GB2505436A

GB2505436A - Replacing software based on usage and attribute data

Info

Publication number: GB2505436A
Application number: GB201215371A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Mark Blackburn; Geoff Collins; Dave Harding; Shaun Cassells
Original assignee: 1E Ltd
Current assignee: 1E Ltd
Priority date: 2012-08-29
Filing date: 2012-08-29
Publication date: 2014-03-05
Also published as: GB201215371D0

Abstract

A networked computer system, program and method of using a rules system to replace software with alternative software. In operation, a source (8,81) of usage data relating to usage of software installed on a computer (Cl, Cm, Cn) in a network (6) is evaluated by a usage engine (10). A mapping engine (12) selects rules based on the evaluated usage data and attribute data (16) related to the computers to identify an action to take. The action for at least some of the installed software is automatic replacement (14) by alternative software but may also included upgrade or un-installation. The attribute data may include the physical location or role of the computer. The role may further include the user role or data relating to the user. The usage engine may determine if a computer is active or not, the reliability of the usage data or use the installation date of the software.

Description

tM:;: INTELLECTUAL .*.. PROPERTY OFFICE Application No. 0B1215371.4 RTM Date:l4flcccnibcr 2012 The following terms are registered trademarks and should be read as such wherever they occur in this document: Adobe, Acrobat, Photoshop, AppClarity Intellectual Properly Office is an operaling name of Ihe Patent Office www.ipo.gov.uk Monitoring Software

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a method of, and system for, monitoring image of software on computers in a computer network.

Background

It is known from US200S/0 195693 to monitor and upgrade software installed in computing devices in a network. The usage of installed software is measured and a determination is made whether or not to upgrade a software package based on the measure of usage.

Summary

In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a networked computer system comprising a source of usage data relating to usage of software installed on respective computers of the system, a source of attribute data relating to attributes associated with the computers, a usage engine which evaluates usage of the installed software based on the usage data, a mapping engine arranged to select a mapping rule associated with the installed software in dependence on the evaluated usage data and the attribute data and to provide an action to take in accordance with the selected rule, wherein the action comprises, for at least some installed software, replacement of the software by alternative software by automatically installing the replacement software.

The attribute data allows software to be replaced according to the attributes of the computer. The attribute data may also include data relating to the user of the computer. For example if the attribute data indicates the computer is used by an accountant in an accounts department and a particular accounts package is heavily used, data is produced according to the rule identi'ing upgraded software, e.g. the latest version of data is produced indicating it should be replaced by an alternative software more appropriate to the user. If a computer in some other department has the same software which is rarely used or not used, the data may indicate that the software should be uninstalled or replaced by alternative less powerful software. The replacement of the software may take place automatically.

Different rules may be provided fur the same software in different computers according to the attributes.

The system allows software to be monitored and upgraded, with unused software un-installed, and rarely used software replaced by alternative more suitable software or un-installed but taking account of operational requirements as defined by the attributes and rules. This improves the reliability of the network by removing unused software and by standardising software, which is used, to the latest version.

Another aspect of the invention provides a non-transitory computer readable medium on which is stored program code, which, when run on a suitable processor arranged to receive, from a source of usage data, data relating to usage of software installed on respective computers of the system, and to receive, fitm a source of attribute data, data relating to attributes associated with the computers, evaluates usage of the installed software based on the usage data, and selects a mapping rule associated with the installed software in dependence on the evaluated usage data and the attribute data and provides an action to take in accordance with the selected rule, wherein the action comprises, for at least some installed software, replacement of the software by alternative software by automatically installing the replacement software.

The invention also provides a computer implemented method comprising receiving, from a source of usage data, data relating to usage of software installed on respective computers of the system, and receiving, from a source of attribute data, data relating to attributes associated with the computers, evaluating the usage of the installed software based on the usage data, and selecting a mapping rule associated with the installed software in dependence on the evaluated usage data and the attribute data and providing an action to take in accordance with the selected rule, wherein the action comprises, for at least some installed software, replacement of the software by alternative software by automatically installing the replacement software.

