System and Method of Enforcing Hierarchical Management Policy

A computer program product comprising a computer recordable medium tangibly embodying executable instructions for controlling a distribution of a system management product in a computer network, the computer program product comprising:

• first executable instructions broadcasting a request to a set of computers in the computer network, the set of computers comprising servers and workstations arranged in a hierarchy, the request being sent to each computer in the set of computers at an equal or lower level of the hierarchy;
• second executable instructions determining whether each computer in the set of computers is subject to a management authority of the data processing system according to the hierarchy;
• third executable instructions receiving a reply from a computer in the set of computers, the reply comprising status information that indicates whether the computer is subject to the management authority, and
• fourth executable instructions, responsive to a determination that the computer in the set of computers is subject to the management authority, managing the distribution of the system management product by the data processing system.

A data processing system for controlling a distribution of a system management product in a computer network, comprising:

• a plurality of policy servers, each one of the plurality of policy servers being arranged in a hierarchy, wherein a first policy server of the plurality of policy servers manages the distribution of a system management product;
• a set of computers communicating with the plurality of policy servers across the network, the set of computers comprising servers and workstations arranged in the hierarchy and being communicatively coupled to the plurality of policy servers;
• a first policy server of the plurality of policy servers, the first policy server including a broadcasting mechanism that broadcasts a request to the set of computers in the computer network, the broadcasting mechanism enabled to receive a response from the set of computers;
• a determining mechanism that, based on the response, determines whether at least one computer in the set of computers is subject to a management authority of the data processing system according to the hierarchy,
• the response containing status information selected from the group consisting of managed and unmanaged in one of a shared and dedicated mode,
• wherein a status information of managed indicates that the computer is subject to the management authority, and wherein a status information of unmanaged indicates that the computer is not subject to the management authority,
• wherein a dedicated mode indicates the presence of a single management authority, and wherein a shared mode indicates the presence of more than one management authority;
• and
• a managing mechanism, responsive to a determination that the at least one computer in the set of computers is subject to the management authority, managing the distribution of the system management product by the data processing system.