Abstract:
The system and method for correlating, predicting and diagnosing system component performance data includes capturing knowledge about system behavior, deploying the captured knowledge as baseline system behavior files, evaluating system performance data against the baseline system behavior files, performing predictive and diagnostic analysis when received system performance data exceeds thresholds in the baseline system behavior files, and notifying a user when an analysis result is generated. The method of capturing knowledge about system behavior includes defining problems to be solved, creating datasets that correspond to defined problems, constructing problem scenarios, associating data patterns modules with the problem scenarios, and generating XML definition files that characterize system behavior in terms of the scenarios, modules, and datasets. The system has the capability to activate corrective scripts in the target system and to reconfigure the target system. Detailed information on various example embodiments of the inventions are provided in the Detailed Description below, and the inventions are defined by the appended claims.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
   This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/063,232, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,237,023, filed Apr. 2, 2002, which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/681,419, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,065,566, filed on Mar. 30, 2001, both of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety. 

   BACKGROUND 
   This invention relates generally to ensuring business system performance, and more particularly, to correlating and diagnosing performance data collected from components of business systems to achieve information technology goals and business objectives. 
   In the developing years of business use of electronic systems, business systems were used primarily for accounting and records keeping functions. As these systems grew in capability and features, business managers began to make use of these capabilities and features in new ways to improve business performance. With the widespread acceptance and use of the Internet for conducting on-line commercial and consumer transactions, these business systems have become increasingly complex and geographically distributed. At the same time, there developed increasing demand for higher performance and increased reliability or “uptime” to satisfy these business needs. This has put greater emphasis and visibility on the role of the information technology (IT) infrastructure of e-commerce businesses, and the people that support these systems. Concurrently, there has developed a trend whereby business managers have a need to play a more active role in IT infrastructure decision-making. 
   Conducting business over the Internet has created many new challenges that are difficult to manage using conventional approaches. Companies with activities that rely on e-commerce struggle to find solutions that will assist with managing increasingly complex infrastructure while satisfying a more demanding customer base. In particular, downtime costs can have a substantial impact on the gross revenues of an e-commerce organization, as well as losses due to brand erosion and customer dissatisfaction. As these companies become increasingly dependent upon e-Business as a significant source of revenue, the success of the overall business is inextricably linked to the health of the IT infrastructure. The lack of tools to communicate critical information concerning the condition of the IT infrastructure to business managers further complicates this picture. A further complexity is that many e-commerce systems are widely distributed over a large geographic area, where a principle means of communications between parts of the system is via the Internet. 
   Businesses are further faced with the problem of translating IT organization performance goals into objectives that satisfy the needs of the business. While there is a need for a reliable, high performance infrastructure for executing business processes, there is often a lack of understanding of the impact that systems, applications, and process execution breakdowns have on business objectives, because of the inability to measure IT performance against business objectives. Regarding reliability and performance, existing management tools for heterogeneous and complex business processes offer incomplete and inadequate coverage of individual infrastructure elements. There is a lack of a systems management solution that encompasses the entire execution infrastructure as a single entity, capturing the interrelations between systems, applications, and business processes. A solution must be capable of automatically adapting to constant changes in this execution environment. 
   It is often difficult for IT organizations to relate the impact of process execution breakdowns to business objectives. Since infrastructure failures are viewed as isolated IT events, the impact on the business is noticed only when a product line manager or analyst sees a change in business performance. A solution is needed that will capture the business process workflows and relate potential and actual infrastructure breakdowns to business process execution, enabling IT and business managers to find a collaborative solution. It is desirable to have a solution that is capable of expediting and automating the remediation process. 
   IT contributions to the core business are often measured using IT-oriented metrics, rather than metrics that support IT contributions to business goals or corporate strategy. A solution is needed that reports IT performance in terms of business metrics rather than infrastructure performance. By combining business and IT metrics, information may be generated that will enable business decisions to be made based on a correlation of IT performance and business goals. 
   This environment has created a need for a unified solution for monitoring the health of real-time e-business infrastructures to improve the quality, reliability and total cost of ownership of e-business sites. This translates to the bottom line as greater customer satisfaction, a loyal customer base, and increased revenues. It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a comprehensive solution for correlating collected performance data to detect and identify incipient and immediate system component failures in complex e-business infrastructures. 
   Another object of the present invention is to enable improved performance of e-commerce systems by diagnosing patterns in collected component performance data to determine a cause of a system component performance reduction in e-business. 
   Yet another object of the present invention is to provide real-time correlation, prediction and diagnosis of collected performance data from e-commerce system components for evaluating, reporting, and managing e-commerce system configuration, providing predictive and impact analysis, and reducing downtime by detecting incipient failures before there is a significant impact of business performance. 
   BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE 
   The present invention satisfies the needs for transaction monitoring and infrastructure management of modern business systems by capturing and representing expert knowledge about infrastructure components, and monitoring their behavior. Infrastructure component data is extracted by collectors from applications, operating systems and databases before being analyzed and correlated to detect, predict and diagnose the cause of execution failures. Correlation of the infrastructure component data enables users to associate and analyze data from a wide variety of sources in a simple unifying format. This provides the capability to capture relationships and correlate data from multiple systems in real time. Root cause analysis is performed by correlating and diagnosing the collected data. 
   In a typical scenario, a plurality of data collectors gathers relevant data about an e-business application, a database, and various web servers. This data is sent to a management system server and analyzed by a reasoning system within the server. Examples of anomalies that may occur include a web server or application server timeout, an application server error, or a database space problem. When an anomaly is detected, the reasoning system performs predictive analysis and diagnostics that determine the specific component contributing to the problem and the server system manager notifies the administrator of an actual or incipient problem, its cause, and its impacts. This process enables the management system server to pinpoint the specific cause of a problem in real-time. 
   The data collectors are small, individual collectors that capture data reflecting the real-time health and performance of the applications and underlying IT components in the e-business environment. These collectors deliver data to the management server where it is aggregated and analyzed. The system manager records the data in a repository and evaluates it against predefined threshold values. If any of the datapoints violates threshold values, the reasoning system is triggered to perform analysis. 
   An embodiment of the present invention is a computer-implemented method for correlating and diagnosing system performance data that comprises capturing knowledge about system behavior, deploying the captured knowledge as baseline system behavior files, evaluating monitored system performance datapoints against the baseline system behavior files to identify datasets that have changed states, performing real-time prediction and diagnostic analysis on the datasets that have changed states, and notifying a user of a prediction and diagnostic analysis result. The capturing step may comprise defining problems to be solved, creating datasets that correspond to the defined problems, constructing problem scenarios, associating data patterns with the problem scenario cases, and generating XML definition files that characterize system behavior in terms of the scenarios, modules and datasets. The deploying step may further comprise characterizing the captured system behavior knowledge as XML files. The deploying step may comprise loading XML definition files that characterize system behavior in terms of the scenarios, modules and datasets, receiving system domain, component and datapoint information, creating relationships between components, and evaluating and creating domain and component instances in each domain to form instances of datasets. The evaluating step may comprise receiving system performance datapoints from data collectors, comparing the datapoints against a threshold value to determine a state of the datapoints, analyzing the received performance datapoints when a state changes or exceeds a threshold, correlating the datapoints that exceeded the threshold values with stored datasets in the baseline system behavior files to identify datasets, and sending the correlated related datasets to a reasoning system for prediction and diagnostic analysis. The performing step may comprise receiving correlated datasets by a reasoning system, performing prediction and diagnosis analysis by the reasoning system to determine if the received datasets match problem patterns in a knowledge base, and generating an analysis result based on analysis of the received datasets and problem patterns. The generating step may provide an analysis result that identifies a problem and a probable cause of the problem. The generating step may provide an analysis result that predicts an incipient system component failure. The generating step may provide a best estimate of a problem and probable cause of the problem. The evaluating step may comprise parsing XML files into a tree representation, traversing the tree representation and taking actions on specific tree elements, creating and updating domain, component, datapoint, relationship and dataset objects specified by a given tree element, instantiating derived objects by processing newly created components to determine if new relationships need to be created, and instantiating datasets by processing newly created relationships and components to determine if new datasets need to be instantiated. An embodiment of the present invention may be a computer-readable medium containing instructions for controlling a computer system to carry out the steps described above. 
   Another embodiment of the present invention is a computer readable medium containing a data structure for storing objects for correlating and diagnosing system component performance data that comprises domain objects that identify distinct areas of a system environment, component objects that identify parts of the domains of the system environment, datapoint objects that identify monitored characteristics of system components, dataset objects that comprise logical collections of datapoint objects, relationship templates for connecting two or more components related to one another, scenario objects that identify possible causes for a problem, and module objects that encapsulate stored knowledge. A system manager may instantiates the objects in a repository from XML files. The domain objects may be defined by DomainDef XML definition structures that include a type, category, and attributes of component and datapoint objects, the component objects may be defined by ComponentDef XML definition structures that include a type and attributes of datapoint objects, the datapoint objects may be defined by DataPointDef XML definition structures that contain a name and attributes, the dataset objects may be defined by DataSetDef XML definition structures that include attributes of components objects and datapoint objects, the relationship templates may be defined by RelationTemp definition structures that include identification of related components, the scenario objects may be defined by the Scenario definition structures that include the problem description, probable cause and suggested solutions, and the module objects may encapsulate knowledge. Domain objects may comprise one or more component objects, component objects may comprise one or more datapoint objects, and dataset objects may comprise one or more component objects and one or more datapoint objects. Dataset objects may contain datapoints belonging to one or more component objects. The DataSetDef objects may comprise a DataSetDef name, a list of DsComponentDef objects, each object may include a pointer to the component definition used in the dataset, a subset of DsDataPointDef objects included in the component definitions needed in the dataset, a list of child DsComponentDef objects related to this component, a parent DsComponentDef object, the DsDataPointDef objects may include a pointer to a DataPointDef object used in the dataset, a trigger flag for specifying whether this datapoint triggers analysis, a trigger threshold at which point analysis is triggered, an analyze flag for specifying whether this datapoint participates in analysis, and a label to uniquely identify the datapoint. The trigger threshold may be selected from the group consisting of good, fair, warning and critical. The DsComponentDef object may further include a constraint selected from the group consisting of possible candidates for this component based on its host, the domain instance, and the component instance. The relationship templates may specify a rule to create relationships between components, the relationship template may include the following attributes: Type for identifying method of creation, OwnerDomainType for identifying owner domain type, OwnerCompType for identifying owner component type, MemberDomainType for identifying member domain type, MemberCompType for identifying member component type, OwnerComp for identifying owner component instances, MemberComp for identifying member component instances, OwnerDomainInst for identifying owner domain instances, MemberDomainInst for identifying member domain instances, and flags to specify that owner and member should be part of the same domain, same component and same host. The data structure may further comprise an engine template for associating analysis with a dataset, the engine including one or more modules that address a specific dataset. 
   Another embodiment of the present invention is a computer-implemented system for correlating and diagnosing system performance data that comprises an extension environment comprising means for capturing knowledge about system behavior, a system manager that comprises means for deploying the captured knowledge as baseline system behavior files, means for evaluating monitored system performance datapoints against the baseline system behavior files to identify datapoints that have changed states, a reasoning system that comprises means for performing real-time prediction and diagnostic analysis on the datasets, and means for notifying a user of a prediction and diagnostic analysis result. The capturing means may comprise problems to be solved, datasets that correspond to the defined problems, problem scenarios, data pattern modules with the problem scenarios, and XML definition files that characterize system behavior in terms of the scenarios, modules and datasets. The means for deploying may further comprises XML files that characterize the captured system behavior knowledge. The system behavior knowledge may be stored in a repository, encapsulated in XML files and built into the engine and module. The means for deploying may comprise XML definition files that characterize system composition and behavior in terms of the scenarios, modules and datasets, domain information, datapoints and components, and relationships between components. The means for evaluating may comprise system performance data from data collectors, domain, component, datapoint and relationship instances from received data, relationships based on pre-defined templates based on component instances, datasets based on relationships and component instances, evaluated performance data to determine if a threshold value is exceeded, identified datasets containing datapoints that exceed a threshold value, and a reasoning system for receiving the identified datasets. The means for performing real-time prediction and diagnostic analysis may comprises a reasoning system for receiving identified datasets, a prediction engine and a diagnostic engine in the reasoning system for determining if the received dataset matches a problem pattern in a knowledge base, and an analysis result from the prediction engine and diagnostic engine. The analysis result may identify a problem, a probable cause of the problem, and a suggested solution. The analysis result may predict an incipient system component failure. The analysis result may be a best estimate of a problem and a probable cause of the problem. 
   Yet another embodiment of the present invention is a method for correlating and diagnosing system performance data that comprises entering knowledge about system behavior data into a repository, receiving system performance data from a target system, comparing the system performance data values with system behavior data values in the persistent store to determine if threshold values have been exceeded, indicating a problem, correlating the performance data that exceeds threshold values with datasets in a repository to identify related datasets, performing predictive and diagnostic analysis of the identified datasets, and notifying a user of a result of the performing predictive and diagnostic analysis step. The system behavior data and the system performance data may be stored in the persistent store. The performing step may further comprise analyzing the identified datasets with stored problem scenario datasets to determine a cause and correction for the data values that exceed threshold values. The method may further comprise activating a corrective script based on a result of the performing predictive and diagnostic analysis step. Another embodiment of the present invention is a computer-readable medium containing instructions for controlling a computer system to carry out die steps described above. 

