Discovery, maintenance, and representation of entities in a managed system environment

• US 20070005544A1
• Filed: 06/01/2005
• Published: 01/04/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 06/01/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Voloshin, Vitaly, Ersan, Murat, Findik, Ferit, Eddy, Brett, Jayasimha, Varsha, Joanovic, Vlad
• Granted Patent: US 7,720,950 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 706/47
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 5/022 Knowledge engineering; Knowledge acquisition

Abstract

Discovery, maintenance, and representation of entities in a managed system environment are described. Apparatus described herein includes one or more agents that run on respective serves that are managed within a management system, and that generate discovery data in response to a discovery rule. The apparatus also includes a management server that is adapted to transmit the discovery rules for execution by the agent, and to receive the discovery data from the agent. Methods described herein include defining the rules for discovering data about an entity on the server, and receiving the discovery data in response to the rule being executed in an environment in which the entity is deployed. Several types of user interfaces for presenting the discovery data are also disclosed.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

enabling definition of at least one rule for discovering data about at least one entity; and

receiving discovery data in response to the rule being executed in an environment in which the entity is deployed.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising embodying the rule in a discovery script.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising associating a plurality of classes with the rule.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein receiving the discovery data includes receiving data representing the classes.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising validating the data representing the classes against a second plurality of classes.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising storing the discovery data in a data store.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising presenting the discovery data in a user interface.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising defining at least one management pack that includes the rule.

9. Apparatus comprising:

at least one agent running on a respective server being managed by a management system and generating discovery data in response to at least one discovery rule; and

at least one management server adapted to transmit the discovery rule for execution by the agent and to receive the discovery data from the agent.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the management server includes a database connector component that receives the discovery data.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the database connector component is adapted to validate the discovery data.

12. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the agent is adapted to withhold the discovery data from the management server if the discovery data is unchanged relative to further discovery data that was previously sent to the management server.

13. The apparatus of claim 9, further comprising a user interface adapted to present the discovery data.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the user interface is adapted to present data representing respective states of a plurality of computers managed by the management system discovery in response to the discovery data.

15. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the user interface is adapted to present data representing a plurality of respective computers, and wherein for at least one of the computers, the user interface presents data representing at least one instance of at least one class located on the computer in response to the discovery rule, and wherein for the instance of the class, the user interface presents data representing at least one property for the instance.

16. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the user interface is adapted to present the discovery data as a diagram that includes a plurality of respective icons, each representing a respective one of a plurality of computers, and wherein for each of the computers, the diagram includes a further icon representing a state of the computer as indicted by the discovery data.

17. One or more computer readable media comprising computer executable instructions that, when executed, direct a computing device to:

define at least one rule for discovering data about at least one entity; and

receive discovery data in response to the rule being executed in an environment in which the entity is deployed.

18. One or more computer readable media as recited in claim 17, further comprising computer executable instructions that, when executed, direct the computing device to associate a plurality of classes with the rule.

19. One or more computer readable media as recited in claim 18, further comprising computer executable instructions that, when executed, direct the computing device to receive discovery data that includes data representing the classes.

20. One or more computer readable media as recited in claim 19, further comprising computer executable instructions that, when executed, direct the computing device to validate the data representing the classes against a second plurality of classes.