EXTERNAL DATA MANAGEMENT IN A REMOTE NETWORK MANAGEMENT PLATFORM

A computational instance of a remote network management platform includes a database API configured to allow operations to be performed on data within the computational instance. A computing system of the computational instance (i) receives a request from a client device to perform an operation on a server device external to the platform; (ii) determines that the server device is accessible by way of a communication protocol that supports a set of protocol-specific operations; (iii) translates the request from a format of the database API into a format of the communication protocol by mapping the requested operation to a target operation of the protocol-specific operations; (iv) instructs the server device to perform the target operation; (v) receives a response containing a result of the server device performing the target operation; and (vi) translates the result from the format of the communication protocol into the format of the database API.

BACKGROUND

A remote network management platform may take the form of a hosted environment that provides an application Platform-as-a-Service (aPaaS) to users, particularly to operators of a managed network such as an enterprise. The services provided may take the form of web-based portals and/or software applications that enterprises, and both internal and external users thereof, may access through computational instances of the remote network management platform.

Furthermore, the remote network management platform may provide each enterprise with its own database in a dedicated computing instance, and the computing instance may use a database application programming interface (API) to perform operations on data stored in the enterprise's database. The enterprise may also have data stored on various server devices that are external to the remote network management platform.

SUMMARY

The embodiments herein overcome the aforementioned limitations by allowing an enterprise to use a remote network management platform to manage data stored on server devices that are external to the remote network management platform. Traditionally, the data could be imported into a database of the remote network management platform, and the remote network management platform could use the database API to perform data operations on the imported data. However, importing data onto the remote network management platform may provide a number of difficulties. For instance, importing the data may involve integrating the imported data with pre-existing data that was previously stored on the remote network management platform. This integration can be tedious and time-consuming if the external data is organized or formatted differently than the pre-existing data, as the external data will have to be reorganized or reformatted to comply with the structure of the pre-existing data on the remote network management platform.

The systems and methods disclosed herein help address these or other issues by allowing the remote network management platform to manage the external data without importing the external data onto the remote network management platform. To achieve this, the remote network management platform may use the database API to simulate the presence of the external data on the remote network management platform, so that, to a user of the enterprise, it appears as though the external data is stored on the remote network management platform, along with the rest of the enterprise's data. The user may then use the database API to request performance of various data operations on the data in the same manner that the user would perform data operations on the data stored on the remote network management platform. The remote network management platform may then translate the requested operations from a format of the database API to a format supported by a communication protocol of the external server where the external data is stored, and send the translated request to the external server. Responsive to receiving the translated request, the external server may perform the requested operations on the external data.

Accordingly, a first example embodiment may involve a computational instance of a remote network management platform, the computational instance including: (i) a database application programming interface (API) configured to allow operations to be performed on data within one or more database devices of the computational instance, and (ii) an application configured to execute on a computing system of the computational instance. The application may receive, using the database API, a request from a client device, where the request is to perform a particular operation on a server device that is external to the remote network management platform. The application may further determine that the server device is accessible by way of a communication protocol that supports a set of protocol-specific operations, and the application may translate the request from a format of the database API into a format of the communication protocol, where the translation of the request involves mapping the particular operation of the request to a target operation of the set of protocol-specific operations. The application may transmit, using the communication protocol, a message to the server device, where the message instructs the server device to perform the target operation. The application may receive, using the communication protocol, a response from the server device, where the response contains a result of the server device attempting to perform or performing the target operation. The application may translate the result from the format of the communication protocol into the format of the database API, and the application may further transmit, using the database API, the result as translated to the client device.

In a fourth example embodiment, a system may include various means for carrying out each of the operations of the first example embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In order to achieve this goal, the concept of Application Platform as a Service (aPaaS) is introduced, to intelligently automate workflows throughout the enterprise. An aPaaS system is hosted remotely from the enterprise, but may access data, applications, and services within the enterprise by way of secure connections. Such an aPaaS system may have a number of advantageous capabilities and characteristics. These advantages and characteristics may be able to improve the enterprise's operations and workflow for IT, HR, CRM, customer service, application development, and security.

The aPaaS system may support development and execution of model-view-controller (MVC) applications. MVC applications divide their functionality into three interconnected parts (model, view, and controller) in order to isolate representations of information from the manner in which the information is presented to the user, thereby allowing for efficient code reuse and parallel development. These applications may be web-based, and offer create, read, update, delete (CRUD) capabilities. This allows new applications to be built on a common application infrastructure.

The aPaaS system may support clearly-defined interfaces between applications, so that software developers can avoid unwanted inter-application dependencies. Thus, the aPaaS system may implement a service layer in which persistent state information and other data is stored.

The following embodiments describe architectural and functional aspects of example aPaaS systems, as well as the features and advantages thereof.

FIG. 2depicts a cloud-based server cluster200in accordance with example embodiments. InFIG. 2, operations of a computing device (e.g., computing device100) may be distributed between server devices202, data storage204, and routers206, all of which may be connected by local cluster network208. The number of server devices202, data storages204, and routers206in server cluster200may depend on the computing task(s) and/or applications assigned to server cluster200.

III. Example Remote Network Management Architecture

FIG. 3depicts a remote network management architecture, in accordance with example embodiments. This architecture includes three main components, managed network300, remote network management platform320, and third-party networks340, all connected by way of Internet350.

Managed network300may also include one or more proxy servers312. An embodiment of proxy servers312may be a server device that facilitates communication and movement of data between managed network300, remote network management platform320, and third-party networks340. In particular, proxy servers312may be able to establish and maintain secure communication sessions with one or more computational instances of remote network management platform320. By way of such a session, remote network management platform320may be able to discover and manage aspects of the architecture and configuration of managed network300and its components. Possibly with the assistance of proxy servers312, remote network management platform320may also be able to discover and manage aspects of third-party networks340that are used by managed network300.

