Auto discovery of configuration items

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10601660-B2
Application number	US-201815991273-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 29, 2018
Priority date	Dec 22, 2014
Publication date	Mar 24, 2020
Grant date	Mar 24, 2020

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.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
executing a discovery process on a computer network, the discovery process comprising:
determining that an agent configured an identified node of the computer network, comprising checking a memory associated with the identified node for information that associates the agent with configuration management role information;
obtaining a definition of the agent that configured the identified node, comprising searching configuration management data of the computer network for the configuration management role information 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 identifying the 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 one or more configuration items established by the agent that configured the identified node based at least in part on the configuration management role information.

3. The method, as set forth in claim 1 , wherein identifying the 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.

4. The method, as set forth in claim 3 , wherein searching for the configuration items established when the agent configured the identified node comprises identifying one or more configuration items having unchanged roles and interconnections.

5. 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, the discovery process comprising:
determining that an identified node of a plurality of nodes was configured by an agent, comprising checking a memory associated with the identified node for information that associates the agent with configuration management role information;
obtaining a definition of the agent that configured the identified node, comprising searching configuration management data of the computer network for the configuration management role information of the agent that configured the identified node;
identifying 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
updating a service model database with the identified configuration items.

6. The apparatus, as set forth in claim 5 , wherein the discovery process identifies the 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 one or more configuration items established when the agent configured the identified node.

7. The apparatus, as set forth in claim 6 , wherein the discovery process searches for the one or more configuration items established when the agent configured the identified node by identifying one or more configuration items that have not changed their roles and interconnections since the one or more configuration items were configured by the agent.

8. The apparatus, as set forth in claim 7 , wherein the discovery process identifies the 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 the one or more configuration items established when the agent configured the identified node based at least in part on the configuration management role information.

9. A method comprising:
identifying a node of a computer system;
executing a discovery process on the computer system, the discovery process comprising:
determining that an agent configured the identified node of the computer system, comprising checking a memory associated with the identified node for information that associates the agent with configuration management role information;
obtaining a definition of the agent that configured the identified node, comprising searching configuration management data of the computer system for the configuration management role information 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.

10. The method, as set forth in claim 9 , wherein identifying the 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 one or more configuration items established when the agent configured the identified node.

11. The method of claim 1 , comprising executing an additional discovery process on the computer network using the agent before executing the discovery process on the computer network, wherein the agent comprises a configuration management tool used to configure one or more nodes of the plurality of nodes in the computer network and identify a plurality of configuration items associated with the one or more configured nodes to include in the service model database.

Assignees

• Servicenow Inc

Inventors

• Polinati Chinna
• Varghese Jake
• Chandrashekar Sridhar

Classifications

• H04L67/1061

  using node-based peer discovery mechanisms (static access to replicated servers H04L67/1006; service discovery H04L67/51) · CPC title

• H04L41/0853 Primary

  by actively collecting configuration information or by backing up configuration information · CPC title

• H04L41/5058

  Service discovery by the service manager · CPC title

• G06F16/951

  Indexing; Web crawling techniques · CPC title

• H04L41/085

  Retrieval of network configuration; Tracking network configuration history · CPC title