System and method for performing remote tracking and reporting of computing system performance, usage, and security data

• US 7,376,654 B1
• Filed: 04/29/2003
• Issued: 05/20/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 04/29/2003
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Lin, Fuyau, Lin, Chi-Ming, Chau, Bill
• Primary Examiner(s): Alam; Hosain
• Assistant Examiner(s): LIN, SHEW FEN
• Application Number:
  US10/426,070
• Time in Patent Office: 1,848 Days
• Field of Search: 707 1- 10, 707100-104, 709/224, 705/51
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0709 in a distributed system consisting of a plurality of standalone computer nodes, e.g. clusters, client-server systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0769 Readable error formats, e.g. cross-platform generic formats, human understandable formats
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3495 for systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/86 Event-based monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/06 Generation of reports
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/14 using software, i.e. software packages network security related monitoring H04L63/1408
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99943 Generating database or data structure, e.g. via user interface

Abstract

A computing systems data reporting system is comprised of a processing component and a reporting component. The processing component includes a configuration file and a system analysis and aggregation executable program module. The system analysis and aggregation executable module utilizes the input and output directory information from the configuration file to collect performance, usage and security data from sources such as those described above. The reporting component comprises an XML output memory component for storing aggregated data received from the executable module of the processing component. As XML data is passed to the reporting component, the XML data is transformed for publication via an Internet-based web page such that the data is viewable by interested users on a near real-time basis.

Claims

1. A method of tracking and reporting systems data for a computing system, comprising:

selecting a plurality of computing systems from which systems data is to be tracked and reported, wherein the plurality of computing systems include one or more disparate computing systems;

creating a worker thread executable program for collecting and aggregating desired systems data from each of the plurality of computing systems;

creating a history file for tracking the collection and aggregation of the systems data from each of the plurality of computing systems;

collecting the systems data from the plurality of computing systems, wherein the system data comprises registry data, the registry data showing changes in the registry of at least one of the plurality of computing systems;

aggregating the collected systems data according to desired types of data and desired incremental amount of data;

saving the collected and aggregated systems data from the plurality of computing systems to a first memory location, whereby saving the collected and aggregated systems data includes saving the collected and aggregated systems data to the first memory location as a first markup language formatted data, wherein the collected and aggregated systems data is written to a first markup language data store substantially in real time;

transforming the collected and aggregated systems data into a format for reporting the data via an Internet web page, whereby transforming the collected and aggregated systems data into a format for reporting the data via an Internet web page includes transforming the first markup language formatted data to a second markup language formatted data for reporting the systems data via an Internet web page;

creating a report for publishing the collected and aggregated systems data via an Internet web page;

during an idle time for the worker thread executable program, marking a location in an offset table of the collected and aggregated systems data in the history file; and

prior to a subsequent collection and aggregation of systems data from the plurality of computing systems, reading the history file to determine where the previous collection and aggregation of desired systems data stopped and to determine where to begin the subsequent collection and aggregation of systems data from the plurality of computing systems.

2. The method of claim 1, prior to collecting systems data from the plurality of computing systems, further comprising the steps of:

obtaining an input data source from which systems data from at least one of the plurality of computing systems is received; and

obtaining an output memory location to which systems data from at least one of the plurality of computing systems is output.

3. The method of claim 1, whereby transforming the first markup language formatted data to the second markup language formatted data includes:

obtaining an Extensible Stylesheet Language (XSL) file for merging with XML formatted data; and

merging the XSL file and the XML data using an Extensible Stylesheet Language Transformation (XSLT) file for transforming the XML formatted data into HTML formatted data for reporting the systems data via an Internet web page.

4. The method of claim 3, whereby creating a report for publishing the systems data via an Internet web page includes creating an HTML formatted report for publishing the systems data via an internet web page.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising publishing the report as an Internet web page in near real-time relation between a time of publishing the report and a time of collection of the systems data.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising storing a plurality of successive aggregated systems data reports published as Internet web pages.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising creating an historical systems data report comprised of the plurality of successive aggregated system data reports published as Internet web pages.

8. The method of claim 1, prior to selecting a plurality of computing systems from which systems data is to be tracked and reported, launching a computer systems data reporting system for tracking and reporting systems data from the plurality of computing systems.

