Data processing environment change management methods and apparatuses

• US 9,209,996 B2
• Filed: 03/19/2012
• Issued: 12/08/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 03/31/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Tripwire Incorporated (Belden Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Tripwire Incorporated (Belden Inc.)
• Inventors: DiFalco, Robert A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Dustin
• Application Number:
  US13/424,152
• Publication Number:
  US 20120179805A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,359 Days
• Field of Search: 707/203, 707/600, 707/999.103, 707/100, 707/104.1, 717/174, 717/122, 717/168, 709/220, 709/223, 709/238, 370/254, 713/165
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/60 Software deployment
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/70 Software maintenance or management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/66 Arrangements for connecting between networks having differing types of switching systems, e.g. gateways
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/082 the condition being updates or upgrades of network functionality

Abstract

An apparatus is provided with a change management module adapted to manage making changes to a data processing device of a data processing environment.

Claims

1. An automated method for facilitating management of a data processing environment comprising:

receiving a change request for making a change to a data processing device of the data processing environment;

upon determining, as a result of a pre-implementation change request approval process, that the received change request has been approved, selecting the change for implementation;

after receiving an indication that the change has been made, generating a change report, in digital form, based at least in part on a reference state of the data processing device, the change report enumerating the change made to the data processing device;

receiving an indication of a post-implementation change approval of the enumerated change; and

in response to receiving the indication of post-implementation change approval of the enumerated changes, updating the reference state of the data processing device to include the enumerated changes.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the reference state is a previously saved known good state of the data processing device, and said generating comprises comparing a current state of the data processing device with the previously saved known good state of the data processing device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the reference state is a previously saved known good state of the data processing device, and said updating comprises saving a current state of the data processing device as a new reference state of the data processing device replacing the previously saved known good state of the data processing device.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the data processing device is a selected one of a server, a client computing device, or a networking device.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the pre-implementation change request approval process comprises determining whether the change request has a dependency on another change for which implementation is pending.

5. An apparatus, comprising:

a processor; and

a change management module adapted to be operated by the processor to enable the apparatus to;

receive a change request for making a change to a data processing device of a data processing environment,

upon determining, as a result of a pre-implementation change request approval process, that the received change request has been approved, select the change for implementation,

after receiving an indication that the change has been made, generate a change report enumerating the change made to the data processing device based at least in part on a reference state of the data processing device,

receive an indication of a post-implementation change approval of the enumerated change, and

in response to receiving the indication of the post-implementation change approval of the enumerated change, update the reference state of the data processing device to include the enumerated changes.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the reference state is a previously saved known good state of the data processing device, and said change management module is further adapted to compare a current state of the data processing device with the previously saved known good state of the data processing device.

7. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the reference state is a previously saved known good state of the data processing device, and said change management module is further adapted to save a current state of the data processing device as a new reference state of the data processing device replacing the previously saved known good state of the data processing device.

8. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the apparatus is a selected one of a server of the data processing device, or a peer computing device of the data processing device.

14. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the pre-implementation change request approval process comprises determining whether the change request has a dependency on another change for which implementation is pending.

9. A computer-readable memory device or storage device storing computer-executable instructions which when executed by a computer cause the computer to perform a method, the method comprising:

receiving a change request for making a change to a data processing device of the data processing environment;

upon determining, as a result of a pre-implementation change request approval process, that the received change request has been approved, selecting the change for implementation;

after receiving an indication that the change has been made, generating a change report, in digital form, based at least in part on a reference state of the data processing device, the change report enumerating the change made to the data processing device;

receiving an indication of a post-implementation change approval of the enumerated change; and

in response to receiving the indication of post-implementation change approval of the enumerated changes, updating the reference state of the data processing device to include the enumerated changes.

10. The computer-readable memory device or storage device of claim 9, wherein the reference state is a previously saved known good state of the data processing device, and said generating comprises comparing a current state of the data processing device with the previously saved known good state of the data processing device.

11. The computer-readable memory device or storage device of claim 9, wherein the reference state is a previously saved known good state of the data processing device, and said updating comprises saving a current state of the data processing device as a new reference state of the data processing device replacing the previously saved known good state of the data processing device.

12. The computer-readable memory device or storage device of claim 9, wherein the data processing device is a selected one of a server, a client computing device, or a networking device.

15. The computer-readable memory device or storage device of claim 9, wherein the pre-implementation change request approval process comprises determining whether the change request has a dependency on another change for which implementation is pending.