Abstract:
Extensible observer system with report management, visual observer, and event management functionality. Uses a component loader for loading new functionality. Leverages data provider, data extractor, and state display components. Includes report manager, report generator, and report propagator. Displays visual observers that include states generated using state display components. Visual observers selectable through hierarchical selector. Manages data-driven events, generating event responses, such as message distribution, based on triggering criteria. Data extractor components used to extract state information. Component generator produces skeleton component code.

Description:
RELATED APPLICATIONS 
       [0001]    This application is a utility application claiming priority of U.S. provisional application entitled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR MODULARIZED SOFTWARE APPLICATION DEVELOPMENT AND INTEGRATION FOR COMPUTER NETWORK MONITORING” filed Apr. 27, 2007. 
     
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    The invention relates to extensible observers, tools for monitoring subjects to produce state-driven reports and visuals, wherein run-time loaded components can be incorporated to provide data, parse data, and produce output. 
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0003]    Management of systems is a challenging task in today&#39;s technology-driven world. Organizations rely on an increasing number of complex systems to perform everyday tasks. When these systems do not work correctly, organizations suffer. The scope of this task is only increasing as more systems are developed and put into production. 
         [0004]    The task of managing systems is made more difficult by the growing sophistication of individual systems. Increased sophistication does more than increase the capabilities of systems; it raises the degree of specialization required by those who manage such systems. This means that reliance on a handful of generalists to provide systems support may not be practicable in many organizations. 
         [0005]    Enabling the management of systems is important priority for such organizations. Decision-makers require centralized interfaces to show the health of their system. Indicators of potential problems need to be routed to directly to appropriate experts so that they can prevent or quickly correct problems without delays caused by bureaucratic inefficiencies. The systems for showing the health of various systems can also be diverse and complex. Aggregating and enabling quick action in response to the systems for showing the health of various systems is itself a challenging task. 
         [0006]    Observers help in the management of systems by collecting data and reporting on the health of systems. It is not uncommon for organizations to employ a multitude of observers to help in managing their systems. Unfortunately, the plethora of observers can quickly create their own systems management problems. For example, each observer may require maintenance work as systems change. When expertise on maintaining individual observers is lost, some observers can become obsolete, impairing organizations that still rely on the observed systems. 
         [0007]    Unfortunately, no single monolithic observer can handle all of the tasks required for effective management of systems. Discrete systems have their own interfaces and quirks that require some customization of observer functionality. 
         [0008]    Thus, there exists a need for an extensible observer that can help in the management of systems, but that enables tailoring of its functionality for each system. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0009]    An extensible observer system includes a component loader that enables new functionality to be loaded into the observer at run-time. It can include report management functionality, visual observer functionality, or event management functionality. 
         [0010]    An extensible observer system with report management functionality uses a report manager that uses a component loader to feed data acquired from a data provider component into a report generator to produce reports. Such reports may be displayed using a generated reports interface. 
         [0011]    Report management functionality may also include the propagation of reports to at least one destination based on a report propagation trigger rule, which can be as simple as a scheduled for propagating reports. Propagation of the location of a generated report is an alternative to propagation of the report itself. 
         [0012]    An extensible observer with visual observer functionality displays states using state display components that are referenced by a selected visual observer interface. The selected visual observer may be selected from a plurality of visual observers using a visual observer selector, which may be implemented as a hierarchical selector in which visual observer interface choices are represented as leaf nodes grouped under branches. 
         [0013]    An extensible observer with event management functionality uses a data manager to extract state information available at a data source location using a data extractor component. This data extractor component may be fed data in chunks of end-of-record delimited data. The data manager generates response events if the extracted state information meets criteria defined by a trigger event rule. 
         [0014]    An extensible observer may also provide component generator interfaces to help in generating components for extending management functionality, visual observer functionality, or event management functionality. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0015]      FIG. 1  shows the report definition interface of the report manager with a report definition selector interface. 
           [0016]      FIG. 2  shows a generated report being displayed by the generated report interface of the report manager. 
           [0017]      FIG. 3  shows the report propagation interface being used to create a report propagation definition that will cause reports to be delivered by email. 
           [0018]      FIG. 4  shows the components generator. 
           [0019]      FIG. 5  shows a visual observer interface displaying several state displays. 
