Configuring and utilizing call-home systems

• US 10,089,166 B2
• Filed: 03/08/2016
• Issued: 10/02/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 03/08/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Lehmann, Stefan, Rueger, Erik, Schmitt, Christof, Sondhi, Neil
• Primary Examiner(s): Iqbal, Nadeem
• Application Number:
  US15/063,879
• Publication Number:
  US 20170262329A1
• Time in Patent Office: 938 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0709 in a distributed system consisting of a plurality of standalone computer nodes, e.g. clusters, client-server systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0748 in a remote unit communicating with a single-box computer node experiencing an error/fault remote testing G06F11/2294
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0778 Dumping, i.e. gathering error/state information after a fault for later diagnosis
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0784 Routing of error reports, e.g. with a specific transmission path or data flow
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3072 where the reporting involves data filtering, e.g. pattern matching, time or event triggered, adaptive or policy-based reporting
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3476 Data logging G06F11/14, G06F11/2205 take precedence

Abstract

Call-home systems are configured and utilized. A log file is presented on a user interface of a computing device. One or more interactions that are associated with one or more instructions to modify the log file are detected on the user interface. One or more modifications to the log file are applied to the log file based on the one or more interactions. The one or more modifications include at least one of a modification that omits information from the log file, a modification that redacts information in the log file, and a modification that obfuscates information in the log file. The modified version of the log file is transferred to a call-home server based on one or more data transfer options.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, by one or more computer processors, an alert on a system administrator console, wherein the alert is generated and sent to the system administrator console by a customer device in response to the customer device (i) detecting an event that is associated with a product for which a support-service is provided and (ii) determining that the customer device requires approval to generate the log file;

sending to the customer device, via the system administrator console and by one or more computer processors, a request to generate a log file that includes information describing, at least in part, the event;

receiving on the system administrator console, by one or more computer processors, the log file generated by the customer device in response to the customer device receiving the request;

presenting, by one or more computer processors, the log file on a user interface of the system administrator console;

detecting, by one or more computer processors, one or more interactions with the user interface that are associated with one or more instructions to modify the log file in compliance with an information security policy;

automatically applying, by one or more computer processors, one or more modifications to confidential information within the log file, based on the one or more interactions, to create a modified version of the log file in compliance with an information security policy, wherein the one or more modifications include at least one of (i) a modification that omits confidential information from the log file, (ii) a modification that redacts confidential information in the log file, and (iii) a modification that obfuscates confidential information in the log file; and

transferring, by one or more computer processors, the modified version of the log file to a call-home server based on one or more data transfer options.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

presenting on the user interface, by one or more computer processors, a list of configuration options including the one or more configuration options, wherein the configuration options include at least one of (i) an option to automatically omit confidential information from the log file, (ii) an option to automatically redact confidential information in the log file, and (iii) an option to automatically obfuscate confidential information in the log file; and

sending to the customer device, by one or more computer processors, (i) one or more instructions to generate the log file based on one or more selected configuration options and (ii) one or more instructions to send the log file to the system administrator console.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the one or more configuration options are presented on the user interface in response to receiving on the system administrator console, by one or more computer processors, the alert from the customer device.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein:

the option to automatically omit confidential information from the log file is associated with a type of confidential information defined by the information security policy;

the option to automatically redact confidential information in the log file is associated with the type of confidential information defined by the information security policy; and

the option to automatically obfuscate confidential information in the log file is associated with the type of confidential information defined by the information security policy.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the one or more configuration options include an option to identify a specific term in the log file based on a search string, and wherein the user interface provides at least one of (i) an option to omit an instance of the specific term from the log file, (ii) an option to redact the instance of the specific term in the log file, and (iii) an option to obfuscate the instance of the specific term in the log file.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

based on a search string, identifying, by one or more computer processors, a specific term in the log file, wherein the one or more modifications include at least one of (i) a modification that omits an instance of the specific term from the log file, (ii) a modification that redacts the instance of the specific term in the log file, and (iii) a modification that obfuscates the instance of the specific term in the log file.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

sending, by one or more computer processors, the log file from the system administrator console to an approval console; and

receiving on the system administrator console, by one or more computer processors, at least one of an approval and an approved version of the log file from the approval console.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more data transfer options include at least one of (i) an option to encrypt the log file, (ii) and option to compress the log file, and (iii) an option to send the log file to the call-home server via email.