   
     DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     These and other features, aspects, and advantages of the present invention will become understood with regard to the following description, appended claims, and accompanying drawings 
       FIG. 1  shows a system block diagram of data collectors and a management server; 
       FIG. 2  shows a representation of an object model according to an embodiment of the present invention; 
       FIG. 3  shows a flow diagram of the system process; 
       FIG. 4  shows the sub-steps of the capture knowledge step of  FIG. 3 ; 
       FIG. 5A-FIG .  5 B show examples of correlating dataset patterns for problem determination; 
       FIG. 6  shows the sub-steps of the deploy new knowledge step of  FIG. 3 ; 
       FIG. 7  shows the sub-steps of the evaluate thresholds and trigger analysis step of  FIG. 3 ; 
       FIG. 8  shows the sub-steps of the correlation and data analysis step of  FIG. 3 ; 
       FIG. 9  shows a flow diagram for an operating data analysis process after system set up; 
       FIG. 10  shows an example of a DomainDef definition object for an operating system; 
       FIG. 11A-FIG .  11 C show examples of DataSetDef definition files; 
       FIG. 12  shows an example of a scenario definition file; 
       FIG. 13  shows an example of a relationship template; 
       FIG. 14  shows an example of an engine definition file; 
       FIG. 15  shows an example of a single-level dataset; 
       FIG. 16  shows an example of a multi-level dataset; 
       FIG. 17  shows a flow diagram of a dataset instantiation algorithm; and 
       FIG. 18  depicts elements of the System Manager architecture. 
   

   DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
   Turning now to  FIG. 1 ,  FIG. 1  shows a system block diagram  100  of data collectors  112 ,  122 ,  132  and a management server  140 . The collectors  112 ,  122 ,  132  are comprised of the core collector technology and plug-ins that are specific to particular applications or infrastructure components. The system comprises an extensive library of existing collector plug-ins for leading e-business applications, application servers, web servers, databases, and operating systems that can be deployed in an environment as is. The management server  140  is the control center of an e-business applications management system, and is controlled by the system manager  142 . When data is collected by the data collectors  112 ,  122 ,  132 , it is delivered to the management server  140  where it is evaluated against threshold values to determine if further analysis is required. The system manager  142  records the received data in the repository  144  and evaluates it against predefined threshold values. If threshold values are exceeded by datapoints, the system manager  142  performs correlation to determine which datasets are affected by the datapoint that exceeded a threshold and notifies the reasoning system  146 . To reduce network traffic and maintain efficiency, individ al collectors  112 ,  122 ,  132  typically only transmit data when the values of the datapoints have changed. The repository  144  stores relevant data, problem scenarios, recommendations, and system configurations. The reasoning system  146  contains predictive analysis and diagnostic engines required to turn the repository&#39;s correlated data and templates into usable information. These predictive analysis and diagnostic engines are integral to system&#39;s ability to rapidly resolve problems. The reasoning system  146  evaluates the datapoints in relationship to one another. If the reasoning system  146  identifies a pattern that implies a problem, it performs diagnosis and recommends a resolution using the knowledge stored in the repository  144 . As new data arrives at the management server  140 , the system manager  142  determines if analysis by the reasoning system  146  is required. The system manager  142  records the new datapoints in the repository  144  and performs preliminary inspection of the data. It then populates these datasets with the real-time values of the datapoints. If any of the datapoints violate their predefined threshold values, the system manager  142  triggers the reasoning system  146  to perform analysis. During data analysis, the reasoning system  146  calls upon the repository  144  to locate all of the datasets involving the datapoints that have violated their threshold values. If the reasoning system  146  recognizes a problematic pattern, it draws upon the knowledge stored in the repository  144 . By combining its built-in analytic intelligence with the repository&#39;s knowledge, the reasoning system  146  identifies the root cause of problems, and determines the area of the application system environment that is or will be affected by the situation. The repository  146  also contains in-depth intelligence of e-business technologies and their relationships with one another, as well as problem-solving expertise and historical records. The reasoning system  146  draws upon the information stored in the repository  144  in order to perform data correlation and analysis. Knowledge of the applications and underlying components, including their interdependencies, is represented in the repository  144  as object models. Also shown in  FIG. 1  is an extension environment  150  that enables a user to initialize a management system by defining problem areas and creating scenario, module and dataset definitions. 
   The reasoning system  146  is comprised of a diagnostic engine and a predictive analysis engine. The diagnostic engine can identify patterns in collected data, which allow it to determine the state of the system or a problem that may be present. To accomplish this, the system manager organizes the data into datasets, each of which contain specific datapoints. The system manager stores datasets in a repository. A datapoint describes a specific attribute of a component, such as CPU utilization and available disk space. A dataset is a group of datapoints with a certain value range, For example, a dataset may contain a datapoint for CPU utilization that has a “warning value, indicating that the CPU is almost fully utilized. When the reasoning system submits a dataset to the diagnostic engine for analysis, the diagnostic engine retrieves the dataset from the repository, examines the patterns in the data, and matches these patterns with information in its knowledge base that best describes the current state, potential problems, or existing problems. If the diagnostic engine finds an anomaly, it determines the probable cause or condition and generates an analysis result that may be viewed using a GUI. Each analysis result describes the problem or condition, its severity, the date and time of occurrence, and short and long-term solutions, if applicable. Problems or conditions can trigger notifications to individuals or groups of individuals, and corrective action script to remedy the problem or condition. 
   The predictive analysis engine analyzes collected data over time to discover trends in a host business system. Predictive analysis discovers trends in degrading performance and potential system failures. When the predictive analysis engine diagnosis a problem or condition, it analyzes datapoint values over time to determine trends in system resources and business processes. If the predictive analysis engine detects a trend, it produces and sends an analysis result to a GUI. The analysis result may be a graph that displays the values of a datapoint or datapoints over time. Predictive analysis estimates the time available until resources are depleted or until a failure occurs, warning the user in advance to enable correction of the problem or condition. 
   Turning now to  FIG. 2 ,  FIG. 2  shows a representation of an object model  200  according to an embodiment of the present invention. The present invention is a complete object-oriented system. The System Manager and other server elements instantiate data objects representing business applications, databases, and operating system resources that are stored in an Object Oriented Database Management System (OODBMS). Using XML representations, the System Manager and other server components instantiate these objects in the Repository. The methodology defines a very efficient data model  200  that allows multiple engines to use the same data. The system captures the definition of business processes through workflow models that encapsulate every step of their execution. It captures the characteristics of applications, systems, and databases in object models representing each element of the execution infrastructure. Inter-dependencies among applications, databases, and operating system platforms are captured in relationship object models that bind the entire execution infrastructure. These object models are instantiated at the Management Server at runtime and are stored in the Repository. The stored information is called data objects. 
   A domain  210 , shown in  FIG. 2 , is the highest-level class that the system manages. Domains  210  may be associated with a Web server, operating system, database, and business application. A domain  210  groups related components  220 . When a data collector plug-in starts, it submits its domain name, which specifically identifies the data collector plug-in. A component  220  is a part of a domain  210  in which data is being tracked. For example, a file system, system process, and log file are all components. In the data model  200 , components  220  are modeled as a group of datapoints  240  belonging to the same area, performing a common function, or sharing common attributes. Each domain  210  contains one or more components  220 , and a component  220  has a type and one or more instances. The type represents the overall category of the component object, while an instance consists of a specific case within that category. For example, a file system is a type of component on a Windows NT server, while the C drive is an instance of the file system component.  FIG. 2  depicts a component  220  belonging to a domain  210 . A domain  210  may contain one or more components  220 . Datapoints  240  are the monitored characteristics of components  220  or component instances. File system datapoints might include total disk space, amount of free space, and amount of used space on the disk. Associated with each datapoint  240  is a unique definable metric, or unit of measure, whose value identifies a specific aspect or characteristic of the component  220 . Data collector plug-ins extract the values of datapoints  240  from the host machines. Datapoints  240  typically store real values. For example, CPU utilization is expressed as a percentage. The analysis engines diagnose problems and conditions and make predictions based on the threshold values for datapoints  240 . For example, if the datapoint  240  measures CPU utilization, the thresholds determine whether CPU utilization is low (good), medium (fair), high (warning), or very high (critical). This distinction is important in data analysis because it determines how the condition is diagnosed. If a datapoint  240  reaches a threshold, the System Manager triggers analysis.  FIG. 2  depicts a datapoint  240  belonging to a component  220 . A component  220  may contain one or more datapoints  240 . Datasets  230  are logical collections of datapoints  240  stored within the Repository. The datapoints  240  in each dataset  230  can belong to any number of components  220 , and any number of datasets  230  can contain the same datapoint  240 . The groupings are based on various types of relationships  250  between the datapoints  240 . For example, because database function is affected when a file system runs low on space, a dataset  230  might group datapoints  240  that monitor file system space within a domain  210 , plus datapoints  240  that monitor Oracle database activity in the same domain  210 . Each dataset  230  represents an attribute that the Reasoning System uses for analysis. In order to compare the states of several datapoints  240  without knowing the actual values of the datapoints  240 , datasets  230  use normalized values.  FIG. 2  depicts a datapoint  240  containing multiple components  220  and datapoints  240 . 
