System and interface for monitoring information technology assets

• US 7,752,301 B1
• Filed: 06/24/2005
• Issued: 07/06/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 01/23/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dynatrace LLC (Dynatrace, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Gomez Acquisition Corp.
• Inventors: Mansell, Brian E., Maiocco, James N., McCaskey, John A., Belanger, Bradley M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen; Steven H
• Assistant Examiner(s): HAILE, AWET A
• Application Number:
  US11/167,057
• Time in Patent Office: 1,838 Days
• Field of Search: 370/230, 370/389, 370/397, 709/203, 709/223, 709/224, 715/733, 707/104.1
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0213 Standardised network management protocols, e.g. simple network management protocol [SNMP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/064 involving time analysis
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/22 comprising specially adapted graphical user interfaces [GUI]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0817 by checking functioning

Abstract

An application service provider (ASP)-based interface and system for analyzing performance and costs of respective enterprise information technology assets from the correlation of metrics data of enterprise SNMP-enabled devices.

Claims

1. A system for monitoring information technology assets of enterprises comprising:

an application service provider database configured to receive data from a plurality of Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP)-enabled devices of a plurality of enterprises on a by enterprise basis responsive to a request from a polling proxy server, the received data including application usage data, device metrics, and Internet Service Provider (ISP) performance data across data, wireless, voice over Internet Protocol, and virtual private networks (VPNs) for the plurality of SNMP-enabled devices of the plurality of enterprises; and

a user interface to the application service provider database configured to display a correlation of the received data and associated costs of the SNMP-enabled devices for a respective enterprise responsive to receiving an authorized request from the respective enterprise, the user interface further configured to provide a correlation of virtual private network tunnel sessions across heterogeneous network environments,

wherein the application service provider database is further configured to receive an alert about a prediction of a failure of an SNMP-enabled device from the polling proxy server,

wherein the application service provider database is further configured to receive the data via polling proxy servers communicatively coupled with polling servers that perform functions of SNMP data gathering, the polling servers communicatively coupled with the polling proxy servers to determine SNMP-enabled devices that need to be polled, the servers grouped into polling clusters, wherein each polling cluster has at least two polling servers that enable each enterprise to use a same Internet Protocol (IP) address range for associated SNMP-enabled devices, and that enable unique identification of SNMP-enabled devices, each polling cluster assigned to a virtual firewall system, and wherein the user interface to the application service provider database is further configured to provide a web-based interface configured to display selectable templates and metrics for creating and saving reports,

wherein the application service provider database is further configured to analyze stored data against alert rules, wherein alert rules are designated by rule type, notify of received data that violates an alert rule,

correlate the received data and associated costs of the plurality of SNMP-enabled devices for a selected enterprise, and

wherein the user interface to the application service provider database is further configured to graphically display a tabular report and, responsive to a selection of metrics to be generated, propagate point arrays twice to build a dynamic image and table.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the user interface includes a configuration screen for real-time modification of the layout of the report.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the user interface includes selectable time frames for providing a correlation of the received data and associated costs in the report over a time frame of the selectable time frames.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein a correlation of the received data and associated costs is based on a calculated equipment key performance indicator.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the report is a web-based display of a graph of the correlation of the received data and associated costs.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein the report is a tabular display of the correlation of the received data and associated costs.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the user interface is further configured to provide a configuration screen for real-time modification of a layout of the report, and provide selectable time frames for providing a correlation of performance and associated costs in the report over a given time frame.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the user interface is further configured to provide selectable time frames for providing a correlation of the received data and associated costs in the report, wherein correlating the received data and associated costs of the plurality of SNMP-enabled devices for a selected enterprise comprises correlating the received data and associated costs based on a calculated equipment key performance indicator.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the user interface is further configured to display a real-time view of performance of Wireless Access Point (WAP) equipment, the real-time view of performance includes devices availability, wireless traffic statistics over monitored equipment, wireless signal strength, wireless Quality of Service (QOS), and data that indicates whether sufficient upstream bandwidth exists to support cost effective provisioning of equipment needed to power wireless networks.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the application service provider database is further configured to:

receive flow sampling data from a plurality of customer NetFlow and sFlow enabled devices that support Netflow and sFlow monitoring, the NetFlow and sFlow enabled devices configured to send the flow sampling data to a flow collector, the flow sampling data included in the received data correlated with the associated costs of the SNMP-enabled devices for a respective enterprise.

11. A system for monitoring information technology assets of enterprises comprising:

a plurality of polling servers configured to periodically collect metrics data from Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP)-enabled devices of a plurality of enterprises and configured to deliver the metrics data to a plurality of database servers;

a plurality of polling proxy servers configured to identify SNMP-enabled devices that need to be polled and communicatively coupled to the plurality of polling servers to collect metrics data from the identified SNMP-enabled devices;

a plurality of flow collectors, communicatively coupled with the plurality of polling proxy servers, configured to monitor and process incoming flow data, the processed flow data formatted for the plurality of database servers;

a plurality of flow proxy servers configured to maintain and read configuration data for the plurality of flow collectors, and configured to receive the processed flow data from flow collectors and transfer the processed flow data to the plurality of database servers;

a plurality of web servers communicatively coupled to the plurality of database servers and configured to provide an interface to the database servers, wherein the interface restricts a respective enterprise'"'"'s access to metrics data from its respective devices, the plurality of web servers further configured to receive a configuration of a real-time cost analysis report correlated to the metrics data from its respective devices and generate the real-time cost analysis report on a web-based reporting screen for an authorized user of a respective enterprise;

a plurality of mail servers communicatively coupled to the plurality of web servers and configured to deliver reports to a user; and

a plurality of notification servers configured to check scheduled reports and configured to generate alert emails.

12. The system of claim 11 further comprising an alert configuration screen communicatively coupled to the plurality of web servers and configured to notify an authorized user of a pre-configured condition or event based on the metrics data.