Auto-Suggesting IT Asset Groups Using Clustering Techniques

• US 20120166317A1
• Filed: 12/23/2010
• Published: 06/28/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 12/23/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: BladeLogic Incorporated (KKR & Co., Inc.)
• Original Assignee: BladeLogic Incorporated (KKR & Co., Inc.)
• Inventors: Karnik, Neeran, Ghaisas, Abhay
• Granted Patent: US 10,824,986 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/28
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders

Abstract

An information technology (IT) asset management system provides for logically grouping IT assets and performing actions on the logical groups. Cluster analysis techniques are used to analyze the configuration data corresponding to IT assets in the IT asset management system, generating proposed logical groups from the clusters determined by the cluster analysis techniques. A system administrator may be allowed to accept or reject the proposed logical groups.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

registering a plurality of information technology assets of an enterprise in a computerized information technology asset management system;

performing cluster analysis on configuration data corresponding to the plurality of information technology assets, generating a plurality of clusters of information technology assets; and

adding a cluster of the plurality of clusters of information technology assets as a logical group in the information technology asset management system.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the act of adding a cluster of the plurality of clusters of information technology assets as a logical group in the information technology asset management system comprises:

displaying a cluster of information technology assets as a proposed logical group in a user interface of the information technology asset management system;

requesting an administrator to accept the proposed logical group; and

adding the cluster of information technology assets as a logical group in the information technology asset management system if accepted by the administrator.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the act of displaying a cluster of information technology assets as a proposed logical group in a user interface of the information technology asset management system comprises:

displaying a representation of the cluster of information technology assets in the user interface; and

displaying configuration data corresponding to the cluster of information technology assets in the user interface with the representation of the cluster of information technology assets.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein every cluster of the plurality of clusters is added as a logical group in the information technology asset management system without user intervention.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the act of performing cluster analysis on configuration data corresponding to the plurality of information technology assets, generating a plurality of clusters of information technology assets comprises:

storing configuration data corresponding to the plurality of information technology assets in a temporary database;

converting the configuration data to a numeric form; and

performing cluster analysis on the numeric form.

6. The method claim 5, wherein the act of converting the configuration data to numeric form in the temporary database comprises:

defining a plurality of ranges of an attribute of the configuration data; and

associating a numeric value with each of the plurality of ranges.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the act of defining a plurality of ranges of an attribute of the configuration data is performed independent of the configuration data.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the act of performing cluster analysis on configuration data corresponding to the plurality of information technology assets, generating a plurality of clusters of information technology assets comprises:

performing a first cluster analysis on all attributes of the configuration data, generating a first plurality of clusters of information technology assets;

performing a second cluster analysis on a subset of attributes of the configuration data, generating a second plurality of clusters of information technology assets; and

selecting the first plurality of clusters or the second plurality of clusters responsive to a comparison between the first plurality of clusters and the second plurality of clusters.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the comparison between the first plurality of clusters and the second plurality of clusters compares a cohesiveness of the first plurality of clusters and a cohesiveness of the second plurality of clusters.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

performing a factor analysis on the configuration data; and

re-performing the cluster analysis on the configuration data responsive to the factor analysis.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the act of performing cluster analysis on configuration data corresponding to the plurality of information technology assets, generating a plurality of clusters of information technology assets comprises:

selecting a first cluster analysis technique from a plurality of cluster analysis techniques; and

performing the first cluster analysis technique on the configuration data, generating the plurality of clusters of information technology assets.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the act of selecting a first cluster analysis technique from a plurality of cluster analysis techniques is performed responsive to a classification of the information technology assets.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the act of selecting a first cluster analysis technique from a plurality of cluster analysis techniques comprises:

requesting an instruction from a system administrator; and

selecting the first cluster analysis technique responsive to the instruction.

14. A computer readable medium with instructions for a programmable control device stored thereon wherein the instructions cause a programmable control device to perform the method of claim 1.

15. A networked computer system comprising:

a plurality of computers communicatively coupled, at least one of the plurality of computers programmed to perform at least a portion of the method of claim 1 wherein the entire method of claim 1 is performed collectively by the plurality of computers.

16. A computerized information technology asset management system, comprising:

a database of information technology asset configuration data, entries in which comprise a plurality of attributes of information technology assets;

a processor, coupled to the database of information technology assets;

a program storage unit, coupled to the processor; and

software, stored in the program storage unit, comprising instructions that when executed by the processor cause the processor to perform actions, comprising;

selecting a plurality of configuration data corresponding to a plurality of information technology assets;

performing cluster analysis on the plurality of configuration data, generating a plurality of clusters of information technology assets; and

adding a logical group to the information technology management system corresponding to a first cluster of the plurality of clusters of information technology assets.

17. The system of claim 16, further comprising:

a user interface, configured to display a representation of the first cluster for a system administrator,

wherein the act of adding a logical group to the information technology management system corresponding to a first cluster of the plurality of clusters of information technology assets comprises;

displaying the representation of the first cluster in the user interface;

asking the system administrator to accept the first cluster as a logical group; and

adding the first cluster as a logical group in the information technology management system responsive to acceptance by the system administrator.

18. The system of claim 16, further comprising:

a temporary database, coupled to the processor,

wherein the act of performing cluster analysis on the plurality of configuration data, generating a plurality of clusters of information technology assets comprises;

storing configuration data corresponding to the plurality of information technology assets in the temporary database;

converting the configuration data to a numeric form; and

performing cluster analysis on the numeric form.

19. The system of claim 16, wherein the act of performing cluster analysis on the plurality of configuration data, generating a plurality of clusters of information technology assets comprises:

performing a first cluster analysis on all attributes of the configuration data, generating a first plurality of clusters of information technology assets;

performing a second cluster analysis on a subset of attributes of the configuration data, generating a second plurality of clusters of information technology assets; and

selecting the first plurality of clusters or the second plurality of clusters responsive to a comparison between the first plurality of clusters and the second plurality of clusters.

20. The system of claim 16, wherein the software further comprises instructions that when executed by the processor cause the processor to perform actions comprising:

performing a factor analysis on the configuration data; and

re-performing the cluster analysis on the configuration data responsive to the factor analysis.