WO2000028417A1

WO2000028417A1 - Method for generalised triggering of administrative actions on a distributed computer system

Info

Publication number: WO2000028417A1
Application number: PCT/FR1999/002730
Authority: WO
Inventors: Pierre Pham Phu
Original assignee: Bull S.A.
Priority date: 1998-11-10
Filing date: 1999-11-08
Publication date: 2000-05-18
Also published as: EP1046106A1; FR2785691A1; FR2785691B1

Abstract

The invention concerns a method for generalised triggering of administrative action on a distributed computer system managed by a software manager (30) using an information base stored in storage means and objects defining a main domain (D0) comprising at least two subdomains (D1, D2), each subdomain (D1, D2) comprising a group of machines (20, 40) and/or at least of another subdomain (21, 41). The invention is characterised in that the method comprises an initialising step comprising: a first associating and storing step wherein each action for administering the main domain is associated with a specific action, for each subdomain (D1, D2) the different specific actions having the same functionality corresponding to the performance of the administrative action; a second step which consists in creating and storing for each specific action at least a named set of parameters (P1, P'1, P2, P'2) comprising the parameters required for implementing the specific action, each name the parameter set being identical for all the specific actions of one common administrative action; and an implementing step.

Description

Method for triggering generalized administrative actions on a distributed computer system.

The present invention relates to a method for triggering generalized administration actions on a distributed computer system. A distributed computer system generally comprises a set of machines or computers constituting a network. This network is administered by a user via a management or administration system (manager) consisting of administrator software using an information base, for example a management information base (MIB Management Information Base) consisting of objects and executed by at least one management computer This software must be capable of executing administrative actions on the entire network or individually on each machine However, as a general rule, the machines making up the network are not all the same. In addition, certain groups of machines can have an operating system or environment different from other groups of machines In this type of network, the same administrative action intended for the whole system must therefore have a formalism or a semantics different according to the different groups making up the system, which considerably complicates the work of the user who must not only know the properties of all the groups, but also the semantics of the commands for managing these different groups

The object of the present invention is therefore to overcome the drawbacks of the prior art by proposing a method for triggering a generalized administrative action making it possible to hide from the user the heterogeneity of the computer system to be administered.

This object is achieved by the fact that the generalized triggering action of administration action on a distributed computer system managed by an administrator software using an information base (MIB Management Information Base) memorized in means of memorization and representing objects defining a main domain including at at least two sub-domains, each sub-domain comprising a group of machines and / or at least one other sub-domain, is characterized in that the method comprises on the one hand, an initialization step comprising a first step of association and storage where each administration action of the main domain is associated with a specific action, for each sub-domain, all these specific actions having the same functionality corresponding to the performance of the administration action, a second step of creation and storage, for each specific action, of at least one set of named parameters comprising the parameters necessary for the implementation of the specific action each name of named parameter sets being identical for all the specific actions performing the same administration action, and on the other hand, a step of use

According to another particular feature, the use step comprises the triggering by a user of a determined administration action of the main domain, once the administration action has been triggered, the administrator software searches and identifies on each subdomain of the system, the specific action of the determined administrative action as well as the set of parameters named associated with the specific action, then sends to each sub-domain a command for the execution of the administrative action determined as well as the parameters of the named parameter set associated with the specific action of each sub-domain

According to another particular feature, a sub-domain groups machines having either a specific environment, a specific geographic location, or a specific type of application, or a specific architecture, or a specific use

According to another particularity, the various administrative actions are classified by type of action

According to another particular feature, the search and the identification of the specific action of the determined administration action are carried out by means of a scan of a software information base. administrator including the identification of each sub-domain and each specific action

According to another particularity, all the parameter sets named with the same specific action are previously defined and stored in an information base, to be reusable by the administration software.

According to another particularity, the step of use comprises, before the triggering of the administration action by the user, a step of selecting an administration action by the user from a list of action d administration provided by the administrator software and displayed on means for viewing the machine, this selection causing the display of at least one parameter set name usable with the administration action, so that the user select one, selecting the name in the set of parameters causing the administration action to be triggered.

