Loader and provider configuration for remotely provided services

Abstract

A system and method of accessing remote services through a network including generating a message within a local computer system using a process having a specified type and version. The message is associated with the specified type and version and transported to an remote service provider system. The remote service provider system parses the message to identify the type and version information, then passes the message to a particular process that corresponds to the process used to generate the message based upon the type and version information.

We claim:  
     
         1 . A method of generating provider data comprising the steps of: 
 collecting system data from a customer system with a data provider process;    associating the system data with version data to form provider data, wherein the version data includes a type and a version of the data provider process; and    transporting the provider data to a service provider system.    
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises: 
 associating the version data with a data loader in the service provider system, wherein the data loader is designed to process the provider data generated by a pre-selected type and version of the data provider program.    
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein transporting the provider data comprises the step of: 
 sending the provider data through a cascaded pipeline comprising a monitored relay, a forwarding relay in electronic communication with the monitored relay, and an Internet relay in electronic communication with both the forwarding relay and the service provider system.    
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the provider data comprises time data that indicates the time that the system data was collected from the customer system.  
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the provider data is selected from the group consisting of configuration data, event data, trending data, reboot data, and field replaceable unit identification data.  
     
     
         6 . A method for providing remote monitoring services comprising the steps of: 
 receiving system data from a customer system, the system data containing an association with a specific type of process and version used within the customer system to gather the system data;    communicating the system data to a loader process having a corresponding type and version; and    processing the system data using the loader process.    
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6  wherein the system data comprises time data that indicates the time that the system data was collected from the customer system.  
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 6  further comprising: 
 a job queue configured to temporarily store the system data before passing the system data to the loader process.  
 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 6  further comprising: 
 maintaining a superset of loader processes including a specific loader type and version for every specific type of process and version used within the customer systems to gather the system data.  
 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 6  wherein the receiving, communicating, and processing are implemented on a remote service provider system providing a service for the customer system.  
     
     
         11 . A computer program product for generating provider data from a customer computer system to a remote services system, the computer program product comprising: 
 first computer code devices executable on a customer computer system collecting system data from the customer system; and    second computer code devices executable on the customer computer system for binding the collected system data with provider metadata to form a provider message, wherein the provider metadata identifies a type and a version of the first computer code devices.    
     
     
         12 . The computer program product of  claim 11  wherein the first computer code devices are configured to gather configuration data describing a current configuration of the customer computer system.  
     
     
         13 . The computer program product of  claim 11  wherein the first computer code devices are configured to gather delta configuration data describing a changes in configuration of the customer computer system with respect to a previous time.  
     
     
         14 . The computer program product of  claim 11  wherein the first computer code devices are configured to gather event data describing an describing system status information and compare the system status information against predetermined thresholds.  
     
     
         15 . The computer program product of  claim 11  wherein the first computer code devices are configured to gather trend data indicating system performance metrics, wherein the first computer code devices are executed at predetermined times according to a programmed schedule.  
     
     
         16 . The computer program product of  claim 11  wherein the first computer code devices are configured to gather performance metrics data comprising a value indicating at least one of: processor utilization, memory utilization, swap space utilization, root disk utilization, and uptime.  
     
     
         17 . A computer program product for processing provider data received from a customer computer system, the computer program product comprising: 
 first computer code devices executable on a remote service provider computer to process collected system data; and    second computer code devices executable on the remote service provider computer and operable to select a specific instance of the first computer code devices for handling a provider message based upon metadata associated with the collected system data, the metadata indicating a type and version of customer process that collected the system data.    
     
     
         18 . The computer program product of  claim 17  wherein the second computer coded devices include a parsing mechanism for parsing provider data received from a customer system to identify the metadata.  
     
     
         19 . A method of storing provider data comprising the steps of: 
 collecting the provider data at a receiver in a service provider system, wherein the provider data includes version data about a type and a version of a data provider program that is used to collect the provider data; and    sending the provider data to a data loader, where the data loader is selected by the receiver based on the version data, and wherein the data loader processes data from a pre-selected type and version of the data provider program.    
     
     
         20 . A system for implementing remote services on a plurality of customer computer systems, the system comprising: 
 a remote services communication pipeline that is accessible by a remote services computer and by each of the customer computer systems;    a first type of provider process executable on the plurality of the customer computer systems, the first type of provider process having multiple versions; and    a first type of loader process executable on the remote service computer, wherein the first type of loader process has a version corresponding to each version of the first type of provider process.    
     
     
         21 . The system of  claim 20  further comprising: 
 a first instance of the first type of provider executing on one of the plurality of customer computer systems;  
 a second instance of the first type of provider executing on one of the plurality of customer computer systems, wherein the first and second instances have different versions.  
 
     
     
         22 . A method of accessing remote services through a network comprising: 
 generating a message within a local computer system using a process having a specified type and version;    associating the message with the specified type and version; and    transporting the message to an external service provider system.