System and method for managing computing devices within a data communications network from a remotely located console

What is claimed is:

1. A management system for computing devices connected to a computer network, the system comprising:

a plurality of disparate manageable computing devices connected to the computer network, the computing devices generating output data indicating an operational status of the computing device wherein the plurality of disparate manageable computing devices have at least two different operating systems;

a management application executing on a management console connected to receive data output directly from a console operator interface of each of the computing devices via the computer network;

a graphical user interface operating on a console connected to and remotely located from the computing devices, the user interface enabling a plurality of users to manage the computing devices;

a plurality of profiles, wherein each user has at least one associated profile; and

a reporting mechanism;

wherein the computing devices are arranged in logical groups according to computing environment; and

wherein for each logical group, the computing devices of the logical group are managed by a unique invocation of the management application corresponding to the logical group, such that data output from computing devices of a first one of the logical groups is transmitted to a first invocation of the management application, and wherein each invocation of the management application comprises:

an event detection module for determining from received output data whether one of a plurality of predefined events related to an operational status of a computing device has occurred at one of the computing devices of the corresponding logical group; and

an action initiation module for initiating an action responsive to a determination by the event detection module that an event has occurred.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the reporting mechanism includes means for logging all accesses to and all actions in connection with each computing device.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein the event detection module classifies the detected events by severity.

4. The system of claim 3 wherein the action comprises sending to a user a notification including the severity of the event and wherein the severity determines a property of the notification.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein each of the plurality of profiles includes a list of the computing devices the associated user can access.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein the plurality of profiles defines a system administrator that has total control over the system and all computing devices.

7. A method for managing computing devices connected to a computer network, the system comprising:

connecting a plurality of disparate manageable computing devices connected to the computer network, the computing devices generating output data directly from a console operator interface indicating an operational status of the computing device wherein the plurality of disparate manageable computing devices have at least two different operating systems;

using a management application executing on a management console connected to the computing devices for receiving data output from the computing devices via the computer network;

managing the computing devices with a graphical user interface operating on a console connected to and remotely located from the computing devices, the user interface enabling a plurality of users to manage the computing devices;

associating a plurality of profiles, with each user; and

logging the events, notifications, and all accesses and actions to each computing device;

the method further comprising:

arranging the computing devices in logical groups according to computing environment; and

managing the computing devices of each logical group using a unique invocation of the management application corresponding to the logical group, such that data output from computing devices of a first one of the logical groups is transmitted to a first invocation of the management application, the step of managing comprising:

determining from received output data whether one of a plurality of predefined events related to an operational status of a computing device has occurred at one of the computing devices of tie corresponding logical group; and

initiating an action responsive to a determination by the event detection module that an event has occurred.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the determining whether one of a plurality of predefined events has occurred includes classifying the events by severity.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the initiating an action comprises sending a notification including the severity and wherein the severity determines a property of the notification.

10. The method of claim 7 wherein the associating the plurality of profiles includes listing each computing device the associated user can access.

11. The method of claim 7 wherein the associating the plurality of profiles includes creating a system administrator that has total control over the system and all computing devices.

12. A method for managing computing devices connected to a computer network, the system comprising:

monitoring each of a plurality of disparate computing devices for output indicative of an operational status of the computing device wherein the plurality of disparate manageable computing devices have at least two different operating systems;

receiving output from at least one of the plurality of computing devices, wherein the output is transmitted directly from a console operator interface of the at least one computing device;

logging and time stamping the received output if the output meets a predetermined criteria to be time stamped;

examining the output to determine whether one of a plurality of predefined events related to an operational status of the computing device has occurred; and

determining whether an action is required to be executed and if so, executing the action.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein the examining the output includes classifying the output by severity.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein the action comprises sending to a user a notification including the severity of the event and wherein the severity determines a property of the notification.

15. The method of claim 12 further including associating a plurality of profiles including listing each computing device an associated user can access.

16. The method of claim 15 further including creating a system administrator that has total control over the system and all computing devices.

17. The system of claim 1 wherein the action comprises a corrective action for correcting a problem experienced by the one of the computing devices.

18. The system of claim 17 wherein the corrective action comprises issuing a command to the one of the computing devices.

19. The system of claim 4 wherein the notification is sent using a method selected from a group consisting of e-mail, telephone, and pager.

