System and method for automatic installation and maintenance of hardware and software in a distributed computer system

Abstract

A system and a method are disclosed for automatic installation and maintenance of hardware and/or software in the system nodes of a distributed computer system, in particular in a distributed automation system, comprising a system installation and/or system maintenance tool that can be activated from every system node of the distributed system. The system installation and/or system maintenance tool (WZ) selects a software package and/or a functional component, and automatically executes the maintenance steps of the selected software package and/or of the selected functional component as regards the distribution, installation and/or configuration of the software package and/or of the selected functional component in a defined sequence on the system nodes (SK) of the distributed system.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention and advantageous embodiments and improvements of the invention shall be explained and described in more detail with reference to the exemplary embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, in which:

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the system according to the invention for automatic installation and maintenance of hardware and/or software in the system nodes of a distributed automation system, and

FIG. 2 shows an example of a method procedure for automatic installation and maintenance of hardware and/or software in the system nodes of a distributed automation system.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the system according to the invention for automatic installation and maintenance of hardware and/or software in the system nodes SK of a distributed automation system, implemented as a process control system, over its entire life cycle, where various functional components such as an operating system or user software are stored in the system nodes SK. The individual system nodes SK including their various functional components are dependent on each other in a variety of ways.

According to the invention, the system for automatic installation and maintenance of hardware and software in the system nodes SK of the process control system comprises a system installation and/or system maintenance tool WZ that can be activated from any system node SK of the process control system.

The system installation and/or system maintenance tool WZ automatically selects a life cycle management activity LCMA from an available set of predefined life cycle management activities LCMA.

For this purpose, the various life cycle management activities LCMA are represented by different predefined processes in the system installation and/or system maintenance tool WZ. The processes describe the necessary installation and configuration steps, which are to be performed in a specific sequence on specific system nodes SK of the process control system.

The system installation and/or system maintenance tool WZ automatically executes the necessary steps for distribution, installation and configuration of the life cycle management activity LCMA in a defined sequence on the various system nodes SK of the process control system. The distribution of the selected life cycle management activity LCMA and execution of the relevant installation and configuration steps can be started and controlled from any computer or system node SK of the process control system.

Since the installation and configuration steps are to be executed on a plurality of different system nodes SK, the system installation and/or system maintenance tool WZ controls the process for the system-wide execution of the predefined processes on the various system nodes SK of the process control system.

If a specific process step within the process is to be performed on a different system node SK, the system installation and/or system maintenance tool WZ activates this system node SK to execute the process step or executes the relevant process step itself on the remote system node SK.

The process described above thus ensures across the system that the installation and configuration steps are performed in the correct sequence on the various computers.

FIG. 2 shows an example of a method procedure for automatic installation and maintenance of software in the data-processing devices SK of a distributed automation system.

The method according to the invention specifies a number of steps by which the automatic installation and maintenance of the software in the system nodes SK of the distributed automation system are executed.

In a first step 10, the system installation and/or system maintenance tool WZ is started from a system node SK of the distributed automation system.

After the system installation and/or system maintenance tool WZ is started, a life cycle management activity LCMA is automatically selected from an available set of predefined life cycle management activities LCMA in a second step 20.

The selected life cycle management activity LCMA is automatically executed in a third step 30 on the system nodes SK of the automation system in the correct sequence according to a predefined process of the respective life cycle management activity LCMA, where the individual process steps for distribution, installation and configuration depend on the life cycle management activity LCMA to be executed at that time.

It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the present invention can be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof. The presently disclosed embodiments are therefore considered in all respects to be illustrative and not restricted. The scope of the invention is indicated by the appended claims rather than the foregoing description and all changes that come within the meaning and range and equivalence thereof are intended to be embraced therein.

Claims

1. System for automatic installation and maintenance of hardware and/or software in the system nodes of a distributed computer system, comprising a system installation and/or system maintenance tool that can be activated from every system node of the distributed system, wherein the system installation and/or system maintenance tool selects a software package and/or a functional component, andautomatically executes the maintenance steps of the selected software package and/or of the selected functional component as regards the distribution, installation and/or configuration of the software package and/or of the selected functional component in a defined sequence on the system nodes of the distributed system.

