Patent Document ID: 20080319731
Application ID: 12203867
Patent Flag: 0

Claim One:
1. A computer-implemented performance manager for use with a computer system, the computer system including a plurality of components each associated with a set of performance characteristics, the performance manager comprising: a system model representing the state of the computer system and including a plurality of measured entities and relationships among the plurality of measured entities, the plurality of measured entities representing performance characteristics of the plurality of components; a plurality of data producers for providing the system model with performance information about the plurality of components; an interaction model for determining a set of most relevant entities affecting the computer system performance; and an analyzer for analyzing the performance information and detecting relationships among the plurality of measured entities, each relationship being represented as a data object in the system model and containing information about how metrics of an independent measured entity affect metrics of a dependent measured entity, wherein each of the plurality of measured entities corresponds to a set of metrics and controls, the controls capable of changing the performance characteristics of the components associated with each of the plurality of measured entities, the plurality of measured entities comprises at least one independent entity having a number of metrics and at least one dependent entity having a number of metrics, the system model further comprises a forward coupling strength matrix comprising a plurality of coupling strength elements arranged in a number of rows equal to the number of metrics for the independent entity and a number of columns equal to the number of metrics for the dependent entity, each coupling strength element has a value in a range from −1 to 1, a value of a coupling strength element is representative of a magnitude and a direction of a change in a first measured entity resulting from a change in a second measured entity, the system model further comprises a forward confidence matrix comprising a plurality of confidence elements arranged in a number of rows equal to the number of metrics for the independent entity and a number of columns equal to the number of metrics for the dependent entity, each confidence element has a value in a range from 0 to 1, a value of a confidence element is representative of a probability that a corresponding element in the forward coupling strength matrix affects a relationship between the independent entity and the dependent entity, and a matrix multiplication of the forward coupling strength matrix and the forward confidence matrix has a matrix result representative of the relationship between the independent entity and the dependent entity.