           [0020]      FIG. 6  shows a visual observer selector along with a selected visual observer interface. 
           [0021]      FIG. 7  shows a data parsing interface. 
           [0022]      FIG. 8  shows a response event interface that defines an email response event. 
           [0023]      FIG. 9  shows a Unified Modeling Language use case diagram of the extensible observer. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0024]    The following are definitions of some of the terms used in the detailed description: 
         [0025]    COMPONENT GENERATOR: A tool that generates a skeleton component. A component generator can simply produce a skeleton component upon invocation. A component generator can also elicit information about the new component, through tools such as wizards or dialog boxes, to tailor the skeleton component for a particular task. Further steps may be needed to make a skeleton component useable. 
         [0026]    COMPONENT LOADER: A mechanism that adds functionality to a system at run-time by incorporating an external component. Component loaders can access functionality embedded in variety of external component sources such as dynamically-linked libraries, ActiveX® controls, JavaBeans®, shared libraries, remote libraries, external programs or scripts, remote services, or templates. Component loaders do not necessarily have to load a component directly given a reference to the component. In many instances, a component loader may use an intermediate component broker that either provides the component loader with the details needed to load the component or that itself loads the component. 
         [0027]    DESTINATION: An identifier for where to send data. Common destination&#39;s include email addresses, cell phone numbers for short message services, pager numbers, network message identifiers, external programs or scripts, and data storage locations. 
         [0028]    END-OF-RECORD (EOR): A record terminator that can be used to delimitate records. These terminators are commonly new line and/or carriage return characters at the end of a line of data in human-readable files. In binary files or data streams, the end-of-record may be indicated in a number of ways, including the null character, the ASCII record separator character, a sequence of value&#39;s used to delimitate discrete records, or the end of the file or stream. 
         [0029]    EXTRACTOR: A tool for extracting data from a data source, often through processes such as parsing data in a log, reading data stored in a binary format, or selecting data through an external tool such as a database system. The data source can contain binary data or human-readable data. 
         [0030]    FEED: Transferring data to a component in support of a task can be done in a number of ways. For example, data may be fed through invocation of function calls, where the data is passed as parameters to the functions. Data may be stored at a common location where the component can then retrieve the data. A shared memory location can be used to feed data or a data stream, such as a network connection or pipe, can be used to feed data. Data feeding to a target component does not have to be direct. Data can be fed to components, modules, or tools that subsequently feed the data to the target component. 
         [0031]    HIERARCHICAL SELECTOR: An interface that allows for navigation of a hierarchy of options. Trees, where branches can be hidden and expanded, are common hierarchical selectors, but equivalents that are well known in the art, such as hyperbolic trees, tabbed interfaces, or nested menus, are also hierarchical selectors. 
         [0032]    INTERFACE: A tool for interacting with the user. This can include many tools or user interaction, such as windows, dialog boxes, wizards, web pages, forms, and text and graphic displays. Interfaces may themselves contain interfaces. An interface can be formed by multiple discrete interfaces. 
         [0033]    INVOKE: A user step taken to trigger an action. This may be any number of steps, such as a mouse click or double-click, a right mouse-click, hovering the mouse pointer in an area, using the keyboard, speaking into a microphone, or touching a touch-screen interface. 
         [0034]    LOCATION: A set of criteria establishing where data can be stored or found. Common locations include file paths, directory paths, shared network paths (e.g., using the Universal Naming Convention or UNC), uniform resource locators (URLs), and database and database entry identifiers. The criteria set for a location may include details such as authentication information. The criteria for storing information may differ from the criteria for retrieving information. For example, data might be stored using an authenticated file transfer protocol (FTP) and then retrieved through an unauthenticated hypertext transfer protocol session (HTTP). 
         [0035]    REPORT: A summary of data, often in the form of a set of human-readable graphs, tables, and diagrams. A report may be in a format designed for consumption by another system. 
         [0036]    RESPONSE EVENT: Response events can include, but are not limited to, actions such as notification or an automated corrective action via pager, e-mail, short message service (SMS); network messages, Windows® Command Line scripts and batch files, or Unix® shell scripts. 
         [0037]    SELECTOR: A broad term used to include a number of interfaces such as an icon, a radio button, a checkbox, a text field, a drop-down list, a multi-list, a pop-up dialog box, a push button, or any number of equivalent interfaces for acquiring data. 
