Abstract: Computing units of a computing environment are equipped with means to determine their respective integrity. Further, each computing unit is equipped, such that if its integrity is determined to have been compromised, the computing unit automatically takes itself out of service. In one embodiment, prior to the automatically removing itself from service, a degree of compromise is determined. If the degree of compromise is determined to be within an acceptable risk level, the compromised computing unit fails itself over to one or more other computing units in the computing environment.

Abstract: A distributed and scalable architecture is described to facilitate reactive detection of operational state changes in diverse, heterogeneous objects, logging of detected state-changes, and generating alerts in response to detected state-changes for the purpose of remediation. Such heterogeneous objects include but are not limited to stand-alone workstations, network appliances, files and directories, as well as embedded micro-systems such as digital assistants, cellular devices, and even remotely controlled peripherals such as environmental sensors, effectors and actuators. In one embodiment, user interaction with such diverse objects is facilitated through a homogeneous user-interface metaphor through which, the rules of interaction remain constant independent of the object being monitored.