International Business Machines Corporation

Stephen Thomas Cochran

Raghavendra Balavalikar Krishnamurthy

Michael Mallo

Vinod Thankappan Nair

Michael R McNally

Neal R Prager

Carey Lee Jung

A collector for distributed data collection includes input and output queues employed for priority based queuing and dispatch of data received from endpoints and downstream collector nodes. Collection Table of Contents (CTOC) data structures for collection data are received by the collector from the endpoints or downstream collectors and are placed in the input queue, then sorted by the priority within the CTOC. Within a given priority level, collection of the data is scheduled based on the activation time window within the CTOC, which specifies the period during which the endpoint or downstream collector node will be available to service data transfer requests. The collected data, in the form of data packs and constituent data segments, is stored in persistent storage (depot). A CTOC is then transmitted to the next upstream collector node. Network bandwidth utilization is managed by adjusting the activation time window specified within a CTOC and the route employed between source and recipient.

Data collector for use in a scalable, distributed, asynchronous data collection mechanism

Disclosed is a system, method, and program for executing operations on a client computer transmitted from a server over a network. A server operation is received indicating actions to perform on the client. A determination is made as to whether the requested operation is permitted according to a set of rules. The requested operation is executed on the client if there is no rule that prohibits the requested operation. The server is then notified that the requested action completed or that the requested action was not executed because of at least one rule prohibiting execution of the operation.

Method, system, and program for executing operations on a client in a network environment

The &ldquo;scan&rdquo; phase of a distributed data collection process is decoupled from upload of the return collection data, with the &ldquo;scan&rdquo; consisting merely of an infrequent profile push to configure autonomous scanners at the data collection endpoints. Distributed data collection is initiated by endpoints within the distributed network, which autonomously perform a scan and transmit a Collection Table of Contents (CTOC) data structure to a nearest available collector, then await a ready message from the collector. When ready to receive the return collection data, the collector signals the endpoint, which transfer the data collection in small packets to the collector. The collector stores the received data collection in persistent storage, then initiates collection to a higher collector or recipient in substantially the same manner as the endpoint. A routing manager controls the routing of data from endpoints through one or more collectors to the recipient. Scans for the data collection may thus be performed fully parallel, and upload of the collection data proceeds by direct channel under the control of the collectors. Bandwidth utilization for the data collection may thus be optimized for network loading by blackout periods and cooperation of the collectors with other distributed applications. The resulting distributed data collection mechanism is scalable, with large numbers of endpoints and large return collection data sizes being efficiently supported.

Scalable, distributed, asynchronous data collection mechanism

The invention relates to a method executed by a computer system to increase the ease and efficiency of the configuration management task in large, complex, distributed networks of heterogeneous computer systems. In this paradigm, referred to as management-by-subscription, a central configuration database is used to store configuration information. Individual systems (e.g., computers) express interest in receiving configuration information from the central configuration database through a process known as subscription. By subscribing to the central configuration database a system establishes a persistent relationship (also stored in the central configuration database) through which it becomes eligible for future distributions or updates of the configuration information to which it subscribes. The management-by-subscription paradigm uses object-oriented programming technology to define a class of template objects which can be used by system administrators to establish consistent and coherent configuration management policies (operating guidelines). End-point systems can subscribe to individual template objects, to logical collections of template objects known as a virtual host, or to a combination of templates and virtual hosts. Management-by-subscription, through the use of template objects, allows distributed system's administrators to: (1) divide management tasks between different individuals while maintaining system security, (2) provide a consistent means of propagating and enforcing management policies, and (3) encourage configuration consistency across different platforms.

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Austin, TX, United States of America

Stephen Thomas Cochran