System and method for managing system configuration across a network

An administration server for determining whether to provide a software program update to a processor group, the processor group including a plurality of client processors, each client processor of the plurality of client processors having a copy of at least one of a plurality of client software programs, said administration server comprising:

• configuration receiving means for receiving and storing a respective set of system configuration attributes from each one of the plurality of client processors of the processor group, the system configuration attributes indicating whether a copy of any of the client software programs may be applicable to the processor group;
• configuration transmitting means for transmitting each set of system configuration attributes to a selection server;
• update receiving means for receiving a respective update recognizer program from the selection server corresponding to each respective one of the plurality of client software programs and the update recognizer program being executed at each one of the plurality of client processors to determine if an update is applied;
• and
• update recognizer transmitting means for transmitting to each client processor of the processor group the update recognizer program corresponding to the at least one client software program in that processor, wherein each client processor of the processor group executes at least one of the update recognizer programs to issue a notification indicating whether a corresponding software program update is applicable to the copy of the at least one client software program in that client processor.

In a system having a processor group and first and second server processors, a method of updating software in the processor group, comprising the steps of:

• storing in the first server processor a set of system configuration attributes from the processor group, the system configuration attributes indicating whether a copy of a client software program may be applicable to the processor group;
• transmitting the set of system configuration attributes from the first server processor to the second server processor;
• transmitting an update recognizer program from the second server processor to the first server processor, the update recognizer program being associated with the client software program;
• transmitting the update recognizer program from the first server processor to the processor group;
• and
• executing the update recognizer program in the processor group in order to issue a notification indicating whether a software program update is applicable to the copy of the client software program in the processor group.

A computer-readable medium for use in an administration server processor for determining whether to provide a software program update to a processor group, the processor group including a plurality of client processors, the computer readable medium comprising:

• means for causing the administration server processor to receive and store a set of system configuration attributes from the processor group, the system configuration attributes indicating whether a copy of a client software program may be applicable to the processor group;
• means for causing the administration server processor to transmit the set of system configuration attributes to a selection server processor;
• means for causing the administration server processor to receive an update recognizer program from the selection server processor, the update recognizer program being associated with the client software program;
• and
• means for causing the administration server processor to transmit the update recognizer program to the processor group, wherein the processor group executes the update recognizer program to issue a notification indicating whether a software program update is applicable to the copy of the client software program in the processor group.

A three-tiered configuration management system comprising:

• a third tier comprising a selection server;
• a first tier comprising a processor group having a plurality of client processors;
• and
• a second tier comprising an administration server for determining whether to provide a software program update to said processor group, said administration server comprising:
• configuration receiving means for receiving and storing a set of system configuration attributes from the processor group, the system configuration attributes indicating whether a copy of a client software program may be applicable to the processor group;
• configuration transmitting means for transmitting the set of system configuration attributes to a selection server;
• update receiving means for receiving an update recognizer program from the selection server, the update recognizer program being associated with the client software program;
• and
• update recognizer transmitting means for transmitting the update recognizer program to the processor group, wherein the processor group executes the update recognizer program to issue a notification indicating whether a software program update is applicable to the copy of the client software program in the processor group.