Systems and methods for managing and analyzing faults in computer networks

• US 20040078683A1
• Filed: 10/29/2002
• Published: 04/22/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 05/05/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Computer Associates Think Inc. (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Computer Associates Think Inc. (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Buia, Christhoper A., Ball, Scott, Taylor, David K., Rockwell, Nathaniel J., Pantelis, Thomas S.
• Granted Patent: US 7,500,143 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 714/37
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/66 Arrangements for connecting between networks having differing types of switching systems, e.g. gateways

Abstract

A system (100) for analyzing a fault includes a fault object factory (110) constructed and arranged to receive fault data and create a fault object (112), and a fault diagnosis engine (101) constructed and arranged to perform root cause analysis of the fault object. The system may further include a fault detector (130) constructed and arranged to detect the fault data in a monitored entity, a fault repository (140) constructed and arranged to store and access the fault object; and a fault handler (150) constructed and arranged to be triggered by the fault diagnosis engine to analyze the fault object.

Claims

1. A method of diagnosing a fault, comprising the acts of:

receiving fault data;

creating a fault object; and

performing a root cause analysis on said object to determine a root cause.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein said creating a fault object includes employing a fault object factory using fault data.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein said performing root cause analysis includes invoking specific fault handlers.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein said employing fault handlers includes employing a diagnoser fault handler.

5. The method of claim 3 wherein said employing fault handlers includes employing a tester fault handler.

6. The method of claim 4 or 5 wherein said employing fault handler includes obtaining an ordered list of fault handlers for a specified transition state of said fault object.

7. The method of claim 4 wherein said obtaining the ordered list includes employing a diagnoser fault handler registered for the type of the analyzed object.

8. The method of claim 5 wherein said employing diagnoser fault handler includes transitioning fault object between processing states.

9. The method of claim 5 further including determining casualty.

10. The method of claim 6 further including performing resolution and re-evaluation of fault objects.

11. The method of claim 6 wherein said employing said diagnoser fault handler includes decomposing said fault object into at least two constituent fault objects, wherein each said constituent fault object represents a possible cause of said received fault data.

12. The method of claim 11 further including employing a tester fault handler on each said constituent fault object.

13. The method of claim 12 including employing a state transition diagram.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein said employing the transition diagram includes using an initial state, a testing state, a detected state, and a completed state.

15. The method of claim 11 further including employing a fault object tree.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein fault objects in said fault object tree are related by a MaybeCausedBy association.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein fault objects in said fault object tree are CausedBy association.

18. The method of claim 1 further including impact analysis of said determined root cause on a system from which said fault data was obtained.

22. The method of claim 1 further including prioritization.

23. The method of claim 1 further including fault presentation that displays fault result to a user.

24. The method of claim 1 further including recourse that provides a way for a user to a system from which said fault data were obtained.

25. A system for analyzing a fault, comprising:

a fault object factory constructed and arranged to receive fault data and create a fault object; and

a fault diagnosis engine constructed and arranged to perform root cause analysis of said fault object.

26. A system of claim 25 further including a fault detector constructed and arranged to detect said fault data in a monitored entity.

27. A system of claim 25 further including a fault repository constructed and arranged to store and access said fault object.

28. A system of claim 25 further including a fault handler constructed and arranged to be triggered by said fault diagnosis engine to analyze said fault object.

29. A system of claim 28 wherein said fault handler includes a fault handler tester.

30. A system of claim 28 wherein said fault handler includes a fault handler diagnoser.