Methods, systems and computer program products for monitoring changes to objects on a computer system using information models and baselines

A method for monitoring changes in objects on a computer system, the method comprising:

• providing a baseline snapshot of a plurality of objects having associated object types and attributes, the baseline snapshot being generated based on a baseline definition query, wherein the object types and the attributes are specified using terms defined by a uniform information model;
• receiving a request for a baseline report for the plurality of objects at a baseline provider module (BP);
• passing a request for updated information regarding the attributes of the plurality of objects from the BP to an information provider module (IP) using the terms defined by the uniform information model;
• converting the terms defined by the uniform information model to terms used by a plurality of data collectors to determine the attributes, wherein the respective data collectors determine attributes for corresponding ones of the object types;
• requesting the updated information from the data collectors using the terms used by the respective data collectors;
• receiving the updated information from the data collectors at the IP using the terms used by the respective data collectors;
• converting the terms used by the respective data collectors to the terms defined by the uniform information model;
• returning the updated information from the IP to the BP using the terms defined by the uniform information model;
• and
• comparing the baseline snapshot to the obtained updated information to determine if any of the objects have changed.

A computer program product for monitoring changes in objects on a computer system, the computer program product comprising:

• a computer-readable storage medium having computer-readable program code embodied in said medium, said computer-readable program code comprising:
• computer-readable program code that receives a request to generate a baseline snapshot of a plurality of objects having associated object types, including at least one object having an object type not managed by a file system of the computer system, the request including an identification of a baseline definition query that identifies object types to be included in the generated baseline snapshot and their associated attributes, wherein the identification of object types and their associated attributes are specified using terms defined by the uniform information model;
• computer-readable program code that converts the terms defined by the uniform information model to terms used by respective ones of a plurality of data collectors associated with the identified object types and their associated attributes;
• computer-readable program code that requests information from the data collectors using the terms used by the respective data collectors;
• computer-readable program code that receives the information from the data collectors using the terms used by the respective data collectors;
• computer-readable program code that converts the terms used by the respective data collectors to the terms defined by the uniform information model;
• and
• computer-readable program code that returns the information to a requestor of the baseline snapshot using the terms defined by the uniform information model.

A method for monitoring changes in objects on a computer system, the method comprising:

• receiving a request to generate a baseline snapshot of a plurality of objects having associated object types, including at least one object having an object type not managed by a file system of the computer system;
• obtaining current information, responsive to the request to generate a baseline snapshot, from a plurality of data collectors to determine at least one attribute of each of the objects to define the baseline snapshot;
• receiving a request for a baseline report for the objects;
• obtaining updated information, responsive to the request for a baseline report, from the plurality of data collectors to update the at least one attribute of each of the objects;
• and
• comparing the baseline snapshot to the obtained updated information to determine if any of the objects have changed.