A METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR UNIQUE ENDURING IDENTIFICATION OF A HARDWARE OR SOFTWARE ENTITY WITHIN AN IT LANDSCAPE

摘要

Methods, computer-readable storage media, and systems that uniquely identify hardware entities and applications within a computing environment. This is done by (1) using retrieved data set that describe the attributes of the computing environment hardware entities; (2) applying strategies that combine attributes of real and virtual hardware entities to identify each hardware entity within the retrieved data set; (3) using retrieved data set that describe the attributes of the computing environment software entities; (4) applying strategies that identify combine attributes of software entities installed on a hardware entity; (5) providing merge strategies that allow values of the attributes of hardware entities to be modified but retain an existing hardware entity identifier; (6) providing merge strategies that allow values of the attributes of applications to be modified but retain an existing application identifier.