In some cases, managed network300may consist of a few devices and a small number of networks. In other deployments, managed network300may span multiple physical locations and include hundreds of networks and hundreds of thousands of devices. Thus, the architecture depicted inFIG. 3is capable of scaling up or down by orders of magnitude.

Remote network management platform320is a hosted environment that provides aPaaS services to users, particularly to the operators of managed network300. These services may take the form of web-based portals, for instance. Thus, a user can securely access remote network management platform320from, for instance, client devices302, or potentially from a client device outside of managed network300. By way of the web-based portals, users may design, test, and deploy applications, generate reports, view analytics, and perform other tasks.

As shown inFIG. 3, remote network management platform320includes four computational instances322,324,326, and328. Each of these instances may represent a set of web portals, services, and applications (e.g., a wholly-functioning aPaaS system) available to a particular customer. In some cases, a single customer may use multiple computational instances. For example, managed network300may be an enterprise customer of remote network management platform320, and may use computational instances322,324, and326. The reason for providing multiple instances to one customer is that the customer may wish to independently develop, test, and deploy its applications and services. Thus, computational instance322may be dedicated to application development related to managed network300, computational instance324may be dedicated to testing these applications, and computational instance326may be dedicated to the live operation of tested applications and services. A computational instance may also be referred to as a hosted instance, a remote instance, a customer instance, or by some other designation.

The multi-instance architecture of remote network management platform320is in contrast to conventional multi-tenant architectures, over which multi-instance architectures have several advantages. In multi-tenant architectures, data from different customers (e.g., enterprises) are comingled in a single database. While these customers' data are separate from one another, the separation is enforced by the software that operates the single database. As a consequence, a security breach in this system may impact all customers' data, creating additional risk, especially for entities subject to governmental, healthcare, and/or financial regulation. Furthermore, any database operations that impact one customer will likely impact all customers sharing that database. Thus, if there is an outage due to hardware or software errors, this outage affects all such customers. Likewise, if the database is to be upgraded to meet the needs of one customer, it will be unavailable to all customers during the upgrade process. Often, such maintenance windows will be long, due to the size of the shared database.

In order to support multiple computational instances in an efficient fashion, remote network management platform320may implement a plurality of these instances on a single hardware platform. For example, when the aPaaS system is implemented on a server cluster such as server cluster200, it may operate a virtual machine that dedicates varying amounts of computational, storage, and communication resources to instances. But full virtualization of server cluster200might not be necessary, and other mechanisms may be used to separate instances. In some examples, each instance may have a dedicated account and one or more dedicated databases on server cluster200. Alternatively, computational instance322may span multiple physical devices.

Third-party networks340may be remote server devices (e.g., a plurality of server clusters such as server cluster200) that can be used for outsourced computational, data storage, communication, and service hosting operations. These servers may be virtualized (i.e., the servers may be virtual machines). Examples of third-party networks340may include AMAZON WEB SERVICES® and MICROSOFT® Azure. Like remote network management platform320, multiple server clusters supporting third-party networks340may be deployed at geographically diverse locations for purposes of load balancing, redundancy, and/or high availability.

Managed network300may use one or more of third-party networks340to deploy applications and services to its clients and customers. For instance, if managed network300provides online music streaming services, third-party networks340may store the music files and provide web interface and streaming capabilities. In this way, the enterprise of managed network300does not have to build and maintain its own servers for these operations.

Remote network management platform320may include modules that integrate with third-party networks340to expose virtual machines and managed services therein to managed network300. The modules may allow users to request virtual resources and provide flexible reporting for third-party networks340. In order to establish this functionality, a user from managed network300might first establish an account with third-party networks340, and request a set of associated resources. Then, the user may enter the account information into the appropriate modules of remote network management platform320. These modules may then automatically discover the manageable resources in the account, and also provide reports related to usage, performance, and billing.

FIG. 4further illustrates the communication environment between managed network300and computational instance322, and introduces additional features and alternative embodiments. InFIG. 4, computational instance322is replicated across data centers400A and400B. These data centers may be geographically distant from one another, perhaps in different cities or different countries. Each data center includes support equipment that facilitates communication with managed network300, as well as remote users.

Data centers400A and400B as shown inFIG. 4may facilitate redundancy and high availability. In the configuration ofFIG. 4, data center400A is active and data center400B is passive. Thus, data center400A is serving all traffic to and from managed network300, while the version of computational instance322in data center400B is being updated in near-real-time. Other configurations, such as one in which both data centers are active, may be supported.

FIG. 4also illustrates a possible configuration of managed network300. As noted above, proxy servers312and user414may access computational instance322through firewall310. Proxy servers312may also access configuration items410. InFIG. 4, configuration items410may refer to any or all of client devices302, server devices304, routers306, and virtual machines308, any applications or services executing thereon, as well as relationships between devices, applications, and services. Thus, the term “configuration items” may be shorthand for any physical or virtual device, or any application or service remotely discoverable or managed by computational instance322, or relationships between discovered devices, applications, and services. Configuration items may be represented in a configuration management database (CMDB) of computational instance322.

As noted above, VPN gateway412may provide a dedicated VPN to VPN gateway402A. Such a VPN may be helpful when there is a significant amount of traffic between managed network300and computational instance322, or security policies otherwise suggest or require use of a VPN between these sites. In some embodiments, any device in managed network300and/or computational instance322that directly communicates via the VPN is assigned a public IP address. Other devices in managed network300and/or computational instance322may be assigned private IP addresses (e.g., IP addresses selected from the 10.0.0.0-10.255.255.255 or 192.168.0.0-192.168.255.255 ranges, represented in shorthand as subnets 10.0.0.0/8 and 192.168.0.0/16, respectively).

