JP2001134470A - State managing device and program recording medium - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a state managing device for easily managing the states of multiple computers. SOLUTION: A state managing device 11 is provided with a state managing part 23 equipped with a state data base 31 for storing state information indicating each state of a computer 13 to be managed and for distributing an investigation program for investigating the contents of a register, and for processing the return of information including the investigated result in each computer 13 to be managed.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a state management device for managing the state of a plurality of computers, and a program recording medium for causing a computer to operate as a state management device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a company or the like, it is necessary to manage a large number of computers used as assets. Conventionally, such management has been performed by recording information on the specifications of the computer in a paper or electronic asset ledger every time the computer is purchased.

[0003]

As is well known, in recent years, software versions can be upgraded using the Internet. In recent years, computers have become extremely easy to replace and add peripheral devices. For this reason, computers that have been purchased for several months often have different hardware and software configurations than those at the time of purchase. It is extremely difficult to manage such a plurality of computers, whose hardware and software configurations change over time, by a conventional method.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a state management device capable of easily managing the states of a plurality of computers, and a computer readable program recording medium for operating a computer as such a state management device. Is to do.

[0005]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides a state management device connected via a communication medium to one or more managed computers capable of receiving information according to a predetermined protocol. An information storage unit for storing state information indicating a state of each of the one or more managed computers; a receiving unit for receiving information transmitted from the one or more managed computers; A survey program for causing a managed computer to execute a survey process for examining the status information and a status information transmission process of transmitting status information including a survey result of the survey process to the receiving unit, by one or more managed computers. When state information from a certain managed computer is received by a distribution unit that distributes the state information to a receiving computer, Configured using the information writing means for writing the status information about the managed computers in the information storage means.

That is, in the state management device of the present invention, for each managed computer, the managed computer checks its own status, and receives status information including the check result in the receiving means provided in the status management device. Is distributed by a predetermined protocol (in a form that can be commonly received by the respective managed computers). Then, the status information, which is the execution result of the investigation program distributed to each managed computer, is stored in the information storage unit in the status management device. Therefore, if the state management device of the present invention is used, any special operation (installation of a program, etc.) is performed on each managed computer.
, The state of a plurality of managed computers can be managed. In implementing the information management apparatus of the present invention, the information stored in the information storage unit as the state information may be any information indicating the state of the managed computer, for example, The information may be information on hardware used for the managed computer or information on software.

[0007] Further, the computer readable program recording medium of the present invention comprises a computer which is connected to one or more managed computers capable of receiving information according to a predetermined protocol via a communication medium. Information storage means for storing state information indicating the state of each of the managed computers, receiving means for receiving information transmitted from one or more managed computers, and investigation processing for investigating its own configuration; And distribution means for distributing, to each of the one or more managed computers, a research program for causing the managed computer to execute a return process of transmitting state information including a result of the search process to the receiving device. , When receiving means receives status information from a managed computer,
It is configured by recording a program for operating as an apparatus including an information writing unit that writes the state information into the information storage unit as state information regarding the managed computer.

That is, a program for causing a computer to operate in the same manner as the state management device of the present invention is recorded on the program recording medium of the present invention. Therefore,
By using this program recording medium, it is possible to obtain a computer that can manage the states of a plurality of managed computers without performing any special operation (such as installing a program) on each managed computer.

In realizing the program recording medium of the present invention, a computer capable of receiving an e-mail is used as a managed computer, and the status information and the user of each managed computer are given to the information storage means. The e-mail address is stored, and the distribution means distributes the survey program to each computer to be managed, so that each e-mail address stored in the information storage means is a destination address and the survey program is attached to a file. The e-mail may be transmitted.

In implementing the program recording medium of the present invention, it is preferable that the search program is a program compressed in a self-extracting format. By doing so, the investigation program can be transmitted in a short time because of the compression. In addition, since the decompression can be performed without installing software for decompressing the compressed investigation program on the managed computer, the managed computer that can be managed is not limited.

In realizing the program recording medium of the present invention, the computer to be managed is a computer that can be used by a WWW browser, and the distribution means examines the state of the computer itself and obtains the results of the investigation processing. An investigation program for executing an acquisition process for acquiring information not included from a user, and a return process for transmitting state information including information acquired by the acquisition process and an investigation result of the investigation process to a receiving unit. In addition, a survey program in which the acquisition process and the return process are performed using a WWW browser can be distributed to each managed computer.

