Patent ID: 8499240

Claim:
A method comprising: receiving a request to view log file information; retrieving, based on said request, a plurality of log file messages associated with a plurality of components, at least some of said plurality of log file messages from multiple different sources and at least some of said plurality of log file messages being associated with a plurality of different system components comprising a system; aggregating, according to at least one aggregation rule related to a status of the plurality of components, at least two of said plurality of log file messages from multiple different sources based on said at least one aggregation rule and on timestamp information contained in each of said log file messages from said multiple different sources; determining an overall status of said system based on the aggregated log file messages and the at least one aggregation rule, the at least one aggregation rule comprising at least one Boolean expression relating to the statuses of said plurality of components of said system; generating a graphical data track based on the aggregated log file messages and the determined overall status of said system, the graphical data track including a visual indication of an overall status of said system; and causing said graphical data track to be displayed along a graphical timeline, said graphical timeline providing the overall status of said system, and wherein the graphical timeline includes a set of graphical data tracks for said multiple data sources and a corresponding set of said components relating to said set of graphical data tracks, where each of said graphical data tracks comprises aggregated and filtered log file messages.