# US 7,613,720 B2 · Selectively removing entities from a user interface displaying network entities > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 7,613,720 B2 - Document ID: US7613720B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 11/007,361 - Filed: 2004-12-07 - Published: 2006-06-08 - Granted: 2009-11-03 - Earliest claimed: 2004-12-07 - Assignees: International Business Machines Corporation - Inventors: Zhengwen He; David Lynn Merbach; William Roy Yonker - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US7613720B2 ## CPC - H04L 43/0817: by checking functioning - H04L 41/12: Discovery or management of network topologies - H04L 41/22: comprising specially adapted graphical user interfaces [GUI] - H04L: TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION (arrangements common to telegraphic and telephonic communication H04M) ## Abstract Provided are a method, system, and program for selectively removing entities from a user interface displaying network entities. A discovery database includes information on at least one network, and, for each network, information on entities in the network and a status of the entities. A user interface display is generated indicating the entities in one network that are available and unavailable. User selection is received of at least one entity in the network that is displayed as unavailable, wherein at least one displayed unavailable entity is not selected. User selection is received to remove the selected at least one entity and the selected at least one entity and any underlying entities within the selected entity are removed in response to the user selection to remove the selected at least one entity. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A method, comprising: maintaining a discovery database including information on at least one network, and, for each network, information on entities in the network and a status of the entities; generating a user interface display indicating the entities in one network that are available and unavailable; receiving user selection of at least one entity in the network that is displayed as unavailable, wherein at least one displayed unavailable entity is not selected; receiving user selection to remove the selected at least one entity; determining whether the selected at least one entity that was displayed as unavailable when selected to remove has changed from an unavailable state to an available state in response to receiving user selection to remove the selected at least one unavailable entity; removing from the discovery database information on the selected at least one entity and any underlying entities within the selected entity in response to the user selection to remove the selected at least one entity and in response to determining that the at least one selected entity has not changed to the available state, wherein the information is removed by: issuing a precommit transaction to delete the selected unavailable entity and all underlying entities within the selected entity from the discovery database; determining whether the selected entity and underlying entities have changed from an unavailable state to an available state in response to the precommit transaction; and issuing a commit transaction to commit the delete of the selected entity and the underlying entities in response to determining that the selected entity and underlying entities remain in the unavailable state; issuing an abort transaction to reverse the precommit transaction and the remove operation for the at least one selected entity in response to determining that the at least one selected entity has changed from the unavailable state to the available state. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising: removing from the user interface display the display of the selected at least one entity removed from the discovery database, wherein displayed unavailable entities not selected for removal remain displayed in the user interface after the removal of the selected entity. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein determining whether one selected entity has changed from the unavailable to the available state comprises determining whether at least one underlying entity within the selected unavailable entity has the available state. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising: determining the underlying entities of the selected entity in response to receiving the user selection to remove the selected entity; and displaying information indicating the determined underlying entities that will be deleted in response to receiving the user selection to remove the selected entity. ### Claim 5 (depends on 4) The method of claim 4, further comprising: displaying an option to continue with removing the selected entity or cancel the removal with the display of the information indicating the determined underlying entities, wherein the information on the selected entity and underlying entities is removed in response to receiving user selection to continue. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein one displayed entity is enabled to be selected to remove in response to determining that all the underlying entities in the displayed entity are unavailable. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the entity is a member of the set of network entities comprising a host, a switch, and a storage system, and wherein the underlying entities are members of a set of subcomponents of the network entity comprising adaptors, ports, and an operating system. ### Claim 8 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising: generating a display of representations of networks in the user interface, wherein a network is displayed as available if all the entities in the network are available and displayed as unavailable if all the entities in the network are unavailable; receiving user selection of one network representation that is unavailable, wherein at least one displayed unavailable network representation is not selected; receiving user selection to remove the selected at least one network representation; and removing from the discovery database information on the selected at least one network and any underlying entities within the selected network in response to the user selection to remove the selected at least one network. ### Claim 9 A system in communication with at least one network, wherein each network includes entities in the network, comprising: a processor; a computer readable storage medium; a discovery database including information on the at least one network, and for each network, information on the entities in the network and a status of the entities; a display device presenting a user interface display indicating the entities in one network that are available and unavailable; a program in the computer readable storage medium executed by the processor to perform operations, the operations comprising: receiving user selection of at least one entity in the network that is displayed as unavailable, wherein at least one displayed unavailable entity is not selected; receiving user selection to remove the selected at least one entity; determining whether the selected at least one entity that was displayed as unavailable when selected to remove has changed from an unavailable state to an available state in response to receiving user selection to remove the selected at least one unavailable entity; removing from the discovery database information on the selected at least one entity and any underlying entities within the selected entity in response to the user selection to remove the selected at least one entity and in response to determining that the at least one selected entity has not changed to the available state, wherein the information is removed by: issuing a precommit transaction to delete the selected unavailable entity and all underlying entities within the selected entity from the discovery database; determining whether the selected entity and underlying entities have changed from an unavailable state to an available state in response to the precommit transaction; and issuing a commit transaction to commit the delete of the selected entity and the underlying entities in response to determining that the selected entity and underlying