   Also shown in  FIG. 2  is how relationships  250  connect two or more components  220  as being, belonging, or working together. Components  220  often have relationships  250  with one another; for example, a word processing application may depend on the printer connected to a particular host in order to print, and therefore establishes a relationship  250 . The relationship  250  between components  220  is very important when creating individual datasets  230 . When building a list of associated datapoints  240 , the server looks for these relationships  250 . For example, if the printer and spooler are related to each other and there is a dataset  230  that contains datapoints  240  from both, only datapoints  240  from the related printer and spooler are used. This is crucial to the problem determination that is based on this relationship  250 . If the printer is down, only the spooler that is associated with the printer is affected. The System Manager instantiates datasets  230  based on relationships  250 . As the System Manager collects, stores, and analyzes data from a target system, the Management Server checks for relationships  250  that exist between the various elements of the business enterprise. Relationships  250  are the dependencies, interactions, and working associations among the domains  210  and component  220  instances that are being monitored. For example, there is a relationship between an Oracle tablespace and the file system on a database server. Due to its dependency on the file system, Oracle operates less efficiently as the disk space on the host server begins to diminish. If the host server runs out of disk space, Oracle becomes inefficient or could fail.  FIG. 2  depicts an owner-member relationship  250  between two components  220 . The relationship  250  holds the association between an owner component  220  and member component  220 . The system uses relationships  250  to organize associated datapoints  240 . A relationship  250  exists when one component  220  relies on another component  220  in order to function. The data collector plug-ins use these types of relationships  250  to determine what data to extract. The data collector plug-ins normally extract relationship data during configuration and initialization, rather than during the normal collection interval. In other words, the data collector plug-ins typically send data about relationships  250  only when something has changed (is re-configured) and when the system starts.  FIG. 13  below shows an example of a relationship template. 
   Turning now to  FIG. 3 ,  FIG. 3  shows a flow diagram  300  of the system process. The management server correlates data in real time from systems throughout the environment. This enables the management server to accurately and immediately determine the root cause of a problem and provide the user with detailed information about the source of the communication problem. In order to determine the cause of a problem, the management server needs a definition of the application, problem scenarios that might occur in that application, and the data patterns that pinpoint each scenario. The process consists of the steps of using an extension environment for modeling the technology to be managed for capturing knowledge  310 , deploying new knowledge in a management server  320  at run-time, performing data correlation and evaluating data thresholds and triggering analysis in real-time by the system manager  330 , and prediction and diagnostic analysis of the data by the reasoning system  340 . The capture knowledge step  310  further comprises sub-steps  312  discussed below in relation to  FIG. 4 , the deploy new knowledge step  320  further comprises sub-steps  322  discussed below, the evaluate step  330  further comprises sub-steps  332  discussed below, and the analysis step  240  further comprises sub-steps  342  discussed below. 
   Turning now to  FIG. 4 ,  FIG. 4  shows the sub-steps  400  of the capture knowledge step  310  of  FIG. 3 . The capture knowledge step  310  in  FIG. 3  comprises defining the problems to be solved  410 . This step is performed by the extension environment. Then a dataset is created that groups a set of datapoints  420 , further comprising the steps of creating problem scenarios in the extension environment  430 , creating problem cases that define multiple data patterns  440 , and assigning a scenario to each case in the module  450 . XML definition files are then generated  460  that correspond to the data patterns. 
   Turning now to  FIG. 5A ,  FIG. 5A  shows an example  500  of the ability of the present invention to capture and understand the relationships between technologies in the e-business infrastructure for the purpose of correlating data and diagnosing the root cause of problems quickly. Relationships are defined as the interdependencies between technologies in executing a business process or completing tasks. In the example  500 , in an e-commerce environment, in order for a web page to be delivered, the web server must pass the request on to an application server, which gathers the page content from a database. The invention relies on data collectors  540 ,  542 ,  544  to for collecting datapoints  510  to track the relationships between the web server and application server and the database, as well as the relationships between these technologies and their underlying operating systems. These relationships enable a Reasoning System in a Management Server, which contains powerful analysis engines, to correlate data from multiple systems in real time. This is accomplished through the use of datasets which are groupings of specific datapoints  510  that are established based on the relationships between systems. The datasets serve as templates, in which the actual datapoint values are inserted before analysis takes place. Analysis is performed using instances of datasets that were created by the System Manager. When data collectors  540 ,  542 ,  544  collect data from a live environment, the datapoints  510  carry values that correspond to different performance levels or “states”. Supported states are good, fair, warning, or critical, depending upon predefined threshold values. During analysis, the datapoints  510  populate a given dataset in real time, thereby creating cases  520 ,  530  with their values (for example, good-warning-critical, or critical-critical-critical). These cases  520 ,  530  indicate certain conditions or problems exist within the environment. In the present example, case  1  may indicate a problem in a web server while case  2  may indicate a problem in an application server. 
   Turning to  FIG. 5B ,  FIG. 5B  shows an example of relationships  550  between cases  570 ,  580  assigned to a specific scenario  590 . Datasets are associated with problem scenarios. If the datapoint values  560  match a case  570 ,  580  in a dataset, the system returns an analysis result for the corresponding scenario  590 . This analysis result describes the problem and how to resolve it. In the example  550 , case  1   570  is assigned case # 203  and case  2   580  is assigned case # 252 . This example illustrates how data correlation is a prerequisite necessary for the invention to truly diagnose the root cause of problems. 
   Turning now to  FIG. 6 ,  FIG. 6  shows the sub-steps  600  of the deploy new knowledge step  320  of  FIG. 3 . When new knowledge has been created in the extension environment, it is represented as XML definition files that must be loaded into the Management Server run-time environment  610 . This knowledge may include information about a new e-business application, application server, web server, database, or operating system. Each of these software applications is a domain. In addition, new problem scenarios, modules, and datasets may be deployed. The data collectors collect and send domain information to the System Manager  620 . The System Manager must create instances for each domain  630  and evaluate individual datapoints to form instances of datasets and components  640 . This enables the system to know exactly which domain instance is having a problem. For example, if you have five web servers, and one of them begins to fail, it is important to know which instance, on which host, the failure will occur. It is also important to understand what other domain instances have relationships with that instance. Relationships are very important in analysis, and must be created by the data collectors or the Management Server  650 . For an example of relationships by hosts  660 , if Database B fails, Web Server A will not be affected, because it writes to Database A only. However, if Database B fails, Web Server B will not be able to perform its functions. 
   Turning now to  FIG. 7 ,  FIG. 7  shows the sub-steps  700  of the evaluate thresholds and trigger analysis step  330  of  FIG. 3 . The data collectors send data to the System Manager  720  where datapoint values are compared with predefined thresholds  730 . For example, if a datapoint state has changed from Fair to Critical, the System Manager looks in the repository to identify all datasets that contain the datapoint that caused the change and sends all of the identified datasets to the Reasoning System for analysis  750 . 
   Turning now to  FIG. 8 ,  FIG. 8  shows the sub-steps  800  of the prediction and data analysis step  340  of  FIG. 3 . When the Reasoning System receives a dataset from the System Manager for analysis  810 , the Reasoning System performs pattern recognition to determine if the pattern in the dataset matches a defined problem or condition in its knowledge base  820 . If it finds a match  820 , the Reasoning System notifies the end user in the form of an analysis result  840 . If it does not find a match  820 , a best estimate is generated  830  and the user is notified  840 . 
   Turning now to  FIG. 9 ,  FIG. 9  shows a flow diagram  900  for a data analysis process after a system has been set up and is operating. The collector plug-ins gather data  902  from each host and domain in a host business system, and the System Manager receives, organizes, and stores the collected data in a repository  904  as datapoints. As it receives the data, the System Manager stores and analyzes the values of the collected datapoints to determine if a threshold has been exceeded  906 . If a datapoint exceeds a threshold  908 , the System Manager submits all datasets that contain the datapoint to a queue for a Reasoning System  910 . If a datapoint does not exceed a threshold  908 , the data gathering step  902  is repeated. This analysis occurs quickly. The reasoning system determines what type of analysis is needed and submits the dataset to either a diagnostic engine or a predictive analysis engine  912 . If submitted to the diagnostic analysis engine, the diagnostic analysis engine analyzes the problem or condition and determines probable cause  916 . If submitted to the predictive analysis engine, the predictive analysis engine views the data over a period of time to detect trends  914 . If one of the analysis engines discovers a problem or trend, it generates an analysis result and a notification, for example, either a probable cause of a problem notification or an estimated time to failure or impact notification, which is provided to a user  918 . If corrective action has been selected for the particular problem or condition, a corrective script will run automatically or by user initiation on the host that is experiencing the problem  918 . The reasoning system diagnoses problems and conditions, and makes predictions based on a threshold value for datapoints. For example, if a datapoint measure CPU utilization, the threshold determines whether CPU utilization is low (good), medium (fair), high (warning), or very high (critical). This distinction is important in data analysis because it determines how the condition is diagnosed. When a reasoning system analyzes a dataset, it may not generate an analysis result. It only generates an analysis result when a data pattern matches information in a knowledge base with a high degree of certainty. 
   The invention is a complete object-oriented system. The System Manager and other server elements instantiate data objects representing business applications, databases, and operating system resources that are stored in an Object Oriented Database Management System (OODBMS). Using XML representations, the System Manager and other server components instantiate these objects in the Repository. The database architecture contains two types of objects, definition objects and instance objects. In object-oriented terms, definition objects are similar to a class and instance objects are similar to an instance. Definition objects provide a common place to describe instance objects and to store their attributes. TABLE 1 describes the type of instance objects and their corresponding definition objects. 
   
