Multi-dimensional visualization tool for browsing and troubleshooting at scale

• US 9,501,849 B2
• Filed: 05/11/2012
• Issued: 11/22/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 05/11/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Vmware LLC (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: VMware, Inc. (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Bednar, Martin, Wong, Karen Natalie, Shukla, Manaswi
• Primary Examiner(s): Faulk, Devona
• Assistant Examiner(s): BEARD, CHARLES LLOYD
• Application Number:
  US13/470,217
• Publication Number:
  US 20130300747A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,656 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 11/206 Drawing of charts or graphs

Abstract

A user interface that allows administrators of a virtualized computing environment to easily navigate to and/or search for specific objects, determine relationships between selected objects, and have visibility into the health status of objects in the virtualized computing environment. Objects within a column may be displayed with names, displayed as bars, or aggregated into groups based on the number of objects in the column. Also, in some embodiments, when a user selects one object, objects in other columns that are related to the selected object may be visually distinguished from the other objects, allowing an administrator to easily navigate to related objects.

Claims

1. A method for displaying a graphical user interface (GUI) for a computing environment, the method comprising:

displaying objects associated with a same hierarchy in the computing environment in each of a plurality of columns of the GUI dynamically based on a number of the objects in the column by carrying out, with respect to each of the columns;

displaying each of the objects in the column with a name in response to a determination that all of the objects can be displayed with names within a vertical space of the column;

displaying each of the objects in the column as a bar in response to a determination that all of the objects cannot be displayed with names in the vertical space of the column but can be displayed as bars in the vertical space of the column; and

in response to a determination that all of the objects cannot be displayed with names in the vertical space of the column and all of the objects cannot be displayed as bars in the vertical space of the column, then;

aggregating the objects in the column into groups; and

displaying the groups of objects in the vertical space of the column;

sorting the objects or the groups of objects in each of the columns of the GUI,

wherein the objects in the columns include a plurality of hierarchically related computing resources for executing virtual machines;

detecting that a user has selected one of the objects in one of the columns; and

in response to the detecting, highlighting the selected object and objects that are hierarchically related to the selected object and displayed in columns different from said one of the columns.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the objects or the groups of objects in each of the columns are sorted based on health status, such that the objects or the groups of objects with lower health status are displayed above the objects or the groups of objects with higher health status.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the health status of an object is based on the consumption of computing resources by the object.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying at least one column that is not associated with a hierarchical arrangement of objects in the computing environment.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein aggregating the objects into groups is based on health status of the objects.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein a width of the column is based on a relative importance of the column to at least one other column.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein each object is displayed as a bar, wherein the length of each bar is based on health status of the object.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the plurality of hierarchically related computing resources includes one or more virtual machines, one or more hosts that execute the one or more virtual machines, one or more clusters that include groupings of hosts, one or more data centers that include the clusters, and one or more logical groupings of data centers.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the selected object comprises a cluster and the other objects comprise hosts that are included in the cluster.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising de-aggregating objects that are hierarchically related to the selected object and displayed in columns different from said one of the columns from a group that includes the objects that are hierarchically related to the selected object.

11. A method for displaying a graphical user interface (GUI) for a computing environment, the method comprising:

displaying a plurality of objects organized into a plurality of columns tiled left-to-right in the GUI, where, in each of the plurality of columns, all objects in the column are displayed dynamically with names in response to a determination that said all objects can be displayed with names within a vertical space of the column, and displayed dynamically as a bar in response to a determination that said all objects cannot be displayed with names within the vertical space of the column but can be displayed as bars;

in response to a determination that all of the objects cannot be displayed with names in the vertical space of the column and all of the objects cannot be displayed as bars in the vertical space of the column, then;

aggregating the objects in the column into groups; and

displaying the groups of objects in the vertical space of the column;

receiving a selection of a first object included in a first column;

displaying, in at least one column other than the first column, a first set of objects related to the first object in a distinguishing manner from other objects not included in the first set of objects;

receiving a selection of a second object included in a second column;

displaying, in at least one column other than the first and second columns, a subset of objects included in the first set of objects in a distinguishing manner from other objects not included in the subset of objects, wherein objects included in the subset of object are related to the first object and the second object,

