Monitoring service with inter-enterprise contextual analysis

1. A method comprising:

managing, by a monitoring service system of a monitoring service provider, via a network, a plurality of computer systems of one of a plurality of subscriber enterprises subscribing for monitoring service provided by the monitoring service provider, the monitoring service provider and the one of the subscriber enterprises being different enterprise entities, each of the computer systems having a current operating image and being capable of receiving a replacement operating image while operating with the current operating image, and the managing including periodically transmitting the replacement operating image through the network to each of the computer systems while each of the computer systems is operating with the current operating image, and causing the computer systems to switch to operate with the replacement operating image as the current operating image;

receiving, by the monitoring service system, through the network, data associated with one or more system metrics from the plurality of computer systems;

contextually analyzing, by the monitoring service system, the received data in view of prior received data of the one or more system metrics of (A) said computer systems and (B) one or more other computer systems of one or more other subscriber enterprises; and

determining, by the monitoring service system of the monitoring service provider, based at least in part on the results of the contextual analysis, whether an alert related to at least a one of the one or more system metrics should be sent; and sending the alert or causing the alert to be sent, by the monitoring service system, if it is determined that the alert should be sent;

wherein the managing further comprises transmitting a replacement operating image to one or more computer systems based on contextual analysis of data received from one or more other computer systems.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the contextual analyzing further comprises generating one or more baseline metrics from the prior received data and comparing the received data associated with the one or more system metrics with the one or more baseline metrics.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising maintaining, by the monitoring service system, a set of data retention standards for data stored on the monitoring service system, said data comprising at least said prior received data of the one or more system metrics, and applying said data retention standards to data stored on the monitoring service system, the data retention standards including multiple levels for multiple types of system metrics.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising generating, by the monitoring service system, from the received data associated with the one or more system metrics and from the prior received data of the one or more system metrics, one or more summarization data values.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising maintaining, by the monitoring service system, a single summary of system metrics, the single summary characterizing the system metrics by the results of the contextual analysis of the system metrics.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the sending further comprises sending the alert to all or selected ones of the computer systems of the subscriber enterprises.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising provisioning, by the monitoring service system, a monitoring service system interface to facilitate a user of the monitoring service system in monitoring the computer systems of the subscriber enterprises.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein said transmitting comprises transmitting to a stand-by partition or virtual machine of a first of the one or more computer systems, the first computer system having a plurality of partitions or virtual machines.

9. A method comprising:

maintaining, by at least one of a plurality of computer systems of a subscriber enterprise, data associated with one or more system metrics of one or more of the plurality of computer systems, each of the computer systems having a current operating image and being capable of receiving a replacement operating image while operating with the current operating image;

sending, by the at least one of a plurality of computer systems, to a monitoring service system of a monitoring service provider from whom the subscriber enterprise subscribes for monitoring service, the monitoring service provider and subscriber enterprises being different enterprise entities, and the monitoring service system being external to the plurality of computer systems, the data associated with the one or more system metrics to facilitate the monitoring service system in contextually analyzing the data associated with the one or more system metrics, the contextual analysis including comparing the data sent to previously sent data of the one or more system metrics of (A) the plurality of computer systems and (B) one or more other computer systems of one or more other subscriber enterprises; and

receiving, by the at least one of a plurality of computer systems, a replacement operating image for the computer systems and an instruction to switch the computer systems to operate with the replacement operating image as the current operating image, the receiving being as a result of the contextual analysis.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the sending of data associated with the one or more system metrics is performed at predetermined time intervals or in real time.

11. The method of claim 9 , wherein said receiving comprises receiving the replacement operating image into a stand-by partition or virtual machine of a first of the computer systems, the first computer system having a plurality of partitions or virtual machines.

12. The method of claim 9 , further comprising localizing by the at least one of a plurality of computer systems the received replacement operating image for the computer systems of the subscriber enterprise.

13. A monitoring service system of a monitoring service provider comprising:

a processor; and

logic operated by the processor and adapted to:

manage via a network, a plurality of computer systems of one of a plurality of subscriber enterprises subscribing for monitoring service provided by monitoring service provider, the monitoring service provider and the one of the subscriber enterprises being different enterprise entities; and the managing including periodically transmitting a replacement operating image through the network to each of the computer systems while each of the computer systems is operating with a current operating image, and causing the computer systems to switch to operate with the replacement operating image as the current operating image;

receive data associated with one or more system metrics from the plurality of computer systems;

contextually analyze the received data in view of prior received data of the one or more system metrics of (A) said computer systems and (B) one or more other computer systems of one or more other subscriber enterprises;

determine, based at least in part on the results of the contextual analysis, whether an alert related to at least a one of the one or more system metrics should be sent; and send the alert or causing the alert to be sent, if it is determined that the alert should be sent;

wherein the logic is further configured to transmit a replacement operating image to the computer systems based on contextual analysis of data received from the other computer systems.

14. The monitoring service system of claim 13 , wherein the logic adapted to said contextually analyze the received data further includes logic adapted to generate one or more baseline metrics from the prior received data and compare the received data associated with the one or more system metrics with the one or more baseline metrics.

15. The monitoring service system of claim 13 , wherein the logic is further adapted to maintain a single summary of system metrics, the single summary characterizing the system metrics by the results of the contextual analysis of the system metrics.

16. The monitoring service system of claim 13 , wherein the logic is configured to transmit the replacement operating image to a stand-by partition or virtual machine of a first of the one or more computer systems, the first computer system having a plurality of partitions or virtual machines.