Electrical computers and digital processing systems: multicomput – Distributed data processing
Reexamination Certificate
1996-06-28
2001-01-30
Swann, Tod R. (Department: 2767)
Electrical computers and digital processing systems: multicomput
Distributed data processing
Reexamination Certificate
active
06182110
ABSTRACT:
STATEMENT OF RELATED APPLICATIONS
The present application is related to the subject matter of applications entitled “REMOTE HETEROGENOUS SOFTWARE INSTALLATION,” “ASSET SURVEY TOOL,” and “HISTORICAL ASSET INFORMATION DATA STORAGE SCHEMA,” all filed on the same day as the present application and having the same assignee. These related applications are expressly incorporated herein by reference for all purposes.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Embodiments of the present invention relate to network asset management and to method and apparatus for automatically surveying a network.
The development of so-called intranets, e.g., private networks operated typically using the TCP/IP protocol suite creates problems of management and administration. System administrators need to know what equipment is connected to the network and its configuration. The information is necessary for user support, network planning, corporate financial statements, software purchasing etc.
However, many intranets include thousands of nodes. Thus, surveying the network manually is a lengthy process. First, the physical location of each node must be known. Often, even this information is difficult to obtain and maintain since extensions to a network may be made without notifying the system administrator. Then, the system administrator (or a surrogate) must visit each and every node. For each node, he or she records the equipment there. To learn which operating system is installed, the MAC address, the amount of RAM, the node name, the host ID, and other configuration information, he or she must operate the system.
The survey process is thus quite cumbersome and may take several weeks, by which time the information collected early in the process may well be partially obsolete. Furthermore, the survey process requires skilled labor, otherwise available for other network administration tasks.
A network management protocol known as SNMP exists for providing external access to network management information resident at a network node. However, its primary application has been monitoring network performance rather than asset surveying.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Method and apparatus for efficiently scheduling tasks on a network are provided by embodiments of the present invention. A user may schedule node-specific tasks across the network without specifying particular times for each node. One application of the present invention is scheduling of survey tasks across the network. A user may select times at which a task is to be performed or exclusion times when a task is not to be performed at the node level, subnet level, or level of the whole network.
In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, a data structure is provided with a plurality of schedule parameters. Schedule parameters may be provided for the network as a whole, particular subnets, and particular nodes. The user may specify values for one or more scheduling parameters. Subnet schedule parameter values that are left unspecified may be inherited from the schedule parameter for the network as a whole. Node schedule parameter values that are left unspecified may be inherited from the schedule parameter of the subnet to which the nodes belong. A node-specific action is performed on a schedule in accordance with the node schedule parameter. For embodiments with no node schedule parameter, the node's subnet schedule parameter may control. If there are no subnets, unspecified node schedule parameters may inherit their values directly from the network schedule parameter. The schedule parameters may represent a repetition period for the node-specific action.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, a user may specify exclusion time periods at the node, subnet, or network level. Tasks are not performed for a target node during any of the exclusion time periods specified for the target node itself, the target node's subnet, or the whole network.
A further understanding of the nature and advantages of the inventions herein may be realized by reference to the remaining portions of the specification and the attached drawings.
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Smithers Matthew
Sun Microsystems Inc.
Swann Tod R.
Townsend and Townsend / and Crew LLP
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