UNITED STATES PATENT APPLICATION
FOR
AUTOMATIC CONFIGURATION OF TRANSACTION-BASED PERFORMANCE MODELS
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION(S)
[0001] This application claims the benefit of U S Provisional Application
No 60/598,568, filed August 2, 2004, titled "SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR
PROCESSING PERFORMANCE MODELS TO REFLECT ACTUAL COMPUTER SYSTEM
DEPLOYMENT SCENARIOS", the content of which is hereby incorporated by
reference
[0002] This application is related to U S Patent Application, No
09/632,521, titled "A PERFORMANCE TECHNOLOGY INFRASTRUCTURE FOR
MODELING THE PERFORMANCE OF COMPUTER SYSTEMS", the content of which is
hereby incorporated by reference
[0003] This application is related to U S Patent Application, No
10/053,733, titled "LATE BINDING OF RESOURCE ALLOCATION IN A
PERFORMANCE SIMULATION INFRASTRUCTURE", the content of which is hereby
incorporated by reference
[0004] This application is related to U S Patent Application, No
10/053,731, titled "EVALUATING HARWARE MODELS HAVING RESOURCE
CONTENTION", the content of which is hereby incorporated by reference
[0005] This application is related to U S Patent Application, No
10/304,601, titled "ACTION BASED SERVICES IN A PERFORMANCE SIMULATION INFRASTRUCTURE", the content of which is hereby incorporated by reference
BACKGROUND
[0006] Computer system infrastructure has become one of the most
important assets for many businesses This is especially true for businesses
that rely heavily on network-based services To ensure smooth and reliable
operations, substantial amount of resources are invested to acquire and
maintain the computer system infrastructure Typically, each sub-system of
the computer system infrastructure is monitored by a specialized component
for that sub-system, such as a performance counter The data generated by
the specialized component may be analyzed by an administrator with expertise
in that sub-system to ensure that the sub-system is running smoothly
[0007] A successful business often has to improve and expand its
capabilities to keep up with customers' demands Ideally, the computer system infrastructure of such a business must be able to constantly adapt to this changing business environment In reality, it takes a great deal of work and expertise to be able to analyze and assess the performance of an existing infrastructure For example, if a business expects an increase of certain types of transactions, performance planning is often necessary to determine how to extend the performance of the existing infrastructure to manage this increase
[0008] One way to execute performance planning is to consult an analyst
Although workload data may be available for each sub-system, substantial
knowledge of each system and a great deal of work are required for the analyst
to be able to predict which components would need to be added or
reconfigured to increase the performance of the existing infrastructure
Because of the considerable requirement for expertise and effort, hiring an
analyst to carry out performance planning is typically an expensive proposition
[0009] Another way to execute performance planning is to use an available
analytical tool to predict the requirements for the workload increase However, many of the conventional tools available today are programs that simply extrapolate from historical data and are not very accurate or flexible Also, subjective decisions will still have to be made to choose the components that will deliver the predicted requirements
[0010] A user-friendly tool that is capable of accurately carrying out
performance planning continues to elude those skilled in the art
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0011] These and other features and advantages of the present invention
will be better understood from the following detailed description read in light
of the accompanying drawings, wherein
[0012] FIG 1 shows an example system for automatically configuring a
transaction-based performance model
[0013] FIG 2 shows example components of the automated modeling
module illustrated in FIG 1
[0014] FIG 3 shows an example process for simulating the performance of
an infrastructure
[001 5] FIG 4 shows an example process for automatically configuring a
model of an infrastructure
[0016] FIG 5 shows an example process for simulating an infrastructure
using an automatically configured model
[0017] FIG 6 shows an exemplary computer device for implementing the
described systems and methods
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0018] The systems, methods, and data structure described herein relates
to automatic configuration of transaction-based performance models Models
of an infrastructure are created and automatically configured using data
provided by existing management tools that are designed to monitor the
infrastructure These automatically configured models may be used to simulate
the performance of the infrastructure in the current configuration or other
potential configurations
[0019] The automated performance model configuration system described
below enables performance modeling to be efficiently and accurately executed
This system allows users to quickly and cost-effectively perform various types
of analysis For example, the described system may be used to execute a
performance analysis for a current infrastructure, which includes both hardware
and software components The system may import data from the various
configuration databases to represent the latest or a past deployment of the
information technology (IT) infrastructure This model configuration may serve
as the baseline for analyzing the performance of the system The types of