Further features and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description of illustrative embodiments of the invention, given by way of example only, which is made with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Brief Description of the Drawings

Figure 1 is a schematic block diagram of networked computer system incorporating an embodiment of the present invention; Figurc 2 is a an illustration of an cxamplc of attributes; Figure 3 is a schematic illustration of a rules database; Figure 4 is a schematic block diagram operations carried out by an example of a usage processor of Figure 1; and Figure 5 is a schematic block diagram of a computer of the network of Figure 1.

Detailed Description

Overview Referring to Figure 1, a network comprises one or more computers Cl, Cn at least some Cm ofwhich may be organised in one or more subnets 4. The network may be a private network operated by a commercial company. The computers and subnets arc linked by a communications network shown symbolically at 6.

The network further comprises a system management tool 8 for example a Configuration Manager (ConfigMgr) also formerly known as a Systems Management Server (SMS) provided by Microsoft Corporation. Other companies also provide systems management tools. The tool 8 has a data base 81 storing data relating to the configuration of the network. The tool 8 uses agents A on the computers 21. ..2n which report regularly to the tool 8. Each agent A on a computer Cl, Cm...Cn identifies the software on the computer and the times of use of the software.

Linked to the systems management tool 8 is a usage processor 10. The usage processor 10 provides processed usage data to a mapping rules processor 12 which will be described in more detail below. The data produced by the mapping rules processor may be used to control the provision by a software portal 14 of software to thc computers Cl...Cn of the nctwork. Thc software portal 14 is a sourcc of software which users can access to request the download of software which has for example been pre-approved by the relevant manager(s) of the commercial company who operate the network. The software portal 14 may provide a link to a source of the required software. In an example of the present invention, the mapping rules processor and the software portal act to automatically install on a computer C softwarc chosen according to thc mapping rules and to uninstall unuscd software and software which is replaced by new software.

In addition to thc systcms management tool monitoring softwarc on thc computers, the usage processor 10 may periodically determine whether the computers are active.

The mapping rules processor 12 determines what action to take or recommendation to make in relation to software installed on a computer. The action or recommendation depends on the role of the computer and the usage of the installed software. The result of applying the rules may be a report 18 and/or control of the software portal 14 to install software on a computer C and/or uninstall unused or replaced software. Installation and un-installation of software is automatic in embodiments of the invention.

Attribute Data A sourcc 16 of attribute data provides attribute data to the mapping rules processor 12. The attribute data may be derived from various sources. In this example it is derived from tags T which are data sets stored in the computers C which are also referred to herein as machines. Referring to Figure 2, the attribute data includes machine ID which is an identifier of the computer. The identifier is unique amongst the computers C of the network and may be globally unique. The attribute data further includes data identifying the role of the machine for example the department in which it is located and the role of the user: for example accounts department and accountant.

The attribute data may include other information for example the physical location of the machine (for example Ealing, London) and/or data relating to attributes of the user for example Manager. In a network, plural computers with different roles are tagged with attribute data identifying their respective different roles. Several computers on the network may have the same role.

Some computers may not have tags of attribute data. The attributes of such computers may be found from other sources, for example asset registers.

Usage Data Referring to Figure 4, usage of software on a computer is analysed into categories if the computer is both "trusted" and "active". If the computer is not trusted all software on it is deemed to be used.

Definitions Various property names are used below and arc indicated by italics. They have the following meanings

Property Name Description

Remova Assuming all other values have no effect upon usage evaluation, Possible Lower the boundary between an instaliation being considered used and Threshold, rarely used.

Removal Assuming all other values have no effect upon usage. evaluation, Possible Upner the boundary between an installation being considered rarely used Threshold and unused.

Software Assuming all other values have no eIict upon a machine's aelive Installation status, the boundary between a machine being, considered active Inactivity and tiactjvc.

Threshold Usage Date The boundary between a machines usage data being considered Inactivity trusted and not. trusted, assuming that other boundaries atThc.ti.ng Threshold activity have not been passed Device Maturity The boundary between a machine being considered too new to he Threshold trusted and being manire enough to he trusted, regardless otother values.

