Dynamic discovery and reporting of one or more application program topologies in a single or networked distributed computing environment

• US 20060212569A1
• Filed: 03/18/2005
• Published: 09/21/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 03/18/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Klein, Paul Fredric, Ammerman, Raymond Perry III, Yang, Dannis Taje
• Granted Patent: US 8,028,058 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services

Abstract

Dynamic discovery and reporting of one or more application program topologies in a single or networked distributed computing environment allows IT professionals to maintain processes running on the network. In one embodiment, the dynamic discovery is performed by identifying one or more computers in a computer network, identifying one or more processes on each identified computer that are communicating over the network, and displaying a graphical representation of the topology of the processes communicating over the network.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

identifying one or more computers in a computer network;

identifying one or more processes on each identified computer that are communicating over the network; and

displaying a graphical representation of the topology of the processes communicating over the network.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying one or more processes on each identified computer comprises:

determining a network address for the computer,

identifying one or more ports of the computer that are sending or receiving data over the network, and

associating each identified port with a computer process.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein determining a network address for the computer comprises:

observing data packets transmitted to and from the computer; and

gathering origin and destination addresses from the observed data packets.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein identifying one or more ports comprises:

observing data packets transmitted to and from the computer; and

gathering origin and destination port numbers from the observed packets.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein associating each identified port with a computer process comprises:

mapping a number of the port to a standard process for the port.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein associating each identified port with a computer process comprises:

requesting the computer of the identified port to identify a name of a process using the identified port.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

associating each process with an application program.

8. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

displaying a graphical representation of the topology of each application over the network.

9. An apparatus comprising:

means for identifying one or more computers in a computer network;

means for identifying one or more processes on each identified computer that are communicating over the network; and

means for displaying a graphical representation of the topology of the processes communicating over the network.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein said means for identifying one or more processes on each identified computer comprises:

means for determining a network address for the computer,

means for identifying one or more ports of the computer that are sending or receiving data over the network, and

means for associating each identified port with a computer process.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein said means for determining a network address for the computer comprises:

means for observing data packets transmitted to and from the computer; and

means for gathering origin and destination addresses from the observed data packets.

12. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein said means for identifying one or more ports comprises:

means for observing data packets transmitted to and from the computer; and

means for gathering origin and destination port numbers from the observed packets.

13. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein said means for associating each identified port with a computer process comprises:

means for mapping a number of the port to a standard process for the port.

14. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein associating each identified port with a computer process comprises:

means for requesting the computer of the identified port to identify a name of a process using the identified port.

15. The apparatus of claim 9, further comprising:

means for associating each process with an application program.

16. The apparatus of claim 15, further comprising:

means for displaying a graphical representation of the topology of each application over the network.

17. A computer readable medium storing a program of instructions which, when executed by a processing system, cause the system to perform a method comprising:

identifying one or more computers in a computer network;

identifying one or more processes on each identified computer that are communicating over the network; and

displaying a graphical representation of the topology of the processes communicating over the network.

18. The computer readable medium of claim 17, wherein the program, when executed, causes the system to perform identifying one or more processes on each identified computer comprising:

determining a network address for the computer,

identifying one or more ports of the computer that are sending or receiving data over the network, and

associating each identified port with a computer process.

19. The computer readable medium of claim 18, wherein the program, when executed, causes the system to perform determining a network address for the computer comprising:

observing data packets transmitted to and from the computer; and

gathering origin and destination addresses from the observed data packets.

20. The computer readable medium of claim 18, wherein the program, when executed, causes the system to perform identifying one or more ports comprising:

observing data packets transmitted to and from the computer; and

gathering origin and destination port numbers from the observed packets.

21. The computer readable medium of claim 18, wherein the program, when executed, causes the system to perform associating each identified port with a computer process comprising:

mapping a number of the port to a standard process for the port.

22. The computer readable medium of claim 18, wherein the program, when executed, causes the system to perform associating each identified port with a computer process comprising:

requesting the computer of the identified port to identify a name of a process using the identified port.

23. The computer readable medium of claim 18, wherein the program, when executed, causes the system to perform the method further comprising:

associating each process with an application program.

24. The computer readable medium of claim 23, wherein the program, when executed, causes the system to perform the method further comprising:

displaying a graphical representation of the topology of each application over the network.