     
       
             
             
             
           
         
             
               TABLE 1 
             
             
                 
             
             
               Instance 
               Definition 
                 
             
             
               Object 
               Object 
               Description 
             
             
                 
             
           
           
             
               Domain 
               DomainDef 
               Domains define a distinct area of an 
             
             
                 
                 
               environment being monitored: web server, 
             
             
                 
                 
               operating system, database, and business 
             
             
                 
                 
               application. A domain groups related 
             
             
                 
                 
               components. 
             
             
               Component 
               ComponentDef 
               A component is a part of a domain in 
             
             
                 
                 
               which data is being tracked. For 
             
             
                 
                 
               example, a file system, system process, 
             
             
                 
                 
               and log file are all components. In 
             
             
                 
                 
               the data model, components are modeled 
             
             
                 
                 
               as a group of datapoints belonging to 
             
             
                 
                 
               the same area, performing a common 
             
             
                 
                 
               function, or sharing common attributes. 
             
             
               Datapoint 
               DataPointDef 
               Datapoints are the monitored 
             
             
                 
                 
               characteristics of components or 
             
             
                 
                 
               component instances. File system 
             
             
                 
                 
               datapoints might include total disk 
             
             
                 
                 
               space, amount of free space, and 
             
             
                 
                 
               amount of used space on the disk. 
             
             
                 
             
           
        
       
     
   
   Turning to  FIG. 10 ,  FIG. 10  shows an example  1000  of a DomainDef definition  1010  for an operating system. This example also contains examples of ComponentDef structures  1020 ,  1040  and DataPointDef structures  1030 ,  1050 ,  1060 ,  1070 . This example illustrates the relationships between DomainDef, ComponentDef and DataPointDef definition structures defined in XML. 
   Datasets are logical collections of datapoints stored within the Repository. The datapoints in each dataset can belong to any number of components, and any number of datasets can contain the same datapoint. The groupings are based on various types of relationships between the components that contain the datapoints. For example, because database functionality is affected when a file system runs low on space, a dataset might group datapoints that monitor file system space within a domain, in addition to datapoints that monitor Oracle database activity in the same domain. Each dataset represents an attribute that the Reasoning System uses for analysis. The description of a dataset is contained in an object called DatasetDef in the database. The DatasetDef object lists all the components and their datapoints, and defines the dataset. TABLE 2 shows an example dataset. 
   