Other features and advantages of the present invention will appear more clearly on reading the description below made with reference to the appended drawing in which

- Figure 1 shows a diagram of an exemplary computer system with which the method according to the invention is implemented

In order to better understand the invention, it is necessary to specify its field of application. The method according to the invention is implemented in a distributed computer system. This computer system comprises a plurality of machines (10, 20, 40) which can be, for example computers or stations. A particularity of the system in which the method is used is that the machines can be grouped into various sub-domains (D1 , D2) having for example in common the same geographic location, the same operating system or environment for example, a first sub-domain (D1) using the UNIX system (trademark registered by Unix Software Laboratory) and a second sub-domain (D2) using the Windows NT system (trademark registered by the company Microsoft), or the same field of application, for example a first domain being used for marketing applications and a second domain being used for accounting applications All the machines (10, 20, 40) of the system network form at least one main domain (D0) Each main domain (D0) according to the invention, therefore has a tree architecture Indeed, each main domain (D0) comprises at least two sub-domains (D1, D2), knowing that a sub-domain includes a group of machines (20, 40) and / or at least one other sub-domain (21, 41)

All the main domains are administered by system administrator software (30) or manager installed on a machine (10), for example from the main domain D0 comprising an information base (31), for example an information base management information or MIB (Management Information Base) in which are stored in tree form, information on the main domain (D0) and on the sub domains (D1, D2). This administrator software (30) makes it possible to monitor, configure, or ensure the maintenance of the system. In general, the administration of the system is carried out by different actions which must be carried out on all the sub-domains (D1, D2) and all the machines (20, 40) from each main area (D0). However, as explained above, all the machines (20, 40) of the system are not necessarily identical. Thus, in the prior art, it is necessary to adapt each administration action according to each type of machine (20, 40) or of each sub-domain (D1, D2). In particular, the actions, performed on each sub-domain (D1, D2) corresponding to the implementation of the administration action do not necessarily use the same parameters, which forces the user to enter as many sets of parameters as 'there are different actions to be carried out on the sub-domains (D1, D2).

The method according to the invention makes it possible to inform and execute an administrative action in a single operation so that this administrative action is executed transparently by all of the specific actions of each sub-domain (D1, D2) The concept of specific action will be described in more detail later By way of nonlimiting example, one of the administration actions consists in creating a new user for a main domain (DO) according to the invention. According to the prior art, this administration action requires a certain number of parameters depending on different environments of the sub-domains (D1, D2) Thus, it is not possible to enter all these parameters in a single operation In addition, the user must know all of the parameters necessary for each specific action of each sub -domain (D1, D2)