20. The method of claim 7 wherein the action comprises a corrective action for correcting a problem experienced by the one of the computing devices.

21. The method of claim 20 wherein the corrective action comprises issuing a command to the one of the computing devices.

22. The method of claim 9 wherein the notification is sent using a method selected from a group consisting of e-mail, telephone, and pager.

23. The method of claim 12 wherein the action comprises a corrective action for correcting a problem experienced by the one of the computing devices.

24. The system of claim 23 wherein the corrective action comprises issuing a command to the one of the computing devices.

25. The system of claim 12 wherein the notification is sent using a method selected from a group consisting of e-mail, telephone, and pager.

Description Submit all comments and votes

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates generally to a system for managing plural manageable devices and, more particularly, to a management system for managing computing devices within a data communications network, where the computing devices can operate on various platforms.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

A computing device is said to be manageable if it contains sufficient intelligence to both transfer data describing its operation to a user interface such as a console and to modify its operation in response to the receipt of instructions from the console or other user interface. While a computer system is one of the most widely known manageable device, it is but one of a wide array of such devices. FIG. 1a is a highly simplified block diagram of plural manageable devices. In FIG. 1a, each manageable device 10-1 through 10-N is bi-directionally coupled to a corresponding console 12-1 through 12-N. From a respective one of the consoles 12-1 through 12-N, a user, for example, a system administrator, may both monitor operation of, as well as issue instructions to, the corresponding manageable device 10-1 through 10-N. While the consoles 12-1 through 12-N may be configured to include a wide variety of interface devices, typically, each of the consoles 12-1 through 12-N include a monitor which displays operational data output corresponding to manageable device 10-1 through 10-N and a keyboard for generating instructions for transfer to the corresponding manageable device 10-1 through 10-N.

Typically, the console 12-1 through 12-N has been located in close proximity to the corresponding manageable device 10-1 through 10-N, oftentimes in the same or an adjacent room. As a result, in order to monitor the operation of the manageable devices 10-1 through 10-N, the system administrator has had to remain on-site. However, as the number of manageable devices requiring monitoring have multiplied and been geographically dispersed, on-site management of each individual device has become an unworkable solution. As a result, a wide variety of computer-implemented management systems and/or techniques which enable the management of plural manageable devices from a remotely located console have been disclosed in the art.

For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,471,617 and 5,559,958 each disclose a system and method for managing a network of manageable devices from a remote located management console. A highly simplified block diagram of the management system disclosed in these patents is shown in FIG. 1b. As may now be seen, each manageable device 14-1 through 14-N is coupled to a remotely located console 16 by a network 14 which may be variously configured as a local area network (or "LAN"), a wide area network (or "WAN") or a collection of IANs and WANs commonly known as the Internet. The disclosed system has achieved the management of plural manageable devices from a single remotely located console. It does, however, have certain limitations. As further illustrated in FIG. 1b, a management agent 20-1 through 20-N resides within each of the manageable devices 14-1 through 14-N to be managed from the remotely located console 16. A management application 22 residing at the remotely located console 16 periodically polls each of the manageable devices 14-1 through 14-N for the information needed to remotely manage the device. The information for each manageable device 14-1 through 14-N is collected by the resident management agent 20-1 through 20-N and transmitted to the management application 22 residing at the remotely located console 16 using the simple network management protocol (or "SNMP") or another protocol included in the transmission control protocol/Internet protocol (or "TCP/IP") protocol suite for processing. By accessing the management application 22, the system administrator may then manage the operation of the manageable devices 14-1 through 14-N.

Unfortunately, the disclosed system has a number of shortcomings which limit its value in many real world situations. First, by requiring the installation of a management agent at each manageable device to be managed from the remote location, the cost of both constructing and maintaining the disclosed management system is increased substantially. More importantly, each of the manageable devices 14-1 through 14-N and the console 16 must all operate in a common computing environment. As a result, the manageable devices 14-1 through 14-N cannot include devices from disparate computing environments.

