Patent ID: 8868987

Claim:
A computer-implemented method comprising: monitoring, by a computing device, a virtual infrastructure for events, the virtual infrastructure comprising a plurality of virtual machines and virtual objects hosted in a network comprising a plurality of hardware hosts, the events being monitored comprising configuration changes to the virtual objects; maintaining, in memory associated with the computing device, a record of events that occur within the virtual infrastructure; generating, by the computing device, an alert in response to a configuration change to a first virtual object in the virtual infrastructure; linking the first virtual object to a second virtual object in order to indicate that the configuration change to the first virtual object has a possible effect on the second virtual object; and displaying, on a display device, an individual entry on a timeline for the alert, the individual entry identifying the first virtual object together with the second virtual object, even though the alert was generated for the first virtual object, thereby informing a user that the configuration change to the first virtual object can affect the second virtual object, the individual entry being located adjacent to a time on the timeline at which the alert was generated.