Patent ID: 8447851

Claim:
A computing-system monitor configured to monitor a plurality of computing-systems each having a plurality of monitored computing-instances, the computing-system monitor comprising: one or more processors; memory storing instructions that when executed by the one or more processors, cause the processor to instantiate; a plurality of collectors, each collector executed by one of a plurality of monitored computing-instances, wherein the plurality of monitored computing-instances each are part of one of a plurality of separately monitored computing systems, and wherein each of the collectors is operable to output metrics of a corresponding monitored computing-instance executing that collector; and an analytics platform, the analytics platform executed by a plurality of analytic computing-instances, the analytics platform operable to receive metrics output by the plurality of collectors, calculate statistics with the analytic computing-instances based on the received metrics, and output the calculated statistics, wherein each of the separately monitored computing systems is under the control of a different entity, and wherein the analytics platform is operable to associate an account of each entity with the corresponding monitored computing system under the control of that entity, and wherein each of the collectors is operable to identify itself to the analytics platform without being prompted to do so by the analytics platform, and wherein the analytics platform is operable to receive data from the collectors after the collectors identify themselves.