Patent ID: 12197435

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Example methods, devices, and systems are described herein. It should be understood that the words “example” and “exemplary” are used herein to mean “serving as an example, instance, or illustration.” Any embodiment or feature described herein as being an “example” or “exemplary” is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other embodiments or features unless stated as such. Thus, other embodiments can be utilized and other changes can be made without departing from the scope of the subject matter presented herein.

Accordingly, the example embodiments described herein are not meant to be limiting. It will be readily understood that the aspects of the present disclosure, as generally described herein, and illustrated in the figures, can be arranged, substituted, combined, separated, and designed in a wide variety of different configurations. For example, the separation of features into “client” and “server” components may occur in a number of ways.

Further, unless context suggests otherwise, the features illustrated in each of the figures may be used in combination with one another. Thus, the figures should be generally viewed as component aspects of one or more overall embodiments, with the understanding that not all illustrated features are necessary for each embodiment.

Additionally, any enumeration of elements, blocks, or steps in this specification or the claims is for purposes of clarity. Thus, such enumeration should not be interpreted to require or imply that these elements, blocks, or steps adhere to a particular arrangement or are carried out in a particular order.

I. Introduction

A large enterprise is a complex entity with many interrelated operations. Some of these are found across the enterprise, such as human resources (HR), supply chain, information technology (IT), and finance. However, each enterprise also has its own unique operations that provide essential capabilities and/or create competitive advantages.

To support widely-implemented operations, enterprises typically use off-the-shelf software applications, such as customer relationship management (CRM) and human capital management (HCM) packages. However, they may also need custom software applications to meet their own unique requirements. A large enterprise often has dozens or hundreds of these custom software applications. Nonetheless, the advantages provided by the embodiments herein are not limited to large enterprises and may be applicable to an enterprise, or any other type of organization, of any size.

Many such software applications are developed by individual departments within the enterprise. These range from simple spreadsheets to custom-built software tools and databases. But the proliferation of siloed custom software applications has numerous disadvantages. It negatively impacts an enterprise's ability to run and grow its operations, innovate, and meet regulatory requirements. The enterprise may find it difficult to integrate, streamline, and enhance its operations due to lack of a single system that unifies its subsystems and data.

To efficiently create custom applications, enterprises would benefit from a remotely-hosted application platform that eliminates unnecessary development complexity. The goal of such a platform would be to reduce time-consuming, repetitive application development tasks so that software engineers and individuals in other roles can focus on developing unique, high-value features.

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

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

The aPaaS system may support standardized application components, such as a standardized set of widgets for graphical user interface (GUI) development. In this way, applications built using the aPaaS system have a common look and feel. Other software components and modules may be standardized as well. In some cases, this look and feel can be branded or skinned with an enterprise's custom logos and/or color schemes.

The aPaaS system may support the ability to configure the behavior of applications using metadata. This allows application behaviors to be rapidly adapted to meet specific needs. Such an approach reduces development time and increases flexibility. Further, the aPaaS system may support GUI tools that facilitate metadata creation and management, thus reducing errors in the metadata.

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

The aPaaS system may support a rich set of integration features so that the applications thereon can interact with legacy applications and third-party applications. For instance, the aPaaS system may support a custom employee-onboarding system that integrates with legacy HR, IT, and accounting systems.

The aPaaS system may support enterprise-grade security. Furthermore, since the aPaaS system may be remotely hosted, it should also utilize security procedures when it interacts with systems in the enterprise or third-party networks and services hosted outside of the enterprise. For example, the aPaaS system may be configured to share data amongst the enterprise and other parties to detect and identify common security threats.

Other features, functionality, and advantages of an aPaaS system may exist. This description is for purpose of example and is not intended to be limiting.

As an example of the aPaaS development process, a software developer may be tasked to create a new application using the aPaaS system. First, the developer may define the data model, which specifies the types of data that the application uses and the relationships therebetween. Then, via a GUI of the aPaaS system, the developer enters (e.g., uploads) the data model. The aPaaS system automatically creates all of the corresponding database tables, fields, and relationships, which can then be accessed via an object-oriented services layer.

In addition, the aPaaS system can also build a fully-functional MVC application with client-side interfaces and server-side CRUD logic. This generated application may serve as the basis of further development for the user. Advantageously, the developer does not have to spend a large amount of time on basic application functionality. Further, since the application may be web-based, it can be accessed from any Internet-enabled client device. Alternatively or additionally, a local copy of the application may be able to be accessed, for instance, when Internet service is not available.

The aPaaS system may also support a rich set of pre-defined functionality that can be added to applications. These features include support for searching, email, templating, workflow design, reporting, analytics, social media, scripting, mobile-friendly output, and customized GUIs.

Such an aPaaS system may represent a GUI in various ways. For example, a server device of the aPaaS system may generate a representation of a GUI using a combination of HTML and JAVASCRIPT®. The JAVASCRIPT® may include client-side executable code, server-side executable code, or both. The server device may transmit or otherwise provide this representation to a client device for the client device to display on a screen according to its locally-defined look and feel. Alternatively, a representation of a GUI may take other forms, such as an intermediate form (e.g., JAVA® byte-code) that a client device can use to directly generate graphical output therefrom. Other possibilities exist.

