Customized monitoring of system activities

• US 9,524,224 B2
• Filed: 10/05/2010
• Issued: 12/20/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 10/05/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Red Hat Israel Ltd. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Red Hat Israel Ltd. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Inventors: Pasternak, Michael
• Primary Examiner(s): Patel, Dhairya A
• Application Number:
  US12/898,480
• Publication Number:
  US 20120084780A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,268 Days
• Field of Search: 709/224, 709/225, 709/223, 709/229, 709/213
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3466 Performance evaluation by tracing or monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/02 Capturing of monitoring data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/04 Processing captured monitoring data, e.g. for logfile generation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/08 Monitoring or testing based on specific metrics, e.g. QoS, energy consumption or environmental parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/10 Active monitoring, e.g. heartbeat, ping or trace-route
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/20 the monitoring system or the monitored elements being virtualised, abstracted or software-defined entities, e.g. SDN or NFV

Abstract

A mechanism for performing monitoring system activities using a performance monitor. A method of embodiments of the invention includes identifying a plurality of monitoring tools to monitor activities of a plurality of system components at the computer system, and each monitoring tool monitors activities of at least one system component of the plurality of system components. The method further includes generating a monitoring template to include monitoring capabilities of each of the plurality of monitoring tools, and customizing, via the monitoring template, the performance monitor to serve as a universal monitoring tool to facilitate the plurality of monitoring tools to monitor the activities of the plurality of system components.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

identifying, by a processing device of a computer system, a plurality of disparate monitoring tools to monitor activities of a plurality of system components at the computer system, wherein each monitoring tool is to monitor activities of at least one system component of the plurality of system components;

generating, by the processing device, a monitoring template to aggregate monitoring capabilities of each of the plurality of monitoring tools;

facilitating, by the processing device, the plurality of monitoring tools to monitor the activities of the plurality of system components as defined by the monitoring template;

establishing, by the processing device, a secure communications channel;

generating, by the processing device, a central interface to receive via the secure communications channel reporting on the plurality of monitoring tool;

providing via the central interface, results of the facilitating the monitoring of the activities by the plurality of monitoring tools;

directing, by the processing device, results of the activities of the plurality of system components to a repository;

directing, by the processing device, the results of the activities of a subset of the plurality of system components to a different repository;

generating, by the processing device, one or more monitoring templates, each of the one or more monitoring templates comprising monitoring capabilities of one or more of the plurality of monitoring tools; and

facilitating, by the processing device, the plurality of monitoring tools to monitor the activities of one or more of the plurality of system components as defined by the one or more monitoring templates;

wherein the monitoring template is customized to create a different monitoring tool that does not exist on the computer system and is not provided by an operating system installed on the computer system, the different monitoring tool to monitor one of the plurality of system components.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

detecting one or more unmonitored system components;

determining none of the plurality of monitoring tools is responsible for monitoring the activities of the one or more unmonitored system components; and

generating a monitoring template to facilitate the performance monitor to monitor the one or more unmonitored system components according to the monitoring template.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of system components comprise at least one of software components or hardware components.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the plurality of system components comprise at least one of a virtual machine, memory, or the processing device.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the activities of the plurality of system components comprise at least one of speed or capacity.

6. A computer system comprising:

a memory; and

a processing device, operatively coupled to the memory to;

identify a plurality of monitoring tools to monitor activities of a plurality of system components at the computer system, wherein each monitoring tool is to monitor activities of at least one system component of the plurality of system components;

generate a monitoring template to aggregate monitoring capabilities of each of the plurality of monitoring tools;

facilitate the plurality of monitoring tools to monitor the activities of the plurality of system components as defined by the monitoring template;

establish a secure communications channel;

generate a central interface to receive via the secure communications channel reporting on the plurality of monitoring tools;

provide, via the central interface, results of the facilitating the monitoring of the activities by the plurality of monitoring tools;

direct results of the activities of the plurality of system components to a repository;

direct the results of the activities of a subset of the plurality of system components to a different repository;

generate one or more monitoring templates, each of the one or more monitoring templates comprising monitoring capabilities of one or more of the plurality of monitoring tools; and

facilitate the plurality of monitoring tools to monitor the activities of one or more of the plurality of system components as defined by the one or more monitoring templates;

wherein the monitoring template is customized to create a different monitoring tool that does not exist on the computer system and is not provided by an operating system installed on the computer system, the different monitoring tool to monitor one of the plurality of system components.

7. The computer system of claim 6, wherein the processing device is further to:

detect one or more unmonitored system components;

determine none of the plurality of monitoring tools is responsible for monitoring the activities of the one or more unmonitored system components; and

generate a monitoring template to facilitate the performance monitor to monitor the one or more unmonitored system components according to the monitoring template.

8. The computer system of claim 6, wherein the plurality of system components comprise at least one of software components or hardware components.

9. The computer system of claim 8, wherein the plurality of system components comprise at least one of a virtual machine, the memory, or the processing device.

10. The computer system of claim 6, wherein the activities of the plurality of system components comprise at least one of speed or capacity.

11. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium including instructions that, when accessed by a processing device of a computer system, cause the processing device to:

identify, by the processing device, a plurality of monitoring tools to monitor activities of a plurality of system components at the computer system, wherein each monitoring tool is to monitor activities of at least one system component of the plurality of system components;

generate, by the processing device, a monitoring template to aggregate monitoring capabilities of each of the plurality of monitoring tools;

facilitate, by the processing device, the plurality of monitoring tools to monitor the activities of the plurality of system components as defined by the monitoring template;

establish, by the processing device, a secure communications channel;

generate, by the processing device, a central interface to receive via the secure communications channel reporting on the plurality of monitoring tools;

provide, via the central interface, results of the facilitating the monitoring of the activities by the plurality of monitoring tools;

direct, by the processing device, results of the activities of the plurality of system components to a repository;

direct, by the processing device, the results of the activities of a subset of the plurality of system components to a different repository;

generate, by the processing device, one or more monitoring templates, each of the one or more monitoring templates comprising monitoring capabilities of one or more of the plurality of monitoring tools; and

facilitate, by the processing device, the plurality of monitoring tools to monitor the activities of one or more of the plurality of system components as defined by the one or more monitoring templates;

wherein the monitoring template is customized to create a different monitoring tool that does not exist on the computer system and is not provided by an operating system installed on the computer system, the different monitoring tool to monitor one of the plurality of system components.

12. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the processing device is further to:

detect one or more unmonitored system components;

determine that none of the plurality of monitoring tools is responsible for monitoring the activities of the one or more unmonitored system components; and

generate a monitoring template to facilitate the performance monitor to monitor the one or more unmonitored system components according to the monitoring template.

13. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the plurality of system components comprise at least one of software components or hardware components.

14. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the plurality of system components comprise at least one of a virtual machine, memory, or the processing device.

15. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the activities of the plurality of system components comprise at least one of speed or capacity.