Configuration Scanning System Using Opportunistic Locking
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing anti-malware systems face high memory usage, processor time, and input/output operations when scanning system configuration databases, potentially leading to conflicts and instability, especially when accessing logged-off user configuration files.
Innovation Solution
A configuration scanning system that scans a file-based version of the database instead of the in-memory version, using opportunistic locking to manage access and caching configuration information to reduce the burden on other programs and the database.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If the anti-malware product loads the configuration files from the computer storage system to scan logged-off user's configuration files, then the scanning capability is improved, but the memory usage, processor time, and input/output operations increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a copy of the configuration file data structure in memory that mirrors the file-based configuration database. This copy allows the anti-malware product to scan configuration data without loading the entire configuration file from storage, thereby reducing I/O operations and memory usage while maintaining scanning capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent pre-creates the data structure in memory that represents the configuration file hierarchy and relationships. This preliminary action allows the system to quickly access and scan configuration data without needing to load and parse the entire configuration file during scanning operations.
2Speed
If the anti-malware product loads the configuration files into memory to scan them, then the scanning speed is improved, but conflicts with other system activities increase and system stability decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent maintains a copy of the configuration data structure in memory that can be scanned without loading the actual configuration files. This approach enables fast scanning while avoiding conflicts with system activities that require exclusive access to the configuration files, thereby maintaining system stability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary data structure that sits between the configuration files and the scanning process. This intermediary represents the configuration data in memory without requiring the actual files to be loaded, allowing scanning to proceed without interfering with other system activities that need access to the configuration files.
3Measurement precision
If the configuration files are loaded into memory for scanning, then the scanning completeness is improved, but the memory consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a lightweight copy of the configuration data structure in memory that preserves the hierarchical relationships and data elements needed for scanning. This copy consumes significantly less memory than loading the entire configuration file while maintaining scanning completeness.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the configuration data into a structured data format that can be represented efficiently in memory. By segmenting the configuration information into manageable data elements and relationships, the system can scan the complete configuration structure without requiring the full memory footprint of the original configuration files.
Data Source
AI summary
A configuration scanning system is described herein that scans a system configuration database for malware-related information with less impact on other operations that access the system configuration database. The system employs techniques to reduce the impact on other operations that access the configuration database, including parsing a file-based stored version of the configuration database, accessing the configuration database using opportunistic locking, and caching configuration information obtained by scanning the configuration database. In this way, the system is able to respond to requests antimalware programs using cached information without impacting other programs using the configuration database. Thus, the configuration scanning system protects a computer system against malware while reducing the burden on the configuration database and on other programs that access the configuration database.