9. The method of claim 8, whereby launching a computer systems data reporting system includes:

launching a processing component of the computing systems data reporting system for collecting and aggregating systems data from the plurality of computing systems; and

launching a reporting component of the computing systems data reporting system for preparing and publishing systems data reports for one or more computing systems.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

populating a configuration file with at least one input data source from which systems data for the plurality of computing systems is received; and

populating the configuration file with at least one output memory location to which systems data from the plurality of computing systems is output.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

reading the configuration file for obtaining the at least one input data source from which systems data from the plurality of computing systems is received; and

reading the configuration file for obtaining the at least one output memory location to which systems data from the plurality of computing systems is output.

12. The method of claim 11, whereby reading the configuration file for obtaining the at least one input data source and for obtaining the at least one output memory location includes reading the configuration file by an executable program module for collecting, aggregating and reporting systems data for the plurality of computing systems.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising creating a navigation file for specifying the input data source from which the systems data from the plurality of computing systems is received.

14. The method of claim 1, whereby collecting and aggregating systems data from the plurality of computing systems includes collecting and aggregating systems data on an hourly basis.

15. The method of claim 1, whereby collecting and aggregating system data from the plurality of computing systems includes collecting and aggregating systems data on a weekly basis.

16. The method of claim 1, whereby collecting and aggregating systems data from the plurality of computing systems includes collecting and aggregating systems data on a monthly basis.

17. The method of claim 1, whereby collecting and aggregating systems data from the plurality of computing systems includes collecting and aggregating systems data on a quarterly basis.

18. The method of claim 1, whereby collecting and aggregating systems data from the plurality of computing systems includes collecting and aggregating systems data on a per event basis.

19. The method of claim 1, whereby the plurality of computing systems includes one or more Internet-based web servers.

20. The method of claim 1, whereby the plurality of computing systems includes one or more networked computing systems.

21. The method of claim 1, whereby the plurality of computing systems includes one or more personal computing systems.

22. The method of claim 1, whereby the plurality of computing systems includes a distributed network of personal computing systems networked together via one or more network administrative server computers.

23. The method of claim 19, whereby the systems data further includes Internet Information Services data.

24. The method of claim 23, whereby the systems data further includes Internet web page usage data.

25. The method of claim 24, whereby the systems data further includes Internet services security data.

26. The method of claim 25, whereby the systems data further includes uniform resource locater (URL) scanning data.

27. The method of claim 22, whereby the systems data further includes computer network administrative data.

28. The method of claim 27, whereby the systems data further includes system and application events log data.

29. The method of claim 28, whereby the systems data further includes network software application usage data.

30. The method of claim 29, whereby the systems data further includes network systems error reporting data.

31. The method of claim 30, whereby systems data further includes network systems security data.

32. The method of claim 31, whereby systems data further includes user log-in and user log-out data.

54. The method of claim 1, wherein saving the collected and aggregated systems data as the first markup language formatted data comprises saving the collected and aggregated systems data as Extensible Markup Language (XML) formatted data in an XML data store;

and

wherein transforming the first markup language formatted data to a second markup language formatted data comprises transforming the XML formatted data to Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) formatted data.

33. A system for tracking and reporting systems data of a computing system, comprising:

a computing systems data reporting system operative to track and report systems data from a plurality of computing systems, wherein the plurality of computing systems include one or more disparate computing systems;

the computing systems data reporting system including a processing component operative to collect and to aggregate systems data from one or more of the plurality of computing systems;

the processing component having a configuration file contain at least one input data source from which systems data from at least one computing system of the plurality of computing systems is received, and at least one output memory location to which systems data from the at least one computing system of the plurality of computing systems is output;

the processing component further comprising an executable program module operative to;

create a worker thread executable program for collecting and aggregating desired systems data from the plurality of computing systems,

collect systems data for the at least one computing system of the plurality of computing systems, wherein the systems data comprises performance data, usage data, and security data,

aggregate systems data for the at least one computing system of the plurality of computing systems,

create a history file for tracking the collection and aggregation of the systems data from each of the plurality of computing systems,

report systems data for the at least one computing system of the plurality of computing systems,

save the collected and aggregated systems data as Extensible Markup Language (XML) formatted data in an XML data store,

obtain an Extensible Stylesheet Language (XSL) file for merging with the XML formatted data; and

merge the XSL file and the XML data using an Extensible Stylesheet Transformation (XSLT) file for transforming the XML data into Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) format for reporting the systems data via an Internet web page;

during an idle time for the worker thread executable program, mark a location in an offset table of the collected and aggregated systems data in the history file; and

prior to a subsequent collection and aggregation of systems data from the plurality of computing systems, read the history file to determine where the previous collection and aggregation of desired systems data stopped and to determine where to begin the subsequent collection and aggregation of systems data from the plurality of computing systems; and

the computing systems data reporting system further having a reporting component operative to prepare and to publish systems data reporting for the one or more computing systems.

