System and method for providing a framework for network appliance management in a distributed computing environment
View Patent ↗A system and method for providing a framework for network appliance management in a distributed computing environment is disclosed. A status report periodically received from each of a plurality of network appliances is recorded. Each status report contains health and status information and application-specific data for each network appliance. Configuration settings for each network appliance progressively assembled concurrent to providing installable components are maintained. A catalog listing currently installable components for each network appliance based on the configuration settings is dynamically provided.
1. A system for providing a framework for network appliance management in a distributed computing environment, comprising:
an appliance status table recording a status report periodically received from a status daemon autonomously operating on each of a plurality of network appliances, each status report containing health and status information and application-specific data pertaining to autonomous configuration and management of each network appliance; and
a catalog server maintaining configuration settings for each network appliance progressively assembled concurrent to providing installable components and dynamically providing a catalog listing currently installable components for being installed on each network appliance based on the configuration settings independently received from the network appliance;
wherein each network appliance, prior to sending the status report, executes at least one initial plug-in; and, after installing the installable components, executes at least one post-plug-in;
wherein the at least one initial plug-in monitors the status daemon to determine if the status daemon is running, and restart the status daemon if it is determined that the status daemon is not running;
wherein the catalog further includes installable component names, installable component versions, a tag indicating a component server at which to locate and obtain each installable component, and a type indicator indicating whether each installable component is a package or a file;
wherein a network operations center establishes a secure session with each network appliance utilizing Secure Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTPS);
wherein the appliance status table further records a user identifier associated with one of the network appliances from which the status report is received and a time the status report is received.
2. A system according to claim 1 ,
wherein the network operations center installs an initial set of installable components on each network appliance during a bootstrap configuration.
3. A system according to claim 1 , wherein the currently installable components comprise at least one self-installable package, and the component server supplies the at least one package for installation responsive to a request from one such network appliance.
4. A system according to claim 3 , further comprising:
a crypto module digitally signing the at least one package for the network operations center prior to being supplied for installation.
5. A system according to claim 3 , further comprising:
a crypto module encrypting the at least one package prior to being supplied for installation.
6. A system according to claim 1 , wherein the installable components comprise at least one file, and the component server supplies the at least one file responsive to a request from one such network appliance.
7. A system according to claim 6 , wherein the component server establishes the secure session prior to the at least one file being supplied for installation.
8. A system according to claim 6 , further comprising:
a file information subdirectory specifying installation instructions for the at least one file in a pre-determined entry prior to the at least one file being supplied for installation.
9. A system according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a proxy component server staging the currently installable components for retrieval in a separate components database.
10. A system according to claim 1 , wherein the distributed computing environment is TCP/IP-compliant.
11. A system according to claim 1 , wherein the status report contains machine-specific data including a load on a processor and available disk space associated with each network appliance, and the application-specific data includes a number of e-mails passing through each of a plurality of network devices.
12. A system according to claim 1 , wherein the installable components for being installed on each network appliance are installed on each network appliance according to a location identified in a corresponding file information subdirectory of the network operations center.
13. A method for providing a framework for network appliance management in a distributed computing environment, comprising:
recording a status report periodically received from a status daemon autonomously operating on each of a plurality of network appliances, each status report containing health and status information and application-specific data pertaining to autonomous configuration and management of each network appliance;
maintaining configuration settings for each network appliance progressively assembled concurrent to providing installable components; and
dynamically providing a catalog listing currently installable components for being installed on each network appliance based on the configuration settings independently received from the network appliance;
wherein each network appliance, prior to sending the status report, executes at least one initial plug-in; and, after installing the installable components, executes at least one post-plug-in;
wherein the at least one initial plug-in monitors the status daemon to determine if the status daemon is running, and restart the status daemon if it is determined that the status daemon is not running;
wherein the catalog further includes installable component names, installable component versions, a tag indicating a component server at which to locate and obtain each installable component, and a type indicator indicating whether each installable component is a package or a file;
wherein a secure session is established with each network appliance utilizing Secure Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTPS);
wherein a user identifier associated with one of the network appliances from which the status report is received and a time the status report is received are recorded.
14. A method according to claim 13 , further comprising:
installing an initial set of installable components on each network appliance during a bootstrap configuration.
15. A method according to claim 13 , wherein the currently installable components comprise at least one self-installable package, further comprising:
supplying the at least one package for installation responsive to a request from one such network appliance.
16. A method according to claim 15 , further comprising:
digitally signing the at least one package prior to being supplied for installation.
17. A method according to claim 15 , further comprising:
encrypting the at least one package prior to being supplied for installation.
18. A method according to claim 13 , wherein the installable components comprise at least one file, further comprising:
supplying the at least one file responsive to a request from one such network appliance.
19. A method according to claim 18 , further comprising
establishing the secure session prior to the at least one file being supplied for installation.
20. A method according to claim 18 , further comprising:
specifying installation instructions for the at least one file in a pre-determined entry prior to the at least one file being supplied for installation.
21. A method according to claim 13 , further comprising:
staging the currently installable components for retrieval in a separate components database.
22. A method according to claim 13 , wherein the distributed computing environment is TCP/IP-compliant.
23. A computer-readable storage medium holding code for performing the method according to claims 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , or 22 .
