Unified Software Discovery Pattern for Enterprise Network Mapping
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Solution Overview
Problem
In complex enterprise networks, the proliferation of custom software applications leads to integration, streamlining, and operational challenges due to siloed systems, making it difficult to unify operations, meet regulatory requirements, and innovate efficiently.
Innovation Solution
The introduction of Application Platform as a Service (aPaaS) provides a remotely-hosted platform that automates workflows, supports standardized application components, and integrates with legacy systems, enabling efficient development and execution of model-view-controller applications, while facilitating metadata management and enterprise-grade security.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If multiple discovery patterns are used to discover different software applications, then each application can be discovered with application-specific accuracy, but the complexity of the discovery process increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple application-specific discovery patterns into a single unified discovery pattern that works for all software applications. This unified pattern leverages the software bus application's inherent awareness of connected applications to discover them collectively, eliminating the need for separate discovery patterns for each application while maintaining discovery accuracy.
Solution Approach 2:
The discovery pattern is designed to be universal, serving multiple functions by discovering different types of software applications through a single pattern. The pattern utilizes the software bus application's knowledge of its connected applications to perform discovery across the entire application ecosystem, making the discovery mechanism multi-functional and application-agnostic.
2Adaptability or versatility
If software applications use different communication protocols, then each application can optimize for its specific protocol, but integration and communication between applications becomes difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The software bus application serves as an intermediary between applications using different communication protocols. It translates and facilitates communication between applications with incompatible protocols, allowing each application to maintain its protocol optimization while enabling seamless integration through the bus application's translation layer.
3Device complexity
If a unified discovery mechanism is implemented for all software applications, then the discovery process complexity is reduced, but the ability to discover application-specific details may be compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The discovery mechanism leverages the software bus application's self-awareness of its connected applications. The bus application provides discovery information about its connected applications without requiring external probing or application-specific discovery techniques, enabling a unified discovery approach that maintains accuracy through the bus's inherent knowledge.
Data Source
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AI summary
A computing system includes a database and a discovery application. The discovery application obtains credentials for accessing a server hosting a software bus application which connects a plurality of applications within a managed network. The discovery application selects, based on a pattern corresponding to the software bus application, one or more files to access, transmits, to the server, instructions to access the one or more files, and receives therefrom data identifying a plurality of attributes of the software bus application. Based on this data, the discovery application transmits, to the server, instructions to identify communicative connections established between the plurality of software applications by way of the software bus application and receives therefrom data identifying the communicative connections. Based on (i) the plurality of attributes and (ii) the communicative connections, the discovery application generates a mapping that represents the communicative connections and stores the mapping in the database.