Resource and data administration technologies for IT non-experts

• US 20040117407A1
• Filed: 12/16/2002
• Published: 06/17/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 12/16/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Trend Micro Inc.
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Batra, Vishal S., Mohania, Mukesh K., Kumar, Manoj, Sharma, Upendra
• Granted Patent: US 7,149,738 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/200
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/954 Relational
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99939 Privileged access
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99943 Generating database or data structure, e.g. via user interface

Abstract

The current invention provides a system for managing resources like application modules, databases, information repositories etc., monitoring transactions and transmitting data among systems. The system comprises a policy definition layer, a policy deployment layer and a policy execution layer. The policy definition layer provides for creating, editing and visualizing policies through a user interface using intuitive simple language constructs. The policy deployment layer converts the created policies into a relational format that can be directly stored in a policy database. The policy execution layer executes the deployed policies on occurrence of an event. A resource abstraction and notification layer provides the interfacing of the resources with the policy definition layer, policy deployment layer and the policy execution layer.

Claims

1. A system suitable for managing resources using a plurality of policies, the policies being stored in a policy database, the policy being defined by events, conditions and actions, the system comprising:

a. means for enabling a user to define, modify, delete and visualize the policies in an intuitive manner;

b. means for deploying the policies defined by the user, the means for deploying comprising;

means for converting policies defined in an intuitive manner into a format that can be directly stored in the policy database;

c. means for executing the deployed policies; and

d. means for interfacing the resources with the enabling means, the deploying means and the executing means.

2. The system for managing resources as recited in claim 1 wherein the system further comprises means for authorizing and authenticating users of the system.

3. The system as recited in claim 1 wherein the policies are stored in a relational format in the policy database.

4. The system for managing resources as recited in claim 1 wherein the deploying means further comprises:

a. means for resolving conflicts between a newly defined or modified policy and the existing policies; and

b. means for storing conflict-free policies in the policy database.

5. The system for managing resources as recited in claim 4 wherein the conflict resolving means further comprises a plurality of meta-policies, the meta-policies describing precedence among operations on each resource and precedence among policy makers.

6. The system for managing resources as recited in claim 1 wherein the executing means further comprises:

a. means for detecting occurrence of events;

b. means for evaluating conditions corresponding to detected events, the conditions being defined in policies corresponding to the detected event; and

c. means for executing actions corresponding to evaluated conditions, the actions being defined in policies corresponding to the detected events and the evaluated conditions.

7. The system for managing resources as recited in claim 1 wherein the interfacing means further comprises:

a. means for monitoring and accessing resources;

b. means for handling the conditions; and

c. means for handling the actions.

8. The system for managing resources as recited in claim 7 wherein the monitoring and accessing means enables the access of resources to events, conditions and actions.

9. The system as recited in claim 1 wherein the means for defining is a set of GUIs.

10. The policy based network as recited in claim 1 wherein the visualization of policies is in the form of a hierarchical tree structure.

11. A method for managing resources using a plurality of policies, the policies being stored in a policy database, the policy being defined by events, conditions and actions, the method comprising the steps of:

a. defining policies in an intuitive manner;

b. translating the policies defined in the intuitive manner into a format that can be directly stored in the policy database;

c. validating the defined policy as a conflict free policy;

d. deploying the conflict free policy into the policy database; and

e. executing the policies stored in the policy database, the policy being executed on the occurrence of an event corresponding to the policy.

12. The method for managing resources as recited in claim 11 wherein the step of validating the defined policy further comprises notifying a policy creator about a policy conflicting with the existing policies.

13. The method for managing resources as recited in claim 11 wherein the step of executing the policies comprises the steps of:

a. detecting occurrence of events in the system;

b. extracting the policy corresponding to the detected event from the policy database;

c. evaluating the condition defined in the extracted policy; and

d. executing the actions defined in the extracted policy based on the evaluated conditions.

14. The method as recited in claim 11 wherein policies are defined in the intuitive manner through the use of GUIs.

15. A system suitable for managing resources using a plurality of policies, the policies being stored in a policy database, the policy being defined by events, conditions and actions, the system comprising:

a. a plurality of client machines that enable a user to define, modify and visualize policies in an intuitive manner;

b. a server connected to each of the client machines, the server comprising;

i. means for deploying the created policies, the deploying means comprising;

means for converting policies defined in an intuitive manner into policies defined in a relational query format a format that can be directly stored in the policy database;

ii. means for executing the deployed policies; and

iii. means for interfacing resources with the plurality of client machines, the converting means, the deploying means and the executing means.

16. The policy based network as recited in claim 15 wherein the policy database further comprises:

a. means for storing information about events; and

b. means for storing conditions and subsequent actions for each event.

17. A policy based system for managing resources using a plurality of policies, the policies being stored in a policy database, the policy being defined by events, conditions and actions, the system having a plurality of client machines that enable a user to define, modify and visualize policies in an intuitive manner, the system comprising:

a. a server connected to each of the plurality of client machines, the server comprising;

i. means for deploying the created policies, the deploying means comprising;

means for converting policies defined in an intuitive manner into a format that can be directly stored in a policy database;

ii. means for executing the deployed policies, the execution of policies resulting in management of resources; and

iii. means for interfacing resources with the deploying means and the executing means, the resources including a policy database that stores the deployed policies in relational format

18. A policy based system for managing a plurality of resources, the system including a server connected to a plurality of client machines, the server including means for deploying policies in a policy database, the deployment means including means for converting policies defined in an intuitive manner into policies defined in relational format, each of the client machines comprising:

a. means for enabling a user to define, modify and visualize policies in an intuitive manner, means for enabling comprising;

i. a plurality of user interfaces for taking commands and data from the user;

ii. means for mapping a predefined set of system commands to the plurality of user interfaces, one system command mapping to at least one user interface;

b. means for exchanging information with a server in order to define, modify and visualize policies.

19. A system suitable for managing resources using a plurality of policies, the resources including a plurality of databases, the policy being defined by events, conditions and actions, the policies including record retention policies for managing resources, the policies including access control policies for controlling access on resources, the system comprising:

a. means for enabling a user to define, modify, delete and visualize the policies in an intuitive manner;

b. means for deploying the policies defined by the user, the means for deploying comprising;

means for converting policies defined in an intuitive manner into policies defined in a relational query format;

c. means for executing the deployed policies; and

d. means for interfacing the resources with the enabling means, the deploying means and the executing means.

20. The system as recited in claim 19 wherein the access control policies are defined at each of event, condition and action level.

21. A computer program product for suitable for managing resources using a plurality of policies, the policies being stored in a policy database, the policy being defined by events, conditions and actions, the computer program product comprising:

a. first program instruction means for enabling a user to define, modify, delete and visualize the policies in an intuitive manner;

b. second program instruction means for deploying the policies defined by the user, the means for deploying comprising;

means for converting policies defined in an intuitive manner into a format that can be directly stored in the policy database;

c. third program instruction means for executing the deployed policies; and

d. fourth program instruction means for interfacing the resources with the first program instruction means, the second program instruction means and the third program instruction means.

22. The computer program product as recited in claim 21 wherein the third program instruction means further comprises:

a. program instruction means for detecting the occurrence of events;

b. program instruction means for evaluating conditions corresponding to detected events, the conditions being defined in policies corresponding to the detected event;

program instruction means for executing actions corresponding to evaluated conditions, the actions being defined in policies corresponding to the detected events and the evaluated conditions.