analysis may include capacity planning, bottleneck analysis, or the like
Capacity planning includes the process of predicting the future usage
requirements of a system and ensuring that the system has sufficient capacity
to meet those requirements Bottleneck analysis includes the process of
analyzing an existing system to determine which components in the system are
operating closest to maximum capacity These are typically the components
that will need to be replaced first if the capacity of the overall system is to be
increased
[0020] The described system may also be used for executing a what-if
analysis Using the baseline models, a user may predict the performance of the
infrastructure with one or more changes to the configurations Examples of
what-if scenarios include an increase in workload, changes to hardware and/or
software configuration parameters, or the like
[0021] The described system may further be used for automated capacity
reporting For example, a user may define a specific time interval for the
system to produce automatic capacity planning reports When this time interval
elapses, the system imports data for the last reporting period and automatically
configures the models The system then uses the configured models to
execute a simulation and produces reports for the future capacity of the
system The system may raise an alarm if the capacity of the system will not be
sufficient for the next reporting period
[0022] The described system may be used for operational troubleshooting
For example, an IT administrator may be notified by an operational
management application that a performance threshold has been exceeded The
administrator may use the described system to represent the current
configuration of the system The administrator may then execute a simulation
to identify whether the performance alarm is the cause of a capacity issue
Particularly, the administrator may determine whether the performance alarm is
caused by an inherent capacity limitation of the system or by other factors,
such as an additional application being run on the system by other users
[0023] FIG 1 shows an example system for automatically configuring a
transaction-based performance model In one implementation, the example
system may include automated model configuration module 100 and simulation
module 130, which are described as separate modules in FIG 1 for illustrative
purposes In actual implementation, automated model configuration module
100 and simulation module 130 may be combined into a single component
The example system is configured to model infrastructure 110 and to emulate
events and transactions for simulating the performance of infrastructure 110 in
various configurations
[0024] Infrastructure 110 is a system of devices connected by one or more
networks Infrastructure 110 may be used by a business entity to provide
network-based services to employees, customers, vendors, partners, or the
like As shown in FIG 1, infrastructure 110 may include various types of
devices, such as servers 111, storage 112, routers and switches 113, load
balancers 114, or the like Each of the devices 111-114 may also include one
or more logical components, such as applications, operating system, or other
types of software
[0025] Management module 120 is configured to manage infrastructure
110 Management module may include any hardware or software component
that gathers and processes data associated with infrastructure 110, such as
change and configuration management (CCM) applications or operations
management (OM) applications For example, management module 120 may
include server management tools developed by MICROSOFT*, such as
MICROSOFT* Operation Manager (MOM), System Management Server (SMS),
System Center suite of products, or the like Typically, the data provided by
management module is used for managing and monitoring infrastructure 110
For example, a system administrator may use the data provided by
management module 120 to maintain system performance on a regular basis
In this example, the data provided by management module is also used to
automatically create models for simulation
[0026] Management module 120 is configured to provide various kinds of
data associated with infrastructure 110 For example, management module
120 may be configured to provide constant inputs, such as a list of application
components from the logical topology of infrastructure 110, transaction
workflows, a list of parameter names from the user workload, action costs, or
the like Management module 120 may be configured to provide configurable
inputs, such as the physical topology of infrastructure 110, logical mapping of
application components onto physical hardware from the logical topology,
values of parameters from the user workload, or the like
[0027] Management module 120 may also include discovery applications,
which are written specifically to return information about the configuration of a
particular distributed server application For example, discovery applications
may include WmRoute for MICROSOFT* Exchange Server, WMI event consumers
for MICROSOFT* WINDOWS* Server, or the like These discovery applications
may be considered as specialized versions of CCM/OM for a particular
application However, these applications are typically run on demand, rather
than as a CCM/OM service Discovery applications may be used to obtain the
physical topology, logical mapping, and parameter values needed to configure a
performance model in a similar way to that described for CCM/OM databases
The CCM/OM databases may be used with a translation step customized for
each discovery application The data may be returned directly, rather than
being extracted from a database However, this method may involve extra
