Apparatus and method for managing configuration of computer systems on a computer network

• US 20050188116A1
• Filed: 04/15/2005
• Published: 08/25/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 06/12/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Hintermeister, Gregory Richard, Brown, Kenneth Edgar, Murphy, Michael Bill
• Granted Patent: US 7,379,985 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 710/8
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/44505 Configuring for program initiating, e.g. using registry, configuration files

Abstract

A system configuration manager provides a graphical user interface that allows a system administrator to easily administer configuration settings for different computer systems and platforms on a computer network. The system configuration manager of the present invention allows identifying one system configuration or a settings profile as a “model system”. Once the model system is defined, other computer systems may be compared to the model system. Differences between the selected computer systems and the model system are then displayed, and the system configuration manager may be used to update the selected computer systems with configuration settings specified in the model system. Cross-platform support is provided by a configuration mapping mechanism that maps configuration information from one platform to corresponding configuration information for another platform. The configuration mapping mechanism effectively hides the differences between platforms by translating the configuration information from a selected platform to corresponding configuration information for the model system.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

at least one processor;

a memory coupled to the at least one processor;

a system configuration manager residing in the memory, the system configuration manager including;

model configuration settings that specify desired configuration settings for a computer system; and

a configuration mapping mechanism that maps at least one configuration setting for at least one computer system to the model configuration settings.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the configuration mapping mechanism maps the at least one configuration setting for a selected platform to corresponding configuration settings for a different platform.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the at least one configuration setting comprises system settings and customization settings.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the model configuration settings are determined by selecting a computer system as the model system, thereby defining configuration settings for the selected computer system as the model configuration settings.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the model configuration settings are determined by defining a configuration settings profile that includes configuration settings for a model system.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the system configuration manager determines differences, if any, between configuration settings for at least one of a plurality of computer systems and the model configuration settings, selects at least one of the plurality of computer systems for updating, and updates the configuration settings for the selected at least one computer system according to the model configuration settings.

7. The apparatus of claim 6 wherein the system configuration manager determines differences, if any, between the configuration settings for at least one of a plurality of computer systems and the configuration settings for the model system by collecting configuration settings from at least one computer system selected from the plurality of computer systems, and comparing the configuration settings from the selected at least one computer system with the model configuration settings.

8. The apparatus of claim 6 wherein the system configuration manager displays to a user any differences between the configuration settings from the selected at least one computer system with the model configuration settings.

9. The apparatus of claim 6 wherein the system configuration manager updates the configuration settings for the selected at least one computer system by translating the model configuration settings to configuration settings for each selected computer system, and updating each selected computer system with the translated configuration settings.

10. A program product comprising:

(A) a system configuration manager that includes;

(A1) model configuration settings that specify desired configuration settings for a computer system; and

(A2) a configuration mapping mechanism that maps at least one configuration setting for at least one computer system to the model configuration settings; and

(B) computer-readable signal bearing media bearing the system configuration manager.

11. The program product of claim 10 wherein the signal bearing media comprises recordable media.

12. The program product of claim 10 wherein the signal bearing media comprises transmission media.

13. The program product of claim 10 wherein the configuration mapping mechanism maps the at least one configuration setting for a selected platform to corresponding configuration settings for a different platform.

14. The program product of claim 10 wherein the at least one configuration setting comprises system settings and customization settings.

15. The program product of claim 10 wherein the model configuration settings are determined by selecting a computer system as the model system, thereby defining configuration settings for the selected computer system as the model configuration settings.

16. The program product of claim 10 wherein the model configuration settings are determined by defining a configuration settings profile that includes configuration settings for a model system.

17. The program product of claim 10 wherein the system configuration manager determines differences, if any, between configuration settings for at least one of a plurality of computer systems and the model configuration settings, selects at least one of the plurality of computer systems for updating, and updates the configuration settings for the selected at least one computer system according to the model configuration settings.

18. The program product of claim 17 wherein the system configuration manager determines differences, if any, between the configuration settings for at least one of a plurality of computer systems and the configuration settings for the model system by collecting configuration settings from at least one computer system selected from the plurality of computer systems, and comparing the configuration settings from the selected at least one computer system with the model configuration settings.

19. The program product of claim 17 wherein the system configuration manager displays to a user any differences between the configuration settings from the selected at least one computer system with the model configuration settings.

20. The program product of claim 17 wherein the system configuration manager updates the configuration settings for the selected at least one computer system by translating the model configuration settings to configuration settings for each selected computer system, and updating each selected computer system with the translated configuration settings.