     
       
             
             
             
             
           
         
             
                 
               TABLE 2 
             
             
                 
                 
             
             
                 
               Domain 
               Component 
               Datapoint 
             
             
                 
                 
             
           
           
             
                 
               Operating system 
               File system 
               Percent Used 
             
             
                 
               Oracle 
               Tablespace 
               Status 
             
             
                 
               Application 
               Server 
               Status 
             
             
                 
                 
             
           
        
       
     
   
   This dataset contains three datapoints. Since datapoints are essentially fixed attributes of a component, it is die component that determines how to build a dataset. Therefore, in this example, there are three distinct components and each has a datapoint. 
   The DatasetDef describes which components and datapoints are included in a dataset, in addition to links to the type of analysis appropriate for the dataset. A dataset instance (referred to simply as a dataset) is an instance of the DatasetDef. A dataset instance is created from the DatasetDef when the system has all the necessary components and relationships to create it. The rules for selecting the components that become part of a dataset are a crucial part of the process. A dataset can contain components that belong to one domain or multiple domains. Hence, the system is capable of performing cross-domain analysis. A dataset instance contains the following information: 
   Name—the name of the corresponding DatasetDef followed by a unique identifier; 
   Component List—the list of component instances that are a part of the dataset; and 
   Datapoint List—a list of datapoint instances that comprise the dataset. 
   The data pattern is an ordered list of datapoints and their current values or states. This pattern is generated whenever analysis occurs on a dataset. 
   Turning to  FIG. 11 ,  FIG. 11A  shows an example of a DataSetDef definition file for Oracle_SqlRunTimeDiagnostic  1100 ,  FIG. 11B  shows an example of a DataSetDef definition file for OS_FileSysDiskSpacePredictor, and  FIG. 11C  shows an example of a DataSetDef definition file for OS_VirtMemoryPredictor. These XML files contain examples of DataSetDef structures  1110 ,  1140 ,  1170 , DsComponentDef definition structures  1115 ,  1145 ,  1175 , and DsDataPointDef definition structures  1120 ,  1122 ,  1124 ,  1150   1180 . These special definition structures may be specified by XML files that specify information necessary to create a dataset. DsComponentDef is a description of the component to be selected for a dataset. DsDataPointDef is a description of the datapoint of a component with its information on how to trigger and analyze. Relationships between components are needed to build a dataset instance. The System Manager, Reasoning System, and other server components use special definition files to group and analyze data. When it receives data, the System Manager checks the templates and special definition files for relationships among the components and instances that are being monitored. The System Manager then maintains those relationships as it builds new datasets or adds to existing datasets in the Repository. The System Manager also maintains the owner-member relationships established in the collection system. This results in datasets that provide a snapshot of the client environment. Dataset definitions are created using definition objects, which define or describe other objects in the database. A user may create a dataset definition without instantiating it. If components match this dataset definition, a dataset may be created at a later time. 
   These special definition files called DatasetDef include DsComponentDef and DsDataPointDef definition structures. The DatasetDef is a special definition file that describes a dataset and contains the following information: 
   Name—the name of the DatasetDef; the name of the dataset instance is based on this name; and 
   List of DsComponentDef—a list of references to component definitions with additional dataset specific information. 
   The DsComponentDef is a special definition structure that contains the following information: 
   ComponentDef—a pointer to the component definition used in the dataset; 
   List of DsDataPointDef structures—a subset of the datapoints from the component definition that are needed for the dataset; 
   List of child DsComponentDef objects—components that must be specifically related to this component; and 
   Parent DsComponentDef object. 
   A DsComponentDef may contain an optional set of one or more constraints: 
   Host—constrains the possible candidates for this component based on its host; 
   Domain—the domain instance constraint; and 
   Component—the component instance constraint. 
   The dataset definition tree is defined hierarchically and includes two types of DsComponentDef files: root and child. The root DsComponentDef structures are at the top level and the child DsComponentDef structures have a parent DsComponentDef. Root structures are specified when a relationship between two component types is not envisioned ahead of time. Child level structures are specified when relationships are known. This hierarchical structure allows for construction of both simple and complex datasets. 
   The DsDataPointDef is a special definition structure that contains the following information: 
   DatapointDef—a pointer to the datapoint definition used in the dataset; 
   TriggerFlag—specifies whether this datapoint triggers analysis; 
   TriggerThreshold—the threshold state (good, fair, warning, critical) at which analysis is triggered; 
   AnalyzeFlag—whether this datapoint participates in analysis; and 
   Label—used to uniquely identify the datapoint. 
   Datapoints that have the analyze flag are used to create the pattern for analysis. Those that do not are used for information purposes and to identify the context for the dataset. For example, there could be a datapoint that identifies the name of the file system that is failing. TriggerFlag identifies datapoints that may trigger analysis. Trigger threshold states are used to determine the state at which analysis must be triggered. 
   Turning to  FIG. 12 ,  FIG. 12  shows an example of a scenario definition structure  1200  based on cases  1210 ,  1220  and diagnostic/predictive analysis  1230 ,  1240 . During the capture knowledge step  310  of  FIG. 3 , the extension environment will generate a scenario definition file along with the dataset and the engine definition files. Together, they constitute the captured knowledge in the system. The extension environment uses scenario definition files to identify cases and provide information to the user when a particular case is found by the reasoning system. The dataset definition file contains information about the datapoints and components that make up the dataset. The engine definition file contains information about the module that will operate on the dataset and generate the scenarios specified in the scenario definition file. A scenario may contain the following information: an ID to identify the scenario uniquely; a description of the case; suggested short term and long term solutions; a category for identifying the area of impact; severity of the case; information about where corrective actions should be performed; and flags determining things such as whether the scenario should result in a notification by pager. 
   Turning now to  FIG. 13 ,  FIG. 13  shows an example of a relationship template file  1300 . The relationship template example contains two components  1310 ,  1320  having a relationship between them.  FIG. 13  contains two relationship templates with constraints on the owner and member components. Relationship Templates are XML definition files that define relationships. Relationship Templates can also define relationships among components. The System Manager, analysis engines, and other server components use templates to group and analyze data. When the System Manager receives datapoints extracted from two components, it checks the template to determine if a relationship exists. It then uses the relationships to group datapoints within the Repository. When it receives data, the System Manager checks the templates and special definition files for relationships among the components and instances that are being monitored. The System Manager then maintains those relationships as it builds new datasets or adds to existing datasets in the Repository. The System Manager also maintains the owner-member relationships established in the collection system. This results in datasets that provide a snapshot of the client environment. Dataset definitions are created using definition objects, which define or describe other objects in the database. You can create a dataset definition without instantiating it. If components match this dataset definition, a dataset may be created later. 
