Patent ID: 7788226

Claim:
A method comprising: generating by a central monitoring system a plurality of monitoring agents including a first monitoring agent, each of the plurality of monitoring agents operating autonomously from the central monitoring system in carrying out monitoring tasks; providing by the central monitoring system a first set of monitoring instructions to the first monitoring agent, the first set of monitoring instructions instructing the first monitoring agent to monitor availability of a first group of computer applications run on one or more processors; receiving at the central monitoring system a status inquiry from the first monitoring agent regarding the status of the first set of monitoring instructions, the inquiry including a first time stamp for the first set of monitoring instructions, the first time stamp comprising a time that the first set of monitoring instructions became effective; comparing by the central monitoring system the first time stamp received from the first monitoring agent to a second time stamp, the second time stamp being a time stamp for an up-to-date set of monitoring instructions for the first monitoring agent that is held by the central monitoring system; if the comparison of the time stamps indicates that the second time stamp is later than the first time stamp, determining that the first monitoring agent requires new updated monitoring instructions and sending the up-to-date set of monitoring instructions from the central monitoring system to the first monitoring agent to replace the first set of monitoring instructions; and if the comparison of the time stamps indicates that the second time stamp is not later than the first time stamp, sending a message to the first monitoring agent indicating that the first set of monitoring instructions is up-to-date.