24. A system for autonomously managing a network appliance deployed within a distributed computing environment, comprising:
an internal catalog of components installed on one such network appliance identified by component and version; and
a status daemon operating autonomously on the one such network appliance and periodically providing a status report containing health and status information and application-specific data pertaining to autonomous configuration and management of the one such network appliance; and
a catalog checker obtaining a catalog of currently installable components dynamically generated for the one such network appliance based on the status report independently received from the one such network appliance and determining non-current components by comparing the components and versions listed in the obtained catalog against the internal catalog;
wherein each network appliance, prior to sending the status report, executes at least one initial plug-in; and, after installing the installable components, executes at least one post-plug-in;
wherein the at least one initial plug-in monitors the status daemon to determine if the status daemon is running, and restart the status daemon if it is determined that the status daemon is not running;
wherein the catalog further includes a tag indicating a component server at which to locate and obtain each installable component, and a type indicator indicating whether each installable component is a package or a file;
wherein a network operations center negotiates a secure session with the one such network appliance utilizing Secure Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTPS);
wherein an appliance status table records a user identifier associated with the one such network appliance from which the status report is received and a time the status report is received.
25. A system according to claim 24 , wherein the components comprise at least one self-installable package, further comprising:
an installer obtaining the at least one self-installable package and installing the at least one self-installable package per instructions encoded therein.
26. A system according to claim 25 , wherein the components further comprise at least one file dependent on the at least one self-installable package, further comprising:
an installer obtaining the at least one file subsequent to installing the at least one self-installable package and installing the at least one self-installable package per instructions stored in a pre-determined entry.
27. A system according to claim 25 , wherein the component server negotiates a non-secure session prior to obtaining the at least one self-installable package.
28. A system according to claim 25 , further comprising:
a crypto module at least one of authenticating and decrypting the at least one self-installable package prior to installing the at least one self-installable package.
29. A system according to claim 25 , wherein the instructions comprise an executable installation program plus one or more files to be installed.
30. A system according to claim 25 , wherein the components further comprise at least one file, further comprising:
an installer obtaining the at least one file and installing the at least one self-installable package per instructions stored in a predetermined entry.
31. A system according to claim 30 , wherein the component server negotiates the secure session prior to obtaining the at least one self-installable package.
32. A system according to claim 30 , wherein the pre-determined entry comprise a file information subdirectory identifying installation instructions.
33. A system according to claim 25 , wherein at least one such network appliance performs one of electronic mail anti-virus scanning, content filtering, packet routing, and file, Web and print servicing.
34. A system according to claim 25 , wherein the distributed computing environment is TCP/IP-compliant.
35. A method for autonomously managing a network appliance deployed within a distributed computing environment, comprising:
maintaining an internal catalog of components installed on one such network appliance identified by component and version;
periodically providing a status report containing health and status information and application-specific data pertaining to autonomous configuration and management of the one such network appliance and received from a status daemon autonomously operating on for the one such network appliance,
obtaining a catalog of currently installable components dynamically generated for the one such network appliance based on the status report independently received from the one such network appliance; and
determining non-current components by comparing the components and versions listed in the obtained catalog against the internal catalog;
wherein each network appliance, prior to sending the status report, executes at least one initial plug-in; and, after installing the installable components, executes at least one post-plug-in;
wherein the at least one initial plug-in monitors the status daemon to determine if the status daemon is running, and restart the status daemon if it is determined that the status daemon is not running;
wherein the catalog further includes a tag indicating a component server at which to locate and obtain each installable component, and a type indicator indicating whether each installable component is a package or a file;
wherein a secure session is negotiated with the one such network appliance utilizing Secure Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTPS);
wherein a user identifier associated with the one such network appliance from which the status report is received and a time the status report is received are recorded.
36. A method according to claim 35 , further comprising:
broadcasting a query message to each such network appliance to trigger a status report.
37. A method according to claim 35 , wherein the components comprise at least one self-installable package, further comprising:
obtaining the at least one self-installable package; and
installing the at least one self-installable package per instructions encoded therein.
38. A method according to claim 37 , wherein the components further comprise at least one file dependent on the at least one self-installable package, further comprising:
obtaining the at least one file subsequent to installing the at least one self-installable package; and
installing the at least one self-installable package per instructions stored in a pre-determined entry.
39. A method according to claim 37 , further comprising;
negotiating a non-secure session prior to obtaining the at least one self-installable package.
40. A method according to claim 37 , further comprising:
at least one of authenticating and decrypting the at least one self-installable package prior to installing the at least one self-installable package.
41. A method according to claim 37 , wherein the instructions comprise an executable installation program plus one or more files to be installed.
42. A method according to claim 35 , wherein the components further comprise at least one file, further comprising:
obtaining the at least one file; and
installing the at least one self-installable package per instructions stored in a pre-determined entry.
43. A method according to claim 42 , further comprising:
negotiating the secure session prior to obtaining the at least one self-installable package.
44. A method according to claim 42 , wherein the pre-determined entry comprise a file information subdirectory identifying installation instructions.
45. A method according to claim 35 , wherein at least one such network appliance performs one of electronic mail anti-virus scanning, content filtering, packet routing, and file, Web and print servicing.
46. A method according to claim 35 , wherein the distributed computing environment is TCP/IP-compliant.
47. A computer-readable storage medium holding code for performing the method according to claims 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , or 46 .