Automatic grouping of similar applications and devices on a network map

A method comprising:

• probing, by a computing system, a managed network to obtain information related to applications operating on a plurality of computing devices on the managed network, network connectivity of the plurality of computing devices, and representations of unqualified domain names respectively associated with the plurality of computing devices;
• obtaining, by the computing system, two or more regular expressions, wherein each regular expression of the two or more regular expressions comprises a respective character string of one or more meta-characters that indicate a respective characteristic of a matching unqualified domain name and one or more regular characters that are present within the matching unqualified domain name;
• determining, by the computing system, an order in which to apply the two or more regular expressions to the unqualified domain names based on a respective type of each application operating on the plurality of computing devices;
• applying, by the computing system, the two or more regular expressions to the unqualified domain names based on the order, wherein applying each regular expression of the two or more regular expression comprise determining a respective subset of the plurality of computing devices in the managed network on which a particular application of the applications is operating and for which the respectively associated unqualified domain names match the regular expression;
• generating, by the computing system, a map of the managed network, wherein the applications operating on the plurality of computing devices are represented as individual nodes in the map, wherein edges between the individual nodes are defined based on the network connectivity of the plurality of computing devices, and wherein each respective subset of the plurality of computing devices is represented as a respective grouped node instead of as individual nodes;
• and
• providing, by the computing system and for display on a client device, a representation of the map.

An article of manufacture including a non-transitory computer-readable medium, having stored thereon program instructions that, upon execution by a computing system, cause the computing system to perform operations comprising:

• probing a managed network to obtain information related to applications operating on a plurality of computing devices on the managed network, network connectivity of the plurality of computing devices, and representations of unqualified domain names respectively associated with the plurality of computing devices;
• obtaining two or more regular expressions, wherein each regular expression of the two or more regular expressions comprises a respective character string of one or more meta-characters that indicate a respective characteristic of a matching unqualified domain name and one or more regular characters that are present within the matching unqualified domain name;
• determining, by the computing system, an order in which to apply the two or more regular expressions to the unqualified domain names based on a respective type of each application operating on the plurality of computing devices;
• applying, by the computing system, the two or more regular expressions to the unqualified domain names based on the order, wherein applying each regular expression of the two or more regular expression comprise determining a respective subset of the plurality of computing devices in the managed network on which a particular application of the applications is operating and for which the respectively associated unqualified domain names match the regular expression;
• generating a map of the managed network, wherein the applications operating on the plurality of computing devices are represented as individual nodes in the map, wherein edges between the individual nodes are defined based on the network connectivity of the plurality of computing devices, and wherein each respective subset of the plurality of computing devices is represented as a respective grouped node instead of as individual nodes;
• and
• providing, for display on a client device, a representation of the map.