Further, user interaction with GUI elements, such as buttons, menus, tabs, sliders, checkboxes, toggles, etc. may be referred to as “selection”, “activation”, or “actuation” thereof. These terms may be used regardless of whether the GUI elements are interacted with by way of keyboard, pointing device, touchscreen, or another mechanism.

An aPaaS architecture is particularly powerful when integrated with an enterprise's network and used to manage such a network. The following embodiments describe architectural and functional aspects of example aPaaS systems, as well as the features and advantages thereof.

II. Example Computing Devices and Cloud-Based Computing Environments

FIG.1is a simplified block diagram exemplifying a computing device100, illustrating some of the components that could be included in a computing device arranged to operate in accordance with the embodiments herein. Computing device100could be a client device (e.g., a device actively operated by a user), a server device (e.g., a device that provides computational services to client devices), or some other type of computational platform. Some server devices may operate as client devices from time to time in order to perform particular operations, and some client devices may incorporate server features.

In this example, computing device100includes processor102, memory104, network interface106, and input/output unit108, all of which may be coupled by system bus110or a similar mechanism. In some embodiments, computing device100may include other components and/or peripheral devices (e.g., detachable storage, printers, and so on).

Processor102may be one or more of any type of computer processing element, such as a central processing unit (CPU), a co-processor (e.g., a mathematics, graphics, or encryption co-processor), a digital signal processor (DSP), a network processor, and/or a form of integrated circuit or controller that performs processor operations. In some cases, processor102may be one or more single-core processors. In other cases, processor102may be one or more multi-core processors with multiple independent processing units. Processor102may also include register memory for temporarily storing instructions being executed and related data, as well as cache memory for temporarily storing recently-used instructions and data.

Memory104may be any form of computer-usable memory, including but not limited to random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), and non-volatile memory (e.g., flash memory, hard disk drives, solid state drives, compact discs (CDs), digital video discs (DVDs), and/or tape storage). Thus, memory104represents both main memory units, as well as long-term storage. Other types of memory may include biological memory.

Memory104may store program instructions and/or data on which program instructions may operate. By way of example, memory104may store these program instructions on a non-transitory, computer-readable medium, such that the instructions are executable by processor102to carry out any of the methods, processes, or operations disclosed in this specification or the accompanying drawings.

As shown inFIG.1, memory104may include firmware104A, kernel104B, and/or applications104C. Firmware104A may be program code used to boot or otherwise initiate some or all of computing device100. Kernel104B may be an operating system, including modules for memory management, scheduling and management of processes, input/output, and communication. Kernel104B may also include device drivers that allow the operating system to communicate with the hardware modules (e.g., memory units, networking interfaces, ports, and buses) of computing device100. Applications104C may be one or more user-space software programs, such as web browsers or email clients, as well as any software libraries used by these programs. Memory104may also store data used by these and other programs and applications.

Network interface106may take the form of one or more wireline interfaces, such as Ethernet (e.g., Fast Ethernet, Gigabit Ethernet, and so on). Network interface106may also support communication over one or more non-Ethernet media, such as coaxial cables or power lines, or over wide-area media, such as Synchronous Optical Networking (SONET) or digital subscriber line (DSL) technologies. Network interface106may additionally take the form of one or more wireless interfaces, such as IEEE 802.11 (Wifi), BLUETOOTH®, global positioning system (GPS), or a wide-area wireless interface. However, other forms of physical layer interfaces and other types of standard or proprietary communication protocols may be used over network interface106. Furthermore, network interface106may comprise multiple physical interfaces. For instance, some embodiments of computing device100may include Ethernet, BLUETOOTH®, and Wifi interfaces.

Input/output unit108may facilitate user and peripheral device interaction with computing device100. Input/output unit108may include one or more types of input devices, such as a keyboard, a mouse, a touch screen, and so on. Similarly, input/output unit108may include one or more types of output devices, such as a screen, monitor, printer, and/or one or more light emitting diodes (LEDs). Additionally or alternatively, computing device100may communicate with other devices using a universal serial bus (USB) or high-definition multimedia interface (HDMI) port interface, for example.

In some embodiments, one or more computing devices like computing device100may be deployed to support an aPaaS architecture. The exact physical location, connectivity, and configuration of these computing devices may be unknown and/or unimportant to client devices. Accordingly, the computing devices may be referred to as “cloud-based” devices that may be housed at various remote data center locations.

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

For example, server devices202can be configured to perform various computing tasks of computing device100. Thus, computing tasks can be distributed among one or more of server devices202. To the extent that these computing tasks can be performed in parallel, such a distribution of tasks may reduce the total time to complete these tasks and return a result. For purposes of simplicity, both server cluster200and individual server devices202may be referred to as a “server device.” This nomenclature should be understood to imply that one or more distinct server devices, data storage devices, and cluster routers may be involved in server device operations.