delay while the discovery application is executed
[0028] Data store 123 is configured to store data provided by
management module 120 The data may be organized in any kind of data
structure, such as one or more operational databases, data warehouse, or the
like Data store 123 may include data related to the physical and logical
topology of infrastructure 110 Data store 123 may also include data related to
workload, transactional workflow, or action costs Such data may be embodied
in the form of traces produced by event tracing techniques, such as Event
Tracing for WINDOWS* (ETW) or Microsoft SQL Traces
[0029] Automated model configuration module 100 is configured to
obtain information about infrastructure 110 and to automatically create and
configure models 103 of each components of infrastructure 110 for simulation
Models 103 are served as inputs to simulation module 130
[0030] Automated model configuration module 100 may interact with
infrastructure 110 and perform network discovery to retrieve the data for
constructing the models However, automated model configuration module
100 is typically configured to obtain the data from operational databases and
data warehouse that store information gathered by administrative components
for infrastructure 110 For example, automated model configuration module
100 may retrieve the data from data store 123, which contains data provided by
management module 120
[0031] Automated model configuration module 100 may provide any type
of models for inputting to simulation module 130 In one embodiment,
automated model configuration generates models for infrastructure 110
relating to physical topology, logical topology, workload, transaction workflows,
and action costs
[0032] Data for modeling the physical topology of infrastructure 110 may
include a list of the hardware being simulated, including the capabilities of each
component, and how the components are interconnected The level of detail is
normally chosen to match the level on which performance data can easily be
obtained For example, the MICROSOFT* WINDOWS* operating system may use
performance counters to express performance data These counters are
typically enumerated down to the level of CPUs, network interface cards, and
disk drives Automated model configuration module 100 may model such a
system by representing the system as individual CPUs, network interface cards,
and disk drives in the physical topology description Each component type may
have a matching hardware model that is used to calculate the time taken for
events on that component Thus, the CPU component type is represented by
the CPU hardware model, which calculates the time taken for CPU actions, such
as computation
[0033] Automated model configuration module 100 may use a hierarchical
Extensible Markup Language (XML) format to encode hardware information,
representing servers as containers for the devices that the servers physically
contain A component may be described with a template, which may encode
the capabilities of that component For example, a "PHI Xeon 700MHz" template
encodes the performance and capabilities of an Intel PHI Xeon CPU running at a
clock speed of 700 MHz After the components have been named and
described in this hierarchical fashion, the physical topology description may
also include the network links between components The physical topology
description may be expressed as a list of pairs of component names, tagged
with the properties of the corresponding network Where more than one
network interface card (NIQ is present in a server, the particular NIC being used may also be specified Below is an example code related to physical topology modeling
[0034] (Formula Removed)

[0035] Data modeling for the logical topology of infrastructure 110 may
include a list of the software components (or services) of the application being modeled, and a description of how components are mapped onto the hardware described in the physical topology The list of software components may be supplied as part of the application model For example, an application model of an e-commerce web site might include one application component representing a web server, such as MICROSOFT* Internet Information Services, and another application component representing a database server, such as MICROSOFT* SQL Server The description of each application component may include the hardware actions that the application component requires in order to run
[0036] Logical-to-physical mapping of application components onto
hardware may be expressed using a list of the servers (described in the physical
topology) that run each application component, along with a description of how load balancing is performed across the servers Note that this is not necessarily a one-to-one mapping A single application component may be spread across multiple servers, and a single server may host several application components Below is an example code related to logical topology modeling
[0037] (Formula Removed)
[0038] Data for modeling the workload of infrastructure 110 may include a
list of name/value pairs, defining numeric parameters that affect the performance of the system being simulated For example, the e-commerce web site described above might include parameters for the number of concurrent users, the frequency with which they perform different transactions, etc Below is an example code related to workload modeling
[0039] (Formula Removed)
[0040] fn one implementation, automated model configuration module
