Methods for using the Internet to create applications that perform many of
the functions now performed by management platforms and third party add-on
tools in a much simpler manner are described herein. The applications are
easier to use by novices than known tools and lower the overall cost of
system management. Using known system components, the system's
configuration can be viewed or changed over the Internet using an HTML
document to list and display the managed systems, together with icons that
represent the state of the managed systems. By using "active controls" or
Java scripts, the state of the managed systems can be dynamically updated
by changing the color of associated icons or the displayed text. Using
embedded commands or identifiers within template documents, a program can
be created to automatically acquire needed system information. In another
embodiment, an HTML CGI document containing desired system information and
a reference link back to the system at the manufacturer's selected site is
created, allowing the manufacturer's system to retrieve this system
information automatically. The system information is then analyzed against
a list of currently valid system configurations to detect potential
problems. In turn, if potential problems are detected, the information is
sent back to the managed system automatically.
