MILARRS systems and methods

1. A method of remotely managing a device through an environment interface, comprising:

an add-on module providing a remote management module that interfaces with a device and that passes queries to the device and receives responses to the queries, at least in part through a serial interface;

translating received responses to the queries from the device into device data that the remote management module can understand and manipulating data within the responses in a manner that provides at least one of the MILARRS functionalities that is not native to the device; and

allowing an administrator to communicate with the device directly or indirectly through the remote management module.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the add-on-module includes (a) a state agent that provides that at least one of the MILARRS functionalities, and (b) a product agent that communicates with the device using the serial interface.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the product agent translates the data to an internal data format.

4. The method of claim 2 , further comprising the state agent translating the data from an internal format to a database store.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the step of translating data comprises manipulating the device data by at least one of filtering, abstracting, deleting, inserting, and altering the data.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the device communicates at least in part through an environment interface, and further comprising the module communicating with the device through the environment interface.

7. The method of claim 6 , further comprising the environment interface translating data to and from an internal format to a format used by the environment.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the format used by the environment is selected from the list consisting of SNMP, WMX, DCML, and IPMI.

9. The method of claim 6 , further comprising the environment interface concurrently servicing the environment and at least one other environment.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the device is managed by a device manager, and further comprising the module communicating with the device through the device manager.

11. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the module providing at least some level of secure access to the device by providing at least one of confidentiality, integrity, authentication, risk mitigation, and asset protection against threats.

12. The method of claim 11 , further comprising the module using at least one of SSL, SSH, and IPSec, through at least one of a VPN and a VLAN.

13. The method of claim 11 , further comprising the module encrypting a data stream using at least one of AES, DES, 3DES, BlowFish, SkipJack, TwoFish, and RC4.

14. The method of claim 11 , further comprising the module signing a data stream using a message authentication code, which can include SHA-1, and MD5.

15. The method of claim 11 further comprising the module authenticating a remote host using at least one of DSA, RSA, and DH.

16. The method of claim 11 , further comprising the administrator applying a set of rules to the data from the device.

17. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the first add-on module communicating with a plurality of administrators.

18. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least two of the plurality of administrators manage different ones of the MILARRS functions.

19. The method of claim 18 , further comprising a second add-on module, wherein the first and second add-on modules communicate with different ones of the plurality of administrators with respect to different ones of the MILARRS functions.