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Service Mapping Overview

Service Mapping in Tripl-i automatically discovers and maps the relationships between business services and their underlying IT infrastructure. Using AI-powered discovery and real-time dependency tracking, it provides complete visibility into how your services are constructed and how they interact with each other.

What is Service Mapping?​

Service Mapping creates a comprehensive, real-time map of your business services by:

  • Discovering all components that make up a service
  • Mapping dependencies between components
  • Visualizing service architecture and data flows
  • Tracking service health and performance
  • Analyzing impact of changes and failures
  • Optimizing service design and resource allocation

Architecture Overview​

The Service Mapping module consists of four main layers:

Discovery Layer​

Automatically scans your environment to identify:

  • Network connections and communication patterns
  • Application components and their configurations
  • Database systems and data stores
  • API endpoints and integrations

Mapping Engine​

Analyzes discovered data to:

  • Identify dependencies between components
  • Understand traffic patterns and data flows
  • Parse configuration files for relationships
  • Use AI to recognize common service patterns

Service Model​

Organizes discovered information into:

  • Business Services: Customer-facing capabilities
  • Technical Services: Supporting infrastructure components
  • Infrastructure: Servers, networks, and storage
  • Data Flows: How information moves through services

Visualization​

Presents service information through:

  • Interactive service topology maps
  • Dependency relationship graphs
  • Impact analysis visualizations
  • Real-time health dashboards

Key Concepts​

Business Services​

A business service represents a customer-facing or business-critical capability that your organization provides.

Example: Online Shopping Service

  • Description: E-commerce platform for customer purchases
  • Criticality: Critical
  • Owner: E-commerce Team
  • Entry Points: Web frontend, mobile app, CDN service
  • Application Layer: Shopping cart, product catalog, payment, order services
  • Middleware: Message queue, cache cluster, API gateway
  • Data Layer: Customer, product, and order databases
  • Infrastructure: Load balancers, web servers, app servers, database servers

Service Dependencies​

Dependencies show how services and components rely on each other:

Understanding Dependencies:

  • Direct Dependencies: Components that directly communicate
  • Transitive Dependencies: Components connected through intermediaries
  • Critical Path: The chain of dependencies that must be available
  • Dependency Type: Database, API, message queue, cache, etc.

Service Hierarchy​

Services are organized in a hierarchy from business to infrastructure:

Four-Tier Hierarchy:

  1. Business Service (Top Level)

    • Customer-facing service
    • Business value focused
    • SLA-driven
    • Example: "Online Shopping"

  2. Technical Service (Supporting Layer)

    • Supporting infrastructure
    • Shared components
    • Technical capabilities
    • Example: "Payment Processing"

  3. Application Component (Implementation Layer)

    • Individual applications
    • Microservices
    • Databases
    • Example: "Order Management API"

  4. Infrastructure (Foundation Layer)

    • Servers
    • Network devices
    • Storage systems
    • Example: "Application Server 01"

Discovery Methods​

Automated Discovery​

Tripl-i uses multiple automated discovery methods:

Traffic-Based Discovery

  • Monitors network traffic between components
  • Identifies communication patterns and protocols
  • Measures traffic volume and latency
  • Detects API calls and database queries

Configuration-Based Discovery

  • Parses application configuration files
  • Extracts connection strings and endpoints
  • Analyzes infrastructure-as-code templates
  • Reviews container orchestration configs

Log Analysis

  • Analyzes application logs for connection patterns
  • Identifies service interactions
  • Tracks data flows
  • Detects integration points

Service Mesh Integration

  • Connects to service mesh platforms (Istio, Consul)
  • Retrieves service registry information
  • Analyzes traffic routing rules
  • Monitors health check status

AI-Powered Mapping​

The AI mapping engine:

  • Recognizes Patterns: Identifies common service architectures
  • Validates Dependencies: Confirms discovered relationships
  • Predicts Missing Components: Suggests likely but undetected dependencies
  • Learns from Changes: Improves accuracy based on manual corrections

Service Modeling​

Service Definition​

Each service in Tripl-i includes:

Metadata:

  • Service name and description
  • Version information
  • Business criticality level
  • Compliance requirements (PCI-DSS, SOX, HIPAA, etc.)

