Software application domain and storage domain risk analysis process and method

• US 20040054618A1
• Filed: 09/16/2002
• Published: 03/18/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 09/16/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Marqeta, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Ashutosh, Ashutosh, Chang, David Fu-Tien
• Granted Patent: US 8,060,436 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/38
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/323 Visualisation of programs or trace data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0635 by changing the path, e.g. traffic rerouting, path reconfiguration
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/067 Distributed or networked storage systems, e.g. storage area networks [SAN], network attached storage [NAS]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/03 Credit; Loans; Processing thereof
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/06 Asset management; Financial planning or analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/08 Insurance
• 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 41/0853 by actively collecting configuration information or by backing up configuration information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/12 Discovery or management of network topologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/22 comprising specially adapted graphical user interfaces [GUI]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/045 for graphical visualisation of monitoring data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0888 Throughput
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1097 for distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]

Abstract

A method for analyzing management risk of a computer network includes selecting a portion of a storage system, determining a first downtime cost associated with a component included in the portion of the storage system, assigning the first downtime cost to the component, and disseminating the assigning of the downtime cost to a user.

Claims

1. A method for analyzing management risk of a computer network comprises:

selecting a portion of a storage system;

determining a first downtime cost associated with a component included in the portion of the storage system;

assigning the first downtime cost to the component; and

disseminating the assigning of the downtime cost to a user.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprises:

determining a second downtime cost associated with the component;

aggregating the first downtime cost and the second downtime cost;

assigning the aggregate of the first downtime cost and the second downtime cost to the component; and

disseminating the aggregate downtime cost to the user.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the first downtime cost is associated with a server.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the first downtime cost is associated with an application.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the first downtime cost has units of dollars per hour.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the first downtime cost is a default value.

7. A method for analyzing management risk of a computer network comprises:

selecting a portion of a storage system which includes a server;

determining a first failure point associated with the server; and

disseminating the first failure point to a user.

8. The method of claim 7 further comprises:

determining a second failure point associated with an application associated with the server; and

disseminating the second failure point to the user.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the application executes on the server.

10. The method of claim 8 further comprises:

simulating the application on the server.

11. A method for analyzing management risk of a computer network comprises:

selecting a portion of a storage system which includes a server;

determining a first downtime cost associated with a component included in the portion of the storage system;

assigning the first downtime cost to the component;

determining a failure point associated with the server; and

disseminating the assigning of the downtime cost and the failure point associated with the server to a user.

12. The method of claim 11 further comprises:

determining a second downtime cost associated with the component;

aggregating the first downtime cost and the second downtime cost;

assigning the aggregate of the first downtime cost and the second downtime cost to the component; and

disseminating the aggregate downtime cost to the user.

13. A method for analyzing management risk of a computer network comprises:

selecting a software application;

selecting a portion of a storage system associated to the software application, the storage system includes a switch, and a storage device;

simulating operating failure of the switch;

determining if a data path passes data from the application to the storage device during the simulated switch failing; and

disseminating the determination of the data path to a user.

14. The method of claim 13 further comprises:

assigning a downtime cost of the software application to the switch if data can not pass from the application to the storage device during the simulated switch failing; and

disseminating the assigned downtime cost to the user.

15. A method for analyzing management risk of a computer network comprises:

selecting a software application;

selecting a portion of a storage system associated to the software application, the storage system includes a database;

retrieving a rule from the database;

applying the rule to the selected software application and the selected portion of the storage system; and

disseminating a result of the applying of the rule to a user.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein the rule includes a configuration record associated with the selected portion of the storage system.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein the configuration record includes information representing a firmware version for executing on the portion of the storage system.