Data storage204may be data storage arrays that include drive array controllers configured to manage read and write access to groups of hard disk drives and/or solid state drives. The drive array controllers, alone or in conjunction with server devices202, may also be configured to manage backup or redundant copies of the data stored in data storage204to protect against drive failures or other types of failures that prevent one or more of server devices202from accessing units of data storage204. Other types of memory aside from drives may be used.

Routers206may include networking equipment configured to provide internal and external communications for server cluster200. For example, routers206may include one or more packet-switching and/or routing devices (including switches and/or gateways) configured to provide (i) network communications between server devices202and data storage204via local cluster network208, and/or (ii) network communications between server cluster200and other devices via communication link210to network212.

Additionally, the configuration of routers206can be based at least in part on the data communication requirements of server devices202and data storage204, the latency and throughput of the local cluster network208, the latency, throughput, and cost of communication link210, and/or other factors that may contribute to the cost, speed, fault-tolerance, resiliency, efficiency, and/or other design goals of the system architecture.

As a possible example, data storage204may include any form of database, such as a structured query language (SQL) database. Various types of data structures may store the information in such a database, including but not limited to tables, arrays, lists, trees, and tuples. Furthermore, any databases in data storage204may be monolithic or distributed across multiple physical devices.

Server devices202may be configured to transmit data to and receive data from data storage204. This transmission and retrieval may take the form of SQL queries or other types of database queries, and the output of such queries, respectively. Additional text, images, video, and/or audio may be included as well. Furthermore, server devices202may organize the received data into web page or web application representations. Such a representation may take the form of a markup language, such as the hypertext markup language (HTML), the extensible markup language (XML), or some other standardized or proprietary format. Moreover, server devices202may have the capability of executing various types of computerized scripting languages, such as but not limited to Perl, Python, PHP Hypertext Preprocessor (PHP), Active Server Pages (ASP), JAVASCRIPT®, and so on. Computer program code written in these languages may facilitate the providing of web pages to client devices, as well as client device interaction with the web pages. Alternatively or additionally, JAVA® may be used to facilitate generation of web pages and/or to provide web application functionality.

III. Example Remote Network Management Architecture

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

A. Managed Networks

Managed network300may be, for example, an enterprise network used by an entity for computing and communications tasks, as well as storage of data. Thus, managed network300may include client devices302, server devices304, routers306, virtual machines308, firewall310, and/or proxy servers312. Client devices302may be embodied by computing device100, server devices304may be embodied by computing device100or server cluster200, and routers306may be any type of router, switch, or gateway.

Virtual machines308may be embodied by one or more of computing device100or server cluster200. In general, a virtual machine is an emulation of a computing system, and mimics the functionality (e.g., processor, memory, and communication resources) of a physical computer. One physical computing system, such as server cluster200, may support up to thousands of individual virtual machines. In some embodiments, virtual machines308may be managed by a centralized server device or application that facilitates allocation of physical computing resources to individual virtual machines, as well as performance and error reporting. Enterprises often employ virtual machines in order to allocate computing resources in an efficient, as needed fashion. Providers of virtualized computing systems include VMWARE® and MICROSOFT®.

Firewall310may be one or more specialized routers or server devices that protect managed network300from unauthorized attempts to access the devices, applications, and services therein, while allowing authorized communication that is initiated from managed network300. Firewall310may also provide intrusion detection, web filtering, virus scanning, application-layer gateways, and other applications or services. In some embodiments not shown inFIG.3, managed network300may include one or more virtual private network (VPN) gateways with which it communicates with remote network management platform320(see below).

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

Firewalls, such as firewall310, typically deny all communication sessions that are incoming by way of Internet350, unless such a session was ultimately initiated from behind the firewall (i.e., from a device on managed network300) or the firewall has been explicitly configured to support the session. By placing proxy servers312behind firewall310(e.g., within managed network300and protected by firewall310), proxy servers312may be able to initiate these communication sessions through firewall310. Thus, firewall310might not have to be specifically configured to support incoming sessions from remote network management platform320, thereby avoiding potential security risks to managed network300.

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

Furthermore, depending on the size, architecture, and connectivity of managed network300, a varying number of proxy servers312may be deployed therein. For example, each one of proxy servers312may be responsible for communicating with remote network management platform320regarding a portion of managed network300. Alternatively or additionally, sets of two or more proxy servers may be assigned to such a portion of managed network300for purposes of load balancing, redundancy, and/or high availability.

B. Remote Network Management Platforms

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

As shown inFIG.3, remote network management platform320includes four computational instances322,324,326, and328. Each of these computational instances may represent one or more server nodes operating dedicated copies of the aPaaS software and/or one or more database nodes. The arrangement of server and database nodes on physical server devices and/or virtual machines can be flexible and may vary based on enterprise needs. In combination, these nodes may provide a set of web portals, services, and applications (e.g., a wholly-functioning aPaaS system) available to a particular enterprise. In some cases, a single enterprise may use multiple computational instances.

