Abstract: A monitoring system provided according to an aspect of the present invention enables a user to specify one or more resource elements as a group, and compute an Abnormality Index that represents the deviation from a baseline operation of these selected resource elements. In an embodiment, the Abnormality Index is computed as a single number. The user may include any desired attributes of each resource element to be considered in determining deviations. The Abnormality Index represents the number of deviations, the seriousness of deviation (e.g., more serious if deviation relates to unavailability of the resource element), and the extent of deviation (i.e., whether the deviation is based on expected operation for hourly, daily or weekly duration).

Abstract: A monitoring system provided according to an aspect of the present invention enables a user to specify multiple resource elements as a resource pool, and view various aggregate information (e.g., sum, average) for attributes of interest for all the resource elements together. Such a feature is particularly useful in distributed environments where multiple independent resource elements need to be viewed as a single resource pool. The user is provided the flexibility to select the specific resource elements to be included in the resource pool.

Abstract: A system is provided to monitor network performances. The system maintains a database of performance abnormalities, alarms and events from a system of monitored elements. The system automatically identifies a possible cause of a specific alarm by correlating the specific alarm with a plurality of events using the database. The system displays the cause of the specific alarm. The database includes alarms and events of network devices, network systems, and network applications. The specific alarm consists of a notification of an occurrence of the plurality of events.

Abstract: To facilitate gathering of information required for root cause analysis associated with the abnormal behavior of an attribute (“problem attribute”), a user can specify causation attributes associated with the problem attribute. When the abnormal behavior is detected for the problem attribute, the causation attributes are automatically polled and stored in a database. The user can later examine the values of the causation attributes to determine if there is a causal relationship to the abnormal behavior of the problem attribute.

Abstract: A network management system in which an administrator may specify attributes of interest, and the specified attributes are monitored. Graphs/reports corresponding to the specified reports may be generated in a single place (e.g., on a web page) such that the data points for the various attributes maybe correlated easily. The specified attributes may contain attributes which are dynamically created (e.g., counters measuring various aspects related to instances of objects). The network management system provides the ability to discover such attributes using a suitable interface, and selection of such attributes as well.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for network management is described. In one embodiment, a method comprises collecting performance data having accompanying meta data including information defining the performance management data and information indicating operations to be performed on the performance management data, and generating output data for display using collected performance management data according to the information indicating the operations to be performed on the performance management data.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for intelligent storage and reduction of network information reduces an amount of storage space required for network information by receiving current network information and comparing the current network information with previously received network information. The current network information is saved if the current network information exceeds the previously, received network information by a threshold, and an identifier associated with the current network information is updated if the current network information does not exceed the previously received network information by the threshold.