Patent ID: 8140614

Claim:
A method for managing data collection remotely in a distributed computing environment, the distributed computing environment comprising a management server and a plurality of computer systems, each of the computer systems comprising a listening agent, the method comprising: receiving, by each listening agent from the management server, data collection process code, the data collection process code comprising a module of computer program instructions that, when executed at the behest of the listening agent, collects data describing the computer system; executing, periodically at the behest of each listening agent, the data collection process code, including: discovering, by the listening agent, one or more problem determination tools installed within at least one computer system; selecting one or more of the installed problem determination tools relevant to a request for problem determination data, and retrieving, on-demand by the listening agent from the management server, one or more additional tools; and installing the one or more additional tools; collecting, by the data collection process code, data describing the computer system, including executing the installed problem determination tools and the additional tools to collect problem determination data; and uninstalling the additional tools by the listening agent upon completion of execution of the additional tools.