For example, managed network300may be an enterprise customer of remote network management platform320, and may use computational instances322,324, and326. The reason for providing multiple computational instances to one customer is that the customer may wish to independently develop, test, and deploy its applications and services. Thus, computational instance322may be dedicated to application development related to managed network300, computational instance324may be dedicated to testing these applications, and computational instance326may be dedicated to the live operation of tested applications and services. A computational instance may also be referred to as a hosted instance, a remote instance, a customer instance, or by some other designation. Any application deployed onto a computational instance may be a scoped application, in that its access to databases within the computational instance can be restricted to certain elements therein (e.g., one or more particular database tables or particular rows within one or more database tables).

For purposes of clarity, the disclosure herein refers to the arrangement of application nodes, database nodes, aPaaS software executing thereon, and underlying hardware as a “computational instance.” Note that users may colloquially refer to the graphical user interfaces provided thereby as “instances.” But unless it is defined otherwise herein, a “computational instance” is a computing system disposed within remote network management platform320.

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

In contrast, the multi-instance architecture provides each customer with its own database in a dedicated computing instance. This prevents comingling of customer data, and allows each instance to be independently managed. For example, when one customer's instance experiences an outage due to errors or an upgrade, other computational instances are not impacted. Maintenance down time is limited because the database only contains one customer's data. Further, the simpler design of the multi-instance architecture allows redundant copies of each customer database and instance to be deployed in a geographically diverse fashion. This facilitates high availability, where the live version of the customer's instance can be moved when faults are detected or maintenance is being performed.

In some embodiments, remote network management platform320may include one or more central instances, controlled by the entity that operates this platform. Like a computational instance, a central instance may include some number of application and database nodes disposed upon some number of physical server devices or virtual machines. Such a central instance may serve as a repository for specific configurations of computational instances as well as data that can be shared amongst at least some of the computational instances. For instance, definitions of common security threats that could occur on the computational instances, software packages that are commonly discovered on the computational instances, and/or an application store for applications that can be deployed to the computational instances may reside in a central instance. Computational instances may communicate with central instances by way of well-defined interfaces in order to obtain this data.

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

In some cases, a single server cluster of remote network management platform320may support multiple independent enterprises. Furthermore, as described below, remote network management platform320may include multiple server clusters deployed in geographically diverse data centers in order to facilitate load balancing, redundancy, and/or high availability.

C. Public Cloud Networks

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

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

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

D. Communication Support and Other Operations

Internet350may represent a portion of the global Internet. However, Internet350may alternatively represent a different type of network, such as a private wide-area or local-area packet-switched network.

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

In data center400A, network traffic to and from external devices flows either through VPN gateway402A or firewall404A. VPN gateway402A may be peered with VPN gateway412of managed network300by way of a security protocol such as Internet Protocol Security (IPSEC) or Transport Layer Security (TLS). Firewall404A may be configured to allow access from authorized users, such as user414and remote user416, and to deny access to unauthorized users. By way of firewall404A, these users may access computational instance322, and possibly other computational instances. Load balancer406A may be used to distribute traffic amongst one or more physical or virtual server devices that host computational instance322. Load balancer406A may simplify user access by hiding the internal configuration of data center400A, (e.g., computational instance322) from client devices. For instance, if computational instance322includes multiple physical or virtual computing devices that share access to multiple databases, load balancer406A may distribute network traffic and processing tasks across these computing devices and databases so that no one computing device or database is significantly busier than the others. In some embodiments, computational instance322may include VPN gateway402A, firewall404A, and load balancer406A.

Data center400B may include its own versions of the components in data center400A. Thus, VPN gateway402B, firewall404B, and load balancer406B may perform the same or similar operations as VPN gateway402A, firewall404A, and load balancer406A, respectively. Further, by way of real-time or near-real-time database replication and/or other operations, computational instance322may exist simultaneously in data centers400A and400B.

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

Should data center400A fail in some fashion or otherwise become unavailable to users, data center400B can take over as the active data center. For example, domain name system (DNS) servers that associate a domain name of computational instance322with one or more Internet Protocol (IP) addresses of data center400A may re-associate the domain name with one or more IP addresses of data center400B. After this re-association completes (which may take less than one second or several seconds), users may access computational instance322by way of data center400B.

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

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

IV. Example Device, Application, and Service Discovery

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

For purposes of the embodiments herein, an “application” may refer to one or more processes, threads, programs, client modules, server modules, or any other software that executes on a device or group of devices. A “service” may refer to a high-level capability provided by multiple applications executing on one or more devices working in conjunction with one another. For example, a high-level web service may involve multiple web application server threads executing on one device and accessing information from a database application that executes on another device.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

In the classification phase, proxy servers312may further probe each discovered device to determine the version of its operating system. The probes used for a particular device are based on information gathered about the devices during the scanning phase. For example, if a device is found with TCP port22open, a set of UNIX®-specific probes may be used. Likewise, if a device is found with TCP port135open, a set of WINDOWS®-specific probes may be used. For either case, an appropriate set of tasks may be placed in task list502for proxy servers312to carry out. These tasks may result in proxy servers312logging on, or otherwise accessing information from the particular device. For instance, if TCP port22is open, proxy servers312may be instructed to initiate a Secure Shell (SSH) connection to the particular device and obtain information about the operating system thereon from particular locations in the file system. Based on this information, the operating system may be determined. As an example, a UNIX® device with TCP port22open may be classified as AIX®, HPUX, LINUX®, MACOS®, or SOLARIS®. This classification information may be stored as one or more configuration items in CMDB500.