         [0038]    STATE DISPLAY: An interface to show information about a subject system. This information may be current or it may be past information. The information may even be projected future information. A state display is typically a graphical indicator of some aspect of health of a system, but it can be a table, number, or even just a flag. 
         [0039]    SUBJECT SYSTEM: A system that is being observed. Subject systems can be any number of things that can be observed. A computer can be a subject system, but so can the software running on the computer, the physical components of the computer, or external devices connected to computer. Network behavior can be observed, thus a network can be a subject system. 
         [0040]    TRIGGER EVENT RULE: Criteria for taking some action. There are many potential sources of trigger event rules. Common ones include the system clock reaching a set time for a scheduled event, a metric—such as system memory usage—passing a threshold value, a system being unresponsive, or a particular string appearing in a log entry. 
         [0041]      FIG. 1  shows an interface containing a report definition selector interface  101  in which a report definition has been selected  112  and is show juxtaposed with a report definition interface  102 . From this interface, the user can view the selected report through the generated report interface  203  by invoking the view report selector  104 , at which point the report definition selector interface  101  and report definition interface  102  can be brought back by invoking the report definition interface selector  103 . The user can also bring up documentation for a report definition by invoking the report definition documentation selector  107 , at which point the user can return to the report definition using the report definition interface selector  106 . 
         [0042]    In the report definition interface  102 , the user can select a data provider component through the data provider component select  109 , thus creating a reference to the data provider component. The user can also select a report generator component using the report generator component selector  108 , thus creating a reference to a report generator component. The report definition interface shown enables the user to reload a data provider component by invoking the data provider component reloader selector  110 . This can be useful in situations where the user is actively developing and testing a new data provider component. The report definition interface also enables the user to select a report propagation definition through the report propagation definition selector  111 , thus creating a reference to the report propagation definition. 
         [0043]    In the preferred embodiment, the user uses the report generator component selector  108  to select a Crystal Reports® report template. The report generator can then feed data acquired from the data provider component into Crystal Reports®, which can then use the report template to generate a report. 
         [0044]      FIG. 2  shows a generated report  201  being displayed through the generated report interface  203 . From this interface, the user can switch to the report definition selector interface  101  and report definition interface  102  by invoking the report definition interface selector  103 , at which point the user can switch back to the generated report interface by invoking the view report selector  104 . In this interface, the user can force the generated report interface to re-generated the report by invoking the refresh report selector  202 . 
         [0045]    The generated report  201  shown comprises a report title  205 , data source description  211 , graph  204 , and legend  206 . The graph  204  comprises at least one axis label  207 , a plurality of axis values  208  and  209 , and data points  212 . 
         [0046]      FIG. 3  shows a report propagation definition selector  301  with a selected report propagation definition  302  shown on a juxtaposed report propagation interface  303 . The report propagation definition interface  303  in the preferred embodiment includes a message type selector  304 , a destination selector  305 , and a plurality of one or more message selectors, including a subject line selector  307  and a message text selector  308 . The preferred embodiment also has a courtesy copy destination selector  306 . 
         [0047]    The report propagation definition interface  303  provides access to options that affect the generated reports, including a plurality of report dimension selectors  311  and  312 , and a report format selector  310 . In the preferred embodiment, the report dimension selector  311  allows specification of a report width in pixel units, the report dimension selector  312  allows specification of a report height in pixel units, and formats available through the report format selector  310  include the Adobe® Portable Document Format (PDF), Microsoft® Excel®, Microsoft® Word®, Rich Text Format, extensible markup language (XML), and hypertext markup language (HTML). Those of ordinary skill in the art could enable the use of other units of dimension, such as inches or centimeters, or other report formats, such as plain text. 
         [0048]    The preferred embodiment of the report propagator can propagate email messages. In the preferred embodiment, the method of propagating the report by email can be varied. For example, a report can be propagated to destination email addresses by directly attaching it. This is the method used if the send as attachment selector  313  is selected. Another propagation option that may be useful when recipients have access to a shared file location is the method of storing the report in a file repository such as a file directory and sending the path to the report to recipients. This propagation method can be chosen using the file path selector  314 . Still another propagation option is to provide access to the report file by propagate a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) that provides access to the report. In the preferred embodiment, this method can be selected through the remote server selector  315 . 
