U.S. patent application number 14/447995 was filed with the patent office on 2016-01-21 for assigning scores to objects based on search query results.
The applicant listed for this patent is Splunk Inc.. Invention is credited to David Hazekamp, Lucas Murphey.
Application Number | 20160019215 14/447995 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 55074720 |
Filed Date | 2016-01-21 |
United States Patent
Application |
20160019215 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Murphey; Lucas ; et
al. |
January 21, 2016 |
ASSIGNING SCORES TO OBJECTS BASED ON SEARCH QUERY RESULTS
Abstract
Systems and methods for assigning scores to objects based on
evaluating triggering conditions applied to datasets produced by
search queries in data aggregation and analysis systems. An example
method may comprise: executing, by one or more processing devices,
a search query to produce a dataset comprising one or more data
items derived from source data; and responsive to determining that
at least a portion of the dataset satisfies a triggering condition,
modifying a score assigned to an object to which the portion of the
dataset pertains.
Inventors: |
Murphey; Lucas; (Wadsworth,
IL) ; Hazekamp; David; (Tinley Park, IL) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
Splunk Inc. |
San Francisco |
CA |
US |
|
|
Family ID: |
55074720 |
Appl. No.: |
14/447995 |
Filed: |
July 31, 2014 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
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62027239 |
Jul 21, 2014 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
707/723 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06F 16/215 20190101;
G06F 16/2477 20190101; G06F 16/2358 20190101; G06F 16/24565
20190101; G06F 16/951 20190101; G06F 16/22 20190101; G06F 16/24578
20190101 |
International
Class: |
G06F 17/30 20060101
G06F017/30 |
Claims
1-30. (canceled)
31. A method, comprising: accessing, by one or more processing
devices, a set of events, wherein each event in the set of events
is associated with a time stamp and includes a portion of machine
data indicative of performance or operation of an information
technology environment; accessing an object-scoring rule that (i)
includes a search query that determines when events meet a
triggering condition; (ii) identifies an object representing a
component of the information technology environment, an application
running in the information technology environment, or a person
using a component in the information technology environment, and
(iii) specifies a numerical contribution to a score for the object,
the numerical contribution to be applied to the score based at
least on part on a determination that the triggering condition is
met; executing the search query of the object-scoring rule against
the set of events to determine if the triggering condition of the
object-scoring rule is met; based on determining that the
triggering condition is met, generating a record of the numerical
contribution specified in the object-scoring rule, the record
associating the numerical contribution with a time indicator and
indicating the object whose score should be affected by the
contribution; identifying, using one or more records of numerical
contributions, a set of numerical contributions having associated
time indicators falling within a defined time period; and
calculating the score for the object based on the set of numerical
contributions, wherein the score indicates at least one of: an
indication of a security risk posed by the component or person that
the object represents, an indication of performance of the
component of the information technology environment that the object
represents, or an indication of performance of the application that
the object represents.
32. The method of claim 31, wherein the portion of machine data in
each event comprises raw machine data.
33. (canceled)
34. (canceled)
35. (canceled)
36. The method of claim 31, wherein the object-scoring rule
statically identifies the object whose score should be adjusted
when the triggering condition is met.
37. The method of claim 31, wherein the object-scoring rule
variably identifies the object whose score should be adjusted when
the triggering condition is met based on a value for a field in one
or more particular events that caused the triggering condition to
be met, the value for the field derived by applying an extraction
rule or regular expression to the portion of machine data in the
one or more particular events.
38. The method of claim 31, wherein the object-scoring rule
statically identifies the numerical contribution to be applied to
the score of the object.
39. The method of claim 31, wherein the object-scoring rule
variably identifies the numerical contribution to be applied to the
score of the object based on a value for a field in one or more
particular events that caused the triggering condition to be met,
the value for the field derived by applying an extraction rule or
regular expression to the portion of machine data in the one or
more particular events.
40. The method of claim 31, wherein the object-scoring rule
variably identifies the numerical contribution to be applied to the
score of the object based on a number of particular events that
caused the triggering condition to be met.
41. The method of claim 31, wherein the triggering condition
includes a value for a field in an event meeting specified
criteria.
42. The method of claim 31, wherein the triggering condition
includes an aggregate calculated for a field in events in the set
of events meeting specified criteria.
43. The method of claim 31, wherein the triggering condition
includes determining that a threshold number of events meets
specified search criteria.
44. The method of claim 31, further comprising receiving a user
request to create a negative score modifier associated with a
particular time.
45. The method of claim 31, further comprising receiving a request
to adjust the object's score by a particular positive or negative
amount.
46. The method of claim 31, further comprising causing displaying
of a graphical interface enabling a user to generate the
object-scoring rule.
47. The method of claim 31, wherein events in the set of events are
derived from log data.
48. The method of claim 31, wherein events in the set of events are
derived from network packet data.
49. (canceled)
50. (canceled)
51. (canceled)
52. (canceled)
53. (canceled)
54. The method of claim 31, further comprising: causing display of
object scores for a plurality of objects.
55. The method of claim 31, further comprising: causing display of
object scores for a plurality of objects in a descending order of
score.
56. A computer-readable non-transitory storage medium comprising
executable instructions that, when executed by one or more
processing devices, cause the processing devices to perform
operations comprising: accessing, by the processing devices, a set
of events, wherein each event in the set of events is associated
with a time stamp and includes a portion of machine data indicative
of performance or operation of an information technology
environment; accessing an object-scoring rule that (i) includes a
search query that determines when events meet a triggering
condition; (ii) identifies an object representing a component of
the information technology environment, an application running in
the information technology environment, or a person using a
component in the information technology environment, and (iii)
specifies a numerical contribution to a score for the object, the
numerical contribution to be applied to the score based at least on
part on a determination that the triggering condition is met;
executing the search query of the object-scoring rule against the
set of events to determine if the triggering condition of the
object-scoring rule is met; based on determining that the
triggering condition is met, generating a record of the numerical
contribution specified in the object-scoring rule, the record
associating the numerical contribution with a time indicator and
indicating the object whose score should be affected by the
contribution; identifying, using one or more records of numerical
contributions, a set of numerical contributions having associated
time indicators falling within a defined time period; and
calculating the score for the object based on the set of numerical
contributions, wherein the score indicates at least one of: an
indication of a security risk posed by the component or person that
the object represents, an indication of performance of the
component of the information technology environment that the object
represents, or an indication of performance of the application that
the object represents.
57. (canceled)
58. The computer-readable non-transitory storage medium of claim
56, wherein the object-scoring rule variably identifies the object
whose score should be adjusted when the triggering condition is met
based on a value for a field in one or more particular events that
caused the triggering condition to be met, the value for the field
derived by applying an extraction rule or regular expression to the
portion of machine data in the one or more particular events.
59. A computer system, comprising: a memory; and one or more
processing devices, coupled to the memory, to: access a set of
events, wherein each event in the set of events is associated with
a time stamp and includes a portion of machine data indicative of
performance or operation of an information technology environment;
access an object-scoring rule that (i) includes a search query that
determines when events meet a triggering condition; (ii) identifies
an object representing a component of the information technology
environment, an application running in the information technology
environment, or a person using a component in the information
technology environment, and (iii) specifies a numerical
contribution to a score for the object, the numerical contribution
to be applied to the score based at least on part on a
determination that the triggering condition is met; execute the
search query of the object-scoring rule against the set of events
to determine if the triggering condition of the object-scoring rule
is met; based on determining that the triggering condition is met,
generate a record of the numerical contribution specified in the
object-scoring rule, the record associating the numerical
contribution with a time indicator and indicating the object whose
score should be affected by the contribution; identify, using one
or more records of numerical contributions, a set of numerical
contributions having associated time indicators falling within a
defined time period; and calculate the score for the object based
on the set of numerical contributions, wherein the score indicates
at least one of: an indication of a security risk posed by the
component or person that the object represents, an indication of
performance of the component of the information technology
environment that the object represents, or an indication of
performance of the application that the object represents.
60. The computer system of claim 59, wherein the object-scoring
rule variably identifies the object whose score should be adjusted
when the triggering condition is met based on a value for a field
in one or more particular events that caused the triggering
condition to be met, the value for the field derived by applying an
extraction rule or regular expression to the portion of machine
data in the one or more particular events.
61. The method of claim 31, wherein executing the search query
comprises applying a late binding schema to the set of events, and
further comprising: receiving a selection of a second time period;
determining a second set of numerical contributions, wherein each
of the numerical contribution in the second set of numerical
contributions has an associated time indicator falling within the
second time period, wherein the associated time indicator specifies
a time of occurrence of the triggering condition; and adjusting the
score for the object based on an aggregation of the numerical
contributions of the second set of numerical contributions.
62. The method of claim 31, wherein executing the search query
comprises applying a late binding schema to the set of events.
63. The method of claim 31, wherein executing the search query
comprises using an extraction rule or regular expression to the
portion of machine data in an event to derive a value for a
field.
64. The method of claim 31, wherein the time indicator specifies a
time of occurrence of the triggering condition.
65. The method of claim 31, wherein the numerical contribution is
proportional to a number of occurrences of the triggering
condition.
66. The method of claim 31, wherein the numerical contribution is
proportional to a metric associated with a certain activity of the
component, the person or the application represented by the
object.
67. The method of claim 31, further comprising: sending a message
comprising the score for the object.
68. The method of claim 31, further comprising: executing a shell
script having a parameter defined based on the score for the
object.
69. The method of claim 31, further comprising: causing display of
at least a portion of the machine data that triggered the
object-scoring rule.
Description
RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application claims the priority benefit of U.S.
Provisional Patent Application No. 62/027,239 filed on Jul. 21,
2014.