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

In the exploration phase, proxy servers312may determine further details about the operational state of a classified device. The probes used during this phase may be based on information gathered about the particular devices during the classification phase and/or the identification phase. Again, an appropriate set of tasks may be placed in task list502for proxy servers312to carry out. These tasks may result in proxy servers312reading additional information from the particular device, such as processor information, memory information, lists of running processes (applications), and so on. Once more, the discovered information may be stored as one or more configuration items in CMDB500.

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

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

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

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

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

In order for discovery to take place in the manner described above, proxy servers312, CMDB500, and/or one or more credential stores may be configured with credentials for one or more of the devices to be discovered. Credentials may include any type of information needed in order to access the devices. These may include userid/password pairs, certificates, and so on. In some embodiments, these credentials may be stored in encrypted fields of CMDB500. Proxy servers312may contain the decryption key for the credentials so that proxy servers312can use these credentials to log on to or otherwise access devices being discovered.

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

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

In this manner, a remote network management platform may discover and inventory the hardware, software, and services deployed on and provided by the managed network. As noted above, this data may be stored in a CMDB of the associated computational instance as configuration items. For example, individual hardware components (e.g., computing devices, virtual servers, databases, routers, etc.) may be represented as hardware configuration items, while the applications installed and/or executing thereon may be represented as software configuration items.

The relationship between a software configuration item installed or executing on a hardware configuration item may take various forms, such as “is hosted on”, “runs on”, or “depends on”. Thus, a database application installed on a server device may have the relationship “is hosted on” with the server device to indicate that the database application is hosted on the server device. In some embodiments, the server device may have a reciprocal relationship of “used by” with the database application to indicate that the server device is used by the database application. These relationships may be automatically found using the discovery procedures described above, though it is possible to manually set relationships as well.

The relationship between a service and one or more software configuration items may also take various forms. As an example, a web service may include a web server software configuration item and a database application software configuration item, each installed on different hardware configuration items. The web service may have a “depends on” relationship with both of these software configuration items, while the software configuration items have a “used by” reciprocal relationship with the web service. Services might not be able to be fully determined by discovery procedures, and instead may rely on service mapping (e.g., probing configuration files and/or carrying out network traffic analysis to determine service level relationships between configuration items) and possibly some extent of manual configuration.

Regardless of how relationship information is obtained, it can be valuable for the operation of a managed network. Notably, IT personnel can quickly determine where certain software applications are deployed, and what configuration items make up a service. This allows for rapid pinpointing of root causes of service outages or degradation. For example, if two different services are suffering from slow response times, the CMDB can be queried (perhaps among other activities) to determine that the root cause is a database application that is used by both services having high processor utilization. Thus, IT personnel can address the database application rather than waste time considering the health and performance of other configuration items that make up the services.

V. Facilitating Localization

As noted previously, localization refers to adapting text, language, and other aspects of applications' structured data for use in specific countries, regions, geographies, or cultures. In a complex software system, such as a computational instance of a remote network management platform, localization can be a daunting task. Not only do translators seek to make accurate translations into local languages, specific technical and cultural contexts may be taken into account. Further, the information (e.g., text strings) that are to be translated may exist across multiple locations (e.g., different database tables) of the system. Thus, current localization efforts can be difficult, time-consuming, and prone to being incomplete in practice.

As an example,FIG.6depicts four applications that may operate within a computational instance, such as computational instance322. These include incidents600, catalog602, knowledgebase604, and virtual agents606. These applications are just examples, and further applications may be deployed on a computational instance.

Each of these applications also relies upon one or more database tables for its operations. The applications may store configuration parameters, user interface parameters, and entries in these tables. To that point, incidents600uses database tables608, catalog602uses database tables610, knowledgebase604uses database tables612, and virtual agents606uses database tables614. In some embodiments, tables may be dedicated to a particular application, while in other embodiments some applications may use some of the same tables.

Incidents600may be an application that facilitates the management of incident reports. These incident reports are often opened by IT users to describe a problem that they have experienced. Each incident report may also be referred to as a record. Incident reports may exist in various formats and contain various types of information, such as the name of an originator, a short description of the incident, a full description of the incident, a status of the incident, and an IT professional to whom the incident is assigned.

Catalog602may be an application that provides lists of equipment (e.g., laptops, phones, software) available to IT users, and provides ways in which these users can order the equipment. In doing so, catalog602may automate purchasing workflows and approvals.

Knowledgebase604may be an application that provides longer, pre-written guides or sets of instructions for addressing certain types of IT or enterprise problems. Often, many users have the same technology problems over and over, such as how to reset their enterprise passwords or how to access Wifi networks in various locations. Thus, IT personnel may write knowledgebase articles that address these issues. These articles may take the form of flat files, hyperlinked files, database content, or combinations thereof.

