Method and apparatus for collecting inventory information for insurance purposes
First Claim
1. A process for gathering data automatically about assets to be insured, comprising the steps:
- A) receiving a request to write an insurance policy on some aspect of a data center;
B) identifying the scope of risks to be covered by said insurance policy;
C) installing one or more collection servers on each of said one or more networks in said one or more data centers to be covered by said insurance policy, or installing collection server software on one or more servers already coupled to said one or more networks in said one or more data centers to be covered by said insurance policy;
D) obtaining and programming into said one or more collection servers one or more Internet Protocol (IP) address ranges for one or more networks in one or more data centers to be covered by said insurance policy;
E) run a level 1 scan by executing software on said one more collection servers one or more times to collect data from devices coupled to said one or more networks in said one or more data centers covered by said insurance policy;
F) analyzing the discovered results from said one or more level 1 scans to determine whatever desired information can be determined from said level 1 results and determining if more information is desired about a machine at any particular IP address according to the needs of said insurance company;
G) establishing login IDs and passwords or other credentials for any machines for which more information is desired or obtaining permission to use any login IDs and passwords or other credentials that already exist for machines for which more information is desired;
H) using said login IDs and passwords or other credentials, logging into any machines about which further information is desired and invoking function calls of application programmatic interfaces of operating systems on said machines to solicit more detailed information about said machines;
I) analyzing information gathered during said level 2 scans and sending data to insurance company for evaluation.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method and appartus for automatically gathering data about assets of a data center for use in assessing risks in writing insurance policies. The method uses collection servers coupled to the network or networks of the data center. The collection servers are informed of the IP address range and ping all addresses to find addresses at which active machines reside. Then a plurality of protocols are executed to send packets to the active IP addresses in accordance with a plurality of different protocols in an attempt to elicit meaningful responses. If a meaningful packet arrives back from a machine, the protocols try to decipher it to determine what protocols the machine understands. Once the protocol(s) the machine understands are known, packets are sent to invoke function calls of known APIs of that protcol to extract information about the machine. If more information is needed, login ID and passwords are obtained for the machines of interest, and the collection servers log into the machine of interest, and invoke function calls of the known APIs of the operating system of the machine to extract more data about the machine. The gathered data is analyzed and sent to the insurance company.
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Citations
11 Claims
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1. A process for gathering data automatically about assets to be insured, comprising the steps:
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A) receiving a request to write an insurance policy on some aspect of a data center;
B) identifying the scope of risks to be covered by said insurance policy;
C) installing one or more collection servers on each of said one or more networks in said one or more data centers to be covered by said insurance policy, or installing collection server software on one or more servers already coupled to said one or more networks in said one or more data centers to be covered by said insurance policy;
D) obtaining and programming into said one or more collection servers one or more Internet Protocol (IP) address ranges for one or more networks in one or more data centers to be covered by said insurance policy;
E) run a level 1 scan by executing software on said one more collection servers one or more times to collect data from devices coupled to said one or more networks in said one or more data centers covered by said insurance policy;
F) analyzing the discovered results from said one or more level 1 scans to determine whatever desired information can be determined from said level 1 results and determining if more information is desired about a machine at any particular IP address according to the needs of said insurance company;
G) establishing login IDs and passwords or other credentials for any machines for which more information is desired or obtaining permission to use any login IDs and passwords or other credentials that already exist for machines for which more information is desired;
H) using said login IDs and passwords or other credentials, logging into any machines about which further information is desired and invoking function calls of application programmatic interfaces of operating systems on said machines to solicit more detailed information about said machines;
I) analyzing information gathered during said level 2 scans and sending data to insurance company for evaluation. - View Dependent Claims (3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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2. The process of claim 2 wherein step A comprises receiving a request to write an insurance policy on one or more aspects of a data center operation.
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8. A computer comprising:
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a display;
a data entry device;
a central processing unit programmed with an operating system and further programmed with one or more application programs that control said central processing unit to perform the following process;
A) receiving a request to write an insurance policy on some aspect of a data center;
B) identifying the scope of risks to be covered by said insurance policy;
C) installing one or more collection servers on each of said one or more networks in said one or more data centers to be covered by said insurance policy, or installing collection server software on one or more servers already coupled to said one or more networks in said one or more data centers to be covered by said insurance policy;
D) obtaining and programming into said one or more collection servers one or more Internet Protocol (IP) address ranges for one or more networks in one or more data centers to be covered by said insurance policy;
E) run a level 1 scan by executing software on said one more collection servers one or more times to collect data from devices coupled to said one or more networks in said one or more data centers covered by said insurance policy;
F) analyzing the discovered results from said one or more level 1 scans to determine whatever desired information can be determined from said level 1 results and determining if more information is desired about a machine at any particular IP address according to the needs of said insurance company;
G) establishing login IDs and passwords or other credentials for any machines for which more information is desired or obtaining permission to use any login IDs and passwords or other credentials that already exist for machines for which more information is desired;
H) using said login IDs and passwords or other credentials, logging into any machines about which further information is desired and invoking function calls of application programmatic interfaces of operating systems on said machines to solicit more detailed information about said machines;
I) analyzing information gathered during said level 2 scans and sending data to insurance company for evaluation. - View Dependent Claims (9)
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10. A computer readable medium having stored thereon computer-readable instructions which, when executed by a computer, cause said computer to perform the following process:
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A) receiving a request to write an insurance policy on some aspect of a data center;
B) identifying the scope of risks to be covered by said insurance policy;
C) installing one or more collection servers on each of said one or more networks in said one or more data centers to be covered by said insurance policy, or installing collection server software on one or more servers already coupled to said one or more networks in said one or more data centers to be covered by said insurance policy;
D) obtaining and programming into said one or more collection servers one or more Internet Protocol (IP) address ranges for one or more networks in one or more data centers to be covered by said insurance policy;
E) run a level 1 scan by executing software on said one more collection servers one or more times to collect data from devices coupled to said one or more networks in said one or more data centers covered by said insurance policy;
F) analyzing the discovered results from said one or more level 1 scans to determine whatever desired information can be determined from said level 1 results and determining if more information is desired about a machine at any particular IP address according to the needs of said insurance company;
G) establishing login IDs and passwords or other credentials for any machines for which more information is desired or obtaining permission to use any login IDs and passwords or other credentials that already exist for machines for which more information is desired;
H) using said login IDs and passwords or other credentials, logging into any machines about which further information is desired and invoking function calls of application programmatic interfaces of operating systems on said machines to solicit more detailed information about said machines;
I) analyzing information gathered during said level 2 scans and sending data to insurance company for evaluation. - View Dependent Claims (11)
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Specification