Abstract: A policy management system is described herein that allows an administrator to compose custom policies that can be applied to target devices and that achieve tasks specific to the administrator's organization and network. The composed policies can be standalone policies that are applied independently or sequenced policies that are applied in a specified order. A composed policy may be associated with one or more targets and stored in a policy database. A target device may periodically query the policy management system for any policies that pertain to the target device. If policies have been composed that pertain to the target device and such policies have been updated or have not been previously transmitted to the target device, the policy management system can retrieve the policies from the policy database, merge the policies, and transmit the merged policies to the target device. The target device can then apply the merged policies.

Abstract: A policy management system is described herein that allows an administrator to compose custom policies that can be applied to target devices and that achieve tasks specific to the administrator's organization and network. The composed policies can be standalone policies that are applied independently or sequenced policies that are applied in a specified order. A composed policy may be associated with one or more targets and stored in a policy database. A target device may periodically query the policy management system for any policies that pertain to the target device. If policies have been composed that pertain to the target device and such policies have been updated or have not been previously transmitted to the target device, the policy management system can retrieve the policies from the policy database, merge the policies, and transmit the merged policies to the target device. The target device can then apply the merged policies.

Abstract: A policy management system is described herein that allows an administrator to compose custom policies that can be applied to target devices and that achieve tasks specific to the administrator's organization and network. The composed policies can be standalone policies that are applied independently or sequenced policies that are applied in a specified order. A composed policy may be associated with one or more targets and stored in a policy database. A target device may periodically query the policy management system for any policies that pertain to the target device. If policies have been composed that pertain to the target device and such policies have been updated or have not been previously transmitted to the target device, the policy management system can retrieve the policies from the policy database, merge the policies, and transmit the merged policies to the target device. The target device can then apply the merged policies.

Abstract: A system and method is provided for cooperative execution of distributed tasks by networked computers without the use of a centralized controller to coordinate the task execution. Each computer has an execution agent that cooperates with the execution agents of the other computers to carry out the execution of a given sequence of tasks. The execution instructions for the task sequence are provided to a first computer in the selected set of computers for task execution. The first computer processes the instructions and forwards them to its peer computers so that each of them knows the tasks it is to perform in connection with the tasks of the other computers. The computers then executes the tasks assigned to them and use peer-to-peer communications to provide status update to their peer computers to synchronize and coordinate the task execution.

Abstract: A mechanism dynamically allocates physical machines (computers) for satisfying requests for the machines, such as in the context of assigning test machines for running test cases. Each request specifies one or more logical machine sets it needs, and each logical machine set has specified requirements. The physical machines are organized into a hierarchical structure that includes groups and subgroups of machines. An allocation engine performs the function of allocating available machines from a selected group in the hierarchy for a request based on the requirements of each logical machine set of the request. A group or subgroup of machines may be marked as “allocate as one unit” and all machines in it will be reserved for one request. A job corresponding to a request may have sub-jobs, and machines allocated for the sub-job are selected from the machines allocated for the parent job.

Abstract: A communication stack enables computers implementing it to send, receive, or route network communications. The communication stack includes a message layer, a communication layer, a security layer, and a transport protocol layer, with plug-in transport protocol modules and plug-in security protocol modules. Each of the origin computer, target computer, and routing computers involved in delivering a message implements the communication stack. An application on the origin computer calls the message layer of the computer to send messages to a target computer and identifies routing computers on the route for delivering the message to the target computer. The message layer calls the communication layer to establish a connection to the target computer. The communication layer uses the transport protocol layer to establish an initial connection with the target computer, and uses the security layer to negotiate security parameters and to handle secured communications between the origin and target computers.

Abstract: A mechanism is provided to automatically associate a data structure, e.g., a mix, containing one or more contexts with a computing job, wherein a context specifying specific operating conditions or permutations of a computing job. A mix can be associated to a computing job prior to and/or during the execution of the computing job. The computing job can then be executed in each context of the mix. Preferably, one or more constraints can be associated with the computing job prior to and/or during the execution of the computing job. Any context in a mix applied to the computing job that conflicts with a constraint of the computing job will be disassociated with the computing job.