   Relationships are the dependencies, interactions, and working associations among the domains and component instances that are being monitored. Relationships connect two or more components as being, belonging, or working together. Components often have relationships with one another; for example, a word processing application may depend on the printer connected to a particular host in order to print, and therefore establishes a relationship. The relationship between components is very important when creating individual datasets. When building a list of associated datapoints, the server looks for these relationships. For example, if the printer and spooler are related to each other and there is a dataset that contains datapoints from both, only datapoints from the related printer and spooler are used. This is crucial to the problem determination that is based on this relation. If the printer is down, only the spooler that is associated with the printer is affected. The System Manager instantiates datasets based on relationships. As the System Manager collects, stores, and analyzes data from the system, it checks for relationships that exist between the various elements of the business enterprise. A relationship exists when one component relies on another component in order to function. The Collector plug-ins use these types of relationships to determine what data to extract. The Collector plug-ins normally extract relationship data during configuration and initialization, rather than during the normal collection interval. In other words, the Collector plug-ins typically send data about relationships only when something has changed (is re-configured) and when the system starts. Relationships link any two components; however, the components themselves may belong to any domain. The system supports the dependency relationship between components. That is, Component A depends on Component B for its operation. Relationships are crucial to instantiating a dataset. Relationships may be specified in the following ways: discovery by plug-in and relationship templates. A Collector plug-in can discover or create a relationship based on knowledge it has about the domain or knowledge that the user has provided through configuration. Templates are XML definition files that define relationships that are created by the System Manager instead of Data Collectors. Templates can also define relationships among components. When the System Manager receives datapoints extracted from two components, it checks the template to determine if a relationship exists. It then uses the relationships to group datapoints within the Repository. Relationship templates allow the designer to specify a rule to create a relationship. The rule contains a regular expression string that can be used to choose the individual components in a relationship. The rule may also contain a flag that indicates that the two entities have something in common. The following attributes can be specified: host where owner or member component resides; domain (instance) to which the owner or member component belongs; component name of the owner or member; require that both components are from the same domain; and require that both components are on the same host. The server creates a relationship automatically when two components matching a relationship template are detected. 
   Turning now to  FIG. 14 ,  FIG. 14  shows an example of an engine definition file  1400  named “kbengine”  1410 . The engine definition file  1410  includes the ModuleDef Name “OS_FileSysDiskSpacePredictor”  1420  and the ModuleDef Name “OS_VirtMemoryPredictor”  1430 . The DataSetDef definition files for these modules are discussed above in regard to  FIG. 11D  and  FIG. 11C . For the purpose of associating analysis with a dataset, the system uses the concept of an engine and module as illustrated in  FIG. 14 . An engine is a distinct entity that performs analysis. A module is a function within the engine that addresses a specific dataset. Newly created relationships and components are processed to determine if new datasets need to be instantiated. When a dataset contains a single component, any time a component meets the DsComponentDef criteria (that is, it must be an instance of the appropriate ComponentDef and meet all of the constraints specific to this DsComponentDef), a dataset instance is created. The dataset instance has a unique name based on the DataSetDef name. Datasets may be either single-level or multi-level datasets. 
   Turning to  FIG. 15 ,  FIG. 15  shows an example of a single-level dataset  1500 . A single-level dataset is where multiple component types are specified at the topmost level  1510 ,  1520 ,  1530 . Here, the analysis begins whenever at least one relationship that matches the dataset becomes available. When two component types match the dataset definition and this list matches the entire list of components required, a dataset instance is created. Otherwise, the following criteria are used to search for additional top-level components. 
   1. If the ComponentDefs VicinityImpact is of type “System,” implying that this component affects the entire system, all components of this type are searched for and categorized. 
   2. If the Component that has already been selected has a relationship with another component that matches this DatasetDef, this component is included in the category. 
   At the end of this search, a list of candidate components that may be included in the datasets is created. The system then creates a candidate dataset consisting of these components and sends them for further analysis. In choosing the candidate dataset, a combinatorial algorithm is used. If there are three components that match a particular dataset, then three candidate datasets are created.  FIG. 15  indicates a scenario consisting of three component type instances: CompType 1   1510 , CompType 2   1520 , CompType 3   1530 . Below each component is a list of its instances and their relationship to other components (indicated by lines). The actual order of relationships does not matter. According to these rules, this specification yields the following datasets: 
   CompIns 11   1511 -CompIns 21   1521 -CompIns 31   1531   
   CompIns 12   1512 -CompIns 21   1521 -CompIns 31   1531   
   CompIns 12   1512 -CompIns 22   1522 -CompIns 31   1531   
   CompIns 13   1513 -CompIns 22   1522 -CompIns 31   1531   
   The same result occurs if CompType 3   1530  has a VicinityImpact of “System” and has no relationship to any other component. 
   Turning now to  FIG. 16 ,  FIG. 16  shows an example of a multi-level dataset  1600 . The multi-level dataset  1600  expands upon the single-level dataset, allowing multiple levels of components based on a parent-child connection. This enables specialization of relationships to particular components and the ability to have multiple component instances of the same type in the dataset. The top-level components  1610 ,  1620 ,  1630  work exactly as previously described for a single-level dataset. Once the top-level components are satisfied, the algorithm searches for any child components of the top-level component. In doing so, it looks at all the relationships of that particular component.  FIG. 16  depicts a more complex scenario in which there are two top-level components: CompType 1   1610  and CompType 3   1630 . Below each component is a list of its instances and their relationship to other components (indicated by lines). CompType 2   1620  is a child of CompType 1   1610  and CompType 3   1630  in the dataset definition. On the instance side, CompIns 11   1611  and CompIns 12   1612  are related to CompIns 21   1621 . Further, CompIns 31   1631  is related to CompIns 22   1622 . In this scenario, the following datasets are created: 
   CompIns 11   1611 -CompIns 21   1621 -CompIns 31   1631 -CompIns 22   1622   
   CompIns 12   1612 -CompIns 21   1621 -CompIns 31   1631 -CompIns 22   1622   
   This type of relationship has several benefits: it allows multiple instances of the same type of component to appear in the dataset; and it is possible to analyze the impact of a component and its sub-components in the same dataset. In the example, if CompType 2  is in an operating system domain, it is possible to pinpoint the effect of a failure in the operating system more accurately. 