2. System according to claim 1, wherein the selected software packages are elements of life cycle management activities such as new system installations, system updates, system upgrades to a higher version, system expansions incorporating additional functionalities or system analyses.

3. System according to claim 2, wherein the life cycle management activities are represented by different predefined processes in the system installation and/or system maintenance tool, and the processes describe the installation and configuration steps, which are to be performed in a specific sequence on the system nodes of the distributed system.

4. System according to claim 3, wherein the system installation and/or system maintenance tool controls the process for the system-wide execution of the predefined processes on the various system nodes in the process control system.

5. System according to claim 1, wherein the system installation and/or system maintenance tool interacts with a display module, which stores the changes in the distributed system that have been produced by the software packages and/or functional components newly installed and/or configured, displays these changes and/or provides them for further processing.

6. System according to claim 1, wherein the system installation and/or system maintenance tool documents changes to the network structure and/or to the individual hardware components.

7. System according to claim 1, wherein the system nodes are data-processing devices such as operator stations, engineering stations, archiving stations, control equipment comprising processing stations, input and output units and/or communications interfaces.

8. System according to claim 1, wherein a test module is provided, which tests that the installation and configuration of the distributed software packages and/or functional components are fully implemented on the individual system nodes of the distributed system, and/or tests the interdependencies of the software packages and/or functional components between the system nodes of the distributed system, and/or creates a system status report.

9. System according to claim 1, wherein after the automatic installation and/or configuration of the software packages and/or functional components, the distributed system is immediately operational again.

10. Method for automatic installation and maintenance of hardware and/or software in the system nodes of a distributed computer system, in particular in a distributed automation system, comprising a system installation and/or system maintenance tool, wherein the system installation and/or system maintenance tool is activated from any system node of the distributed system,a software package and/or a functional component is selected by the system installation and/or system maintenance tool, andthe maintenance steps of the selected software package and/or of the selected functional component as regards the distribution, installation and/or configuration of the software package and/or of the selected functional component are executed automatically in a defined sequence on the system nodes of the distributed system.

11. Method according to claim 10, wherein life cycle management activities, such as new system installations, system updates, system upgrades to a higher version, system expansions incorporating additional functionalities or system analyses, are executed by the selected software packages.

12. Method according to claim 10, wherein the life cycle management activities are represented by different predefined processes, and the processes describe the installation and configuration steps, which are to be performed in a specific sequence on the system nodes of the distributed system.

13. Method according to claim 12, wherein the process for the system-wide execution of the predefined processes on the various system nodes in the process control system are controlled by the system installation and/or system maintenance tool.

14. Method according to claim 10, wherein the system installation and/or system maintenance tool is connected to a display module, which stores, displays and/or provides for further processing, changes in the distributed system.

15. Method according to claim 10, wherein changes to the hardware, for instance adding, removing or replacing system nodes or hardware components, are documented by the system installation and/or system maintenance tool.

16. Method according to claim 10, wherein the installation and configuration of the distributed software packages and/or functional components are tested to assess whether they are fully implemented and/or operational on the individual system nodes, and/or a system status report is created, said activities being performed by a test module.

17. Method according to claim 13, wherein the system installation and/or system maintenance tool is connected to a display module, which stores, displays and/or provides for further processing, changes in the distributed system.

18. Method according to claim 14, wherein changes to the hardware, for instance adding, removing or replacing system nodes or hardware components, are documented by the system installation and/or system maintenance tool.

19. Method according to claim 15, wherein the installation and configuration of the distributed software packages and/or functional components are tested to assess whether they are fully implemented and/or operational on the individual system nodes, and/or a system status report is created, said activities being performed by a test module.

20. System for automatic installation and maintenance of hardware and/or software in the system nodes of a distributed automation system, comprising a system installation and/or system maintenance tool that can be activated from a system node of the distributed system, wherein the system installation and/or system maintenance tool selects a software package and/or a functional component, andautomatically executes the maintenance steps of the selected software package and/or of the selected functional component as regards the distribution, installation and/or configuration of the software package and/or of the selected functional component in a defined sequence.