Dynamically updating APIS based on updated configuration file of a computing system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9898273-B1
Application number	US-201514978050-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Dec 22, 2015
Priority date	Dec 22, 2015
Publication date	Feb 20, 2018
Grant date	Feb 20, 2018

Abstract

Aspects of the present disclosure involve systems and methods for providing extensibility of one or more APIs of a computing system management interface to allow a user of the management interface to dynamically generate new interfaces for data attributes from one or more underlying hardware components of the computing system. In one particular embodiment, a management interface is configured to receive a configuration file from a user of the system through a user interface. The configuration file may define or otherwise indicate a type of API utilized by the management interface to communicate with components of the computing system and receive information concerning those components. The configuration file may also cause the management interface to update the identified API according to the update. By dynamically updating the number and type of APIs utilized by the management interface, the user may obtain information concerning the components of the computing system otherwise not previously available.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for managing a computing system, the method comprising:
receiving, by a management interface program of a computing system, a configuration file, the management interface program comprising a plurality of application program interfaces (APIs) for communicating with and between one or more hardware components of the computing system;
dynamically updating at least one of the plurality of APIs based at least on the received configuration file, the updated API comprising at least an identification of a dataset of an available operational information of at least one of the one or more hardware components of the computing system available based on the received configuration file, wherein the available operational information includes at least one of an operational state of the components, port assignment information for networking components, processing usage and capacity of compute components, alarms or failures detected by the components, traffic information for one or more ports associated with a component;
utilizing, by the management interface program, the updated API of the at least one of the plurality of APIs to request the available operational information from the at least one of the one or more hardware components of the computing system;
receiving, by the management interface program, the available operational information from the at least one of the one or more hardware components of the computing system; and
interfacing, using the management interface program, with and between the one or more hardware components based at least in part on the available operational information, wherein the at least one of the one or more hardware components of the computing system comprises a compute device and the available operational information from the at least one of the one or more hardware components of the computing system comprises available processing capacity of the compute device.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:
storing the received available operational information from the at least one of the one or more hardware components of the computing system in a database, wherein the database is in communication with a user computing device for retrieval from the database by the user computing device.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the user computing device stores the configuration file in the database prior to the management interface receiving the configuration file.

4. The method of claim 2 wherein the configuration file is received from the user computing device over a network connection.

5. The method of claim 2 wherein the user computing device executes a user interface and the configuration file from the user is received through the user interface.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the computing system is a converged infrastructure computing system comprising a plurality of hardware component devices.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the at least one of the one or more hardware components of the computing system comprises a storage device and the available operational information from the at least one of the one or more hardware components of the computing system comprises available storage capacity of the computing device.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising:
utilizing, by the management interface program, the updated API of the at least one of the plurality of APIs to request additional available operational information from a second one of the one or more hardware components of the computing system.

9. One or more non-transitory tangible computer-readable storage media storing computer-executable instructions for performing a computer process on a computing device, the computer process comprising:
receiving, by a management interface program executed on the computing device, a configuration file, the management interface program comprising a plurality of application program interfaces (APIs) for communicating with and between one or more hardware components of a converged computing system;
dynamically updating at least one of the plurality of APIs based at least on the received configuration file, the updated API comprising at least an identification of a dataset of an available operational information of at least one of the one or more hardware components of the converged computing system available based on the received configuration file, wherein the available operational information includes at least one of an operational state of the components, port assignment information for networking components, processing usage and capacity of compute components, alarms or failures detected by the components, traffic information for one or more ports associated with a component;
utilizing, by the management interface program, the updated API of the at least one of the plurality of APIs to request the available operational information from the at least one of the one or more hardware components of the converged computing system;
receiving, by the management interface program, the available operational information from the at least one of the one or more hardware components of the converged computing system; and
interfacing, using the management interface program, with and between the one or more hardware components based at least in part on the available operational information, wherein the at least one of the one or more hardware components of the converged computing system comprises a compute device and the available operational information from the at least one of the one or more hardware components of the converged computing system comprises available processing capacity of the compute device.

10. The one or more non-transitory tangible computer-readable storage media of claim 9 wherein the computer process further comprises:
storing the received available operational information from the at least one of the one or more hardware components of the converged computing system in a database, wherein the database is in communication with a user computing device for retrieval from the database by the user computing device.

11. The one or more non-transitory tangible computer-readable storage media of claim 10 wherein the user computing device stores the configuration file in the database prior to the management interface receiving the configuration file.

12. The one or more non-transitory tangible computer-readable storage media of claim 10 wherein the user computing device executes a user interface and the configuration file from the user is received through the user interface.

13. The one or more non-transitory tangible computer-readable storage media of claim 9 wherein the at least one of the one or more hardware components of the converged computing system comprises a storage device and the available operational information from the at least one of the one or more hardware components of the converged computing system comprises available storage capacity of the compute device.

14. The one or more non-transitory tangible computer-readable storage media of claim 9 wherein the computer process further comprises:
utilizing, by the management interface program, the updated API of the at least one of the plurality of APIs to request additional available operational information from a second one of the one or more hardware components of the converged computing system.

15. A computer system comprising:
a plurality of hardware component devices; and
a management interface executed on a computing device and in communication with the plurality of hardware component devices, the management interface program comprising a plurality of application program interfaces

Assignees

• Vce Co Llc
• Vce Ip Holding Co Llc

Inventors

• Dong Wei
• Beall Iii Arthur O

Classifications

• H04L67/34

  involving the movement of software or configuration parameters  (network booting or remote initial program loading [RIPL] G06F9/4416) · CPC title

• G06F9/44505

  Configuring for program initiating, e.g. using registry, configuration files · CPC title

• G06F8/65 Primary

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