Method and system for simplifying distributed server management

A method for receiving and executing, on one of a plurality of servers, a system command from a software application program, the method comprising:

• providing a representation of a plurality of servers as a single virtual server, the representation of the single virtual server implemented by a virtual server client and a plurality of virtual server agents, at least one virtual server agent running on each one of the plurality of servers;
• receiving, by the virtual server client from a client-side software application program, an abstract system command that requests a service from an operating system of at least one of the plurality of servers, the abstract system command being indifferent to the operating system used by the at least one server;
• and
• instantiating the abstract system command by:
• identifying, by the virtual server client, a target server to receive the abstract system command and a corresponding virtual server agent associated with the target server,
• transmitting the abstract system command to the virtual server agent for the identified target server for translation of the abstract system command into an operating system-specific system command for execution on the target server, and
• receiving execution results from the virtual server agent.

A method for receiving and executing, on one of a plurality of servers, a system call from a software application program, the method comprising:

• providing a representation of a plurality of servers as a single virtual server, the representation of the single virtual server implemented by a virtual server client and a plurality of virtual server agents, at least one virtual server agent running on each one of the plurality of servers, and a first server of the plurality of servers having an operating system that differs from a second server of the plurality of servers;
• receiving, by the virtual server client from a client-side software application program, a system call that requests a service from an operating system of at least one of the plurality of servers;
• transmitting the system call to respective virtual server agents for the first server and the second server;
• mapping a user identity for a user of the client-side software application program to a first local user identity for the first server and a second local user identity for the second server, the mapping being a function of a role associated with the user identity;
• and
• executing the system call using the first local user identity on the first server and the second local user identity on the second server.