Method and apparatus to estimate downtime and cost of downtime in an information technology infrastructure
First Claim
1. A method of estimating the cost of downtime in an information technology network comprising:
- creating a computer model of individual components in the information technology network;
assigning a numerical workload to each component in the information technology network;
simulating component failures in the computer model;
calculating the amount of workload that is lost from the simulated component failures; and
assigning a cost per unit workload lost during a component failure;
wherein the estimated cost of downtime caused by component failures is determined by multiplying the amount of workload that is lost from the simulated component failures by the cost per unit workload.
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Abstract
An availability analysis software tool for estimating the downtime and cost of downtime in an information technology network. The tool can create a computer element model of software and hardware components in the network. The elements are combinable into logical group models and element and group models are further combinable into a model tree to simulate the network. Each element is assigned a workload and the sum of element workloads determine group and model workloads. Simulated element failures reduce workload in the group and model tree. Cost per unit workload lost during an element failure are assignable, wherein the estimated cost of downtime caused by element failures is determined by multiplying the amount of workload that is lost from the simulated element failures by the cost per unit workload.
126 Citations
33 Claims
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1. A method of estimating the cost of downtime in an information technology network comprising:
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creating a computer model of individual components in the information technology network;
assigning a numerical workload to each component in the information technology network;
simulating component failures in the computer model;
calculating the amount of workload that is lost from the simulated component failures; and
assigning a cost per unit workload lost during a component failure;
wherein the estimated cost of downtime caused by component failures is determined by multiplying the amount of workload that is lost from the simulated component failures by the cost per unit workload. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. An network availability analysis software tool comprising:
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a network modeling function comprising element and group models to represent network components;
a business mission editor for creating variable business missions, each mission representing a grouping of adjacent time slots that are each assigned an expected network workload and network downtime cost;
a user interface for creating a sequence of the variable business missions; and
a failure simulator that generates failure points and repair times for the models based on historical reliability of the network components;
wherein the failure points and repair times are mapped against the sequence of business missions to determine which variable business mission is impacted by the failure point. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A method of cost estimating software failures in a network simulation tool comprising:
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modeling a software application as a software element in a network model, said software element producing a workload when operating but which produces no workload when failed;
creating a business mission comprising adjacent time slots, each time slot characterized by an expected network workload and network downtime cost;
assigning a future failure time to the element based on a mean time between crash (MTBC) value for the software application;
assigning a repair time to the element based on a mean time to repair (MTTR) value for the software application; and
estimating the cost of the software failure by i. placing the future failure time in the appropriate time slot in the business mission and if the workload lost by the failure of the software element impacts the expected network workload for that time slot, ii. calculating the cost of the software failure from the network downtime cost for that time slot and the expected repair time for the software element. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. An network availability analysis software tool comprising:
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a network modeling function that uses element and group model members to create a simulated network, said element model members representing components in the simulated network and said group model members comprising at least two element model members;
a failure simulator that generates failure points and repair times for the element and group model members based on historical reliability of the network components and availability of remedial service coverage, wherein the network modeling function establishes correlated references between a slave reference model member and a master referenced model member that permit sharing of the same model member in different portions of the simulated network and wherein the failure simulator generates failure points and repair times for the master referenced model member, but not for the slave reference model member. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24)
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25. A method of estimating the cost of downtime in an information technology network comprising:
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creating a computer element model of individual software and hardware components in the information technology network;
combining element models into logical group models to simulate real-world configurations;
creating a model tree of element and group models to simulate the information technology network. assigning an element workload to each element in the information technology network, said element workloads being summable to determine group and model tree workloads;
simulating element failures in the model tree that reduce workload generated by a failed element;
omitting from the total group or model tree workloads the workload loss that is contributed by the simulated element failures; and
assigning a cost per unit workload lost at the model tree;
wherein the estimated cost of downtime in the model tree caused by element failures is determined by multiplying the amount of workload that is lost in the model tree times the cost per unit workload. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28, 29)
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30. A method of estimating downtime in an information technology network comprising:
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creating a computer element model of individual software and hardware components in the information technology network;
combining element models into logical group models to simulate real-world configurations;
creating a model tree of element and group models to simulate the information technology network. assigning an element workload to each element in the information technology network, said element workloads being summable to determine group and model tree workloads;
simulating element failures in the model tree that reduce workload produced by a failed element;
simulating group failures if element failures within a group model cause the group workload to fall below a predetermined group workload minimum;
omitting from the model tree workload the workload loss that is contributed by the simulated element and group failures; and
wherein the estimated downtime in the information technology network is determined by comparing the simulated model tree workload to an expected network workload. - View Dependent Claims (31, 32, 33)
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Specification