Patent Document

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Technical Field 
     The present invention relates generally to the field of managing systems of servers, such as server farms, and more particularly to a method of and system for dynamically removing, replacing or upgrading servers in a system of servers. 
     2. Description of the Related Art 
     As interactive voice response (IVR) products mature from a traditional client/server environment to a more Web-centric architecture, an increasing number of service providers resort to having a managed data center provide IVR services. Managing a Web-based IVR farm of servers includes managing IVR servers, Web servers, and speech recognition servers. As part of management, administrators typically have to upgrade hardware. Examples of such hardware upgrades include adding dialogic cards, adding more disk space, and adding more memory. These changes are generally not dynamic, and removing a server from a network and adding a new one is not an automated process. Removing a server from a network or adding a new one requires careful timing and planning. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention provides a method and a system for managing a plurality of servers coupled to a network. Each of the servers is identified by a server name. At least one of the servers is identified by an old server name. The method of the present invention notifies at least some of the plurality of servers that at a specified time the old server name will be changed to a new server name. In some embodiments of the present invention, the new server name may be the name of one of the plurality of servers already connected to the network. In other embodiments, the new server name may be the name of a new server added to the network. 
     The system according to the present invention includes an administration server coupled to the network and administration clients installed on the plurality of servers. The administration server is configured to broadcast on the network update messages. An update message includes the old server name, the new server name, and the specified time at which the old server name will be changed to the new server name. Each of the plurality of servers includes a local configuration that identifies the servers with which the particular server communicates. When an administration client receives an update message, the administration client determines if the local configuration of the server upon which the client is installed includes the old server name. If so, the administration client initiates a change of the old server name to the new server name in the local configuration file at the specified time. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The novel features believed characteristic of the invention are set forth in the appended claims. The invention itself, however, as well as a preferred mode of use, further purposes and advantages thereof, will best be understood by reference to the following detailed description of an illustrative embodiment when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, where: 
         FIG. 1  is a block diagram of an embodiment of an interactive voice response (IVR) platform according to the present invention; 
         FIG. 2  is an illustration of a message packet according to an embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 3  is a flow chart of server name change processing according to an embodiment of the present invention; and, 
         FIG. 4  is a block diagram of an IVR platform before a first implementation of server update according to an embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 5  is a block diagram of the IVR platform of  FIG. 4  after server update according to an embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 6  is a block diagram of an IVR platform before a second implementation of server update according to an embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 7  is a block diagram of the IVR platform of  FIG. 6  after server update according to an embodiment of the present invention; and 
         FIG. 8  is a block diagram of an information handling system adapted to embody systems and methods according to the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     Referring now to the drawings, and first to  FIG. 1 , a system according to the present invention is designated generally by the numeral  100 . In the illustrated embodiment, system  100  is a Web-based interactive voice response (IVR) server farm. System  100  includes a plurality of servers coupled to a network  101 . Network  101  may be a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), the Internet, or any other network. The servers of system  100  include a plurality of speech recognition servers  103 , a plurality of Web servers  105 , and a plurality of IVR servers  107 . As is known to those skilled in the art, the various servers cooperate with each other to perform automated interactive voice response services. 
     System  100  includes an administration server  109  coupled to network  101 . As will be explained in detail hereinafter, administration server  109  is programmed according to embodiments of the present invention to facilitate dynamically removing, replacing, or upgrading the servers of system  100 . According to the present invention, each server  103 - 107  includes an administration client  111 . Each administration client  111  is programmed according to embodiments of the present invention to process and act on update messages from administration server  109 . 
       FIG. 2  illustrates an example of an update message package  201  according to the present invention. Update message packet includes a header  203 , which contains control information. The body portion  205  of update message packet is segregated by ServerType. ServerType may have values like IVR, WEB, and RECO. Different servers  103 - 107  of system  100  are consumers of different services. For example, IVR servers  107  may be consumers of services provided by speech recognition servers  103  and Web servers  105 . However, speech recognition servers  103  are not consumers of the services provided by Web servers  105 . Also, the system of servers may be configured such that certain IVR servers are consumers of services provided by some Web servers or speech recognition servers, but not others. Service type enables an administration client  111  to determine whether it needs to be concerned with server name changes for particular servers. Within each server type of update message packet  201  there is listed the servers of that type that will be removed, replaced, or upgraded. According to an embodiment of a messaging protocol according to the present invention, the server to be taken out of service is identified as OldHostName. The server that will replace OldHostName is identified as NewHostName. The time at which the change will occur is identified as NewHostAvailableTime. 
