Applications discovery based on file system directories

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11169833-B2
Application number	US-201916280072-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 20, 2019
Priority date	Dec 7, 2018
Publication date	Nov 9, 2021
Grant date	Nov 9, 2021

Abstract

Techniques for discovering applications based on file system directories are disclosed. In one example, process information may be extracted from a file system directory of an application host executing a plurality of applications. Further, an expression match may be performed on the process information. Furthermore, a presence of an application running on the application host may be determined based on an outcome of the expression match.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
extracting, by a processor of an application host, process information from a file system directory of the application host executing a plurality of applications, wherein the application host comprises a container running on a container host, and wherein extracting the process information from the file system directory comprises:
detecting a container identifier of the container running on the container host;
determining a process identifier associated with a process running on the container based on the container identifier;
determining the file system directory associated with the process identifier; and
extracting the process information associated with the process running on the container from the file system directory;

performing, by the processor, an expression match on the process information, wherein performing the expression match on the process information comprises:
determining command line parameters used to initiate the process using the process information; and
performing the expression match on the command line parameters; and

determining, by the processor, a presence of an application running on the application host based on an outcome of the expression match.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
real-time monitoring the application; and
determining health of the application based on the real-time monitoring.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein performing the expression match comprises performing a regular expression match.

4. A method comprising:
extracting, by a processor of an application host, process information from a file system directory of the application host executing a plurality of applications, wherein the application host is one of a physical server and a virtual machine, and wherein extracting the process information from the file system directory comprises:
determining a process identifier associated with a process running on the application host;
determining the file system directory corresponding to the process identifier; and
extracting the process information associated with the process running on the application host from the file system directory;

performing, by the processor, an expression match on the process information, wherein performing the expression match on the process information comprises:
determining command line parameters used to initiate the process using the process information; and
performing the expression match on the command line parameters; and

determining, by the processor, a presence of an application running on the application host based on an outcome of the expression match.

5. An apparatus comprising:
a container host implementing a container, the container executing a plurality of applications;
a storage platform associated with the container host to store a plurality of file system directories associated with the plurality of applications and implementing storage resources for utilization by the container; and
an application discovery unit residing in the container host to:
extract process information from a file system directory of the plurality of file system directories corresponding to the container, wherein the application discovery unit is to:
detect a container identifier of the container running on the container host;
determine a process identifier associated with a process running on the container based on the container identifier;
determine the file system directory associated with the process identifier; and
extract the process information associated with the process running on the container from the file system directory;

perform an expression match on the process information, wherein the application discovery unit is to:
determine command line parameters used to initiate the process using the process information; and
perform the expression match on the command line parameters; and

determine a presence of an application running on the container based on an outcome of the expression match.

6. The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the container host comprises an application monitoring unit to:
real-time monitor the application running on the container to collect metrics corresponding to the application; and
transmit the collected metrics to a cloud monitoring platform over a network, wherein cloud monitoring platform is to determine health of the application based on analyzing the collected metrics.

7. The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the container host comprises a processor resource coupled to a memory resource, and wherein the application discovery unit and the application monitoring unit are implemented by the processor executing instructions stored in the memory.

8. The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the file system directory comprises information characterizing one or more parameters of a container operating environment of the container including one or more of a network parameter, a port parameter, a storage parameter, and a command line parameter.

9. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium encoded with instructions that, when executed by a processor of a container host, cause the processor to:
extract process information from a file system directory corresponding to a container executing a plurality of applications, the container running on the container host, wherein instructions to extract the process information from the file system directory comprises instructions to:
detect a container identifier of the container running on the container host;
determine a process identifier associated with a process running on the container based on the container identifier;
determine the tile system directory associated with the process identifier; and
extract the process information associated with the process running on the container from the file system directory;

perform an expression match on the process information, wherein instructions to perform the expression match on the process information comprises instructions to:
determine command line parameters used to initiate the process using the process information; and
perform the expression match on the command line parameters; and

determine a presence of an application running on the container based on an outcome of the expression match.

10. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 9 , further comprising instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:
real-time monitor the application running on the container to collect metrics corresponding to the application; and
transmit the collected metrics to a cloud monitoring platform over a network, wherein cloud monitoring platform is to determine health of the application based on analyzing the collected metrics.

11. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 9 , wherein instructions to perform the expression match comprises instructions to perform a regular expression match.

Assignees

• Vmware Inc

Inventors

• Shetty Divith
• Chaudhary Vipul
• Vivekananda Vinay

Classifications

• G06F16/90344

  by using string matching techniques · CPC title

• G06F9/45558

  Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects · CPC title

• G06F8/60 Primary

  Software deployment · CPC title

• G06F2009/45579

  I/O management, e.g. providing access to device drivers or storage · CPC title

• G06F2009/45591

  Monitoring or debugging support · CPC title