TECHNICAL FIELD
[0002] The present disclosure is generally related to data
aggregation and analysis systems, and is more specifically related
to assigning scores to objects based on evaluating triggering
conditions applied to datasets produced by search queries.
BACKGROUND
[0003] Modern data centers often comprise thousands of hosts that
operate collectively to service requests from even larger numbers
of remote clients. During operation, components of these data
centers can produce significant volumes of machine-generated data.
The unstructured nature of much of this data has made it
challenging to perform indexing and searching operations because of
the difficulty of applying semantic meaning to unstructured data.
As the number of hosts and clients associated with a data center
continues to grow, processing large volumes of machine-generated
data in an intelligent manner and effectively presenting the
results of such processing continues to be a priority.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0004] The present disclosure is illustrated by way of examples,
and not by way of limitation, and may be more fully understood with
references to the following detailed description when considered in
connection with the figures, in which:
[0005] FIG. 1 schematically illustrates an example GUI for
specifying security score modification rules, including search
queries, triggering conditions, and other information to be
utilized by the system for assigning and/or modifying security risk
scores associated with various objects, in accordance with one or
more aspects of the present disclosure;
[0006] FIG. 2 schematically illustrates an example GUI for visually
presenting security risk scores assigned to a plurality of objects,
in accordance with one or more aspects of the present
disclosure;
[0007] FIGS. 3A-3B depict flow diagrams of example methods
300A-300B for assigning scores to objects based on evaluating
triggering conditions applied to datasets produced by search
queries, in accordance with one or more aspects of the present
disclosure;
[0008] FIG. 4 presents a block diagram of an event-processing
system in accordance with one or more aspects of the present
disclosure;
[0009] FIG. 5 presents a flowchart illustrating how indexers
process, index, and store data received from forwarders in
accordance with one or more aspects of the present disclosure;
[0010] FIG. 6 presents a flowchart illustrating how a search head
and indexers perform a search query in accordance with one or more
aspects of the present disclosure;
[0011] FIG. 7 presents a block diagram of a system for processing
search requests that uses extraction rules for field values in
accordance with one or more aspects of the present disclosure;
[0012] FIG. 8 illustrates an exemplary search query received from a
client and executed by search peers in accordance with one or more
aspects of the present disclosure;
[0013] FIG. 9A illustrates a search screen in accordance with one
or more aspects of the present disclosure;
[0014] FIG. 9B illustrates a data summary dialog that enables a
user to select various data sources in accordance with one or more
aspects of the present disclosure;
[0015] FIG. 10A illustrates a key indicators view in accordance
with one or more aspects of the present disclosure;
[0016] FIG. 10B illustrates an incident review dashboard in
accordance with one or more aspects of the present disclosure;
[0017] FIG. 10C illustrates a proactive monitoring tree in
accordance with one or more aspects of the present disclosure;
[0018] FIG. 10D illustrates a screen displaying both log data and
performance data in accordance with one or more aspects of the
present disclosure;
[0019] FIG. 11 depicts a block diagram of an example computing
device operating in accordance with one or more aspects of the
present disclosure.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0020] Disclosed herein are systems and methods for assigning
scores to objects based on evaluating triggering conditions applied
to datasets produced by search queries.
[0021] An example data aggregation and analysis system may
aggregate heterogeneous machine-generated data received from
various sources, including servers, databases, applications,
networks, etc. The aggregated source data may comprise a plurality
of events. An event may be represented by a data structure that is
associated with a certain point in time and comprises a portion of
raw machine data (i.e., machine-generated data). The system may be
configured to perform real-time indexing of the source data and to
execute real-time, scheduled, or historic searches on the source
data. A search query may comprise one or more search terms
specifying the search criteria. Search terms may include keywords,
phrases, Boolean expressions, regular expressions, field names,
name-value pairs, etc. The search criteria may comprise a filter
specifying relative or absolute time values, to limit the scope of
the search by a specific time value or a specific time range.
[0022] The example data aggregation and analysis system executing a
search query may evaluate the data relative to the search criteria
to produce a resulting dataset. The resulting dataset may comprise
one or more data items representing one or more portions of the
source data that satisfy the search criteria. Alternatively, the
resulting dataset may just include an indication that the search
criteria have been satisfied. Yet alternatively, the resulting
dataset may include a number indicating how many times the search
criteria have been satisfied.
[0023] The example data aggregation and analysis system may be
employed to assign scores to various objects associated with a
distributed computer system (e.g., an enterprise system comprising
a plurality of computer systems and peripheral devices
interconnected by a plurality of networks). An object may represent
such things as an entity (such as a particular user or a particular
organization), or an asset (such as a particular computer system or
a particular application). In various illustrative examples, the
scores assigned by the data aggregation and analysis system may
represent security risk scores, system performance scores
(indicating the performance of components such as hosts, servers,
routers, switches, attached storage, or virtual machines in an IT
environment), or application performance scores. In certain
implementations, the scores assigned by the data aggregation and
analysis system may belong to a certain scale. Alternatively, the
scores may be represented by values which do not belong to any
scale. In certain implementations, the scores may be represented by
dimensionless values.
[0024] In certain implementations, the data aggregation and
analysis system may adjust, by a certain score modifier value, a
risk score assigned to a certain object responsive to determining
that at least a portion of a dataset produced by executing a search
query satisfies a certain triggering condition. A triggering
condition can be any condition that is intended to trigger a
specific action. An example triggering condition can trigger an
action every time search criteria are satisfied (e.g., every time a
specific user has a failed authentication attempt). Another example
is a triggering condition that can trigger an action when a number
specifying how many times search criteria have been satisfied
exceeds a threshold (e.g., when the number of failed authentication
logins of a specific user exceeds 5). Yet another example is a
triggering condition that pertains to aggregating a dataset
returned by the search query to form statistics pertaining to one
or more attributes of the dataset that were used for aggregation,
where the triggering condition can trigger an action when the
aggregated statistics meet a criteria such as exceeding a
threshold, being under a threshold, or falling within a specified
range. For example, a dataset returned by the search query may
include failed authentication attempts for logging into any
application (e.g., email application, CRM application, HCM
application, etc.) and initiated by numerous source IP (Internet
Protocol) addresses; the dataset may be aggregated to produce
counts of failed authentication attempts on a per application per
source basis (i.e., first aggregated by application and then
further aggregated by source); and the triggering condition may
trigger an action when any of the counts exceeds a threshold. It
should be noted that in some implementations, the evaluation of the
aggregated statistics can be handled as part of the search query,
and not as part of the triggering condition evaluation (where the
triggering condition either triggers every time the search criteria
are met or triggers when the search criteria are met at least a
minimum number of times when the search is run).
[0025] A triggering condition may be applied to a dataset produced
by a search query that is executed by the system either in real
time or according to a certain schedule. Whenever at least a
portion of the dataset returned by the search satisfies the
triggering condition, a risk score associated with a certain object
to which the portion of the dataset pertains (e.g., an object that
is directly or indirectly referenced by the portion of the dataset)
may be modified (increased or decreased) by a certain risk score
modifier value.
[0026] In an illustrative example, the risk score associated with
an object may be modified every time the dataset returned by the
search query includes an indicator that the search criteria of the
search query are satisfied. Alternatively, the risk score
associated with an object may be modified when the number of times
the search criteria are satisfied exceeds a threshold. Yet
alternatively, the risk score associated with an object may be
modified when the aggregated statistics pertaining to the dataset
returned by the query meet specified criteria (such as exceeding a
threshold, being under a threshold, or falling within a specified
range).
[0027] The risk score modifier value may be determined based on
values of one or more fields of the portion of the dataset that has
triggered the risk score modification, as described in more detail
below.
[0028] The data aggregation and analysis system may be further
configured to present the assigned risk scores via a graphical user
interface (GUI) of a client computing device (e.g., a desktop
computing device or a mobile computing device), as described in
more detail below.
[0029] Accordingly, implementations of the present disclosure
provide an effective mechanism for managing IT security, IT
operations, and other aspects of the functioning of distributed
computer or information technology systems by adjusting scores
(e.g., security risk scores or performance scores) of objects in
response to detecting an occurrence of certain conditions as
indicated by data (e.g., the machine derived) produced by the
system. The adjusted scores of objects are then visually presented
to a user such as a system administrator to allow the user to
quickly identify objects with respect to which certain remedial
actions should be taken.
[0030] Various aspects of the methods and systems are described
herein by way of example, rather than by way of limitation. The
methods described herein may be implemented by hardware (e.g.,
general purpose and/or specialized processing devices, and/or other
devices and associated circuitry), software (e.g., instructions
executable by a processing device), or a combination thereof.
[0031] FIG. 1 schematically illustrates an example GUI for
specifying security score modification rules, including search
queries, triggering conditions, and other information to be
utilized by the system for assigning and/or modifying security risk
scores associated with various objects, in accordance with one or
more aspects of the present disclosure. While FIG. 1 and the
corresponding description illustrate and refer to security risk
scores, same and/or similar GUI elements, systems and methods may
be utilized by the example data aggregation and analysis system for
specifying data searches, triggering conditions, and other
information to be utilized by the system for assigning other types
of scores, such as system performance scores or application
performance scores. System or application performance scores may be
utilized for quantifying various aspects of system or application
performance, e.g., in situations when no single objectively
measurable attribute or characteristic may reasonably be employed
for the stated purpose.
[0032] As schematically illustrated by FIG. 1, example GUI 100 may
comprise one or more input fields for specifying search identifiers
such as an alphanumeric name 107 and an alphanumeric description
110 of the security score modification rule defined by the search.
Example GUI 100 may further comprise a drop-down list for selecting
the application context 115 associated with the search. In an
illustrative example, the application context may identify an
application of a certain platform, such as the SPLUNK.RTM.
