System and method for distributed management of shared computers

• US 7,606,898 B1
• Filed: 10/24/2000
• Issued: 10/20/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 10/24/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Zhigu Holdings Limited
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Tabbara, Bassam, Hunt, Galen C., Welland, Robert V., Hydrie, Aamer, Stutz, David S., Levi, Steven P.
• Primary Examiner(s): Kang; Paul H
• Application Number:
  US09/695,812
• Time in Patent Office: 3,283 Days
• Field of Search: 709/220, 709/227, 709/201, 709223-224, 709/226, 709/229, 709/225, 709/239, 709/246, 718/100, 707/10, 370/393
• US Class Current: 709/225
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/042 comprising distributed management centres cooperatively managing the network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0659 by isolating or reconfiguring faulty entities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0661 by reconfiguring faulty entities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/06 for supporting key management in a packet data network cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for key management H04L9/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/40 for recovering from a failure of a protocol instance or entity, e.g. service redundancy protocols, protocol state redundancy or protocol service redirection management of faults, events, alarms or notifications in data switching networks H04L41/06

Abstract

A multi-tiered server management architecture is employed including an application development tier, an application operations tier, and a cluster operations tier. In the application development tier, applications are developed for execution on one or more server computers. In the application operations tier, execution of the applications is managed and sub-boundaries within a cluster of servers can be established. In the cluster operations tier, operation of the server computers is managed without concern for what applications are executing on the one or more server computers and boundaries between clusters of servers can be established. The multi-tiered server management architecture can also be employed in co-location facilities where clusters of servers are leased to tenants, with the tenants implementing the application operations tier and the facility owner (or operator) implementing the cluster operations tier.

Claims

1. A computer readable memory having stored thereon a multi-tiered management architecture for implementation by a computer, the management architecture comprising:

an application development tier at which applications are developed for execution on one or more computers, the application development tier being implemented on a client console communicatively coupled to the one or more computers, wherein the client console is located remotely from a cluster operation tier console and an application operations tier console;

an application operations tier at which execution of the applications is managed, the application operations tier being implemented on the application operation management console at a location remote from the oneor more computers; and

a cluster operations tier to manage the operation of the computers without concern for what applications are executing on the one or more computers, wherein the cluster operations tier is responsible for securing a computer cluster boundary based on network filters received from the cluster operation tier console and the application operation management console giving precedence to those from the cluster operation tier console over the application operation management console to prevent a plurality of other computers that are not part of the computer cluster from accessing the one or more computers in the computer cluster.

2. A management architecture as recited in claim 1, wherein the application operations tier is responsible for securing sub-boundaries within the computer cluster boundary to restrict communication between computers within the computer cluster.

3. A management architecture as recited in claim 1, wherein the cluster operations tier is implemented at a cluster operations management console located at the same location as the one or more computers.

4. A management architecture as recited in claim 1, wherein the application operations tier monitors execution of application processes on the one or more computers and detects failures of the application processes.

5. A management architecture as recited in claim 1, wherein the application operations tier takes corrective action in response to a software failure on one of the computers.

6. A management architecture as recited in claim 5, wherein the corrective action comprises re-booting the computer.

7. A management architecture as recited in claim 5, wherein the corrective action comprises notifying an administrator of the failure.

8. A management architecture as recited in claim 1, wherein the cluster operations tier monitors hardware operation of the one or more computers and detects failures of the hardware.

9. A management architecture as recited in claim 1, wherein the cluster operations tier takes corrective action in response to a hardware failure of one of the computers.

10. A management architecture as recited in claim 9, wherein the corrective action comprises re-booting the computer.

11. A management architecture as recited in claim 9, wherein the corrective action comprises notifying a co-location facility administrator.

12. A management architecture as recited in claim 9, wherein the one or more computers are situated in one or more clusters at a co-location facility.

13. A co-location facility system comprising:

a plurality of server node clusters, each cluster corresponding to a different customer, where each server node comprises a management component that regulates network communication between the server nodes in accordance with network filters received from one or more cluster operations management consoles and in accordance with network filters received from remote consoles of the customers, where the management components give precedence to network filters from the one or more cluster operations management consoles over the network filters from the remote consoles such that network filters from the remote consoles cannot enable communications between applications on server nodes across cluster boundaries that have been defined by the network filters received from the one or more cluster operations management consoles, wherein each management console is configured to receive node control commands from an application operations management console located remotely from the co-location facility and software components developed on an application development console, the application operations management console and application development console being located remote to each other; and

the one or more cluster operations management consoles corresponding to one or more of the server node clusters and configured to manage hardware operations of the one or more server node clusters.

14. A system as recited in claim 13, further comprising a different cluster operations management console corresponding to each of the plurality of server node clusters.

15. A system as recited in claim 13, wherein each of the plurality of server node clusters includes, as its server nodes, a plurality of server computers.

16. A system as recited in claim 13, wherein the hardware operations include one or more of:

mass storage device operation, memory device operation, and network interface operation, and processor operation.

17. A system as recited in claim 13, wherein each server node in each server node cluster is configured with a private key that allows the server node to decrypt communications that are received, in a form encrypted using a public key, from the application operations management console associated with the customer that corresponds to the node cluster.

18. A system as recited in claim 13, further comprising a data transport medium coupled to each server node in the plurality of server node clusters via which each node can access an external network.

19. A system as recited in claim 13, wherein the external network comprises the Internet.

20. A system as recited in claim 13, wherein each server node in each server node cluster is configured with the boundary of the server node cluster.

21. A system as recited in claim 13, wherein each server node in each server node cluster is configured with a private key that allows the server node to decrypt communications that are received, in a form encrypted using a public key, from at least one of the one or more cluster operations management consoles.

22. A system as recited in claim 13, wherein one or more of the server nodes in a server node cluster are leased by the customer from an operator of the co-location facility.

23. A system as recited in claim 13, wherein the one or more cluster operations management consoles are configured to manage hardware operations of the one or more server node clusters without concern for what applications are executing on server nodes of the server node cluster, and wherein the one or more server cluster operations management consoles are responsible for securing a server node cluster boundary to prevent a plurality of other server nodes that are not part of the at least one server node cluster from accessing the server nodes of the at least one server node cluster.

24. A computer readable memory having stored thereon a multi-tiered computer management architecture for implementation by a computer, the management architecture comprising:

a first tier corresponding to an owner or lessee of a computer;

a second tier, implemented by a cluster operations management console and a remote console that establishes network traffic boundaries based on network filters, giving preference to those from the cluster operations management console over that from the remote console, corresponding to a hardware operator that is to manage hardware operations of the computer but not application software operations of the computer;

a third tier, implemented by an application operations management console, corresponding to a software operator that is to manage software application operations of the computer but not hardware operations of the computer; and

a fourth tier corresponding to the owner or lessee, wherein the owner or lessee operates in the fourth tier except when revoking rights of the hardware operator or software operator.

25. An architecture as recited in claim 24, wherein the cluster operations management console is at a location remote from the computer.

26. An architecture as recited in claim 24, wherein the application operations management console is at a location remote from the computer.

27. An architecture as recited in claim 24, further comprising using a plurality of key pairs, each key pair including a private key and a public key, to securely communicate between the computer and the cluster operations management console, as well as between the computer and the application operations management console.