Machine The number of days after a machine is initially identified as being Inactivity inactive and considering it to he confirmed as inactive and Timeout excluded from fitture installation/usage calculations; assuming no new infbrmation overrules the initial inactivity identification.

Illustrative default values for various properties are as follows Property Name Default Value (Days) Removal Possible Lower Threshold 31 Remova Possible Upper Threshold 89 Software Installation Inactivity Threshold 90 I sage Data Mnaeuu lreho[d 30 Device Maturity Threshold 90 Machine inactivity Timeout 7 It will be appreciated that other values may be chosen for the properties: the values are a design choice. The actual data with which the property thresholds and timeout are compared are derived from the systems management tool, e.g. ConfigMgr.

* Property Name Description

ConfigMgr Creation The rnacFiin&s creation date as uefiited by the source Date ContigMgr database 81 Maximum lnstal The most recent insial Lation date for any product on die * Date machine.

Maxiniurr: Usage The most recent iisac.e date fbi ally product on the niachine Date Machine Inactivity The date at which the usage processor 10 identified the Date maehnc as no Longer active.

Reference Dare The last date that software usage data for die machine was received.

Last Hardware Sean The last hardwane Sean date as defined by the source Date ConIigMgr database 81 Trusted A eoir::uter is trusted if ALL the following are true: it reports a usage date. for any cof twarr on that machine; the machue creation date is older than the dry/en,naeuñtv threci add; and the computer's last hardware scan date is ess than the usage data inactivity threshold.

Machine Active A machine is deemed active if it is not inactive. A machine is inactive if ALL the following are true the machine's creat/on date is older than the device matur,/v threshold: the machines creation dare is older tha.n thefl installatIon inactivity threshold; the machines max install data is older than the software installation mactin/v threshold; the machuies max usage dare is older than the software nswOaL'on wactii'tt threshold: and the machine's last inudware scan date is older than the software tnstalfation nacuevn' threshold;

OR

the machine has been marked as decommissioned or obsolete in the database Siof the system management tool 8 (eg. ConfigMgr) Normal Usagc Calculation ifa machine is considered to he both Active' and "Trusted' then usage calculation fbr a particuia.r product for normal insa.liations is based on an evaluation of the Re/hrence date, the instal date and ast nut date ton the particular product as shown in the following table, Table 1. In the table "NULL' denotes that data is unavailable or neoniriete: [hr example the install date or the ast run date are not known

S

Table I

REFERENCE DATE INSTALL < Remonl Between > Removal NULL DATE Possible Thresholds Pussible Losser Upper Threshold Threshold

REFERENCE

D TF ST Pcss It. Tiwu RI N 1).\ iF ftr slcqld I' 1. - lIilTc l1: - It. 111(VJi --(NI NH t N --I'esst'tt. Lp I: I NULL 11 nat.ln ie rero tu ic aje (tin', does ieftn uccu th ( ecu \igr) the ilI t tl. USLJ * c tvzo y tic Ic I o in w ill e tn e.

Refe cncc. DHle u.t. Da c Rem d! Possibe or hrml Id Suite Usage Calculation Some software products are identified as suites and the overafl usage fbr the suite is ealeuateci based on the most recent last run date for any comoonecti.

Sub-components ola package Whilst this description refers mainly to software packages and suites of packages, it will be appreciated that the use of subeomponents of a package may be monitored and software evaluated on the basis of usage and non-usage of the sub-components (together with the relevant attribute data) as indicated in Example 2 below.

Reports The mapping may be used to produce a report. The application of the rule(s) based on usage and attributes, may be a report recommending actions to take in relation to software installed on a computer. The report may be used by a licensing manager to determine what new licenses to buy (and what licenses to cancel) when planning an upgrade of the computer before an upgrade takes place. The application of the rule(s) based on usage and attributes may be a report simpiy of the role and usage of software installed on the computers of the network.

Usage in Renorts For products identified as suites the overall usage for the suite is calculated based on the per-component installations and usage. This then allows recommendations to be macic in a report regarding whether a suite can be downgraded or completely removed based on the itumber of components installed and their usage.

