Patent ID: 8776086

Claim:
In an electronic computing apparatus, a method of running a set of agents, comprising: loading an agent manager as a daemon in the electronic computing apparatus, the agent manager being constructed and arranged to insert and remove agents into a memory of the electronic computing apparatus; for each agent of the set of agents: assigning, by the agent manager, an executable host process running on the electronic computing apparatus to the agent, the agent being configured as a dynamically linked library; sending, via the agent manager, a start command to the assigned host process, the host process being configured to load the agent upon receipt of the start command from the agent manager; and sending, via the agent manager, the stop command to the assigned host process, the host process being configured to halt the agent upon receipt of the stop command from the agent manager; wherein the electronic computing apparatus includes a storage device, wherein the agent manager includes a configuration database stored on the storage device, the configuration database having a set of entries, each entry of the set of entries including configuration data associated with an agent of the set of agents, wherein the method further comprises: performing a read operation on the configuration database; selecting a particular agent of the set of agents based on configuration data associated with the particular agent; and loading the particular agent into the memory of the electronic computing apparatus; wherein the configuration data associated with the particular agent includes a first list of agents of the set of agents from which the particular agent depends and a second list of agents of the set of agents that depend on the particular agent, agents of the second list of agents being assigned to the same host process as the particular agent, and the particular agent being assigned to the same host process as agents of the first list of agents, and wherein performing the read operation on the configuration database includes: assigning the particular agent to a particular hierarchal level; assigning agents of the first list of agents to a first hierarchal level, the particular hierarchal level being below the first hierarchal level; and assigning agents of the second list of agents being assigned to a second hierarchal level, the particular hierarchal level being above the second hierarchal level.