entities remain in the unavailable state; issuing an abort transaction to reverse the precommit transaction and the remove operation for the at least one selected entity in response to determining that the at least one selected entity has changed from the unavailable state to the available state. ### Claim 10 (depends on 9) The system of claim 9, wherein the operations further comprise: removing from the user interface display the display of the selected at least one entity removed from the discovery database, wherein displayed unavailable entities not selected for removal remain displayed in the user interface after the removal of the selected entity. ### Claim 11 (depends on 9) The system of claim 9, wherein determining whether one selected entity has changed from the unavailable to the available state comprises determining whether at least one underlying entity within the selected unavailable entity has the available state. ### Claim 12 (depends on 9) The system of claim 9, wherein the operations further comprise: determining the underlying entities of the selected entity in response to receiving the user selection to remove the selected entity; and displaying information indicating the determined underlying entities that will be deleted in response to receiving the user selection to remove the selected entity. ### Claim 13 (depends on 12) The system of claim 12, wherein the operations further comprise: displaying an option to continue with removing the selected entity or cancel the removal with the display of the information indicating the determined underlying entities, wherein the information on the selected entity and underlying entities is removed in response to receiving user selection to continue. ### Claim 14 (depends on 9) The system of claim 9, wherein one displayed entity is enabled to be selected to remove in response to determining that all the underlying entities in the displayed entity are unavailable. ### Claim 15 (depends on 9) The system of claim 9, wherein the entity is a member of the set of network entities comprising a host, a switch, and a storage system, and wherein the underlying entities are members of a set of subcomponents of the network entity comprising adaptors, ports, and an operating system. ### Claim 16 (depends on 9) The system of claim 9, wherein the operations further comprise: generating a display of representations of networks in the user interface, wherein a network is displayed as available if all the entities in the network are available and displayed as unavailable if all the entities in the network are unavailable; receiving user selection of one network representation that is unavailable, wherein at least one displayed unavailable network representation is not selected; receiving user selection to remove the selected at least one network representation; and removing from the discovery database information on the selected at least one network and any underlying entities within the selected network in response to the user selection to remove the selected at least one network. ### Claim 17 An article of manufacture comprising a computer readable storage medium having code executed by a processor to communicate with at least one network, wherein each network includes entities in the network, and with a discovery database including information on at least one network, and, for each network, information on entities in the network and a status of the entities, wherein the code is further executed to perform operations, the operations comprising: maintaining the discovery database including information on at least one network, and, for each network, information on entities in the network and a status of the entities; generating a user interface display indicating the entities in one network that are available and unavailable; receiving user selection of at least one entity in the network that is displayed as unavailable, wherein at least one displayed unavailable entity is not selected; receiving user selection to remove the selected at least one entity; determining whether the selected at least one entity that was displayed as unavailable when selected to remove has changed from an unavailable state to an available state in response to receiving user selection to remove the selected at least one unavailable entity; removing from the discovery database information on the selected at least one entity and any underlying entities within the selected entity in response to the user selection to remove the selected at least one entity and in response to determining that the at least one selected entity has not changed to the available state, wherein the information is removed by: issuing a precommit transaction to delete the selected unavailable entity and all underlying entities within the selected entity from the discovery database; determining whether the selected entity and underlying entities have changed from an unavailable state to an available state in response to the precommit transaction; and issuing a commit transaction to commit the delete of the selected entity and the underlying entities in response to determining that the selected entity and underlying entities remain in the unavailable state; issuing an abort transaction to reverse the precommit transaction and the remove operation for the at least one selected entity in response to determining that the at least one selected entity has changed from the unavailable state to the available state. ### Claim 18 (depends on 17) The article of manufacture of claim 17, wherein the operations further comprise: removing from the user interface display the display of the selected at least one entity removed from the discovery database, wherein displayed unavailable entities not selected for removal remain displayed in the user interface after the removal of the selected entity. ### Claim 19 (depends on 17) The article of manufacture of claim 17, wherein determining whether one selected entity has changed from the unavailable to the available state comprises determining whether at least one underlying entity within the selected unavailable entity has the available state. ### Claim 20 (depends on 17) The article of manufacture of claim 17, further comprising: determining the underlying entities of the selected entity in response to receiving the user selection to remove the selected entity; and displaying information indicating the determined underlying entities that will be deleted in response to receiving the user selection to remove the selected entity. ### Claim 21 (depends on 20) The article of manufacture of claim 20, further comprising: displaying an option to continue with removing the selected entity or cancel the removal with the display of the information indicating the determined underlying entities, wherein the information on the selected entity and underlying entities is removed in response to receiving user selection to continue. ### Claim 22 (depends on 17) The article of manufacture of claim 17, wherein one displayed entity is enabled to be selected to remove in response to determining that all the underlying entities in the displayed entity are unavailable. ### Claim 23 (depends on 17) The article of manufacture of claim 17, wherein the entity is a member of the set of network entities comprising a host, a switch, and a storage system, and wherein the underlying entities are members of a set of subcomponents of the network entity comprising adaptors, ports, and an operating system. ### Claim 24 (depends on 17) The article of manufacture of claim 17, further comprising: generating a display of representations of networks in the user interface, wherein a network is displayed as available if all the entities in the network are available and displayed as unavailable if all the entities in the network are unavailable; receiving user selection of one network representation that is unavailable, wherein at least one displayed unavailable network representation is not selected; receiving user selection to remove the selected at least one network representation; and removing from the discovery database information on the selected at least one network and any underlying entities within the selected network in response to the user selection to remove the selected at least one network.