         [0049]    If a remote server selector  315  is selected, then remote server destination selectors  316 ,  317 ,  318 , and  319  are enabled so that destination information can be provided to enable the report propagator can store generated reports. In the preferred embodiment, the remote server is a File Transfer Protocol (FTP) server and the remote server destination selectors include an FTP server name selector  316 , an FTP destination directory selector  317 , an FTP username  318 , and an FTP password  319 . One of ordinary skill in the art would know how to substitute different types of equivalent remote server types for report storage and how to choose appropriate remote server access selectors for other types of equivalent remote server types. 
         [0050]    The report propagator interface may provide an old report protector selector  320  that, if selected, will prevent the report propagator from overwriting old reports. An equivalent to this selector would be an overwrite selector that enables the report propagator to overwrite old reports. 
         [0051]    The report propagator interface also provides a message suppression selector  309 , that if selected, will prevent the report propagator from sending the propagation messages when a report is generated. The report will still be available, but users will have to pull it from the destination repository and will not receive notice that it has been generated. This can be useful in collecting metrics on a frequent basis without overwhelming personnel with notices when immediate notice is not necessary. An equivalent to the message suppression selector  309  would be a message enabler selector that enables the report propagator to send out report propagation messages. 
         [0052]    The report propagator interface may also provide a report propagation enabler selector  321  that must be selected for the report propagator to propagate reports. An equivalent to this selector would be a report propagation disabler selector that suppresses the report propagation. 
         [0053]    Report propagation trigger event rules must be defined to trigger report propagation. In the preferred embodiment, report propagation trigger event rules are defined through at least one report propagation trigger event rule interface tailored to the type of events supported. For example, a calendar may be used to schedule report propagation for set dates. Thus, the current date could be the source of a report propagation trigger event. 
         [0054]    In the preferred embodiment, report propagation trigger event rules include report propagation frequency. In the preferred embodiment, possible report propagation frequencies include the following: daily, end of monthly, end of quarterly, start of monthly, start of quarter, U.S. holidays, and weekly. 
         [0055]    When a report propagation trigger rule&#39;s criteria are met, all enabled report generation definitions that refer to the triggering report propagation rule will be triggered, producing reports that will then be propagated in accordance with their respective report propagation definitions. 
         [0056]    The report propagation interface can be enhanced with features from the message template interface, such as integration of macros and variables and support for test message generation. 
         [0057]      FIG. 4  shows the components generator  401 . This tool can be invoked to generated skeleton code for many of the components used by the extensible observer. To create skeleton code for a component, first the user selects one of the component type selectors  402 - 407 , then the user selects the type of skeleton code to produce, using one of the code type selectors  408  or  409 , then the user enters a project name into the project name selector  410 , a control name in the control name selector  411 , and a director for the project in the project directory selector  412 , before invoking the generate skeleton component selector  413 . In the preferred embodiment, the component type selectors include a data provider selector  402 , a end-of-record delimited data extractor component selector  403 , a black-box data extractor component selector  404 , a state display component package and state display component selector  405 , a state display component selector  406  for adding a new state display component into a state display package, and a visual observer component selector  407 . In the preferred embodiment, the code type selectors include a Visual Basic selector  408  and a Visual C++ selector  409 . In the preferred embodiment, upon generating a component, the components generator will open the generated code for the user and display instructions for incorporating the component into the extensible observer. 
         [0058]      FIG. 5  shows a visual observer interface  501  displaying several state displays  502 - 508 . State displays are useful alternatives to reports for monitoring the state of a subject system. Visual observer interfaces consolidate multiple state displays into a single interface, enabling rapid assessment of a subject systems health. 
         [0059]      FIG. 6  shows a visual observer selector  601  with a visual observer interface selector  602  selected and the corresponding visual observer interface  603  displayed. The visual observer selector  601  shown is a hierarchical selector, with visual observer interface choices shown as leaf nodes grouped under branch nodes. Non-hierarchical selectors, such as straight lists or a set of icons, would also be effective. Using a hierarchical selector for the visual observer interface  601  has the advantage of enabling centralized management of a large number of systems from the extensible observer. With non-hierarchical selectors, the hassle of trying to navigate through a cluttered set of selectors can impose a serious burden on the user and reduce the effectiveness of the system in helping to quickly assess the health of subject systems. 
