Configuration discovery service data visualization

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9979596-B2
Application number	US-201615189976-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 22, 2016
Priority date	Jun 22, 2016
Publication date	May 22, 2018
Grant date	May 22, 2018

Abstract

Configuration items of an environment for a client of a configuration discovery service are identified. A view category is selected for the target environment. A set of configuration items for which information regarding recent configuration changes is to be provided is identified. Data which can be used to display a graphical representation of at least a portion of the environment and the configuration changes is transmitted.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system, comprising:
one or more computing devices of a network-accessible visualization service;
wherein the one or more computing devices are configured to:
determine, based at least in part on results of one or more queries directed to a repository of a network-accessible configuration discovery service, that a visualization target environment of a client comprises a first set of configuration items at a first data center of a first provider network and a second set of configuration items at a second data center external to the first provider network;
detect one or more constraints of a client-side display environment of the client;
select, based at least in part on a type of configuration information to be provided to the client with respect to at least a portion of the visualization target environment, a particular view category to be used to display the configuration information, wherein the particular view category is selected from a plurality of view categories which includes a tree category, a graph category and a table category;
identify, based at least on a selected time window, one or more configuration items of the visualization target environment for which respective entries are to be included in a recent-changes section of a dashboard on behalf of the client; and
transmit data indicative of a graphical representation of (a) at least the portion of the visualization target environment and (b) the dashboard, wherein the graphical representation is prepared base at least in part on the one or more constraints.

2. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the one or more computing devices are configured to:
determine that feedback-based disambiguation of an identity of a particular configuration item of the visualization target environment is to be initiated;
cause a disambiguation request with respect to the particular configuration item to be sent to the client for display within the dashboard; and
in response to a confirmation, received via a programmatic interface, of an identity of the particular configuration item,
store an indication of the identity in a repository.

3. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the one or more computing devices are configured to:
receive, via an control element of the graphical representation, a source identification request with respect to one or more packets of network traffic received at a particular configuration item of the visualization target environment, wherein the one or more packets are transmitted to the particular configuration item via an obfuscating intermediary device, wherein the graphical representation includes an indication of the reception of the one or more packets at the particular configuration item;
initiate a source identification operation with respect to the one or more packets; and
send data to update the graphical representation to indicate another configuration item identified as a candidate source of the one or more packets, wherein the other configuration item is identified based at least on a result of the source identification operation.

4. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the graphical representation of at least the portion of the visualization target environment comprises an indication of one or more of (a) a first configuration item at which a transaction request originated, (b) a second configuration item at which a transaction response corresponding to the transaction request is generated, and (c) a latency associated with the transaction request.

5. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the one or more computing devices are configured to:
based at least in part on an estimate of resource usage associated with fulfilling a visualization request via a particular client-side display environment, transmit a recommendation to utilize a different client-side display environment for displaying information indicated in the visualization request.

6. A method, comprising:
performing, by one or more computing devices:
determining that an environment of a client of a network-accessible configuration discovery service comprises a first set of configuration items at a first data center of a first provider network and a second set of configuration items at a second data center external to the first provider network;
selecting, from a plurality of view categories which includes a graph category and a table category, based at least in part on a type of configuration information to be displayed, a particular view category to be used to display configuration information associated with at least a portion of the environment to the client, wherein the configuration information is stored at a network-accessible configuration discovery service;
identifying one or more configuration items of the environment for which respective entries indicating configuration changes are to be displayed; and
transmitting data indicative of a graphical representation of (a) at least the portion of the environment and (b) the respective entries indicating configuration changes.

7. The method as recited in claim 6 , further comprising performing, by the one or more computing devices:
determining that feedback-based disambiguation of an identity of a particular configuration item of the environment is to be initiated;
causing a display of a disambiguation request with respect to the particular configuration item within a dashboard; and
in response to a confirmation, received via a programmatic interface, of an identity of the particular configuration item,
storing an indication of the identity in a repository.

8. The method as recited in claim 6 , further comprising performing, by the one or more computing devices:
receiving, via a control element of the graphical representation, a source identification request with respect to one or more packets of network traffic received at a particular configuration item of the environment, wherein the one or more packets are transmitted to the particular configuration item via an obfuscating intermediary device, wherein the graphical representation includes an indication of the reception of the one or more packets at the particular configuration item;
initiating a source identification operation with respect to the one or more packets; and
updating the graphical representation to indicate another configuration item identified as a candidate source of the one or more packets, wherein the other configuration item is identified based at least on a result of the source identification operation.

9. The method as recited in claim 6 , wherein the graphical representation of at least the portion of the environment comprises an indication of one or more of (a) a first configuration item at which a transaction request originated, (b) a second configuration item at which a transaction response corresponding to the transaction request is generated, and (c) a latency associated with the transaction request.

10. The method as recited in claim 6 , further comprising performing, by the one or more computing devices:
receiving a visualization request from the client, wherein the visualization request is associated with a particular client-side display environment;
based at least in part on an estimate of resource usage associated with fulfilling the visualization request via the particular client-side display environment, transmitting a recommendation to utilize an offline tool for displaying information requested in the visualization request.

11. The method as recited in claim 6 , further comprising performing, by the one or more computing devices:
receiving, via a first interactive component of the graphical representation, a tagging request from th

Assignees

• Amazon Tech Inc

Inventors

• Subramanian Hariharan
• Mandadi Vijay Dheeraj Reddy
• Chennuru Ramapulla Reddy
• Natarajan Karthikeyan
• Agrawal Gunja
• Do Long Kim

Classifications

• H04L41/22

  comprising specially adapted graphical user interfaces [GUI] · CPC title

• H04L41/0806 Primary

  for initial configuration or provisioning, e.g. plug-and-play · CPC title

• H04L41/0895 Primary

  Configuration of virtualised networks or elements, e.g. virtualised network function or OpenFlow elements · CPC title

• H04L41/40

  using virtualisation of network functions or resources, e.g. SDN or NFV entities · CPC title

• H04L41/0853

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