Enterprise management event message format

• US 20030093516A1
• Filed: 10/31/2001
• Published: 05/15/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 10/31/2001
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Purvis, William R., Parsons, Anthony G.J.
• Application Number:
  US10/004,062
• Publication Number:
  US 20030093516A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/044 comprising hierarchical management structures
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/046 comprising network management agents or mobile agents therefor
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/06 Management of faults, events, alarms or notifications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0631 using root cause analysis; using analysis of correlation between notifications, alarms or events based on decision criteria, e.g. hierarchy, tree or time analysis

Abstract

A centralized error processing system receives error messages from one or more clients. The error messages identify an error that has occurred on the client'"'"'s system. The error messages are funneled from the various clients to the centralized error processing system for error analysis and resolution. Preferably, the errors are provided from the various, potentially disparate, computer systems in a common format. The format preferably includes a plurality of fields of information that includes an event identifier, a date/time field, a server identifier, a business string, a severity level, and a message. The business string field comprises a dash (“/”) delimited string comprising a plurality of elements that specify such information as a customer identifier, a business designation, a product code, a product type, a managed object type, a type, an agent an a manager identifier.

Claims

1. A method of monitoring one or more disparate computer systems for event errors, comprising:

(a) receiving an event alert from one of the computer systems formatted in a standard format comprising a business string which includes a plurality of fields of information indicative of the nature of an error;

(b) determining the nature of the error by analyzing said business string; and

(c) responding to the error.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the plurality of fields in the business string includes a customer identifier, a product code, and a product type.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the plurality of fields in the business string includes a customer identifier, a business designation, a product code, a product type, a managed object type, a type, an agent an a manager identifier.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein said product code is indicative of a product selected from the group consisting of an operating system, a hardware component, a network device, an application, and a security feature.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein said product type is indicative of a type corresponding to the product code.

6. The method of claim 3 wherein said business designation is indicative of a business type selected from the group consisting production, solutions testing, development, and a disaster recover.

7. The method of claim 3, wherein further including receiving a plurality of event alerts, storing said event alerts in a central database, and sorting said event alerts according to any one or more of the fields in the business string.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein said event alert also includes an error event identifier and a severity level.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein said event alert also includes an error event identifier, a date and time, a server identifier, a severity level, and an error message.

10. A method of monitoring one or more disparate computer systems for event errors, comprising:

(a) receiving an event alert from one of the computer systems;

(b) formatting said event alert in a standard format comprising a business string which includes a plurality of fields of information indicative of the nature of an error;

(c) determining the nature of the error by analyzing said business string; and

(d) responding to the error.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the plurality of fields in the business string includes a customer identifier, a product code, and a product type.

12. The method of claim 10 wherein the plurality of fields in the business string includes a customer identifier, a business designation, a product code, a product type, a managed object type, a type, an agent an a manager identifier.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein said product code is indicative of a product selected from the group consisting of an operating system, a hardware component, a network device, an application, and a security feature.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein said product type is indicative of a type corresponding to the product code.

15. The method of claim 12 wherein said business designation is indicative of a business type selected from the group consisting production, solutions testing, development, and a disaster recover.

16. The method of claim 12, wherein further including receiving a plurality of event alerts, formatting said event alerts in the standard format, storing said formatted event alerts in a central database, and sorting said formatted event alerts according to any one or more of the fields in the business string.

17. The method of claim 10 wherein said event alert also includes an error event identifier and a severity level.

18. The method of claim 10 wherein said event alert also includes an error event identifier, a date and time, a server identifier, a severity level, and an error message.

19. A computer system, comprising:

an event manager; and

mid-level managers coupled to said event manager;

wherein said mid-level managers are adapted to receive error messages from disparate client monitoring agents, said error messages comporting with a standardized format that includes a business string, said business string includes a plurality of fields of information indicative of the nature of an error.

20. The computer system of claim 19 wherein said plurality of fields of information in the business string includes a customer identifier, a product code, and a product type.

21. The computer system of claim 19 wherein said plurality of fields of information in the business string includes a customer identifier, a business designation, a product code, a product type, a managed object type, a type, an agent an a manager identifier.

22. The computer system of claim 21 wherein said product code is indicative of a product selected from the group consisting of an operating system, a hardware component, a network device, an application, and a security feature.

23. The computer system of claim 22 wherein said product type is indicative of a type corresponding to the product code.

24. The computer system of claim 21 wherein said business designation is indicative of a business type selected from the group consisting production, solutions testing, development, and a disaster recover.

25. The computer system of claim 19 wherein said error message also includes an error event identifier and a severity level.

26. The computer system of claim 19 wherein said error message also includes an error event identifier, a date and time, a server identifier, a severity level, and an error message.