Targeted maintenance of computing devices in information technology infrastructure

An article of manufacture comprising a computer readable storage medium having computer readable instructions tangibly embodied thereon which, when implemented, cause a computer to carry out a plurality of method steps comprising:

• assessing a maintenance request to determine a class of computing devices to which the request applies;
• selecting a propagation mechanism, from multiple propagation mechanisms, to apply to the class of computing devices based on multiple parameters, wherein said multiple parameters comprise an expected configuration of the class of computing devices and a previous success rate of one or more propagation mechanisms applied to the class of computing devices;
• generating an agent based on the propagation mechanism to carry out the maintenance request on the class of computing devices;
• wherein said generating comprises:
• instantiating an agent template and inserting custom code into the agent;
• configuring an agent lifespan, wherein the agent lifespan is the time period when an agent is actively executing on the class of computing devices;
• and
• configuring an agent propagation rate at which additional devices in the class of computing devices are targeted for propagation;
• deploying the agent on at least one computing device in the class of computing devices;
• and
• propagating the agent to additional devices in the class of computing devices.

A system for targeted maintenance of computing devices in a system, comprising:

• at least one distinct software module, each distinct software module being embodied on a tangible computer-readable medium;
• a memory;
• and
• at least one processor coupled to the memory and operative for:
• assessing a maintenance request to determine a class of computing devices to which the request applies;
• selecting a propagation mechanism, from multiple propagation mechanisms, to apply to the class of computing devices based on multiple parameters, wherein said multiple parameters comprise an expected configuration of the class of computing devices and a previous success rate of one or more propagation mechanisms applied to the class of computing devices;
• generating an agent based on the propagation mechanism to carry out the maintenance request on the class of computing devices;
• wherein said generating comprises:
• instantiating an agent template and inserting custom code into the agent;
• configuring an agent lifespan, wherein the agent lifespan is the time period when an agent is actively executing on the class of computing devices;
• and
• configuring an agent propagation rate at which additional devices in the class of computing devices are targeted for propagation;
• deploying the agent on at least one computing device in the class of computing devices;
• and
• propagating the agent to additional devices in the class of computing devices.

A method for generating an agent to carry out targeted maintenance of computing devices in a system, the method comprising:

• assessing a maintenance request to determine a targeted class of computing devices to which the maintenance request applies;
• instantiating an agent template associated with a propagation mechanism, selected from multiple propagation mechanisms to apply to the targeted class of computing devices based on multiple parameters,
• wherein said multiple parameters comprise
• an expected configuration of the class of computing devices and
• a previous success rate of one or more propagation mechanisms applied to the class of computing devices;
• updating at least one propagation module on the agent template;
• configuring the agent template for the targeted class of computing devices for which the maintenance request will be carried out based on at least one class feature;
• inserting code into the agent template that is to be executed on the targeted class of computing devices;
• configuring the agent template to have a specified agent lifespan, wherein the agent lifespan is the time period when an agent is actively executing on the targeted class of computing devices;
• configuring the agent template to have a specified agent propagation rate at which additional devices in the targeted class of computing devices are targeted for propagation;
• and
• propagating the agent template to additional devices in the targeted class of computing devices;
• wherein at least one of the steps of assessing, selecting, generating, deploying, and propagating is carried out by a computer device.