Social Network IT Management Across Device Spans
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing network management systems face challenges in managing IT environments that span multiple types of information handling systems, such as network, storage, and server systems, as they provide data on a system basis, making it difficult to address issues that cross these boundaries effectively.
Innovation Solution
A social network management operation is introduced, allowing IT administrators to manage IT environments by identifying devices and administrators as 'friends,' creating interest lists based on specialization, and using a social network analog to notify administrators of relevant events through a news feed and timeline, with direct access to device pages for analysis and configuration changes.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If network management systems provide data on a system basis, then comprehensive monitoring coverage is achieved, but difficulty in addressing cross-boundary issues increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the IT environment into multiple spans of control, each managed by different administrators. This segmentation allows administrators to focus on specific areas while the system integrates data across all segments, resolving cross-boundary issues by maintaining both granular ownership and holistic visibility.
Solution Approach 2:
The social network management operation acts as an intermediary layer between traditional system-based monitoring and administrators. It translates system-level data into administrator-relevant notifications based on their friend lists and interest lists, making cross-boundary issues accessible without requiring administrators to monitor entire systems.
2Quantity of substance
If traditional NMS applications provide abundant data, then comprehensive information availability is achieved, but data relevance to individual administrators decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by customizing information delivery to each administrator's specific context. Through friend lists and interest lists, each administrator receives tailored notifications about events affecting their specific devices and areas of interest, rather than receiving uniform system-wide data.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements partial action by filtering and delivering only the subset of events relevant to each administrator based on their social network connections and declared interests. This prevents information overload while ensuring all potentially relevant information is captured and selectively presented.
3Adaptability or versatility
If IT administrators manage multiple spans of control, then comprehensive environment coverage is achieved, but operational complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The social network management operation provides a universal interface that works across all spans of control and device types. Administrators interact with a consistent social network paradigm regardless of the underlying system complexity, while the system handles the multi-functionality of cross-span coordination, event filtering, and notification delivery.
Data Source
AI summary
A system, method, and computer-readable medium are disclosed for managing an IT environment via a social network management operation. In various embodiments, the social network management operation enables an IT administrator to manage an IT environment using a social network analog. With the social network analog, IT administrators identify devices within the IT environment as friends. Additionally, in certain embodiments, events that occur in the devices which have been identified as friends by the IT administrators can be associated with an interest list. Additionally, in certain embodiments, the IT environment includes a plurality of spans of control, each of which is administered by different IT administrators.