Abstract: An improved method is provided for identifying a cause of a performance problem experienced by an application in a computing environment. To help a user find and isolate the problem quicker, the method proposes a unified performance analysis report that presents the most likely indicators of the source of the performance problem. The report presents performance metrics for the software services used by the application and charts the metric values over time since it is often the change in a metric that indicates a problem. Each metric chart should also include an indicator for the state of service for the application. This will help the user correlate metrics from multiple sources to the time period in which the application experienced a problem.

Abstract: A method of scheduling availability for a computing infrastructure in a shared computing environment is disclosed. The method comprises assigning a new schedule of service to a software application in the computing environment, propagating the new schedule of service assigned to the software application to a plurality of computing components that support the software application, where the computing infrastructure is comprised of the plurality of computing components having a hierarchical relationship with each other, and determining a schedule of service for a given computing component in the computing infrastructure by aggregating schedules of service propagated to the given computing component.

Abstract: An improved method is provided for evaluating service quality of a software application residing in a computing environment. The method includes: monitoring first and second metrics indicative of performance of the software application; evaluating the first metric in relation to a first evaluation criterion; evaluating the second metric in relation to a second evaluation criterion different than the first evaluation criterion; and determining the state of service for the software application based in part on the evaluation of the second metric. Over time, the second evaluation criterion is adapted based on the outcome of the evaluation of the first metric.

Abstract: An automated method is provided for constructing or updating a service model that defines the entities in an enterprise's computing environment. The method includes: defining a group of templates for updating the service model, where the group of templates identify different types of entities which comprise the service model and relationships between the types of entities including an entity that links software applications to respective computing infrastructure that supports the software applications; monitoring messages received from monitoring tools residing in the computing environment; and updating a service model in accordance with the group of templates using data encapsulated in the messages.

Abstract: An application service provider (ASP)-based interface and system for analyzing performance and costs of respective enterprise information technology assets from the correlation of metrics data of enterprise SNMP-enabled devices.

Abstract: An agentless software data collector in a customer computer network collects metrics data from managed devices on the network to provide to a remote data center accessed via a public wide area network (WAN) interface. The software data collector collects metrics data, as well as receives real-time queries, such as from a Remote Procedure Call (RPC) initiated from a hosted web interface.

Abstract: The current invention allows a user to evaluate web pages, emails, or software across different operating systems without requiring the user to have the operating system being tested. The patent has a novel method to (1) generate screen captures in parallel, (2) create counter-anti-spam reporting and (3) a method to remotely interact any arbitrary operating system (DVA).

Abstract: A set of fault records representing faults previously detected in an enterprise computer system is received and analyzed. The analysis comprises a variety of analytical operations and results in a report provided to a user, the report particularly including a set of fault sources identified as highly important to address, with respect both to the system as a whole and to particular categories of faults.

Abstract: Systems and methods provide for quantifying the similarity between images that appear similar. Given a set of images, one image is selected as the base image, to which the remaining images are compared. One or more portions of the base image are selected for comparison and the color composition of these areas is calculated. Then, the color compositions are examined to quantify the similarity or difference between the images, which is assigned a score reflective of the quantitative similarity or difference. The results are displayed. These systems and methods allow, e.g, a website owner to check whether web pages have come through imperfectly across different browsers; the analysis identifies not just blatant errors, but even single-pixel shifts.

Abstract: A system provides a tag for a flash application. The tag identifies a flash event to record during execution of the flash application. The flash event is recorded to monitor performance of the flash application to generate performance metrics. The flash performance monitoring process generates the performance metrics of the flash application based on an occurrence of the flash event during the execution of the flash application, and provides a graphical user interface in which to render a graphical representation of the generated performance metrics.

Abstract: An automated method is provided for constructing or updating a service model that defines the entities in an enterprise's computing environment. The method includes: defining a group of templates for updating the service model, where the group of templates identify different types of entities which comprise the service model and relationships between the types of entities including an entity that links software applications to respective computing infrastructure that supports the software applications; monitoring messages received from monitoring tools residing in the computing environment; and updating a service model in accordance with the group of templates using data encapsulated in the messages.

