Programmable operational system for managing devices participating in a network

Abstract

A network system including at least one managed device participating in a network; and a first management server participating in the network. The management server includes a collection of notices indicative of at least one of a network event, the status of the network and the status of at least one of the devices participating in the network. The management server also includes operation logic that filters the collection of notices based on at least one criteria and that generates at least one operation indicative of a state change of the network including the at least one managed device. The operation logic further generates at least one job that references the at least one operation that invokes a helper process to facilitate execution of the at least one operation.

We claim:  
     
         20 . A network system, comprising: 
 at least one managed device participating in a network; and    a first management server participating in the network, comprising: 
 a collection of notices indicative of at least one of a network event, the status of the network and the status of at least one of the devices participating in the network;  
 operation logic that filters the collection of notices based on at least one criteria and that generates at least one operation indicative of a state change of the network including the at least one managed device, the operation logic further generating at least one job that references the at least one operation that invokes a helper process to facilitate execution of the at least one operation;  
 the helper process generating an event notification and providing the event notification to the automation engine;  
 the event notification including at least one reference to the at least one job to enable the automation engine to access the at least one operation; and  
 an automation engine, communicatively coupled to the operation logic, that uses the at least one operation to perform at least one process in response to the at least one operation.  
   
     
     
         21 . The network system of  claim 20  further comprising: 
 a plurality of routines, each that periodically generates at least one corresponding notice of the plurality of notices and that stores the at least one corresponding notice into the collection of notices.  
 
     
     
         22 . The network system of  claim 20 , the operation logic further comprising: 
 an operation engine; and    at least one operational group, each operational group for being processed by the operation engine.    
     
     
         23 . The network system of  claim 22 , the at least one operational group further including a filter and configuration information associated with the at least one operation.  
     
     
         24 . The network system of  claim 23 , the at least one operation further comprising: 
 at least one first operation associated with new notices in the collection of notices;    at least one second operation associated with current notices in the collection of notices; and    at least one third operation associated with notices removed from the collection of notices.    
     
     
         25 . The network system of  claim 20  further comprising: 
 a second management server including a collection of notices, operation logic, a helper process and an automation engine configured in a similar manner as the first management server;  
 the first management server further including a helper locator;  
 the operation logic of the first management server invoking the helper locator to locate the helper process of the second management server to facilitate execution of the at least one operation;  
 the helper process of the second management server generating an event notification and providing the event notification to the automation engine of the second management server; and  
 the event notification including at least one reference to the at least one job located on the first management server to enable the automation engine of the second management server to locate and access the at least one operation of the first management server via the network.  
 
     
     
         26 . The network system of  claim 20  the automation engine further comprising: 
 event detection logic;  
 a plurality of predetermined constructions, each that registers with the event detection logic to listen to at least one event notification, and, when invoked, that uses at least one operation to perform the at least one process associated with the at least one operation; and  
 the event logic, upon detecting an event notification, invokes each of the plurality of predetermined constructions that has registered to listen to the detected event notification.  
 
     
     
         27 . The network system of  claim 20  further comprising: 
 the operation logic further generating at least one job that references the at least one operation that invokes a helper process to facilitate execution of the at least one operation;  
 the helper process generating an event notification and providing the event notification to the automation engine; and  
 the event notification including at least one reference to the at least one job to enable the automation engine to access the at least one operation.  
 
     
     
         28 . The network system of  claim 27 , the automation engine further comprising: 
 event detection logic;    a plurality of predetermined constructions, each that registers with the event detection logic to listen to at least one event notification, and, when invoked, that uses at least one operation to perform the at least one process associated with the at least one operation; and    the event logic, upon detecting an event notification, invokes each of the plurality of predetermined constructions that has registered to listen to the detected event notification.    
     
     
         29 . The network system of  claim 28  further comprising: 
 the at least one job further including at least reference to at least one notice associated with the operation to enable the automation engine to access the at least one notice.