Patent ID: 8245242

Claim:
A computer system comprising: a Unix computer having a Unix operating system, a tangible storage medium, and a computer processor; a translator manager stored in the tangible storage medium; and a translator stored in the tangible storage medium, wherein the Unix computer is configured to be connected to a heterogeneous computer network having computers with multiple operating systems, including at least the Unix computer and a Windows computer that cannot natively manage configuration information on the Unix computer, so as to transform the heterogeneous computer network into a transformed heterogeneous computer network in which the Windows computer uses Windows native policies to manage configuration information on the Unix computer, wherein the transformed heterogeneous computer network comprises: the Windows computer, having a Windows policy editor configured to create policies that can be read, in their native format, by a Windows client computer to set policy settings on the Windows client computer but that cannot be read, in their native format, by a Unix client computer to set policy settings on the Unix client computer; the Unix computer, wherein execution of the translator manager and the translator by the computer processor causes the Unix computer to: receive a Windows policy that was constructed on the Windows computer according to a policy standard developed for and utilized by, the Windows operating system, wherein the Unix operating system does not directly utilize the policy standard developed for, and utilized by, the Windows operating system; execute the translator, the translator configured to execute under the Unix operating system and translate the Windows policy from the policy standard developed for, and utilized by the Windows operating system to configuration information usable by the Unix operating system; store the configuration information on the Unix computer; maintain an association between the Windows policy and the configuration information; detect a change to the Windows policy on the Windows computer; determine that the configuration information on the Unix computer, for which there is an association with the changed Windows policy, needs to be changed; execute the translator to translate the changed Windows policy into changed configuration information usable by the Unix operating system; and store the changed configuration information on the Unix computer; wherein the Windows policy is a Windows policy file used to set configurable options for at least one computer user, and wherein, after translation by the Unix computer, the Windows policy remains centrally managed and updated by the Windows computer, and updates to the policy are propagated to the Unix computer, such that use of Windows native policies is extended to allow an administrator to use Windows native policies to manage configuration information on the Unix computer.