1. A machine-implemented method, comprising:
detecting requests for a common information model (CIM) object manager (CIMOM); and
ensuring that each request is initially processed by a CIM file system (CIMFS), wherein the CIMOM is incapable of validating and handling any particular request unless that particular request is passed to the CIMOM by the CIMFS.
2. The method of claim 1 further comprising, configuring the CIMOM to listen for the requests over an Internet Protocol (IP) address for a local communication port that is internal to a firewall environment.
3. The method of claim 2, wherein configuring further includes configuring the CIMOM to validate the requests via pluggable authentication modules (PAM’s), wherein the authentication information to validate resides with the CIMFS.
4. The method of claim 1 further comprising, permitting the requests that are being directed to the CIMOM and being handled by the CIMFS to be communicated using protocols associated with one or more of the following: network file system (NFS), Common Internet File System (CIFS), Apple Filing Protocol (AFP), and Netware Core Protocol (NCP).
5. The method of claim 1 further comprising, managing the requests via a hidden directory structure.
6. The method of claim 5 further comprising, setting access permissions on the hidden directory structure to ensure that the hidden directory structure is just accessible to a root user and the CIMFS.
7. The method of claim 5, wherein managing further includes maintaining, by the CIMFS, each CIM class and a class hierarchy within the hidden directory structure.
8. A machine-implemented method, comprising:
exporting a Common Information Module (CIM) File System (CIMFS) as a volume for use with file access protocols;
using the CIMFS to control access to a CIM Object Manager (CIMOM);
maintaining a CIM class hierarchy for providers and objects of the CIMOM via a hidden directory structure on the volume; and
permitting file system operations against CIMFS via the hidden directory structure.
9. The method of claim 8 further comprising, setting access permissions on the hidden directory structure to ensure that just a root user and the CIMFS can access and manipulate the hidden directory structure.
10. The method of claim 8 further comprising, managing attributes and access control lists as metadata for the hidden directory structure.
11. The method of claim 8 further comprising, setting at least one special attribute for at least one CIMOM class or CIMOM object that is not defined via a CIM schema for that CIMOM class or that CIMOM object, wherein when the special attribute is present, a value associated with that CIMOM class or that CIMOM object is copied to and maintained on the hidden directory structure, and when a request is received for the value that value is served from the hidden directory structure as a form of a caching service to a requester of that CIMOM class or that CIMOM object.
12. The method of claim 8, wherein exporting further includes integrating the CIMFS with other file systems via a meta directory service.
13. The method of claim 8, wherein using further includes integrating a proxy between requests for the CIMOM and the CIMFS to perform enhanced functions.
14. The method of claim 8, wherein permitting further includes one or more of the following:
allowing existing auditing and logging services to work off the hidden directory structure of the CIMFS for auditing and logging functions of the CIMOM;
taking snapshots and performing version control against the CIMFS via the hidden directory structure;
taking read only replicas of the CIMFS via the hidden directory structure to reduce a processing load associated with one of the CIMOM providers;
locking and synchronizing a number of CIMOM objects when concurrent use is occurring using the hidden directory structure; and
caching a number of the CIMOM objects to and from the hidden directory structure to improve response time of requesters of those cached CIMOM objects.
15. A machine-implemented system, comprising:
an access control service implemented in a computer-readable storage medium and to process on a network; and
a common information model (CIM) file system (CIMFS) implemented in a computer-readable storage medium and to process on the network;
wherein the access control service ensures that each request to a CIM object or a CIM provider made to a CIM object manager (CIMOM) passes initially through the CIMFS, and wherein the CIMFS maintains CIM classes and a CIM class hierarchy for the CIM object and the CIM provider via a hidden directory as a volume associated with a file system, and wherein an operating system and file system tools interact with the volume via the CIMFS to provide file system management operations for the CIM classes, the CIM class hierarchy, the CIM object, and the CIM provider.
16. The system of claim 15, wherein the access control service is one of the following: a proxy that intercepts each request made to the CIMOM within the network and passes each request to the CIMFS and a hidden service that is part of a hidden file system.