Abstract: A framework is provided that uniformly stores in a central repository data collected from various locations in an enterprise computing network. One or more measurements for data of interest in the central repository are pre-calculated. The pre-calculated measurement(s) are normalized to reflect the relative importance of the data of interest in comparison to other data in the central repository. Reports may be generated based on the pre-calculated measurements for the data of interest.

Abstract: A generic automation framework is provided to divide a process into a sequence of stages. The stages in the process may depend on each other and this dependency dictates the flow of the process. A stage may be an instance of a stage type, which provides a generic definition of a stage. A stage may be customized according to the specific requirement of the process. A stage may have one or more properties. Such a property may reflect the status of the stage during the progression of the process, identify the owner responsible for proper execution of the stage, and describe an escalation policy that indicates what to do upon the occurrence of a particular event in the stage. A user interface may be provided that separately displays information for each stage. The user interface may also graphically indicate the status of each stage in the process at a given moment.

Abstract: The invention provides a framework for collecting, storing, and analyzing system metrics concerning a computing system or a computer component. A configuration module is provided to configure settings specific to a metric. A data collection module is provided to collect metric data according to the settings in the configuration module and in one or more component specific plug-ins that extend and customize the framework according to specific needs of the component. The data collection module collects metrics at specified time intervals and periodically updates metric data stored in a central metrics storage module. An analysis module is provided to analyze metric data stored in the central metrics storage module online or offline. The analysis module may analyze a metric statistically or graphically, individually or combined with other metrics.

Abstract: A smart scheduler is provided to prepare a machine for a job, wherein the job has specific requirements, i.e., dimensions. One or more config jobs are identified to configure the machine to meet the dimensions of the job. Information concerning the machine's original configuration and groupings of config jobs that change the machine's configuration are cached in a central storage. The smart scheduler uses information in the central storage to identify a suitable machine and one or more config jobs to configure the machine to meet the dimensions of a job. The smart scheduler schedules a run for the config jobs on the machine.

Abstract: A reusable software test framework includes abstract and concrete classes as well as a user interface, for assisting in creating test scenarios from test items. A test item is a reusable test unit. The test item can be combined with other test items to create a test scenario that can be executed to perform a particular test for various pieces of software. Disassociated with the test item is a test context, test data, and test logic.

Abstract: A system and method is provided for cooperative execution of distributed tasks by networked computers without the use of a centralized controller to coordinate the task execution. Each computer has an execution agent that cooperates with the execution agents of the other computers to carry out the execution of a given sequence of tasks. The execution instructions for the task sequence are provided to a first computer in the selected set of computers for task execution. The first computer processes the instructions and forwards them to its peer computers so that each of them knows the tasks it is to perform in connection with the tasks of the other computers. The computers then executes the tasks assigned to them and use peer-to-peer communications to provide status update to their peer computers to synchronize and coordinate the task execution.

Abstract: A communication stack enables computers implementing it to send, receive, or route network communications. The communication stack includes a message layer, a communication layer, a security layer, and a transport protocol layer, with plug-in transport protocol modules and plug-in security protocol modules. Each of the origin computer, target computer, and routing computers involved in delivering a message implements the communication stack. An application on the origin computer calls the message layer of the computer to send messages to a target computer and identifies routing computers on the route for delivering the message to the target computer. The message layer calls the communication layer to establish a connection to the target computer. The communication layer uses the transport protocol layer to establish an initial connection with the target computer, and uses the security layer to negotiate security parameters and to handle secured communications between the origin and target computers.

