Management of a Computing System with Dynamic Change of Roles

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016134463-A1
Application number	US-201514931433-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Nov 3, 2015
Priority date	Nov 12, 2014
Publication date	May 12, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

A solution for managing a computing system comprising a plurality of client computing machines to be managed and at least one server computing machine for controlling the managing of the client computing machines, wherein each client computing machine has at least one of a plurality of roles in a deployment infrastructure for deploying management data from said at least one server computing machine to the client computing machines. A corresponding method comprises monitoring one or more operative parameters of each client computing machine against one or more reference policies, detecting a non-compliance of the operative parameters to the reference policies, and changing the role of at least one of the client computing machines in response to the non-compliance of the operative parameters to the reference policies for restoring a compliance thereto.

First claim

1 . A method for managing a computing system comprising a plurality of client computing machines to be managed and at least one server computing machine for controlling the managing of the client computing machines, each client computing machine having at least one of a plurality of roles in a deployment infrastructure for deploying management data from said at least one server computing machine to the client computing machines, wherein the method comprises:
monitoring one or more operative parameters of each client computing machine against one or more reference policies; detecting a non-compliance of the operative parameters to the reference policies; and changing a role of at least one of the client computing machines in response to the non-compliance of the operative parameters to the reference policies for restoring a compliance thereto.

2 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein each client computing machine is configured to be changeable between a relay role for deploying the corresponding management data on one or more other client computing machines being child client computing machines depending thereon, and an endpoint role that does not deploy the corresponding management data on the one or more other client computing machines.

3 . The method according to claim 2 , wherein said detecting a non-compliance of the operative parameters to the reference policies comprises:
detecting a non-compliant client computing machine of the client computing machines having the relay role in response to the non-compliance of the corresponding operative parameters to the reference policies.

4 . The method according to claim 3 , wherein said changing the role of at least one of the client computing machines comprises:
demoting the non-compliant client computing machine to the endpoint role.

5 . The method according to claim 3 , wherein said changing the role of at least one of the client computing machines comprises:
promoting at least one the clients computing machines having the endpoint role to the relay role.

6 . The method according to claim 3 , wherein said changing the role of at least one of the client computing machines comprises:
distributing at least part of the child client computing machines depending on the non-compliant client computing machine to depend on at least one of the other client computing machines having the relay role.

7 . The method according to claim 6 , wherein said changing the role of at least one of the client computing machines comprises:
selecting said at least one client computing machine whose role is to be changed according to at least one optimization criterion of the computing system.

8 . The method according to claim 7 , wherein said distributing at least part of the child client computing machines depending on the non-compliant client computing machine comprises:
distributing said at least part of the child client computing machines depending on the non-compliant client computing machine according to said at least one optimization criterion.

9 . The method according to claim 8 , wherein said at least one optimization criterion is based on a metric measuring a distance between each pair of client computing machines.

10 . The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:
adapting one or more reference conditions for each client computing machine according to the reference policies and to the operative parameters of the computing machine; and wherein said monitoring one or more operative parameters comprises:
monitoring the operative parameters of each client computing machine against the corresponding reference conditions.

11 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein said monitoring one or more operative parameters comprises:
receiving a notification of the non-compliance of the operative parameters of each client computing machine to the reference policies from the computing machine.

12 . A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer-readable medium embodying program code that is configured to cause a computing system to perform the method according to claim 1 when the program code is executed on the computing system.

13 . A system for managing a computing system comprising a plurality of client computing machines to be managed and at least one server computing machine for controlling the managing of the client computing machines, each client computing machine having at least one of a plurality of roles in a deployment infrastructure for deploying management data from said at least one server computing machine to the client computing machines, comprising:
a data processor coupled to a storage device; and program code, stored in the storage device, that is configured to perform, when executed by the data processor, steps of: monitoring one or more operative parameters of each client computing machine against one or more reference policies; detecting a non-compliance of the operative parameters to the reference policies; and changing a role of at least one of the client computing machines in response to the non-compliance of the operative parameters to the reference policies for restoring a compliance thereto.

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Bellizia Valerio
• Milanese Nicola
• Pichetti Luigi
• Secchi Marco

Classifications

• H04L67/10

  in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network (software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46) · CPC title

• H04L41/0816 Primary

  the condition being an adaptation, e.g. in response to network events · CPC title

• H04L41/044 Primary

  comprising hierarchical management structures · CPC title

• G06F9/5027

  the resource being a machine, e.g. CPUs, Servers, Terminals · CPC title

• G06F8/65 Primary

  Updates (security arrangements therefor G06F21/57) · CPC title