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Mini appliance ensuring software license compliance

  • US 9,396,311 B2
  • Filed: 07/13/2011
  • Issued: 07/19/2016
  • Est. Priority Date: 07/13/2011
  • Status: Active Grant
First Claim
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1. A method comprising:

  • customizing a network appliance via a web-browser, wherein the customizing the network appliance is based, at least in part, on a specific user, wherein the network appliance comprises a first and a second network port, wherein the web-browser connects to a web-based interface of the network appliance over an internet protocol (IP) address provided with the first network port of the network appliance, wherein the IP address of the first network port is alterable via the web-based interface, wherein the IP address of the second network port is assigned and not changeable by a user, and wherein the second network port is dedicated for recovery and enables a reset of the network appliance;

    receiving, by the network appliance, a list of one or more network devices from a discovery device;

    deploying, by the network appliance, agent software to the one or more network devices, the agent software being configured to provide software information from the network device to the network appliance;

    receiving, by the network appliance, software information from the agent software indicative of a type of software application installed on the one or more network devices associated with the agent software, wherein the software information comprises at least one of a title, a version, a release date, a manufacturer, and a current license status;

    storing, by the network appliance, the received software information;

    analyzing, by the network appliance, the software information to ensure software license compliance for the one or more network devices,wherein analyzing the software information comprises utilizing at least one of a license model, an authorization model, and a license key model, and wherein analyzing the software information further comprises;

    for each software application installed on the one or more network devices;

    determining a total number of copies of the software application installed on the one or more network devices;

    comparing the total number of copies of the software application with a total number of licenses of the software application; and

    collecting a license violation for each instance where the total number of copies of the software application is greater than the total number of licenses of the software application;

    generating a compliance report, wherein the compliance report comprises each collected license violation for each software application;

    receiving, by the network appliance, at least one of a selection and scheduling of a piece of software to update or a patch to download and install; and

    wherein the network appliance is not connected to a keyboard, a mouse, or a monitor, wherein the network appliance has no hardware component that physically moves while the network appliance is in operation, and wherein the network appliance uses natural convection for cooling the network appliance.

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