17. The system of claim 15, wherein the access control service configures the CIMFS to include credentials for authenticating each request, and wherein the credentials are not available to the CIMOM.
18. The system of claim 15, wherein the access control service configures the CIMOM to be accessible for handling requests via a local port Internet Protocol (IP) address that can just be accessed within a firewall environment, and wherein the CIMFS is accessible via file system protocols from both internal to the firewall environment and external to the firewall environment.
19. The system of claim 15, wherein the CIMFS interacts with the hidden directory to present the CIM classes, the CIM object, the CIM hierarchy, and the CIM provider as a new file system for use with the operating system and the file system tools.
20. The system of claim 15, wherein the file system management operations include access control operations, auditing operations, logging operations, snapshot operations, versioning operations, replica operations, synchronization operations, proxy operations, and caching operations.
21. A machine-implemented system, comprising:
a common information module (CIM) file system (CIMFS) implemented in a computer-readable storage medium and to process on a network; and
a hidden and secure file system implemented in a computer-readable storage medium and to process on the network;
wherein the CIMFS controls and manages the hidden and secure file system as a hidden directory, the hidden directory includes CIM classes and a CIM class hierarchy for a CIM object manager (CIMOM), and wherein access to the CIMOM is prohibited unless access passes through the CIMFS, and where the hidden directory and metadata associated with the hidden directory are used to permit existing file system management operations on the CIM classes.
22. The system of claim 21, wherein the CIMFS is exported as a volume for use with existing file system protocols.
23. The system of claim 21, wherein the CIMFS validates each access request before permitting access to the CIMOM.
24. The system of claim 21, wherein the CIMFS permits custom caching to and from the hidden file system via the hidden directory for select CIM objects and CIM providers associated with the CIM classes and the CIM hierarchy.
25. The system of claim 21, wherein the hidden file system is accessible to just the CIMFS or a root administrator with proper access privileges.
26. The system of claim 21, wherein the CIMFS connects and interacts with the CIMOM via a special user account, and wherein other users connect to the CIMFS via their individual user accounts.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A distributed control system in which a plurality of PLCs are connected together via active and backup transmission lines which are opposite in transmission direction, wherein each of the PLCs comprises:
diagnosis command sending means for sending a diagnosis command, via a diagnosis-command transmission line, which is one of the active transmission line and the backup transmission line, to a PLC located downstream on the diagnosis-command transmission line; and
acknowledgment-response returning means, operable upon receipt of the diagnosis command, for returning an acknowledgement response for the diagnosis command, via an acknowledgment-response transmission line, which is the other of the active transmission line and the backup transmission line, to a PLC located downstream on the acknowledgment-response transmission line.
2. The distributed control system according to claim 1, wherein each of the PLCs comprises:
wire-breakage-anomaly determination means for determining that a signal line which forms at least one of the diagnosis-command transmission line and the acknowledgment-response transmission line is broken when the acknowledgment response is not received from a PLC located upstream on the acknowledgment-response transmission line within a predetermined time after the diagnosis command sending means sends the diagnosis command; and
reverse-connection-anomaly determination mean for determining that a signal line which forms at least one of the diagnosis-command transmission line and the acknowledgment-response transmission line is reversely connected when the diagnosis command is received, in place of the acknowledgment response, from the PLC located upstream on the acknowledgment-response transmission line within the predetermined time after the diagnosis command sending means sends the diagnosis command.
3. The distributed control system according to claim 2, wherein the PLCs include one master PLC and at least one slave PLC, and
wherein the slave PLC comprises:
wire-breakage anomaly information sending means for transmitting anomaly information indicative of a wire-breakage anomaly to the maser PLC via the acknowledgment-response transmission line when the wire-breakage-anomaly determination means determines that a wire-breakage anomaly has occurred; and
reverse-connection anomaly information sending means for transmitting anomaly information indicative of a reverse-connection anomaly to the maser PLC via the acknowledgment-response transmission line when the reverse-connection-anomaly determination means determines that a reverse-connection anomaly has occurred.
