Research On Computer Software Resource Management System Based On Windows Active Directory

With a continuously expanding network size and endless innovation in computer technology, network software resources distributed in different regions have become increasingly rich. How to implement software resources monitoring and management within a network have become a colossal task, especially in many cases, monitoring software resources in an individual host in the network is needed. In such circumstance, to achieve a unified, effective and intuitive management is difficult. Therefore, we need to combine the current advanced network technology with management model to find a reasonable and feasible method as well as establish a reliable, practical, convenient and effective network software resources management system platform applying to organizations.To meet this particular network management requirement, this paper proposes a software resources management system based on Windows Server 2003 Active Directory, adopts Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) technology to characterize software resources and their related objects' category and attribute. Basic information can be presented by basic model supported by LDAP, however, special information need to be presented by customized objectclass and attribute using LDAP schema model. This information is stored into the corresponding location according to the hierarchical structure of the Active Directory configuration. The system manages software resources in the domain mainly through programmed policies, and uses Group Policy to configure software installation policy; software restricted policy and process restricted policy. The system applies these policies to the specified objects for unified management to enhance security in the domain. Basic information of these policies can be extracted via Group Policy Management Console (GPMC) Interface, and detailed computer policy as well as software list and process list of user policy can be acquired through XML technology. All these policies are stored into containers corresponding to directory structure. The system uses Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) technology to get real-time data about remote software installation information and software running status, and compares those data with corresponding policy stored in containers. Monitoring can be useful to software management when polices are not effective. The system is developed using Visual C++ language. To improve the system's performance, the system extends WMI access in the CIM repository, and adopts multithreading to connect to WMI Service on different hosts simultaneously. In the event of a security breach during monitoring, the system can handle it by remotely uninstalling any illegal software or terminating any illegal processes. All these operations are logged into system log.This paper proposes a solution which combines LDAP, WMI, and Group Policy technology based on Active Directory to implement a unified resources management and real-time operation monitoring as well as provides a secure and high-effective platform for software management within enterprises and organizations domains.