US 10,944,794 B2Granted

Real-time policy selection and deployment based on changes in context

AssigneeDell Products L.P.

InventorsGirish S. Dhoble, Joseph Kozlowski, Ryan Comer, Carlton A. Andrews

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Abstract

A system is disclosed herein including a plurality of information handling systems (IHSs) coupled to and managed by a remote management system (RMS). According to one embodiment, each IHS may be configured to monitor data pertaining to the IHS, determine if the data triggers one or more events, and transmit a notification to the RMS if one or more events are triggered. The RMS may be configured to receive a notification transmitted from at least one IHS, select a policy to be applied to one or more of the IHSs based on the received notification, and transmit the selected policy to the one or more IHS s. The one or more IHSs may be further configured to receive the selected policy from the RMS, store the selected policy, and perform actions specified by the selected policy when policy rules specified by the selected policy are violated.

Claims17

Dependent claims

A system, comprising:

a plurality of information handling systems (IHSs) coupled to and managed by a remote management system, wherein each IHS includes a policy enforcement engine comprising a first set of program instructions, which are stored within a memory of the IHS and executable by a processing device of the IHS to:
monitor contextual information pertaining to the IHS to detect a change in the contextual information;
determine that the change in the contextual information triggers;
one or more events when an undesirable change in the contextual information is detected;
and
one or more inverse events when a desirable change in the contextual information is detected;
and
transmit a notification over a network to the remote management system when the one or more events or the one or more inverse events are triggered by the change in the contextual information, wherein the notification identities the one or more events or the one or more inverse events triggered by the change in the contextual information;
the remote management system, wherein the remote management system includes a policy selection engine comprising a second set of program instructions, which are stored within a memory of the remote management system and executable by a processing device of the remote management system to:
receive the notification identifying the one or more events or the one or more inverse events, wherein the notification is transmitted from at least one of the IHSs over the network;
select from a plurality of policy sets, a policy set to be applied to one or more of the IHSs based on the received notification, wherein:
a first policy set is selected if the received notification identifies the one or more inverse events, indicating that a desirable change in context has occurred within the at least one IHS;
and
a second policy set is selected if the received notification identifies the one or more events, indicating that an undesirable change in context has occurred within the at least one IHS;
wherein the first policy set and the second policy set each define a set of rules and restrictions applied to the one or more IHSs;
and
wherein the second policy set are more restrictive than the first policy set;
and
transmit the selected policy set over the network to the one or more IHSs;
and
wherein the policy enforcement engine further comprises a third set of program instructions stored within the memory of each IHS, wherein the processing device of the one or more IHSs executes the third set of program instructions to:
receive the selected policy set transmitted from the remote management system to the one or more IHSs;
store the selected policy set within a computer readable storage medium of the one or more IHSs;
and
perform actions specified by the selected policy set when policy rules specified by the selected policy set are violated.

22 more elements

A computer-implemented method for updating a policy stored within an information handling system (IHS), wherein the method is performed by the IHS, and wherein the IHS is coupled to and managed by a remote management system, the computer-implemented method comprising:

monitoring data pertaining to the IHS, wherein the policy stored within the IHS defines a set of rules and restrictions applied to the IHS, and wherein said monitoring data pertaining to the IHS comprises:
monitoring current data pertaining to the IHS;
and
comparing the current data to historical data stored within the IHS to detect a change in behavior of the IHS or a user of the IHS, the historical data comprising an aggregation of data collected from the IHS over time;
and
determining that the current data triggers one or more events if the comparison of the current data to the historical data detects a change in behavior, wherein if the current data triggers one or more events, the method further comprises:
transmitting a notification of the change in behavior to the remote management system;
receiving a new policy from the remote management system in response to the notification, the new policy defining a set of rules and restrictions that differ from the set of rules and restrictions defined within the policy set;
storing the new policy within a memory of the IHS upon aid receiving;
and
performing actions specified by the new policy when one or more of the rules and restrictions specified by the new policy a violated.

8 more elements

A computer-implemented method performed by a remote management system coupled and configured to manage a plurality of information handling systems (IHSs) operating within a managed environment, the method comprising:

receiving a notification transmitted over a network from at least one IHS within the managed environment, wherein the notification includes:
an event when an undesirable change in contextual information has been detected by the at least one IHS;
and
an inverse event when a desirable change in contextual information has been detected by the at least one IHS;
selecting a policy set to be applied to one or more of the IHSs based on the event or the inverse event included within the received notification, wherein the policy set defines a set of rules and restrictions applied to the one or mom IHSs, and wherein selecting the policy set comprises;
selecting a first policy set if the received notification includes the inverse event;
and
selecting a second policy set if the received notification includes the event, wherein the second policy set is more restrictive than the first policy set;
and
transmitting the selected policy set over the network to the one or more IHSs, so that the one or more IHSs perform actions specified by the selected policy set when the set of rules and restrictions specified by the selected policy set are violated.

7 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 15/962,547Filed 25 Apr 2018
Published: US 2019/0334952 A131 Oct 2019
Granted: 9 Mar 2021
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification6 codes

H04L 63/20
Network architectures or network communication protocols for network security: for managing network security; network security policies in general
H04L 63/10
Network architectures or network communication protocols for network security: for controlling access to devices or network resources
H04W 12/37
Security of mobile devices; Security of mobile applications: managing security policies for mobile devices or for controlling mobile applications
H04L 41/0894
Configuration management of networks or network elements: policy-based network configuration management