Manning Rules Referring to Figure 3, the mapping rules database relates the identity of installed software, attributes of the computer on which it is installed and the processed usage data to actions and/or recommendations. The mapping rules evaluate a particular software product installed in a particular computer on the basis of the usage as set out in Table I above and the attributes of the computer in which it is installed.

The mapping is stored in a database and a particular mapping is addressed by a combination of the usage data of Table 1 and the attribute data.

Actions may include without limitation: do nothing; replace a particular product with another product in dependence on attribute data regardless of use; replace a particular product with another product in dependence on attribute data and use; uninstall a product in dependence on use and attribute data.

Different rules may be established for different attributes. Different rules may be established for different software products. Different rules may be established for different computers as identified by the attribute data.

Examnles Examples of applying the rules process include (without limitation):- 1) A computer in the development department has a software development tooL Whether or not that tool has been used the recommendation and/or the action taken is to upgrade thc tool to the most recent version. More generally, for any computer having software which is important to the role of the department, the recommendation and/or action to take is to upgrade the software regardless of use.

2) A computer in an administration department has Adobc Acrobat but it is used only to read pdf documents so the recommendation and/or action is to replace it with a pdf reader because that is all that is required for that role. More generally, some software may be downgraded on the basis of features used, dependent on the attributes associated with the computer.

3) A computer in a graphics design department has Adobe Photoshop 5 installed. If it is uscd it is upgraded to Adobc Photoshop CS6. If it is rarely used it is replaced by PAINT.net. If it is unused it is uninstalled.

New Operating System A rule or a set of rules may also depend on whether or not a new operating system is being installed either to replace an existing operating system or to provide a new barc metal machine joining a subnet. Operating systems may be provided to computers Cn in subnets using IE's product PXELite.

Based on usage of software used with the old operating system and the attributes associated with the computer, when a new operating system is provided, new software compatible with the new operating system is chosen. As exemplified above, some software may be upgraded to be compatible with the new operating system regardless of use because of the attributes, whilst other software may be replaced by an alternative or not replaced, on the basis of use and attributes.

AppClarity 1 E Limited provide a software product AppClarity (Trade Mark). An embodiment of the present invention may be used with AppClarity. One of the firnctions of AppClarity is to standardise the identifiers of software packages because it has been observed that what are in fact identical packages may have for various reasons variations in their identifiers. AppClarity thus reduces the number of apparently different software packages and provides consistent identification of software packages for use by the software portal 14 the rules processor 12 and the usage processor. A usage processing engine 10 may be implemented within AppClarity.

Computer Prozrams The invention also provides a computer program which when run on a computer Cn implements the procedures described above. The computer program may be on a non transitory carrier, for a computer readable medium for example a hard disk, an optical disc, a magneto-optical disk, a compact disc, a magnetic tape, electronic memory including Flash memory, ROM and RAM, a RAID or any other 1 0 suitable computer readable storage device.

A Computer Referring to Figure 5, an illustrative one of the computers 2n comprises, amongst other items: a CPU 222; a main memory 240 for example a hard disk drive or other storage device, for example electronic memory; a network interface 260; a display driver 280 coupled to a display device 282; human interface devices or input devices for example a keyboard 210 and a pointing device 212; and one or more busses 216; The items are conventional and interact via the buss(es) in a conventional way. The network interface couples the computer to other computers Cl to Cm having respective IP (Internet Protocol) addresses. The computer also comprises a power supply 214. Programs are stored in the main memory 240 and executed by the CPU 222.

The usage processor and the mapping rules processor may be provided by a usage evaluation engine running on a processor and a rules engine running on another processor or both may be run on the same processor. Such processors are generally similar to the computer of figure 5. The attributes data 16 may be stored in the main memory 240 of the computer. Likewise usage data may be stored in the main memory for processing and the evaluated usage data may be stored in the main memory for supply to the rules engine.