100 is configured to automatically configure the models of infrastructure 110 with existing data in data store 123 provided by management module 120 For example, automated model configuration module 100 may automatically configure the physical topology, the logical mapping of application components onto physical hardware from the logical topology, and the values of parameters from the workload Typically, automated model configuration module 100 may initially create models as templates that describe the hardware or software in general terms Automated model configuration module 100 then configures the models to reflect the specific instances of the items being modeled, such as how the hardware models are connected, how the software models are configured or used, or the like
[0041] Simulation module 130 is configured to simulate actions performed
by infrastructure 110 using models generated and configured by automated model configuration module 100 Simulation module 130 may include an event-based simulation engine that simulates the events of infrastructure 110 For example, the events may include actions of software components The events are generated according to user load and are then executed by the
underlying hardware By calculating the time taken for each event and
accounting for the dependencies between events, aspects of the performance of
the hardware and software being modeled are simulated
[0042] The system described above in conjunction with FIG 1 may be used
on any IT infrastructure For example, a typical enterprise IT environment has
multiple geo-scaled datacenters, with hundreds of servers organized in
complex networks It is often difficult for a user to manually capture the
configuration of such an environment Typically, users are required to only
model a small subset of their environment Even in this situation, the modeling
process is labor-intensive The described system makes performance modeling
for event-based simulation available to a wide user base The system
automatically configures performance models by utilizing existing information
that is available from enterprise management software
[0043] By automating and simplifying configuration of models, the
_ described system enables users to execute performance planning in a variety of
contexts For example, by enabling a user to quickly configure models to
represent the current deployment, the system allows the user to create weekly
or daily capacity reports, even in an environment with rapid change Frequent
capacity reporting allows an IT professional to proactively manage an
infrastructure, such as anticipating and correcting performance problems
before they occur
[0044] The system described above also enables a user to easily model a
larger fraction of an organization to analyze a wider range of performance
factors For example, a mail server deployment may affect multiple
datacenters If the relevant configuration data is available, models of the
existing infrastructure with the mail server can be automatically configured and
the models can be used to predict the latency of transactions end to end, e g
determining the latency of sending an email from an Asia office to an American
headquarters Another example benefit of such analysis is calculating the
utilization due to mail traffic of the Asian/American WAN link
[0045] Performance analysis using the described system can also be used
to troubleshoot the operations of a datacenter For example, operations
management software, such as MOM, may issue an alert about slow response
times on a mail server An IT Professional can use the system to automatically
configure a model representing the current state of the system, simulate the
expected performance, and determine if the problem is due to capacity issues
or to some other cause
[0046] FIG 2 shows example components of the automated modeling
module 100 illustrated in FIG 1 As shown FIG 2, automated modeling module
100 may include physical topology modeling module 201, logical topology
modeling module 202, and events analysis module 203 Modules 201-203 are
shown only for illustrative purposes In actual implementation, modules 201 -
203 are typically integrated into one component
[0047] Physical topology module 201 is configured to model the physical
topology of an infrastructure The physical topology may be derived from data
directly retrieved from a CCM application, an OM application, or a discovery
application For example, data may be retrieved from management module 120
in FIG 1 Typically, the physical topology is derived using data retrieved from
an operational database or data warehouse of the management module 120
[0048] The retrieved data typically contains the information for
construction a model of the infrastructure, such as a list of servers and the
hardware components that they contain, and the physical topology of the
network (e g the interconnections between servers) Physical topology module
201 may also be configured to convert the retrieved data to a format for
creating models that are usable in a simulation For example, the retrieved
data may be converted to an XML format Physical topology module 201 may
also be configured to filter out extraneous information For example, the
retrieved data may contain memory size of components of the infrastructure,
even through memory size is typically not directly modeled for simulation
Physical topology module 201 may further be configured to perform "semantic
expansion" of the retrieved data For example, physical topology module 201
may convert the name of a disk-drive, which may be expressed as a simple
string, into an appropriate template with values for disk size, access time,
rotational speed, or the like Physical topology module 201 may be configured
to convert data in various types of formats from different discovery
applications
[0049] Logical topology modeling module 202 is configured to map
