Granted Patent B1

US 8,185,619 · App. 11/770,427 · Granted May 22, 2012

Abstract

Claims (51)

1. A method for providing analytics for a plurality of devices in a predetermined customer computer network via a public wide area network interface using an agentless architecture, the method comprising:

providing a customer agentless software data collector within the customer computer network;

the customer agentless software data collector collecting analytics data from the plurality of devices using a data collection process and a flow collection process, wherein the plurality of devices are not executing data collection agents, and wherein the data collection process is independent from the flow collection process in that the data collection process includes installation routines distinct from installation routines of the flow collection process;

the customer agentless software data collector sending the analytics data to a remote data center on a public wide area network;

the remote data center receiving a request for analytics data for one or more of the plurality of devices from a public wide area network interface;

displaying analytics data for one or more of the plurality of devices in response to the request;

communicating one or more remote procedure calls between the public wide area network interface and the customer agentless software data collector, the public wide area network interface being a web browser;

the customer agentless software data collector actively polling analytics data from the plurality of devices at predetermined time intervals;

the customer agentless software data collector obtaining, in response to said actively polling analytics data, two or more first device metrics from a first one of the plurality of devices and two or more second device metrics from a second one of the plurality of devices, the two or more first device metrics being different than the two or more second device metrics;

creating a definition of a new, composite metric using an application programming interface (API), wherein the new, composite metric does not natively exist on one or more of the plurality of devices;

the customer agentless software data collector accessing the definition of the new, composite metric;

the customer agentless software data collector calculating the new, composite metric from the two or more first device metrics and the two or more second device metrics; and

displaying a comparison of the first one of the plurality of devices and the second one of the plurality of devices as to the new, composite metric.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising remotely initiating system discovery at the customer agentless software data collector with the one or more remote procedure calls.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising remotely initiating changes to settings of the customer agentless software data collector with the one or more remote procedure calls.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising initiating the customer agentless software data collector with the one or more remote procedure calls to respond to a real-time analytics inquiry.

5. The method of claim 4 , further comprising passively polling analytics data from the plurality of devices with the customer agentless software data collector at predetermined time intervals.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising normalizing and aggregating metric data from one or more of the plurality of devices.

7. A system for providing analytics for a plurality of devices in a predetermined customer computer network via a public wide area network interface using an agentless architecture, the system comprising:

a customer agentless software data collector within the customer computer network collecting analytics data from the plurality of devices using a data collection process and a flow collection process, wherein the plurality of devices are not executing data collection agents, and wherein the data collection process is independent from the flow collection process in that the data collection process includes installation routines distinct from installation routines of the flow collection process;

a remote data center on a wide area network receiving analytics data from the customer agentless software data collector, wherein the remote data center is accessible from the public wide area network interface;

a reporting engine for providing analytics data for one or more of the plurality of devices to the public wide area network interface;

communicating one or more remote procedure calls between the public wide area network interface and the customer agentless software data collector for remotely initiating an activity at the customer agentless software data collector, the public wide area network interface being a web browser;

the customer agentless software data collector actively polling analytics data from the plurality of devices at predetermined time intervals;

the customer agentless software data collector obtaining, in response to said actively polling analytics data, two or more first device metrics from a first one of the plurality of devices and two or more second device metrics from a second one of the plurality of devices, the two or more first device metrics being different than the two or more second device metrics;

creating a definition of a new, composite metric using an application programming interface (API), wherein the new, composite metric does not natively exist on one or more of the plurality of devices;

the customer agentless software data collector accessing the definition of the new, composite metric; and

the customer agentless software data collector calculating the new, composite metric from the two or more first device metrics and the two or more second device metrics and

displaying a comparison of the first one of the plurality of devices and the second one of the plurality of devices as to the new, composite metric.

8. The system of claim 7 , wherein the activity is changing a setting of the customer agentless software data collector.

9. The system of claim 7 , wherein the activity is running system discovery.

10. The system of claim 7 , wherein the activity is responding to a real-time query for analytics data.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein the customer agentless software data collector includes a configuration for passively collecting analytics data from the plurality of devices and reporting the data at predetermined time intervals.

12. The method of claim 5 , wherein passively polling analytics data includes polling predetermined SNMP devices for metrics data, the metrics data including performance and usage data from the customer computer network.

13. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

maintaining, via the remote data center, polling proxy services and flow proxy services, the polling proxy services being independent from the flow proxy services.

14. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving a request to monitor a specific behavior of the customer computer network, wherein a metric corresponding to the specific behavior is not provided by the plurality of devices in the customer computer network;

identifying multiple metrics, provided by the plurality of devices, that are related to the specific behavior; and

wherein calculating a new, composite metric is for reporting the specific behavior based on the identified multiple metrics that are related to the specific behavior.

15. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving a request to identify and monitor a given device from the plurality of devices;

discovering the given device by searching for devices within a specific Internet Protocol range;

initiating a remote procedure call, via a remote procedure call tracking component on a polling proxy service;

completing discovery of the given device via a remote procedure call execution component executing on a polling client of the customer agentless software data collector; and

returning discovery results to the data center via the polling proxy service.

16. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

remotely initiating system discovery at the customer agentless software data collector with the one or more remote procedure calls;

remotely initiating changes to settings of the customer agentless software data collector with the one or more remote procedure calls;

initiating the customer agentless software data collector with the one or more remote procedure calls to respond to a real-time analytics inquiry; and

passively polling analytics data from the plurality of devices with the customer agentless software data collector at predetermined time intervals.

Assignments (15)