ENTERPRISE system produced by Splunk Inc. of San Francisco, Calif.,
which is described in more details herein below).
[0033] In certain implementations, example GUI 100 may further
comprise a text box 120 for specifying a search query string
comprising one or more search terms specifying the search criteria.
The search query string may comply with the syntax of a certain
query language supported by the data aggregation and retrieval
system, such as Splunk Search Processing Language (SPL) which is
further described herein below. Alternatively, the search query may
be specified using other input mechanisms, such as selecting the
search query from a list of pre-defined search queries, or building
the search query using a wizard comprising a plurality of
pre-defined input fields.
[0034] Example GUI 100 may further comprise a start time and end
time input field's 125A-125B. In an illustrative example, the start
time and end time may define a time window specified relative to
the current time (e.g., from 5 minutes before the current time to
the current time). The start time and end time input fields specify
the time range limiting the scope of the search, i.e., instructing
the example data aggregation and analysis system to perform the
search query on the source data items (e.g., events) that have
timestamps falling within the specified time range.
[0035] Example GUI 100 may further comprise a schedule input field
130 to define the schedule according to which the search query
should be executed by the example data aggregation and analysis
system. The schedule may be represented by a data structure
comprising values of one or more scheduling parameters (e.g.,
minute, hour, day, month, and/or day-of-week). Executing search
query according to a certain schedule may be useful, e.g., for a
search query that has its scope limited by a time window specified
relative to the time the query query is run (e.g., from 5 minutes
before the time of beginning execution of the query to the time of
beginning execution of the query).
[0036] Example GUI 100 may further comprise a throttling window
input field 135 and a grouping field selection field 140 to define
a throttling condition. The throttling condition may be utilized to
suppress, for a certain period of time (e.g., for a number of
seconds specified by field 135), triggering the score modification
and/or other actions associated with the search query. Grouping
field 140 may be utilized to select a field by the value of which
the search results should be grouped for evaluating the throttling
condition. In other words, the example data aggregation and
analysis system may suppress the actions associated with the search
query for a specified number of seconds for the search results that
include the same value in the specified field (e.g., the same user
identifier in the "user" field shown in the grouping field 140 in
the illustrative example of FIG. 1).
[0037] Example GUI 100 may further comprise a "Create risk score
modifier" checkbox 145 specifying that the specified risk score
modification actions should be performed based on a trigger
condition resulting from execution of the search query.
[0038] As noted herein above, the data aggregation and analysis
system may be configured to adjust, by a certain risk score
modifier value, the risk score assigned to one or more objects
responsive to determining that at least a portion of a dataset
produced by the search satisfies a particular triggering condition.
In an illustrative example, the risk score associated with an
object may be modified every time the search query returns an
indicator that the search criteria are satisfied. Alternatively,
the risk score associated with an object may be modified when the
number of times the search criteria were satisfied exceeds a
threshold. In yet another example, the risk score associated with
an object may be modified when the aggregated statistics pertaining
to the dataset returned by the search query meets certain criteria
(e.g., exceeding a threshold, being under a threshold, or falling
within a certain range).
[0039] In the illustrative example of FIG. 1, the risk score
modifier value is specified by input field 150 as a constant
integer value. Alternatively, the risk score modifier value may be
determined by performing certain calculations on one or more data
items (referenced by the corresponding fields names) that are
identified by the search query as meeting the critieria of the
query. Risk score modifiers may be provided by positive or negative
values. A positive risk score modifier value may indicate that the
total risk score associated with an object should be increased
(e.g., if the object represents a user who has been engaged in an
activity associated with an elevated risk score value). A negative
risk score modifier value may indicate that the total risk score
associated with an object should be decreased (e.g., if the object
represents a system administrator who has been engaged in an
activity that, if performed by a non-privileged user, would appear
as associated with an elevated risk score value). The object whose
score should be modified may be identified by a field in the data
meeting the search criteria and/or triggering condition.
[0040] In an illustrative example, each occurrence of a certain
pre-defined state or situation defined by the search criteria may
necessitate modifying a risk score assigned to an object by a
certain integer value. The arithmetic expression defining the risk
score modifier may specify that the integer value should be
multiplied by the number of occurrences of the state or situation
returned by the search query (e.g., if a failed login attempt
increases a user's risk score by 10, the arithmetic expression
defining the risk score modifier may specify the value being equal
to 10*N, wherein N is the number of failed login attempts). In
another illustrative example, the risk score modifier may be
proportional to a metric associated with a certain activity (e.g.,
if each kilobyte of VPN traffic increases the user's risk score by
12, the arithmetic expression defining the risk score modifier may
specify the value being equal to 12*T/1024, wherein T is the amount
of VPN traffic, in bytes, associated with the user, and 1024 is the
number of bytes in a kilobyte; in this case, the number of
kilobytes of VPN traffic may be extracted from a field in the data
that met the search criteria and resulted in the triggering
condition). Likewise, the object whose score should be modified may
be identified from a field in the data that met the search criteria
and resulted in the triggering condition.
[0041] Example GUI 100 may further comprise a risk object field 155
to identify the object whose risk score should be modified by the
example data aggregation and analysis system. The risk object may
be identified by a data item (such as by a field in the data item
that is referenced by the field name 155) included in a dataset
produced by the search query. Example objects may include a user, a
computer system, a network, an application, etc.
[0042] In certain implementations, should the identified field name
contain an empty value, the example data aggregation and analysis
system may apply the risk score modifier to the risk score
associated with a placeholder (or fictitious) object used for
accumulating risk score modifiers that cannot be traced to a
particular known object. In an illustrative example, the fictitious
object to which risk score modifiers associated with unidentified
objects are applied may be referenced by a symbolic name (e.g.,
UNKNOWN object). Applying risk score modifiers associated with
unidentified objects to a fictitious object may be utilized to
attract a user's attention to the fact that certain objects
associated with non-zero (or even significant) risk scores could
not be identified by the system.
[0043] Example GUI 100 may further comprise a risk object type
field 160 to identify the type of risk object 155. In various
illustrative examples, the risk object type may be represented by
one of the following types: an entity (such as a user or an
organization), an asset (such as a computer system or an
application), or a user-defined type (e.g., a building).
[0044] Example GUI 100 may further comprise one or more action
check-boxes 165A-165C to specify one or more actions to be
performed by the system responsive to determining that at least a
portion of the dataset produced by executing the specified search
query satisfies the specified triggering condition. The actions may
include, for example, sending an e-mail message comprising the risk
score modifier value and/or at least part of the dataset that has
triggered the risk score modification, creating an RSS feed
comprising the risk score modifier value and/or at least part of
the dataset that has triggered the risk score modification, and/or
executing a shell script having at least one parameter defined
based on the score.
[0045] In certain implementations, the specified actions may be
performed with respect to each result produced by the search query
defined by query input field 110 (in other words, the simplest
triggering condition is applied to the resulting dataset requiring
that the resulting dataset comprise a non-zero number of results).
Alternatively, an additional triggering condition may be applied to
the resulting dataset produced by the search query (e.g., comparing
the number of data items in the resulting dataset produced to a
certain configurable integer value or performing a secondary search
on the dataset produced by executing the search query).
[0046] In certain implementations, responsive to modifying a score
assigned to the primary object, the example data aggregation and
analysis system may also modify scores assigned to one or more
additional objects that are associated with the primary object. For
example, if a security risk score assigned to an object
representing a user's laptop is modified responsive to a certain
triggering condition, the system may further modify the security
risk score assigned to the object representing the user himself. In
an illustrative example, the example data aggregation and analysis
system may identify one or more additional objects associated with
the primary objects based on one or more object association rules.
In another illustrative example, the example data aggregation and
analysis system may identify one or more additional objects
associated with the primary objects based on performing a secondary
search using a pre-defined or dynamically constructed search query.
The risk score modifier value to be applied to the associated
additional object may be determined based on the risk score
modifier value of the primary object and/or one or more object
association rules. In an illustrative example, an object
association rule may specify that the risk score modifier value of
an additional object (e.g., a user) associated with a primary
object (e.g., the user's laptop) may be determined as a certain
fraction of the risk score modifier value of the primary
object.
[0047] As noted herein above, the example data aggregation and
analysis system may be further configured to present the assigned
security risk scores via a graphical user interface (GUI) of a
client computing device (e.g., a desktop computing device or a
mobile computing device). FIG. 2 schematically illustrates an
example GUI for visually presenting security risk scores assigned
to a plurality of objects, in accordance with one or more aspects
of the present disclosure. While FIG. 2 and the corresponding
description illustrate and refer to security risk scores, the same
and/or similar GUI elements, systems, and methods may be utilized
by the example data aggregation and analysis system for visually
presenting other types of scores, such as system performance scores
or application performance scores.
[0048] As schematically illustrated by FIG. 2, example GUI 200 may
comprise several panels 210A-210N to dynamically present graphical
and/or textual information associated with security risk scores. In
the illustrative example of FIG. 2, example GUI 200 may further
comprise a panel 210A showing a graph 232 representing the total
risk score value assigned to a selected set of objects within the
time period identified by time period selection dropdown control
234. The set of objects for displaying the risk score values may be
specified by the risk object identifier (input field 236), and/or
risk object type (input field 238). The risk score values may be
further filtered by specifying the risk object sources (e.g., risk
score modification rules) via input field 240.
[0049] Example GUI 200 may further comprise panel 210B
representing, in a rectangular table, risk scores (column 242)
assigned to a plurality of objects identified by symbolic names
(column 244). The set of objects for which the scores are displayed
and/or the risk scores to be displayed may be limited by one or
more parameters specified by one or more fields of the input panel
210A, such as only displaying risk modifiers resulting from
selected search/trigger combinations (source pull down menu 240),
only displaying objects of a given object type (pull down menu
238), only displaying particular objects entered in the box 236, or
calculating the scores for displayed objects by aggregating only
those risk score modifiers for each displayed object that occur
with a time range specified in time-range pulldown menu 234.
