Patent ID: 7673290

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for configuring a management module for use in monitoring operations associated with a computer system, the method comprising: (a) prior to the management module being configured to monitor a plurality of components communicatively connected to the management module and analyze, based on the monitored plurality of components, whether an event has occurred in the computer system, detecting a first component of the plurality of components communicatively connected to the management module by querying a plurality of slave addresses, wherein the first component at a first slave address of the plurality of slave addresses is detected upon responding to the query, and wherein the first component senses and provides to the management module operational information relating to operations associated with the computer system; (b) identifying a type of information provided by the detected first component; (c) creating a configuration file specifying the type of information identified for the detected first component; (d) incorporating the configuration file into the management module such that the management module is configured to (i) receive the identified type of information from the detected first component and (ii) analyze, based on the identified type of information from the detected first component, whether an event has occurred in the computer system; (e) defining a plurality of description files, each description file corresponding to a component which may be included within a configuration for the computer system, wherein the plurality of description files each specify a component classification for the component corresponding to each description file and the type of information that may be provided by the component; wherein the identifying act (b) comprises (b)(i) issuing an identification request on the first slave address, wherein the identification request commands the first component to respond with identification information associated with the first component, (b)(ii) receiving the identification information from the first component, and (b)(iii) analyzing the identification information against the plurality of description files to determine which of the plurality of description files corresponds to the first component.