Method and system for monitoring a computer system

A system for monitoring and changing the operation of a computer system automatically, which computer system comprises at least one local area network including a plurality of computers and a server, wherein said monitoring and changing includes error processing, performance processing and utilisation processing, wherein a plurality of different programs are executable in the computer system and any particular computer can be executing a different program to one or more of the other computers at any particular point in time, and wherein the monitoring and changing system includes:

• at least one event report generator in each said program of the plurality and whose execution is to be monitored, an event corresponding to the occurrence of a predetermined situation;
• an event processing machine included in the server for processing events which are reported by the event report generators in the monitored programs during execution thereof in the computer system, depending on a respective rule base which is included in the event processing machine and associates certain events with predetermined actions, for determining the respective action associated with each reported event, all events occurring in the computer system computers being reportable to the event processing machine in the server;
• equipment controlled by the event processing machine and adapted to perform actions determined by the event processing machine
• and an interface for transferring information about events reported by the event report generators in the monitored programs to the event processing machine, and for transmitting messages, regarding the respective actions associated with the events and determined by the rule base, from the event processing machine, optionally via and for processing in a further event processing machine of the computer system, to at least one of the group consisting of the respective monitored program of the plurality whose event report generator had reported the associated event and a program of the plurality other than the respective monitored program, an action message to the respective monitored program serving to change the operation of the respective monitored program and correspondingly to change the operation of the computer system, and an action message to the other program serving to start it automatically and correspondingly to change the operation of the computer system.