Recall that an action of administration of a main domain (DO) has no real implementation, because it can consist of the execution of a plurality of actions as explained in detail later. The method comprises an initialization step in which each administration action of the network administrator is associated in a table (3421) with a specific action of each sub-domain (D1, D2) having the same functionality and corresponding to the execution of the determined administrative action of the main domain (DO). In other words, each action of administration of the principal domain (DO) is associated with each action of each subdomain (D1 D2), which will be executed on this subdomain to carry out the administration action Each action subdomains thus associated will be considered as a specific action of the administration action This association is, for example, then stored in a file (fic.ass) or loaded into memory (32) on the machine (1 0) on which the system administrator software (31) operates, for subsequent uses of the administration action The initialization step of the method according to the invention also includes a creation step, for each administration action of the system , of at least one set of parameters named for each specific action of the administration action of the subdomains For all the sets of parameters of the specific actions of a determined administration action, the same name will be chosen By way of nonlimiting example, let us take again the administrative action consisting in creating a user, for example the Oracle user, on all the machines of the DO domain. By user is meant an application or a program, a machine, a individual, etc. This administration action is called for example “CreateUser” (create a user) on the DO domain. In general, this administration action requires to specify the name of the user, such as for example a database Oracle data According to the invention, the administration action “createUser” will therefore have as parameter “Oracle” Let us also take as an example a main domain DO consisting of two sub-domains A first sub-domain D1 comprises machines operating in a “UNIX” environment and a second sub-domain (D2) comprises machines operating in a “Windows NT” environment It is known that the two environments chosen by way of example comp each return an action allowing to create a user For example, for "UNIX", it is the real action making it possible to create a user labeled "Cr_User_UNIX" and for "Windows NT" it is the real action allowing to create a user labeled "Cr_User_NT" According to the invention these 2 actions are declared as specific actions of the administration action "CreateUser" of the main domain DO Then two sets of parameters (P1, P2) named are created, each set of parameters with the name "Oracle" Recall that the administration action "CreateUser" executed with the name of the parameter set "Oracle" corresponds to the administration action "create an Oracle user" A first set of parameters (P1) corresponds to the parameters necessary for the execution of the "create an Oracle user" action for the sub-domain (D1) grouping together UNIX machines, a second set of parameters (P2) co corresponds to the parameters necessary for the execution of the "create an Oracle user" action for the subdomain (D2) grouping Windows NT machines. For example, the first set of parameters (P1) named "Oracle" is Name = oracle Group = database Directory = / oracle, and the second parameter set (P2) named "Oracle" is Name = oracle Directory = C \ oracle

Thus, according to the invention when the user wishes to carry out the administration action “create an Oracle user”, he first selects from an action list (342) provided by the administrator software, for example on display means (34), the administration action (3421) "create a user" (CreateUser). This selection causes the administrator software (30) to display a list (343) of names of named parameter sets in which the user selects the name "Oracle" (3431). Then, the administrator software (30) searches for specific actions on the sub-domains (D1, D2) To do this, a description (32) for example in the form of a table of all the specific actions (321) has each of the sub-domains, for example "Windows NT" and "UNIX" (see page 9 and 12), is accessible by the administrator software (30), for example via, either by prior loading of this description (32) in the memory of the machine (10) on which runs the administrator software (30), or a file stored on storage means (not shown) of this same machine (10), for example this file containing in this description, one or more attributes of a MIB ( not shown) viewable by admin software istrator (30) This description (32) includes for each specific action (321) in particular the name of the specific action, the name of the administrative action with which it is associated, and the type of actions to which it belongs The use of the types of actions provided by a list (341) will be explained later. In the example chosen, the result of the search will give, the specific action "Cr_User_Unιx" for the subdomain D1, and the specific action "Cr_User_NT" for the sub-domain D2 As explained previously, for all the specific actions found, there are sets of parameters (P1, P2) named with the same name So, when the specific actions as well as the corresponding parameter sets are found, the administrator software (30) sends the user creation command to the subdomains (D1, D2) found in which there are specific actions, by specifying the parameters (P1, P2) of the named parameter sets found, associated with each specific action Thus, in a single operation, the administration action "create an Oracle user" is executed on all the subdomains with the appropriate parameters

In this example, a parameter set (P1, P2) named "Oracle" is created for each specific action of each sub-domain (D1, D2) To create a new user on the main domain DO, a new set of parameters (P '1, P'2) named will be created for each specific action associated with the administration action Thus, for the administration action "create a user", there can exist a plurality of sets of parameters (P1, P '1, P2, P'2) named