IV. Example Device, Application, and Service Discovery

In order for remote network management platform320to administer the devices, applications, and services of managed network300, remote network management platform320may first determine what devices are present in managed network300, the configurations and operational statuses of these devices, and the applications and services provided by the devices, and well as the relationships between discovered devices, applications, and services. As noted above, each device, application, service, and relationship may be referred to as a configuration item. The process of defining configuration items within managed network300is referred to as discovery, and may be facilitated at least in part by proxy servers312.

FIG. 5Aprovides a logical depiction of how configuration items can be discovered, as well as how information related to discovered configuration items can be stored. For sake of simplicity, remote network management platform320, third-party networks340, and Internet350are not shown.

InFIG. 5A, CMDB500and task list502are stored within computational instance322. Computational instance322may transmit discovery commands to proxy servers312. In response, proxy servers312may transmit probes to various devices, applications, and services in managed network300. These devices, applications, and services may transmit responses to proxy servers312, and proxy servers312may then provide information regarding discovered configuration items to CMDB500for storage therein. Configuration items stored in CMDB500represent the environment of managed network300.

Task list502represents a list of activities that proxy servers312are to perform on behalf of computational instance322. As discovery takes place, task list502is populated. Proxy servers312repeatedly query task list502, obtain the next task therein, and perform this task until task list502is empty or another stopping condition has been reached.

To facilitate discovery, proxy servers312may be configured with information regarding one or more subnets in managed network300that are reachable by way of proxy servers312. For instance, proxy servers312may be given the IP address range 192.168.0/24 as a subnet. Then, computational instance322may store this information in CMDB500and place tasks in task list502for discovery of devices at each of these addresses.

FIG. 5Aalso depicts devices, applications, and services in managed network300as configuration items504,506,508,510, and512. As noted above, these configuration items represent a set of physical and/or virtual devices (e.g., client devices, server devices, routers, or virtual machines), applications executing thereon (e.g., web servers, email servers, databases, or storage arrays), relationships therebetween, as well as services that involve multiple individual configuration items.

Placing the tasks in task list502may trigger or otherwise cause proxy servers312to begin discovery. Alternatively or additionally, discovery may be manually triggered or automatically triggered based on triggering events (e.g., discovery may automatically begin once per day at a particular time).

In general, discovery may proceed in four logical phases: scanning, classification, identification, and exploration. Each phase of discovery involves various types of probe messages being transmitted by proxy servers312to one or more devices in managed network300. The responses to these probes may be received and processed by proxy servers312, and representations thereof may be transmitted to CMDB500. Thus, each phase can result in more configuration items being discovered and stored in CMDB500.

In the scanning phase, proxy servers312may probe each IP address in the specified range of IP addresses for open Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and/or User Datagram Protocol (UDP) ports to determine the general type of device. The presence of such open ports at an IP address may indicate that a particular application is operating on the device that is assigned the IP address, which in turn may identify the operating system used by the device. For example, if TCP port135is open, then the device is likely executing a WINDOWS® operating system. Similarly, if TCP port22is open, then the device is likely executing a UNIX® operating system, such as LINUX®. If UDP port161is open, then the device may be able to be further identified through the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP). Other possibilities exist. Once the presence of a device at a particular IP address and its open ports have been discovered, these configuration items are saved in CMDB500.

In the identification phase, proxy servers312may determine specific details about a classified device. The probes used during this phase may be based on information gathered about the particular devices during the classification phase. For example, if a device was classified as LINUX®, a set of LINUX®-specific probes may be used. Likewise if a device was classified as WINDOWS® 2012, as a set of WINDOWS®-2012-specific probes may be used. As was the case for the classification phase, an appropriate set of tasks may be placed in task list502for proxy servers312to carry out. These tasks may result in proxy servers312reading information from the particular device, such as basic input/output system (BIOS) information, serial numbers, network interface information, media access control address(es) assigned to these network interface(s), IP address(es) used by the particular device and so on. This identification information may be stored as one or more configuration items in CMDB500.

Running discovery on a network device, such as a router, may utilize SNMP. Instead of or in addition to determining a list of running processes or other application-related information, discovery may determine additional subnets known to the router and the operational state of the router's network interfaces (e.g., active, inactive, queue length, number of packets dropped, etc.). The IP addresses of the additional subnets may be candidates for further discovery procedures. Thus, discovery may progress iteratively or recursively.

Once discovery completes, a snapshot representation of each discovered device, application, and service is available in CMDB500. For example, after discovery, operating system version, hardware configuration and network configuration details for client devices, server devices, and routers in managed network300, as well as applications executing thereon, may be stored. This collected information may be presented to a user in various ways to allow the user to view the hardware composition and operational status of devices, as well as the characteristics of services that span multiple devices and applications.

Furthermore, CMDB500may include entries regarding dependencies and relationships between configuration items. More specifically, an application that is executing on a particular server device, as well as the services that rely on this application, may be represented as such in CMDB500. For instance, suppose that a database application is executing on a server device, and that this database application is used by a new employee onboarding service as well as a payroll service. Thus, if the server device is taken out of operation for maintenance, it is clear that the employee onboarding service and payroll service will be impacted. Likewise, the dependencies and relationships between configuration items may be able to represent the services impacted when a particular router fails.

In general, dependencies and relationships between configuration items may be displayed on a web-based interface and represented in a hierarchical fashion. Thus, adding, changing, or removing such dependencies and relationships may be accomplished by way of this interface.

Furthermore, users from managed network300may develop workflows that allow certain coordinated activities to take place across multiple discovered devices. For instance, an IT workflow might allow the user to change the common administrator password to all discovered LINUX® devices in single operation.

