Consolidating cloud-provisioning data into configuration items

Abstract

A method and associated systems for capturing configuration items from hybrid-cloud provisioning data. A processor of a service-management system intercepts a service request requesting that the hybrid cloud's orchestration mechanism provision or deprovision a configuration item of the hybrid cloud. The service-management system identifies the configuration item by examining the service request and then forwards the request to the cloud-orchestration mechanism. After confirming that the request has been satisfied, the service-management system retrieves from the orchestration mechanism provisioning information that describes attributes of the newly provisioned or deprovisioned configuration item and uses this information to update a configuration-management database, marking any provisioning information newly stored in the database as being authorized for use by other management systems of the hybrid cloud. The service-management system then enhances the stored data by means of an artificially intelligent analytics module and additional configuration-item data collected by a discovery agent.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A service-management system, of a cloud-computing platform, comprising a processor, a memory coupled to the processor, and a computer-readable hardware storage device coupled to the processor, the storage device containing program code configured to be run by the processor via the memory to implement a method for capturing configuration items from cloud provisioning data, the method comprising:
 intercepting a service request directed to a cloud-orchestration mechanism of the cloud-computing platform, where the service request requests that the cloud-orchestration mechanism provision or deprovision a virtualized configuration item of the cloud-computing platform;   extracting from the service request an identification of a request to provision a first configuration item of the cloud-computing platform;   forwarding the service request to the cloud-orchestration mechanism;   capturing provisioning information from the cloud-orchestration mechanism, where the captured provisioning information describes one or more attributes of the first configuration item;   consolidating the captured provisioning information with existing information, stored by the cloud-computing platform, to generate a consolidated information that identifies attributes of the first configuration item; and   marking the consolidated information as being authorized for use by other management systems of the cloud-computing platform.   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 extracting from the service request an identification of a request to deprovision a second configuration item of the cloud-computing platform;   forwarding the service request to the cloud-orchestration mechanism;   determining that the cloud-orchestration mechanism has deprovisioned the second configuration item;   capturing deprovisioning information from the cloud-orchestration mechanism, where the captured deprovisioning information describes one or more attributes of the second configuration item; and   deleting existing information, stored by the cloud-computing platform, that identifies attributes of the second configuration item.   
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 1 , where the capturing further comprises:
 capturing the provisioning information from a cloud-orchestration database of the cloud-orchestration mechanism; and   formatting the captured provisioning information into a format that is compatible with a format of a configuration-management database that stores the consolidated information.   
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 1 , where the existing information and the consolidated information are stored by the cloud-computing platform in a configuration-management database. 
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 identifying, through a discovery software module, one or more attributes of a third configuration item of the cloud-computing platform; and   storing the one or more attributes of the third configuration item in a configuration-management database that stores the consolidated information.   
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 enhancing the captured provisioning data by submitting it to an artificially intelligent analytics application capable of inferring additional characteristics of the first configuration item from the captured provisioning data.   
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 5 , where the enhancing comprises identifying a dependency relationship between the first configuration item and another configuration item of the cloud-computing platform. 
     