Thus, it should be readily appreciated that a management system which eliminates the need of installing a management agent at each manageable device to be managed by the management system would be highly desirable. It should be further appreciated that a management system which enables a system administrator to manage disparate manageable devices from a single, remotely located, console would be highly desirable as well. It is, therefore, the object of this invention to provide such a management system.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed to a management system for managing computing devices from a common remotely located console and without the use of management agents at each computing device thereof. In various aspects thereof, the computing devices are arranged in logical groups and managed from a corresponding invocation of a management application residing at a management terminal. A serial I/O port of each of the computing devices is coupled to an event activity module of a corresponding I/O port of the management terminal. Data output from the computing device is received by the management terminal and transferred to the invocation associated with the computing device. Within the invocation of the management application, an event detection module determines whether the received output data indicates that an event has occurred at the manageable device where the output data originated. To determine if an event has occurred, the event detection module compares the received output data to text strings maintained in a memory subsystem. If the received output data contains a text string matching one of the text strings maintained in the memory subsystem, the event detection module determines that the event corresponding to that text string has occurred. The information concerning the event is transferred to an action initiation module where actions such as issuing instructions to the computing device and generating alerts or other types of notifications to selected consoles are initiated.

In one embodiment, the invention includes an enterprise console management product developed to help Data Centers implement "LIGHTS-OUT" computing solutions by managing all or parts of an enterprise console environment. The system implements a WEB server to manage connectors which provide a cohesive, standard methodology for scanning, monitoring and reporting Data Center console events from multiple types of sources such as OpenVMS, Unix, Windows NT and Network Devices. The system communicates via SNMP, SYSLOG, UDP, LAT, SERIAL and TELNET to managed devices utilizing a WEB browser as a user interface.

The invention monitors its enterprise console connections for defined text patterns. When patterns are matched, the system automatically generates an event which may execute associated actions to notify the proper personnel, or initiate automated corrective actions based on Scripts. Notification, Actions and event generation may be governed by time of day, day of week, priority, severity or the console generating the event.

When events are detected by the system, the event must be "Acknowledged" by an authorized user. When the event is "acknowledged", the name of the user and time is logged and the user is allowed to enter what was done to correct or fix the event. The user comment for an event may be optional or required based on the event severity. The tracking of when an event occurs, when its acknowledged by whom and what they did to correct the event allows the system to provide a detailed audit report of console events and associated actions within the environment as well as how long an event was active before being acknowledged.

The system can replace older outdated products like Polycenter Console Manager or VaxCluster Console. The system imports Polycenter Console Manager and VCS Configurations directly. The system allows you to implement Enterprise Wide console/event management policies consistently and around the clock while maximizing hardware investments and gaining the most productivity from personnel.

Therefore, in accordance with the previous summary, objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent to one skilled in the art from the subsequent description and the appended claims taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1a is a simplified block diagram of plural computing devices and corresponding management consoles associated therewith;

FIG. 1b is a simplified block diagram of a conventional management system for managing plural computing devices from a remotely located console;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a system, constructed in accordance with the teachings of the present invention, for managing plural disparate computing devices from a remotely located console;

FIG. 3 is a simplified block diagram of a management terminal portion of the system for managing plural disparate computing devices from a remotely located console of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of processor space, located within a processor subsystem of the management terminal of FIG. 3, where plural invocations of a management application for managing plural disparate manageable reside;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of memory space, located within a memory subsystem of the management terminal of FIG. 3;

FIG. 6 is a flow chart of a method of managing disparate computing devices from a selected console of the management system of FIGS. 1-4;

FIG. 7 shows an example of a login screen;

FIG. 8 shows an example screen after logging in;

FIG. 9 shows an example screen for current configuration of the consoles;

FIG. 10 shows an example screen after selecting the DELTA computing device;

FIG. 11 shows an example screen for modifying an user;

FIG. 12 shows an example screen for modifying the Manager profile;

FIG. 13 shows an example screen of monitored events;

FIG. 14 shows an example screen of scans;

FIG. 15 shows an example screen for an error message;

FIG. 16 shows an example screen of events that need to be acknowledged;

FIG. 17 shows an example screen for the history of events;

FIG. 18 shows an example screen for lo g files;

FIG. 19 shows an example screen for the entries in a log files;

FIG. 20 shows example console screens;

FIG. 21 shows an example screen for severity levels and colors;

FIG. 22 shows an example screen for running a detail report; and

FIG. 23 shows an example screen for running a default report.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present invention can be described with several examples given below. It is understood, however, that the examples below are not necessarily limitations to the present invention, but are used to describe typical embodiments of operation. Moreover, a few definitions are first introduced in o