Tool for visualizing configuration and status of a network appliance

A method of providing management of network services provided by an intermediary device, the method comprising:

• (a) displaying, by a visualizer tool of an intermediary device, a graphical representation of a configuration and an operational status of one or more virtual servers executing on the intermediary device and a plurality of services, providing one or more applications to a plurality of clients, managed by the one or more virtual servers, the intermediary device managing network traffic between a plurality of clients and a plurality of servers;
• (b) providing, by the visualizer tool, in the graphical representation a first service container comprising an identification of a common set of configuration properties of one or more services;
• (c) receiving, by the visualizer tool via the user interface, an indication of a change to one or more configuration properties of a service of the first service container;
• (d) assigning, by the visualizer, the service to a second service container based on the change;
• and
• (e) displaying, by the visualizer tool, in the graphical representation a configuration and an operational status of services in the second service container.

A method of providing management of network services provided by an intermediary device, the method comprising:

• (a) invoking a visualizer tool for an intermediary device that manages network traffic between a plurality of clients and a plurality of servers, the intermediary device executing one or more applications managing a plurality of services executing on the plurality of servers, the plurality of services providing one or more applications to the plurality of clients;
• (b) identifying, by a visualizer tool, a configuration and an operational status of the one or more applications executing on the intermediary device and the one or more services, executing on the plurality of servers, managed by the one or more applications;
• (c) determining, by the visualizer tool from the configuration, two or more services having a common set of configuration properties and managed by a first application;
• (d) establishing, by the visualizer tool, a service container comprising an identification of the common set of configuration properties of the two or more services;
• and
• (e) displaying, by the visualizer tool via a user interface, a graphical representation of:
• (1) the configuration and the operational status of the first application and (2) the service container identifying the common set of configuration properties of the two or more services.