Patent ID: 7289988

Claim:
A method of managing different types of events in a distributed computing system, having an event engine, including the steps of: i. providing one or more intelligent agents for receiving a first event and converting the first event into a standard format, and inputting the first event into the engine; ii. the engine extracting a rule to be applied to the first event from a rules database wherein identification information within the rule identifies the first event; iii. the engine holding the first event for an expiration of a specified interval; iv. before the expiration of the specified interval, receiving at least one subsequent event from an intelligent agent, converting the subsequent event into a standard format and inputting the subsequent event into the engine; v. the engine identifying the subsequent event using identification information within the rule; vi. waiting for identical subsequent events; vii. if, during the specified interval, a predetermined number of identical subsequent events are received, the engine creating and outputting a new event with an attribute that indicates the number of identical subsequent events that were received; viii. inputting the new event into the engine; ix. the engine extracting a second rule to be applied to the new event from a rules database wherein identification information within the second rule identifies the new event; x. determining whether the number of identical subsequent events exceeds a threshold; xi creating a threshold event indicating whether the number of identical subsequent events exceeds the threshold; and xii outputting the threshold event to a user, wherein the threshold event is output to the user in a format independent of a source of the event comprising: a severity code; predefined actions available to the user; and event-specific instructions for the user, wherein information resulting from execution of the predefined actions or event-specific instructions is stored in a central database to automate the execution of the predefined actions or event-specific instructions upon recurrence of the threshold event.