     
         8 . A method for capturing configuration items from cloud provisioning data, the method comprising:
 intercepting a service request directed to a cloud-orchestration mechanism of the cloud-computing platform, where the service request requests that the cloud-orchestration mechanism provision or deprovision a virtualized configuration item of the cloud-computing platform;   extracting from the service request an identification of a request to provision a first configuration item of the cloud-computing platform;   forwarding the service request to the cloud-orchestration mechanism;   capturing provisioning information from the cloud-orchestration mechanism, where the captured provisioning information describes one or more attributes of the first configuration item;   consolidating the captured provisioning information with existing information, stored by the cloud-computing platform, to generate a consolidated information that identifies attributes of the first configuration item; and   marking the consolidated information as being authorized for use by other management systems of the cloud-computing platform.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8 , further comprising:
 extracting from the service request an identification of a request to deprovision a second configuration item of the cloud-computing platform;   forwarding the service request to the cloud-orchestration mechanism;   determining that the cloud-orchestration mechanism has deprovisioned the second configuration item;   capturing deprovisioning information from the cloud-orchestration mechanism, where the captured deprovisioning information describes one or more attributes of the second configuration item; and   deleting existing information, stored by the cloud-computing platform, that identifies attributes of the second configuration item.   
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 8 , where the capturing further comprises:
 capturing the provisioning information from a cloud-orchestration database of the cloud-orchestration mechanism; and   formatting the captured provisioning information into a format that is compatible with a format of a configuration-management database that stores the consolidated information.   
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 8 , further comprising:
 identifying, through a discovery software module, one or more attributes of a third configuration item of the cloud-computing platform; and   storing the one or more attributes of the third configuration item in a configuration-management database that stores the consolidated information.   
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 8 , further comprising:
 enhancing the captured provisioning data by submitting it to an artificially intelligent analytics application capable of inferring additional characteristics of the first configuration item from the captured provisioning data.   
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12 , where the enhancing comprises identifying a dependency relationship between the first configuration item and another configuration item of the cloud-computing platform. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 8 , further comprising providing at least one support service for at least one of creating, integrating, hosting, maintaining, and deploying computer-readable program code in the computer system, wherein the computer-readable program code in combination with the computer system is configured to implement the intercepting, the extracting, the forwarding, the capturing, the consolidating, and the marking. 
     
     
         15 . A computer program product, comprising a computer-readable hardware storage device having a computer-readable program code stored therein, the program code configured to be executed by a service-management system comprising a processor, a memory coupled to the processor, and a computer-readable hardware storage device coupled to the processor, the storage device containing program code configured to be run by the processor via the memory to implement a method for capturing configuration items from cloud provisioning data, the method comprising:
 intercepting a service request directed to a cloud-orchestration mechanism of the cloud-computing platform, where the service request requests that the cloud-orchestration mechanism provision or deprovision a virtualized configuration item of the cloud-computing platform;   extracting from the service request an identification of a request to provision a first configuration item of the cloud-computing platform;   forwarding the service request to the cloud-orchestration mechanism;   capturing provisioning information from the cloud-orchestration mechanism, where the captured provisioning information describes one or more attributes of the first configuration item;   consolidating the captured provisioning information with existing information, stored by the cloud-computing platform, to generate a consolidated information that identifies attributes of the first configuration item; and   marking the consolidated information as being authorized for use by other management systems of the cloud-computing platform.   
     
     
         16 . The computer program product of  claim 15 , further comprising:
 extracting from the service request an identification of a request to deprovision a second configuration item of the cloud-computing platform;   forwarding the service request to the cloud-orchestration mechanism;   determining that the cloud-orchestration mechanism has deprovisioned the second configuration item;   capturing deprovisioning information from the cloud-orchestration mechanism, where the captured deprovisioning information describes one or more attributes of the second configuration item; and   deleting existing information, stored by the cloud-computing platform, that identifies attributes of the second configuration item.   
     
     
         17 . The computer program product of  claim 15 , where the capturing further comprises:
 capturing the provisioning information from a cloud-orchestration database of the cloud-orchestration mechanism; and   formatting the captured provisioning information into a format that is compatible with a format of a configuration-management database that stores the consolidated information.   
     
     
         18 . The computer program product of  claim 15 , further comprising:
 identifying, through a discovery software module, one or more attributes of a third configuration item of the cloud-computing platform; and   storing the one or more attributes of the third configuration item in a configuration-management database that stores the consolidated information.   
     
     
         19 . The computer program product of  claim 15 , further comprising:
 enhancing the captured provisioning data by submitting it to an artificially intelligent analytics application capable of inferring additional characteristics of the first configuration item from the captured provisioning data.   
     
     
         20 . The computer program product of  claim 19 , where the enhancing comprises identifying a dependency relationship between the first configuration item and another configuration item of the cloud-computing platform.