A research program for causing such a process to be performed by a computer to be managed can be created without including a routine for receiving input of information from a user and a routine for transmitting status information. . Therefore, it is possible to reduce the size of the investigation program transmitted on the communication medium, in other words, to not adversely affect other communication using the communication medium.

[0013] The investigation program distributed by the distribution means may cause the managed computer to execute a return process in which status information is transmitted to the reception means by e-mail. Even in this way, the size of the survey program can be reduced.

When the program recording medium of the present invention is realized, the computer recorded by the computer based on the survey result information received by the receiving means transmits the survey result information to the managed computer. , Determine whether or not the component includes a component requiring improvement, and, if the component is included, transmit information to that effect to the transmission source of the managed computer to notify the component to be improved. The means may be configured to operate as a device that further includes the means.

By configuring the program recording medium in this way, it is possible to notify the user of each managed computer that a component requiring improvement exists.

In implementing the program recording medium of the present invention, the program recorded on the computer causes the computer to update the state information on each computer to be managed by the information updating means. Management means, and the distribution means operates as a device for distributing the survey program to each of the managed computers whose time managed by the update time management means satisfies a predetermined condition. You can leave it.

By configuring the program recording medium in this way, the investigation program can be executed only for the managed computer for which the status information has not been obtained or the managed computer for which a predetermined time has elapsed since the status information was obtained. A device that can be distributed will be obtained.

[0018]

Embodiments of the present invention will be specifically described below with reference to the drawings.

A state management apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention is an apparatus for managing the states of a plurality of computers.

First, an overview of the state management device according to the embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. As shown in FIG.
The state management device 11 is used by being connected to a managed computer 13 whose state is to be managed via a communication medium 15 such as a LAN cable or a public telephone line.

The state management device 11 has a state database for managing the state of each managed computer 13. As shown schematically in FIG. 2, information (user name, department name, etc.) regarding the user of the managed computer 13 is used in the state database 31 provided in the state management device 11. Information about the installed hardware (information about the specifications of the CPU, memory, HDD, etc.), information about the software installed on the managed computer 13 (OS,
BIOS, application name, version information), network information (IP address, MA)
C address) is stored.

In order to obtain the information to be managed stored in the state database 31, the state management device 11 transmits the investigation program to an electronic mail (hereinafter referred to as investigation mail).
Is distributed to each computer 13 to be managed. The investigation program obtains various kinds of information from a registry (a database provided in Windows 95/98 / NT) held in the managed computer 13 and a user of the managed computer 13 and stores state management information including the information into the state. This is a program for causing the managed computer 13 to execute the process of returning to the management device 11. Further, the survey program uses a WWW browser. That is, a computer that can be managed by the state management device 11 (a computer that can be the managed computer 13) is a Windows 9
5/98 / NT is OS, mailer and WW
It is a computer on which the W browser is installed.

Hereinafter, the configuration and operation of the state management device 11 will be specifically described.

FIG. 3 shows a hardware configuration diagram of the state management device 11, and FIG. 4 shows a functional block diagram of the state management device 11.

As shown in FIG. 3, the state management device 11
Is a communication control board 1 for exchanging information with the managed computer 13 via the CPU 12a and the communication medium 15.
2b, HDD 12c, CD-ROM drive 12d, display 12e, input device (keyboard and mouse) 1
2f and the like, and a program recording medium 10 (C
D-ROM) is installed by installing various software. By installing various kinds of software recorded on the program recording medium 10, the computer 12 operates as a state management device 11 including a WWW server 21, a mail server 22, and a state management unit 23, as shown in FIG. In other words, the program recording medium 10 (CD-ROM) contains
By cooperating with the OS (Windows NT), the computer 12 is connected to the WWW server 21 and the mail server 2.
2. Software for operating as the state management unit 23 is recorded.

The WWW server 21 and the mail server 22 included in the state management device 11 have the same functions as those of a generally used WWW server and a mail server, respectively. Therefore, description of these functions is omitted.

The state management unit 23 includes a state database 31
(See FIG. 2), a management target information table 32 and a warning condition table 33 are provided. The state management unit 23 has a function of executing a first response process, a second response process, and a third response process.

The first response process is performed by the administrator (the status management device 1).
This is executed when the first operator (the administrator of the state of the managed computer 13) performs a predetermined operation on the input device 12f.

