Site monitor

• US 20030023712A1
• Filed: 03/29/2002
• Published: 01/30/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 03/30/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: BMC Software Incorporated (KKR & Co., Inc.)
• Original Assignee: BMC Software Incorporated (KKR & Co., Inc.)
• Inventors: Bi, Haifen, Zhao, Ling Z., Cline, Troy L., Braddy, Rick G., Goldberg, Jay R.
• Granted Patent: US 7,792,948 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/223
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/046 comprising network management agents or mobile agents therefor
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/06 Management of faults, events, alarms or notifications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0853 by actively collecting configuration information or by backing up configuration information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/22 comprising specially adapted graphical user interfaces [GUI]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5096 wherein the managed service relates to distributed or central networked applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/00 Arrangements for monitoring or testing data switching networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/06 Generation of reports
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/065 related to network devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0823 Errors, e.g. transmission errors
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0852 Delays
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/091 Measuring contribution of individual network components to actual service level

Abstract

Systems and methods for network service management, wherein the internet service management system includes one or more components which collectively enable an administrator to obtain a site-wide view of network activities on servers such as web servers, FTP servers, e-mail servers, domain name servers, etc. In addition to collecting information relating to web server latency and processing time, the internet service management system may collect actual user transaction information and system information from end users on client computers. The internet service management system may provide domain summary information for a domain, or it may provide management information organized by “categories” according to how a site manager wants to view and manage his business; e.g., byline of business (books, auctions, music, etc.), by site function (searches, shopping cart, support, quotes, sales automation), or most any other categorization customers may choose.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

collecting information from one or more devices in a network;

examining the collected information to identify category identifiers associated with the information;

grouping the collected information into subsets based upon the associated category identifiers; and

displaying site-wide views based on the collected information to a user.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein displaying site-wide views based on the collected information to a user comprises displaying site-wide information corresponding to one of the group consisting of:

one or more selected applications;

one or more selected domains;

a combination of one or more selected applications and one or more selected domains; and

a selected set of parameters.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising computing derived information based upon the collected information.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein displaying site-wide views based on the collected information to a user comprises displaying selected subsets of the collected information and the derived information.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein collecting information from one or more devices in a network comprises collecting information from at least one client and at least one server.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein collecting information from one or more devices in a network comprises collecting information from at least one of the group consisting of:

a synthetic transaction monitor (STM);

a Java application response time analyzer (JARTA); and

an internet server manager (ISM).

7. The method of claim 1, wherein grouping the collected information into subsets comprises identifying one or more keywords associated with the collected information and grouping the collected information into subsets based upon the identified keywords.

8. A software program product comprising a computer-readable medium containing one or more instructions, wherein the one or more instructions are configured to cause a computer to perform the method comprising:

collecting information from one or more devices in a network;

examining the collected information to identify category identifiers associated with the information;

grouping the collected information into subsets based upon the associated category identifiers; and

displaying site-wide views based on the collected information to a user.

9. The software program product of claim 8, wherein displaying site-wide views based on the collected information to a user comprises displaying site-wide information corresponding to one of the group consisting of one or more selected applications;

one or more selected domains;

a combination of one or more selected applications and one or more selected domains; and

a selected set of parameters.

10. The software program product of claim 8, wherein the method further comprises computing derived information based upon the collected information.

11. The software program product of claim 10, wherein displaying site-wide views based on the collected information to a user comprises displaying selected subsets of the collected information and the derived information.

12. The software program product of claim 8, wherein collecting information from one or more devices in a network comprises collecting information from at least one client and at least one server.

13. The software program product of claim 8, wherein collecting information from one or more devices in a network comprises collecting information from at least one of the group consisting of:

a synthetic transaction monitor (STM);

a Java application response time analyzer (JARTA); and

an internet server manager (ISM).

14. The software program product of claim 8, wherein grouping the collected information into subsets comprises identifying one or more keywords associated with the collected information and grouping the collected information into subsets based upon the identified keywords.

15. A system comprising:

a data collector configured to organize data according to categorization information associated with the collected data;

a data processor configured to compute derivative data based upon the collected data;

and

a knowledge module configured to generate site views of the collected and derivative data to be displayed on a user interface.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the data processor is configured to store the collected data and the derived data in one or more data files.

17. The system of claim 15, further comprising a user interface.

18. The system of claim 15, wherein the data collector is configured to generate XML files for conveying the collected data to the data processor.

19. The system of claim 15, wherein the data collector is configured to queue received XML reports and to periodically process the received XML reports.

20. The system of claim 15, wherein the knowledge module is configured to access domain topology information and to generate site views of the collected and derivative data based upon the domain topology information.

21. The system of claim 15, further comprising one or more remote components executing on clients or servers, wherein the remote components executing on clients or servers are configured to produce performance data at the corresponding clients or servers.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the remote components executing on clients or servers are configured to include categorization information in the performance data.

23. The system of claim 21, wherein the remote components executing on clients or servers are configured to compute derivative performance data based upon collected performance data and to forward the derivative performance data to the data collector.