Abstract: A composite manager may include a set of managers virtualized as a single entity. The composite manager may also include at least one of a module to provide a single manager interface for the set of managers to manage at least one entity, and a module to provide a single manageability interface for the set of managers relative to any managing entity of the composite manager.

Abstract: Embodiments of the present invention address deficiencies of the art in respect to administering and automating operations in a component based application and provide a method, system and computer program product for the pattern based administration of operations in a component based computing solution. In one embodiment of the invention, a composite application data processing system enabled for pattern based administration of an operation can include a dependency matrix model, a set of artifacts, each artifact associated with a particular action for a particular computing platform, and a pattern generated operation task control enabled to process an instance of the dependency matrix model through an invocation of selected ones of the artifacts.

Abstract: A method to share systems management responsibility may include allowing formation of a manual manager, wherein the manual manager is formable as a manageable resource capable of being monitored and controlled. The method may also include permitting the autonomic manager to be monitored and controlled by the manual manager using a manageability interface of the autonomic manager.

Abstract: Embodiments of the present invention address deficiencies of the art in respect to access control and provide a method, system and computer program product for access control management for a composite application. In a first embodiment, a method for role-based access control management for a composite application can be provided. The method can include selecting a component for deployment in a composite application and parsing a security policy for the component to identify a mapping between a specific role for the component and a virtual role for the composite application. Binding logic can be generated from the security policy and the component can be deployed into the composite application. Finally, security access operations for the virtual role can be processed through method calls to operations defined in the binding logic.

Abstract: Embodiments of the present invention address deficiencies of the art in respect to access control and provide a method, system and computer program product for access control management for a collection of heterogeneous application components. In a first embodiment, a data processing system for role-based access control management for multiple heterogeneous application components can include at least one business role descriptor associating a business role with multiple, different application roles for corresponding, disparate application components. The system also can include at least one access policy associating a user with the business role. Finally, the system can include policy deployment logic include program code enabled to process the access policy to assign the user to the different application roles in the disparate application components.

Abstract: A task-like user interface is provided for Web-based applications. Preferred embodiments enable users to initiate multiple instances of tasks within a single Web application, where independent state information is retained for each instance. Each user-initiated task also has a prescribed life cycle with a definite start and end. Resources allocated to perform various activities can therefore be released when the activity ends. Optionally, contextual information can be passed to a task upon invocation. Support for persisting a currently-viewable work unit as a user-selectable favorite may optionally be provided.

Abstract: Content aggregation is used to build administration consoles. Preferred embodiments enable providing a solution-based approach to information technology (“IT”) administration, whereby content can be flexibly arranged to provide a content view that is adapted for the IT solution deployed in a particular IT environment. In preferred embodiments, portal technology is used for the aggregation framework, and portlets are used for creating content. Alternatively, other approaches such as struts and tiles may be used. Preferred embodiments deploy an administration console as a Web-accessible application, and this console consolidates the administration interfaces for an arbitrary set of management operations, including administration of an arbitrary collection of hardware and/or software resources. Roles/permissions may be used when rendering content for the console, thereby customizing a view to individual end users (or user groups).

Abstract: Content from multiple remote/legacy consoles is aggregated within a central console to provide a single point-of-access for managing remote resources. Preferred embodiments deploy the central console as a network-accessible application, and this console application communicates with remotely-located console applications (and/or other locally-executing functions) that carry out tasks selected from the central console by an administrator and then return content generated by those tasks for rendering in the central console. The run-time environment used at the central console is not required to match the run-time environment of the remote/legacy consoles.

Abstract: The present invention is a method, system and apparatus for producing a composite help view for an aggregation of applications. The method can include obtaining at least two separate help documents. Each of the separate help documents can have an association with a corresponding one of separate interface units aggregated together into a single aggregated view. Importantly, the separate help documents can be combined into a composition of help documents corresponding to the single aggregated view. Subsequently, the composition of help documents can be rendered in a help system view responsive to a request for help initiated in the single aggregated view.