System management with NetScript

Abstract

Cost and complexity of managing client machines is a major concern for enterprises. This concern is compounded by emerging client machines that are mobile and diverse. To address this concern, management systems must be easy to configure and deploy, must handle asynchrony and disconnection for mobile clients, and must be customizable for diverse clients. In this paper, we first present NetScript, an environment for scripting with network components. We then propose a management system built with NetScript, where mobile scripts invoke components to perform management operations. We demonstrate that our approach results in a flexible, scalable management system that can support mobile and diverse client machines.