       FIG. 3  is a flow chart of an embodiment of administration client processing according to the present invention. The administration client receives a packet, at block  301 . The administration client parses the packet and determines, at decision block  303 , if there are any more ServerTypes. If not, as indicated at block  305  and at decision block  307 , the administration client determines, for the first or next ServerType in the packet if the server upon which it is installed is a consumer of services provided by that ServerType. If not, processing returns to decision block  303 . If, as determined at decision block  307 , the server is a consumer of services provided by that ServerType, the administration client determines for the first or next server within that ServerType if the OldHostName is in the local configuration of the server upon which it is installed, as indicated at block  309  and decision block  311 . If so, the administration client schedules a local configuration update for the server upon which is installed to change OldHostName to NewHostName at the NewHostAvailableTime, as indicated at block  313 . If, as determined at decision block  315 , there are more servers within the ServerType, processing returns to block  309 . If not, processing returns to decision block  303 . Processing continues according to  FIG. 3  until there are no more ServerTypes. At the NewHostAvailableTime scheduled, the administration client changes the OldHostName to the NewHostName in the local configuration of the server upon which is installed. Thereafter, whenever the server requires services that it would have received from the OldHostName it will receive the services of the NewHostName. 
       FIG. 4  and  FIG. 5  illustrate an example of the operation of the present invention in which one server will be replaced by an existing server. In  FIGS. 4 and 5 , speech recognition servers  103 , IVR servers  107 , Web servers  105 , and administration server  109  are all networked together. However, the actual communication channels between servers  103 - 107  within the network are indicated by solid lines. Thus, IVR server  107   a  communicate with speech recognition servers  103   a  and  103   b , but not with speech recognition servers  103   c - 103   f . Similarly, Web server  105   a  communicates with IVR servers  107   a - 107   c , but not with IVR servers  107   d - 107   f . Administration server  109  communicates with each server  103 - 107 . However, lines indicating communication channels have been omitted for the sake of clarity. 
     In the example of  FIGS. 4 and 5 , administration server  109  would broadcast an update message packet including, in addition to a header, the following information. 
                                             &lt;ServerType_WEB&gt;             &lt;OldHostName&gt;105b&lt;OldHostName&gt;             &lt;OldHostName&gt;105a&lt;OldHostName&gt;             &lt;NewHostAvailableTime&gt;TS&lt;NewHostAvailableTime&gt;           &lt;ServerType_WEB&gt;                        
Since IVR servers  107   d - 107   f  communicate with Web server  105   b , the administration clients installed on those WR servers would schedule a change of hostname  105   b  to hostname  105   a  at time TS. At time TS, the system of servers would assume the configuration shown in  FIG. 5 . Thereafter, old Web server  105  could be taken off the network.
 
       FIG. 6  and  FIG. 7  illustrate an example of the operation of the present invention in which Web servers  105   a  and  105   b  are replaced by new Web servers  105   c  and  105   d , respectively, which were not previously part of the system of servers  103 - 107 . In the example of  FIGS. 6 and 7 , administration server  109  would broadcast an update message packet including, in addition to a header, the following information. 
