Monitoring network entities via a central monitoring system

A method, comprising the steps of:

• subscribing, by a single instance of a network monitoring software running on a server computer coupled to a network, to at least one topic defining a common purpose for a server cluster comprising a plurality of servers configured according to a diversity of configuration settings;
• decoding, by the server computer, an extensible markup language (XML) file published via data stream by at least one server in the plurality of servers, the XML file comprising:
• a server identification for the at least one server that published the XML file;
• a numeric value representing sample of performance metric, which has not been analyzed, or on which no algorithms have been performed, by the at least one server;
• and
• a sample type of the at least one sample, the sample type comprising a definition of the common purpose for the server cluster;
• normalizing, by the server computer, the numeric value according to the diversity of configuration settings among the cluster;
• calculating, by the server computer, according to at least one scoring rule for the sample type, as defined in an XML configuration file, score comprising the numeric value as normalized;
• rendering, by the server computer, a user interface comprising the score;
• responsive to a determination that the score is outside a minimum or maximum boundary for a specified period of time, as defined for the sample type in at least one alert rule in the XML configuration file, rendering, by the server computer, on the user interface, an alert comprising:
• the server identification for the server that scored outside the minimum or maximum boundary;
• the score, including a score interpretation;
• and
• a recommended action to resolve a cause of the alert, as defined for the sample type within at least one recommendation rule in the XML configuration file;
• and
• transmit the user interface to a client computer coupled to the network.