The discovery process is depicted as a flow chart inFIG. 5B. At block520, the task list in the computational instance is populated, for instance, with a range of IP addresses. At block522, the scanning phase takes place. Thus, the proxy servers probe the IP addresses for devices using these IP addresses, and attempt to determine the operating systems that are executing on these devices. At block524, the classification phase takes place. The proxy servers attempt to determine the operating system version of the discovered devices. At block526, the identification phase takes place. The proxy servers attempt to determine the hardware and/or software configuration of the discovered devices. At block528, the exploration phase takes place. The proxy servers attempt to determine the operational state and applications executing on the discovered devices. At block530, further editing of the configuration items representing the discovered devices and applications may take place. This editing may be automated and/or manual in nature.

The blocks represented inFIG. 5Bare for purpose of example. Discovery may be a highly configurable procedure that can have more or fewer phases, and the operations of each phase may vary. In some cases, one or more phases may be customized, or may otherwise deviate from the exemplary descriptions above.

V. Example Management of Externally Stored Data

As described above, a remote network management platform may provide aPaaS services to an enterprise, and those services may include managing the enterprise's data using database tables, fields, and relationships and providing access to the data via an object-oriented services layer. In particular, a computational instance of the remote network management platform may include a database API configured to allow operations to be performed on data within one or more database devices of the computational instance. In the examples described below, the database organizes data in tabular form (i.e., using database tables), but the present disclosure is not limited to tabular data structures and could be applied in connection with a database that organizes data in various other forms.

FIG. 6Adepicts a database table600of the remote network management platform, according to an example embodiment. The database table600has a title602, a number of columns or fields604, and a number of rows or records606. Each record606includes data associated with one or more of the fields604, and each field604has a label608describing the data associated with the field604. As shown, the database table600(hereinafter referred to as user table600) includes information of various users (e.g., employees) of an enterprise. In particular, the user table600includes the users' first names, last names, user IDs, email addresses, and work departments. In other examples, the user table600may include additional and/or alternative information.

By organizing data in tabular form, the database may define relationships between various database tables. For instance, a field in a first table may be a reference field that refers to a field in a second table, such that data associated with the field in the first table is defined by referencing the data associated with the field in the second table. This concept is described in further detail below in connection withFIG. 6B.

FIG. 6Bdepicts another database table610(referred to hereinafter as department table610) that includes information about various departments of the enterprise. For instance, the enterprise may include a human resources department located in Seattle, a marketing department located in New York, and a sales department located in Chicago, and the department table610may include records616in which the name and location of each department are associated with fields614of the department table610labeled “Name” and “Location.” With the name and location of each department stored in the department table610, the user table600may reference the department table610in order to obtain the location data values for each of the records606. For instance, with respect to the record606that includes information about Mary Brown, because the record606specifies that Mary Brown works in the sales department and because the department table610specifies that the sales department is located in Chicago, the user table600may reference the Location field614of the department table610to determine that the Mary Brown record606is associated with the “Chicago” data value for the Location field614.

Further, as a result of the database organizing data in relational database tables as shown inFIGS. 6A and 6B, a user of the enterprise may use a database API to perform various operations, such as CRUD operations, on data distributed across multiple tables, which may provide for efficient manipulation of large amounts of data.

FIG. 6Cdepicts code620that is scripted in accordance with the database API, according to an example embodiment. In particular, the code620defines a variable as a GlideRecord object. A GlideRecord references both the records and fields of a table. As shown, the GlideRecord of code620references the records and fields of the user table600. Various operations can then be performed on the GlideRecord, including CRUD operations. InFIG. 6C, a read operation is carried out by querying the GlideRecord for any records that include the value “Sales” associated with the field “Department,” and then printing the user ID associated with each of the identified records. In this manner, executing the code620causes the database API to return the user IDs of any user of the enterprise that works in the sales department of the enterprise.

Because the code620ofFIG. 6Cis specifically scripted to work with the database API of the remote network management platform, the code620might not be inherently usable to perform operations on data stored externally from the remote network management platform. This could be problematic, as an enterprise may receive services from a number of different providers, such that the enterprise has at least some data stored at various server devices outside the remote network management platform.

An example scenario in which the enterprise may have data stored both on and off the remote network management platform might arise when the enterprise uses two different human resource (HR) management systems, one of which is provided through the remote network management platform, and the other is not. For example, as part of its standard practice, the enterprise may exclusively use the remote network management platform for HR management, but then the enterprise may acquire another company that uses an HR management system that is external to the remote network management platform. As a result of the enterprise acquiring the company that uses the external HR system, the enterprise may have HR data (e.g., information about its employees similar to the information depicted inFIG. 6A) stored on the remote network management platform for some employees and stored off the remote network management platform for other employees.

In order for the enterprise to more effectively manage its HR data for all of its employees, it may be desirable for the HR data to be accessible through a single mechanism, such as through the remote network management platform. However, as noted above, the database API of the remote network management platform may operate differently from the communication protocol used to access the external HR system. Thus, one solution may be to import the HR data from the external HR system into the remote network management platform. However, as described above, this process may be tedious and time-consuming, as it may involve substantially reorganizing the external HR data in order to integrate the external HR data with data already stored on the remote network management platform. Accordingly, a more desirable solution may involve using the remote network management platform to manage the external HR data for some period of time without importing the data onto the remote network management platform. The systems and methods disclosed herein may be used to provide such a solution.

As described above, the database API may be configured for organizing the enterprise's data in a tabular format, and users of the enterprise may manipulate the data by altering the tables (e.g., by creating, reading, updating, or deleting a table or a record of a table), for instance, by causing the database API to run a script using the database API. As described in connection with the examples disclosed herein, the database API may also be configured to provide similar functionality for manipulating data stored on an external server outside the remote network management platform. In order to do so, various data operations supported by the external server may be identified and mapped to one or more operations of the database API.

