International Business Machines Corporation

Norbert Lenz

Markus Mueller

Bernd Jostmeyer

Martin Reitz

Wolfgang Schaeberle

Thomas Graser

Juergen P Schneider

Joachim Weber

Frank Leo Mielke

Ralf Thelen

Wolfgang Schawer

Gregory Daynes

Andreas Schauberer

Adrainus Schuur

mechanisms are provided to securely access systems of a distributed computer system by entering passwords. Some systems are accessible by equal, and some systems are accessible by different passwords. The mechanisms store information, which systems (I, II) are accessible by equal, and which are accessible by different passwords and ask to enter a proper password when opening a session by accessing a system of the distributed computer system. The mechanisms cache the password and use the stored information to verify, if another system to be accessed during the current session is accessible by an equal password like a system already accessed during said session. If the result of the verification is true, the mechanisms re-use the adequate cached password. If the result of the verification is false, the mechanism ask to enter a proper password to access the other system and cache the password required to access the other system in a way that during the current session, it can be re-used when accessing other systems accessible by the same password.

Secure access to a plurality of systems of a distributed computer system by entering passwords

A method of selecting active members of resource groups is disclosed. The method includes assigning a first label from a predetermined static label set to a first member of a first resource group. The method includes assigning a second label from the predetermined static label set to a second member of the first resource group. The method further includes assigning the first label to a third member of a second resource group. The method includes assigning the second label to a fourth member of the second resource group. The method also includes selecting an active label from the predetermined static label set in response to a command received at a computing system. Upon selection of the active label from the predetermined static label set, computing resources identified by members associated with the active label are automatically placed online and computing resources identified by members associated with a label other than the active label are automatically placed offline.

Method for semantic resource selection

Embodiments provide a method of dynamically setting the automation behavior of resources via switching between an active mode and a passive mode. One embodiment is a method that includes placing a first computing resource into a first desired state and an active behavioral mode and placing a second computing resource having a relationship to the first resource into the first desired state when a first request for the first resource that specifies the first desired state is received. The method also includes placing the first computing resource into a standby state and a passive behavioral mode and not placing the second computing resource into the first desired state.

Dynamically setting the automation behavior of resources

The present invention provides a system and method for automatically managing IT-resources in a heterogeneous environment on each level of resource abstraction and resource hierarchy by using the concept of the resource-reference object. The resource-reference object represents the link to a referenced resource on a lower level in the hierarchy and may include a priority value assigned by the respective level of hierarchy as well as all information to build a remote request to that referenced resource which may be a single resource or a resource group. Concurrently each resource-reference object itself is accessible from the higher level of hierarchy as an own resource by additional providing a name and a desired state which can differ from desired state of the referenced resource as well as making it externally visible. Resource-reference objects can be grouped to resource groups on the higher level of hierarchy, wherein those resource groups are addressable as own resource-reference object from the next higher level of hierarchy. By using the inventive concept of the resource-reference object conflicts between different levels of hierarchies in the system management are resolved by a conflict resolution method using the priority assigned to the resource reference object by the respective level of hierarchy.

System and method for automatically managing IT-resources in a heterogeneous environment

A method and respective system for performing a reconfiguration of a plurality of resources, where the resources reside on multiple different system platforms including a mainframe with a policy-based automation manager. A reconfiguration method with an improved switching facility between such configurations is provided by using a predefined automation choice group as a part of a predetermined automation policy, pre-selecting one group member as preferred to be activated in case a predetermined automation choice group is determined for operation, providing a user interface for triggering a reconfiguration of the resources according to the automation policy, and initiating an automatic change from a first resource configuration into a second resource configuration when the trigger is actuated.

Automated operation of IT resources with multiple choice configuration

The present invention relates to the field of adapting software to requirements setup at the user site. It is suited for heterogeneous system management environment to configure software automatically. In particular, it relates to automated management of resources and even more particularly to automated configuration of software programs. Basically, the invention proposes a sequence of the following steps: accessing a repository comprising the requests, reorganizing said requests in a sense that they are ordered, bundled, etc., and invoking resource managing programs, e.g., supporters for handling the service of said requests.

Request scheduler for automated software configuration

The invention relates to a system and method for request based installation, customization and activation of software products on a computer system by means of a setup infrastructure ( ) for coordinating the process phases. A plurality of exploiter plug-ins ( ) are provided, each assigned to a program product already installed in the computer system or a program product to be installed. The exploiter plug-ins are used by the setup infrastructure for indicating a program package description and program product description and for providing customization dialogs and support to instantiate and activate the program to be installed. Bind supporter plug-ins ( ) are assigned to selected ones of the program products and used for supporting the binding procedure by providing bind services to the setup infrastructure. The supporter plug-ins are used by the exploiter plug-ins to establish binding to at least some of the program packages or products stored, where the binding parameters needed by the exploiter plug-ins are indicated to the supporter plug-ins by bind requests. Package adapter plug-ins are provided to provide data format information for enabling the setup infrastructure to identify a program product to be installed and to generate product definition data. A management directory ( ) is used for storing data associated with a particular program product and references to program products in a program library of the computer system.

Request based automation of software installation, customization and activation

The present invention describes a system and process for measuring the performance of programs by means of messages, in particular with distributed programs. A corresponding area for performance and/or time entries is added to the message which is to be processed. At each processing stage of the message, a performance and/or time marker is deposited in this area. The performance and/or time marker consists essentially of the identifier of the computer, the identifier of the particular processing stage, a description of the particular processing stage, and performance data and/or a value of the computer time. All the performance and time markers are written into a file for later evaluation, so that data is available at the same time. Thanks to the integrated processing of performance data with application data, the performance analysis, e.g. of response times of definable processing procedures, in particular with distributed networks, is considerably simplified.

System and procedure for measuring the performance of applications by means of messages

A system and method for controlling access to data in storage which is shared by a plurality of processors are disclosed. The shared storage is located outside of main storage of each of the processors and stores a lock file. The lock file comprises a plurality of control fields containing access administration information (ZVI) authorizing the processors to access the data when not currently being accessed by another processor and a status identification code (SKC) to indicate the status of the access administration information. In response to a data access request from one of the processors, the status identification code provided by the processor is compared to the stored status identification code. If the comparison indicates that the requesting processor is authorized to update the access administration information, the access administration information associated with the requesting processor for the type of data access request is written from the requesting processor to the shared storage without first reading the stored access administration information from the lock file. The status identification code in the storage is updated to indicate that the processor has updated the access administration information.

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Magstadt, Germany

Norbert Lenz