Modular monitor service for smart item monitoring

• US 20070283002A1
• Filed: 05/31/2006
• Published: 12/06/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 05/31/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP AG (SAP SE)
• Inventors: Bornhoevd, Christof, Mo, Brian S., Wiemann, Matthias M.
• Granted Patent: US 8,131,838 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/30 Monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2209/542 Intercept
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/60 Software deployment
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/54 Interprogram communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5041 characterised by the time relationship between creation and deployment of a service
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5058 Service discovery by the service manager
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/00 Arrangements for monitoring or testing data switching networks

Abstract

Monitor services deployable on device networks may be implemented using a modular approach, in which a core monitor service is mapped to one or more devices included in, or associated with, the device networks. Additional monitoring-related functionality may be provided to such devices using plug-ins, add-on services or service components, or other service modules, which interact with the core monitor service. The core monitor service(s) and any monitor service modules may be mapped, to specific ones of the devices, based on, for example, requirements of other services and/or relevant device metadata (e.g., capabilities) of the devices. In additional or alternative implementations, various protocols may be used to register new devices and deployed monitor service(s) with the distributed monitoring service(s) in a fast, secure, energy-efficient, and reliable manner, even as devices join or leave the device network(s).

Claims

1. A system comprising:

at least a first device configured to collect monitor data associated with at least one device network, using a first instance of a core monitor service and at least a first monitor service module at a first logical layer of a hierarchical, multi-tiered monitor architecture; and

at least a second device configured to propagate at least a portion of the monitor data from the first device up through the hierarchical, multi-tiered monitor architecture, using a second instance of the core monitor service and at least a second monitor service module at a second logical layer of the hierarchical, multi-tiered monitor architecture.

2. The system of claim 1:

wherein the at least the first device includes a smart item device associated with the at least one device network, and the smart item device is configured to implement the first instance of the core monitor service and the first monitor service module using an edge monitor service at which the monitor data is collected, and

wherein the at least the second device includes a group leader device associated with the device network, and the group leader device is configured to implement the second instance of the core monitor service and the second monitor service module using a group leader monitor service at which the monitor data is processed for transmission.

3. The system of claim 2 wherein the at least the second device includes a local device associated with the group leader monitor service, and the local device is configured to implement a third instance of the core monitor service and at least a third monitor service module using a local monitor service at which the processed monitor data is stored.

4. The system of claim 3 wherein the at least the second device includes a global device associated with the local monitor service, and the global device is configured to implement a fourth instance of the core monitor service and at least a fourth monitor service module using a global monitor service at which the stored monitor data is used to update global monitor data.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein the core monitor service includes one or more of:

a system landscape database configured to store known monitor data associated with the at least one device network,

a heartbeat transmitter configured to transmit a heartbeat signal from the first device to the second device,

a ping requester configured to test for a connection of a lower-level device;

a query router configured to route queries for monitor data to a lower-level instance of the core monitor service, and

an update notification transmitter configured to transmit notifications of changes in a landscape of the hierarchical, multi-tiered monitor architecture.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein the core monitor service is associated with a module manager that is configured to select and implement the first monitor service module from among a plurality of monitor service modules, and wherein each of the plurality of monitor service modules includes a common interface for communicating with the core monitor service.

7. The system of claim 1 wherein the first monitor service module includes a system adaptor that is configured to collect service metadata associated with a service on the first device and/or device metadata associated with the first device.

8. The system of claim 1 wherein the first monitor service module includes a communication adaptor configured to conduct communications for the first instance of the core monitor service.

9. The system of claim 1 wherein the second monitor service module includes a data storage module configured to provide the second instance of the core monitor service with storage of the at least a portion of the monitor data.

10. The system of claim 1 wherein the second monitor service module includes a data pre-processor module that is configured to process the monitor data to obtain the at least a portion of the monitor data, the processing including one or more of filtering or aggregating the monitor data.

11. A method comprising:

providing an instance of a core monitor service on each of a plurality of tiers of a hierarchical, multi-tiered monitor architecture associated with at least one device network, the core monitor service associated with collecting monitor data associated with the at least one device network; and

providing at least one monitor service module on at least one of the plurality of tiers, the at least one monitor service module configured to communicate with the core monitor service to propagate at least a portion of the monitor data upward through the hierarchical, multi-tiered monitor architecture from the at least one device network.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the at least one monitor service module includes a system adaptor configured to collect service metadata associated with a service and/or device metadata associated with a device, the method comprising:

polling an edge monitor service deployed on each of a plurality of devices of the at least one device network, the edge monitor service including the core monitor service and the system adaptor;

processing heartbeat messages received from the plurality of devices using at least one group leader monitor service, the group leader monitor service including the core monitor service and a first data pre-processing monitor service module.

13. The method of claim 12 comprising:

processing heartbeat messages received from the at least one group leader monitor service using at least one local monitor service, the local monitor service including the core monitor service, a second data pre-processing monitor service module, and a data storage service module.

14. The method of claim 13 comprising:

processing heartbeat messages received from the at least one local monitor service using a global monitor service, wherein the local monitor service is configured to transmit a delta synchronization message to the global monitor service to update global monitor data stored in association therewith.

15. A system comprising:

a service repository configured to store a core monitor service and a plurality of monitor service modules, wherein the core monitor service and the plurality of monitor service modules are associated with obtaining monitor data from at least one device network;

a system mapper configured to deploy instances of the core monitor service onto at least two tiers of a hierarchical, multi-tiered architecture associated with obtaining the monitor data, and further configured to deploy at least one monitor service module onto at least one tier of the hierarchical, multi-tiered architecture; and

a system monitor comprising the instances of the core monitor service and the at least one monitor service module, the system monitor configured to propagate at least a portion of the monitor data through the hierarchical, multi-tiered architecture from the device network.

16. The system of claim 15 wherein the system mapper is configured to deploy the at least one monitor service module onto at least one tier of the hierarchical, multi-tiered architecture, based on device metadata associated with a device implementing the at least one tier.

17. The system of claim 15 wherein the at least one monitor service module includes a plurality of monitor service modules sharing a common interface for communicating with the core monitor service.

18. The system of claim 15 wherein the at least one monitor service module includes one or more of a system adaptor module, a communications adaptor module, a data storage module, or a data pre-process module.

19. The system of claim 15 wherein the service mapper is configured to deploy the core monitor service to a device associated with the device network, and wherein the system monitor is configured to provide static metadata associated with the device to the service mapper, using the core monitor service, and further wherein the service mapper is configured to deploy the monitor service module to the device, based on the static metadata.

20. The system of claim 15 wherein the system monitor comprises a composite monitor service deployed across the hierarchical, multi-tiered architecture, the composite monitor service including, at a corresponding tier of the architecture:

an edge monitor service configured to collect raw monitor data associated with the device network;

a group leader monitor service configured to receive and process the raw monitor data;

a local monitor service configured to receive, further process, and store the processed monitor data; and

a global monitor service configured to receive a delta synchronization message from the local monitor service and to update global monitor data based thereon.