configured for creating one or more configuration snapshots of the subsystem and a configuration manager operably coupled to the agent, the configuration manager configured to communicate with the agent to collect the one or more configuration snapshots so as to track the configuration changes in the enterprise product.

Claims

1. A system for tracking configuration changes in an enterprise product of an enterprise system, the system comprising:

a configuration manager deployed on a device, the configuration manager configured to;

create a first snapshot of a runtime configuration of the enterprise product responsive to a first trigger, the first snapshot corresponding to a first time stamp;

create a second snapshot of a runtime configuration of the enterprise product responsive to a second trigger, the second snapshot corresponding to a second time stamp;

store the first snapshot and the second snapshot to a serviceability database remote from the enterprise system;

retrieve at least two stored snapshots from the serviceability database;

compare the at least two retrieved snapshots to track changes to the runtime configuration in the enterprise product; and

display the tracked runtime configuration changes;

wherein each configuration snapshot comprises one or more configuration values, the configuration values being at least one of static and dynamic configuration values, wherein the system is configured to create validation rules for different types of configurations and wherein the configuration manager determines the validity of the configuration values based upon the validation rules; and

generates a notification upon determining invalidity of the configuration values.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the configuration manager is configured to generate an alert on tracking runtime configuration changes in the enterprise product.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the configuration manager is configured to collect audit information about at least one of the configuration snapshots.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the serviceability database is located remotely from the enterprise product.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein each of the first and second triggers generated is one of a scheduled, manual and event based trigger.

6. The system of claim 1, further comprising an agent configured to detect a change in the runtime configuration of the enterprise product, collect the first and second snapshots and transmit the first and second snapshots to the configuration manager.

7. A configuration management system for tracking configuration changes in an enterprise product of an enterprise system, the system comprising:

at least one subsystem forming a part of the enterprise product;

an agent coupled to the subsystem, the agent configured for creating one or more snapshots of a runtime configuration of the subsystem;

a configuration manager user interface and a configuration manager deployed on a device and operably coupled to the agent, the configuration manager configured to store first and second snapshots of the runtime configuration in a serviceability database remote from the enterprise system, retrieve at least two stored snapshots from the serviceability database, and communicate with the agent to collect the one or more retrieved snapshots in order to track changes to the runtime configuration in the enterprise product wherein each configuration snapshot comprises one or more configuration values, the configuration values being at least one of static and dynamic configuration values, and wherein the system is configured to create validation rules for different types of configurations and the configuration manager determines the validity of the configuration values based upon the validation rules; and

generates a notification upon determining invalidity of the configuration values.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein a first agent is coupled to a first subsystem and a second agent is coupled to a second subsystem and wherein the first agent and the second agent communicate with the configuration manager through a standard interface.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the first agent and the second agent communicate with the configuration manager using communication protocols comprising JMX and web services.

10. The system of claim 7, wherein the enterprise product is set up in one of environments comprising production, test and training.

11. The system of claim 7, further comprising a configuration management user interface coupled to the configuration manager.