Patent ID: 7039917

Claim:
A computer implemented method for executing tools in a service control manager (SCM) module, the method comprising: receiving, by the SCM module, a request from a user to run a tool on one or more nodes, wherein the request includes task information; retrieving, by the SCM module, tool definition, node definition and user definition from a domain manager, wherein the tool definition specifies a role that contains the requested tool; checking if the user is assigned with the role containing the requested tool, wherein the user is authorized to run the requested tool only if the user is assigned with the role containing the requested tool on all of the nodes; creating a runnable tool by a client based on the task information and the tool definition; passing the runnable tool from the client to a distributed task facility (DTF), wherein the DTF issues a task identifier based on the runnable tool; and passing the runnable tool from the DTF to agents associated with the nodes, wherein the agents are authorized users, and wherein the agents execute the runnable tool and return task results to the DTF.