IT Infrastructure Dependency Mapping via Network Traffic Correlation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Large organizations face challenges in accurately understanding and mapping how different infrastructure components are interconnected within their IT environments, especially across on-premise, hybrid cloud, and private cloud instances, leading to flawed modernization attempts and increased technical debt due to the sheer volume of information and differing output results from conventional tools.
Innovation Solution
A system (300) that determines and analyzes infrastructure components by receiving and correlating telemetry sources, such as network traffic tools, to generate an aggregated view of how one application or system depends on another, using a distributed network architecture to reduce resource impact and provide a single source of truth for infrastructure relationships.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If conventional tools are used to map infrastructure components, then the volume of information collected increases, but the accuracy and reliability of relationship mapping deteriorates due to differing output results
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the infrastructure mapping task into multiple specialized tools, each responsible for collecting specific types of data from different sources (network traffic, telemetry, configuration management databases). This segmentation allows each tool to focus on a specific data type, improving the accuracy of individual measurements while collectively gathering comprehensive information about infrastructure relationships.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary correlation system that receives data from multiple specialized tools and reconciles differing output results. This intermediary layer processes, validates, and correlates information from various sources, resolving conflicts and inconsistencies to produce accurate relationship mappings without requiring a single tool to handle all data types.
2Adaptability or versatility
If multiple data sources and tools are used to analyze infrastructure, then the comprehensiveness of the analysis improves, but the complexity of the system increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a universal correlation system that can handle multiple data types and sources through a single standardized interface. This multi-functional platform receives information from various specialized tools (network analyzers, telemetry collectors, configuration managers) and processes them uniformly, providing comprehensive infrastructure analysis without requiring separate complex systems for each data type.
Solution Approach 2:
The correlation system acts as an intermediary that simplifies complexity by providing a unified processing layer between diverse data sources and the analysis platform. This mediator standardizes data formats, reconciles conflicts, and presents a coherent view of infrastructure relationships, reducing the apparent complexity for users while maintaining comprehensive multi-source analysis capabilities.
3Loss of information
If infrastructure relationships are mapped across on-premise, hybrid cloud, and private cloud instances, then the completeness of the IT estate view improves, but the difficulty of detecting and measuring relationships increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs an intermediary correlation system that bridges on-premise, hybrid cloud, and private cloud environments by receiving standardized data from configuration management databases and network telemetry tools across different infrastructure types. This mediator reconciles relationships spanning heterogeneous environments, making it possible to detect and measure cross-cloud dependencies without manual intervention.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements feedback mechanisms where the correlation platform continuously receives updated information from multiple sources, validates relationships, and provides feedback for verification. This iterative process improves the completeness of the IT estate view by progressively detecting and measuring relationships across diverse environments, allowing organizations to verify and refine the accuracy of mapped connections over time.
Data Source
AI summary
A system including one or more processors and one or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing computing instructions that, when executed on the one or more processors, perform certain acts. The acts can include receiving information corresponding to a plurality of components in an information technology environment. The acts also can include determining a relationship between a first component of the plurality of components and a second component of the plurality of components based on the information, the relationship based on overlapping information corresponding to the first component and the second component. The acts additionally can include generating a marker for the relationship based on determining a threshold level of correlation between the information corresponding to the first component and the second component. The acts additionally can include auditing the relationship between the first component and the second component to determine if the marker is to be updated. Other embodiments are described.