Patent ID: 7487239

Claim:
A method for monitoring a resource to determine whether the resource is in a proper operational state, wherein the resource is a monitored resource, the method comprising: determining whether the monitored resource is part of a composite resource; associating the monitored resource with the composite resource, wherein associating the monitored resource with the composite resource includes linking an entry in a resource data structure with an entry in a composite resource data structure; altering a reporting format for monitoring information to report monitoring information for the monitored resource and for the composite resource, wherein the monitoring information includes an operational status of the resource, and wherein the composite resource is a cluster, wherein the cluster is a plurality of server data processing systems aggregated together in a computing cooperative fashion such that at least some data resources of the plurality of server data processing systems are usable by another of the plurality of server data processing systems; determining whether the cluster is part of a grid; and associating the cluster with the grid, wherein the grid is a plurality of client and server data processing systems that operate to provide a plurality of computing resources for a common task to be performed by the grid.