Systems and methods for providing a complete view of large computing networks

• US 8,219,611 B2
• Filed: 05/28/2009
• Issued: 07/10/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 05/28/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Inventors: DeHaan, Michael Paul
• Primary Examiner(s): Truong, Lan-Dai T
• Application Number:
  US12/473,947
• Publication Number:
  US 20100306305A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,139 Days
• Field of Search: 709/203, 709/217, 709/206, 709/202, 709/201, 709/205
• US Class Current: 709/203
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0853 by actively collecting configuration information or by backing up configuration information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/12 Discovery or management of network topologies

Abstract

The management tool can determine and store all information that is relevant to the computing systems in the network. The management tool can generate and provide reports that are customizable by a requester. The management tool can receive a request to generate a report which specifies the information relevant to the computing systems to be included in the report. The management tool can search the stored information and generate the report with the stored information that matches the request. The reports can include network topology maps based on the request and geographic maps based on the request.

Claims

1. A method of managing a computer network, comprising:

receiving, from a requestor a request for a physical location of at least one computing system having a particular configuration;

identifying, by a computer processor, the physical location of at least one computing system having the particular configuration via a communication with one or more monitoring agents configured to examine computing systems in the computer network to determine relevant information comprising configuration information and state information of the computing systems;

generating, by a computer processor, a report comprising the relevant information and a map that graphically illustrates the physical location of the at least one computing system having the particular configuration; and

providing the report to the requestor in response to the request.

2. The method of claim 1, the method further comprising:

determining information for a plurality of computing systems; and

storing the information in a computer readable storage medium.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein determining the information comprises at least one of examining the computing systems to determine the information, communicating with a network management server to determine the information, communicating with an application executing on the computing system to determine the information, and receiving the information from an entity associated with the computing systems.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the information further comprises configurations of the computing systems and state of the computing systems.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the request comprises:

providing an interface for receiving the request.

6. The method of claim 2, the method further comprising:

receiving a request for a network map of the plurality of computing systems;

generating the network map that graphically illustrates a network topology of the computing systems based on the physical locations; and

providing the network map.

7. A system for managing a computer network, comprising:

a network interface communicatively connecting to computing systems in the computer network; and

a hardware processor communicating with the network interface and executing a management tool, wherein the management tool being configured to;

receive, from a requestor, a request for a physical location of at least one computing system having a particular configuration;

identify the physical location of at least one computing system having the particular configuration via a communication with one or more monitoring agents configured to examine computing systems in the computer network to determine relevant information comprising configuration information and state information of the computing systems;

generate a report comprising the relevant information and a map that graphically illustrates the physical location of the at least one computing system having the particular configuration; and

provide the report to the requestor in response to the request.

8. The system of claim 7, the management tool being further configured to:

determine information for a plurality of computing systems; and

store the information in a computer readable storage medium.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein determining the information comprises at least one of examining the computing systems to determine the information, communicating with a network management server to determine the information, communicating with an application executing on the computing system to determine the information, and receiving the information from an entity associated with the computing systems.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the information further comprises configurations of the computing systems and state of the computing systems.

11. The system of claim 8, the management tool being further configured to:

receive a request for a network map of the plurality of computing systems;

generate the network map that graphically illustrates a network topology of the computing systems based on the physical locations; and

provide the network map.

12. The system of claim 7, wherein receiving the request comprises:

providing an interface for receiving the request.

13. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising instructions for causing a processor to perform a method comprising:

receiving, from a requestor, a request for a physical location of at least one computing system having a particular configuration;

identifying, by a computer processor, the physical location of at least one computing system having the particular configuration via a communication with one or more monitoring agents configured to examine computing systems in the computer network to determine relevant information comprising configuration information and state information of the computing systems;

generating, by a computer processor, a report comprising the relevant information and a map that graphically illustrates the physical location of the at least one computing system having the particular configuration; and

providing the report to the requestor in response to the request.

14. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 13, the method further comprising:

determining information for a plurality of computing systems; and

storing the information.

15. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein determining the information comprises at least one of examining the computing systems to determine the information, communicating with a network management server to determine the information, communicating with an application executing on the computing system to determine the information, and receiving the information from an entity associated with the computing systems.

16. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 14, the method further comprising:

receiving a request for a network map of the computing systems;

generating the network map that graphically illustrates a network topology of the computing systems based on the physical locations; and

providing the network map.

17. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the relevant information further comprises configurations of the computing systems and state of the computing systems.

18. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein receiving the request comprises:

providing an interface for receiving the request.