         [0060]    It is often not enough to monitor the health of system or to review reports. Sometimes events occur that require immediate attention. In some cases the attention required can be automated. In other cases, human intervention may be required. To facilitate this need, the preferred embodiment of the extensible observer includes an event manager. 
         [0061]    In the preferred embodiment of the invention, the event manager includes a set of user-defined trigger event rules, which can be defined through trigger event rule interfaces that are defined based on the type of trigger event rules supported. When the state of a subject system is one that falls within a trigger event rule, then the event manager will generate the related response events tied to the trigger event rule. 
         [0062]    One source of subject system state that can be used by trigger event rules is data available at defined location. In the preferred embodiment of the invention, a data extractor component can be identified for extracting state information from the data at the defined location. 
         [0063]      FIG. 7  shows a rules selector interface  701  juxtaposed with a data parsing interface  702 . The data parsing interface  702  includes a data source location selector  704 . The use external data extractor component selector  705  has been selected and a data extractor component has been selected in the data extractor component selector  703 , thus creating a reference to the data extractor component. 
         [0064]      FIG. 8  shows a response event selector  816  with a selected response event  813  show in the response event interface  801 . The response event in this figure defines an email response event. This response event interface  801  includes a message type selector  805 , a plurality of destination selectors, a “To” destination selector  806  and a “CC” destination selector  807 , and a plurality of content selectors: a subject line selector  814 , a file attachment selector  809 , and a message content selector  815 . It also includes a description entered through a response event description selector  802 . 
         [0065]    The plurality of destination selectors  806  and  807  and the plurality of content selectors  814 ,  809 , and  815 , can be marked with macros, indicators to the event manager to perform additional steps to acquire values for these selectors when generating a response event. In the preferred embodiment macros are identified as text preceded by an ampersand (“&amp;”) as shown in  813 . 
         [0066]    The plurality of content selectors  814 ,  809 , and  815  also allow variables to be used. The variables are identified as text surrounded by percent signs (“%”) as shown in  812 . The message template interface  801  in the preferred embodiment includes a plurality of variable selectors  811  and  810  that, when invoked, provide quick access to available parameters. The value of the variables are used in place of the variable placeholders during the generation of a response event. 
         [0067]    In the preferred embodiment, the user can test out a response event definition by invoking the test response event selector  803 . 
         [0068]    The preferred embodiment of the invention includes multiple response event methods, including: pager, e-mail, short message service (SMS), network message, execution of a Windows® Command Line script or batch file, and execution of a Unix® shell script. One of ordinary skill in the art would be able to create the equivalent event response interfaces for these types of messages and their equivalents. 
         [0069]    When generating a response event, the event manager must use the response event definition to control the behavior of the response event. For example, an email response event would require producing an email with the defined content and emailing it to the destinations selected. 
         [0070]      FIG. 9  shows a Unified Modeling Language use case diagram of the extensible observer  901 . The user  902  can interact with the extensible observer  901  in several ways, including defining a report  906 , view a report  907 , create a report propagation definition  922 , view subject system states  912 , define a trigger event rule  915 , define a response event  916 , or generate a component  918 . Viewing a report  907  generates a report  910  by acquiring data  911  from a data provider component  903 . When the extensible observer  901  propagates a report  908 , it also generates a report  910 . When the user  902  views subject system states  912 , the extensible observer  901  uses one or more state display components  905 . The extensible observer  901  responds to events  917  by extracting data  913  using a data extractor component  904 . The data extraction  913  can be broken into end-of-record delimited chunks  914 . The user  902  has several choices when generating a component  918 , including generating a data provider component  919 , generating a state display component  920 , or generating a data extractor component  921 . 
         [0071]    While various embodiments of the present invention have been described above, it should be understood that they have been presented by way of example, and not limitation. It will be apparent to persons skilled in the relevant art(s) that various changes in form and detail can be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of embodiments of the present invention. Thus, embodiments of the present invention should not be limited by any of the above-described exemplary embodiments, but should be defined only in accordance with the following claims and their equivalents. 
         [0072]    In addition, it should be understood that the figures in the attachments, which highlight the structure, methodology, functionality and advantages of embodiments of the present invention, are presented for example purposes only. Embodiments of the present invention are sufficiently flexible and configurable, such that it may be implemented in ways other than that shown in the accompanying figures.