Systems, methods and computer programs for determining dependencies between logical components in a data processing system or network

A distributed data processing system comprising:

• a first data processing apparatus comprising a set of logical components to be monitored, and at least one monitoring agent for monitoring run-time activity data for the set of logical components and for sending the monitored run-time activity data to a correlation identifier on a second data processing apparatus, said monitoring comprising determining activity periods for said logical components;
• and
• a second data processing apparatus comprising:
• a data processing unit;
• a data storage unit;
• a correlation identifier
• for receiving, from the at least one monitoring agent, monitored run-time activity data of each of a first logical component and a second logical component of a data processing environment, said receiving comprising receiving a first activity period for said first logical component and a second activity period for said second logical component, wherein said receiving comprises receiving a first start time and a first end time for said first logical component and a second start time and a second end time for said second logical component, and
• for comparing the monitored run-time activity data of the first logical component with the monitored run-time activity data of the second logical component to identify positive correlations between the monitored run-time activity of the first and second logical components, said comparing comprising comparing said first activity period and said second activity period to identify correlations between said first logical component and said second logical component, wherein said comparing comprises determining whether said first start time is before said second start time and whether said first end time is after said second end time;
• and
• a dependency generator for responding to identification of a positive correlation between the monitored run-time activity of the first and second logical components by recording in the data storage unit the existence of a dependency relationship between the first and second logical components,
• wherein monitoring the run-time activity of said first logical component and said second logical component performed by said monitoring agent comprises generating events in response to completion of the processing of requests by each of said first logical component and said second logical components, and wherein the step of comparing the monitored run-time activity comprises:
• calculating an activity period for each of said first logical component and said second logical components in response to generated events indicating the completion of processing of a request by the respective one of said first logical component and said second logical components;
• and
• determining whether the activity period of said first logical component contains the activity period of the second component.