Electrical computers and digital processing systems: multicomput – Computer network managing
Reexamination Certificate
2000-08-22
2003-01-07
Sheikh, Ayaz (Department: 2155)
Electrical computers and digital processing systems: multicomput
Computer network managing
C709S224000, C709S203000, C709S208000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06505245
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates generally to a system for managing plural manageable devices and, more particularly, to a management system for managing computing devices within a data communications network, where the computing devices can operate on various platforms.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
A computing device is said to be manageable if it contains sufficient intelligence to both transfer data describing its operation to a user interface such as a console and to modify its operation in response to the receipt of instructions from the console or other user interface. While a computer system is one of the most widely known manageable device, it is but one of a wide array of such devices.
FIG. 1
a
is a highly simplified block diagram of plural manageable devices. In
FIG. 1
a,
each manageable device
10
-
1
through
10
-N is bi-directionally coupled to a corresponding console
12
-
1
through
12
-N. From a respective one of the consoles
12
-
1
through
12
-N, a user, for example, a system administrator, may both monitor operation of, as well as issue instructions to, the corresponding manageable device
10
-
1
through
10
-N. While the consoles
12
-
1
through
12
-N may be configured to include a wide variety of interface devices, typically, each of the consoles
12
-
1
through
12
-N include a monitor which displays operational data output corresponding to manageable device
10
-
1
through
10
-N and a keyboard for generating instructions for transfer to the corresponding manageable device
10
-
1
through
10
-N.
Typically, the console
12
-
1
through
12
-N has been located in close proximity to the corresponding manageable device
10
-
1
through
10
-N, oftentimes in the same or an adjacent room. As a result, in order to monitor the operation of the manageable devices
10
-
1
through
10
-N, the system administrator has had to remain on-site. However, as the number of manageable devices requiring monitoring have multiplied and been geographically dispersed, on-site management of each individual device has become an unworkable solution. As a result, a wide variety of computer-implemented management systems and/or techniques which enable the management of plural manageable devices from a remotely located console have been disclosed in the art.
For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,471,617 and 5,559,958 each disclose a system and method for managing a network of manageable devices from a remote located management console. A highly simplified block diagram of the management system disclosed in these patents is shown in
FIG. 1
b.
As may now be seen, each manageable device
14
-
1
through
14
-N is coupled to a remotely located console
16
by a network
14
which may be variously configured as a local area network (or “LAN”), a wide area network (or “WAN”) or a collection of IANs and WANs commonly known as the Internet. The disclosed system has achieved the management of plural manageable devices from a single remotely located console. It does, however, have certain limitations. As further illustrated in
FIG. 1
b,
a management agent
20
-
1
through
20
-N resides within each of the manageable devices
14
-
1
through
14
-N to be managed from the remotely located console
16
. A management application
22
residing at the remotely located console
16
periodically polls each of the manageable devices
14
-
1
through
14
-N for the information needed to remotely manage the device. The information for each manageable device
14
-
1
through
14
-N is collected by the resident management agent
20
-
1
through
20
-N and transmitted to the management application
22
residing at the remotely located console
16
using the simple network management protocol (or “SNMP”) or another protocol included in the transmission control protocol/Internet protocol (or “TCP/IP”) protocol suite for processing. By accessing the management application
22
, the system administrator may then manage the operation of the manageable devices
14
-
1
through
14
-N.
Unfortunately, the disclosed system has a number of shortcomings which limit its value in many real world situations. First, by requiring the installation of a management agent at each manageable device to be managed from the remote location, the cost of both constructing and maintaining the disclosed management system is increased substantially. More importantly, each of the manageable devices
14
-
1
through
14
-N and the console
16
must all operate in a common computing environment. As a result, the manageable devices
14
-
1
through
14
-N cannot include devices from disparate computing environments.
Thus, it should be readily appreciated that a management system which eliminates the need of installing a management agent at each manageable device to be managed by the management system would be highly desirable. It should be further appreciated that a management system which enables a system administrator to manage disparate manageable devices from a single, remotely located, console would be highly desirable as well. It is, therefore, the object of this invention to provide such a management system.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is directed to a management system for managing computing devices from a common remotely located console and without the use of management agents at each computing device thereof. In various aspects thereof, the computing devices are arranged in logical groups and managed from a corresponding invocation of a management application residing at a management terminal. A serial I/O port of each of the computing devices is coupled to an event activity module of a corresponding I/O port of the management terminal. Data output from the computing device is received by the management terminal and transferred to the invocation associated with the computing device. Within the invocation of the management application, an event detection module determines whether the received output data indicates that an event has occurred at the manageable device where the output data originated. To determine if an event has occurred, the event detection module compares the received output data to text strings maintained in a memory subsystem. If the received output data contains a text string matching one of the text strings maintained in the memory subsystem, the event detection module determines that the event corresponding to that text string has occurred. The information concerning the event is transferred to an action initiation module where actions such as issuing instructions to the computing device and generating alerts or other types of notifications to selected consoles are initiated.
In one embodiment, the invention includes an enterprise console management product developed to help Data Centers implement “LIGHTS-OUT” computing solutions by managing all or parts of an enterprise console environment. The system implements a WEB server to manage connectors which provide a cohesive, standard methodology for scanning, monitoring and reporting Data Center console events from multiple types of sources such as OpenVMS, Unix, Windows NT and Network Devices. The system communicates via SNMP, SYSLOG, UDP, LAT, SERIAL and TELNET to managed devices utilizing a WEB browser as a user interface.
The invention monitors its enterprise console connections for defined text patterns. When patterns are matched, the system automatically generates an event which may execute associated actions to notify the proper personnel, or initiate automated corrective actions based on Scripts. Notification, Actions and event generation may be governed by time of day, day of week, priority, severity or the console generating the event.
When events are detected by the system, the event must be “Acknowledged” by an authorized user. When the event is “acknowledged”, the name of the user and time is logged and the user is allowed to enter what was done to correct or fix the event. The user comment for an event may be optional or required based on the event severity. The tracking of when an event occurs, when its ac
Cathey David L.
De Rudder Stephen L.
Engstrom John P.
North David G.
Haynes and Boone LLP
Nguyen Thu Ha
Sheikh Ayaz
TECSys Development, Inc.
LandOfFree
System and method for managing computing devices within a... does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with System and method for managing computing devices within a..., we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and System and method for managing computing devices within a... will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-3030989