Method, system, and article of manufacture for generating device specific requests

• US 20050171953A1
• Filed: 01/30/2004
• Published: 08/04/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 01/30/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Hwang, Hai-Yann, Wang, Xin, Zhou, Cindy, Schaefer, Thorsten, Bonilla, Sergio P., Jancke, Karsten
• Granted Patent: US 7,587,421 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0226 Mapping or translating multiple network management protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/565 Conversion or adaptation of application format or content adding application control or application functional data H04L67/561
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/566 Grouping or aggregating service requests, e.g. for unified processing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99935 Query augmenting and refining, e.g. inexact access
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99948 Application of database or data structure, e.g. distributed, multimedia, or image

Abstract

Provided are a method, system and article of manufacture for managing devices, wherein in certain embodiments a request implemented via at least one device independent class is received. A class hierarchy database is traversed to determine at least one device specific class that corresponds to the at least one device independent class, wherein the class hierarchy database stores a class hierarchy and associations between classes. The received request is modified, wherein in the modified request the least one device independent class has been translated to the at least one device specific class.

Claims

1. An article of manufacture for managing devices, wherein the article of manufacture causes operations to be performed, the operations comprising:

receiving a request implemented via at least one device independent class;

traversing a class hierarchy database to determine at least one device specific class that corresponds to the at least one device independent class, wherein the class hierarchy database stores a class hierarchy and associations between classes; and

modifying the received request, wherein in the modified request the least one device independent class has been translated to the at least one device specific class.

2. The article of manufacture of claim 1, the operations further comprising:

mapping at least one device independent class attribute to at least one device specific class attribute in the modified request;

mapping at least one device independent property to at least one device specific property in the modified request;

generating a device specific request from the modified request, in response to mapping the at least one device independent class attribute and the at least one device independent property; and

sending the device specific request to a managed device.

3. The article of manufacture of claim 1, the operations further comprising:

further modifying the received request to include at least one association between device specific classes in the class hierarchy.

4. The article of manufacture of claim 1, wherein the received request indicates a source class and a requested class, the operations further comprising:

determining a specific association between a first device specific class that corresponds to the source class and a second device specific class that corresponds to the specific class, wherein the specific association corresponds to a managed device.

5. The article of manufacture of claim 4, wherein the source class represents storage pools and the requested class represents storage volumes corresponding to a storage pool.

6. The article of manufacture of claim 1, wherein the received request indicates a source class and a base association, the operations further comprising:

determining a first device specific class from the class hierarchy database, wherein the first device specific class has a specific association with a second device specific class that corresponds to the indicated source class, and wherein the specific association corresponds to the base association.

7. The article of manufacture of claim 1, wherein the receiving, traversing, and modifying are performed by a proxy, the operations further comprising:

generating a device specific request in a device specific language; and

sending the device specific request in the device specific language to a managed device coupled to the proxy.

8. The article of manufacture of claim 1, wherein the request is received from a Common Information Model application, and wherein the at least one device independent class is specified by a Common Information Model schema.

9. The article of manufacture of claim 1, wherein the request comprises a command that is part of an object oriented management schema for managing non-homogeneous devices in a network environment.

10. The article of manufacture of claim 9, wherein the management schema comprises the Common Information Model.

11. A method for managing devices, the method comprising:

receiving a request implemented via at least one device independent class;

traversing a class hierarchy database to determine at least one device specific class that corresponds to the at least one device independent class, wherein the class hierarchy database stores a class hierarchy and associations between classes; and

modifying the received request, wherein in the modified request the least one device independent class has been translated to the at least one device specific class.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

mapping at least one device independent class attribute to at least one device specific class attribute in the modified request;

mapping at least one device independent property to at least one device specific property in the modified request;

generating a device specific request from the modified request, in response to mapping the at least one device independent class attribute and the at least one device independent property; and

sending the device specific request to a managed device.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

further modifying the received request to include at least one association between device specific classes in the class hierarchy.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the received request indicates a source class and a requested class, the method further comprising:

determining a specific association between a first device specific class that corresponds to the source class and a second device specific class that corresponds to the specific class, wherein the specific association corresponds to a managed device.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the source class represents storage pools and the requested class represents storage volumes corresponding to a storage pool.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein the received request indicates a source class and a base association, the method further comprising:

determining a first device specific class from the class hierarchy database, wherein the first device specific class has a specific association with a second device specific class that corresponds to the indicated source class, and wherein the specific association corresponds to the base association.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein the receiving, traversing, and modifying are performed by a proxy, the method further comprising:

generating a device specific request in a device specific language; and

sending the device specific request in the device specific language to a managed device coupled to the proxy.

