Unified device and service discovery across multiple network types

• US 10,389,589 B2
• Filed: 07/20/2017
• Issued: 08/20/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 05/05/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ServiceNow Incorporated
• Original Assignee: ServiceNow Incorporated
• Inventors: Grisco, Gregory, Francis, Steve, Bylahalli, Shridar
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Quang N
• Application Number:
  US15/654,930
• Publication Number:
  US 20180324045A1
• Time in Patent Office: 761 Days
• Field of Search: 709203, 709206, 709217, 709219, 709223, 709224, 709226, 709228, 709230, 709232, 709238
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2282 Tablespace storage structures; Management thereof
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/27 Replication, distribution or synchronisation of data between databases or within a distributed database system; Distributed database system architectures therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45579 I/O management, e.g. providing access to device drivers or storage
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45591 Monitoring or debugging support
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45595 Network integration; Enabling network access in virtual machine instances
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45558 Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/08 Configuration management of networks or network elements address allocation H04L61/50
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0853 by actively collecting configuration information or by backing up configuration information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0856 by backing up or archiving configuration information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0866 Checking the configuration
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0895 Configuration of virtualised networks or elements, e.g. virtualised network function or OpenFlow elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/12 Discovery or management of network topologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/122 of virtualised topologies, e.g. software-defined networks [SDN] or network function virtualisation [NFV]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/22 comprising specially adapted graphical user interfaces [GUI]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/40 using virtualisation of network functions or resources, e.g. SDN or NFV entities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5064 Customer relationship management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/08 Monitoring or testing based on specific metrics, e.g. QoS, energy consumption or environmental parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/20 the monitoring system or the monitored elements being virtualised, abstracted or software-defined entities, e.g. SDN or NFV
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/561 Adding application-functional data or data for application control, e.g. adding metadata

Abstract

A computer network discovery system may involve a computing system and a database disposed within a remote network management platform, and a proxy server application disposed within an enterprise network. The computing system may be configured to: transmit first instructions causing the proxy server application to obtain configuration and operational information for virtual machines; store the configuration and operational information for the virtual machines in a first set of tables of the database; transmit second instructions causing the server device to obtain configuration and operational information for services; and store the configuration and operational information for the services in a second set of tables of the database, where the first set and the second set of tables have tables in common that store at least part of the configuration and operational information for the virtual machines and the services.

Claims

1. A computer network discovery system comprising:

a computing system disposed within a remote network management platform;

a database disposed within the remote network management platform;

a proxy server application operating on a proxy server device disposed within an enterprise network, wherein the enterprise network uses the computing system to manage devices and services on the enterprise network; and

wherein the computing system is configured to;

transmit first instructions to the proxy server application, wherein reception of the first instructions cause the proxy server application to obtain, from a virtual machine manager device of the enterprise network, configuration and operational information for a plurality of virtual machines managed by the virtual machine manager device,

receive, from the proxy server application, the configuration and operational information for the plurality of virtual machines,

store the configuration and operational information for the plurality of virtual machines in a first set of tables of the database,

transmit second instructions to a server device, wherein transmitting the second instructions to the server device comprises logging on to the server device using account credentials related to the enterprise network, wherein reception of the second instructions cause the server device to obtain configuration and operational information for a plurality of services leased to the enterprise network, wherein the configuration and operational information for the plurality of services leased to the enterprise network are obtained by way of application programming interfaces, wherein the server device is not in the enterprise network,

receive, from the server device, the configuration and operational information for the plurality of services, and

store the configuration and operational information for the plurality of services in a second set of tables of the database, wherein the first set of tables and the second set of tables have tables in common that store at least part of the configuration and operational information for the plurality of virtual machines and the plurality of services.

2. The computer network discovery system of claim 1, wherein the tables in common include entries for processor, memory, storage, or networking resources respectively available to the plurality of virtual machines and the plurality of services.

3. The computer network discovery system of claim 1, wherein each of the tables in common is a parent table to a respective pair of tables, wherein each respective pair of tables includes a first table storing configuration and operational information specific to the plurality of virtual machines managed by the virtual machine manager device, and wherein each respective pair of tables includes a second table storing configuration and operational information specific to the plurality of services leased to the enterprise network.

4. The computer network discovery system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of services includes one or more virtual machines, applications, web sites, or databases leased to the enterprise network.

5. The computer network discovery system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of services leased to the enterprise network are operated by a third party that is neither an operator of the enterprise network nor an operator of the remote network management platform, and wherein the plurality of services are available in multiple physical data centers in different geographic locations.

