Patent ID: 8621550

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for performing compliance testing of Information Technology (IT) infrastructure resources, the method comprising: presenting a set of compliance test templates in a graphical user interface of a computer for selection of one or more of the compliance test templates by a user of the computer, each compliance test template having a unique configuration operable for creating compliance tests and evaluating data associated with the IT infrastructure resources including hosts operable to execute applications, services provided by the applications, and connections operable to communicate between the applications, comprising: presenting a set of policy templates in the graphical user interface, each policy template having a unique policy configuration that defines at least one of a set of rules and corresponding violation criteria for rules within the set of rules, a policy scope that indicates what resources from an IT infrastructure the set of rules in the policy template is to be applied, and a policy compliance statement that defines a set of rule violations of varying severity that determine overall policy violation; receiving a selection of a compliance test template from a user of the computer prior to creation of a compliance test using the selected compliance test template, comprising receiving a selection of a policy template; enabling modification of a configuration associated with the selected compliance test template prior to creation of a compliance test using the selected compliance test template, comprising: presenting a set of rule templates in the graphical user interface, each rule template having a unique rule configuration that defines at least one of a rule scope definition and a selection of compliance conditions that define desired states to be applied to the data associated with the IT infrastructure resources as specified by the rule scope definition; creating the compliance test using the selected compliance test template according to the modification to the configuration the associated with the selected compliance test template; and applying the created compliance test to the data associated with the IT infrastructure resources.