System, method and program product for checking a health of a computer system

• US 20040193956A1
• Filed: 03/28/2003
• Published: 09/30/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 03/28/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Murray, Douglas G., Martin, James A. Jr., Greenlee, Gordan, Hanrahan-Locke, Victoria
• Granted Patent: US 7,392,430 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 714/25
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2252 using fault dictionaries

Abstract

Under the present invention, a configurable dictionary is provided. The configurable dictionary includes a set of objects that identify: (1) attribute conditions of the computer system to be checked; (2) associated locations within the computer system for checking the attribute conditions; and (3) actions to be taken based on results of the checks for the computer system. The health of the computer system is checked by processing the set of objects in the configurable dictionary. Specifically, the attribute conditions identified in the configurable dictionary are checked at their associated locations, and any necessary action are implemented.

Claims

1. A system for checking a health of a computer system, comprising:

a dictionary access system for accessing a configurable dictionary, wherein the configurable dictionary includes a set of attribute objects, and wherein each of the set of attribute objects identifies an attribute condition of the computer system to be checked, an associated location for checking the attribute condition and an action to be taken based on a result of the check; and

an analysis system for processing each of the set of attribute objects in the configurable dictionary.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the analysis system processes each of the set of attribute objects by checking the attribute condition at the associated location.

3. The system of claim 1, further comprising a reporting system for reporting the results of the checks of the attribute conditions.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the reporting system further implements the action identified in each of the set of attribute objects.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the configurable dictionary further comprises an action object that identifies a program to be executed, and wherein the analysis system further processes the action object by executing the program.

6. The system of claim 1, further comprising a scheduling system for scheduling the checking of the health of the computer system.

7. The system of claim 1, further comprising a configuration system for defining the configurable dictionary.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the computer system is selected from the group consisting of a client and a server.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the set of attribute objects is selected from the group consisting of a set of records and a set of data structures.

10. A method for checking a health of a computer system, comprising:

accessing a configurable dictionary, wherein the configurable dictionary includes a set of attribute objects, and wherein each of the set of attribute objects identifies an attribute condition of the computer system to be checked, an associated location for checking the attribute condition and an action to be taken based on a result of the check; and

checking the health of the computer system by processing each of the set of attribute objects in the configurable dictionary.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein each of the set of attribute objects is processed by checking the attribute condition at the associated location.

12. The method of claim 10, further comprising reporting the results of the checks of the attribute conditions.

13. The method of claim 10, further comprising implementing the action identified in each of the set of attribute objects.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein the configurable dictionary further comprises an action object that identifies a program to be executed, and wherein the method further comprises processing the action object by executing the program.

15. The method of claim 10, further comprising scheduling the checking of the health of the computer system.

16. The method of claim 10, further comprising defining the configurable dictionary, prior to the accessing step.

17. The method of claim 10, wherein the computer system is selected from the group consisting of a client and a server.

18. The method of claim 10, wherein the set of attribute objects is selected from the group consisting of a set of records and a set of data structures.

19. A program product stored on a recordable medium for checking a health of a computer system, which when executed, comprises:

program code for accessing a configurable dictionary, wherein the configurable dictionary includes a set of attribute objects, and wherein each of the set of attribute objects identifies an attribute condition of the computer system to be checked, an associated location for checking the attribute condition and an action to be taken based on a result of the check; and

program code for processing each of the set of attribute objects in the configurable dictionary.

20. The program product of claim 19, wherein the program code for checking processes each of the set of attribute objects by checking the attribute condition at the associated location.

21. The program product of claim 19, further comprising program code for reporting the results of the checks of the attribute conditions.

22. The program product of claim 21, wherein the program code for reporting further implements the action identified in each of the set of attribute objects.

23. The program product of claim 19, wherein the configurable dictionary further comprises an action object that identifies a program to be executed, and wherein the analysis system further processes the action object by executing the program.

24. The program product of claim 19, further comprising program code for scheduling the checking of the health of the computer system.

25. The program product of claim 19, further comprising program code for defining the configurable dictionary.

26. The program product of claim 19, wherein the computer system is selected from the group consisting of a client and a server.

27. The program product of claim 19, wherein the set of attribute objects is selected from the group consisting of a set of records and a set of data structures.

28. A configurable dictionary for checking a health of a computer system, comprising a set of attribute objects, wherein each of the set of attribute objects identifies an attribute condition of the computer system to be checked, an associated location for checking the attribute condition and an action to be taken based on a result of the check.

29. The configurable dictionary of claim 28, further comprising an action object that identifies a program to be executed.

30. The configurable dictionary of claim 28, wherein the set of attribute objects is selected from the group consisting of a set of records and a set of data structures.