Abstract: A method includes determining that an agent configured an identified node of a computer system, obtaining a definition of the agent that configured the identified node, identifying a configuration item associated with the identified node based at least in part on the definition of the agent that configured the identified node, and updating a service model database with the identified configuration item.

Abstract: Implementations of a system, method and apparatus described herein receive, for a configuration item in a configuration management database, status indicating an operational state and an automation state associated with the configuration item, and determine whether a conflict will occur with at least one of the operational state or the automation state of the configuration item as a result of a process affecting the configuration item. When the conflict will not occur, a change is made to at least one of the operational state or the automation state of the configuration item in accordance with the process. Upon a conclusion of the process, the change is removed. If the conflict will occur, the process not allowed to continue.

Abstract: Implementations of a system, method and apparatus described herein execute a discovery process to identify a plurality of computing devices within a computer network and a respective configuration associated with each of the plurality of computing devices. Upon discovery of a first computing device configured by an agent, configuration management of the computer network is searched for a definition used by the agent to configure the first computing device, and the discovery process for the first computing device is modified based on the definition to identify a first plurality of configuration items associated with a current configuration of the first computing device. Finally, a service model database is updated with the first plurality of configuration items.

Abstract: A method can include storing information about the business service in one or more template type layers; storing information about an instance of the business service in one or more instance type layers; wherein the template type layers include one or more checkpoints that reference information stored in a content addressable store that defines an expected structure of the business service, wherein at least one checkpoint of the template type layers includes a timestamp and a hash value associated with an entry in the content addressable store; and wherein the instance type layers include one or more checkpoints that reference information stored in the content addressable store that defines attributes of the instance of the business service, wherein at least one checkpoint of the instance type layers includes a timestamp and a hash value associated with an entry in the content addressable store.

Abstract: Implementations of a system, method and apparatus described herein receive, for a configuration item in a configuration management database, status indicating an operational state and an automation state associated with the configuration item, and determine whether a conflict will occur with at least one of the operational state or the automation state of the configuration item as a result of a process affecting the configuration item. When the conflict will not occur, a change is made to at least one of the operational state or the automation state of the configuration item in accordance with the process. Upon a conclusion of the process, the change is removed. If the conflict will occur, the process not allowed to continue.

Abstract: Implementations of a system, method and apparatus described herein receive, for a configuration item in a configuration management database, status indicating an operational state and an automation state associated with the configuration item, and determine whether a conflict will occur with at least one of the operational state or the automation state of the configuration item as a result of a process affecting the configuration item. When the conflict will not occur, a change is made to at least one of the operational state or the automation state of the configuration item in accordance with the process. Upon a conclusion of the process, the change is removed. If the conflict will occur, the process not allowed to continue.

Abstract: Implementations of a system, method and apparatus described herein execute a discovery process to identify a plurality of computing devices within a computer network and a respective configuration associated with each of the plurality of computing devices. Upon discovery of a first computing device configured by an agent, configuration management of the computer network is searched for a definition used by the agent to configure the first computing device, and the discovery process for the first computing device is modified based on the definition to identify a first plurality of configuration items associated with a current configuration of the first computing device. Finally, a service model database is updated with the first plurality of configuration items.

Abstract: When multiple backup database instances most recently experienced an update is determined. If a most recently updated backup database instance was updated within a defined time period of one or more other backup database instances, a source instance for cloning is selected as the backup database instance that satisfies at least one of a physical or logical proximity criteria relative to a designated database instance. If a difference in update times is greater than the defined time period, e.g., for the two most recent backup database instances, the source instance for cloning is selected to be the most recently updated backup database instance. Cloning to a target instance is performed using the selected backup database instance as a source instance as long as preparatory operations all pass. If not, the source databases are used for the cloning while still being accessible to clients.

Abstract: A failure resistant distributed computing system includes primary and secondary datacenters each comprising a plurality of computerized servers. A control center selects orchestrations from a predefined list and transmits the orchestrations to the datacenters. Transmitted orchestrations include less than all machine-readable actions necessary to execute the orchestrations. The datacenters execute each received orchestration by referencing a full set of actions corresponding to the received orchestration as previously stored or programmed into the computerized server and executing the referenced full set of actions. At least one of the orchestrations comprises a failover operation from the primary datacenter to the secondary datacenter.

Abstract: Implementations of a system, method and apparatus described herein execute a discovery process to identify a plurality of computing devices within a computer network and a respective configuration associated with each of the plurality of computing devices. Upon discovery of a first computing device configured by an agent, configuration management of the computer network is searched for a definition used by the agent to configure the first computing device, and the discovery process for the first computing device is modified based on the definition to identify a first plurality of configuration items associated with a current configuration of the first computing device. Finally, a service model database is updated with the first plurality of configuration items.

