System and Method for Assessing and Indicating the Health of Components

• US 20100023302A1
• Filed: 10/02/2009
• Published: 01/28/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 03/01/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: BMC Software Incorporated (KKR & Co., Inc.)
• Original Assignee: BMC Software Incorporated (KKR & Co., Inc.)
• Inventors: Trinon, Jean-Marc, Pignault, Olivier
• Granted Patent: US 8,050,890 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 702/183
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/008 Reliability or availability analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/324 Display of status information
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/328 Computer systems status display G06F11/327 takes precedence

Abstract

A system and method for visualization of the components of an enterprise system and the rendering of information about the health or status of the enterprise system, its components, and/or its subcomponents. The invention uses a combination of color codes or other indicators and a combination of algorithms and/or rules-based systems to control the computation of status/severities to associate to components and setup the color codes and indicators.

Claims

1. A method to indicate the health status of an IT component and at least one IT subcomponent, wherein the IT component is dependent on the at least one IT subcomponent, using one or more programmable processing devices programmed to perform the acts of:

computing a component health status of the IT component on a programmable processing device;

computing a subcomponent health status for each the at least one IT subcomponent;

rendering health status of the IT component by showing a first indicator for the IT component and a second indicator for the at least one IT subcomponent subcomponents, wherein the first and second indicators are each separately visible at the same time in a single display window.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the first indicator is a first color and the second indicator is a second color.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the first and second colors are different.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein programmed act of computing a component help status further comprises using rules-based systems to control the computation of the health status.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the programmed act of computing a subcomponent health status further comprises using rules-based systems to control the computation of the health status.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the programmed act of computing a component health status further comprises using an algorithm to control the computation of the health status.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein programmed act of computing a subcomponent health status further comprises using an algorithm to control the computation of the health status.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the programmed act of computing a component health status further comprises receiving a plurality of events and/or alerts from the IT component.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the programmed act of computing a subcomponent health status further comprises receiving a plurality of events and/or alerts from each IT subcomponent.

10. A method of assessing a status of an IT system comprising a plurality of IT components having a plurality of IT subcomponents wherein the method comprises using one or more programmable processing devices programmed to perform the acts of:

using the method of indicating the health status of the IT components of claim 1 for each IT component;

using the method of indicating the health status of the IT subcomponents of claim 1 for each IT subcomponent;

computing a health status of the IT system on a programmable processing device; and

rendering the computed health status of the IT system on a single display window of a display device wherein the user may ascertain the health status of components and subcomponents without navigating to another window.

11. The method of claim 10 which further comprises using a graphical user interface to view the status of the IT system.

12. A method for indicating network element status, comprising:

determining a first status of a first network element;

determining an aggregate status of a second one or more network elements, wherein the second one or more network elements are operatively coupled to the first network element;

displaying the status of the first network element using a first indicator; and

displaying the aggregate status of the second one or more network elements using a second indicator,

wherein the first and second indicators are in spatial contact.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

determining a second aggregate status of a third one or more network elements, wherein the third one or more network elements are operatively coupled to the first network element; and

displaying the status of the second aggregate status of the third one or more network elements using a third indicator, wherein the third indicator is in spatial contact with the first or second indicator.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the act of determining the first status comprises using a rules-based system.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein the act of determining the aggregate status comprises using a rules-based system.

16. The method of claim 12, wherein the act of determining the first status comprises using an algorithm.

17. The method of claim 12, wherein the act of determining the aggregate status comprises using a algorithm.

18. The method of claim 12, wherein the first indicator comprises a first color and the second indicator comprises a second, different, color.

19. The method of claim 12, wherein the first indicator comprises a first symbol and the second indicator comprises a second, different, symbol.

20. The method of claim 12, wherein the act of displaying the first indicator comprises displaying said first indicator in front of the second indicator.

21. The method of claim 12, wherein the act of displaying the first indicator comprises displaying said first indicator so that it contacts at least one edge of the second indicator.

22. A program storage device having instructions stored thereon for causing a processor to perform the method of claim 12.

23. A networked computer system, comprising:

a network;

a plurality of network components communicatively coupled to the network;

at least one programmable processing device programmed to;

determine a first status of a first network element;

determine an aggregate status of a second one or more network elements, wherein the second one or more network elements are operatively coupled to the first network element;

provide an indication for displaying the status of the first network element using a first indicator; and

provide an indication for displaying the aggregate status of the second one or more network elements using a second indicator,

wherein the first and second indicators are in spatial contact.