In practice, the remote network management system may simulate a database table associated with the external server, referred to hereinafter as an “external table.” A user of the enterprise may use the database API to interact with the external table in the same manner as the user would interact with any other database table using the database API. However, the external table is not actually a database table of the remote network management system, but is instead a set of rules for making externally stored data appear to the user as if the data was stored in a database table of the remote network management system. As a result, when a user attempts to manipulate the external table by requesting a database API operation on the external table, instead of performing the requested operation on a database table, the remote network management system may cause the external server to execute one or more external server operations that are mapped to the requested database API operation.

The following example figures and accompanying description illustrate the above-described external table concept by describing a scenario in which an enterprise has its HR data stored partially on the remote network management platform and partially off the remote network management platform in connection with an external HR system. However, it will be understood that the present disclosure is not limited to such a scenario and instead can be applied to various other scenarios in which the enterprise uses the remote network management platform to manage data stored both on and off the remote network management platform.

FIG. 7Adepicts example services700exposed by the external HR system to the remote network management platform. In the present example, the external HR system supports Representational State Transfer (REST) services, via the external HR system's base URL, https://externalhr.com/api, but in other examples, the external HR system could support various other web services. REST provides a web-based HTTP interface to specific data elements, such as specific data elements stored at the external HR system. As shown inFIG. 7A, by adding “/user” to the base URL path of the external HR system, the REST services may be used to perform operations on specific user data elements stored at the external HR system. In particular, the external HR system supports GET, POST, PUT, and DELETE requests for operating on data elements.

In order to retrieve user profile data for a particular user profile, a GET request may be sent to the external HR system at an address corresponding to the base URL, but with “/user/{id}” appended to the base URL path, where {id} represents the user ID associated with the particular user profile. The external HR system may respond to the GET request with the user profile data for the specified user ID. In order to create a user profile, a POST request may be sent to the external HR system at the base URL, and the body of the POST request may contain the user profile data (e.g., user name, email address, etc.) for the created user profile. The external HR system may respond to the POST request with a user ID for the created user profile. In order to update user profile data for a particular user profile, a PUT request may be sent to the external HR system, and the body of the PUT request may include the updated user profile data. The external HR system may respond to the PUT request with a status code indicating, for instance, whether the user profile update was successful. In order to delete a particular user profile, a DELETE request may be sent to the external HR system at an address corresponding to the base URL, but with “/user/{id}” appended to the base URL path in order to identify the profile to be deleted. The external HR system may respond to the DELETE request with a status code indicating, for instance, whether the user profile was successfully deleted.

Given that the external HR system supports the above REST services, the remote network management platform may use those services to interact with the data stored on the external HR system without first importing the data onto the remote network management platform. To facilitate this, the remote network management platform may establish a connection for communicating with the external HR system.

FIG. 7Bdepicts an example user interface710for establishing communication between the remote network management platform and the external HR system. The remote network management platform may provide the user interface710to a user of the enterprise, the user may input information into the user interface710, and the remote network management platform may use the input information to establish a connection with the external HR system. For instance, as shown, the user interface710allows a user of the enterprise to specify a name of the external system, a protocol type supported by the external system, an address (e.g., URL) of the external system, and authentication credentials, such as a username and password. The remote network management platform may store this information for use when communicating with the external system.

Once the remote network management platform has established a connection with the external HR system, as described above for instance, the database API may be configured to create an external table, which is a simulation of a remote network management platform database table, associated with the external HR system, so that the data stored at the external HR system appears to a user, for all intents and purposes, as part of a database table of the remote network management platform. But in actuality, the data remains stored at the external HR system rather than getting imported into a database table of the remote network management platform. In this manner, instead of being an actual database table of the remote network management platform, the external table represents a set of rules that allow the user to interact with the external HR system using the database API.

FIG. 7Cdepicts a user interface720for creating an external table for use in connection with a remote network management platform, in accordance with example embodiments. The remote network management platform may provide the user interface720to a user of the enterprise, and the user may input information into the user interface720. The remote network management platform may use the input information to generate an external table associated with the external HR system. For instance, as shown, the user interface720allows a user of the enterprise to specify a name of the table and a schema of the table.

The name of the external table may be used when performing various operations on data in the external table. For instance, as described above in connection withFIG. 6C, the database API is configured to receive queries on the external table or on related tables by referencing the external table name. As shown, the external table is named “ext_user,” because the external HR system includes user profile information for various users of the enterprise, but other names could be used as well. The table schema may specify fields of the external table (e.g., what data the table is to be populated with), as well as the type of data associated with each field. For instance, as shown inFIG. 7A, the external HR system stores data corresponding to a user's first name, last name, user ID, and email address, so the user interface720specifies that the external table includes corresponding fields for that data. Further, the user interface720specifies that each of these fields are configured to include string-type data. However, in other examples, the external HR system could include various other data having various other data types, such as employee identification numbers, addresses, or dates of birth.

Once the database API configures the external table according to the specified name and schema, a user of the enterprise may use the external table to perform operations on data stored on the external HR server. To do so, various methods may be defined for one or more data operations supported by the external HR server. For instance, as described above in connection withFIG. 7A, the external HR server supports GET, POST, PUT, and DELETE requests for retrieving a user profile, creating a user profile, updating a user profile, and deleting a user profile, respectively. Accordingly, methods may be defined for causing the remote network management platform to send various requests to the external HR server to perform some or all of these requests.

In order to define such methods, the remote network management platform may provide a user interface to a user of the enterprise, the user may input information into the user interface, and the remote network management platform may use the input information to define the method. In some examples, such a user interface may allow a user to specify a name of the method, an external table associated with the method, an external server where the method is to be performed, a type of service request employed by the method, a URL where the service request is to be directed, and/or any input parameters to be used when carrying out the method.

