Hardware Configuration Manager Placeholder Setup
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Solution Overview
Problem
In conventional systems, the configuration and detailed setup of new resources in a system pool cannot proceed until the resources are delivered and on-line, leading to substantial delays in getting new resources up and running and fully managed.
Innovation Solution
A method and system for hardware configuration management that allows a detailed setup of new hardware configurations before they are available in the production environment, including configuring policies and preventing tasks from running until a predefined period following activation, enabling immediate system management activities.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If configuration and detailed setup of new resources wait until resources are delivered and on-line, then system stability is maintained, but substantial delays occur in getting new resources up and running
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by creating placeholder configuration items in the configuration management database before the actual hardware resources are delivered. This allows configuration policies, monitoring parameters, and system settings to be prepared in advance, so that when the resources come on-line, the configuration process is already complete or near-complete, eliminating the delay between resource delivery and operational readiness
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses placeholder configuration items as intermediaries between the configuration management system and the actual hardware resources. These placeholders serve as temporary representations that allow the configuration management system to perform setup activities before the real resources are available, acting as a bridge that decouples configuration timing from resource availability timing
2Productivity
If detailed setup is completed before resource availability, then configuration time is reduced, but system complexity increases due to placeholder management
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the configuration setup process from the resource availability process by separating configuration item creation from hardware provisioning. The placeholder configuration items are created independently in the configuration management database without requiring the actual hardware to be present, allowing configuration activities to proceed in parallel with hardware delivery and setup
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses placeholder configuration items as simplified copies or representations of the actual hardware resources. These placeholders contain the essential configuration data structures, policies, and parameters needed for system management, allowing the configuration management system to work with these lightweight representations instead of requiring the full complexity of actual hardware interfaces and drivers
3Reliability
If tasks are prevented from running until predefined period after activation, then system reliability is ensured, but productivity is reduced during the transition period
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by completing all configuration setup, policy assignment, and system registration before the resource is activated and made available for task execution. This ensures that when the resource becomes operational, it is immediately ready to accept and execute tasks without requiring any configuration delays, thus minimizing the impact on productivity
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements a predefined waiting period after activation before allowing tasks to run on the new resource. This preliminary anti-action (temporarily preventing task execution) serves as a safety measure to allow the system to stabilize and verify the successful integration of the new resource, preventing potential issues from affecting production workloads while minimizing the disruption window
Data Source
AI summary
Hardware configuration management is provided. A hardware configuration manager includes a proposed new hardware configuration item for an existing production environment and its hardware configuration management software. A completed detailed setup of the management of the proposed hardware configuration item is completed before the proposed hardware configuration item is available. The detailed setup includes at least configuring policies of the proposed hardware configuration item. The hardware configuration manager also comprises a device for preventing scheduled tasks from running until a predefined period following activation of a new hardware configuration item that has the completed detailed setup and the proposed hardware configuration item is mapped thereto.