Virtual agents606may be an application that simulates a live human agent by using pre-defined or dynamically generated messages arranged in a conversation flow that is intended to answer a user's question or solve a user's problem. In some cases, all incoming chat requests may be initially answered by virtual agents that will either address the user's request or hand off the chat to a human agent.

As noted, each application may rely upon a unique combination of database tables to store its configuration and entries.FIG.7provides an example hierarchy of database tables for catalog602. This hierarchy is somewhat simplified for purposes of illustration, and in practice may involve more tables and more complex relationships therebetween.

The sc_cat_item700includes entries for each catalog item. This table relies on the item_option_new702and item_option_new_set706tables for storing or referring to variables defined for each of these catalog items. Particularly, each entry in the item_option_new702table may contain a variable, while each entry in the item_option_new_set706table may be associated with a number of variables in the item_option_new702table. The variables may define questions for the user, which are stored in the question_choice table704. In other embodiments, database tables associated with an application may include graphics, links, executable scripts and other information that may also require some form of localization.

The database table arrangement ofFIG.7is just one example thereof, but motivates one of the difficulties of localization—information to be translated may exist in numerous tables. If a translator is to manually attempt localization, the translator may be unable to easily determine which tables are storing text strings that should be translated. Further, by having to navigate between these tables (by editing the database directly using SQL or by way of a user interface), the translator may lose the context of the information being translated, thus reducing the quality of the localization.

The embodiments herein overcome these limitations by automatically obtaining all relevant information for an item of structured data and presenting this information on one or more graphical user interfaces for a translator. This information may be obtained by traversing the database tables associated with the application and identifying all entries relevant to localization of the item. The columns and/or tables could also be manually selected. Alternatively, for each application, relevant columns of relevant tables may appear in metadata stored in files, non-relational databases, or in other types of documents. An example of such metadata in JSON format is shown below.

{“tableName”: “sc_cat_item”,“children”: [{“tableName”: “item_option_new”,“children”: [{“tableName”: “question_choice”}]},{“tableName”: “item_option_new_set”,“children”: [{“tableName”: “item_option_new”,“children”: [{“tableName”: “question_choice”}]}]}]}

Regardless, these entries may be provided, in an organized fashion, on the graphical user interfaces to facilitate the localization. An example of this is shown inFIG.8A. This figure depicts a graphical user interface that could be presented to an individual tasked with localization of a catalog item. In particular, the catalog item and its associated data may be in English, and the individual may be attempting to translate the catalog item and its associated data into French.

In order to make this localization task more efficient and complete, pane800A of the graphical user interface may depict the catalog item and its associated data in English, and pane800B may prompt the user to input the equivalent information in French. This side-by-side arrangement of pane800A and800B facilitates comparison of the translation from English to French. Thus, initially, the inputs in pane800B may be blank. Alternatively, if translations of the information displayed in pane800A are known (e.g., cached from a previous transaction), these translations may be automatically populated into the inputs of pane800B.

To provide the information shown in the graphical user interface ofFIG.8A, the computational instance may traverse the database structure that was identified as being relevant (e.g., the structure depicted inFIG.7or a similar structure), and display this information in an organized fashion. For example, pane800A includes information related to a particular catalog item (a MyPhone 8S mobile device) including basic information802A, color variable804A, and color choices806A. The graphical layout may be user-defined, e.g., in a document object model (DOM), XML file, JavaScript object Notation (JSON) file, or in some other fashion.

Basic information802A includes the name of the catalog item, its short description, and a longer full description. Color variable804A and color choices806A may work together to query the end user (customer) as to what color phone they would prefer (e.g., using a text string “Color?” provided by color variable804A). Color choices806A provide the options that would be presented to the end user (e.g., in a drop-down menu) including gold, silver, white, and black. Equivalent entries for the French translation appear in basic information802B, color variable804B, and color choices806B of pane800B.

The information about this catalog item that is shown inFIG.8Ais for purposes of illustration. In practice, the information may be much more extensive, defining questions asked of the end user, and text provided to the end user. For instance, after ordering the mobile device, the user may be sent an email with text confirming the purchase and stating “Your phone will be delivered in 2-3 days.”

This additional information may include options for an amount of device memory, device data plan, cost center to be billed, whether the phone is replacing a lost or broken phone, a preferred phone number, purpose of the purchase, and so on. In a similar fashion, other types of applications (e.g., incidents600, knowledgebase604, or virtual agents606) may have similarly complex information spread across a number of tables that can be presented in an organized fashion on a graphical user information not unlike that ofFIG.8A.

In the top right corner ofFIG.8Ais button808. Pressing, selecting, or otherwise activating the button may result in the translatable text (e.g., the text in boxes) of pane800A being transmitting to a server device for machine translation. This server may be disposed within the remote network management platform, or may be an external service. Results from this machine translation may be populated in the appropriate text boxes of pane800B. Such a machine translation may facilitate localization of the catalog item by providing an initial translation of the text, which can further be edited by a bilingual translator. Notably, machine translation is often not fully correct (e.g., missing valuable context or mistranslating colloquialisms) and manual editing of its output may be warranted.

