Patent ID: 8024458

Claim:
A method, comprising the steps of: receiving a stream of monitoring values in a host from a plurality of external hosts over a predefined period of time; storing up to an initial quantity of the monitoring values received in the host, where identical ones of the monitoring values are consolidated into a single value; creating a frequency distribution in the host after the initial quantity of the monitoring values is received, where any single value is counted in the initial quantity as equivalent to one of the monitoring values, the initial quantity being equal to a total number of ranges in the frequency distribution, the frequency distribution comprising a plurality of ranges that vary exponentially and a plurality of frequency values, each of the frequency values being associated with a corresponding one of the ranges; wherein an exponential variation of the ranges is based at least upon an acceptable relative error in the values for each of the ranges and the acceptable relative error is based at least upon an upper limit of the ranges and a number of ranges; tracking a frequency at which the monitoring values fall within respective ones of the ranges in the frequency distribution by incrementing the frequency value associated with a respective one of the ranges for each of the monitoring values received in the host; discarding each respective monitoring value after incrementing a corresponding one of the frequency values; and expanding the frequency distribution when one of the monitoring values falls outside an upper limit of the frequency distribution.