As shown in FIG. 5, at the start of the first response process, the status management unit 23 displays the menu screen on the display 1.
2e (step S101). This step S
The menu screen displayed at 101 allows the administrator to issue an instruction to execute any one of environment setting processing, investigation mail distribution processing, and database browsing processing, or an instruction to end the first response processing.

When the execution of the environment setting process is instructed (step S102; setting), the state management unit 23 updates the environment setting process (step S102) in which the administrator can update the contents of the management target information table 32 interactively. S103) is executed. After that, the process returns to step S101.

The management target information table 32, the contents of which are updated in the environment setting process, is a table capable of storing a plurality of records each including an e-mail address and history information. When the execution of the investigation mail distribution process (details will be described later) is instructed, the state management unit 23 uses the e-mail address stored in the management target information table 32 as the destination address of the investigation mail.

The management target information table 32 prepared in the state management device 11 (state management unit 23) when various software is installed from the program recording medium 10.
Does not contain significant information. For this reason, after the installation of various software, an operation of setting the e-mail address assigned to the user of each managed computer 13 in the managed information table 32 is performed using this environment setting process. However, the only operations that can be performed on the management target information table 32 by the environment setting process are the operation of adding a record including a significant e-mail address and history information having no content, and the operation of deleting the record. Details (contents, setting procedures) of the history information stored in the management target information table 32 will be described later.

When execution of the investigation mail distribution process is instructed (step S102; distribution), the status management unit 23
An e-mail address that satisfies the distribution condition is searched from the e-mail addresses stored in the management target information table 32 (step S104). Since this step uses history information, its details will be described later after the history information is described.

After searching for an e-mail address satisfying the distribution conditions (step S104), the state management unit 23
Requests the mail server 22 to transmit a survey e-mail with the retrieved e-mail address as the destination address (step S105). The survey e-mail is an e-mail attached with a survey program file compressed in a self-extracting format. The investigation mail includes text that informs the recipient that the state of the managed computer 13 will be investigated when the attached file is executed.

After requesting the mail server 22 to transmit the investigation mail (step S105), the status management unit 23
In the management target information table 32, transmission date and time information indicating that the investigation mail was transmitted and the date and time when the transmission was transmitted is added to the history information on each e-mail address used for transmitting the investigation mail ( Step S10
6). After that, the state management unit 23 returns to step S101 and displays the menu screen again.

Here, the operation of the mail server 22 that has received the request for transmission of the investigation mail and the operation of the managed computer 13 on which the investigation program has been executed will be described.

The mail server 22 that has received the request for transmission of the investigation mail processes each of the e-mails (research mail) for which the transmission request has been received in accordance with the destination address, similarly to a general mail server. That is, a process of saving each investigation mail in its own mailbox or a process of passing it to another mail server is executed.

On the other hand, the user of each managed computer 13 who is a recipient of the survey mail recognizes that the survey mail has arrived when the mailer is started, and looks at the contents of the survey mail. Perform the above operations. As described above, the investigation mail includes text that informs the recipient that the state of the managed computer 13 will be investigated when the attached file is executed. Therefore, an operation for opening the attached file (survey program file) is performed by the user according to the instruction.

With this operation, the survey program file is decompressed, and the survey program is started. as a result,
The processing of the procedure shown in FIG. 6 is executed in the managed computer 13.

That is, first, what kind of hardware is used and what kind of software is installed are checked (step S10).
01). Specifically, from the registry, information on the type of CPU, the capacity of the memory, the total capacity and the free space of the HDD, and the installed software (O
S, BIOS, application) name and version information are collected (HKEY # LOCAL # MACHI in the registry)
The information under NE and HKEY # USERS is read.)

After that, an HTML file for inputting information from the user and transmitting information to the state management unit 23 using a WWW browser is stored in Windows @ temp.
(In the case of WindowsNT, Winnt @ tem
p) Process for generating in a folder (step S1002)
Is executed. Next, the generated HTML file is stored in W
Processing to be displayed on WW browser (step S1003)
Is executed, and the investigation program ends. Please unzip the survey program file attached to the survey email.
After the execution, nothing remains in (the HDD of) the managed computer 13.

Hereinafter, step S1002 will be described with reference to FIG.
The contents of the HTML file created in the above will be described.
FIG. 7 is a flowchart of the processing performed by the managed computer 13 after step S1003 is performed, that is, the processing performed by the WWW browser.