Abstract: A method of scheduling availability for a computing infrastructure in a shared computing environment is disclosed. The method comprises assigning a new schedule of service to a software application in the computing environment, propagating the new schedule of service assigned to the software application to a plurality of computing components that support the software application, where the computing infrastructure is comprised of the plurality of computing components having a hierarchical relationship with each other, and determining a schedule of service for a given computing component in the computing infrastructure by aggregating schedules of service propagated to the given computing component.

Abstract: An improved method is provided for evaluating service quality of a software application residing in a computing environment. The method includes: monitoring first and second metrics indicative of performance of the software application; evaluating the first metric in relation to a first evaluation criterion; evaluating the second metric in relation to a second evaluation criterion different than the first evaluation criterion; and determining the state of service for the software application based in part on the evaluation of the second metric. Over time, the second evaluation criterion is adapted based on the outcome of the evaluation of the first metric.

Abstract: A system provides an agent that executes remotely from a web site and can measure performance associated with the web site. The agent obtains a script containing at least one transaction to be performed with the web site. The transaction(s) define a sequence of page requests identifying web pages to obtain from the web site. The agent executes the script to perform the transaction with the web site. Performance of the transaction includes retrieving the sequence of web pages and identifying respective performance metrics including performance metrics associated with obtaining respective objects defined within each web page, and performance metrics associated with obtaining a complete version of each web page. The agent transmits the performance metrics associated with execution of the transaction defined by the script to a repository.

Abstract: A system obtains a script containing at least one transaction to be performed with the web site, the at least one transaction defining a sequence of page requests identifying at least one web page to obtain from the web site. The system executes the script to perform the at least one transaction, performance of the at least one transaction including retrieving the sequence of the at least one web page. The system detects a capture event associated with the at least one web page, and in response to the capture event, captures content of the at least one web page. The system packages the content of the at least one web page into a container capable of being rendered, such that the container provides a plurality of components associated with the at least one captured web page, and delivers the container to a repository.

Abstract: An improved method is provided for generating an authentication factor for authenticating a user. The method includes: assigning a unique identifier to a user of the computing resource; determining a value for a challenge to the user, where the value is determined by a random determination method; concatenating the identifier with the value to form an input string; encrypting the input string using a one-way hash function to yield an output string of characters; and selecting a subset of characters from the output string to serve as the authentication factor for the user. This improved method may be used to generate grids used in a grid authentication scheme.

Abstract: The current invention allows a user to evaluate web pages, emails, or software across different operating systems without requiring the user to have the operating system being tested. The patent has a novel method to (1) generate screen captures in parallel, (2) create counter-anti-spam reporting and (3) a method to remotely interact any arbitrary operating system (DVA).

Abstract: A set of fault records representing faults previously detected in an enterprise computer system is received and analyzed. The analysis comprises a variety of analytical operations and results in a report provided to a user, the report particularly including a set of fault sources identified as highly important to address, with respect both to the system as a whole and to particular categories of faults.

Abstract: Website load testing using agents is disclosed. An address of a website and a window of time in which to perform a load test are received. The address and the window of time are distributed to a plurality of remotely operating agents, distributed over a wide area. Each agent in the plurality is to access the website at the received address during the window of time to load test the website. Data from the plurality of agents is received upon passage of the window of time, describing a load placed upon the website by the plurality of agents. The received data describing the load placed upon the website is presented. Alternatively, a script may be used to load test a website, the script a series of commands to be executed across the website as a simulation of a transaction, the script to be executed in the window of time.

Abstract: An improved method is provided for identifying a cause of a performance problem experienced by an application in a computing environment. To help a user find and isolate the problem quicker, the method proposes a unified performance analysis report that presents the most likely indicators of the source of the performance problem. The report presents performance metrics for the software services used by the application and charts the metric values over time since it is often the change in a metric that indicates a problem. Each metric chart should also include an indicator for the state of service for the application. This will help the user correlate metrics from multiple sources to the time period in which the application experienced a problem.