The sets of parameters (P1, P'1, P'2, P2) named, allowing the execution of specific actions on each sub-domain, are defined beforehand, and for example, stored on memory means (33) of the machine (10) on which the administrator software is located (30) This memorization is carried out for example by the creation of a directory (331, respectively 332) for each specific action (Cr_User_Unιx, Cr_User_NT) Each directory (331, 332) contains at least one file (P1, P'1, respectively, P2, P'2) Each file (P1, P'1, P2, P'2) corresponds to the storage of a named set of parameters corresponding to the specific action associated with the directory The name of each directory corresponds, for example to the name of the specific action and the name of the parameter file corresponds to the name of the parameter set named Thus, the search for the named parameter set chosen by the user is to search in each rep rtoire (331, 332) relating to each specific action found, the respective file (P1, P'1, P2, P'2) having as name the name of the named parameter set chosen by the user In order to quickly search and identify all the sub-domains and all the specific actions of each administration action, the information base for example comprising a MIB (31) of the system administrator software (30) comprises information The first piece of information consists, for example, of an attribute of the object (31 1) defining the main domain (DO), in the MIB (31), allows for example to identify the list (341) of the types of actions allowing to define the administration actions (3421) from a list of actions (342) and corresponding to the administration actions supported by the main domain All the descriptions of the administration actions are then stored, for example in the memory of the machine (1 0) on which the administrator software operates (30) The names of the administration actions can for example be displayed on the display means (34) in the form of a list (341), so only when the user selects an action type (341 1) from the list (341). the software finds in a second list (342) all the administrative actions that are part of this type of action Similarly, each sub-domain (D1, D2) of the main domain (D0) is an object (312, respectively 313) of the MIB (31), an attribute of which also corresponds to the types of actions supported by the sub-domain. For example, the two tables below represent a list of the types of actions supported by the sub-domain D1 of UNIX type and Windows NT type D2 subdomain, as well as some specific actions by action type In these two tables, each action type name is a particular instance of the "action types" attribute of objects (312, 313) of the MIB of the two sub-domains D1 and D2

The first table represents an example of types of actions and possible actions for the object (312) of the UNIX subdomain.

Actions of this type are used for distribution

SDPCStationMgt software for PC Thus, a first action allows to install all or part of the actions on the servers, a second action allows to install a lot of software (package) on the PC

The second table represents an example of types of actions and possible actions for the object (313) of the Windows NT subdomain

To use the previous example, the “create user” administration action is part of the type of action allowing user management, which also includes, for example, the administrative action “list users” or “ modify a user »

In this example, for the subdomain D1, the action "Create a user" (CMJserJJNIX) is part of the action type "User" and for the subdomain D2, the action "Create a user" (Cr_User_NT ) is part of the action type "User_NT" In the administration action "create a user" (CreateUser) on the main domain DO is, for example, part of the action type "UserO" in the main domain DO Then, the "Cr_User_UNIX" and "Cr_User_NT" actions are specific actions of "CreateUser"

However, it should be noted for these 2 examples of tables that certain types of actions and actions are not found in the two sub-domains. These particular types of actions and actions are not concerned by the method according to the invention. Indeed, the aim of the method is to execute an administration action on the whole of the main domain, which supposes that all the subdomains of the main domain are capable of carrying out this administration action. Consequently, the administration actions supported by the main domain correspond to actions common to all sub-domains

Thus, according to the invention, when the user of the system triggers an administrative action on the main domain, by selecting in the display produced on the display means (34), a type of action (3411) then, the administration action (3421) (“CreateUser”), and finally the name (3431) (“Oracle”) of the corresponding set of parameters, the administrator software (30) firstly scans the database d information (31) comprising for example a MIB, for identifying all the objects (312, 313) of the information base (31) representing the sub-domains (D1, D2), belonging to the main domain (DO) When the administrative actions are classified by type of actions, the user firstly selects from a list (341) of the type of action provided by the administrator software (30), the type of actions (3411) corresponding to the administration action, knowing that the list (341) of the types of actions (3411) supported by the main domain D0 is defined and stored in the information base (31) This storage is carried out for example by via an attribute of the object (31 1) of the information base (31 ) representing the main domain (D0) In the example preceding the administration action "CreateUser" allowing to create a user on the main domain is, for example, part of the action type "UserO" Secondly, by the through a search in the descriptions (321) of the actions stored in the memory (32) of the machine (10), executed for example by a program, the administrator software (30) identifies for each sub-domain (D1, D2 ) found, the specific action (CrJJserJJnix, Cr_User_NT) of the administration action (CreateUser), then searches in each directory (331, 332) associated with each specific action identified (CrJJserJJnix, Cr_User_NT), the file (P1, P2) containing the parameters corresponding to the name of the parameter set (Oracle) selected by the user Once all the specific actions (CrJJser_Unιx, Cr_User_NT) and the corresponding parameter sets (P1, P2) identifies the software adm administrator (30) sends to each identified sub-domain (D1, D2), a command for the execution of the identified specific action associated with the sub-domain using the set of parameters associated with the sub-domain It is clear that the method of the invention thus allows the user to trigger administration actions without having to know the constitution of the system or the semantics of the commands.

