Abstract: Aspects of a distributed computing environment with remote data collection management include a management server, and a plurality of computer systems networked to and managed by the management server. Each of the plurality of computer systems includes a listening agent to receive process code from a management server and to control the periodic execution of the process code to collect data from the plurality of computer systems. The periodic execution occurs without requiring a connection to be maintained between the plurality of computer systems and the management server. Further, the data collected includes data collected from problem determination activities.

Abstract: A method and system for ordering and aggregating log streams. Log streams for events from different sources are received. If different sources have different recording cycles, or time epochs, that lead to different temporal granularities, then all of the log streams are combined into a single time epoch that is equal to the longest time epoch. Log streams from sources having shorter time epochs continue to retain information about their original time epochs, in order to retain information about the order of the events in those log streams. The log streams are re-ordered, both before and after being integrated into the aggregate log, by acquiring additional data from the different sources, thus permitting the likely cause/effect relationship between events.