How SAV works

SAV’s main function is to visualize business applications in great detail, and to display the relationships among all their parts and processes and the servers and devices they depend on to function.

SAV scans a server (or multiple servers) and network devices to gather this information and displays it in the maps and tiers, visualizing all processes and process families, connections, and devices related to the business application. Each SAV session, which can be saved as a Business Application to the SA Client Library (or to a local system), allows you to create, visualize, analyze, define, share, and troubleshoot your business applications.

Clicking Refresh Snapshot allows you to scan the current state of the SAV business application and save it. These scan results (called a “Snapshot”) can be compared on a one to one basis using the compare feature (activated by the Compare toolbar button).

Data collection and display

SAV scans devices (servers and network devices) and draws maps based on data that is collected in real-time results of a SAV snapshot. Device data is captured directly from servers and then recorded in snapshots. Network device data is scanned and then recorded in scan results by NAS — where it is retrieved by the SAV from the Network Automation data model.

When you launch SAV, a set of programs runs on the selected managed devices and captures data. This scanning process collects data about processes running on those devices and the connections between them. It also collects detailed configuration information and current run-time state information about connections and processes. SAV then merges the server data, network device data to show how servers, interfaces, switches and switch ports are connected together.

When you click Refresh Snapshot on the SAV toolbar, SAV creates a new snapshot that captures all the information gathered when you scan a business application (and the servers and devices it runs on) as well as your business application definitions.

SAV uses information gathered from SA, NA, and SE, leveraging the architecture to collect more data on-demand (such as processes that are running, open ports, and the number of users logged in). It also maps business application data to visualize and analyze your operational environment.

SAV collects and displays the following information about managed servers, network devices:

• Processes and process families (potentially matching application signatures) that are running on managed servers
• TCP and UDP connections between these processes
• Detailed configuration information
• Current runtime information about servers, connections, and processes
• File systems on servers and how they are used by process
• Servers, interfaces, adapters, switches and vSwitches, and switch port connections

See Processes, process families, and extended process families for an explanation of how SAV interprets this data. See Filtering SAV data for instructions on how to search the data that was collected by object type, such as by process family, network interface, and so on.