Abstract: Described is a technology for managing network security by having network clients that are capable of self-assessment assess themselves for security risks and/or security vulnerabilities. Other clients may be remotely assessed for security risks and/or security vulnerabilities. Assessments may include antimalware scans, vulnerability assessment, and/or port scans. The results of the self-assessments and remote assessments are combined into a data set (e.g., a view) indicative of the network security state. In this manner, for example, significant network resources are conserved by allowing those clients capable of self-assessment to assess themselves and thereafter only provide their self-assessment results. Clients capable of self-assessment may also be remotely assessed, to determine whether any discrepancies exist between their remote assessments and self-assessments. Clients may be discovered, along with their self-assessment capabilities, by network communication.

Abstract: Systems and methodologies are provided as part of a computing environment that implements an enhanced tabular data stream (TDS) protocol. Such enhanced TDS protocol can mitigate synchronization inconsistencies between client and servers, improve robustness of the data transfer, facilitate password specification as part of login procedures, and reduce administration overhead. Various headers are provided as part of the data stream protocol, and a versioning scheme is established that facilitates proper communication between servers and clients having different release dates and versions of the TDS protocol.

Abstract: Methods and systems for efficiently sending notification of the occurrence of events through a firewall. A client system operating inside a firewall, attempts to receive notification of the occurrence of events from a server system operating outside the firewall. The client system attempts to receive communication from the server system using a connectionless protocol, such as UDP. If the client system receives communication using the connectionless protocol, the client system requests notification be sent using the connectionless protocol. The server system notifies the client system by sending a packet to the server system, using the connectionless protocol, when events occur. However, if the client does not receive communication using the connectionless protocol, the client requests notifications be sent using a connection-oriented protocol, such as TCP.

Abstract: Methods and systems for generating and sending an XML document are described. In one embodiment, an XML response generator responds to a client request without having to first build and save a hierarchical tree structure in memory that represents the response.

Abstract: Methods and systems for generating and sending an XML document are described. In a specific implementation, methods and systems for responding to an XML client request utilize an XML response generator that includes one or more request method objects. There is one object for each particular type of client request that might be received. Each request method object knows and gathers the data that is needed to respond to its particular associated client request. An emitter object receives calls from the request method object and translates the data that it receives into response portions that are in proper XML syntactic form.

Abstract: Methods and structures for parsing an Extensible Markup Language (XML) data stream are described. In the described embodiment, one or more schema modules are defined and are associated with HTTP requests that are received from a client. The schema module(s) has a function that determines whether an XML data stream conforms to a given schema that is associated with the HTTP request. If a portion of the XML data stream does not conform to the given schema, then the schema module disregards that XML data stream portion. In the described embodiment, each schema module has a plurality of states associated therewith. Each state is associated with one or more schema requirements that relate to a particular element that is evaluated by the schema module. Each state is different from the other states and the number of states is a function of the number of layers or elements that are contained within a particular XML data stream.

Abstract: Methods, systems, and computer program products for mapping connections and protocol specific resource identifiers. A front-end server receives a request for content from a client. The front-end server decrypts the request as needed, adds a protocol information to the request that identifies the communication protocol used between the client and the front-end server, and then forwards the request to a back-end server for processing. When the back-end server processes the request, the requested content may include one or more protocol specific resource identifiers. However, the protocol specific resource identifiers are based on the protocol information included in the request rather than the protocol used between the front-end server and the back-end server. Upon receiving the requested content back from the back-end server, the front-end server encrypts the content as needed and sends the content to the requesting client.

Abstract: Translating property names and name space names between different naming schemes is disclosed. In one embodiment, a method receives a request including a header specifying a property and a name space. The header has a naming scheme in accordance with either a concatenated naming scheme, such as specified by WebDAV, or a separated naming scheme, such as specified by OLEDB. The method translates the header to the other naming scheme, and outputs the request.