18. The method of claim 11, wherein the request is received from a Common Information Model application, and wherein the at least one device independent class is specified by a Common Information Model schema.

19. The method of claim 11, wherein the request comprises a command that is part of an object oriented management schema for managing non-homogeneous devices in a network environment.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the management schema comprises the Common Information Model.

21. An system for managing devices, comprising:

a processor; and

program logic including code capable of causing the processor to perform;

receiving a request implemented via at least one device independent class;

traversing a class hierarchy database to determine at least one device specific class that corresponds to the at least one device independent class, wherein the class hierarchy database stores a class hierarchy and associations between classes; and

modifying the received request, wherein in the modified request the least one device independent class has been translated to the at least one device specific class.

22. The system of claim 21, further comprising:

a managed device, wherein program logic is further capable of causing the processor to perform;

mapping at least one device independent class attribute to at least one device specific class attribute in the modified request;

mapping at least one device independent property to at least one device specific property in the modified request;

generating a device specific request from the modified request, in response to mapping the at least one device independent class attribute and the at least one device independent property; and

sending the device specific request to the managed device.

23. The system of claim 21, wherein the program logic is further capable of causing the processor to perform:

further modifying the received request to include at least one association between device specific classes in the class hierarchy.

24. The system of claim 21, further comprising:

a managed device, wherein the received request indicates a source class and a requested class, and wherein the program logic is further capable of causing the processor to perform;

determining a specific association between a first device specific class that corresponds to the source class and a second device specific class that corresponds to the specific class, wherein the specific association corresponds to the managed device.

25. The system of claim 24, wherein the source class represents storage pools and the requested class represents storage volumes corresponding to a storage pool.

26. The system of claim 21, wherein the received request indicates a source class and a base association, and wherein the program logic is further capable of causing the processor to perform:

determining a first device specific class from the class hierarchy database, wherein the first device specific class has a specific association with a second device specific class that corresponds to the indicated source class, and wherein the specific association corresponds to the base association.

27. The system of claim 21, further comprising:

a proxy, wherein the processor is included in the proxy; and

a managed device coupled to the proxy, wherein the receiving, traversing, and modifying are performed by the proxy, and wherein the program logic is further capable of causing the processor to perform;

generating a device specific request in a device specific language; and

sending the device specific request in the device specific language to the managed device.

28. The system of claim 21, wherein the request is received from a Common Information Model application, and wherein the at least one device independent class is specified by a Common Information Model schema.

29. The system of claim 21, wherein the request comprises a command that is part of an object oriented management schema for managing non-homogeneous devices in a network environment.

30. The system of claim 29, wherein the management schema comprises the Common Information Model.

31. An system for managing devices, comprising:

means for receiving a request implemented via at least one device independent class;

means for traversing a class hierarchy database to determine at least one device specific class that corresponds to the at least one device independent class, wherein the class hierarchy database stores a class hierarchy and associations between classes; and

means for modifying the received request, wherein in the modified request the least one device independent class has been translated to the at least one device specific class.

32. The system of claim 31, further comprising:

means for mapping at least one device independent class attribute to at least one device specific class attribute in the modified request;

means for mapping at least one device independent property to at least one device specific property in the modified request;

means for generating a device specific request from the modified request, in response to mapping the at least one device independent class attribute and the at least one device independent property; and

means for sending the device specific request to a managed device.

33. The system of claim 31, wherein the received request indicates a source class and a base association, the system further comprising:

means for determining a first device specific class from the class hierarchy database, wherein the first device specific class has a specific association with a second device specific class that corresponds to the indicated source class, and wherein the specific association corresponds to the base association.