software components onto physical hardware models derived from data
provided by management module 120 Data from both CCM applications and
OM applications may be used For example, a CCM application may record the
simple presence or absence of MICROSOFT* Exchange Server, even though the
Exchange Server may have one of several distinct roles in an Exchange system
By contrast, an OM application that is being used to monitor that Exchange
Server may also include full configuration information, such as the role of the
Exchange Server, which in turn can be used to declare the application
component to which a performance model of Exchange corresponds
Logical topology modeling module 202 may be configured to convert data of
the underlying format to a format that is usable for simulation models and to
filter out unneeded information, such as the presence of any application that is
not being modeled
[0050] Workload modeling module 203 is configured to derive the values
of parameters from the user workload Typically, the values are derived from
data retrieved from management module 120 The retrieved data may contain
current or historical information about the workload being experienced by one
or more applications being monitored Typical performance counters may
include the number of concurrent users, the numbers of different transaction
types being requested, or the like A translation step may be performed to
convert from the underlying format of the retrieved data into a format usable in
a model for simulation and to perform mathematical conversions where
necessary For example, an OM database might record the individual number
of transactions of different types that were requested over a period of an hour,
whereas the model may express this same information as a total number of
transactions in an hour, plus the percentage of these transactions that are of
each of the different types
[0051] FIG 3 shows an example process 300 for simulating the
performance of an infrastructure At block 301, topology and performance
data associated with an infrastructure is identified The identified data may be
provided by one or more management applications of the infrastructure The
data may be provided directly by a management application or through an
operational database or a data warehouse
[0052] At block 303, the identified data is processed to obtain inputs for
the model of the infrastructure For example, topology data may be converted
to a format that is usable by a modeling module or a simulation module, such
as a XML format Performance data may be converted to a form that is readily
used to represent workload
[0053] At block 305, a model of the infrastructure is automatically
configured using the modeling inputs An example process for automatically
configuring a model of an infrastructure will be discussed in FIG 4 Briefly
stated, the model is configured using existing data from the management
applications, such as data related to physical topology, logical topology,
workload, transaction workflow, action costs, or the like
[0054] At block 307, one or more simulations are executed based on the
models The simulations are executed based on emulating events and actions
with the models of the physical and logical components of the infrastructure
Simulations may be performed on the current configuration or potential
configurations of the infrastructure An example process for simulating an
infrastructure using automatically configured models will be discussed in FIG
5 At block 309, the results of the simulation are output
[0055] FIG 4 shows an example process 400 for automatically configuring
a model of an infrastructure Process 400 may be implemented by the
automated model configuration module 100 shown in FJG 1 and 2 At block
401, hardware models are configured using physical topology data provided by
a management application of the infrastructure The physical topology data
may include hardware configurations for devices of the infrastructure and the
components of those devices Physical topology data may also include
information regarding how the devices are connected
[0056] At block 403, software models are determined from logical
topology data provided by the management application of the infrastructure
The logical topology data may include information about the software
components on devices of the infrastructure and the configuration of the
software components At block 405, the software models are mapped to the
hardware models
[0057] At block 407, workload data, transactional workflow data and
action costs data are determined from the management application of the
infrastructure In particular, the data may define events and actions that are
performed by the hardware and software components and the time and
workload associated with these events and actions At block 409, the data are
integrated into the models For example, the software and hardware models
may be configured to reflect the performance of the models when performing
the defined events and actions
[0058] FIG 5 shows an example process 500 for simulating an
infrastructure using an automatically configured model Process 500 may be
implemented by the simulation module 130 shown in FIG 1 At block 501,
instructions to perform a simulation are received The instructions may include
information related to how the simulation is to be executed For example, the
instructions may specify that the simulation is to be performed using the
existing configuration of the infrastructure or a modified configuration The
instructions may specify the workload of the simulation, such as using the
current workload of the infrastructure or a different workload for one or more
components of the infrastructure