Abstract: Various embodiments of the invention are directed to closely integrating functionality between an internet server and a WebDAV tool. Areas of specific focus in this document include delegation of duties between the internet server and the WebDAV tool, efficient management of a resource's content-type, support for segregation of a namespace into separate virtual roots, and determinations of whether to invoke certain processing extensions to handle requests for a given HTTP verb.

Abstract: Various embodiments of the invention are directed to closely integrating functionality between an internet server and a WebDAV tool. Areas of specific focus in this document include delegation of duties between the internet server and the WebDAV tool, efficient management of a resource's content-type, support for segregation of a namespace into separate virtual roots, and determinations of whether to invoke certain processing extensions to handle requests for a given HTTP verb.

Abstract: A method is described of converting a file system path corresponding to a resource to a uniform resource locator (URL) corresponding to the resource. After receiving the file system path, the following information is obtained related to the resource located in the inputted file system path: the protocol prefix, domain name, the port number if different than default, and the URL fixed subdirectory structure if any. This information may be obtained, for example, by reference to a URL provided to a conversion module. The URL is then manufactured by first assigning the protocol prefix as the left-most characters of the URL. Then, the domain name, a colon “:” and port number if different than default, any subdirectory structure, and a latter portion of the file system path are added to the protocol prefix. Finally, any back slashes “\” are converted to forward slashes “/” to complete the conversion to the URL.

Abstract: Methods, systems, and computer program products for mapping connections and protocol specific resource identifiers. A front-end server receives a request for content from a client. The front-end server decrypts the request as needed, adds a protocol information to the request that identifies the communication protocol used between the client and the front-end server, and then forwards the request to a back-end server for processing. When the back-end server processes the request, the requested content may include one or more protocol specific resource identifiers. However, the protocol specific resource identifiers are based on the protocol information included in the request rather than the protocol used between the front-end server and the back-end server. Upon receiving the requested content back from the back-end server, the front-end server encrypts the content as needed and sends the content to the requesting client.

Abstract: Methods and systems for efficiently sending notification of the occurrence of events through a firewall. A client system operating inside a firewall, attempts to receive notification of the occurrence of events from a server system operating outside the firewall. The client system attempts to receive communication from the server system using a connectionless protocol, such as UDP. If the client system receives communication using the connectionless protocol, the client system requests notification be sent using the connectionless protocol. The server system notifies the client system by sending a packet to the server system, using the connectionless protocol, when events occur. However, if the client does not receive communication using the connectionless protocol, the client requests notifications be sent using a connection-oriented protocol, such as TCP.

Abstract: A method is described for moving a collection of resources from a source virtual namespace to a destination virtual namespace. For example, the method could copy or move the files within a URI directory “http://server/dir1/” to a new URI directory “http://server/newdir1” using a single copy or move request. In response to an appropriate request, the computer system the computer system performs the following acts for the parent directory and then for those subdirectories at any level underneath the parent directory. For each directory, the computer system determines the physical namespace (e.g., file system path) that corresponds to the virtual namespace of that directory. This is performed for both the directory in the source virtual namespace and the corresponding directory in the destination virtual namespace. Next, the files are copied from the directory of the source physical namespace to the directory of the destination physical directory.

Abstract: A method is described for managing property information related to a resource such as a computer file or directory. First, a property file is created for storing property information related to the resource. Next, the property file is directly associated with the resource such that if the resource is moved, copied, or deleted, the corresponding property file is also moved, copied, or deleted, thus protecting against disassociation. The property file is also directly associated with the resource without having to refer to a separate look-up or sequel database, thus saving computer time. Organizing the property file in this manner allows for searches to be performed on the property information as well as on the content of the resource.

Abstract: Standard database queries within standard request-response protocols is disclosed. A database query according to a predetermined query language such as SQL is first wrapped according to a predetermined markup language such as XML. The query is then also wrapped according to a predetermined transport protocol such as HTTP. The resulting twice-wrapped database query can then be submitted from a client to a server over a TCP/IP-compliant network, such as the Internet, for example.