Abstract: Disclosed are mechanisms for creating and communicating with computer processes. An application programming interface (API) presents services of the system to applications. The API is usable with all processes, local and remote, and is transparent with respect to the location of processes. A process table stores information about processes created using the system. The process table supports centralized process control and peer-to-peer process communication and synchronization. Each process is assigned a Universally Unique Identifier (UUID) that uniquely identifies the process no matter the computing device on which it runs. A parent UUID and a group UUID may be attached to the process and used for enforcing dependencies (e.g., for halting the process and all of its child processes) and for managing arbitrary, user-defined groups, respectively. A global event is associated with each process. When a process receives this event, it performs a controlled shutdown, cleans up, and reports status.

Abstract: Disclosed are mechanisms for creating and communicating with computer processes. An application programming interface (API) presents services of the system to applications. The API is usable with all processes, local and remote, and is transparent with respect to the location of processes. A process table stores information about processes created using the system. The process table supports centralized process control and peer-to-peer process communication and synchronization. Each process is assigned a Universally Unique Identifier (UUID) that uniquely identifies the process no matter the computing device on which it runs. A parent UUID and a group UUID may be attached to the process and used for enforcing dependencies (e.g., for halting the process and all of its child processes) and for managing arbitrary, user-defined groups, respectively. A global event is associated with each process. When a process receives this event, it performs a controlled shutdown, cleans up, and reports status.

Abstract: Disclosed are mechanisms for creating and communicating with computer processes. An application programming interface (API) presents services of the system to applications. The API is usable with all processes, local and remote, and is transparent with respect to the location of processes. A process table stores information about processes created using the system. The process table supports centralized process control and peer-to-peer process communication and synchronization. Each process is assigned a Universally Unique Identifier (UUID) that uniquely identifies the process no matter the computing device on which it runs. A parent UUID and a group UUID may be attached to the process and used for enforcing dependencies (e.g., for halting the process and all of its child processes) and for managing arbitrary, user-defined groups, respectively. A global event is associated with each process. When a process receives this event, it performs a controlled shutdown, cleans up, and reports status.

Abstract: Disclosed are mechanisms for creating and communicating with computer processes. An application programming interface (API) presents services of the system to applications. The API is usable with all processes, local and remote, and is transparent with respect to the location of processes. A process table stores information about processes created using the system. The process table supports centralized process control and peer-to-peer process communication and synchronization. Each process is assigned a Universally Unique Identifier (UUID) that uniquely identifies the process no matter the computing device on which it runs. A parent UUID and a group UUID may be attached to the process and used for enforcing dependencies (e.g., for halting the process and all of its child processes) and for managing arbitrary, user-defined groups, respectively. A global event is associated with each process. When a process receives this event, it performs a controlled shutdown, cleans up, and reports status.

Abstract: A system and method is provided for cooperative execution of distributed tasks by networked computers without the use of a centralized controller to coordinate the task execution. Each computer has an execution agent that cooperates with the execution agents of the other computers to carry out the execution of a given sequence of tasks. The execution instructions for the task sequence are provided to a first computer in the selected set of computers for task execution. The first computer processes the instructions and forwards them to its peer computers so that each of them knows the tasks it is to perform in connection with the tasks of the other computers. The computers then executes the tasks assigned to them and use peer-to-peer communications to provide status update to their peer computers to synchronize and coordinate the task execution.

Abstract: Modern enterprises have multiple dissimilar data stores. Collectively, the enterprise data stores store a set of enterprise data objects, typically in multiple dissimilar formats. An object-oriented heterogeneous data store interface (HDSI) for interacting with such enterprise data stores and data objects is described. The HDSI may include a query component, a data store component and a provider interface that specifies a query behavior with a query component parameter. For each type of data store, there may be a provider plug-in to the HDSI. Each provider plug-in may include provider components that conform to the provider interface. The HDSI may further include data store object components corresponding to data objects stored in the data stores. A data store object design GUI may be utilized to build graphical representations of data objects. A data store object source code generator may generate object-oriented programming language source code for each data store object component.