6. The computer network discovery system of claim 1, wherein transmitting the second instructions to the server device comprises transmitting a representation of the second instructions to the proxy server application, and wherein reception of the representation of the second instructions causes the proxy server application to transmit the second instructions to the server device.

7. The computer network discovery system of claim 1, wherein obtaining configuration and operational information for the plurality of virtual machines managed by the virtual machine manager device occurs without the proxy server application communicating directly with any of the plurality of virtual machines.

8. The computer network discovery system of claim 1, wherein the computing system is further configured to:

provide, to a client device, a graphical user interface representing data in the first set of tables and the second set of tables, wherein the graphical user interface allows the data to be modified.

9. The computer network discovery system of claim 8, wherein modifying the data involves defining relationships and dependencies between the plurality of virtual machines and the plurality of services.

10. A method comprising:

transmitting, by a computing system, first instructions to a proxy server device of an enterprise network, wherein reception of the first instructions cause the proxy server device to obtain, from a virtual machine manager device of the enterprise network, configuration and operational information for a plurality of virtual machines managed by the virtual machine manager device;

receiving, by the computing system and from the proxy server device, the configuration and operational information for the plurality of virtual machines;

storing, by the computing system, the configuration and operational information for the plurality of virtual machines in a first set of tables of a database;

transmitting, by the computing system, second instructions to a server device, wherein transmitting the second instructions to the server device comprises logging on to the server device using account credentials related to the enterprise network, wherein reception of the second instructions cause the server device to obtain configuration and operational information for a plurality of services leased to the enterprise network, wherein the configuration and operational information for the plurality of services leased to the enterprise network are obtained by way of application programming interfaces, wherein the server device is not in the enterprise network;

receiving, by the computing system and from the server device, the configuration and operational information for the plurality of services; and

storing, by the computing system, the configuration and operational information for the plurality of services in a second set of tables of the database, wherein the first set of tables and the second set of tables have tables in common that store at least part of the configuration and operational information for the plurality of virtual machines and the plurality of services.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the tables in common include entries for processor, memory, storage, or networking resources respectively available to the plurality of virtual machines and the plurality of services.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein each of the tables in common is a parent table to a respective pair of tables, wherein each respective pair of tables includes a first table storing configuration and operational information specific to the plurality of virtual machines managed by the virtual machine manager device, and wherein each respective pair of tables includes a second table storing configuration and operational information specific to the plurality of services leased to the enterprise network.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the plurality of services includes one or more virtual machines, applications, web sites, or databases leased to the enterprise network.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein the plurality of services leased to the enterprise network are operated by a third party that is neither the enterprise network nor the operator of the computing system, and wherein the plurality of services are available in multiple physical data centers in different geographic locations.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein transmitting the second instructions to the server device comprises transmitting a representation of the second instructions to the proxy server device, and wherein reception of the representation of the second instructions causes the proxy server device to transmit the second instructions to the server device.

16. The method of claim 10, wherein obtaining configuration and operational information for the plurality of virtual machines managed by the virtual machine manager device occurs without the proxy server device communicating directly with any of the plurality of virtual machines.

17. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

providing, by the computing system and to a client device, a graphical user interface representing data in the first set of tables and the second set of tables, wherein the graphical user interface allows the data to be modified.

18. An article of manufacture including a non-transitory computer-readable medium, having stored thereon program instructions that, upon execution by a computing device, cause the computing device to perform operations comprising:

transmitting first instructions to a proxy server device of an enterprise network, wherein reception of the first instructions cause the proxy server device to obtain, from a virtual machine manager device of the enterprise network, configuration and operational information for a plurality of virtual machines managed by the virtual machine manager device;

receiving, from the proxy server device, the configuration and operational information for the plurality of virtual machines;

storing the configuration and operational information for the plurality of virtual machines in a first set of tables of a database;

transmitting second instructions to a server device, wherein transmitting the second instructions to the server device comprises logging on to the server device using account credentials related to the enterprise network, wherein reception of the second instructions cause the server device to obtain configuration and operational information for a plurality of services leased to the enterprise network, wherein the configuration and operational information for the plurality of services leased to the enterprise network are obtained by way of application programming interfaces, wherein the server device is not in the enterprise network;

receiving, from the server device, the configuration and operational information for the plurality of services from the server device; and

storing the configuration and operational information for the plurality of services in a second set of tables of the database, wherein the first set of tables and the second set of tables have tables in common that store at least part of the configuration and operational information for the plurality of virtual machines and the plurality of services.