Method, system and computer program product for monitoring objects in an it network

• US 20020169870A1
• Filed: 05/10/2001
• Published: 11/14/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 05/10/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP (Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Company)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Vosseler, Frank, Recker, Martin
• Granted Patent: US 6,941,367 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3495 for systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0631 using root cause analysis; using analysis of correlation between notifications, alarms or events based on decision criteria, e.g. hierarchy, tree or time analysis

Abstract

The invention is directed to a method for monitoring objects within an information technological (IT) network having monitored nodes in which monitoring-relevant events occurs comprising: generating event-related messages comprising a message key and a message relation key; comparing the message relation key with the message key of another message; processing the other message depending on the result of the comparison. The invention is also directed to a corresponding system and computer program product.

Claims

1. A method for monitoring objects within an information technological (IT) network having monitored nodes in which monitoring-relevant events occur, comprising:

generating event-related messages comprising a message key and a message relation key;

comparing the message relation key with the message key of another message;

processing the other message depending on the result of the comparison.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the message key has attributes which characterise certain characteristics of the related event which are relevant for monitoring purposes.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the message relation key has attributes, at least one of the attributes being or comprising a wildcard.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of comparing the message relation key and the other message key comprises checking whether the keys match with each other.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of processing comprises discarding the other message if its message key is found to match with the message relation key.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one monitoring agent is associated with a monitored node, and wherein the step of generating event-related messages comprising the message key and the message relation key is carried out by the agent.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein a monitoring server receives the messages and carries out the processing step.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the message key and the message relation key are generated according to key patterns which can be defined on the basis of a set of pattern definition rules, and wherein both the message key pattern and the message relation key pattern are defined on the basis of the same set of pattern definition rules.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the method is carried out by a computer program, and the message key pattern and the message relation key pattern can be defined by a user via a user interface at a common place of the computer program.

10. A system for monitoring objects within an information technological (IT) network having monitored nodes in which monitoring-relevant events occur and a message processor,

wherein agents are associated with the monitored nodes and generate event-related messages comprising a message key and a message relation key;

and

wherein the message processor compares the message relation key with the message key of another message and processes the other message depending on the result of the comparison.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the agents generate messages with message keys having attributes which characterise certain characteristics of the related event which are relevant for monitoring purposes.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the agents generate messages with the message relation key having attributes, at least one of the attributes being or comprising a wildcard.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein the monitoring server compares the message relation key and the other message key by checking whether the keys match with each other.

14. The system of claim 10, wherein the monitoring server processes the other message by discarding it if it has found the other message'"'"'s message key to match with the message relation key.

15. The system of claim 10, wherein the agent generates the message key and the message relation key according to key patterns which are both defined on the basis of the same set of pattern definition rules.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the system comprises a monitoring computer program having a user interface, and the message key pattern and the message relation key pattern can be defined by a user via the user interface at a common place of the computer program.

18. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein the message key has attributes which characterise certain characteristics of the related event which are relevant for monitoring purposes.

19. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein the message relation key has attributes, at least one of the attributes being or comprising a wildcard.

20. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein the step of comparing the message relation key and the other message key comprises checking whether the keys match with each other.

21. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein the step of processing comprises discarding the other message if its message key is found to match with the message relation key.

22. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein at least one monitoring agent is associated with a monitored node, and wherein the step of generating event-related messages comprising the message key and the message relation key is carried out by the agent.

23. The computer program product of claim 22, wherein a monitoring server receives the messages and carries out the processing step.

25. The computer program product of claim 24, wherein the message key pattern and the message relation key pattern can be defined by a user via a user interface at a common place of the computer program.

17. A computer program product including program code for execution on a network having monitored nodes in which monitoring-relevant events occur, comprising:

said program code for generating event-related messages comprising a message key and a message relation key;

comparing the message relation key with the message key of another message;

processing the other message depending on the result of the comparison.

24. A computer program product including program code for execution on a network having monitored nodes in which monitoring-relevant events occur, said program code generates event-related messages comprising a message key and a message relation key for a comparison of the message relation key with the message key of another message,

wherein the message key and the message relation key are generated according to key patterns which can be defined on the basis of a set of pattern definition rules, and wherein both the message key pattern and the message relation key pattern are defined on the basis of the same set of pattern definition rules.