System Services. Engagent System Services 2.06

Transcription

1 System Services Engagent System Services 2.06

2 Overview Engagent System Services constitutes the central module in Engagent Software s product strategy. It is the glue both on an application level and on a suite level, providing applications with a means of data exchange between clients and servers. The purpose of this document is to provide a detailed presentation of System Services and implemented design strategies. Engagent System Services is responsible for providing a safe and secure method of data transfer between clients and servers running one or more of Engagent Domain Management applications. Applications utilize System Services internally to exchange information and communicate between clients and servers. System Services is also used on an interapplication level to enable applications to utilize data and functionality provided by other Engagent applications. Engagent s product range will thus become a tighter integrated suite of applications. Figure 1. Engagent applications tied into System Services Copyright 2002 Engagent Inc. Side 2

3 The central component of System Services is the host, a process that runs as a service. On Win9x machines the host runs as a pseudo service in the background, out of user s reach, preventing accidental shutting down. Figure 2. Engagent System Services Overview Communication between hosts on different machines is done over HTTP with attached XML encoded remote procedure call commands. The combination of HTTP and XML makes it a light protocol enabling Remote Procedure Calls between Engagent applications, yet scalable to accommodate big enterprises using combinations of WANs and LANs. Various Engagent applications, represented as agents on the client PC, forward data and commands to each other locally and to remote PCs using the central host. Elements of Engagent System Services Engagent System Services Properties Application Part of the host installation is a properties and settings application for the host. This application enables the system administrator to tune the host to user-required operation. Among the tuning possibilities are: Specify client identification scheme Identify server hosts Load balancing Message expiration settings Access rights Security settings Logging Copyright 2002 Engagent Inc. Side 3

4 Following are some screenshots of the properties application. Figure 3. Client identification and group association settings Figure 4. Connection and message expiration settings Copyright 2002 Engagent Inc. Side 4

5 Figure 5. Security settings Figure 6. Host service setup settings Copyright 2002 Engagent Inc. Side 5

6 Figure 7. Log settings Settings All information that the host needs to operate is retrieved from an.ini file. Server hosts, installed agents, load balancing settings, etc. are all stored and retrieved from the same.ini file. Logging The host supports different logging levels. Supported in version 2.0 are: 1. Error logging of system errors 2. Warning 1. + logging of system warnings 3. Info 2. + additional information logging 4. Full - all interactions with host are logged. The log information is stored in a local log file on the client. System Database Network broadcast settings vary from company to company. To make our system robust and functional in differing network configurations, a system database is implemented on the server host, enabling client hosts to register with the server without any broadcast message exchange taking place. This further reduces the network load. Copyright 2002 Engagent Inc. Side 6

7 Figure 8. Inter host communication with system database Agents Various Engagent applications are represented as agents communicating with each other over System Services. Cache Manager The Cache Manager is responsible for maintaining and organizing unsent packages. In the event that a package can t be sent to the server, this will be logged and the package is temporarily stored locally. Cache Manager will attempt to re -send the package at a defined interval. Data in the local cache are compressed and encrypted. Product Highlights Information routing - System Services is responsible for routing information from sending agents to the appropriate receiving agents. Network package formatting - Information received from an agent is raw, unformatted data that is converted into appropriate XML blocks, compressed and encrypted before placed in the HTTP package, ready for sending. Data suppression - Features in the Inventory Agent enables delta scans. This feature is implemented to reduce network load and increase scanning speeds. When a delta scan is performed, the host will determine which data to send to the server host so that only data differing from earlier scans are transmitted. Multi database access - System Services supports storing and retrieval of data from different databases. This feature is useful in an ASP environment where many customers are accessing the same server. Automated client registration - The server host is responsible for maintaining a system database with information on all clients belonging to the service domain. Copyright 2002 Engagent Inc. Side 7

8 Design strategy Based on years of development experience and installations of systems management solutions worldwide, spanning global enterprises to small and medium sized companies, we have focused on the following areas when developing the System Services technology: Minimum impact on system resources like CPU, disk and memory. Intelligent message handling to avoid unnecessary network traffic through use of data suppression, data compression and intelligent hosts utilizing a light, yet flexible network protocol for remote procedure calls. 100% guaranteed data transfer. Data encryption through use of cryptographic tools. Cross firewall communication. Dial-up support. Zero-point-of-administration. Fast and easy deployment, providing rapid return on investment. Preservation of technology investments through collaboration with existing enterprise management solutions. Console A System Services administrator/user can access various parts of the system through a centrally located or remotely dispersed console. The console can access the database presenting the user with a range of views and query options. Settings and properties for a client or a group of clients can effortlessly be done through the console. With correct access settings, the console doesn t have to reside on the server which to monitor, but system access is possible from any PC in the system domain. Figure 9. Engagent Management Console Copyright 2002 Engagent Inc. Side 8

9 Agents Engagent System Services is based on a modular design where each module is working independently from other modules. By encapsulating services in this manner, the customer can purchase parts of the suite or the entire suite, depending on needs. It is also possible to add new modules to the system over time without affecting the already existing modules. The following modules are implemented: OLEDB Agent Inventory Agent OLEDB Agent The OLEDB Agent is responsible for all communication between the host and the database. Data input operations, delete statements, database searches, and displaying of data in the admin console, is all handled by this agent. Inventory Agent The inventory agent is responsible for maintaining an inventory scan schedule on the client and to execute scans at defined intervals. When a scan is executed, the agent starts the scanning engine passing in necessary parameters to the engine depending on type of scan to perform. Scan information is passed back to the agent from the engine. Necessary data processing such as SQL statements generation is done in the agent. The agent can be configured to send all scan data to the database or only data that differ from the last scan. By utilizing delta scans, network load can be reduced significantly. It is also possible to configure every n th scan to be a full scan, ensuring synchronization with database and is processed by the agent Engagent Metering (to be implemented in version 3.0) The metering agent activates license metering by hooking into the Operating System and detecting the start and stop of all applications. By combining information from Engagent Inventory, you will be able to report license usage both for products licensed per installation and concurrent use. The license agent can, if necessary, restrict usage of applications. The dynamic data provided on all licenses within your IT environment will be easily manageable, fully integrated and ready on demand. Copyright 2002 Engagent Inc. Side 9

10 Figure 10. Agents - Properties Page Figure 11. OLEDB Agent Database Settings Copyright 2002 Engagent Inc. Side 10

11 Figure 12. processing - Server Setup Copyright 2002 Engagent Inc. Side 11