Automated problem identification system

• US 20020052718A1
• Filed: 07/27/2001
• Published: 05/02/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 08/04/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle America, Inc. (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Sun Microsystems Incorporated (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Helgren, Matt J., Treece, Alan J., Little, Mike E.
• Granted Patent: US 6,678,639 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 702/188
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2257 using expert systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 5/00 Computing arrangements using knowledge-based models
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 5/025 Extracting rules from data

Abstract

The present invention provides an automated problem identification system. The invention analyzes a customer'"'"'s computing environment, including administration practices, system configuration including hardware, software and the operating system. Then the invention compares the computing environment to an internal rules database. The internal rules database is a compilation of various problems that are known to exist on various configurations. Then, instead of calling an expert when there is a problem and repeating the process for every customer, the invention uses a proactive approach by analyzing a given system configuration and comparing it to a body of known problems, before the system breaks down.

Claims

54. An automated problem identification system comprising:

a computer environment associated with a system;

a check configured to be performed in said computer environment, wherein it is determined if said check is satisfied;

a notice configured to be provided, if said check is not satisfied.

1. A method for automated problem identification comprising:

associating a system with a computer environment;

performing a check in said computer environment;

determining if said check is satisfied;

providing a notice, if said check is not satisfied.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein said determining comprises:

consulting an internal rules database.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein said performing uses a knowledge base.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein said determining uses a knowledge engine.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein said performing comprises:

determining if a computer room temperature is within an acceptable range.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein said performing comprises:

determining if a power and environmental certification has occurred within a range.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein said performing comprises:

determining if one or more grounding points reference a PDU ground.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein said performing comprises:

determining if a root password has been changed within a range.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein said performing comprises:

determining if a hard copy of an escalation procedure is available.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein said performing comprises:

determining if a server response time is fast enough.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein said performing comprises:

determining if a new hardware validation process occurs.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein said performing comprises:

determining if a level zero ufsdump occurs regularly.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein said performing comprises:

determining if a backup is tested regularly.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein said performing comprises:

determining if a document exists regarding OS and data set recovery.

15. The method of claim 1 wherein said performing comprises:

determining if a data center has its accessed controlled.

16. The method of claim 1 wherein said performing comprises:

determining if a data center has its accessed monitored and logged.

17. The method of claim 1 wherein said performing comprises:

determining if an access procedure for after hours personnel exists.

18. The method of claim 1 wherein said performing comprises:

determining if an escalation procedures document exists

19. The method of claim 1 wherein said performing comprises:

determining if all members have an understanding of an escalation procedure.

20. The method of claim 1 wherein said performing comprises:

determining if a process for emergency changes exists.

21. The method of claim 1 wherein said performing comprises:

determining if a maintenance schedule exists.

22. The method of claim 1 wherein said performing comprises:

determining if a pre production review policy for mission critical systems exists.

23. The method of claim 1 wherein said performing comprises:

determining if a budget for training exists.

24. The method of claim 1 wherein said performing comprises:

determining if a potential for a security risk exists due to a local root access via a netpr exploit.

25. The method of claim 1 wherein said performing comprises:

determining if an A5x00 patch cluster is current.

26. The method of claim 1 wherein said performing comprises:

determining if a controller for a primary boot disk and a mirror are the same.

27. The method of claim 1 wherein said performing comprises:

determining if a raw disk device or a Veritas Quick I/O also use ASYNC I/O.

28. The method of claim 1 wherein said performing comprises:

determining if a Veritas filesystem uses a Veritas Quick I/O.

29. The method of claim 1 wherein said performing comprises:

determining if a quantity of host adapters is large.

30. The method of claim 1 wherein said performing comprises:

determining if a firmware for a disk drive is current

31. The method of claim 1 wherein said performing comprises:

determining if a power supply for an A1000/D1000 and an A3X00 is the same.

32. The method of claim 1 wherein said performing comprises:

determining if a current restorable OS backup was restored with a ufsdump.

33. The method of claim 1 wherein said performing comprises:

determining if one or more cables are cleanly routed.

34. The method of claim 1 wherein said performing comprises:

determining if a system console is clearly labeled.

35. The method of claim 1 wherein said performing comprises:

determining if a fast Ethernet NIC is operating at a half duplex.

36. The method of claim 1 wherein said performing comprises:

determining if an NIC has an excessive amount of I/O errors.

37. The method of claim 1 wherein said performing comprises:

determining if an ability to print kernel routine names is enabled in case of a watchdog reset.

38. The method of claim 1 wherein said performing comprises:

determining if a Y2K OS patch is a minimum version.

39. The method of claim 1 wherein said performing comprises:

determining if a Vixel GBIC is a current version.

40. The method of claim 1 wherein said performing comprises:

determining if a firmware for a drive is a current version.

41. The method of claim 1 wherein said performing comprises:

determining if one or more cables are clearly labeled.

42. The method of claim 1 wherein said performing comprises:

determining if a log book exists and is current.

43. The method of claim 1 wherein said performing comprises:

determining if an OS mirror recovery process is documented.

44. The method of claim 1 wherein said performing comprises:

determining if an OS disk mirror recovery process is documented.

45. The method of claim 1 wherein said performing comprises:

determining if a diag-device and a boot-device value is the same.

46. The method of claim 1 wherein said performing comprises:

determining if a system is accessible.

47. The method of claim 1 wherein said performing comprises:

determining if a FIN/FCO applies.

48. The method of claim 1 wherein said performing comprises:

determining if a correctable ECC error exists.

49. The method of claim 1 wherein said performing comprises:

determining if an OS recovery process is documented.

50. The method of claim 1 wherein said performing comprises:

determining if a root user contains a system hostname.

51. The method of claim 1 wherein said performing comprises:

determining if a kernel state of a plex is disabled.

52. The method of claim 1 wherein said performing comprises:

determining if an ability to monitor a service, and application, and a host system exists.

53. The method of claim 1 wherein said performing comprises:

determining if a log book exists and is current.

55. The system of claim 54 further comprising:

an internal rules database configured to be consulted.

56. The system of claim 54 further comprising:

using a knowledge engine to determine if said check is satisfied.

58. The computer program product of claim 57 wherein said computer readable code configured to cause a computer to determine comprises:

computer readable code configured to cause a computer to consult an internal rules database.

59. The computer program product of claim 57 wherein said computer readable code configured to cause a computer to perform uses a knowledge base.

60. The computer program product of claim 57 wherein said computer readable code configured to cause a computer to determine uses a knowledge engine.

55-1. The system of claim 54 further comprising:

using a knowledge base to determine if said check should be performed.

57. A computer program product comprising:

a computer usable medium having computer readable program code embodied therein configured to automatically identify a problem, said computer program product comprising;

computer readable code configured to cause a computer to associate a system with a computer environment;

computer readable code configured to cause a computer to perform a check in said computer environment;

computer readable code configured to cause a computer to determine if said check is satisfied;

computer readable code configured to cause a computer to provide a notice, if said check is not satisfied.