FIG. 7Ddepicts a user interface730for defining a method for causing the remote network management platform to read data from the external HR server, in accordance with example embodiments. In particular, the method defined via user interface730is a method for retrieving, from the external HR server, a user profile that corresponds to a particular user ID. As shown, the method defined via user interface730is named “get_user_by_id” and is configured to be carried out with respect to the external table “ext_user” described above with respect toFIG. 7C. The data source associated with the method is “ExternalHR,” which is the external HR server identified via user interface710, as shown inFIG. 7B. As described above, the external HR server supports REST services, and retrieving a user profile from the external HR server involves a GET request, so user interface730specifies that the method has a service request type of “REST/Get.” Further, user interface730specifies that the method involves sending the GET request to the base URL of the external HR server, but with “/user/{user_id}” added to the URL path. Here, the brackets indicate that “user_id” is a variable and should be replaced with an input parameter. As further shown, user interface730defines a single string-type input parameter “user_id” for the method.

Accordingly, the method defined by user interface730may involve the remote network management platform obtaining the “user_id” input parameter and sending a GET request to the external HR server at the user profile URL corresponding to the input parameter. The external HR server may respond to the GET request by providing the user profile data associated with the identified user profile URL. As described above in connection withFIG. 7A, this may include a first name, last name, and email address.

FIG. 7Edepicts a user interface740for defining a method for causing the remote network management platform to update data at the external HR server, in accordance with example embodiments. In particular, the method defined via user interface740is a method for updating, at the external HR server, an email address that corresponds to a particular user ID. As shown, the method defined via user interface740is named “update_user_email.” Like the “get_user_by_id” method described with respect toFIG. 7D, the “update_user_email” method is configured to be carried out with respect to the external table “ext_user” described above with respect toFIG. 7C, and the data source associated with the method is “ExternalHR,” which is the external HR server identified via user interface710, as shown inFIG. 7B. As described above, the external HR server supports REST services, and updating user profile data at the external HR server involves a PUT request, so user interface740specifies that the method has a service request type of “REST/Put.” Further, user interface740specifies that the method involves sending the PUT request to the base URL of the external HR server, but with “/user/{user_id}” added to the URL path. Again, the brackets indicate that “user_id” is a variable and should be replaced with an input parameter, namely, the string-type input parameter “user_id” defined via user interface740. User interface740further defines an additional string-type “email” input parameter, which is used to specify the updated email address to store at the external HR server.

Accordingly, the method defined by user interface740may involve the remote network management platform obtaining the “user_id” and “email” input parameters and sending a PUT request to the external HR server at the user profile URL corresponding to the input parameter, where the body of the PUT request includes the email address specified by the “email” input parameter. The external HR server may respond to the PUT request with a status code indicating whether the data update was successful.

In some embodiments, the remote network management platform may automatically define an external table schema and/or one or more external table methods. For example, if the external server is a type of external server that supports introspection, such as an SQL system, the remote network management platform may send an introspection query to the external server. The external server may respond to the query by identifying the schema (e.g., table names, table types, column names, column types) of the external server. The remote network management platform may use the identified schema of the external server to define an external table schema, for instance, by defining fields and data types that correspond to column names and column types of the identified schema. The remote network management server may then use the defined schema of the external table to automatically define methods for one or more CRUD operations on that table. For example, the remote network management system may automatically define methods similar to or the same as the methods described above with respect toFIGS. 7D and 7E.

FIG. 7Fdepicts code750, scripted in accordance with the database API, for causing the remote network management platform to perform a method on an external table, according to an example embodiment. In particular, the code750causes the remote network management platform to perform the “get_user_by_id” method defined inFIG. 7D. Similar to the code620depicted inFIG. 6C, the code750defines a “UserRecords” variable as a GlideRecord object that references both the records and fields of a table. As shown, the GlideRecord of code750references the records and fields of the external table “ext_user” defined inFIG. 7C. In order to perform operations on the GlideRecord, and consequently on the external table “ext_user,” one or more methods are identified, as well as any parameters corresponding to the identified methods. As shown, the “get_user_by_id” method defined inFIG. 7Dis set as the method to be performed on the external table. As noted above, the “get_user_by_id” method uses a “user_id” input parameter, and so, in the present example, the code750specifies the “user_id” parameter as “rjones.” The code750then calls for a query command, which executes the “get_user_by_id” method. In this manner, executing the code750causes the remote network management platform to send a GET request to the external HR server at https://externalhr.com/api/user/rjones, and the external HR server responds to the GET request with user profile information stored at that address.

The external server methods described above with respect toFIGS. 7D-7Fare for illustrative purposes only, and it will be understood that the scope of possible methods is not limited to these particular methods. For example, methods may be defined for any number of data operations supported by the external HR server, including any of the CRUD operations described above with respect toFIG. 7A.

In any case, once methods are defined for the remote network management platform to perform data operations on externally stored data, the methods may be mapped to, or otherwise associated with, various operations that are requested through the database API. As such, when a particular data operation involving externally stored data is requested through the database API, the particular data operation can be mapped to a corresponding method, and the remote network management platform may execute the corresponding method, thereby performing the particular data operation on the externally stored data. Examples are explained in further detail below with respect toFIG. 8.

FIG. 8is a sequence diagram800depicting communications between a client device802, a computational instance804of a remote network management platform, and an external server device806, in accordance with example embodiments. The computational instance804includes a database API808, such as the database API configured to organize and present data in tabular form as described above, as well as a request mapper810.