The HTML created in step S1002
When the file is displayed on the WWW browser, the WWW browser displays on the display of the managed computer 13 a field for displaying a survey result and information for inputting information (user name, department name, password, etc.) that cannot be obtained from the registry. Information input field, mail transmission instruction button, C
A screen having a GI transmission instruction button and the like is displayed (step S1101).

Thereafter, a process of monitoring for input of any instruction from the user is performed (step S110).
2). Then, when a character input instruction (operation), an input field change instruction, or a screen scroll instruction is issued (step S1102; other), processing corresponding to the instruction is executed (step S1103). That is, a process of displaying a character input in an information input field to which a character is to be input, a process of changing a display position of a cursor in a next information input column, and a process of scrolling a screen are performed. Thereafter, the process returns to step S1102, and a process of monitoring an instruction input from the user is performed again.

When the user performs an operation of selecting a mail transmission instruction button (step S1102; mail transmission)
, An investigation result mail addressed to the state management unit 23 (with a predetermined e-mail address as the destination address) is transmitted (step S1104). The survey result mail is an electronic mail to which a survey result information file including the survey result read from the registry in step S1001 and the input information obtained from the user in step S1103 is attached. The survey result mail contains text having predetermined content indicating that the survey result mail is itself.

When the user selects the CGI transmission instruction button (step S1102; CGI), the result is given to the state management unit 23 via the WWW server 21, and the investigation result and input information are registered in the state database 31. Is transmitted (step S).
1105).

After execution of steps S1104 and S1105, step S1102 is executed. Then, when the user instructs to end the WWW browser (step S1102; end), the illustrated processing ends.

Hereinafter, the management target computer 13 will be described.
The operation of the state management device 11 with respect to the above operation will be described.

First, in order to process the survey result mail,
A second response process, which is a process performed in the state management unit 23, will be described.

As shown in FIG. 8, at the time of the second response process, the status management unit 23 periodically checks whether or not an e-mail addressed to itself is received by the mail server 22 (step S201). ). When detecting that the e-mail addressed to itself is received by the mail server 22 (step S201; YES), the state management unit 23
Retrieves the electronic mail from the mail server 22 (step S202). Thereafter, the state management unit 23 determines whether the e-mail is an investigation result e-mail (step S203). That is, the state management unit 23
It is determined whether the text included in the e-mail is text having predetermined content that should be included in the survey result mail.

If the e-mail is not the investigation result mail (step S203; NO), the state management unit 23 returns to step S201. In this case, the e-mail retrieved from the mail server 22 is separately opened and processed by the administrator.

If the e-mail is a survey result mail (step S203; YES), the status management unit 23 stores the survey result information contained in the attached file of the e-mail (ie, the survey result information file) in the state. Register in the database 31 (see FIG. 2) (Step S20)
4). Next, the status management unit 23 adds, to the history information corresponding to the e-mail address that matches the sender address of the investigation result mail in the management target information table 32, the response date and time indicating the reception of the investigation result information and the date. Information is added (step S205). Then, the state management unit 23 executes a state evaluation process (Step S206).

FIG. 9 shows a flowchart of the state evaluation process. As shown in the figure, at the time of the state evaluation processing, the state management unit 23 first refers to the warning condition table 33 (details will be described later) based on the investigation result information, and transmits the inspection target information to the managed computer 13. Then, it is checked whether or not software and hardware that need to be upgraded (hereinafter, referred to as components requiring improvement) are included (step S301).

When the component requiring improvement is included (step S302; YES), the state management unit 23 creates a warning mail for notifying the existence of the component, and returns the warning mail to the transmission source of the investigation result information. Is requested to the mail server 22 (step S303). Then, the fact that a warning mail has been sent to the corresponding history information in the management target information table 32 and warning date and time information indicating the date thereof are added (step S304), and the state evaluation processing ends. That is, the state management unit 23 performs step S2 in FIG.
06 ends, and the process returns to step S201. If the managed computer 13 does not include the component requiring improvement (step S301; NO), the state evaluation process ends without performing a warning mail transmission process or the like.

Here, the state evaluation processing and the warning condition table 33 will be described more specifically with reference to FIG. 10 which shows the contents of the warning mail issued by the state evaluation processing.

