US 7,606,878 B2Granted

Method and system for capturing and automating execution of administrative processes in a machine-readable format

AssigneeBc Publishing

InventorBryan Dumm

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Abstract

The present invention provides a method, a system and a computer program product for capturing administrative processes in a machine-readable format, and for automating the execution of the captured administrative processes. An administrative process comprises administrative tasks, which, in turn, comprise administrative commands that need to be performed, to execute the administrative process. All the administrative commands are captured in a machine-readable format using a generic command framework, to form profiles. The execution of the captured administrative processes is automated by performing the following steps: selecting profiles that need to processed for the execution of a selected administrative process; processing the selected profiles; updating the processed profiles; processing the updated profiles again, if required; and selecting and processing additional profiles which need to be processed to execute the selected administrative process.

Claims15

Dependent claims

A method for capturing administrative processes in a machine-readable format, the administrative processes being processes that need to be implemented by an administrator for achieving different objectives in a local or a networked environment, the administrative processes comprising administrative tasks and the administrative tasks comprising administrative commands, the method comprising the steps of:

a. creating a generic command framework in a machine-readable format to capture administrative commands used in the administrative processes by capturing structures of all types of the administrative commands, wherein the structures of all types of the administrative commands are captured by writing the administrative commands in the machine-readable format in accordance with the generic command framework;
b. generating profiles that define the administrative tasks, the profiles are generated by combining all the captured administrative commands in the machine-readable format, the profiles being collections of the captured administrative commands that define an administrative task, the profiles are generated by a profile generator, and the profiles being the machine-readable version of the administrative tasks, wherein the captured administrative commands when executed accomplish the administrative task;
c. generating network maps, each network map comprising details of one or more servers in the networked environment on which the administrative tasks defined by the profiles need to be performed, the network maps are generated by a network map generator;
d. generating admin lists by combining one or more profiles that define administrative tasks, which constitute an administrative process, wherein the admin lists comprise a pre-defined order in which the administrative tasks need to be executed, the admin lists are generated by an admin list generator, wherein each admin list captures the administrative process in a machine-readable format, which is processed for automating execution of the administrative process;
e. enabling selection of the one or more profiles contained in the admin lists by using at least one function from a plurality of functions;
f. transforming the selected profiles from a first machine-readable format to a second-machine readable format based on a predefined rule;
and
g. processing the selected profiles written in the machine-readable format by using an event-driven machine, wherein the event-driven machine is a parser interface for an XML parser, the steps of the method being implemented by a processing machine.

5 more elements

A method for automating the execution of administrative processes in a local or a networked environment, the administrative processes comprising administrative tasks and the administrative tasks comprising administrative commands, the method comprising the steps of:

a. creating a generic command framework in a machine-readable format that can be used to capture structures of all types of administrative commands used in the administrative processes, wherein the structures of all types of the administrative commands are captured by writing the administrative commands in accordance with the generic command framework;
b. generating profiles that define the administrative tasks, the profiles are generated by combining all the captured administrative commands in the generic command framework in a structured mark up language, the profiles being collections of the captured administrative commands that define an administrative task, wherein the captured administrative commands when executed accomplish the administrative task;
c. generating network maps, each network map containing details of one or more servers in the networked environment on which the administrative tasks defined by the profiles need to be performed;
d. generating admin lists from one or more profiles and one or more network maps, each admin list being a collection of one or more profiles and one or more network maps, that define administrative tasks, which are required to be performed in a pre-defined order for executing an administrative process, wherein the admin lists comprising associations between the profiles and the one or more network maps present in the admin lists;
e. selecting a first set of admin lists based on a selected administrative process, which is to be executed;
f. selecting a first profile from among the one or more profiles contained in the selected first set of admin lists;
and
g. processing the selected first profile, the processing of the selected first profile comprising the steps of:
i. parsing the selected first profile to generate XML parser events;
ii. executing the generated XML parser events by using administered components, the administered components comprising at least one of local system devices, networked system devices, software programs and system commands, which are used to execute the generated XML parser events;
iii. collecting messages generated by the administered components in response to execution of the generated XML parser events, the messages provide meta-data regarding the executed XML parser events;
iv. updating the selected first profile by appending the generated messages to the selected first profile, wherein the messages are appended in a structured mark up language;
and
v. deciding if the updated profile needs to be processed again, the decision being made by a processing machine based on the generated messages using which the selected first profile has been updated;
if the updated profile needs to be processed again, then performing the steps of:
a) selecting the updated profile for processing;
and
b) repeating step f for the selected first profile;
else performing the steps of:
c) selecting next profile to be processed from the selected first set of admin lists based on the administrative tasks to be performed;
and
d) repeating step f for the selected new profile;
whereby the execution of the administrative processes is automated by the automated processing of profiles that define the administrative tasks, which are required to be performed for executing the administrative processes.