Other modifications within the reach of those skilled in the art are within the scope of the invention

Claims

1 Method for triggering a generalized administration action on a distributed computer system managed by administrator software (30) using an information base stored in storage means and objects defining a main domain (DO) comprising at least two sub-domains (D1, D2), each sub-domain (D1, D2) comprising a group of machines (20, 40) and / or at least one other sub-domain (21, 41), is characterized in that that the method comprises on the one hand, an initialization step comprising. a first step of association and storage where each administration action of the main domain is associated with a specific action, for each sub-domain (D1, D2) the different specific actions having the same functionality corresponding to the realization of the administration action, a second step of creation and storage for each specific action of at least one set of parameters (P1, P'1, P2, P'2) named comprising the parameters necessary for the implementation of the 'specific action, each name of parameter sets being identical for all the specific actions of the same administration action; and on the other hand, a step of use. 2. Method for triggering a generalized administration action on a distributed computer system according to claim 1, characterized in that the step of use comprises the triggering by a user of a determined administration action of the main domain ( D0), once this determined administrative action has been triggered, the administrator software (30) searches and identifies on each sub-domain (D1, D2) of the system, the specific action of the determined administrative action as well as the named parameter set associated with the specific action, then sends to each sub-domain (D1, D2) a command to execute the specific action identified as well as the parameters of the named parameter set associated with the specific action of each sub-domain

3 A method for triggering a generalized administration action on a distributed computer system according to claim 2, characterized in that a sub-domain (D1, D2) groups together machines (20, 40) having either a determined environment, either a specific geographic location, or a specific type of application, or a specific architecture

4 Method for triggering a generalized administration action on a distributed computer system according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the various administration actions are classified by type of action

5 A method for triggering a generalized administration action on a distributed computer system according to one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the research and identification of the specific action of the determined administration action is carried out by means of a scan of the information base (31) of the administrator software (30) comprising the identification of each sub-domain and of each specific action

6 A method for triggering a generalized administration action on a distributed computer system according to one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that all the sets of parameters (P1, P'1, P2, P'2) named d '' the same specific action are previously defined and stored in the information base accessible by the administrator software, in order to be reusable 7 Method of generalized triggering of administrative action on a distributed computer system according to one of claims 1 to 5 , characterized in that all the sets of parameters (P1, P'1, P2, P'2) named with the same specific action are previously defined and stored in a directory in the form of a file on the machine (10) on which is installed the administrator software, to be reusable 8 A method for triggering a generalized administration action on a distributed computer system according to one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that the step of use comprising, before the triggering of the administration action by the user, a step of selecting this administration action (3431) by the user from a list (342) of administration actions provided by the administrator software (30) and displayed on the display means (34) of the machine, this selection causing the display of at least one parameter set name (343) usable with the administration action, so that the user selects one (3431), the selection of the name of the game of parameter causing the triggering of the administration action

9 A method for triggering a generalized administration action on a distributed computer system according to one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that the information base used by the administrator software comprises a management information base (MIB Management information Base) representing in tree form objects defining a main domain (DO) comprising at least two sub-domains (D1, D2), each sub-domain (D1, D2) comprising a group of machines (20, 40) and or at least one other sub-domain (21, 41)