For example, when an old BIOS is used in a certain managed computer 13, a state evaluation process is performed to obtain the B-mode data as schematically shown in FIG.
Warning mail 51a indicating that the IOS needs to be updated
Is sent to the user of the managed computer 13. Further, when the free space of the hard disk of a certain managed computer 13 is less than a specified value, it is necessary to delete unnecessary files and add disks as schematically shown in FIG. A warning mail 51b notifying the above is sent to the user of the managed computer 13. When an old version of the application software is installed on a certain managed computer 13, a warning mail 51c schematically indicating that the software upgrade is necessary, as schematically shown in FIG. It is sent to the user of the managed computer 13.

The warning condition table 33 is a table in which several types of texts used for such a warning mail and information defining conditions for using each text are set. If the managed computer 13 includes a plurality of components requiring improvement, the process proceeds to step S
At 303, one warning mail including a warning sentence regarding them is created.

Next, the operation of the state management unit 23 in response to the HTTP request sent from the managed computer 13 in step S1005 will be described.

The HTTP request is sent to the WWW server 2
When the status management unit 23 has passed the request via the status 1, the status management unit 23 performs a third response process in the procedure illustrated in FIG. 11. That is, the state management unit 23 stores the investigation result information given from the WWW server 21 in relation to the request in the state database 3
1 (step S501). Next, the status management unit 23 adds the response date and time information indicating the reception of the survey result information and the date to the history information corresponding to the transmission source of the survey result information in the management target information table 32 (step S502). ). Then, the state evaluation processing described with reference to FIG. 9 is executed (step S503), and after the completion, the third response processing ends.

Returning to FIG. 5, the description of the first response process will be continued. First, a supplementary description of step S104 will be given.

As is clear from the above description, each piece of history information in the management target information table 32 is information indicating when and what processing was performed in relation to the corresponding e-mail address. In step S104, by referring to the history information, an e-mail address that has not been used for transmitting the investigation mail and a first predetermined period (for example, one month) have elapsed since the investigation mail was used for transmission. E-mail address for which the survey result information has not been obtained despite the fact that the survey result information has been obtained, but a warning mail has been sent, and a second predetermined period (for example, three months) has elapsed since the transmission. The e-mail address for which the third predetermined period (for example, 6 months) has passed since the successful e-mail address and the satisfactory survey result information were obtained is searched for as the e-mail address satisfying the distribution condition. .

Next, the operation when the execution of the database browsing process is instructed will be described.

When execution of the database browsing process is instructed (step S102; browsing), the state management unit 23
The administrator executes a database browsing process that allows the administrator to browse the contents of the state database 31 in a form in which the contents are classified and sorted by desired items (step S107). More specifically, it is possible to display the contents of the state database 31 shown in FIG.
A database browsing process capable of displaying a list of managed computers 13 having a component requiring improvement that is not compatible with the zero-year problem is executed. When the database browsing process is completed, the process returns to step S101 to display a menu screen, and when the end of the first response process is instructed, the first response process shown in FIG. 5 is completed.

As described above in detail, if the state management device 11 according to the embodiment is used, even if there is no setting for each computer to be managed, a component having a problem is included in those computers. It can be easily grasped whether or not there is a computer having the software, how many pieces of software are used on those computers, and the like. That is, the use of the present apparatus makes it easy to manage the number of licenses and to identify devices that need replacement. The state management device 11 also has a function of notifying each user of the existence of a problematic component. For this reason, if the present state management device 11 is used, each user can easily recognize the state of his or her own computer, and based on the recognition result, can put the computer in a better state.

<Modification> Although the state management device 11 according to the embodiment has the functions of the WWW server 21 and the mail server 22, only a part of the functions of the state management unit 23 is provided. The state management device 11 may be configured in a form in which it is provided. That is, the state management device 11 may be configured to be used by being connected to the mail server via the communication medium and to have only the function of receiving the evaluation result by the evaluation result mail.

The state management device 11 according to the embodiment
Is configured as a device that collects information about hardware, information about software, etc. from managed computers, but the information collected may be limited to specific types of information (for example, information about software). Is natural. If a user name, a department name, and the like are not input, the state management is performed so that a survey program that transmits a survey result without performing processing using a WWW browser is distributed to each managed computer. The device 11 may be configured. If it is known that a table in which a user name, a department name, and the like are set exists in all the managed computers (or most of the managed computers), the user is determined based on the table. A survey program may be created so as to automatically obtain the name, department name, and the like.

