System and method for collecting and displaying information about many computer systems

A system for displaying data about physical conditions of a plurality of computer systems, the system comprising:

• the plurality of computer systems each including client-side processing circuitry for,
• identifying, by respective ones of the plurality of computer systems, one or more of a platform and a role assigned to the respective ones of the plurality of computer systems from among a plurality of platforms and a plurality of roles, respectively assigned to the respective ones of the plurality of computer systems, and a location of a first script from a configuration file stored on the respective ones of the plurality of computer systems,
• attempting to retrieve the first script locally based on the location indicated in the configuration file,
• retrieving the first script remotely based on a table corresponding different external locations of the first script with corresponding ones of the plurality of platforms and the plurality of roles assigned to the respective ones of the plurality of computer systems,
• executing, by respective ones of the plurality of computer systems, the first script, the first script instructing the respective ones of the plurality of computer systems to collect the data about the physical conditions and to transmit the data and the one or more of the platform and the role assigned to the respective ones of the plurality of computer systems as identified in the configuration file to a server,
• receiving, by the respective ones of the plurality of computer systems, an indication that the first script is obsolete,
• retrieving, by the respective ones of the plurality of computer systems, one of a plurality of second scripts from the server from the server based on the one or more of the platform and the role assigned to the respective ones of the plurality of computer systems such that each of the plurality of computer systems sharing the one or more of the platform and the role retrieve a same one of the plurality of second scripts,
• executing, by the respective ones of the plurality of computer systems, the retrieved second script, the retrieved second script instructing the respective ones of the plurality of computer systems to collect the data about the physical conditions and to transmit the data and the one or more of the platform and the role assigned to the respective ones of the plurality of computer systems to the server, and
• communicating, by the respective ones of the plurality of computer systems, the data to the server via a network along with the one or more of the platform and the role assigned to the respective ones of the plurality of computer systems,
• the server including server-side processing circuitry for aggregating and consolidating the data from the plurality of computer systems and displaying the aggregated and consolidated data.

A non-transitory computer readable medium having computer readable program code embodied therein configured to cause a computer system to display data about physical conditions of a plurality of computer systems by:

• identifying, by respective ones of the plurality of computer systems, one or more of a platform and a role assigned to the respective ones of the plurality of computer systems from among a plurality of platforms and a plurality of roles, respectively assigned to the respective ones of the plurality of computer systems, and a location of a first script from a configuration file stored on the respective ones of the plurality of computer systems;
• attempting to retrieve the first script locally based on the location indicated in the configuration file;
• retrieving the first script remotely based on a table corresponding different external locations of the first script with corresponding ones of the plurality of platforms and the plurality of roles assigned to the respective ones of the plurality of computer systems;
• executing, by respective ones of the plurality of computer systems, the first script, the first script instructing the respective ones of the plurality of computer systems to collect the data about the physical conditions and to transmit the data and one or more of the platform and the role assigned to the respective ones of the plurality of computer systems as identified in the configuration file to a server;
• receiving, by the respective ones of the plurality of computer systems, an indication that the first script is obsolete;
• retrieving, by the respective ones of the plurality of computer systems, one of a plurality of second scripts from the server from the server based on the one or more of the platform and the role assigned to the respective ones of the plurality of computer systems such that each of the plurality of computer systems sharing the one or more of the platform and the role retrieve a same one of the plurality of second scripts;
• executing, by the respective ones of the plurality of computer systems, the retrieved second script, the retrieved second script instructing the respective ones of the plurality of computer systems to collect the data about the physical conditions and to transmit the data and the one or more of the platform and the role assigned to the respective ones of the plurality of computer systems to the server;
• and
• communicating, by the respective ones of the plurality of computer systems, the data to the server via a network along with the one or more of the platform and the role assigned to the respective ones of the plurality of computer systems,
• wherein the server is configured to aggregate and consolidate the data from the plurality of computer systems, and display the aggregated and consolidated data.