Embedded system administration

• US 7,725,943 B2
• Filed: 07/21/2004
• Issued: 05/25/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 07/21/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Snow Software, Inc. (Snow Software AB)
• Original Assignee: Embotics Corp. (Snow Software AB)
• Inventors: Shannon, John P., McCarthy, John, Brown, Thane, White, Anthony Richard Phillip, Watson, David A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Shiferaw; Eleni A
• Application Number:
  US10/895,626
• Publication Number:
  US 20050060567A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,134 Days
• Field of Search: 726/20, 726/24, 726/25, 726/26, 714/2, 714/20, 714/22, 714/24, 700/27
• US Class Current: 726/26
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0709 in a distributed system consisting of a plurality of standalone computer nodes, e.g. clusters, client-server systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0751 Error or fault detection not based on redundancy power supply failures G06F1/30; network fault management H04L41/06
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0793 Remedial or corrective actions recovery from an exception in an instruction pipeline G06F9/3861; by retry G06F11/1402; for recovering from a failure of a protocol instance or entity H04L69/40
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3055 Monitoring arrangements for monitoring the status of the computing system or of the computing system component, e.g. monitoring if the computing system is on, off, available, not available error or fault processing without redundancy G06F11/0703; error detection or correction by redundancy in data representation G06F11/08; error detection or correction by redundancy in operation G06F11/14; error detection or correction by redundancy in hardware G06F11/16
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3082 the data filtering being achieved by aggregating or compressing the monitored data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3409 for performance assessment
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3476 Data logging G06F11/14, G06F11/2205 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/50 Monitoring users, programs or devices to maintain the integrity of platforms, e.g. of processors, firmware or operating systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/815 Virtual middleware or OS functionality using virtual machines to implement generic software techniques for error detection or fault masking G06F11/1484
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/86 Event-based monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/87 Monitoring of transactions

Abstract

An administration system for use within a server system is provided. The server system having a server that provides host management functions and the server system being able to accept computer cards inserted therein. The administration system comprises a computing system that is inserted in the server system, the computing system having a controller that assumes control over the communications bus.

Claims

1. An administration system deployed within a server system having a server computer, the administration system comprising:

a computing system embedded within the server system, and free from communication with an external device, for providing embedded autonomic control over the server system, including embedded autonomic control of an operating system and application programs running on the server computer in the server system;

the computing system having an autonomic controller for performing autonomic computing based administration of the server system, including the autonomic computing based administration of the operating system and the application programs, the autonomic computing based administration of the server system, including monitoring, analyzing and managing operation of the server system, all of which being performed by communicating with the server system only and excluding any communication with an external device;

wherein the autonomic controller comprises;

a determining unit for determining a policy violation in the server system, a policy including a set of one or more rules that can be modified in real-time;

a management unit for taking over host management functions from the server system in response to the policy violation; and

an execution unit for executing an action to correct the operation of the server system in response to the policy violation.

2. The administration system according to claim 1, wherein the computing system comprises a main power supply independent from the server computer.

3. The administration system according to claim 1, wherein the computing system is located on a card inserted within the server system and independently powered from the server system.

4. The administration system according to claim 1, wherein the autonomic controller comprises:

a monitoring unit for monitoring operation of the server system and making observations regarding the operation of the server system; and

an analyzing unit for analyzing the observations.

5. The administration system according to claim 4, wherein the autonomic controller comprises means for self configuration providing customization of functional modules required for autonomic control of the server system based on the observations.

6. The administration system according to claim 5, wherein the means for self configuration comprises means for modifying policies on the server system in real-time.

7. The administration system according to claim 5, wherein the means for self configuration comprises means for modifying policies through a web server.

8. The administration system according to claim 1, wherein the action comprises rebooting the server system.

9. The administration system according to claim 1, wherein the policy violation comprises security violation, and the action comprises restoring security system.

10. The administration system according to claim 1, wherein the computing system comprises means for receiving input from and providing output to a management console.

11. A method for embedded autonomic administration of a server computer in a server system, the server computer having an operating system and application programs running on the server computer, and the server system comprising an embedded autonomic administration system, the method comprising steps of:

a) providing an autonomic controller, which is free from communication with an external device, to the embedded administration system; and

b) at the autonomic controller, performing autonomic computing based administration of the server system, including the autonomic computing based administration of the operating system and the application programs;

the autonomic computing based administration of the server system including monitoring, analyzing and managing operation of the server system, all of which being performed by communicating with the server system only and excluding any communication with an external device;

wherein the step (b) comprises;

determining a policy violation in the server system, a policy including a set of one or more rules that can be modified in real-time;

taking control over host management functions from the server system in response to the policy violation;

executing an action to correct the operation of the server system in response to the policy violation; and

resuming the host management functions at the server system.

12. The method according to claim 11, comprising providing a main power supply to the embedded administration system which is independent from the server system.

13. The method according to claim 11, wherein the step (b) comprises:

monitoring operation of the server system and making observations regarding the operation of the server system; and

analyzing the observations.

14. The method according to claim 11, wherein the determining the policy violation includes determining a security policy violation and the step of executing an action comprises restoring security of the server system.

15. The method according to claim 11, comprising placing the embedded autonomic administration system on a card inserted within the server computer and independently powered from the server computer.

16. The method according to claim 11, further comprising self configuring the embedded autonomic administration system by customizing functional modules required for autonomic control of the server system based on the observations.

17. The method according to claim 16, wherein the self configuring comprises modifying policies of the server system in real-time.

18. The method according to claim 17, wherein the step of modifying comprises modifying policies through a web server.

19. A server system, comprising:

a server computer, including an operating system and application programs running on the server computer;

an administration system embedded within the server system, for providing embedded autonomic control over the server system, the administration system comprising;

a computing system deployed within the server system and free from communication with an external device, the computing system comprising an autonomic controller for performing autonomic computing based administration of the server system, including the autonomic computing based administration of the operating system and the application programs, the autonomic computing based administration of the server system including monitoring, analyzing and managing operation of the server system, all of which being performed by communicating with the server system only and excluding any communication with an external device; and

a communications bus providing communications between the server system and the administration system;

wherein the autonomic controller comprises;

a determining unit for determining a policy violation in the server system, a policy including a set of one or more rules that can be modified in real-time;

a management unit for taking over host management functions from the server system in response to the policy violation; and

an execution unit for executing an action to correct the operation of the server system in response to the policy violation.

20. The server system according to claim 19, wherein the computing system is located on a card inserted within the server system and independently powered from the server system.

21. The server system according to claim 19, wherein the computing system has a main power supply independent from the server system.