Registry key federation systems and methods

#1. Field

#The present disclosure relates to maintaining configuration settings for a computer system and, in particular, to systems and methods for managing registry keys in a network environment.

#2. Description of the Related Art

#FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram of a system for managing registry keys according to certain embodiments of the invention.

#FIG. 2 illustrates a flow chart of an exemplary embodiment of a registry key management process usable by the system of FIG. 1.

#FIG. 3 illustrates a flow chart of an exemplary embodiment of another registry key management process usable by the system of FIG. 1.

#As will be seen from the disclosure herein, certain systems and methods are provided for managing registry keys in a computing environment. For instance, certain embodiments of the invention include improved systems for storing copies of registry keys and/or for facilitating reinstallation of registry keys during the rebuilding of a client system.

#Certain inventive systems include a centralized, management database that tracks which registry keys are installed on a plurality of client systems in a network environment. In certain embodiments, changes made to any, or a select, registry key can performed through a management user interface, which further records the changes on the management database. In yet further embodiments, one or more APIs, scripts or other application processes can be used to discover which registry keys have already been stored on each of the client devices, and replicate the keys, or identification of such keys, to the management database.

#In certain embodiments, when one or more client systems is required to be rebuilt, the management database can provide an indication as to which registry keys, and their specific values, should be reinstalled on the client system(s). Moreover, such reinstallation can be performed even though the rebuilt client machine may include a new operating system. In addition, the management database allows for replication of registry keys to different machines and/or application of registry key policies over groups of machines.