[0059] At block 503, the model of an existing infrastructure is determined
Typically, the model is provided by a modeling module and is automatically
configured to reflect the current state of the infrastructure At decision block
505, a determination is made whether to change the configurations of the
infrastructure model A simulation of the infrastructure with the changed
configurations may be performed to predict the performance impact before the
changes are actually implemented If there are no configuration changes,
process 500 moves to block 513
[0060] Returning to decision block 505, if the determination is made to
change the configurations, process 500 moves to block 507 where changes to
the infrastructure are identified The changes may be related to any aspects of
the infrastructure, such as physical topology, logical topology, or performance
parameters At block 509, the model is modified in accordance with the
identified changes At block 513, the simulation is performed using the
modified model
[0061] FIG 6 shows an exemplary computer device 600 for implementing
the described systems and methods In its most basic configuration,
computing device 600 typically includes at least one central processing unit
(CPU) 605 and memory 610
[0062] Depending on the exact configuration and type of computing
device, memory 610 may be volatile (such as RAM), non-volatile (such as ROM,
flash memory, etc) or some combination of the two Additionally, computing
device 600 may also have additional features/functionality For example,
computing device 600 may include multiple CPU's The described methods
may be executed in any manner by any processing unit in computing device
600 For example, the described process may be executed by both multiple
CPU's in parallel
[0063] Computing device 600 may also include additional storage
(removable and/or non-removable) including, but not limited to, magnetic or
optical disks or tape Such additional storage is illustrated in Fig 6 by storage
615 Computer storage media includes volatile and nonvolatile, removable and
non-removable media implemented in any method or technology for storage of
information such as computer readable instructions, data structures, program
modules or other data Memory 610 and storage 615 are all examples of
computer storage media Computer storage media includes, but is not limited to, RAM, ROM, EEPROM, flash memory or other memory technology, CD-ROM, digital versatile disks (DVD) or other optical storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium which can be used to store the desired information and which can accessed by computing device 600 Any such computer storage media may be part of computing device 600
[0064] Computing device 600 may also contain communications device(s) 640 that allow the device to communicate with other devices Communications device(s) 640 is an example of communication media Communication media typically embodies computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules or other data in a modulated data signal such as a carrier wave or other transport mechanism and includes any information delivery media The term "modulated data signal" means a signal that has one or more of its characteristics set or changed in such a manner as to encode information in the signal By way of example, and not limitation, communication media includes wired media such as a wired network or direct-wired connection, and wireless media such as acoustic, RF, infrared and other wireless media The term computer-readable media as used herein includes both computer storage media and communication media The described methods may be encoded in any computer-readable media in any form, such as data, computer-executable instructions, and the like
[0065] Computing device 600 may also have input device(s) 635 such as
keyboard, mouse, pen, voice input device, touch input device, etc Output device(s) 630 such as a display, speakers, printer, etc may also be included All these devices are well know in the art and need not be discussed at length [0066] While the preferred embodiment of the invention has been illustrated and described, it will be appreciated that various changes can be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention

CLAIM(S)
1) A computer-implemented method for modeling an infrastructure containing multiple devices, the infrastructure being monitored by a management application, the computer-implemented method comprising
retrieving data associated with the infrastructure from the management application,
converting the data into a format usable for an event-based simulation,
generating a model of the infrastructure,
automatically configuring the model using the converted data, and
providing the model to a simulation engine
2) The computer-implemented method as recited in claim 1, further
comprising
identifying device models corresponding to the devices in the infrastructure, and
automatically mapping software models to the generated device models
3) The computer-implemented method as recited in claim 3/, further
comprising
determining event-based data provided by the management application, automatically configured the mapped device models with the event-based data, and
incorporating the configured device models into the model of the infrastructure
4) The computer-implemented method as recited in claim 1, wherein the generated model represents a current state of the infrastructure
5) The computer-implemented method as recited in claim 4, further comprising
identifying changes to the state of the infrastructure, and automatically modifying the model in accordance to the identified changes