Abstract: In a distributed computing system, cloning operations determine when each of multiple backup database instances most recently experienced an update. If a most recently updated backup database instance was updated within a prescribed time period of one or more other backup database instances, a source instance for cloning is deemed to be one of these database instances satisfying a prescribed proximity criteria relative to a designated database instance. If a difference in update times is greater than the prescribed time period for the two most recent backup database instances, the source instance for cloning is deemed to be the most recently updated backup database instance. The control center conducts cloning to a target instance using the selected backup database instance as a source instance.

Abstract: In a distributed computing system, cloning operations determine when each of multiple backup database instances most recently experienced an update. If a most recently updated backup database instance was updated within a prescribed time period of one or more other backup database instances, a source instance for cloning is deemed to be one of these database instances satisfying a prescribed proximity criteria relative to a designated database instance. If a difference in update times is greater than the prescribed time period for the two most recent backup database instances, the source instance for cloning is deemed to be the most recently updated backup database instance. The control center conducts cloning to a target instance using the selected backup database instance as a source instance.

Abstract: A failure resistant distributed computing system includes primary and secondary datacenters each comprising a plurality of computerized servers. A control center selects orchestrations from a predefined list and transmits the orchestrations to the datacenters. Transmitted orchestrations include less than all machine-readable actions necessary to execute the orchestrations. The datacenters execute each received orchestration by referencing a full set of actions corresponding to the received orchestration as previously stored or programmed into the computerized server and executing the referenced full set of actions. At least one of the orchestrations comprises a failover operation from the primary datacenter to the secondary datacenter.

Abstract: Implementations of a system, method and apparatus described herein execute a discovery process to identify a plurality of computing devices within a computer network and a respective configuration associated with each of the plurality of computing devices. Upon discovery of a first computing device configured by an agent, configuration management of the computer network is searched for a definition used by the agent to configure the first computing device, and the discovery process for the first computing device is modified based on the definition to identify a first plurality of configuration items associated with a current configuration of the first computing device. Finally, a service model database is updated with the first plurality of configuration items.

Abstract: A system manages version information for a group of software components by maintaining a version repository containing version information for all of the components. The system determines a baseline for the components, modifies data in the repository in connection with updating software components, and accesses the data in the repository to determine version information for the components. The system described herein also determines if a group of software components correspond to a particular baseline by maintaining baseline information in the version repository. The system obtains the particular baseline for the group of components, compares the version information for each of the components with a corresponding minimum version provided in connection with the baseline, and determines whether a group of software components correspond to the particular baseline.

Abstract: A system for presentation of help files on a computer with an operating system and a display is provided. Presentation-independent information associated with an application is stored on the computer. A help application is adapted to access the presentation-independent information based on user interactions and automatically to select between available rendering applications at runtime for displaying the presentation-independent information on the display.

Abstract: A content author provides content to be displayed, including some content elements for which display is conditional on the state of the machine in which the content will be viewed. The conditional statements controlling the display of these content elements, in one embodiment refer to states provided by a state monitor. The state may refer to the state of any aspect of the viewing environment, including hardware, software, firmware, user preferences, software operating modes, and any other detectable state. The resulting content is optionally combined with other similar content via a structural transform. This content is transformed with a presentation transform. One of the transforms checks the states and resolves the conditional statements included by the content author. The result of the transforms is presentation data. A display of this presentation data includes the content which, according to the conditional statements and the state of the viewing environment is appropriate for display.

Abstract: Content including links to behaviors (code which can be executed and return supplemental content for insertion, or can modify existing content) is stored, and at run-time, the links to behaviors are followed and the supplemental content or the modifications to existing comment are used to create a final version of content which will be presented to the user. Security enhancements including a security check ensure that only behaviors which are secure will be run. Default content may be provided, which may be inserted if the security check is not passed, or if the content returned from the behavior is unusable for some reason.

Abstract: Flexible information appearance and behavior can be achieved with an extensible multi-phase transform engine. The transform engine can apply a series of transforms to markup language content. In a help service embodiment, application creators can specify a Uniform Resource Indicator (URI) for help content, and a collection of transforms and/or executable code for formatting and presenting the help content. The transforms may be custom transforms registered with the help service, or may be selected from a set of stock pre-registered transforms. The transforms can be applied by the engine to the help content. Custom transforms and transform selection may be used to control content appearance and engine output format. Transform operation may also trigger custom executable code to accomplish desired help behaviors.

Abstract: An active content trust model provides security in a help system. The security is provided in response to a call from a calling application to access active content. When the call is received, a determination is made, based on predetermined criteria, which execution mode to use to access the active content. The active content is then accessed in the determined execution mode, thus providing the security.