34. The system of claim 33, whereby the executable program module is further operative:

to read the configuration file to obtain the at least one input data source and to obtain the at least one output memory location; and

to create a navigation file for specifying the at least one input data source from which systems data is received.

35. The system of claim 34, whereby the executable program module is further operative to store the collected and aggregated systems data from the plurality of computing systems to a first memory location of the reporting component.

36. The system of claim 33, whereby the executable program module is further operative to publish the HTML format data in a report via an Internet web page.

37. The method of claim 33, whereby the plurality of computing systems includes one or more Internet-based web servers.

38. The method of claim 33, whereby the plurality of computing systems includes one or more networked computing systems.

39. The method of claim 33, whereby the plurality of computing systems includes one or more personal computing systems.

40. The method of claim 33, whereby the plurality of computing systems includes a distributed network of personal computing systems networked together via one or more network administrative server computers.

41. The method of claim 37, whereby the systems data includes Internet Information Services data.

42. The method of claim 41, whereby the systems data includes Internet web page usage data.

43. The method of claim 41, whereby the systems data further includes Internet services security data.

44. The method of claim 41, whereby the systems data further includes uniform resource locater (URL) scanning data.

45. The method of claim 40, whereby the systems data includes computer network administrative data.

46. The method of claim 40, whereby the systems data further includes system and application events log data.

47. The method of claim 40, whereby the systems data further includes network software application usage data.

48. The method of claim 40, whereby the systems data further includes network systems error reporting data.

49. The method of claim 40, whereby systems data further includes network systems security data.

50. The method of claim 40, whereby systems data further includes user log-in and user log-out data.

51. A computer readable medium containing instructions which when executed by a computer perform the steps of:

selecting a plurality of computing systems from which systems data is to be tracked and reported, wherein the plurality of computing systems include one or more disparate computing systems and at least one computing system includes a personal computer operating in a networked environment using logical connections to connect to at least one remote computer;

creating a worker thread executable program for collecting and aggregating desired systems data from each of the plurality of computing systems;

creating a history file for tracking the collection and aggregation of the systems data from each of the plurality of computing systems;

collecting systems data from the plurality of computing systems, wherein the system data comprises registry data, the registry data showing changes in the registry of at least one of the plurality of computing systems;

aggregating the systems data according to desired types of data and desired incremental amount of data;

parsing a plurality of log files in accordance with a configuration file;

saving the collected and aggregated systems data from the plurality of computer systems to a first memory location as Extensible Markup Language (XML) formatted data, wherein the collected and aggregated systems data are written to an XML data store in accordance with the configuration file;

transforming the XML formatted data to Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) formatted data for reporting the systems data via an Internet web page; and

creating a report for publishing the systems data via an Internet web page substantially in real time;

during an idle time for the worker thread executable program, marking a location in an offset table of the collected and aggregated systems data in the history file; and

prior to a subsequent collection and aggregation of systems data from the plurality of computing systems, reading the history file to determine where the previous collection and aggregation of desired systems data stopped and to determine where to begin the subsequent collection and aggregation of systems data from the plurality of computing systems.

52. The computer readable medium of claim 51, prior to collecting systems data from the plurality of computing systems, further comprising the steps of:

obtaining an input data source from which systems data from the plurality of computing systems is received; and

obtaining an output memory location to which systems data from the plurality of computing systems is output.

53. The computer readable medium of claim 52, whereby transforming the XML formatted data to HTML formatted data includes:

obtaining an Extensible Stylesheet Language (XSL) file for merging with the XML formatted data; and

merging the XSL file and the XML data using an Extensible Stylesheet Language Transformation (XSLT) file for transforming the XML formatted data into HTML formatted data for reporting the systems data via an Internet web page.