Patent ID: 6999973

Claim:
A method for gathering information on a state of a network of computer systems, said method comprising: providing at a central location a dictionary file data structure having a plurality of unique inquiries for ascertaining state information on at least one computer system of said network of computer systems, said plurality of unique inquiries being organized into at least one subject group, each subject group being directed to a different piece of said state information, at least one group of said at least one subject group having multiple unique records of inquiry; and processing said at least one subject group of said dictionary file data structure to accumulate said state information, said processing comprising for each group of said at least one group having multiple unique records of inquiry: processing a record of said multiple unique records of inquiry, and if a condition of said record is satisfied then terminating processing of said group, otherwise processing a next record of said multiple unique records of inquiry and continuing until a condition of one record of said multiple records of inquiry is satisfied or all records of said multiple records of inquiry of said group have been processed.