Information asset placer

• US 9,336,400 B2
• Filed: 09/08/2014
• Issued: 05/10/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 04/21/2014
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Milman, Ivan M., Oberhofer, Martin, Pandit, Sushain, Powers, Calvin S., Tackabury, Wayne
• Primary Examiner(s): Rahman, Shawnchoy
• Application Number:
  US14/479,490
• Publication Number:
  US 20150304169A1
• Time in Patent Office: 610 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/60 Protecting data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/046 comprising network management agents or mobile agents therefor
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0823 characterised by the purposes of a change of settings, e.g. optimising configuration for enhancing reliability for optimising operational conditions of wireless networks H04W24/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0209 Architectural arrangements, e.g. perimeter networks or demilitarized zones
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/20 for managing network security; network security policies in general filtering policies H04L63/0227

Abstract

A computer-implemented method for the placing of information assets, including: discovering information about a new or changed information asset; determining one or more characteristics of an ideal location for the information asset; determining one or more characteristics of one or more locations in an information technology environment; determining the compatibility of the information asset with the location(s) by comparing the characteristic(s) of the ideal location to the characteristic(s) of the actual location(s); reporting the compatibility to a user; and optionally suggesting alternative placement locations. The locations may be part of one or more locational schemas.

Claims

1. A method for placement of information assets within an information technology (IT) environment, the method comprising:

discovering, via a networked IT infrastructure of the IT environment, a first piece of information about an information asset within the IT environment;

determining, based at least in part on the first piece of information, a first characteristic of an ideal location for the information asset;

determining, using a first locational schema for IT environment locations, a first characteristic of a first location in the IT environment;

determining compatibility of the information asset with the first location by comparing the first characteristic of the ideal location to the first characteristic of the first location;

reporting the compatibility to a user;

determining, using the first locational schema, compatibility of the information asset with a second location in the IT environment; and

suggesting, based at least in part on the determined compatibilities, a placement of the information asset as between the first and second locations;

wherein;

at least the determination of the compatibility between the information asset and the first location is performed by computer software running on computer hardware.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the first characteristic of the ideal location is physical location and is derived from government regulations.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the first characteristic of the first location is a network security zone.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein alternative locations are displayed with a graphical indication of their respective compatibility with the information asset.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

importing a plurality of information assets from a configuration database in an initial registration operation;

wherein;

the configuration database contains configuration data on information assets and applicable policies.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

maintaining current and historic information about placement of the information asset for audit purposes.