Dynamic Sub-Graph Abstraction for IT Workload Visibility
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Solution Overview
Problem
In IT environments, particularly in hybrid clouds, managing distributed workloads is challenging due to the complexity of correlations among operations entities, which makes it difficult for analysts and site reliability engineers to understand and analyze operations across multiple levels of the cloud infrastructure without substantial effort and domain expertise.
Innovation Solution
A dynamic graphing method that allows users to abstract a sub-graph from a global graph depicting a distributed workload, maintaining direct edges and generating indirect edges to represent interactions among ops objects, facilitating easier understanding and control of IT systems without requiring advanced knowledge or expertise.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If a global graph depicting all operations entities in a distributed workload is created, then complete system visibility is achieved, but the complexity of analyzing and understanding the system increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the global graph into multiple sub-graphs based on operational levels (e.g., cloud infrastructure level, platform level, application level). Each sub-graph focuses on a specific level of the distributed system, allowing analysts to examine individual levels without being overwhelmed by the entire system complexity. This segmentation maintains complete system visibility through hierarchical organization while reducing analysis complexity at each level.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a hierarchical dimension to the graph representation, organizing operations entities across multiple levels (infrastructure, platform, application). This dimensional organization transforms the flat, complex global graph into a structured multi-level view, enabling analysts to navigate and understand system relationships by moving between hierarchical levels rather than analyzing all entities simultaneously.
2Loss of information
If detailed interactions among all ops objects are displayed, then complete operational understanding is achieved, but the effort and expertise required to interpret the data increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments operations entities into distinct operational levels (cloud infrastructure, platform, application), with each level displaying interactions relevant to that specific context. This allows analysts to understand detailed operational interactions at each level without needing to simultaneously interpret all interactions across the entire distributed system, reducing the expertise barrier while maintaining comprehensive understanding.
Solution Approach 2:
Each sub-graph is tailored to display interactions and metrics specific to its operational level, providing locally optimized views rather than a uniform global view. For example, infrastructure-level sub-graphs emphasize hardware and network interactions, while application-level sub-graphs focus on service and data interactions, making each view easier to interpret for its specific context.
3Loss of information
If the full scope of distributed workload correlations is visualized, then comprehensive system analysis is enabled, but the time and resources required to manage and interpret the visualization increase
Solution Approach 1:
By segmenting the visualization into hierarchical levels, the patent enables analysts to focus on specific operational levels and their correlations without needing to process and interpret all correlations in the entire distributed system simultaneously. This reduces analysis time while maintaining the ability to access comprehensive correlation data when needed by navigating across levels.
Data Source
AI summary
A method, computer system, and a computer program product are provided for dynamic viewing of an operation graph depicting a distributed workload in an Information Technology system. A list may be received as input and may include selected nodes. A sub-graph may be abstracted from a global graph. The sub-graph and the global graph may depict interactions among ops objects of the distributed workload using nodes and edges. First nodes may be removed from the global graph according to the list. Direct edges between remaining nodes from the global graph may be maintained. A first indirect edge may be generated based on the removed first nodes. The first indirect edge may run between a first remaining node and a second remaining node. The sub-graph may be presented removed from the global graph.