Patent ID: 8769478

Claim:
A method of operating a computer network which includes (a) a management console having user inputs and a processor including an operating system and a network connection for communicating with a computer entity of the network; (b) a master headless computer entity coupled via the network to be responsive to commands from the management console resulting from the user inputs to manage several different groups simultaneously; (c) at least one slave headless computer entity in each of the several different groups, the at least one slave headless computer entity coupled to be responsive to commands from the master headless computer entity; and (d) the master headless computer entity and the at least one slave headless computer entity being formed in a group, the method comprising: changing the configuration of the master headless computer entity in response to inputs to the management console; propagating to all slave headless computer entities of the group the changes to the master headless computer entity; coupling the master headless computer entity and the at least one slave headless computer entity of the group to each other and the master headless computer entity to the management console so that all computer entities of the group appear to computer entities of the network outside the group as a single computer entity having same functionality as functionality of the master headless computer entity, wherein the master headless computer entity includes a utility application and a user application, and each of the slave headless computer entities includes a utility application and a user application respectively; and synchronizing utility and user applications of the each of the slave headless computer entities with the utility and user applications of the master headless computer entity, wherein synchronizing the utility and user application of each of the slave headless computer entities with the utility and user applications of the master headless computer entity includes synchronizing properties to protected computer groups through an aggregation service which sends data describing the properties to each of the slave headless computer entities within the group, and each the slave headless computer entities then self apply the properties, and wherein the properties synchronized to the protected computer groups include at least one of schedule, retention, excludes, rights, limits and quotas, log critical files, and data file definitions applicable to the protected computer groups.