[0050] The table entries displayed within display panel 210B may be
sorted, e.g., in a descending order of total risk score associated
with the corresponding object, thus allowing the user to focus on
the objects associated with the largest values of risk security
scores. Panel 210B may further comprise column 246 showing the
object type (e.g., a user type, a system type, or a user-defined
type). In the illustrative example of FIG. 2, the object types
shown in column 246 may match the object type specified by
pull-down menu 238. Panel 210A may further comprise column 248
showing the number of search/trigger/score rules (each of which is
referred to as a "source") contributing to the total risk score
associated with the object identified by column 244 (or, in other
words, the number of rules for which the object has satisfied the
triggering condition). Panel 210A may further comprise column 250
showing the number of individual risk score modifiers reflected by
the total risk score associated with the object identified by
column 242 (or, in other words, the number of times when a
triggering condition was met by the object).
[0051] Example GUI 200 may further comprise panel 210C
representing, in a rectangular table, aggregate risk score values
of the various risk modifiers grouped by the sources (e.g., risk
score modification rules identified by symbolic names in column
212) that generated the risk modifiers and ordered in the
descending order of the risk score value (column 214). Panel 210C
may further comprise column 216 showing the number of objects
having their risk score values modified by the corresponding
source, and column 218 showing the number of individual risk score
modifiers reflected by the total risk score value identified by
column 214.
[0052] Example GUI 200 may further comprise a panel 210N
representing, in a rectangular table, the most recently created
risk modifiers (the score for which is provided in column 220, and
a description of the risk score rule that generated the risk
modifier is provided in column 230). Each row may display the
object whose score is affected by the risk modifier represented by
that row (column 222). The table entries may be ordered in the
reverse time order (most recent entries first) based on the risk
modifier creation time (column 224). Panel 210N may further
comprise column 226 showing the object type for the object in
column 222, column 228 showing the risk modifier source (e.g., a
symbolic name referencing the risk score modification rule that
generated the risk modifier represented in a given row).
[0053] In certain implementations, the example data aggregation and
analysis system may allow a user to "drill down" to the underlying
data that has triggered a particular risk score modifier. For
example, responsive to receiving the user's selection of a
particular risk score modifier, the system may display further
information pertaining to the selected modifier, such as the
underlying portion of the data that has triggered the risk score
modifier.
[0054] In certain implementations, the example data aggregation and
analysis system may provide an "ad hoc" score modification
interface to allow a user to adjust risk score modifiers assigned
to certain objects. In an illustrative example, a user may increase
or decrease a risk score value assigned to a certain object or a
group of objects.
[0055] FIGS. 3A-3C depict flow diagrams of example methods
300A-300B for assigning scores to objects based on evaluating
triggering conditions applied to datasets produced by search
queries. Methods 300A-300B and/or each of their respective
individual functions, routines, subroutines, or operations may be
performed by one or more general purpose and/or specialized
processing devices. Two or more functions, routines, subroutines,
or operations of methods 300A-300B may be performed in parallel or
in an order that may differ from the order described above. In
certain implementations, one or more of methods 300A-300B may be
performed by a single processing thread. Alternatively, methods
300A-300B may be performed by two or more processing threads, each
thread executing one or more individual functions, routines,
subroutines, or operations of the respective method. In an
illustrative example, the processing threads implementing methods
300A-300B may be synchronized (e.g., using semaphores, critical
sections, and/or other thread synchronization mechanisms).
Alternatively, the processing threads implementing methods
300A-300B may be executed asynchronously with respect to each
other. In an illustrative example, methods 300A-300B may be
performed by an example computing device 1000 described herein
below with references to FIG. 11. In another illustrative example,
methods 300A-300B may be performed by a distributed computer system
comprising two or more example computing devices 1000.
[0056] FIG. 3A depict a flow diagram of an example method 300A for
modifying score values assigned to certain objects based on search
query results, in accordance with one or more aspects of the
present disclosure.
[0057] Referring to FIG. 3A, at block 310, the computer system
implementing the method may execute a search query. In an
illustrative example, the search query may represent a real-time
search (e.g., may repeatedly be executed by a certain process or
thread in an indefinite loop which may be interrupted by
occurrences of certain terminating conditions). In another
illustrative example, the search query may represent a scheduled
search (e.g., may be executed according to a certain schedule), as
described in more details herein above.
[0058] Responsive to determining, at block 315, that a portion of
the dataset produced by the search query satisfies a triggering
condition defined by a risk score modification rule associated with
the search query, the processing may continue at block 320;
otherwise, the processing associated with the current search query
instance may terminate.
[0059] At block 320, the computer system may modify a risk score
value of a certain primary object by a risk score modifier value.
The primary object may be identified based on values of one or more
fields of the portion of the dataset returned by the search query,
in accordance with the risk score modification rule associated with
the search query, as described in more details herein above. The
risk score modifier values may be determined in accordance with the
risk score modification rule associated with the search query. In
an illustrative example, the risk score modifier value applicable
to a certain object may be defined as a constant integer value.
Alternatively, the risk score modifier value may be determined by
performing certain calculations on one or more data items (e.g., by
extracting values for fields in the data items that are used in the
calculation) included in the resulting dataset produced by the
search query. In an illustrative example, the risk score modifier
value may be specified by a certain arithmetic expression. The
arithmetic expression may comprise one or more arithmetic
operations to be performed on two or more operands. Each of the
operands may be represented by a value of a data item (referenced
by the corresponding field name) included in the resulting dataset
produced by the search query or by a certain constant value.
[0060] At block 330, the computer system may modify risk score
values of certain objects associated with the primary object. The
example data aggregation and analysis system may identify one or
more objects associated with the primary object based on one or
more object association rules. The risk score modifier value to be
applied to the associated additional object may be determined based
on the risk score modifier value of the primary object and/or one
or more object association rules, as described in more details
herein above with references to FIG. 1.
[0061] FIG. 3B depicts a flow diagram of an example method 300B for
presenting score modifier information, in accordance with one or
more aspects of the present disclosure. As noted herein above,
method 300B may be implemented by a server (e.g., a presentation
server) and/or by one or more clients of the distributed computer
system operating in accordance with one or more aspects of the
present disclosure.
[0062] Referring to FIG. 3B, at block 350, the computer system
implementing the method may sort the score modifier information
associated with certain objects in an order reflecting the
corresponding score modifier values (e.g., in the descending order
of the score modifier values). The objects for displaying the
associated score modifier information may be selected by a user via
a GUI, as described in more details herein above with reference to
FIG. 2.
[0063] At block 355, the computer system may cause the score
modifier information to be displayed by a client computing device,
as described in more details herein above with reference to FIG.
2.
[0064] Responsive to receiving, at block 360, a user's selection of
a particular score modifier of the displayed score modifiers, the
computer system may, at block 365, cause further information
pertaining to the selected modifier to be displayed, including the
underlying portion of the dataset that has triggered the risk score
modifier.
[0065] The systems and methods described herein above may be
employed by various data processing systems, e.g., data aggregation
and analysis systems. In certain implementations, the example data
aggregation and analysis system may perform search queries on data
(e.g., relating to the security of an IT environment or related to
the performance of components in that IT environment) that is
stored as "events," wherein each event comprises a portion of
machine data generated by the computer or IT environment and that
is correlated with a specific point in time. In various
illustrative examples, the data processing system may be
represented by the SPLUNK.RTM. ENTERPRISE system produced by Splunk
Inc. of San Francisco, Calif., to store and process performance
data. The data processing system may be configured to execute
search queries as correlational searches, as described in more
details herein below. In certain implementations, the risk scoring
framework may be included in an application like the SPLUNK.RTM.
APP FOR ENTERPRISE SECURITY.
[0066] Modern data centers often comprise thousands of host
computer systems that operate collectively to service requests from
even larger numbers of remote clients. During operation, these data
centers generate significant volumes of performance data and
diagnostic information that can be analyzed to quickly diagnose
performance problems. In order to reduce the size of this
performance data, the data is typically pre-processed prior to
being stored based on anticipated data-analysis needs. For example,
pre-specified data items can be extracted from the performance data
and stored in a database to facilitate efficient retrieval and
analysis at search time. However, the rest of the performance data
is not saved and is essentially discarded during pre-processing. As
storage capacity becomes progressively cheaper and more plentiful,
there are fewer incentives to discard this performance data and
many reasons to keep it.
[0067] This plentiful storage capacity is presently making it
feasible to store massive quantities of minimally processed
performance data at "ingestion time" for later retrieval and
analysis at "search time." Note that performing the analysis
operations at search time provides greater flexibility because it
enables an analyst to search all of the performance data, instead
of searching pre-specified data items that were stored at ingestion
time. This enables the analyst to investigate different aspects of
the performance data instead of being confined to the pre-specified
set of data items that were selected at ingestion time.
[0068] However, analyzing massive quantities of heterogeneous
performance data at search time can be a challenging task. A data
center may generate heterogeneous performance data from thousands
of different components, which can collectively generate tremendous
volumes of performance data that can be time-consuming to analyze.
For example, this performance data can include data from system
logs, network packet data, sensor data, and data generated by
various applications. Also, the unstructured nature of much of this
performance data can pose additional challenges because of the
difficulty of applying semantic meaning to unstructured data, and
the difficulty of indexing and querying unstructured data using
traditional database systems.
[0069] These challenges can be addressed by using an event-based
system, such as the SPLUNK.RTM. ENTERPRISE system produced by
Splunk Inc. of San Francisco, Calif., to store and process
performance data. The SPLUNK.RTM. ENTERPRISE system is the leading
platform for providing real-time operational intelligence that
enables organizations to collect, index, and harness
machine-generated data from various websites, applications,
servers, networks, and mobile devices that power their businesses.
