Systems and methods for grid agent management

Abstract

Systems and methods utilize directory services snap-ins to create, maintain, and interpret policies for controlling the execution of grid applications.

1 . A method comprising:
 reading one or more grid policies for a grid application;   determining a resource utilization; and   analyzing the resource utilization in accordance with the one or more grid polices to determine if the grid application is to be executed.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising obtaining one or more executable modules associated with the grid application. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more policies define a set of one or more grid applications for execution on a grid client. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more policies define one or more resource limits. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more policies define a frequency for analyzing resource utilization in accordance with the one or more polices to determine if the grid application is to be executed. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more policies provides the location of a central data repository to be used by the grid application. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more policies defines an affinity level for the grid application. 
     
     
         8 . A system comprising:
 a set of one or more grid applications;   a policy agent to receive one or more grid policies for the grid application;   a grid client extension snap-in to read the one or more grid policies and to create grid application preferences for the set of one or more grid applications.   a grid agent to determine a resource utilization and to analyze the current resource utilization in accordance with the grid application preferences to determine if any of the grid applications are to be executed.   
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein the directory extension snap-in conforms to a snap-in format for Active Directory. 
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein the policy agent is operable to obtain one or more executable modules associated with the set of one or more grid applications. 
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein the one or more policies defines the set of one or more grid applications. 
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein the one or more policies define one or more resource limits. 
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein the one or more policies define a frequency for determining if any of the set of one or more grid applications are to be executed. 
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein the one or more policies provides the location of a central data repository to be used by a grid application in the set of one or more grid applications. 
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 8 , further comprising a directory service to maintain the one or more policies and wherein the policy agent receives the one or more policies from the directory service. 
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 15 , wherein the directory service comprises the Active Directory service. 
     
     
         17 . A machine-readable medium having machine executable instructions for performing a method, the method comprising:
 reading one or more grid policies for a grid application;   determining a resource utilization; and   analyzing the resource utilization in accordance with the one or more grid polices to determine if the grid application is to be executed.   
     
     
         18 . The machine-readable medium of  claim 17 , further comprising obtaining one or more executable modules associated with the grid application. 
     
     
         19 . The machine-readable medium of  claim 17 , wherein the one or more policies define a set of one or more grid applications for execution on a grid client. 
     
     
         20 . The machine-readable medium of  claim 17 , wherein the one or more policies define one or more resource utilization constraints. 
     
     
         21 . The machine-readable medium of  claim 17 , wherein the one or more policies define a priority for the grid application. 
     
     
         22 . The machine-readable medium of  claim 17 , wherein the one or more policies define time based limitations. 
     
     
         23 . The machine-readable medium of  claim 17 , wherein the one or more policies defines a resource proximity based constraint.