                                             &lt;ServerType_WEB&gt;             &lt;OldHostName&gt;105a&lt;OldHostName&gt;             &lt;OldHostName&gt;105c&lt;OldHostName&gt;             &lt;NewHostAvailableTime&gt;TS&lt;NewHostAvailableTime&gt;             &lt;OldHostName&gt;105b&lt;OldHostName&gt;             &lt;OldHostName&gt;105d&lt;OldHostName&gt;             &lt;NewHostAvailableTime&gt;TS&lt;NewHostAvailableTime&gt;           &lt;ServerType_WEB&gt;                        
Since IVR servers  107   a - 107   c  communicate with old Web server  105   a , the administration clients installed on those IVR servers would schedule a change of hostname  105   c  to hostname  105   c  at time TS. Similarly, since IVR servers  107   d - 107   f  communicate with old Web server  105   b , the administration clients installed on those IVR servers would schedule a change of hostname  105   b  to hostname  105   d  at time TS. Prior to time TS, new Web servers  105   c  and  105   d  would be connected to the network. At time TS, the system of servers would assume the configuration shown in  FIG. 7 . Thereafter, old Web server  105   b  is could be taken off the network.
 
     Referring now to  FIG. 8 , there is illustrated a block diagram of a generic information handling system  800  capable of performing the server and client operations described herein. Computer system  800  includes processor  801  which is coupled to host bus  803 . Processor  801  preferably includes an onboard cache memory. A level two (L2) cache memory  805  is also coupled to host bus  803 . A Host-to-PCI bridge  807  is coupled to host bus  803 . Host-to-PCI bridge  807 , which is coupled to main memory  809 , includes its own cache memory and main memory control functions. Host-to-PCI bridge  807  provides bus control to handle transfers among a PCI bus  811 , processor  801 , L2 cache  805 , main memory  809 , and host bus  803 . PCI bus  811  provides an interface for a variety of devices including, for example, a local area network (LAN) card  813 , a PCI-to-ISA bridge  815 , which provides bus control to handle transfers between PCI bus  811  and an ISA bus  817 , a universal serial bus (USB)  819 , and an IDE device  821 . PCI-to-ISA bridge  815  also includes onboard power management functionality. PCI-to-ISA bridge  815  can include other functional elements not shown, such as a real-time clock (RTC), DMA control, interrupt support, and system management bus support. 
     Peripheral devices and input/output (I/O) devices can be attached to various interfaces or ports coupled to ISA bus  817 . Such interfaces or ports may include a parallel port  823 , a serial port  825 , an infrared (IR) interface  827 , a keyboard interface  829 , a mouse interface  831 , and a hard disk drive (HDD)  833 . 
     A BIOS  835  is coupled to ISA bus  817 . BIOS  835  incorporates the necessary processor executable code for a variety of low-level system functions and system boot functions. BIOS  835  can be stored in any computer readable medium, including magnetic storage media, optical storage media, flash memory, random access memory, read only memory, and communications media conveying signals encoding the instructions (e.g., signals from a network). In order to couple computer system  800  to another computer system to copy files or send and receive messages over a network, LAN card  813  may be coupled to PCI bus  811 . Similarly, a Fibre Channel card may be coupled to PCI bus  813 . Additionally, a modem  839  may be coupled to ISA bus  817  through serial port  825  to support dial-up connections. 
     While the computer system described in  FIG. 8  is capable of executing the invention described herein, the illustrated system is simply one example of a computer system. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that many other computer system designs are capable of performing the invention described herein. 
     One of the preferred implementations of the invention is an application, namely, a set of instructions (program code) in a code module that may, for example, be in the random access memory of the computer. Until required by the computer, the set of instructions may be stored in another computer memory, for example, on a hard disk drive, or in removable storage such as an optical disk (for eventual use in a CD ROM) or floppy disk (for eventual use in a floppy disk drive), or downloaded via the Internet or other computer network. Thus, the present invention may be implemented as a computer program product for use in a computer. In addition, although the various methods described are conveniently implemented in a general purpose computer selectively activated or reconfigured by software, one of ordinary skill in the art would also recognize that such methods may be carried out in hardware, in firmware, or in more specialized apparatus constructed to perform the required method steps. 
     From the foregoing, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that systems and methods according to the present invention are well adapted to overcome the shortcomings of the prior art. While the present invention has been described with reference to presently preferred embodiments, those skilled in the art, given the benefit of the foregoing description, will recognize alternative embodiments. Accordingly, the foregoing description is intended for purposes of illustration and not of limitation.

Technology Category: 5