In practice, the client device802sends a request812by way of the database API808. The request812may be sent in a format of the database API, but the request812may be for the computational instance804to perform a particular operation on the external server device806rather than on data stored at the computational instance804. The computational instance804may then determine that the request812is to perform the operation on external data at the external server device806, rather than on data stored locally. And the computational instance804may further determine that the external server device806is accessible by way of a communication protocol that supports a set of protocol-specific operations. For instance, as described above, a user may have created an external table associated with the external server device806, and the request812may be for the computational instance804to perform a particular operation involving the external table. Based on the operation involving the external table, the computational instance804may determine that the operation requires accessing the external server device806, and, based on the configuration of the external table, the computational instance804may determine that the operation requires using a particular communication protocol of the external server device806, such as REST. And as further described above, various methods involving the external server device's protocol-specific operations may be defined and stored at the computational instance804.

Responsive to determining that the request812requires accessing the external server device806using the particular communication protocol, the computational instance804may translate the request812from a format of the database API into a format of the communication protocol. For instance, the database API808may send a message814including the request812or an indication of the request812to the request mapper810. The request mapper810may then map the particular operation of the request812to a target operation of the set of protocol-specific operations. For instance, in line with the discussion above, the request mapper810may map the operation of the request812to a predefined method that uses the communication protocol of the external device806.

The request812and its corresponding method may take various forms. In one example, the request812may include a request to create an external table, for instance using the user interfaces710and720depicted inFIGS. 7B and 7C. The request mapper810may associate external table creation requests with one or more methods for populating data fields of the external table. For instance, based on receiving a request to create the “ext_user” table as described above in connection withFIGS. 7B and 7C, the request mapper810may map the request to one or more GET methods, such as the “get_user_by_id” method described above in connection withFIG. 7D, for retrieving user profile information from the external server device806.

In another example, the request812may include a request to modify a field of an external table. For instance, the computational instance804may be configured to provide a visual representation of the external table to the client device802, and the client device802may display the visual representation of the external table to a user. The user may request a data operation on certain data associated with the external table by modifying the displayed visual representation. For instance, the visual representation of the external table may be an image of a table having rows and columns, and the user may modify the visual representation of the external table by modifying one or more fields corresponding to a particular row and column of the displayed table. The request mapper810may associate the modification of a field of the external table with one or more methods for updating data stored at the external server device806. For instance, based on a user modifying an email address in the “ext_user” table, the request mapper810may identify and carry out one or more PUT methods, such as the “update_user_email” method described above in connection withFIG. 7E.

In still another example, the request812may indirectly affect the external table. For instance, as described above in connection withFIGS. 6A and 6B, the database API804may allow for database tables to reference one another. As such, in some embodiments, a database table may reference an external table and vice versa. Referring toFIG. 6A, for instance, user data associated with Susan Smith and David Williams may be stored at the external server device806, and the user table600may reference the external user table in order to populate certain fields of the user table600, such as the “First_Name,” “Last_Name,” “User_ID,” and “Email” fields. And when a user modifies one of these fields that reference the external table, for instance by updating Susan Smith's email address, the computational instance804may determine that such a modification is to be performed at the external server device806. As such, the request mapper810may responsively map the modification to a method for updating Susan Smith's email address at the external server device806, such as the “update_user_email” method described above in connection withFIG. 7E. In line with the discussion above, the “update_user_email” method may involve “user_id” and “email” input parameters. The “email” parameter may be populated with the updated email address input by the user, and the “user_id” parameter may be populated by querying the external server, for example, by executing a method that returns a user ID. Other examples of requests812and corresponding methods are possible as well and are not limited to the examples described herein.

In any case, once the request mapper maps the operation of the request812to a predefined method that uses the communication protocol of the external device806, the request mapper810may then transmit, using the communication protocol of the external server device806in accordance with the predefined method, a message816to the external server device806. The message816instructs the external server device806to perform the target operation, and so the external server device806may perform or attempt to perform the target operation. The external server device806may then respond, using the communication protocol of the external device806, with a message818that contains a result of the external server device806attempting to perform or performing the target operation. For instance, the message818may include a status code indicating whether the target operation was successfully performed, or if the message816from the request mapper810included a read request, then the message818may include data that was requested by the read request.

In some embodiments, the request mapper may perform various transformations on data that the request mapper transmits to the external server device806, for instance on data included in the message816. As an example, the message816may include the full name of a user, and the external device806may expect to receive user names separated by first name and last name. For instance, as described above in connection withFIG. 7A, the external device806may store a user's first name and a user's last name as separate data entries. Accordingly, the remote network management platform may determine, based on the exposed services700of the external device806, that the external device806expects to receive user names separated by first name and last name and responsively cause the request mapper to separate user name data into separate data entries representing the user's first name and the user's last name. The request mapper may separate the user names, for instance, by detecting a space character in the user name data and identifying any characters before the space as the user's first name and any characters after the space as the user's last name. Examples of other data transformations are contemplated as well.

In some embodiments, the external server device806may not be capable of completely performing the target operation. For instance, the request812may include a query for information that is not stored at the external server device806. In a specific example, the request812may include a request for the office location where a user is employed. However, the external server device806might not include this information, or this information may be associated with a different table. In such an example, the request mapper810may map the request812to a broader request to obtain relevant data that the database API804can then further manipulate to fully perform the requested operation. For instance, responsive to receiving a request812for the office location of the user, the request mapper810may map the request812to a method for obtaining various other information associated with the user, for instance by mapping the request812to the “get_user_by_id” method described above in connection withFIG. 7D. The external server device806may respond with the user profile data for the user, and the database API804may reference other tables using the user profile data to identify the user's office location. For instance, if the external server device806returns user profile data indicating that the user works in the sales department, then the database API804may reference the “Department_Table”610depicted inFIG. 6Bto determine that the sales department, and thus the user, is located in Chicago.

