Patent ID: 8032625

Claim:
A method for management of a distributed data processing system, the method comprising: representing the distributed data processing system as a set of scopes, wherein a scope comprises a logical organization of network-related objects; monitoring, by a computer, resources within the distributed data processing system using a set of distributed monitor controllers, wherein each distributed monitor controller is uniquely responsible for monitoring resources within different scopes; in response to monitoring a set of resources, generating topology information associated with the set of resources by a first instance of a distributed monitor controller in the set of distributed monitor controllers; in response to detecting a potential failure of the first instance of the distributed monitor controller, starting a second instance of the distributed monitor controller; in response to monitoring the set of resources, generating topology information associated with the set of resources by the second instance of the distributed monitor controller; and in response to a determination that generated topology information indicates assignment of overlapping scopes between the first instance of the distributed monitor controller and the second instance of the distributed monitor controller, determining a failure of the first instance of the distributed monitor controller based on a communication test.