Patent ID: 8468116

Claim:
A non-transitory computer readable storage medium containing instructions for creating a rule applied to a comparing apparatus that uses a configuration management database for managing information about resources that configure an information system to compare components regarding the resources or to an information processing apparatus that can be accessed by the comparing apparatus, wherein the instructions, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform: obtaining, from the configuration management database for managing the components regarding the resources and attribute values thereof, a component with a type and attribute of a resource for which a rule for use at the time of comparison of the components is to be created; obtaining, from the configuration management database for managing a component defined as a first related element, a component defined as a second related element, and a relation between the first and second related elements, component pairs with the first related component including any component obtained at obtaining the component and also having a relation corresponding to a determination objective for the rule; grouping components of the first related element with a same classification as a classification defined in the component obtained as the second related element at obtaining the component pairs; storing, as a rule for the determination objective, a group of components of the first related element subjected to the grouping in a rule storage unit that stores the rule in association with the determination objective; and stopping the grouping when a first condition is met, wherein the first condition is that a ratio or difference between a total number of components obtained at obtaining the component and the number of types of attribute value of the components is smaller than a predetermined threshold.