The SPLUNK.RTM. ENTERPRISE system is particularly useful for
analyzing unstructured performance data, which is commonly found in
system log files. Although many of the techniques described herein
are explained with reference to the SPLUNK.RTM. ENTERPRISE system,
the techniques are also applicable to other types of data server
systems.
[0070] In the SPLUNK.RTM. ENTERPRISE system, performance data is
stored as "events," wherein each event comprises a collection of
performance data and/or diagnostic information that is generated by
a computer system and is correlated with a specific point in time.
Events can be derived from "time series data," wherein time series
data comprises a sequence of data points (e.g., performance
measurements from a computer system) that are associated with
successive points in time and are typically spaced at uniform time
intervals. Events can also be derived from "structured" or
"unstructured" data. Structured data has a predefined format,
wherein specific data items with specific data formats reside at
predefined locations in the data. For example, structured data can
include data items stored in fields in a database table. In
contrast, unstructured data does not have a predefined format. This
means that unstructured data can comprise various data items having
different data types that can reside at different locations. For
example, when the data source is an operating system log, an event
can include one or more lines from the operating system log
containing raw data that includes different types of performance
and diagnostic information associated with a specific point in
time. Examples of data sources from which an event may be derived
include, but are not limited to: web servers; application servers;
databases; firewalls; routers; operating systems; and software
applications that execute on computer systems, mobile devices, and
sensors. The data generated by such data sources can be produced in
various forms including, for example and without limitation, server
log files, activity log files, configuration files, messages,
network packet data, performance measurements and sensor
measurements. An event typically includes a timestamp that may be
derived from the raw data in the event, or may be determined
through interpolation between temporally proximate events having
known timestamps.
[0071] The SPLUNK.RTM. ENTERPRISE system also facilitates using a
flexible schema to specify how to extract information from the
event data, wherein the flexible schema may be developed and
redefined as needed. Note that a flexible schema may be applied to
event data "on the fly," when it is needed (e.g., at search time),
rather than at ingestion time of the data as in traditional
database systems. Because the schema is not applied to event data
until it is needed (e.g., at search time), it is referred to as a
"late-binding schema."
[0072] During operation, the SPLUNK.RTM. ENTERPRISE system starts
with raw data, which can include unstructured data, machine data,
performance measurements or other time-series data, such as data
obtained from weblogs, syslogs, or sensor readings. It divides this
raw data into "portions," and optionally transforms the data to
produce timestamped events. The system stores the timestamped
events in a data store, and enables a user to run queries against
the data store to retrieve events that meet specified criteria,
such as containing certain keywords or having specific values in
defined fields. Note that the term "field" refers to a location in
the event data containing a value for a specific data item.
[0073] As noted above, the SPLUNK.RTM. ENTERPRISE system
facilitates using a late-binding schema while performing queries on
events. A late-binding schema specifies "extraction rules" that are
applied to data in the events to extract values for specific
fields. More specifically, the extraction rules for a field can
include one or more instructions that specify how to extract a
value for the field from the event data. An extraction rule can
generally include any type of instruction for extracting values
from data in events. In some cases, an extraction rule comprises a
regular expression, in which case the rule is referred to as a
"regex rule."
[0074] In contrast to a conventional schema for a database system,
a late-binding schema is not defined at data ingestion time.
Instead, the late-binding schema can be developed on an ongoing
basis until the time a query is actually executed. This means that
extraction rules for the fields in a query may be provided in the
query itself, or may be located during execution of the query.
Hence, as an analyst learns more about the data in the events, the
analyst can continue to refine the late-binding schema by adding
new fields, deleting fields, or changing the field extraction rules
until the next time the schema is used by a query. Because the
SPLUNK.RTM. ENTERPRISE system maintains the underlying raw data and
provides a late-binding schema for searching the raw data, it
enables an analyst to investigate questions that arise as the
analyst learns more about the events.
[0075] In the SPLUNK.RTM. ENTERPRISE system, a field extractor may
be configured to automatically generate extraction rules for
certain fields in the events when the events are being created,
indexed, or stored, or possibly at a later time. Alternatively, a
user may manually define extraction rules for fields using a
variety of techniques.
[0076] Also, a number of "default fields" that specify metadata
about the events rather than data in the events themselves can be
created automatically. For example, such default fields can
specify: a timestamp for the event data; a host from which the
event data originated; a source of the event data; and a source
type for the event data. These default fields may be determined
automatically when the events are created, indexed or stored.
[0077] In some embodiments, a common field name may be used to
reference two or more fields containing equivalent data items, even
though the fields may be associated with different types of events
that possibly have different data formats and different extraction
rules. By enabling a common field name to be used to identify
equivalent fields from different types of events generated by
different data sources, the system facilitates use of a "common
information model" (CIM) across the different data sources.
[0078] FIG. 4 presents a block diagram of an exemplary
event-processing system 100, similar to the SPLUNK.RTM. ENTERPRISE
system. System 100 includes one or more forwarders 101 that collect
data obtained from a variety of different data sources 105, and one
or more indexers 102 that store, process, and/or perform operations
on this data, wherein each indexer operates on data contained in a
specific data store 103. These forwarders and indexers can comprise
separate computer systems in a data center, or may alternatively
comprise separate processes executing on various computer systems
in a data center.
[0079] During operation, the forwarders 101 identify which indexers
102 will receive the collected data and then forward the data to
the identified indexers. Forwarders 101 can also perform operations
to strip out extraneous data and detect timestamps in the data. The
forwarders next determine which indexers 102 will receive each data
item and then forward the data items to the determined indexers
102.
[0080] Note that distributing data across different indexers
facilitates parallel processing. This parallel processing can take
place at data ingestion time, because multiple indexers can process
the incoming data in parallel. The parallel processing can also
take place at search time, because multiple indexers can search
through the data in parallel.
[0081] System 100 and the processes described below with respect to
FIGS. 5-10 are further described in "Exploring Splunk Search
Processing Language (SPL) Primer and Cookbook" by David Carasso,
CITO Research, 2012, and in "Optimizing Data Analysis With a
Semi-Structured Time Series Database" by Ledion Bitincka, Archana
Ganapathi, Stephen Sorkin, and Steve Zhang, SLAML, 2010, each of
which is hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety
for all purposes.
[0082] FIG. 5 presents a flowchart illustrating how an indexer
processes, indexes, and stores data received from forwarders in
accordance with the disclosed embodiments. At block 201, the
indexer receives the data from the forwarder. Next, at block 202,
the indexer apportions the data into events. Note that the data can
include lines of text that are separated by carriage returns or
line breaks and an event may include one or more of these lines.
During the apportioning process, the indexer can use heuristic
rules to automatically determine the boundaries of the events,
which for example coincide with line boundaries. These heuristic
rules may be determined based on the source of the data, wherein
the indexer can be explicitly informed about the source of the data
or can infer the source of the data by examining the data. These
heuristic rules can include regular expression-based rules or
delimiter-based rules for determining event boundaries, wherein the
event boundaries may be indicated by predefined characters or
character strings. These predefined characters may include
punctuation marks or other special characters including, for
example, carriage returns, tabs, spaces or line breaks. In some
cases, a user can fine-tune or configure the rules that the
indexers use to determine event boundaries in order to adapt the
rules to the user's specific requirements.
[0083] Next, the indexer determines a timestamp for each event at
block 203. As mentioned above, these timestamps can be determined
by extracting the time directly from data in the event, or by
interpolating the time based on timestamps from temporally
proximate events. In some cases, a timestamp can be determined
based on the time the data was received or generated. The indexer
subsequently associates the determined timestamp with each event at
block 204, for example by storing the timestamp as metadata for
each event.
[0084] Then, the system can apply transformations to data to be
included in events at block 205. For log data, such transformations
can include removing a portion of an event (e.g., a portion used to
define event boundaries, extraneous text, characters, etc.) or
removing redundant portions of an event. Note that a user can
specify portions to be removed using a regular expression or any
other possible technique.
[0085] Next, a keyword index can optionally be generated to
facilitate fast keyword searching for events. To build a keyword
index, the indexer first identifies a set of keywords in block 206.
Then, at block 207 the indexer includes the identified keywords in
an index, which associates each stored keyword with references to
events containing that keyword (or to locations within events where
that keyword is located). When an indexer subsequently receives a
keyword-based query, the indexer can access the keyword index to
quickly identify events containing the keyword.
[0086] In some embodiments, the keyword index may include entries
for name-value pairs found in events, wherein a name-value pair can
include a pair of keywords connected by a symbol, such as an equals
sign or colon. In this way, events containing these name-value
pairs can be quickly located. In some embodiments, fields can
automatically be generated for some or all of the name-value pairs
at the time of indexing. For example, if the string "dest=10.0.1.2"
is found in an event, a field named "dest" may be created for the
event, and assigned a value of "10.0.1.2."
[0087] Finally, the indexer stores the events in a data store at
block 208, wherein a timestamp can be stored with each event to
facilitate searching for events based on a time range. In some
cases, the stored events are organized into a plurality of buckets,
wherein each bucket stores events associated with a specific time
range. This not only improves time-based searches, but it also
allows events with recent timestamps that may have a higher
likelihood of being accessed to be stored in faster memory to
facilitate faster retrieval. For example, a bucket containing the
most recent events can be stored as flash memory instead of on hard
disk.
[0088] Each indexer 102 is responsible for storing and searching a
subset of the events contained in a corresponding data store 103.