Ownership:

  • Business owner (responsible for outcomes)
  • Technical owner (responsible for operations)
  • On-call team contact information

Service Level Agreements (SLAs):

  • Availability target (e.g., 99.99%)
  • Response time requirements (e.g., p99 < 500ms)
  • Throughput capacity (e.g., 10,000 transactions/second)

Components:

  • Entry points (web apps, APIs, mobile apps)
  • Services (microservices, application servers)
  • Databases (relational, NoSQL, caches)
  • External dependencies (third-party APIs, cloud services)

Dynamic Service Discovery​

Service discovery runs continuously to:

  1. Identify entry points: Find how users access the service
  2. Trace connections: Follow all communication paths
  3. Classify components: Determine the role of each component
  4. Map dependencies: Build the complete dependency graph
  5. Detect boundaries: Identify where one service ends and another begins

Visualization Features​

Interactive Service Maps​

Service maps provide multiple view options:

Layout Algorithms:

  • Hierarchical: Shows service layers from business to infrastructure
  • Force-directed: Displays organic relationships between components
  • Circular: Presents service ecosystems in a circular layout
  • Matrix: Shows dependencies in a grid format

Visual Elements:

  • Component Shapes: Different shapes indicate component types
  • Color Coding: Colors represent health status
  • Size: Node size reflects importance or traffic volume
  • Icons: Technology-specific icons for easy identification

Connections:

  • Line Thickness: Represents data volume or dependency strength
  • Line Style: Shows connection type (synchronous, asynchronous)
  • Animation: Real-time flow visualization
  • Color: Indicates latency or health status

Interactivity:

  • Zoom and pan for navigation
  • Hover for detailed component information
  • Click to drill down into services
  • Filter by health, type, criticality, or custom criteria

Real-Time Updates​

Service maps update automatically to show:

  • Current health status with color-coded indicators
  • Active traffic flows with animations
  • Performance metrics displayed inline
  • Alert notifications as they occur

Impact Analysis​

Change Impact Prediction​

Before making changes, Tripl-i predicts:

  • Direct Impact: Services using the changed component
  • Cascading Effects: Services affected through dependencies
  • Business Impact: Affected users and revenue
  • Risk Assessment: Probability and severity of issues

Failure Impact Simulation​

When failures occur, the system:

  • Identifies Affected Services: Traces impact through dependencies
  • Estimates User Impact: Calculates affected user count
  • Predicts Duration: Estimates recovery time
  • Recommends Actions: Suggests mitigation strategies

Service Optimization​

Dependency Optimization​

The system analyzes service architecture and identifies:

Anti-Patterns:

  • Circular dependencies that create tight coupling
  • Single points of failure without redundancy
  • Chatty communication patterns causing overhead
  • Inefficient data flows

Performance Issues:

  • Bottlenecks limiting throughput
  • High-latency dependencies
  • Over-utilized components
  • Under-utilized resources

Cost Optimization:

  • Over-provisioned resources
  • Redundant components
  • Inefficient architectures
  • Opportunities for consolidation

Integration Capabilities​

CI/CD Integration​

Integrates with deployment pipelines to:

  • Pre-Deployment: Validate service dependencies before deployment
  • During Deployment: Update service maps in real-time
  • Post-Deployment: Verify service health and performance
  • Rollback Planning: Maintain rollback dependency information

Monitoring Integration​

Connects with monitoring tools to:

  • Create monitoring topology automatically
  • Configure alerts based on service criticality
  • Build dashboards for service health
  • Correlate incidents with service dependencies

Service Catalog​

The service catalog provides:

  • Searchable Directory: Find services by name, owner, or technology
  • Service Documentation: Architecture diagrams, runbooks, DR plans
  • Dependency Information: Complete list of internal and external dependencies
  • Technical Details: Technology stack, hosting location, contact information
  • Business Context: Revenue impact, user base, criticality level

Best Practices​

1. Discovery Strategy​

  • Start with critical business services
  • Use multiple discovery methods for accuracy
  • Validate automated discoveries manually
  • Schedule regular re-discovery cycles

2. Mapping Accuracy​

  • Verify component boundaries are correct
  • Validate all discovered dependencies
  • Include external services and APIs
  • Document any manual assumptions

3. Maintenance​

  • Keep service maps up-to-date
  • Track and document service changes
  • Perform regular validation reviews
  • Use version control for service definitions

4. Usage​

  • Share service maps with all stakeholders
  • Use maps during change planning
  • Reference maps during incident response
  • Drive optimization efforts with insights

Getting Started​

Step 1: Access Service Mapping​

  1. Navigate to Modules > Service Mapping in the main menu
  2. Click New Service Map to begin

Step 2: Initiate Discovery​

  1. Select a starting point (application, server, or database)
  2. Choose discovery methods (traffic analysis, configuration, logs)
  3. Set discovery depth (how many levels to traverse)
  4. Click Start Discovery

Step 3: Review Results​

  1. View the discovered service map visualization
  2. Review components and dependencies identified
  3. Check confidence scores for each dependency
  4. Validate or correct any inaccurate mappings

Step 4: Define Service​

  1. Name the service and add description
  2. Assign business owner and technical owner
  3. Set criticality level and SLA targets
  4. Document compliance requirements

Step 5: Enable Monitoring​

  1. Configure health monitoring for components
  2. Set up alerts for service degradation
  3. Create dashboards for service visibility
  4. Schedule regular health reports

Next Steps​