Variants The above embodiments are to be understood as illustrative examples of the invention. Further embodiments of the invention are envisaged. For example, whilst the computers have agents installed on them to monitor usage and report to the systems management tool, usage can be determined in other ways for example monitoring traffic on the network. Installation and un-installation of software may be controlled by the user or a network administrator in some embodiments of the invention.

It is to be understood that any feature described in relation to any one embodiment may be used alone, or in combination with other features described, and may also be uscd in combination with one or morc featurcs of any othcr of the embodiments, or any combination of any other of the embodiments. Furthermore, equivalents and modifications not described above may also be employed without departing from the scope of the invention, which is defined in the accompanying claims.

Claims

Claims 1. A networked computer system comprising a source of usage data relating to usage of software installed on respective computers of the system, a source of attribute data relating to attributes associated with the computers, a usage engine which evaluates usage of the installed software based on the usage data, a mapping engine arranged to select a mapping rule associated with the installed software in dependence on the evaluated usage data and the attribute data and to provide an action to take in accordance with the selected rule, wherein the action comprises, for at least some installed software, replacement of the software by alternative software by automatically installing the replacement software.
2. A system according to claim 1, wherein the attribute data of a computer comprises data identitiing the computer and one or more of the physical location of computer, and the role of the computer.
3. A system according to claim 2, wherein the data indentiiring the role of the computer includes one or more of data identifying the role of the user and the role of the administrative unit to which the computer is allocated in an enterprise.
4. A system according to claim 1, 2 or 3 wherein the attribute data further includes data relating to the user.
5. A system according to any preceding claim, wherein the usage engine is arranged to evaluate whether a computer of the system is active before evaluating the usage data associated with the computer.
6. A system according to claim 5, wherein the usage engine is arranged to evaluate the reliability of data relating to a computer of the system before evaluating the usage data associated with the computer.
7. A system according to any preceding claim, wherein the usage engine is arranged to evaluate usage on the basis of a comparison of one or more usage measures with respective ones of one or more thresholds.
8. A system according to any preceding claim, wherein the usage engine is arranged to evaluate usage on the basis of a combination of comparisons of a measure dependent on the installation date of software with thresholds and comparisons of a measure dependent on the most recent detected run date of the software with thresholds.
9. A system according to any preceding claim, wherein the mapping engine comprises a database of mapping rules addressable by the evaluated usage data and the attribute data to select a particular mapping rule.
10. A system according to claim 9, wherein the mapping engine include a rule which selects in dependence on the attribute and usage data, for a particular item of software, one of an upgrade of the same software, replacement of the item by alternative software of similar or less function, and un-installation of the software.
11. A system according to claim 9, wherein the mapping engine include a rule which selects dependent on the attribute data, for a particular item of software, upgrade of item regardless of use.
12. A system according to any preceding claim, wherein the usage data provides measures of the usage of sub-components of items of software and the mapping engine include a rule which selects in dependence on the attribute and usage data, for a particular item of software having sub-components, alternative software providing the functionality of the one or more sub-components for which usage exceeds a threshold value.
13. A system according to any preceding claim, thrther comprising an installation engine arranged to automatically replace an item of software on a said computer with alternative software in accordance with the said action.
14. A computer program code, which, when run on a suitable processor arranged to receive, from a source of usage data, data relating to usage of software installed on respective computers of the system, and to receive, from a source of attributc data, data relating to attributes associated with the computers, evaluates usage of the installed software based on the usage data, and selects a mapping rule associated with the installed software in dependence on the evaluated usage data and the attribute data and provides an action to take in accordance with the selected mlc, wherein the action comprises, for at least some installed software, replacement of the software by alternative software by automatically installing the replacement software.
15. A computer implemented method comprising receiving, from a source of usage data, data relating to usage of software installed on respective computers of the system, and receiving, from a source of attribute data, data relating to attributes associated with the computers, evaluating the usage of the installed software based on the usage data, and selecting a mapping rule associated with the installed software in dependence on the evaluated usage data and the attribute data and providing an action to take in accordance with the selected rule, wherein the action comprises, for at least some installed software, replacement of the software by alternative software by automatically installing the replacement software.