By distributing events among the indexers and data stores, the
indexers can analyze events for a query in parallel, for example
using map-reduce techniques, wherein each indexer returns partial
responses for a subset of events to a search head that combines the
results to produce an answer for the query. By storing events in
buckets for specific time ranges, an indexer may further optimize
searching by looking only in buckets for time ranges that are
relevant to a query.
[0089] Moreover, events and buckets can also be replicated across
different indexers and data stores to facilitate high availability
and disaster recovery as is described in U.S. patent application
Ser. No. 14/266,812 filed on 30 Apr. 2014, and in U.S. application
patent Ser. No. 14/266,817 also filed on 30 Apr. 2014.
[0090] FIG. 6 presents a flowchart illustrating how a search head
and indexers perform a search query in accordance with the
disclosed embodiments. At the start of this process, a search head
receives a search query from a client at block 301. Next, at block
302, the search head analyzes the search query to determine what
portions can be delegated to indexers and what portions need to be
executed locally by the search head. At block 303, the search head
distributes the determined portions of the query to the indexers.
Note that commands that operate on single events can be trivially
delegated to the indexers, while commands that involve events from
multiple indexers are harder to delegate.
[0091] Then, at block 304, the indexers to which the query was
distributed search their data stores for events that are responsive
to the query. To determine which events are responsive to the
query, the indexer searches for events that match the criteria
specified in the query. This criteria can include matching keywords
or specific values for certain fields. In a query that uses a
late-binding schema, the searching operations in block 304 may
involve using the late-binding scheme to extract values for
specified fields from events at the time the query is processed.
Next, the indexers can either send the relevant events back to the
search head, or use the events to calculate a partial result, and
send the partial result back to the search head.
[0092] Finally, at block 305, the search head combines the partial
results and/or events received from the indexers to produce a final
result for the query. This final result can comprise different
types of data depending upon what the query is asking for. For
example, the final results can include a listing of matching events
returned by the query, or some type of visualization of data from
the returned events. In another example, the final result can
include one or more calculated values derived from the matching
events.
[0093] Moreover, the results generated by system 100 can be
returned to a client using different techniques. For example, one
technique streams results back to a client in real-time as they are
identified. Another technique waits to report results to the client
until a complete set of results is ready to return to the client.
Yet another technique streams interim results back to the client in
real-time until a complete set of results is ready, and then
returns the complete set of results to the client. In another
technique, certain results are stored as "search jobs," and the
client may subsequently retrieve the results by referencing the
search jobs.
[0094] The search head can also perform various operations to make
the search more efficient. For example, before the search head
starts executing a query, the search head can determine a time
range for the query and a set of common keywords that all matching
events must include. Next, the search head can use these parameters
to query the indexers to obtain a superset of the eventual results.
Then, during a filtering stage, the search head can perform
field-extraction operations on the superset to produce a reduced
set of search results.
[0095] FIG. 7 presents a block diagram illustrating how fields can
be extracted during query processing in accordance with the
disclosed embodiments. At the start of this process, a search query
402 is received at a query processor 404. Query processor 404
includes various mechanisms for processing a query, wherein these
mechanisms can reside in a search head 104 and/or an indexer 102.
Note that the exemplary search query 402 illustrated in FIG. 7 is
expressed in Search Processing Language (SPL), which is used in
conjunction with the SPLUNK.RTM. ENTERPRISE system. SPL is a
pipelined search language in which a set of inputs is operated on
by a first command in a command line, and then a subsequent command
following the pipe symbol "I" operates on the results produced by
the first command, and so on for additional commands. Search query
402 can also be expressed in other query languages, such as the
Structured Query Language ("SQL") or any suitable query
language.
[0096] Upon receiving search query 402, query processor 404 sees
that search query 402 includes two fields "IP" and "target." Query
processor 404 also determines that the values for the "IP" and
"target" fields have not already been extracted from events in data
store 414, and consequently determines that query processor 404
needs to use extraction rules to extract values for the fields.
Hence, query processor 404 performs a lookup for the extraction
rules in a rule base 406, wherein rule base 406 maps field names to
corresponding extraction rules and obtains extraction rules
408-409, wherein extraction rule 408 specifies how to extract a
value for the "IP" field from an event, and extraction rule 409
specifies how to extract a value for the "target" field from an
event. As is illustrated in FIG. 7, extraction rules 408-409 can
comprise regular expressions that specify how to extract values for
the relevant fields. Such regular-expression-based extraction rules
are also referred to as "regex rules." In addition to specifying
how to extract field values, the extraction rules may also include
instructions for deriving a field value by performing a function on
a character string or value retrieved by the extraction rule. For
example, a transformation rule may truncate a character string, or
convert the character string into a different data format. In some
cases, the query itself can specify one or more extraction
rules.
[0097] Next, query processor 404 sends extraction rules 408-409 to
a field extractor 412, which applies extraction rules 408-409 to
events 416-418 in a data store 414. Note that data store 414 can
include one or more data stores, and extraction rules 408-409 can
be applied to large numbers of events in data store 414, and are
not meant to be limited to the three events 416-418 illustrated in
FIG. 7. Moreover, the query processor 404 can instruct field
extractor 412 to apply the extraction rules to all the events in a
data store 414, or to a subset of the events that have been
filtered based on some criteria.
[0098] Next, field extractor 412 applies extraction rule 408 for
the first command "Search IP="10*" to events in data store 414
including events 416-418. Extraction rule 408 is used to extract
values for the IP address field from events in data store 414 by
looking for a pattern of one or more digits, followed by a period,
followed again by one or more digits, followed by another period,
followed again by one or more digits, followed by another period,
and followed again by one or more digits. Next, field extractor 412
returns field values 420 to query processor 404, which uses the
criterion IP="10*" to look for IP addresses that start with "10".
Note that events 416 and 417 match this criterion, but event 418
does not, so the result set for the first command is events
416-417.
[0099] Query processor 404 then sends events 416-417 to the next
command "stats count target." To process this command, query
processor 404 causes field extractor 412 to apply extraction rule
409 to events 416-417. Extraction rule 409 is used to extract
values for the target field for events 416-417 by skipping the
first four commas in events 416-417, and then extracting all of the
following characters until a comma or period is reached. Next,
field extractor 412 returns field values 421 to query processor
404, which executes the command "stats count target" to count the
number of unique values contained in the target fields, which in
this example produces the value "2" that is returned as a final
result 422 for the query.
[0100] Note that query results can be returned to a client, a
search head, or any other system component for further processing.
In general, query results may include: a set of one or more events;
a set of one or more values obtained from the events; a subset of
the values; statistics calculated based on the values; a report
containing the values; or a visualization, such as a graph or
chart, generated from the values.
[0101] FIG. 9A illustrates an exemplary search screen 600 in
accordance with the disclosed embodiments. Search screen 600
includes a search bar 602 that accepts user input in the form of a
search string. It also includes a time range picker 612 that
enables the user to specify a time range for the search. For
"historical searches" the user can select a specific time range, or
alternatively a relative time range, such as "today," "yesterday"
or "last week." For "real-time searches," the user can select the
size of a preceding time window to search for real-time events.
Search screen 600 also initially displays a "data summary" dialog
as is illustrated in FIG. 9B that enables the user to select
different sources for the event data, for example by selecting
specific hosts and log files.
[0102] After the search is executed, the search screen 600 can
display the results through search results tabs 604, wherein search
results tabs 604 includes: an "events tab" that displays various
information about events returned by the search; a "statistics tab"
that displays statistics about the search results; and a
"visualization tab" that displays various visualizations of the
search results. The events tab illustrated in FIG. 9A displays a
timeline graph 605 that graphically illustrates the number of
events that occurred in one-hour intervals over the selected time
range. It also displays an events list 608 that enables a user to
view the raw data in each of the returned events. It additionally
displays a fields sidebar 606 that includes statistics about
occurrences of specific fields in the returned events, including
"selected fields" that are pre-selected by the user, and
"interesting fields" that are automatically selected by the system
based on pre-specified criteria.
[0103] The above-described system provides significant flexibility
by enabling a user to analyze massive quantities of minimally
processed performance data "on the fly" at search time instead of
storing pre-specified portions of the performance data in a
database at ingestion time. This flexibility enables a user to see
correlations in the performance data and perform subsequent queries
to examine interesting aspects of the performance data that may not
have been apparent at ingestion time.
[0104] However, performing extraction and analysis operations at
search time can involve a large amount of data and require a large
number of computational operations, which can cause considerable
delays while processing the queries. Fortunately, a number of
acceleration techniques have been developed to speed up analysis
operations performed at search time. These techniques include: (1)
performing search operations in parallel by formulating a search as
a map-reduce computation; (2) using a keyword index; (3) using a
high performance analytics store; and (4) accelerating the process
of generating reports. These techniques are described in more
detail below.
[0105] To facilitate faster query processing, a query can be
structured as a map-reduce computation, wherein the "map"
operations are delegated to the indexers, while the corresponding
"reduce" operations are performed locally at the search head. For
example, FIG. 8 illustrates how a search query 501 received from a
client at search head 104 can split into two phases, including: (1)
a "map phase" comprising subtasks 502 (e.g., data retrieval or
simple filtering) that may be performed in parallel and are
"mapped" to indexers 102 for execution, and (2) a "reduce phase"
comprising a merging operation 503 to be executed by the search
head when the results are ultimately collected from the
indexers.
[0106] During operation, upon receiving search query 501, search
head 104 modifies search query 501 by substituting "stats" with
"prestats" to produce search query 502, and then distributes search
query 502 to one or more distributed indexers, which are also
referred to as "search peers." Note that search queries may
generally specify search criteria or operations to be performed on
events that meet the search criteria. Search queries may also
specify field names, as well as search criteria for the values in
the fields or operations to be performed on the values in the
fields. Moreover, the search head may distribute the full search
query to the search peers as is illustrated in FIG. 6, or may
alternatively distribute a modified version (e.g., a more
restricted version) of the search query to the search peers. In
this example, the indexers are responsible for producing the
results and sending them to the search head. After the indexers
return the results to the search head, the search head performs the
merging operations 503 on the results. Note that by executing the
computation in this way, the system effectively distributes the
computational operations while minimizing data transfers.
