1. A computer program product comprising a computer usable medium having computer usable program code for performing a context-sensitive pre-evaluation analysis of a set of problem determination rules, said computer program product comprising: computer usable program code to identify at least one multiple-clause rule from a plurality of rules, said at least one multiple-clause rule containing a first clause defining a first characteristic condition in a context of a state of the first characteristic; computer usable program code to ascertain a current state of the first characteristic; computer usable program code to exclude the identified at least one multiple-clause rule from evaluation with the plurality of rules on the basis of the first clause in a context of the current state of the first characteristic; computer usable program code to exclude data from evaluation in the context of the identified at least one multiple-clause rule; and computer usable program code to report details of metrics and topologies for the managed resources.
1. A computer program product comprising a computer usable medium having computer usable program code for performing a context-sensitive pre-evaluation analysis of a set of problem determination rules, said computer program product comprising: computer usable program code to identify at least one multiple-clause rule from a plurality of rules, said at least one multiple-clause rule containing a first clause defining a first characteristic condition in a context of a state of the first characteristic; computer usable program code to ascertain a current state of the first characteristic; computer usable program code to exclude the identified at least one multiple-clause rule from evaluation with the plurality of rules on the basis of the first clause in a context of the current state of the first characteristic; computer usable program code to exclude data from evaluation in the context of the identified at least one multiple-clause rule; and computer usable program code to report details of metrics and topologies for the managed resources. 2. The computer program product recited in claim 1 , wherein the computer usable program code to exclude the identified at least one multiple-clause rule from evaluation with the plurality of rules on the basis of the first clause in a context of the current state of the first characteristic, further comprises computer usable program code to identify an extraneous metric, said extraneous metric being defined exclusively in a second clause of the identified at least one multiple-clause rule and being undefined in unidentified rules of the plurality of rules; and computer usable program code to exclude data for the extraneous metric from evaluation.