Patent Application
20070276779
The subject matter that is regarded as the invention is particularly pointed out and distinctly claimed in the claims at the conclusion of the specification. The foregoing and other objects, features, and advantages of the invention are apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:
The detailed description explains the preferred embodiments of the invention, together with advantages and features, by way of example with reference to the drawings.
Referring now to the Figures for the purpose of illustration, it is to be understood that standard components or features that are within the purview of an artisan of ordinary skill and do not contribute to the understanding of the various exemplary embodiments are omitted from the Figures to enhance clarity.
In exemplary embodiments, the managed element identifier field 112 is a primary key for the managed element table 110 and a foreign key for the operating system table 120 and the computer system table 130. The managed element identifier 112 is a unique identifier that is assigned to each element contained within the configuration management database 100. The actual class field 114 contains the actual class of each managed element (e.g., computer system, operating system, or the like). The name field 116 contains the name corresponding to each managed element (e.g., cs111, os222, or the like). The superior identifier field 118 contains the unique identifier assigned to the superior class of the managed element. In other words the superior identifier field 118 contains the unique identifier assigned to the class above the managed element in the hierarchical class structure. For example, an operating system may have the unique identifier of a computer system that the operating system is installed on in its superior identifier field 118.
In exemplary embodiments, the operating system type field 122 includes the type of the operating system (e.g., Windows XP, OS X, Linux, or the like). The processor family field 132 includes the type, or family, of the processor included in the computer system (e.g., Intel, PowerPC, and the like). The manufacturer field 134 includes the manufacturer of the computer system (e.g., IBM, Dell, Apple, or the like). The machine type field 136, a model field 138, and a serial number field 140.
Typically, when a computer system 111 is deleted from the managed element table 110, the computer system 111 entry in the computer system table 130 table is deleted; and the associated operating system 222 entry in the operating system table 120 is also deleted. However, the operating system 222 entry in the managed element table 110 is not typically deleted and becomes an orphan entry. Currently, these orphan entries are deleted from the configuration management database 100 manually or periodically via a database cleanup utility.
In exemplary embodiments, during the configuration management database 100 name reconciliation process, the entry for a superior identifier may require modification. When this occurs, all managed elements that contain the superior identifier must be updated to reflect this change. As the superior identifier is defined in the resource-specific tables of classes that have a superior, this requires the name reconciliation process to maintain information about which classes having naming rules that require a superior and which tables are affected by the superior name change.
In another exemplary embodiment, when the computer system 111 is deleted from the managed elements table 110, all related entries including operating system entry 222 in the managed elements table 110 will be automatically deleted. One advantage to this approach is that there is no need to write a database cleanup utility to periodically delete orphan entries. The superior identifier column 118 of all classes is defined in the managed elements table 110, which significantly simplifies the configuration management database 100 name reconciliation process.
Referring now to
The capabilities of the present invention can be implemented in software, firmware, hardware or some combination thereof.
While the preferred embodiment to the invention has been described, it will be understood that those skilled in the art, both now and in the future, may make various improvements and enhancements which fall within the scope of the claims which follow. These claims should be construed to maintain the proper protection for the invention first described.
