Autonomous agent messaging
Apparatus and methods are disclosed for generating, sending, and receiving messages in a networked environment using autonomous (or semi-autonomous) agents. In one example of the disclosed technology, a method of collecting data from an agent executing on a host computer connected to one or more agent data consumers via a network connection includes collecting host data, the collecting occurring whether or not the agent can currently send data via the network connection. When the agent cannot send data via the network connection, the agent spools at least a portion of the collected host data in a spooler. When the agent can send data via the computer network, the agent sends at least a portion of the spooled host data to at least one of the agent data consumers.
1. A method for recovering messages transmitted using a computer network, the method comprising:
by an agent of a plurality of agents executing on a computer, sending one or more data messages to a server with the computer network, the data messages including sequence numbers generated by the agent, at least one of the sequence numbers comprising a major number;
restarting the agent but not all of the plurality of agents and incrementing the major number;
sending at least one data message to the server with the computer network, the at least one data message including a sequence number generated by the agent comprising the incremented major number;
receiving a resend message from the server indicating one or more of the data messages are to be resent, the messages to be resent being indicated by a resend sequence number comprising the incremented major number; and
searching for the indicated messages based on the resend sequence numbers.
2. The method of claim 1 , the method further comprising:
finding one or more messages within a range of messages indicated by the resend message, the one or more found messages being stored on the computer; and
resending the found messages to the server.
3. The method of claim 1 , the method further comprising:
searching for one or more messages within a range of messages indicated by the resend message; and
based on the searching, sending a reply message to the server indicating that status of the requested messages, the status of the requested messages being at least one or more of the following: expired, found, or missing.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the sequence number includes the major number and a minor number; and
the minor number is incremented for one or more messages sent by the agent before the agent is restarted.
5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising, prior to the sending the data messages to the server, sending key information to the server via a Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) cryptographic services communication.
6. An agent platform server, comprising:
at least one processor;
at least one network interface coupled to the processor; and
a computer-readable storage device or memory storing computer-readable instructions that when executed by the processor, cause the server to perform a method, the method comprising:
receiving messages via the network interface from an agent executing on a computer, the data messages including (1) sequence numbers generated by the agent at least one of the sequence numbers comprising a minor number that is incremented for one or more messages sent by the agent before the agent is restarted, and (2) a universally unique identifier identifying the agent, the universally unique identifier being generated by the agent at least in part using a random or pseudorandom number generator,
determining that one or more messages are to be re-sent, and
responsive to the determining, sending a resend message from the server to the agent, the resend message indicating one or more of the data messages based on one or more of the generated sequence numbers.
7. The server of claim 6 , wherein the method further comprises:
receiving at least one re-sent message from the agent selected based on a range of sequence numbers indicated by the resent message.
8. The server of claim 6 , wherein the method further comprises:
receiving at least one message from the agent indicating a status of a requested message within a range of sequence numbers indicated by the resent message the status of the requested messages being at least one of the following: expired, found, or missing.
9. The server of claim 6 , wherein:
the sequence number includes a major number and the minor number; and
the major number is incremented when the agent is restarted.
10. The server of claim 6 , wherein the method further comprises:
sending at least one of the messages received from the agent to an agent data consumer via a network interface; and
wherein the determining comprises receiving a message from the agent data consumer indicating that a message from the agent is missing.
11. The server of claim 6 , wherein the method further comprises:
prior to the receiving messages, receiving a certificate from the agent, the certificate being encrypted using an agent privacy key.
12. The server of claim 6 , further comprising:
a plurality of message queues, wherein a respective one of the message queues is allocated to a corresponding agent data consumer for temporarily storing a message before sending the message to the corresponding agent data consumer.
13. The server of claim 6 , further comprising:
a plurality of message queues, wherein a respective one of the message queues is allocated to a corresponding agent for temporarily storing a message before sending the message to one of a plurality of agent data consumers.
14. One or more computer-readable storage devices storing computer-readable instructions that when executed by an agent of a plurality of agents hosted by a processor, cause the agent to perform a method, the instructions comprising:
instructions to send one or more data messages to a server via a computer network interface coupled to the processor, the data messages including sequence numbers generated by the agent, each respective generated sequence number including a major number and a minor number;
instructions to restart the agent but not all of the plurality of agents and increase the respective major number for each respective generated sequence number;
sending at least one data message to a server via the computer network, the at least one data message comprising at least one of the generated sequence numbers generated by the agent comprising the incremented major number;
instructions to receive a resend message from a server indicating one or more of the data messages are to be resent, the messages to be resent being indicated by one or more of the generated sequence numbers; and
instructions to search for the indicated messages based on the one or more of the generated sequence numbers.
15. The computer-readable storage devices of claim 14 , wherein the instructions further comprise:
instructions to find one or more messages within a range of messages indicated by the resend message stored on the computer; and
instructions to resend the found messages to the server.
16. The computer-readable storage devices of claim 14 , wherein the instructions further comprise:
instructions to search for the requested messages on the computer; and
instructions to, based on the search, send a reply message to the server indicating that status of the requested messages in the spool, the status of the requested messages being at least one or more of the following: expired, found, or missing.