Patent ID: 8595476

Claim:
An apparatus, comprising: a processor configured to analyze configuration information collected from a plurality of devices in a computer network, and further configured to: determine whether a configuration change has occurred in a configuration of any of the devices based on the collected configuration information, wherein the configuration change of a device refers to a modification or alteration to the device's software, hardware, or setting configuration; determine whether an operational issue exists for any of the devices based on the collected configuration information, wherein the operational issue relates to an improper or inefficient configuration, a component failure, a failure state, an overutilization of resources, or any combination thereof; in the event that the operational issue exists for one of the devices: determine a level of severity of the operational issue comprising: determine whether the operational issue refers to a problem condition to be immediately addressed by a system administrator; in the event that the operational issue refers to a problem condition to be immediately addressed by the system administrator; assign the level of severity to a first level; and in the event that the operational issue does not refer to an indication of a problem condition that should be addressed by the system administrator; assign the level of severity to a second level; determine whether any of the devices are not in compliance with operational policies based on the collected configuration information, wherein the operational policies refer to a collection of rules that the plurality of devices in the computer network are required or expected to follow; and generate a visual data presentation that includes a representation of device configuration changes, operational issues, severity levels of the operational issues, and policy compliance information for a group of devices in the computer network; wherein the representation of device configuration changes, operational issues, and policy compliance information for the group of devices in the computer network facilitates causal analysis between configuration changes, operational issues, or policy compliance information, or any combination thereof.