System, method and computer program product for discovery in a distributed computing environment
AssigneeInternational Business Machines Corporation
InventorsMichael McNally, Brian Jay Vetter
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A large distributed enterprise includes computing resources including a management server servicing a plurality of endpoint machines. A management infrastructure include a runtime engine is deployed on given endpoint machines. In response to a task deployment request at an administrative server, discovery agents may be launched into the computer network. When a software agent arrives at a given machine that supports the runtime engine, the agent is executed to determine whether the endpoint is a candidate for a particular task deployment.
Claims29
A method of discovery in a distributed computer network having a management server servicing a set of machines, comprising the steps of:
- deploying instances of a runtime engine across a subset of the machines to create a distributed runtime environment in the distributed computer network;
- in response to a task deployment request, migrating a discovery agent across a given set of nodes in the computer network;
- and
- executing the discovery agent in the runtime environment at each node at which the discovery agent is received to perform the following steps:
- (a) determining whether the machine at the node is a target of the task deployment request;
- (b) identifying a given subset of nodes associated with the node that remain candidates for the task deployment request;
- (c) deploying the discovery agent to the given subset;
- and
- (d) repeating steps (a)-(c) until the targets are identified or all network paths are exhausted.
A method of discovery in a distributed computer network having a management server servicing a set of machines, comprising the steps of:
- deploying instances of a runtime engine across a subset of the machines to create a distributed runtime environment in the distributed computer network;
- in response to a task deployment request, deploying a discovery agent into the computer network from a source;
- and
- at a given machine supporting an instance of the runtime engine, executing the discovery agent using the runtime engine to perform a discovery operation.
A task discovery method in a large, distributed computer network having a management server servicing a set of machines, wherein a given subset of the machines include a previously-deployed runtime environment, comprising the steps of:
- in response to a task deployment request, launching discovery agents into the computer network from the management server;
- at a given machine in the subset, executing one of the discovery agents using the runtime environment on the machine;
- returning information to the management server identifying the machines in the subset that are to receive a task deployment.
A task discovery method operative in a large, distributed computer network in which a management infrastructure is supported, comprising the steps of:
- selecting at least one software agent from a set of software agents;
- and
- migrating the selected software agent across a given set of nodes in the computer network to identify target machines for the task deployment.
An apparatus connectable into a large distributed enterprise having a management server servicing a set of endpoint machines for effecting a discovery operation, comprising:
- a plurality of instances of a runtime engine, with each instance supported at a given endpoint machine;
- means, responsive to a task deployment request, for selecting a software agent executable by the runtime engine at a given endpoint machine;
- and
- means for deploying the selected software agent into the computer network to perform a discovery operation.
A discovery system connectable into a large distributed enterprise having a management server servicing a set of endpoint machines for deploying a task, comprising:
- a plurality of instances of a runtime engine each supported on a given endpoint machine;
- and
- means, responsive to a discovery request, for dispatching a set of one or more software agents into the distributed enterprise to identify machines that satisfy a given criteria, wherein a given software agent is executable by the runtime engine at a given endpoint machine.
A computer program product in a computer-readable medium for use in a computer having a processor, a memory, and means for connecting the computer into a large distributed enterprise having a management server, the computer program product comprising:
- a runtime engine downloaded to the computer during a first operation;
- and
- a software agent deployed to the computer during a discovery operation and being executable by the runtime environment to discover whether the computer satisfies a given criteria.
A computer program product in a computer-readable medium for use in a computer having a processor, a memory, and means for connecting the computer into a large distributed computer network, the computer network having a management server servicing a set of machines, the computer program product comprising:
- a plurality of instances of a runtime engine, each runtime engine for use at a given machine;
- a set of software agents, each of the software agents comprising a set of one or more tasks;
- means, responsive to a given request, for selecting a software agent to be deployed into the network, the software agent being executable by the runtime engine at a given endpoint machine to determine whether the given endpoint machine is a candidate to receive a task to be subsequently deployed.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.