9. A method comprising:

presenting on a user interface of a system administrator console, by one or more computer processors, one or more configuration options, wherein the one or more configuration options include at least one of (i) an option to automatically omit confidential information from one or more log files in compliance with an information security policy, (ii) an option to automatically redact confidential information in the one or more log files in compliance with the information security policy, and (iii) an option to automatically obfuscate confidential information in the one or more log files in compliance with the information security policy;

sending to a customer device, by one or more computer processors, (i) one or more instructions to automatically generate the one or more log files based on one or more selected configuration options;

receiving on the system administrator console, by one or more computer processors, a log file from the customer device, wherein the customer device automatically generated the log file in response to receiving the one or more instructions form the system administrator console and in response to detecting an event that is associated with a product for which a support-service is provided, and wherein the log file describes, at least in part, the event;

presenting, by one or more computer processors, the log file on the user interface of the system administrator console; and

transferring, by one or more computer processors, the log file to a call-home server based on one or more data transfer options.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the one or more configuration options are presented on the user interface in response to receiving on the system administrator console, by one or more computer processors, an alert from the second computing device, wherein the alert describes, at least in part, the event that is associated with the product for which the support-service is provided.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein:

the option to automatically omit confidential information from the log file is associated with a type of confidential information defined by the information security policy;

the option to automatically redact confidential information in the log file is associated with the type of confidential information defined by the information security policy; and

the option to automatically obfuscate confidential information in the log file is associated with the type of confidential information defined by the information security policy.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the one or more configuration options include an option to identify a specific term in the log file based on a search string, and wherein the user interface provides at least one of (i) an option to omit an instance of the specific term from the log file, (ii) an option to redact the instance of the specific term in the log file, and (iii) an option to obfuscate the instance of the specific term in the log file.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the one or more data transfer options include at least one of (i) an option to encrypt the log file, (ii) and option to compress the log file, and (iii) an option to send the log file to the call-home server via email.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

sending, by one or more computer processors, the log file from the system administrator console to an approval console; and

receiving on the system administrator console, by one or more computer processors, at least one of an approval and an approved version of the log file from the approval console.

15. A computer system comprising:

one or more computer processors;

one or more computer readable storage media;

program instructions stored on the one or more computer readable storage media for execution by at least one of the one or more processors, the program instructions comprising;

program instructions to receive an alert on a system administrator console, wherein the alert is generated and sent to the system administrator console by a customer device in response to the customer device (i) detecting an event that is associated with a product for which a support-service is provided and (ii) determining that the customer device requires approval to generate the log file;

program instructions to send to the customer device, via the system administrator console, a request to generate a log file that includes information describing, at least in part, the event;

program instructions to receive on the system administrator console the log file generated by the customer device in response to the customer device receiving the request;

program instructions to present the log file on a user interface of the system administrator console;

program instructions to detect one or more interactions with the user interface that are associated with one or more instructions to modify the log file in compliance with an information security policy;

program instructions to automatically apply one or more modifications to confidential information within the log file, based on the one or more interactions, to create a modified version of the log file in compliance with the information security policy, wherein the one or more modifications include at least one of (i) a modification that omits confidential information from the log file, (ii) a modification that redacts confidential information in the log file, and (iii) a modification that obfuscates confidential information in the log file; and

program instructions to transfer the modified version of the log file to a call-home server based on one or more data transfer options.

16. The computer system of claim 15, the program instructions further comprising:

program instructions to present on the user interface, a list of configuration options including the one or more configuration options, wherein the configuration options include at least one of (i) an option to automatically omit confidential information from the log file, (ii) an option to automatically redact confidential information in the log file, and (iii) an option to automatically obfuscate confidential information in the log file; and

program instructions to send to the customer device (i) one or more instructions to generate the log file based on one or more selected configuration options and (ii) one or more instructions to send the log file to the system administrator console.

17. The computer system of claim 16, wherein the one or more configuration options are presented on the user interface in response to receiving, on the first computing device, an alert from the customer device.

18. The computer system of claim 17, wherein:

the option to automatically omit confidential information from the log file is associated with a type of confidential information defined by the information security policy;

the option to automatically redact confidential information in the log file is associated with the type of confidential information defined by the information security policy; and

the option to automatically obfuscate confidential information in the log file is associated with the type of confidential information defined by the information security policy.

19. The computer system of claim 18, wherein the one or more configuration options include an option to identify a specific term in the log file based on a search string, and wherein the user interface provides at least one of (i) an option to omit an instance of the specific term from the log file, (ii) an option to redact the instance of the specific term in the log file, and (iii) an option to obfuscate the instance of the specific term in the log file.

20. The computer system of claim 15, the program instructions further comprising:

program instructions to, based on a search string, identify a specific term in the log file, wherein the one or more modifications include at least one of (i) a modification that omits an instance of the specific term from the log file, (ii) a modification that redacts the instance of the specific term in the log file, and (iii) a modification that obfuscates the instance of the specific term in the log file.