Configuration of network devices
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A server computer device comprising:
- a network interface arranged to communicatively couple the server computer device to at least one network, the server computer device being communicatively coupled to a plurality of computer devices via said at least one network;
an identification and usage processor comprising;
a system information interface arranged to receive a first set of data indicative of computer programs installed on said plurality of computer devices and a second set of data indicative of usage of said programs;
a catalogue database interface arranged to communicatively couple the identification and usage processor to a catalogue database, the catalogue database comprising a plurality of identification records associated with a plurality of known computer programs, each identification record being indexed by a standardised program identifier;
a standardisation component arranged to process the data received via the system information interface and convert said data into a set of standardised program identifiers that correspond to the standardised program identifiers in the catalogue database;
an installation database interface arranged to communicatively couple the identification and usage processor to an installation database, the installation database comprising a plurality of installation records, each installation record being associated with a standardised program identifier and a computer device identifier;
an installation component arranged to output installation data indicative of one or more computer programs that are installed on each of the plurality of computer devices based on the output of the standardisation component, the installation data being stored as installation records in the installation database by way of the installation database interface;
a usage database interface arranged to communicatively couple the identification and usage processor to a usage database, the usage database comprising a plurality of usage records, each usage record being associated with at least a standardised program identifier;
a correlation component arranged to correlate the second set of data with the standardised program identifiers output by the standardisation component and output usage data to be stored as usage records in the usage database by way of the usage database interface;
a program function analyser arranged to determine, based on one or more of data in the installation database and data in the usage database as accessed via a respective one or the installation database interface and the usage database interface, at least one common program function that is implemented by a first computer program on a first subset of the plurality of computer devices and by a second computer program on a second subset of the plurality of computer devices; and
a configuration component to instruct un-installation of a selected one of said first computer program or said second computer program on a respective one of said first subset or said second subset of computer devices and to instruct installation of the other of said first computer program or said second computer program, such that the first subset of computer devices and the second subset of computer devices are configured with a common computer program to perform said at least one common program function.
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Accused Products
Abstract
According to examples described herein computer devices coupled to a network can be automatically configured. Systems information is gathered from a plurality of computer devices by way of one or more of an agent and a scout. This information is standardized and stored in one or more databases. A program function is determined from the standardized information. This program function is used to identify two different sets of computer programs installed on a set of networked computer devices. This configuration is then replaced by a configuration where only a single common computer program is used to perform the program function.
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Citations
13 Claims
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1. A server computer device comprising:
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a network interface arranged to communicatively couple the server computer device to at least one network, the server computer device being communicatively coupled to a plurality of computer devices via said at least one network; an identification and usage processor comprising; a system information interface arranged to receive a first set of data indicative of computer programs installed on said plurality of computer devices and a second set of data indicative of usage of said programs; a catalogue database interface arranged to communicatively couple the identification and usage processor to a catalogue database, the catalogue database comprising a plurality of identification records associated with a plurality of known computer programs, each identification record being indexed by a standardised program identifier; a standardisation component arranged to process the data received via the system information interface and convert said data into a set of standardised program identifiers that correspond to the standardised program identifiers in the catalogue database; an installation database interface arranged to communicatively couple the identification and usage processor to an installation database, the installation database comprising a plurality of installation records, each installation record being associated with a standardised program identifier and a computer device identifier; an installation component arranged to output installation data indicative of one or more computer programs that are installed on each of the plurality of computer devices based on the output of the standardisation component, the installation data being stored as installation records in the installation database by way of the installation database interface; a usage database interface arranged to communicatively couple the identification and usage processor to a usage database, the usage database comprising a plurality of usage records, each usage record being associated with at least a standardised program identifier; a correlation component arranged to correlate the second set of data with the standardised program identifiers output by the standardisation component and output usage data to be stored as usage records in the usage database by way of the usage database interface; a program function analyser arranged to determine, based on one or more of data in the installation database and data in the usage database as accessed via a respective one or the installation database interface and the usage database interface, at least one common program function that is implemented by a first computer program on a first subset of the plurality of computer devices and by a second computer program on a second subset of the plurality of computer devices; and a configuration component to instruct un-installation of a selected one of said first computer program or said second computer program on a respective one of said first subset or said second subset of computer devices and to instruct installation of the other of said first computer program or said second computer program, such that the first subset of computer devices and the second subset of computer devices are configured with a common computer program to perform said at least one common program function. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. A computer-implemented method of determining, at an identification and usage processor comprising at least a processor and a memory, a configuration of a plurality of computer devices that are communicatively coupled to at least one network, the method comprising:
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accessing a first set of data identifying one or more computer programs installed on each of the plurality of computer devices; mapping the first set of data to a set of one or more standardised program identifiers; accessing a second set of data identifying usage of one or more computer programs on each of said plurality of computer devices; correlating the second set of data with the set of one or more standardised program identifiers; based on at least one of the first and second sets of data, determining at least one program function that is implemented on at least a subset of the plurality of computer devices; determining a first computer program that is providing the determined program function for a first subset of said plurality of computer devices; determining a second computer program that is providing the determined program function for a second subset of said plurality of computer devices; selecting one of the first computer program or the second computer program to provide the determined computer function; responsive to selecting the first computer program, instructing the un-installation of the second computer program on each of the computer devices in the second subset, and instructing the installation of the first computer program on each of the computer devices in the second subset; and responsive to selecting the second computer program, instructing the un-installation of the first computer program on each of the computer devices in the first subset, and instructing the installation of the second computer program on each of the computer devices in the first subset. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A computer-implemented method of obtaining systems information from a plurality of server computer devices that are communicatively coupled to at least one network for use in configuring said devices, the method comprising:
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accessing, on a systems management server, data identifying each of the plurality of server computer devices; parsing, on the systems management server, the accessed data to determine an address of each server computer device on the at least one network; communicating, from the systems management server, with each server computer device using a corresponding one of the determined addresses, said communicating comprising querying each server computer device for systems information, the systems information comprising a first set of data indicative of computer programs installed on each server computer device and a second set of data indicative of usage of said programs on each server computer device; receiving, at a data interface of the systems management server, data from each of the plurality of server computer devices, the data comprising said systems information, and storing the data in a database; receiving, at the data interface of the systems management server, a request from an identification and usage server, the request being received at predetermined time intervals and relating to systems information for the plurality of server computer devices stored in the database; retrieving, at the systems management server, data from the database; and sending, via the data interface of the systems management server, the retrieved data to the identification and usage server, wherein the identification and usage server uses the sent data to determine at least one common program function that is implemented by a first computer program on a first subset of the plurality of server computer devices and by a second computer program on a second subset of the plurality of server computer devices; and the identification and usage server instructs un-installation of the first computer program on the first subset of server computer devices and instructs installation of the second computer program on the same first subset of server computer devices, such that at least a subset of the plurality of server computer devices are configured with a common computer program to perform said at least one common program function.
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Specification