The localization activities facilitated by the graphical user interface ofFIG.8Amay be part of a localization workflow. An example of such a workflow is shown inFIG.8B.

At step850, an item is selected for localization. This may be a catalog item of catalog602as discussed above, or an incident report of incidents600, an article of knowledgebase604, or a virtual agent transaction or chat script of virtual agents606. Keeping with the catalog item example, selection of the item at step850may trigger identification of database entries associated with the item, which may in turn involve traversing a number of database tables (e.g., for the catalog application, traversing the tables depicted inFIG.7).

At step852, this information is presented, to a first persona, for localization (e.g., from English to French). The presentation may be similar to that depicted inFIG.8A, and may involve logically grouping sets of the information based on a pre-defined configuration. The first persona may be a translator, for example. Once the first persona completes the localization, he or she submits it for review and approval.

At step854, the information and its localized version may be presented to a second persona for the review. The second persona may serve as a “second set of eyes” on the localization, and/or may be a senior individual who is experienced with localization procedures. If the second persona does not approve the localization, the item is returned to the first persona for further localization at step852. If the second persona does approve the localization, the item is deployed to customers at step856. A deployed item may be used by customers in production, e.g., as part of their workflows. Particularly, the deployed item may be saved to the appropriate database tables and may be accessed once an end user sets the locale of his or her computational instance or his or her personal locale to a particular language (e.g., English or French).

VI. Visualizing Localization

In addition to facilitating localization by determining text strings and other artifacts of an application that are candidates for localization, the embodiments herein provide graphical user interfaces to report on the status of localization per application, as well as to recommend further items for localization. While the graphical user interfaces presented herein employ certain arrangements of particular units of data, other arrangements of other units of data may be possible.

FIG.9Adepicts graphical user interface900, which includes dashboards providing visual representations of localization statuses and recommended localizations. Dashboards902,904, and906represent the localization statuses of the catalog, virtual agent, and knowledgebase applications, respectively, for English, French, and German. The key to interpreting these charts is in pane914.

For example, dashboard902indicates that all catalog items have been localized into English. However, more than half of these items have not been translated into French and/or German. Further, some catalog items are partially translated into French and/or German. Partial translations indicate that not all database entries associated with the item have been translated. For instance, in the context ofFIG.8A, this may mean that basic information802A has been translated but color variable804A and color choices806A have not. From such an arrangement, a user can rapidly determine how well-localized each application is on a per-language basis.

Dashboards908,910, and912depict recommendations for further localization of the catalog, virtual agent, and knowledgebase applications, respectively, for all languages. For example, dashboard908represents recommended localizations916(the arc with no background) out of all information that can be localized across all languages. Remaining localizations918(the arc with a hashed background) are not currently recommended for localization.

An item may be recommended for localization based on attempted use. For instance, a count may be recorded when one or more users who are in a French-speaking locale or whose computational instance display is set to French request a particular item that is not localized to French or only partially localized to French. When this count exceeds a pre-determined threshold (e.g., 1, 2, 5, 10), the item may be marked as a recommended candidate for localization.

A user of graphical user interface900may click on or otherwise activate recommended localizations916to be presented with a list of these recommended candidates. Similar functionality may exist for the recommended localizations for the virtual agent and knowledgebase applications in dashboards910and912, respectively.

To that point,FIG.9Bdepicts graphical user interface920that could be presented to the user after the user clicks on or otherwise selects or activates recommended localizations916. Graphical user interface920may include a list of catalog items and/or related information along with recommended localizations thereof. For instance, the catalog item laptop, appearing the fourth row of this table, may have been accessed from the sc_cat_item table, may be recommended for localization in German, and have a current localization status of partial. The count of 3 associated with this item may indicate that the item has been requested 3 times by end users with German locales. In cases where this item is also recommended for localization into French, another entry in the table of graphical user interface920may be present.

In this fashion, a user can focus on localizing catalog items (and with other application, other types of information) that have been requested in a non-localized or partially-localized language. This facilitates better use and prioritization of localization efforts.

VII. Example Operations

FIG.10is a flow chart illustrating an example embodiment. The process illustrated byFIG.10may be carried out by a computing device, such as computing device100, and/or a cluster of computing devices, such as server cluster200. However, the process can be carried out by other types of devices or device subsystems. For example, the process could be carried out by a computational instance of a remote network management platform or some other type of device.

The embodiments ofFIG.10may be simplified by the removal of any one or more of the features shown therein. Further, these embodiments may be combined with features, aspects, and/or implementations of any of the previous figures or otherwise described herein.

Block1000may involve determining, for a software application, a set of database tables containing information used by the software application.

Block1002may involve, for an item associated with the software application, querying the set of database tables for entries related to the item, wherein the entries related to the item are in a first language.

Block1004may involve generating, for display on a graphical user interface, a representation of a first pane and a second pane, wherein the first pane contains the entries related to the item in the first language, and wherein the second pane contains data input elements for translations of the entries related to the item into a second language. In some embodiments, one or more of the data input elements of the second pane may be blank. Some of these data input elements may be prepopulated with previous translations that have been cached or otherwise stored in the computational instance.