wherein the objects in the columns include a plurality of hierarchically related computing resources for executing virtual machines;

detecting that a user has selected one of the objects in one of the columns; and

in response to the detecting, highlighting the selected object and objects that are hierarchically related to the selected object and displayed in columns different from said one of the columns.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein another column is widened or narrowed based on receiving the selection of the first object included in the first column.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein another column is collapsed based on receiving the selection of the first object included in the first column.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein displaying the subset of objects comprises:

removing one or more objects from a group of objects; and

displaying the one or more objects in the distinguishing manner from other objects not included in the subset of objects.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions that, when executed in a computing device, provide for displaying a graphical user interface (GUI) for a computing environment, by performing the steps of:

displaying objects associated with a same hierarchy in the computing environment in each of a plurality of columns of the GUI dynamically based on a number of the objects in the column by carrying out, with respect to each of the columns;

displaying each of the objects in the column with a name in response to a determination that all of the objects can be displayed with names within a vertical space of the column;

displaying each of the objects in the column as a bar in response to a determination that all of the objects cannot be displayed with names in the vertical space of the column but can be displayed as bars in the vertical space of the column; and

in response to a determination that all of the objects cannot be displayed with names in the vertical space of the column and all of the objects cannot be displayed as bars in the vertical space of the column, then;

aggregating the objects in the column into groups; and

displaying the groups of objects in the vertical space of the column;

sorting the objects or the groups of objects in each of the columns of the GUI,

wherein the objects include a plurality of hierarchically related computing resources for executing virtual machines;

detecting that a user has selected one of the objects in one of the columns; and

in response to the detecting, highlighting the selected object and objects that are hierarchically related to the selected object and displayed in columns different from said one of the columns.

16. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the objects or the groups of objects in each of the columns are sorted based on health status, such that the objects or the groups of objects with lower health status are displayed above the objects or the groups of objects with higher health status.

17. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the health status of an object is based on the consumption of computing resources by the object.

18. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the steps further comprises displaying at least one column that is not associated with a hierarchical arrangement of objects in the computing environment.

19. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein aggregating the objects into groups is based on health status of the objects.

20. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein a width of the column is based on a relative importance of the column to at least one other column.

21. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein each object is displayed as a bar, wherein the length of each bar is based on health status of the object.

22. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions that, when executed in a computing device, provide for displaying a graphical user interface (GUI) for a computing environment, by performing the steps of:

displaying a plurality of objects organized into a plurality of columns tiled left-to-right in the GUI, where, in each of the plurality of columns, all objects in the column are displayed dynamically with names in response to a determination that said all objects can be displayed with names within a vertical space of the column, and displayed dynamically as a bar in response to a determination that said all objects cannot be displayed with names within the vertical space of the column but can be displayed as bars;

in response to a determination that all of the objects cannot be displayed with names in the vertical space of the column and all of the objects cannot be displayed as bars in the vertical space of the column, then;

aggregating the objects in the column into groups; and

displaying the groups of objects in the vertical space of the column;

receiving a selection of a first object included in a first column;

displaying, in at least one column other than the first column, a first set of objects related to the first object in a distinguishing manner from other objects not included in the first set of objects;

receiving a selection of a second object included in a second column;

displaying, in at least one column other than the first and second columns, a subset of objects included in the first set of objects in a distinguishing manner from other objects not included in the subset of objects, wherein objects included in the subset of objects are related to the first object and the second object,

wherein the objects in the columns include a plurality of hierarchically related computing resources for executing virtual machines;

detecting that a user has selected one of the objects in one of the columns; and

in response to the detecting, highlighting the selected object and objects that are hierarchically related to the selected object and displayed in columns different from said one of the columns.

23. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 22, wherein another column is widened or narrowed based on receiving the selection of the first object included in the first column.

24. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 22, wherein another column is collapsed based on receiving the selection of the first object included in the first column.

25. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 22, wherein displaying the subset of objects comprises:

removing one or more objects from a group of objects; and

displaying the one or more objects in the distinguishing manner from other objects not included in the subset of objects.