AUTO DISCOVERY OF CONFIGURATION ITEMS

• US 20180278475A1
• Filed: 05/29/2018
• Published: 09/27/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 12/22/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ServiceNow Incorporated
• Original Assignee: ServiceNow Incorporated
• Inventors: Polinati, Chinna, Varghese, Jake, Chandrashekar, Sridhar
• Granted Patent: US 10,601,660 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2379 Updates performed during online database operations; commit processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/046 comprising network management agents or mobile agents therefor
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/083 for increasing network speed
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/085 Retrieval of network configuration; Tracking network configuration history
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0853 by actively collecting configuration information or by backing up configuration information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/12 Discovery or management of network topologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5058 Service discovery by the service manager
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1061 using node-based peer discovery mechanisms static access to replicated servers H04L67/1006; service discovery H04L67/51

Abstract

A method includes determining that an agent configured an identified node of a computer system, obtaining a definition of the agent that configured the identified node, identifying a configuration item associated with the identified node based at least in part on the definition of the agent that configured the identified node, and updating a service model database with the identified configuration item.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

determining that an agent configured an identified node of a computer system;

obtaining a definition of the agent that configured the identified node;

identifying a configuration item associated with the identified node based at least in part on the definition of the agent that configured the identified node; and

updating a service model database with the identified configuration item.

2. The method, as set forth in claim 1, wherein determining that an identified of a computer system was configured by an agent comprises querying whether the identified node is associated with an indication of a configuration definition.

3. The method, as set forth in claim 2, wherein querying whether the identified node is associated with an indication of a configuration definition comprises checking a memory associated with the identified node for information identifying an agent having the configuration definition.

4. The method, as set forth in claim 2, wherein querying whether the identified node is associated with an indication of a configuration definition comprises checking the service model database for a code stored with the configuration item representing the identified node.

5. The method, as set forth in claim 1, wherein obtaining a definition of the agent that configured the identified node comprises searching configuration management data of a computer network for configuration management role information for the agent that configured the identified node.

6. The method, as set forth in claim 5, wherein identifying a configuration item associated with the identified node based at least in part on the definition of the agent that configured the identified node comprises searching for configuration items established by the agent that configured the identified node based at least in part on the configuration management role information.

7. The method, as set forth in claim 1, wherein identifying a configuration item associated with the identified node based at least in part on the definition of the agent that configured the identified node comprises searching for configuration items established when the agent configured the identified node.

8. The method, as set forth in claim 7, wherein searching for configuration items established when the agent configured the identified node comprises identifying one or more configuration items having unchanged roles and interconnections.

9. An apparatus for discovering nodes in a computer network, the apparatus comprising:

a physical network interface configured to couple the apparatus to the computer network;

a processor operably coupled to the physical network interface and configured to execute instructions stored in a memory which, when executed, cause the processor to;

perform a discovery process on the computer network to identify a plurality of nodes in the computer network, the discovery process;

determines that an identified node of the plurality of nodes was configured by an agent;

obtains a definition of the agent that configured the identified node;

identifies any configuration items associated with the identified node based at least in part on the definition of the agent that configured the identified node; and

updates a service model database with any identified configuration items.

10. The apparatus, as set forth in claim 9, wherein the discovery process determines that an identified node of the plurality of nodes was configured by an agent by querying whether the identified node has an indication of a configuration definition associated with the identified node.

11. The apparatus, as set forth in claim 10, wherein the discovery process queries whether the identified node has an indication of a configuration definition associated with the identified node by checking a memory associated with the identified node for information identifying an agent having the configuration definition.

12. The apparatus, as set forth in claim 10, wherein the discovery process queries whether the identified node has an indication of a configuration definition associated with the identified node by checking the service model database for a code stored with a configuration item representing the identified node.

13. The apparatus, as set forth in claim 9, wherein the discovery process obtains a definition of the agent that configured the identified node by searching configuration management data of the computer network for configuration management role information for the agent that configured the identified node.

14. The apparatus, as set forth in claim 13, wherein the discovery process identifies any configuration items associated with the identified node based at least in part on the definition of the agent that configured the identified node by searching for configuration items established when the agent configured the identified node.

15. The apparatus, as set forth in claim 14, wherein the discovery process searches for configuration items established when the agent configured the identified node by identifying configuration items that have not changed their roles and interconnections since they were configured by the agent.

16. The apparatus, as set forth in claim 15, wherein the discovery process identifies any configuration items associated with the identified node based at least in part on the definition of the agent that configured the identified node by searching for configuration items established when the agent configured the identified node based at least in part on the configuration management role information.

17. A method comprising:

identifying a node of a computer system;

determining that an agent configured the identified node of the computer system, comprising querying whether the identified node is associated with an indication of a configuration definition;

obtaining a definition of the agent that configured the identified node, comprising searching configuration management data of a computer network for configuration management role information for the agent that configured the identified node;

identifying a configuration item associated with the identified node based at least in part on the definition of the agent that configured the identified node; and

updating a service model database with the identified configuration item.

18. The method, as set forth in claim 17 wherein querying whether the identified node is associated with an indication of a configuration definition comprises checking a memory associated with the identified node for information identifying an agent having the configuration definition.

19. The method, as set forth in claim 17, wherein querying whether the identified node is associated with an indication of a configuration definition comprises checking the service model database for a code stored with the configuration item representing the identified node.

20. The method, as set forth in claim 17, wherein identifying a configuration item associated with the identified node based at least in part on the definition of the agent that configured the identified node comprises searching for configuration items established when the agent configured the identified node.