System and method for generating an application structure for an application in a computerized organization

• US 10,394,527 B2
• Filed: 10/03/2018
• Issued: 08/27/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 08/09/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ServiceNow Incorporated
• Original Assignee: ServiceNow Incorporated
• Inventors: Mohaban, Shai, Rosh, Haviv, Benado, Yarin, Cohen, Yuval
• Primary Examiner(s): Aponte, Francisco J
• Application Number:
  US16/151,066
• Publication Number:
  US 20190095177A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• Field of Search: 717104
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/13 File access structures, e.g. distributed indices arrangements of input from, or output to, record carriers G06F3/06
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/148 File search processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/17 Details of further file system functions
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/20 of structured data, e.g. relational data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/20 Software design
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4806 Task transfer initiation or dispatching
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/63 Routing a service request depending on the request content or context

Abstract

A computerized system and method for generating an application structure for an application in a computerized organization having a plurality of components. An implementation includes generating the application structure for the application by including, in the application structure, applicative components and connections between applicative components identified using a first entry point. In an implementation, the identification of the applicative components and the connections between applicative components includes applying a first set of patterns against a first component associated with the first entry point to identify a first applicative component of the applicative components and a first connection of the connections, the first connection including a second entry point. The applicative components and the connections between applicative components can be recursively identified.

Claims

1. A method for discovering and generating an application structure for a computerized system, the method comprising:

receiving indication of a first entry point, wherein the first entry point corresponds to a first network location within the computerized system;

initiating a discovery process from the first entry point;

discovering a first object connected to the first entry point via a first connection;

continuing the discovery process to discover a second object using a second network location of the first object as a second entry point, wherein the first entry point and the second entry point are different from one another, and wherein the first entry point and the second entry point are connected to one another via a second connection; and

updating the application structure based on the discovery process.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the discovery process comprises recursively identifying one or more new objects connected to one or more identified entry points via one or more new connections.

3. The method of claim 1, comprising determining that a third connection is associated with the second object.

4. The method of claim 3, continuing the discovery process to discover a third object using a third network location of the second object as a third entry point, wherein the second entry point and the third entry point are different from one another, and wherein the second entry point and the third entry point are connected to one another via the third connection.

5. The method of claim 1, comprising running operating system discovery against the first object.

6. The method of claim 1, comprising identifying a first process running on the first object that is associated with the first entry point.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein identifying the first process comprises listening on a port associated with the first entry point.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein discovering the first object connected to the first entry point via the first connection comprises applying one or more discovery patterns, wherein a first pattern of the one or more discovery patterns comprises a set of rules usable to identify a presence of a particular item on the first object.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein discovering the first object connected to the first entry point via the first connection comprises applying one or more discovery patterns, wherein each of the one or more discovery patterns comprises an identification section used to identify the first object and a connection section used to identify the first connection, after the first object has been identified.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the connection section comprises a first set of rules defining one or more steps for searching for a configuration file, parsing the configuration file, extracting parameters from the configuration file, identifying at least one other entry point, other than the second entry point, using the extracted parameters, or any combination thereof.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the identification section comprises a second set of rules defining one or more steps for extracting a process executable name, comparing the process executable name against a predetermined string, or a combination thereof.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the identification section comprises a second set of rules defining one or more steps for searching for specified files, parsing the specified files, searching a registry for specified information, or a combination thereof.

13. A computerized system for discovering and generating an application structure, the computerized system comprising a server device having a processor and a memory, the processor configured to execute instructions stored in the memory to perform operations comprising:

receiving indication of a first entry point, wherein the first entry point corresponds to a first network location within the computerized system;

initiating a discovery process from the first entry point;

discovering a first object connected to the first entry point via a first connection;

continuing the discovery process to discover a second object using a second network location of the first object as a second entry point, wherein the first entry point and the second entry point are different from one another, and wherein the first entry point and the second entry point are connected to one another via a second connection; and

updating the application structure based on the discovery process.

14. The computerized system of claim 13, the operations comprising:

creating a first configuration item, wherein the first configuration item is associated with the first object and defines a first set of attributes associated with the first object;

storing the first configuration item in a database;

creating a second configuration item, wherein the second configuration item is associated with the second object and defines a second set of attributes associated with the second object; and

storing the second configuration item in the database.

15. The computerized system of claim 14, the operations comprising determining whether the first configuration item matches an existing configuration item stored in the database before storing the first configuration item in the database.

16. The computerized system of claim 13, the operations comprising identifying a cluster of objects including the first object and the second object.

17. The computerized system of claim 13, the operations comprising deriving a skeleton from the application structure.

18. The computerized system of claim 17, the operations comprising identifying a changed portion of the skeleton, and re-discovering a portion of the application structure associated with the changed portion of the skeleton.

19. The computerized system of claim 13, the operations comprising receiving a plurality of events associated with the application structure, associating events of the plurality of events with elements included in the application structure, and calculating an impact of the events on at least some of the elements included in the application structure.

20. A non-transitory, tangible, computer readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by one or more hardware processors, cause the one or more hardware processors to perform operations comprising:

receiving indication of a first entry point, wherein the first entry point corresponds to a first network location within a computerized system;

initiating a discovery process from the first entry point;

discovering a first object connected to the first entry point via a first connection;

continuing the discovery process to discover a second object using a second network location of the first object as a second entry point, wherein the first entry point and the second entry point are different from one another, and wherein the first entry point and the second entry point are connected to one another via a second connection; and

updating an application structure based on the discovery process.