[0107] As described above with reference to the flow charts in
FIGS. 6 and 7, event-processing system 100 can construct and
maintain one or more keyword indices to facilitate rapidly
identifying events containing specific keywords. This can greatly
speed up the processing of queries involving specific keywords. As
mentioned above, to build a keyword index, an indexer first
identifies a set of keywords. Then, the indexer includes the
identified keywords in an index, which associates each stored
keyword with references to events containing that keyword, or to
locations within events where that keyword is located. When an
indexer subsequently receives a keyword-based query, the indexer
can access the keyword index to quickly identify events containing
the keyword.
[0108] To speed up certain types of queries, some embodiments of
system 100 make use of a high performance analytics store, which is
referred to as a "summarization table," that contains entries for
specific field-value pairs. Each of these entries keeps track of
instances of a specific value in a specific field in the event data
and includes references to events containing the specific value in
the specific field. For example, an exemplary entry in a
summarization table can keep track of occurrences of the value
"94107" in a "ZIP code" field of a set of events, wherein the entry
includes references to all of the events that contain the value
"94107" in the ZIP code field. This enables the system to quickly
process queries that seek to determine how many events have a
particular value for a particular field, because the system can
examine the entry in the summarization table to count instances of
the specific value in the field without having to go through the
individual events or do extractions at search time. Also, if the
system needs to process all events that have a specific field-value
combination, the system can use the references in the summarization
table entry to directly access the events to extract further
information without having to search all of the events to find the
specific field-value combination at search time.
[0109] In some embodiments, the system maintains a separate
summarization table for each of the above-described time-specific
buckets that stores events for a specific time range, wherein a
bucket-specific summarization table includes entries for specific
field-value combinations that occur in events in the specific
bucket. Alternatively, the system can maintain a separate
summarization table for each indexer, wherein the indexer-specific
summarization table only includes entries for the events in a data
store that is managed by the specific indexer.
[0110] The summarization table can be populated by running a
"collection query" that scans a set of events to find instances of
a specific field-value combination, or alternatively instances of
all field-value combinations for a specific field. A collection
query can be initiated by a user, or can be scheduled to occur
automatically at specific time intervals. A collection query can
also be automatically launched in response to a query that asks for
a specific field-value combination.
[0111] In some cases, the summarization tables may not cover all of
the events that are relevant to a query. In this case, the system
can use the summarization tables to obtain partial results for the
events that are covered by summarization tables, but may also have
to search through other events that are not covered by the
summarization tables to produce additional results. These
additional results can then be combined with the partial results to
produce a final set of results for the query. This summarization
table and associated techniques are described in more detail in
U.S. Pat. No. 8,682,925, issued on Mar. 25, 2014.
[0112] In some embodiments, a data server system such as the
SPLUNK.RTM. ENTERPRISE system can accelerate the process of
periodically generating updated reports based on query results. To
accelerate this process, a summarization engine automatically
examines the query to determine whether generation of updated
reports can be accelerated by creating intermediate summaries.
(This is possible if results from preceding time periods can be
computed separately and combined to generate an updated report. In
some cases, it is not possible to combine such incremental results,
for example where a value in the report depends on relationships
between events from different time periods.) If reports can be
accelerated, the summarization engine periodically generates a
summary covering data obtained during a latest non-overlapping time
period. For example, where the query seeks events meeting a
specified criteria, a summary for the time period includes only
events within the time period that meet the specified criteria.
Similarly, if the query seeks statistics calculated from the
events, such as the number of events that match the specified
criteria, then the summary for the time period includes the number
of events in the period that match the specified criteria.
[0113] In parallel with the creation of the summaries, the
summarization engine schedules the periodic updating of the report
associated with the query. During each scheduled report update, the
query engine determines whether intermediate summaries have been
generated covering portions of the time period covered by the
report update. If so, then the report is generated based on the
information contained in the summaries. Also, if additional event
data has been received and has not yet been summarized, and is
required to generate the complete report, the query can be run on
this additional event data. Then, the results returned by this
query on the additional event data, along with the partial results
obtained from the intermediate summaries, can be combined to
generate the updated report. This process is repeated each time the
report is updated. Alternatively, if the system stores events in
buckets covering specific time ranges, then the summaries can be
generated on a bucket-by-bucket basis. Note that producing
intermediate summaries can save the work involved in re-running the
query for previous time periods, so only the newer event data needs
to be processed while generating an updated report. These report
acceleration techniques are described in more detail in U.S. Pat.
No. 8,589,403, issued on Nov. 19, 2013, and U.S. Pat. No.
8,412,696, issued on Apr. 2, 2011.
[0114] The SPLUNK.RTM. ENTERPRISE platform provides various
schemas, dashboards and visualizations that make it easy for
developers to create applications to provide additional
capabilities. One such application is the SPLUNK.RTM. APP FOR
ENTERPRISE SECURITY, which performs monitoring and alerting
operations and includes analytics to facilitate identifying both
known and unknown security threats based on large volumes of data
stored by the SPLUNK.RTM. ENTERPRISE system. This differs
significantly from conventional Security Information and Event
Management (SIEM) systems that lack the infrastructure to
effectively store and analyze large volumes of security-related
event data. Traditional SIEM systems typically use fixed schemas to
extract data from pre-defined security-related fields at data
ingestion time, wherein the extracted data is typically stored in a
relational database. This data extraction process (and associated
reduction in data size) that occurs at data ingestion time
inevitably hampers future incident investigations, when all of the
original data may be needed to determine the root cause of a
security issue, or to detect the tiny fingerprints of an impending
security threat.
[0115] In contrast, the SPLUNK.RTM. APP FOR ENTERPRISE SECURITY
system stores large volumes of minimally processed security-related
data at ingestion time for later retrieval and analysis at search
time when a live security threat is being investigated. To
facilitate this data retrieval process, the SPLUNK.RTM. APP FOR
ENTERPRISE SECURITY provides pre-specified schemas for extracting
relevant values from the different types of security-related event
data, and also enables a user to define such schemas.
[0116] The SPLUNK.RTM. APP FOR ENTERPRISE SECURITY can process many
types of security-related information. In general, this
security-related information can include any information that can
be used to identify security threats. For example, the
security-related information can include network-related
information, such as IP addresses, domain names, asset identifiers,
network traffic volume, uniform resource locator strings, and
source addresses. (The process of detecting security threats for
network-related information is further described in U.S. patent
application Ser. Nos. 13/956,252, and 13/956,262.) Security-related
information can also include endpoint information, such as malware
infection data and system configuration information, as well as
access control information, such as login/logout information and
access failure notifications. The security-related information can
originate from various sources within a data center, such as hosts,
virtual machines, storage devices and sensors. The security-related
information can also originate from various sources in a network,
such as routers, switches, email servers, proxy servers, gateways,
firewalls and intrusion-detection systems.
[0117] During operation, the SPLUNK.RTM. APP FOR ENTERPRISE
SECURITY facilitates detecting so-called "notable events" that are
likely to indicate a security threat. These notable events can be
detected in a number of ways: (1) an analyst can notice a
correlation in the data and can manually identify a corresponding
group of one or more events as "notable;" or (2) an analyst can
define a "correlation search" specifying criteria for a notable
event, and every time one or more events satisfy the criteria, the
application can indicate that the one or more events are notable.
An analyst can alternatively select a pre-defined correlation
search provided by the application. Note that correlation searches
can be run continuously or at regular intervals (e.g., every hour)
to search for notable events. Upon detection, notable events can be
stored in a dedicated "notable events index," which can be
subsequently accessed to generate various visualizations containing
security-related information. Also, alerts can be generated to
notify system operators when important notable events are
discovered.
[0118] The SPLUNK.RTM. APP FOR ENTERPRISE SECURITY provides various
visualizations to aid in discovering security threats, such as a
"key indicators view" that enables a user to view security metrics
of interest, such as counts of different types of notable events.
For example, FIG. 10A illustrates an exemplary key indicators view
700 that comprises a dashboard, which can display a value 701, for
various security-related metrics, such as malware infections 702.
It can also display a change in a metric value 703, which indicates
that the number of malware infections increased by 63 during the
preceding interval. Key indicators view 700 additionally displays a
histogram panel 704 that displays a histogram of notable events
organized by urgency values, and a histogram of notable events
organized by time intervals. This key indicators view is described
in further detail in pending U.S. patent application Ser. No.
13/956,338 filed Jul. 31, 2013.
[0119] These visualizations can also include an "incident review
dashboard" that enables a user to view and act on "notable events."
These notable events can include: (1) a single event of high
importance, such as any activity from a known web attacker; or (2)
multiple events that collectively warrant review, such as a large
number of authentication failures on a host followed by a
successful authentication. For example, FIG. 10B illustrates an
exemplary incident review dashboard 710 that includes a set of
incident attribute fields 711 that, for example, enables a user to
specify a time range field 712 for the displayed events. It also
includes a timeline 713 that graphically illustrates the number of
incidents that occurred in one-hour time intervals over the
selected time range. It additionally displays an events list 714
that enables a user to view a list of all of the notable events
that match the criteria in the incident attributes fields 711. To
facilitate identifying patterns among the notable events, each
notable event can be associated with an urgency value (e.g., low,
medium, high, critical), which is indicated in the incident review
dashboard. The urgency value for a detected event can be determined
based on the severity of the event and the priority of the system
component associated with the event. The incident review dashboard
is described further in
"http://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/PCl/2.1.1/[000120]
[0120] User/IncidentReviewdashboard."