Further, the state management device 11 according to the embodiment
Is a device that can only manage a computer whose OS is Windows 98 or the like. However, the state management device 11 may be configured to be able to manage a computer using an OS of another system. In addition, the state management device 11
Although WindowsNT is a device used as the OS, the state management device 11 may be realized using UNIX or the like as the OS.

[0068]

According to the state management apparatus and the program recording medium of the present invention, the states of a plurality of computers can be managed without performing operations such as installing programs on those computers.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of a usage form of a state management device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of a state database provided in the state management device according to the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a hardware configuration diagram of the state management device according to the embodiment;

FIG. 4 is a functional block diagram of the state management device according to the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of a first response process executed in the state management device according to the embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of a process executed by a survey program in a management target computer.

FIG. 7 HTML created by the survey program
5 is a flowchart of a process executed by a WWW browser that has opened a file.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of a second response process executed in the state management device according to the embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart of a state evaluation process executed in the state management device according to the embodiment.

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram of a warning mail transmitted at the time of a state evaluation process executed in the state management device according to the embodiment.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart of a third response process executed in the state management device according to the embodiment.

FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating an example of information displayed by a database browsing process.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 State management apparatus 13 Computer to be managed 15 Communication medium 21 WWW server 22 Mail server 23 State management unit 31 State database 32 Management information table 33 Warning condition table

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. A state management device connected via a communication medium to one or more managed computers capable of receiving communication information according to a predetermined protocol, wherein each of the one or more managed computers is Information storage means for storing state information indicating a state; receiving means for receiving information transmitted from the one or more managed computers; investigation processing for investigating the state of the apparatus itself; and investigation processing thereof A survey program for causing the managed computer to execute a status information transmission process of transmitting status information including the survey result to the receiving unit to each of the one or more managed computers according to the predetermined protocol. When status information from a certain managed computer is received by the receiving unit, State management device characterized by comprising an information writing means for writing status information as status information about the managed computers in the information storage means. 2. A computer connected via a communication medium to one or more managed computers capable of receiving communication information according to a predetermined protocol, a state indicating a state of each of the one or more managed computers. Information storage means for storing information, receiving means for receiving information transmitted from the one or more managed computers, investigation processing for investigating its own configuration, and investigation results of the investigation processing. Distribution means for distributing, to the managed computer, a survey program for causing the managed computer to execute a return process of transmitting the status information including the status information to the receiving means, according to the predetermined protocol; When state information is received from a managed computer by the receiving means, the state information is Computer-readable program recording medium having a program recorded thereon for operating a device and an information writing means for writing the status information about the management target computer in said information storage means. 3. The computer to be managed is a computer capable of receiving an e-mail. The information storage means stores the status information and an e-mail address given to a user of each of the managed computers. The distribution means transmits an e-mail with the e-mail address stored in the information storage means as a destination address and the e-mail as an attached file in order to distribute the investigation program to each managed computer. The program recording medium according to claim 2, wherein: 4. The program according to claim 2, wherein the investigation program is a program compressed in a self-extracting format.
Or the program recording medium according to claim 3. 5. The management target computer is a computer that can use a WWW browser, and the distribution unit obtains, from a user, an investigation process for investigating its own state, and information not included in the investigation result of the investigation process. An investigation program for causing the managed computer to execute an acquisition process to perform, and a return process of transmitting state information including the information acquired by the acquisition process and the investigation result of the investigation process to the receiving unit. The program recording according to any one of claims 2 to 4, wherein a survey program in which the acquisition process and the return process are performed using a WWW browser is distributed to each managed computer. Medium. 6. The management program according to claim 2, wherein the survey program distributed by the distribution unit causes the managed computer to execute a return process in which status information is transmitted to the reception unit by e-mail. A program recording medium according to claim 5. 7. The program according to claim 1, wherein the computer determines, based on the survey result information received by the receiving unit, whether the managed computer that has sent the survey result information includes a component that needs improvement. If such a component is included, the device is further operated as a device further including a component requiring improvement notification means for transmitting information notifying the fact to the transmission source of the managed computer. The program recording medium according to claim 2. 8. The program further comprises: an update time management unit that manages a time at which the status information relating to each managed computer is updated by the information update unit. 8. The computer according to claim 2, wherein the computer operates as a device for distributing the survey program to each of the managed computers whose time managed by the update time management unit satisfies a predetermined condition. Program recording medium.