De-duplication of configuration items related to a managed network

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11074239-B2
Application number	US-201815905146-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 26, 2018
Priority date	Feb 26, 2018
Publication date	Jul 27, 2021
Grant date	Jul 27, 2021

Abstract

A system may include a database containing representations of configuration items associated with a managed network that is managed by a remote network management platform. The system may also contain a server device that may be configured to determine a set of duplicate representations of a particular configuration item of the configuration items. The configuration items may relate to computing devices and software applications disposed within the managed network. The server device may be further configured to generate a master representation from the set of duplicate configuration items. The server device may replace, in the database, the set of duplicate representations with the master representation.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A remote network management platform comprising:
a database containing a plurality of representations of a plurality of configuration items associated with a managed network that is managed by the remote network management platform, wherein the plurality of configuration items relate to one or more computing devices and one or more software applications disposed within the managed network; and
a server device configured to:
determine a set of duplicate representations of a particular configuration item of the plurality of configuration items;
generate and provide, to a client device, a representation of a graphical user interface, comprising:
a first pane of a sequence of panes that correspond to respective steps in a guided process of remediating the set of duplicate representations into a master representation, wherein the first pane corresponds to a first step of the respective steps to select a particular duplicate representation of the set of duplicate representations as the master representation, and wherein the first pane comprises a first window that includes a first description of the first step for a user to follow to select the particular duplicate representation from the set of duplicate representations as the master representation and a first plurality of data entry fields that respectively correspond to the set of duplicate representations;

generate the master representation based on the particular duplicate representation corresponding to a first selected data entry field from the first plurality of data entry fields;
generate and provide, to the client device, a second representation of the graphical user interface, comprising:
a second pane of the sequence of panes that corresponds to a second step of the respective steps to associate one or more attribute values of the set of duplicate representations with one or more respective attributes of the master representation, wherein the second pane comprises a second window that includes a second description of the second step for the user to follow to associate the one or more attribute values with the one or more respective attributes of the master representation and a second plurality of data entry fields that correspond to a plurality of attribute values of the set of duplicate representations, the plurality of attribute values comprising the one or more respective attributes;

set the master representation to include the one or more respective attribute values corresponding to one or more second selected data entry fields from the second plurality of data entry fields; and
replace, in the database, the set of duplicate representations with the master representation.

2. The remote network management platform of claim 1 , wherein the first pane includes a selectable option for the server device to provide a truncated list of duplicate representations from the set, wherein the server device is configured to:
determine a recommended representation according to a predetermined rule, wherein the truncated list includes an indication of the recommended representation.

3. The remote network management platform of claim 2 , wherein determining the recommended representation according to the predetermined rule comprises:
comparing times at which each duplicate representation of the set of duplicate representations was created;
identifying a duplicate representation that was created before any other duplicate representation of the set of duplicate representations; and
setting the identified duplicate representation as the recommended representation.

4. The remote network management platform of claim 2 , wherein determining the recommended representation according to the predetermined rule comprises:
comparing times at which each duplicate representation of the set of duplicate representations was last updated;
identifying a duplicate representation that was updated more recently than any other duplicate representation in the set of duplicate representations; and
setting the identified duplicate representation as the recommended representation.

5. The remote network management platform of claim 1 , wherein each data entry field of the second plurality of data entry fields comprises an option to replace an attribute value of the one or more respective attributes of the master representation with a particular attribute value of the one or more attributes values of the set of duplicate representations.

6. The remote network management platform of claim 1 , wherein the server device is configured to:
prior to replacing the set of duplicate representations, generate and provide, to the client device, a third representation of the graphical user interface, comprising an option to merge one or more relationships included in each duplicate representation of the set of duplicate representations into a single set of relationships, wherein each relationship of the single set of relationships defines an operational association between two or more configuration items of the plurality of configuration items;
receive, from the client device, an indication of a selection of the option to merge the relationships;
determine one or more unique relationships included in the set of duplicate representations;
generate the single set of relationships based on the one or more determined unique relationships; and
set the master representation to include the single set of relationships.

7. The remote network management platform of claim 1 , wherein replacing the set of duplicate representations with the master representation includes:
providing an option to delete one or more duplicate representations of the set of duplicate representations other than the master representation;
receiving, from the client device, an indication of a selection of the option to delete the one or more duplicate representations other than the master representation; and
removing the one or more duplicate representations other than the master representation from the database.

8. The remote network management platform of claim 1 , wherein generating the master representation based on the particular duplicate representation comprises copying the particular duplicate representation corresponding to the data entry field, and setting a copy of the particular duplicate representation as the master representation.

9. The remote network management platform of claim 1 , wherein generating the master representation based on the particular duplicate representation comprises setting the particular duplicate representation as the master representation.

10. The remote network management platform of claim 1 , wherein the server device is configured to:
prior to generating and providing the representation of the graphical user interface, generate and provide, to the client device, a third representation of the graphical user interface, comprising a third plurality of data entry fields that correspond to one or more respective sets of duplicate representations that include the set of duplicate representations of the particular configuration item; and
receive, from the client device, an indication of a selection of a data entry field from the third plurality of data entry fields that corresponds to the set of duplicate representations of the particular configuration item.

11. The remote network management platform of claim 1 , wherein the server device is configured to:
generate and provide, to the client device, a third representation of the graphical user interface, comprising an option to adjust an identification rule for use in determining a second set of duplicate representations of a class of the plurality of configuration items of which the particula

Assignees

• Servicenow Inc

Inventors

• Polinati Chinna Babu
• Puvvada Madhavi
• Banerjee Romit
• Lakshman Nikhil
• Trudel Brandon Thomas
• Tero Vivian

Classifications

• G06F9/5061 Primary

  Partitioning or combining of resources · CPC title

• G06F16/252

  between a Database Management System and a front-end application · CPC title

• G06F16/2365 Primary

  Ensuring data consistency and integrity · CPC title