Electrical computers and digital processing systems: multicomput – Computer network managing
Reexamination Certificate
1998-06-03
2001-08-21
Harrell, Robert B. (Department: 2152)
Electrical computers and digital processing systems: multicomput
Computer network managing
Reexamination Certificate
active
06279034
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Technical Field
The present invention is directed to managing a large distributed computer network and, more particularly, to providing centralized definition and storage of time-related expressions useful by distributed management applications that need to perform operations based on time schedules.
2. Description of the Related Art
Companies now desire to place all of their computing resources on the company network. To this end, it is known to connect computers in a large, geographically-dispersed network environment and to manage such an environment in a distributed manner. One such management framework comprises a server that manages a number of nodes, each of which has a local object database that stores object data specific to the local node. Each managed node typically includes a management framework, comprising a number of management routines, that is capable of a relatively large number (e.g., hundreds) of simultaneous network connections to remote machines. As the number of managed nodes increases, the system maintenance problems also increase, as do the odds of a machine failure or other fault.
One goal of managing a large, distributed computer network is to automate as many of the management activities as possible. Automated management for a large managed network theoretically involves the initiation of pre-programmed actions in response to network events and the needs of various management applications and application facilities. Potentially, many distributed automated activities thus would be guided in some way by time. For example, it would be desirable to schedule management activity according to local policy. Moreover, responses to exceptional events might need to be different depending on when the event is generated. Further, activity queuing will normally rely on schedule information for throttling and bandwidth control.
Because time and schedules are so prominent in any consideration of distributed automated management, appropriate architecture and implementation of time and schedule services are critical. Time and schedule issues extend from the user interfaces provided for creation, viewing, and analysis of schedules, down to low-level considerations of implementation efficiency.
Prior art techniques have not adequately addressed the need to provide adequate definition and storage of time-related expressions. Thus, as the managed network environment grows in size, it is more difficult to synchronize management activities in a meaningful way. The present invention provides a mechanism for the expression of time and schedule information in a distributed automated management system.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is thus a primary object of this invention to support centralized definition and storage of time-related expressions to be used by distributed management applications that need to perform operations based on time schedules.
It is another primary object of this invention to define and store in a central location a set of timers that applications fetch for local use in a large, distributed computer network.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a distributed monitor timer repository (STR) in which timers and associated primitives are organized, preferably in an indexed, hierarchical namespace.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a set of distributed monitors a common data representation of a timer that all management applications can use.
Another important object of the invention is to define a schedule from a set of timers and to build-up or overlay multiple schedules (e.g., via Boolean operations) to build higher order schedules.
Thus, a more general object of this invention is to provide a distributed managed architecture with application independent definition/storage of timers.
These and other objects are provided in a method of managing time expressions for use by applications in a distributed computer network having a management server servicing a set of managed computers. The method begins by defining a set of timers, with each timer preferably comprising an expression of logical operators with a set of one or more primitives as operands. The set of timers is stored in a hierarchical namespace associated with the management server. Preferably, the timers and primitives are stored separately in the hierarchical namespace, with the primitives indexed by name. The logical operators include such operators as AND, OR, XOR and NOT. A given set of timers comprise a schedule, and a pair of schedules may also be combined to create a master schedule.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is described a method of managing time expressions in a distributed computer network wherein a set of such timers is stored in a hierarchical namespace associated with the management server. In response to a request from a managed computer, a timer is selectively retrieved from the namespace and transmitted to the computer for local use.
According to another feature of the invention, a computer program product is provided for use in a computer connected in a distributed computing environment having a management server servicing a set of managed computers. The computer program product comprises suitable instruction means for storing a set of timers in a hierarchical namespace associated with the management server. As described above, each timer preferably comprises an expression of logical operators with a set of one or more primitives as operands. The product also includes instruction means for retrieving the timers for use by the managed computers.
According to yet another feature of the invention, a computer includes a memory that supports the hierarchical namespace for the set of timers. A computer program includes means for specifying each timer as an expression of logical operators with a set of one or more primitives as operands, and means responsive to a given request for retrieving a timer from the hierarchical namespace for use in a managed computer.
These and other objects of the invention are provided in a method of managing timers implemented within a distributed environment having a management server and a set of managed machines. A given subset of the managed machines include a distributed management infrastructure. In particular, each managed machine in the given subset includes a runtime environment, which is a platform-level service that can load and execute software agents. One or more software agents are deployable within the distributed environment to facilitate management, monitoring, administration and other control tasks. The runtime environment at a particular node includes a runtime engine, which executes a distributed monitor (DM).
This architecture provides for both proactive and reactive client/server management by providing a way to schedule and to respond to events received from applications and devices in the network. At the core of the service is the runtime engine that is used to interpret and evaluate event-oriented rules and launch response tasks. This same engine is also responsible for launching scheduled operations as well as executing software agents on demand.
The foregoing has outlined some of the more pertinent objects of the present invention. These objects should be construed to be merely illustrative of some of the more prominent features and applications of the invention. Many other beneficial results can be attained by applying the disclosed invention in a different manner or modifying the invention as will be described. Accordingly, other objects and a fuller understanding of the invention may be had by referring to the following Detailed Description of the preferred embodiment.
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Jarriel Stuart
Jung Carey L.
McNally Michael
Vetter Brian Jay
Harrell Robert B.
International Business Machines - Corporation
LaBaw Jeffrey S.
Thompson Marc D.
Yee Duke W.
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