Method for access via various protocols to objects in a tree...

Data processing: database and file management or data structures – Database design – Data structure types

Reexamination Certificate

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Details

C707S793000, C709S223000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06654759

ABSTRACT:

TECHNICAL FIELD
The subject of the invention is a method for access, via various protocols, to objects in a tree representing at least one system resource. The objects in the tree may be distributed and/or non-distributed. A related subject of the invention is the system that includes at least the resource or set of resources and that implements the method of the invention. Consequently, this system can range from a single resource to a set of resources that can be distributed in several systems, which may or may not be different. The system that will be used as an example is a computer system. The method of the invention is usable for navigating through any tree. By way of example, it will hereinafter be applied to the management of at least one resource, such as a machine, a network or an application, of the computer system. Hence, a related subject of the invention is the resulting management system.
The invention can be adapted to conventional protocols as well as to protocols more specifically designed for interconnected high-density wide-area networks, such as the internet networks of the Web.
DESCRIPTION OF RELATED ART
The management of computer resources is ordinarily handled by a management platform, several types of which are known. The platform that will be used as an example herein is that known by the registered trademark OpenMaster, marketed by applicants' assignee. This platform is based on object-oriented technology. In this technology, the means constituting a computer resource are converted into object classes organized hierarchically in a tree constituting a management information base MIB.
The platform used herein as a non-limiting example uses the standardized communication protocol dedicated to management, known as CMIP (Common Management Information Protocol). The CMIP protocol is based on the ISO standard defining services for transferring management information, called CMIS (Common Management Information Services). This protocol is organized using a management information description language called GDMO/ASN.1 issued by Guidelines for the Definition of Managed Objects, based on the interconnection module known by the registered trademark OSI (Open Systems Interconnection) of the ISO (International Standards Organization), and on the syntax ASN 1 (Application Syntax Notation One). For the sake of convenience, this language will simply be called GDMO.
The platform comprises management applications, for example adapted to the detection of objects in the base MIB, and to the monitoring and security of objects. These applications are under a user's control, and the objects they manage are accessed by sending requests and receiving responses. The requests and responses are sent to the target objects by a CMIP request broker of the platform. However, most of the target objects can only be reached through agents using a transmission protocol other than CMIP, which may or may not be standardized. Among the other known protocols that have been standardized by the ISO are the protocols SNMP (System Network Management Protocol), based on TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) transmission, and DSAC (Distributed Systems Administration and Control) for an architecture like the Applicant's DSA (Distributed System Architecture). The transmission of the requests and responses takes place through an interface called an agent integrator, which performs the conversion between the platform's CMIP protocol and the other protocol.
However, it is increasingly desirable for the applications to be able to access objects belonging to other protocols that are becoming more widely used. Some of these protocols could be converted, but only with great difficulty and a certain amount of inconvenience. This is the case, for example, with computer resources wherein the data is represented in a common technological base and wherein data and services are exchanged using different protocols. One of these common technological bases is a distributed object architecture like CORBA (Common Object Request Broker Architecture), defined by the group of vendors and users working toward object management standardization, known as OMG (Object Management Group), and the Microsoft architecture OLE/COM (Object Linking and Embedding/Component Object Modeler). The CORBA architecture will be used herein as a non-limiting example. In the field of distributed computing, the CORBA architecture makes it possible to describe interfaces for computer services independently from the vendors and the languages that implement these services. The description of the interfaces is produced using a neutral interface description language known as IDL (Interface Definition Language), also defined by the group OMG. This language defines the boundaries of a component that constitutes a managed object, i.e., the contractual interfaces of the component with potential clients.
The automatic generation of an agent integrator for a CORBA distributed object architecture using IDL language currently comprises the creation of an interface description file in IDL language, and the automatic conversion and compilation of the description file. There are several known conversion algorithms, such as those published by the group JIDM (Joint Inter-Domain Management) of the group OMG. The problem with these algorithms is that the conceptual notions that can be described in the GDMO language of the CMIP protocol cannot be described in IDL language. Consequently, only some of the desired objects of the base MIB are obtained. The current solution consists of manually completing the code generated by the conversion, so as to use the characteristics of the GDMO language to best advantage. This solution has the main drawback of being time-consuming and expensive.
Another common technological base used more and more frequently is the model known as CIM (Common Information Model). This standardized model is defined by the consortium DMTF (Desktop Management Task Force). The CIM model is object-oriented and makes it possible to define conceptual schemas and real-world objects dedicated to management. It uses a unified modeling language known as UML (Unified Modeling Language). This model is currently enjoying increasing success because of its adaptation to exchanges in internet networks. Thus, it is used for enterprise management through the Web, currently known by the acronym WBEM (Web-Based Enterprise Management). In particular, the CIM model offers the dual advantage of being able to use a browser to search for management data, while using internet technologies for management. This model also offers the advantage of being well adapted to resources having a distributed object architecture.
Vendors of management systems or management system components that use a common technological base for representing objects adopt different protocols for exchanging data and services in order to meet users' various needs. For the CIM model that is used as an example, there are various existing products supplied by different vendors. Given the rising success of this model, we can expect many other different products in the near future. This would require as many agent administrators as there are products.
It is also desirable for the management to extend to other particular domains. This is particularly the case for the domain related to objects stored in directories, especially when those directories are disparate and stored in various systems that can often be incompatible with one another. This is true, for example, of the protocol LDAP (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol), which uses the TCP/IP layer as required transport for internet networks and which provides a simple protocol for accessing these directories via internet networks. These directories can contain, for example, information on organizations and individuals (names, addresses, telephone numbers), public keys and other resources. The directories can be distributed in several servers. The objects in a directory are organized into a tree. An agent int

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