Block1006may involve transmitting, to a client device, the representation of the first pane and the second pane.

Block1008may involve receiving, from the client device, data entered into the data input elements of the second pane. The user may fill in any blank data input elements and/or edit any data input elements that have been prepopulated.

Block1010may involve storing, in the set of the database tables, the data entered into the data input elements as a translation to the second language of the entries related to the item.

In some embodiments, the software application is a catalog application and the item is a catalog item of the catalog application.

In some embodiments, the software application is an incident management application and the item is an incident report of the incident management application.

In some embodiments, the software application is a knowledgebase application and the item is an article of the knowledgebase application.

In some embodiments, the software application is a virtual agent application and the item is a chat script of the virtual agent application.

In some embodiments, determining the set of the database tables comprises obtaining a list of the set of the database tables from a user-provided configuration.

In some embodiments, the first pane and the second pane are arranged side-by-side on the graphical user interface.

In some embodiments, the entries related to the item are arranged in the first pane according to functionality or topics thereof.

Some embodiments may further involve: (i) transmitting, to a second client device, a representation of the entries related to the item and the translation; (ii) receiving, from the second client device, approval of the translation; and (iii) storing, in the set of the database tables, an indication that the translation is available for deployment to end users.

Some embodiments may further involve: (i) generating, for display on a second graphical user interface, a dashboard representing a localization status of the software application, wherein the localization status is based on an extent to which items related to the software application have been translated from the first language into the second language; and (ii) transmitting, to a further client device, a representation of the localization status. The localization status may depict amounts of the items related to the software application that are fully translated into the second language, partially translated into the second language, and not translated into the second language. The amounts may appear stacked in a bar chart.

Some embodiments may further involve generating, for display on a second graphical user interface, a dashboard representing localization recommendations for the software application, wherein the localization recommendations are for items related to the software application that: (i) are not translated into the second language, and (ii) have been requested in the second language.

VIII. Closing

The present disclosure is not to be limited in terms of the particular embodiments described in this application, which are intended as illustrations of various aspects. Many modifications and variations can be made without departing from its scope, as will be apparent to those skilled in the art. Functionally equivalent methods and apparatuses within the scope of the disclosure, in addition to those described herein, will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the foregoing descriptions. Such modifications and variations are intended to fall within the scope of the appended claims.

The above detailed description describes various features and operations of the disclosed systems, devices, and methods with reference to the accompanying figures. The example embodiments described herein and in the figures are not meant to be limiting. Other embodiments can be utilized, and other changes can be made, without departing from the scope of the subject matter presented herein. It will be readily understood that the aspects of the present disclosure, as generally described herein, and illustrated in the figures, can be arranged, substituted, combined, separated, and designed in a wide variety of different configurations.

With respect to any or all of the message flow diagrams, scenarios, and flow charts in the figures and as discussed herein, each step, block, and/or communication can represent a processing of information and/or a transmission of information in accordance with example embodiments. Alternative embodiments are included within the scope of these example embodiments. In these alternative embodiments, for example, operations described as steps, blocks, transmissions, communications, requests, responses, and/or messages can be executed out of order from that shown or discussed, including substantially concurrently or in reverse order, depending on the functionality involved. Further, more or fewer blocks and/or operations can be used with any of the message flow diagrams, scenarios, and flow charts discussed herein, and these message flow diagrams, scenarios, and flow charts can be combined with one another, in part or in whole.

A step or block that represents a processing of information can correspond to circuitry that can be configured to perform the specific logical functions of a herein-described method or technique. Alternatively or additionally, a step or block that represents a processing of information can correspond to a module, a segment, or a portion of program code (including related data). The program code can include one or more instructions executable by a processor for implementing specific logical operations or actions in the method or technique. The program code and/or related data can be stored on any type of computer readable medium such as a storage device including RAM, a disk drive, a solid state drive, or another storage medium.

The computer readable medium can also include non-transitory computer readable media such as computer readable media that store data for short periods of time like register memory and processor cache. The computer readable media can further include non-transitory computer readable media that store program code and/or data for longer periods of time. Thus, the computer readable media may include secondary or persistent long term storage, like ROM, optical or magnetic disks, solid state drives, or compact-disc read only memory (CD-ROM), for example. The computer readable media can also be any other volatile or non-volatile storage systems. A computer readable medium can be considered a computer readable storage medium, for example, or a tangible storage device.

Moreover, a step or block that represents one or more information transmissions can correspond to information transmissions between software and/or hardware modules in the same physical device. However, other information transmissions can be between software modules and/or hardware modules in different physical devices.

The particular arrangements shown in the figures should not be viewed as limiting. It should be understood that other embodiments can include more or less of each element shown in a given figure. Further, some of the illustrated elements can be combined or omitted. Yet further, an example embodiment can include elements that are not illustrated in the figures.

While various aspects and embodiments have been disclosed herein, other aspects and embodiments will be apparent to those skilled in the art. The various aspects and embodiments disclosed herein are for purpose of illustration and are not intended to be limiting, with the true scope being indicated by the following claims.