4. The distributed control system according to claim 1, wherein the PLCs include one master PLC and at least one slave PLC, and
wherein
the diagnosis command sending means of the mater PLC sends the diagnosis command to a slave PLC located downstream on the diagnosis-command transmission line as a trigger for a system diagnosis; and
upon receipt of the diagnosis command, the diagnosis command sending means of the slave PLC sends the diagnosis command to the master PLC or a slave PLC located downstream on the diagnosis-command transmission line.
5. The distributed control system according to claim 4, wherein the system comprises a plurality of slave PLCs, and
wherein every time the diagnosis command is sent from the diagnosis command sending means of each slave PLC, identification information for identifying the slave PLC is cumulatively added to the diagnosis command.
6. The distributed control system according to claim 5, wherein each of the slave PLCs comprises:
anomaly determination means for determining that a system anomaly has occurred when the acknowledge response is not received from the master PLC or a slave PLC located downstream on the diagnosis-command transmission line within a set time after the diagnosis command sending means sends the diagnosis command; and
anomaly-information-added-command sending means, operable when the anomaly determination means determines that a system anomaly has occurred, for generating an anomaly-information-added command by adding anomaly information to the diagnosis command received from the slave PLC or the master PLC, and transmitting the anomaly-information-added command to the master PLC via the acknowledgment-response transmission line.
7. The distributed control system according to claim 1, which performs a regular-direction system diagnosis in which the active transmission line is selected as the diagnosis-command transmission line and the backup transmission line is selected as the acknowledgment-response transmission line, and a reverse-direction system diagnosis in which the backup transmission line is selected as the diagnosis-command transmission line and the active transmission line is selected as the acknowledgment-response transmission line.
8. The distributed control system according to claim 11 wherein the topology of the active transmission line and the backup transmission line is of a ring type.
9. A distributed control system in which a plurality of PLCs are connected together via active and backup transmission lines which are opposite in transmission direction and which have a ring-type topology, wherein each of the PLCs comprises:
regular direction diagnosis command sending means for sending a diagnosis command to a PLC located downstream on the active transmission line via the active transmission line whose transmission direction is the regular direction; and
reverse direction diagnosis command sending means for sending a diagnosis command to a PLC located downstream on the backup transmission line via the backup transmission line whose transmission direction is opposite to the regular direction,
wherein the PLCs includes a master PLC which administers system diagnosis and at least one slave PLC;
the regular direction diagnosis command sending means and the reverse direction diagnosis command sending means of the master PLC send the diagnosis command to the slave PLC as a trigger for system diagnosis; and
upon receipt of the diagnosis command, the regular direction diagnosis command sending means and the reverse direction diagnosis command sending means of the slave PLC send the diagnosis command to another slave PLC or the master PLC.
10. The distributed control system according to claim 1, further comprising a reporting device for reporting an anomaly when the anomaly has occurred in the distributed control system.
11. The distributed control system according to claim 10, wherein the reporting device includes display means for graphically displaying an anomalous portion of the distributed control system.
12. The distributed control system according to claim 10, wherein the reporting device reports a wire-breakage anomaly of a signal line which forms at least one of the diagnosis-command transmission line and the acknowledgment-response transmission line, and a reverse-connection anomaly of a signal line which forms at least one of the diagnosis-command transmission line and the acknowledgment-response transmission line.
13. The distributed control system according to claim 12, wherein the reporting device includes display means for graphically displaying an anomalous portion of the distributed control system such that the wire-breakage anomaly and the reverse-connection anomaly are displayed in different manners.
14. The distributed control system according to claim 9, further comprising a reporting device for reporting an anomaly occurred in the distributed control system.
15. The distributed control system according to claim 14, wherein the reporting device includes display means for graphically displaying an anomalous portion in the distributed control system.
16. The distributed control system according to claim 14, wherein the reporting device reports a wire-breakage anomaly of a signal line which forms at least one of the diagnosis-command transmission line and the acknowledgment-response transmission line, and a reverse-connection anomaly of a signal line which forms at least one of the diagnosis-command transmission line and the acknowledgment-response transmission line.
17. The distributed control system according to claim 16, wherein the reporting device includes display means for graphically displaying an anomalous portion of the distributed control system such that the wire-breakage anomaly and the reverse-connection anomaly are displayed in different manners.