20 more elements

A system embodied on one or more processing machines in a computer network for automating the execution of administrative processes in a local or a networked environment, the administrative processes comprising administrative tasks and the administrative tasks comprising administrative commands, the system comprising:

a. a profile generator for generating profiles by capturing the administrative commands in a structured mark up language, the profiles being collections of the captured administrative commands that define an administrative task;
b. a network map generator for generating network maps, the network maps containing details of one or more servers in the networked environment on which the administrative commands need to be performed;
c. an admin list generator for generating admin lists by combining one or more profiles and one or more network maps, each admin list being a collection of one or more profiles that define administrative tasks, which are required to be performed in a pre-defined order for executing an administrative process, wherein the admin lists comprising associations between the profiles and the one or more network map present in the admin list
d. a front-end for enabling at least one function from among the functions of selecting profiles contained in admin lists, reading the selected profiles and transforming the selected profiles from a first format of structured mark up language to a second format of the structured mark up language, based on a predefined rule;
and
e. a back-end comprising:
i. an event-driven machine for processing the selected profiles written in a structured mark up language, wherein the event-driven machine being a parser interface for XML parser;
and
ii. one or more controllers for connecting the front-end with the event-driven machine for processing the selected profiles, the controllers passing the selected profiles from the front-end to the event-driven machine.

6 more elements

A computer program product for use with a computer, the computer program product comprising a computer storage medium having therein, for capturing and automating the execution of administrative processes in a local or a networked environment, the administrative processes comprising administrative tasks and the administrative tasks comprising administrative commands, the computer program product comprising:

a. program instruction means for capturing the administrative commands in a generic command framework in a structured mark up language, the profiles being collections of the captured administrative commands that define an administrative task
b. program instruction means for generating network maps, each network map containing details of one or more servers in the networked environment on which the captured administrative commands need to be performed;
c. program instruction means for generating admin lists from one or more profiles and one or more network maps, each admin list being a collection of one or more profiles that define administrative tasks, which are required to be performed in a pre-defined order for executing an administrative process, wherein the admin lists comprising associations between the profiles and the one or more network map present in the admin list;
d. program instruction means for selecting a first set of admin lists based on a selected administrative process, which is to be executed;
e. program instruction means for selecting a first profile from among the one or more profiles contained in the selected first set of admin lists;
and
f. program instruction means for processing the selected first profile, the program instruction means for processing the selected first profile comprising:
i. program instruction means for parsing the selected first profile to generate XML parser events;
ii. program instruction means for executing the generated XML parser events by using administered components, the administered components comprising at least one of local system devices, networked system devices, software programs and system commands, which are used to execute the generated XML parser events;
iii. program instruction means for collecting messages generated by the administered components after the execution of generated XML parser events, the messages provide meta-data regarding the executed XML parser events;
iv. program instruction means for updating the selected first profile by appending the generated messages in a structured mark up language to the selected first profile;
v. program instruction means for checking if the updated profile needs to be processed again;
and
vi. program instruction means for selecting the next profile contained in the selected first set of admin lists.

11 more elements

A system embodied on one or more processing machines for automating the execution of administrative processes in a local or a networked environment, the administrative processes comprising administrative tasks and the administrative tasks comprising administrative commands, the system comprising:

a. a profile generator for generating profiles by capturing the administrative commands in a generic command framework, the profiles being collections of the captured administrative commands that define an administrative task;
b. a network map generator for generating network maps, the network maps containing details of one or more servers in the networked environment on which the captured administrative commands defining the administrative task need to be performed;
c. an admin list generator for generating admin lists, each admin list being a collection of one or more profiles that define administrative tasks, which are required to be performed in a pre-defined order for executing an administrative process;
d. a front-end for enabling at least one function from among the functions of selecting a profile contained in the admin lists, reading the selected profile and transforming the selected profile from one machine-readable format into second machine-readable format;
and
e. a back-end comprising:
i. an event-driven machine for processing the selected profile written in a structured mark up language, wherein the event-driven machine being a parser interface for XML parsers, the event-driven machine further comprising:
a) one or more generators, which generate events by parsing the selected profile, the one or more generators are XML parsers;
b) one or more filters, the filters directing the generated events to administered components and causing execution of the generated events at the administered components, thereby leading to the generation of messages by the administered devices in response to the execution of the generated events;
and
c) one or more handlers, for updating the selected profile with the messages generated by the administered components, the one or more handlers are XML writers;
and
ii. one or more controllers for connecting the front-end with the event-driven machine for processing the selected profile, the controllers transforming the profile from one format of structured mark up language to another format, if required, based on a set of pre-defined rules and passing the selected profile from the front-end to the event-driven machine.

10 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.