In any case, the computational instance, for instance using the request mapper810, translates the result818from the format of the external server device's communication protocol into the format of the database API protocol and provides the translated result820to the database API808. The computational instance then transmits, using the database API808, the result as translated822to the client device. For instance, in examples where the request812is to create or update an external table, transmitting the translated result822to the client device may include displaying a visual representation of the created or updated table. Other examples are possible as well.

In this manner, an external table associated with the external server device806may appear to a user of the enterprise like any other database table that includes data stored on the remote network management platform. As such, the user can perform operations on the external table using operations that are specific to a protocol of the database API, but instead of operating on data stored on the remote network management platform, the operations are mapped to methods that comply with a protocol of the external server device806.

In some embodiments, an enterprise may have data stored on multiple external server devices. For instance, an enterprise that acquires or absorbs two other enterprises—Company A and Company B—may have user data for employees of Company A stored at a first external server, and user data for employees of Company B stored at a second external server. In line with the discussion above, the enterprise may define two separate sets of communication rules for two external tables having two separate schemas, as described above in connection withFIGS. 7B and 7Cfor instance. The client device802may request operations on data stored at the first external server by referencing a first external table in the request812, or, alternatively, the client device802may request operations on data stored at the second external server by referencing a second external table in the request812.

Alternatively, in some embodiments, the enterprise may define a shared external table schema for the data stored at the first external server and the second external server, and the remote network management platform may identify which external server the requested operations are associated with based on a domain associated with the request812from the client device802. For instance, in the request812, the client device802may request operations on data associated with a user ID of “user@CompanyA.com.” Here, the user ID provided in the request812includes a domain of “CompanyA.com.” Based on that domain, the computational instance804may determine that the requested operations are to be performed at the first external server associated with Company A. Corresponding examples apply to performing operations on data stored at the second external server associated with Company B, as well.

In some embodiments, the remote network management platform may provide graceful degradation by limiting the functionality provided by the database API to a user. In particular, if a particular database API request does not have a corresponding external method defined for it, then the remote network management platform may prevent a user from making the particular database API request. For example, if there is no method defined for creating a record in an external table, then the database API may be configured to not present, to the user, an option for creating a record. This functionality may be applied to other database API requests and their corresponding methods as well.

VI. Example Operations

FIG. 9is a flow chart illustrating an example embodiment. The process illustrated byFIG. 9may be carried out by a computing device, such as computing device100, and/or a cluster of computing devices, such as server cluster200. However, the process can be carried out by other types of devices or device subsystems. For example, the process could be carried out by a portable computer, such as a laptop or a tablet device.

The embodiments ofFIG. 9may be carried out in connection with a computational instance of a remote network management platform. The computational instance may include (i) a database API configured to allow operations to be performed on data within one or more database devices of the computational instance and (ii) an application configured to execute on a computing system of the computational instance, where the application is further configured to carry out the operations described in connection with the embodiments ofFIG. 9.

Block900may involve the application of the computational instance receiving, using the database API, a request from a client device. The request may be to perform a particular operation on a server device that is external to the remote network management platform. Further, the request may be in a format that complies with a communication protocol of the database API.

Block902may involve the application determining that the server device is accessible by way of a communication protocol that supports a set of protocol-specific operations. The communication protocol of the server device may be different than the communication protocol of the database API, such that the server device may not be capable of processing the request from the client device. For instance, the communication protocol of the server device may support HTML, REST, SOAP, JDBC, JavaScript, or various other web services, and the communication protocol of the database API may be some other protocol that is proprietary or otherwise specific to the database API.

Block904may involve the application translating the request from a format of the database API into a format of the server device communication protocol, where the translation of the request involves mapping the particular operation of the request to a target operation of the set of protocol-specific operations.

Block906may involve the application transmitting, using the server device communication protocol, a message to the server device, where the message instructs the server device to perform the target operation.

Block908may involve the application receiving, using the server device communication protocol, a response from the server device, where the response contains a result of the server device attempting to perform or performing the target operation.

Block910may involve the application translating the result from the format of the server device communication protocol into the format of the database API.

Block912may involve the application transmitting, using the database API, the result as translated to the client device.

In some embodiments, the request from the client device is to perform a create operation on the server device. In these embodiments, translating the request may involve mapping the requested create operation to a target create operation of the set of protocol-specific operations, and performing the target create operation may cause the server device to generate a new data structure or a new entry within an existing data structure in accordance with the request.

In some embodiments, the request from the client device is to perform a read operation on the server device. In these embodiments, translating the request may involve mapping the requested read operation to a target read operation of the set of protocol-specific operations, and performing the target read operation may cause the server device to look up data in accordance with the request.

In some embodiments, the request from the client device is to perform an update operation on the server device. In these embodiments, translating the request may involve mapping the requested update operation to a target update operation of the set of protocol-specific operations, and performing the target update operation may cause the server device to write data in accordance with the request.

In some embodiments, the request from the client device is to perform a delete operation on the server device. In these embodiments, translating the request may involve mapping the requested delete operation to a target delete operation of the set of protocol-specific operations, and performing the target delete operation may cause the server device to delete data in accordance with the request.

In some embodiments, the result of the server device attempting to perform or performing the target operation is a result of the server device partially performing the target operation, and the application is further configured to use the database API to perform additional operations on the result, thereby fully performing the target operation.

In some embodiments, the database API is further configured to provide the data within the one or more database devices of the computational instance to the client device in tabular form. In these embodiments, receiving the request from the client device to perform the particular operation on the server device may involve receiving a request from the client device to modify a table provided by the database API to the client device.

In some embodiments, the database API includes operations related to virtual database tables, and the virtual database tables serve as proxies for accessing data by way of the external server.

In some embodiments, the computational instance contains mappings from operations defined by the database API to corresponding target operations of the set of protocol-specific operations.

CONCLUSION