   Turning to  FIG. 17 ,  FIG. 17  shows a flow diagram  1700  of a dataset instantiation algorithm. The dataset instantiation algorithm searches the graph of related components for particular subgraphs that meet the criteria for dataset instantiation. It applies elements of backtracking in its refinement portion and its search portion is similar to the iterative deepening algorithm. The algorithm to create a dataset is performed in several stages. When the algorithm initially starts, the system has already identified either one or two components that match the top-level components of the dataset or root relationships. Trivial rejection is the first stage in the process. A quick check of the relationships is performed to determine whether at least one instance of all the required top-level components may be reached  1715 . This check follows the relationship graph to ensure that any component that should satisfy the dataset can be reached. If at least one top-level candidate cannot be found, the process is stopped  1720 . The step of traversing relationships from a root  1715  does not account for all the possibilities, but does eliminate the need for further costly computation. System-wide components are ignored in this check. If at least one instance of each top-level candidate component can be reached  1715 , owner and member components of the root relationship are added to the list of candidate components  1725 . Candidate components are processed to create a candidate dataset for each combination of candidate components  1730 . This process  1730  creates a path for each candidate dataset, which is evaluated one after the other. Before the algorithm proceeds, it performs a check to determine if the candidate dataset is complete at the top level  1735 . That is, it looks for whether all components that are required to build a dataset are available. This commonly occurs if the dataset contains only one or two components. This check  1735  is also performed at the end of each iteration. The first step in the actual build starts with the top-level components. This build follows an iterative approach. At each iteration, the system builds a list of candidate components that match a specific component definition (ComponentDef) in the dataset  1740 . For each processed component, related components are checked to see if they match a required component, and matching components are added to the candidate components  1745 . For example, in the single-level hierarchy diagram, if CompIns 11  (see  FIG. 15 ,  1511 ) was already in the dataset, this step would yield CompIns 21  (see  FIG. 15 ,  1321 ) and CompIns 22  (see  FIG. 15 ,  1322 ). For each iteration, the system only collects components of the same type in a category  1745 . At the end of each iteration, the system either has a list of possible components or none. If there is a list of possible components  1750 , the algorithm takes each possible component and creates another candidate dataset  1730 . It then recursively applies the same algorithm to find additional components. If a trail leads to an incomplete dataset  1750 , the process backtracks to the previous step and follows another trail  1755 . If none of the trails match, then no datasets are instantiated. Otherwise, it creates as many datasets as possible. If a component has a system-wide impact, the algorithm executes a global search of all possible components that can match this component type. Each of these components becomes a candidate. System-wide impact components may only occur at the top-most level. If a candidate dataset is complete at the top level  1735 , a child-level build is initiated by creating a candidate dataset  1760 . The child-level build is easier than the top-level build since the system already has a list of all top-level components. For each child, the algorithm evaluates all the relationships of the parent component for any children that can satisfy the dataset. If there are no required child components in a candidate dataset  1765 , the process is complete and a dataset is created  1795 . If there are required child components  1765 , all components that are children of the current level of components are found  1770 . When found, the same iterative process as in the top-level build is used to fill the dataset. If at least one instance of each required child is not found  1775 , the branch is ended and the process backtracks and follows another path  1780 . If at least one instance of each required child is found  1775 , a candidate dataset is created for each combination of child components  1785 . If there are no more child levels  1790 , a dataset is created  1795 . If there are more child levels  1790 , the process is repeated by finding all components that are children of the current level of components  1770 . Certain criteria can be used to resolve child components without explicit relationships. These include belonging to the same host, domain, or other grouping. If a DsComponentDef has constraints, the component-specific constraint check is applied whenever a component is considered for inclusion in the dataset. Once the process has filled all required components, system then creates a dataset instance  1795 . The system takes datapoints from the candidate components and creates a list, ensuring there are no duplicates with other dataset instances. A dataset instance is created for each unique set of components that meets all of the criteria for dataset instantiation. 
   The system executes triggering and analysis as outlined in  FIG. 9 . The triggering and data analysis process follows these steps: 
   1. The Collector plug-ins gather data for each host and domain in the system. For example, each domain-specific Collector plug-in collects information for each host: database, operating system, Web server, and application data. 
   2. The System Manager receives the collected data, organizes it, and stores it in the Repository as datapoints. 
   3. As it receives data, the System Manager monitors the values of the collected datapoints to determine if a threshold has been reached. If a datapoint reaches a threshold, the System Manager triggers analysis. 
   4. The Reasoning System determines what type of analysis is needed and triggers the appropriate analysis engine: the Diagnostic Engine or the Predictive Analysis Engine. Analysis occurs very quickly 
   5. The analysis engine determines if there is a problem or condition. 
   Triggering is the process in which the arrival of a datapoint can trigger analysis on the dataset. Triggering is always evaluated for components that have been marked as “Triggerable” in the DatasetDef. These components must specify the threshold at which triggering should take place in mnemonic terms: Good, Fair, Warning, and Critical. For example, if the datapoint measures CPU utilization, the thresholds determine whether CPU utilization is low (good), medium (fair), high (warning), or very high (critical). This distinction is important in data analysis because it determines how the condition is diagnosed. There are currently two types of triggers: value trigger and state trigger. A value trigger is a trigger that activates analysis whenever a datapoint meets or exceeds a threshold. For example, if the CPU utilization was set to trigger analysis whenever it was in the warning stage, either warning or critical will trigger analysis. A state trigger is activated whenever the state of a component changes. This reduces, to a large extent, the amount of analysis that is performed when the datapoint value is always at a triggered state, such as when the CPU is always at warning. The state trigger operates whenever the state of a datapoint changes from being non-triggered to triggered. The state trigger also operates when a datapoint changes state and another datapoint in the same dataset is in a triggered state. For example, if the threshold was set to critical and the previous state was warning, this triggers whenever the threshold changes to critical. Once a dataset is in the triggered state, any change in the state of any other analyzed datapoint causes analysis. This ensures that the analysis accurately reflects the problem being encountered in the real system. 
   In order to perform analysis, a pattern is extracted from a dataset. The pattern is a list of datapoints and their corresponding states. A pattern for the single-level hierarchy may look like Critical-Fair-Warning. This pattern is then analyzed by the corresponding engine to determine if a certain condition has been met. If a condition has been met, then a result may be created or further datapoint values created in the system. When analysis is triggered for a specific dataset, this dataset is placed in a queue for the engine. The engine then receives a message telling it to look in the queue. The engine can then retrieve datasets from the queue and analyze each of them. 
   Turning to  FIG. 18 ,  FIG. 18  depicts elements of the System Manager architecture  1800 . These elements implement the processing of data model that defines the persistent objects that the rest of the Management Server uses for data storage, analysis, and reporting. The System Manager  1800  is the focus for new information to flow into the Management Server, serving as the translator for data from the Collectors and updating the server persistent store or triggering other server entities as necessary. The System Manager consists of the following modules represented in  FIG. 18 . The XML Parsing element  1810  of the System Manager  1800  parses XML into a Tree representation. XML input may come from either the communication API or files. The Tree Traversal element  1820  consists of traversing the Tree and taking actions on specific elements. The Specified Object Instantiation and Update element  1840  creates or updates objects specified by a given element  1820 . These objects correspond to domains, components, datapoints, relationships and data values from a collector domain update or definition objects as part of database initialization. The Derived Object Instantiation element  1850  processes the newly created components to determine if new server relationships need to be created. The Triggering element  1860  evaluates dataset and datapoint trigger conditions given the value of updated datapoints. The Dataset Instantiation element  1830  processes the newly created relationships and components to determine if new datasets need to be instantiated. 
   Although the present invention has been described in detail with reference to certain preferred embodiments, it should be apparent that modifications and adaptations to those embodiments may occur to persons skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention as set forth in the following claims.