[0121] As mentioned above, the SPLUNK.RTM. ENTERPRISE platform
provides various features that make it easy for developers to
create various applications. One such application is the
SPLUNK.RTM. APP FOR VMWARE.RTM., which performs monitoring
operations and includes analytics to facilitate diagnosing the root
cause of performance problems in a data center based on large
volumes of data stored by the SPLUNK.RTM. ENTERPRISE system.
[0122] This differs from conventional data-center-monitoring
systems that lack the infrastructure to effectively store and
analyze large volumes of performance information and log data
obtained from the data center. In conventional
data-center-monitoring systems, this performance data is typically
pre-processed prior to being stored, for example by extracting
pre-specified data items from the performance data and storing them
in a database to facilitate subsequent retrieval and analysis at
search time. However, the rest of the performance data is not saved
and is essentially discarded during pre-processing. In contrast,
the SPLUNK.RTM. APP FOR VMWARE.RTM. stores large volumes of
minimally processed performance information and log data at
ingestion time for later retrieval and analysis at search time when
a live performance issue is being investigated.
[0123] The SPLUNK.RTM. APP FOR VMWARE.RTM. can process many types
of performance-related information. In general, this
performance-related information can include any type of
performance-related data and log data produced by virtual machines
and host computer systems in a data center. In addition to data
obtained from various log files, this performance-related
information can include values for performance metrics obtained
through an application programming interface (API) provided as part
of the vSphere Hypervisor.TM. system distributed by VMware, Inc. of
Palo Alto, Calif. For example, these performance metrics can
include: (1) CPU-related performance metrics; (2) disk-related
performance metrics; (3) memory-related performance metrics; (4)
network-related performance metrics; (5) energy-usage statistics;
(6) data-traffic-related performance metrics; (7) overall system
availability performance metrics; (8) cluster-related performance
metrics; and (9) virtual machine performance statistics. For more
details about such performance metrics, please see U.S. patent Ser.
No. 14/167,316 filed 29 Jan. 2014, which is hereby incorporated
herein by reference. Also, see "vSphere Monitoring and
Performance," Update 1, vSphere 5.5, EN-001357-00,
http://pubs.vmware.com/vsphere-55/topic/com.vmware.ICbase/PDF/vsphere-esx-
i-vcenter-server-551-monitoring-performance-guide.pdf.
[0124] To facilitate retrieving information of interest from
performance data and log files, the SPLUNK.RTM. APP FOR VMWARE.RTM.
provides pre-specified schemas for extracting relevant values from
different types of performance-related event data, and also enables
a user to define such schemas.
[0125] The SPLUNK.RTM. APP FOR VMWARE.RTM. additionally provides
various visualizations to facilitate detecting and diagnosing the
root cause of performance problems. For example, one such
visualization is a "proactive monitoring tree" that enables a user
to easily view and understand relationships among various factors
that affect the performance of a hierarchically structured
computing system. This proactive monitoring tree enables a user to
easily navigate the hierarchy by selectively expanding nodes
representing various entities (e.g., virtual centers or computing
clusters) to view performance information for lower-level nodes
associated with lower-level entities (e.g., virtual machines or
host systems). Exemplary node-expansion operations are illustrated
in FIG. 10C, wherein nodes 733 and 734 are selectively expanded.
Note that nodes 731-739 can be displayed using different patterns
or colors to represent different performance states, such as a
critical state, a warning state, a normal state or an
unknown/offline state. The ease of navigation provided by selective
expansion in combination with the associated performance-state
information enables a user to quickly diagnose the root cause of a
performance problem. The proactive monitoring tree is described in
further detail in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/235,490 filed
on 15 Apr. 2014, which is hereby incorporated herein by reference
for all possible purposes.
[0126] The SPLUNK.RTM. APP FOR VMWARE.RTM. also provides a user
interface that enables a user to select a specific time range and
then view heterogeneous data, comprising events, log data and
associated performance metrics, for the selected time range. For
example, the screen illustrated in FIG. 10D displays a listing of
recent "tasks and events" and a listing of recent "log entries" for
a selected time range above a performance-metric graph for "average
CPU core utilization" for the selected time range. Note that a user
is able to operate pull-down menus 742 to selectively display
different performance metric graphs for the selected time range.
This enables the user to correlate trends in the performance-metric
graph with corresponding event and log data to quickly determine
the root cause of a performance problem. This user interface is
described in more detail in U.S. patent application Ser. No.
14/167,316 filed on 29 Jan. 2014, which is hereby incorporated
herein by reference for all possible purposes.
[0127] FIG. 11 illustrates a diagrammatic representation of a
computing device 1000 within which a set of instructions for
causing the computing device to perform the methods discussed
herein may be executed. The computing device 1000 may be connected
to other computing devices in a LAN, an intranet, an extranet,
and/or the Internet. The computing device 1000 may operate in the
capacity of a server machine in client-server network environment.
The computing device 1000 may be provided by a personal computer
(PC), a set-top box (STB), a server, a network router, switch or
bridge, or any machine capable of executing a set of instructions
(sequential or otherwise) that specify actions to be taken by that
machine. Further, while only a single computing device is
illustrated, the term "computing device" shall also be taken to
include any collection of computing devices that individually or
jointly execute a set (or multiple sets) of instructions to perform
the methods discussed herein. In illustrative examples, the
computing device 1000 may implement the above described methods
300A-300B for assigning scores to objects based on evaluating
triggering conditions applied to datasets produced by search
queries.
[0128] The example computing device 1000 may include a processing
device (e.g., a general purpose processor) 1002, a main memory 1004
(e.g., synchronous dynamic random access memory (DRAM), read-only
memory (ROM)), a static memory 1006 (e.g., flash memory and a data
storage device 1018), which may communicate with each other via a
bus 1030.
[0129] The processing device 1002 may be provided by one or more
general-purpose processing devices such as a microprocessor,
central processing unit, or the like. In an illustrative example,
the processing device 1002 may comprise a complex instruction set
computing (CISC) microprocessor, reduced instruction set computing
(RISC) microprocessor, very long instruction word (VLIW)
microprocessor, or a processor implementing other instruction sets
or processors implementing a combination of instruction sets. The
processing device 1002 may also comprise one or more
special-purpose processing devices such as an application specific
integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA),
a digital signal processor (DSP), a network processor, or the like.
The processing device 1002 may be configured to execute the methods
300A-300B for assigning scores to objects based on evaluating
triggering conditions applied to datasets produced by search
queries, in accordance with one or more aspects of the present
disclosure.
[0130] The computing device 1000 may further include a network
interface device 1008, which may communicate with a network 1020.
The computing device 1000 also may include a video display unit
1010 (e.g., a liquid crystal display (LCD) or a cathode ray tube
(CRT)), an alphanumeric input device 1012 (e.g., a keyboard), a
cursor control device 1014 (e.g., a mouse) and an acoustic signal
generation device 1016 (e.g., a speaker). In one embodiment, video
display unit 1010, alphanumeric input device 1012, and cursor
control device 1014 may be combined into a single component or
device (e.g., an LCD touch screen).
[0131] The data storage device 1018 may include a computer-readable
storage medium 1028 on which may be stored one or more sets of
instructions (e.g., instructions of the methods 300A-300B for
assigning scores to objects based on evaluating triggering
conditions applied to datasets produced by search queries, in
accordance with one or more aspects of the present disclosure)
implementing any one or more of the methods or functions described
herein. Instructions implementing methods 300A-300B may also
reside, completely or at least partially, within main memory 1004
and/or within processing device 1002 during execution thereof by
computing device 1000, main memory 1004 and processing device 1002
also constituting computer-readable media. The instructions may
further be transmitted or received over a network 1020 via network
interface device 1008.
[0132] While computer-readable storage medium 1028 is shown in an
illustrative example to be a single medium, the term
"computer-readable storage medium" should be taken to include a
single medium or multiple media (e.g., a centralized or distributed
database and/or associated caches and servers) that store one or
more sets of instructions. The term "computer-readable storage
medium" shall also be taken to include any medium that is capable
of storing, encoding or carrying a set of instructions for
execution by the machine and that cause the machine to perform the
methods described herein. The term "computer-readable storage
medium" shall accordingly be taken to include, but not be limited
to, solid-state memories, optical media and magnetic media.
[0133] Unless specifically stated otherwise, terms such as
"updating," "identifying," "determining," "sending," "assigning,"
or the like refer to actions and processes performed or implemented
by computing devices that manipulate and transform data represented
as physical (electronic) quantities within the computing device's
registers and memories into other data similarly represented as
physical quantities within the computing device memories or
registers or other such information storage, transmission or
display devices. Also, the terms "first," "second," "third,"
"fourth," etc. as used herein are meant as labels to distinguish
among different elements and may not necessarily have an ordinal
meaning according to their numerical designation.
[0134] Examples described herein also relate to an apparatus for
performing the methods described herein. This apparatus may be
specially constructed for the required purposes, or it may comprise
a general purpose computing device selectively programmed by a
computer program stored in the computing device. Such a computer
program may be stored in a computer-readable non-transitory storage
medium.
[0135] The methods and illustrative examples described herein are
not inherently related to any particular computer or other
apparatus. Various general purpose systems may be used in
accordance with the teachings described herein, or it may prove
convenient to construct more specialized apparatus to perform the
required method operations. The required structure for a variety of
these systems will appear as set forth in the description
above.
[0136] The above description is intended to be illustrative, and
not restrictive. Although the present disclosure has been described
with references to specific illustrative examples, it will be
recognized that the present disclosure is not limited to the
examples described. The scope of the disclosure should be
determined with reference to the following claims, along with the
full scope of equivalents to which the claims are entitled.
* * * * *
References