6) The computer-implemented method as recited in claim 5, wherein the changes include a modification of at least one of a device, a software component, or a workload
7) The computer-implemented method as recited in claim 1, wherein the management application includes at least one of a change and configuration management (CCM) application, an operations management (OM) application, or a system or network discovery application
8) The computer-implemented method as recited in claim 1, wherein the data associated with the infrastructure is related to at least one of physical topology, logical topology, workload, transactional workflow, or action costs
9) The computer-implemented method as recited in claim 1, wherein the data associated with the infrastructure includes traces of events
10) The computer-implemented method as recited in claim 1, wherein retrieving the data associated with the infrastructure includes retrieving the data from a data store that contains data provided by the management application
11) The computer-implemented method as recited in claim 5, wherein data in the data store is included in at least one of an operational database or a data warehouse
12) One or more computer-readable media encoded with computer-executable instructions for performing the computer-implemented method recited in claim 1
13) An apparatus configured to perform the computer-implemented method as recited in claim 1
14) A computer-implemented method for accessing performance of an infrastructure, the computer-implemented method comprising
retrieving configuration and performance data associated with the infrastructure, the configuration and performance data being provided by a management application configured to monitor the infrastructure,
identifying a model of the infrastructure from the configuration and performance data,
automatically configuring the model using the configuration and performance data, and
simulating the performance of the infrastructure using the model
15) The computer-implemented method of claim 14, further
comprising
identifying a change to the infrastructure,
automatically reconfigured the model to represent the change to the infrastructure, and
simulating the performance of the infrastructure using the reconfigured model
16) The computer-implemented method of claim 15, wherein the
change includes a modification to at least one of a device, a software
component, or a workload
17) A system comprising
a management module configured to provide data associated with the configuration and the performance of an infrastructure, and
a modeling module configured to generate an event-based model of the infrastructure using the data provided by the management module and to automatically configure the event-based model using the data
18) The system as recited in claim 17, wherein the modeling module is further configured to identify physical topology data provided by the management module, to create models of devices in the infrastructure based, at least in part, on the physical topology data, and to create the event-based model of the infrastructure based, at least in part, on the device models
19) The system as recited in claim 18, wherein the modeling module is further configured to identify logical topology data provided by the management module and to automatically map models of software components in the infrastructure to the device models based, at least in part, on the logical topology data
20) The system as recited in claim 19, wherein the modeling module is further configured to identify event-based data associated with the infrastructure and to automatically configure the models with the event-based data
21) The system as recited in claim 20, wherein the event-based data is produced by at least one of an event tracing event tracing technique, Event Tracing for WINDOWS* (ETW) or Microsoft SQL Traces
22) The system as recited in claim 17, further comprising a data store configured to receive data generated by the management module and to enable the modeling module to access the received data
23) The system as recited in claim 22, wherein the received data is associated with aspects of the infrastructure that include at least one of physical topology, logical topology, workload, transactional workflow, or action costs
24) The system as recited in claim 22, wherein the received data is contained in at least one of an operational database or a data warehouse
25) The system as recited in claim 17, wherein the infrastructure includes at least one of servers, storage, routers, switches, or load balancers
26) The system as recited in claim 25, wherein the servers are configured with at least one of an application or an operating system
27) The system as recited in claim 17, wherein the management module includes at least one of MICROSOFT® Operation Manager (MOM), System Management Server (SMS), System Center, WinRoute for MICROSOFT® Exchange Server, or WMI event consumers for MICROSOFT® WINDOWS® Server
28) A system comprising
means for retrieving data associated with an infrastructure from a management application configured to monitor the infrastructure, means for identifying a model of the infrastructure, means for automatically configuring the model using the data, and means for executing an event-based simulation using the model
29) The system as recited in claim 28, further comprising
means for performing at least one of a bottleneck analysis, a what-if
analysis, operational troubleshooting, or automated capacity reporting
30) The system as recited in claim 28, further comprising means for creating models of devices in the infrastructure
31) The system as recited in claim 28, further comprising means for mapping software component models to the device models