Automatic selection of agent-based or agentless monitoring

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10997047-B2
Application number	US-201013260293-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 14, 2010
Priority date	Sep 15, 2009
Publication date	May 4, 2021
Grant date	May 4, 2021

Abstract

Presented is a method and system for automatically selecting agent-based or agentless monitoring using a configuration management database (CMDB). The method includes determining whether a system is business critical or business non-critical, selecting agent-based monitoring if the system is business critical and selecting agentless monitoring if the system is business non-critical.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A computer-implemented method for automatically selecting agent-based or agentless monitoring, the method comprising:
determining by a processor, based on a plurality of configuration items included in a configuration management database, whether a system is part of business service topology of a specific business service;
in response to a determination that the system is part of the business service topology of a specific business service, determining by the processor, based on properties of the plurality of configuration items in the configuration management database, whether the system impacts the specific business service;
determining, by the processor, that the system is business critical with respect to the specific business service in response to a determination that the system impacts the specific business service;
determining, by the processor, that the system is business non-critical with respect to the specific business service in response to a determination that the system does not impact the specific business service;
selecting, by the processor, between agent-based monitoring and agentless monitoring based on a determination of whether the system is business critical or business non-critical with respect to the specific business service, wherein a selection of agentless monitoring, and not agent-based monitoring, is made in response to a determination that the system is business non-critical, and wherein a selection of agent-based monitoring, and not agentless monitoring, is made in response to a determination that the system is business critical; and
in response to a selection of agent-based monitoring, installing a monitoring agent on the system, the monitoring agent to collect information associated with the system.

2. A method according to claim 1 , wherein determining whether the system impacts the specific business service comprises determining whether the system impacts a revenue of the specific business service.

3. A method according to claim 1 , wherein determining whether the system impacts the specific business service comprises determining whether the system impacts a Service Level Agreement (SLA) of the specific business service.

4. A method according to claim 1 , comprising populating the plurality of configuration items in the configuration management database using a discovery mechanism.

5. A method according to claim 1 , wherein the properties of the plurality of configuration items include a location of the system.

6. A method according to claim 1 , further comprising:
in response to a selection of agentless monitoring, remotely collecting information associated with the system via a network without using an installed agent.

7. A method according to claim 6 , wherein remotely collecting information associated with the system comprises using a Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) interface and not using an installed agent.

8. A method according to claim 1 , further comprising:
selecting agentless monitoring, and not agent-based monitoring, in response to a determination that the properties of the plurality of configuration items indicate that the system is manageable with agentless monitoring.

9. A method according to claim 1 , further comprising:
selecting agent-based or agentless monitoring based on modeling an existing deployment.

10. A method according to claim 1 , wherein the properties of the plurality of configuration items include a type of the system.

11. An apparatus comprising:
a processor, and a memory comprising program instructions; and
a configuration management database (CMDB), wherein the program instructions are executable by the CMDB to:
determine, based on a plurality of configuration items included in the CMDB, whether a system is part of business service topology of a specific business service;
in response to a determination that the system is part of the business service topology of a specific business service, determine, based on properties of the plurality of configuration items in the configuration management database, whether the system impacts the specific business service;
determine that the system is business critical with respect to the specific business service in response to a determination that the system impacts the specific business service;
determine that the system is business non-critical with respect to the specific business service in response to a determination that the system does not impact the specific business service;
select agent-based monitoring, and not agentless monitoring, in response to a determination that the system is business critical with respect to the specific business service;
select agentless monitoring, and not agent-based monitoring, in response to a determination that the system is business non-critical with respect to the specific business service;
in response to a selection of agent-based monitoring, install a monitoring agent on the system, the monitoring agent to collect information associated with the system; and
in response to a selection of agentless monitoring, remotely collect information associated with the system via a network without using an installed agent.

12. An apparatus according to claim 11 , further comprising program instructions to determine whether the system impacts the specific business service based on a determination as to whether the system impacts a revenue of the specific business service.

13. An apparatus according to claim 11 , further comprising program instructions to determine whether the system impacts the specific business service based on a determination as to whether the system impacts a Service Level Agreement (SLA) of the specific business service.

14. A non-transitory machine-readable medium comprising instructions that when executed by a processor, cause the processor to:
determine, based on a plurality of configuration items included in a configuration management database, whether a system is part of business service topology of a specific business service;
in response to a determination that the system is part of the business service topology of a specific business service, determine, based on properties of the plurality of configuration items in the configuration management database, whether the system impacts the specific business service;
determine that the system is business critical with respect to the specific business service in response to a determination that the system impacts the specific business service;
determine that the system is business non-critical with respect to the specific business service in response to a determination that the system does not impact the specific business service;
select agent-based monitoring, and not agentless monitoring, in response to a determination that the system is business critical with respect to the specific business service;
select agentless monitoring, and not agent-based monitoring, in response to a determination that the system is business non-critical with respect to the specific business service;
in response to a selection of agent-based monitoring, install a monitoring agent on the system, the monitoring agent to collect information associated with the system; and
in response to a selection of agentless monitoring, remotely collect information associated with the system via a network without using an installed agent.

15. A non-transitory machine-readable medium according to claim 14 , wherein the properties of the plurality of configuration items include a location of the system.

16. A non-transitory machine-readable medium according to c

Assignees

• Pargaonkar Vishwanath Bandoo
• Ramakrishnan Krishna Mahadevan
• Micro Focus Llc

Inventors

• Pargaonkar Vishwanath Bandoo
• Ramakrishnan Krishna Mahadevan

Classifications

• H04L43/0805

  by checking availability · CPC title

• G06F11/3051

  Monitoring arrangements for monitoring the configuration of the computing system or of the computing system component, e.g. monitoring the presence of processing resources, peripherals, I/O links, software programs (verification or detection of system hardware configuration G06F11/2247) · CPC title

• H04L41/5032

  Generating service level reports · CPC title

• G06F11/3093

  Configuration details thereof, e.g. installation, enabling, spatial arrangement of the probes · CPC title

• H04L41/142

  using statistical or mathematical methods · CPC title