System and method for problem determination using dependency graphs and run-time behavior models

• US 20060101308A1
• Filed: 10/21/2004
• Published: 05/11/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 10/21/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: GlobalFoundries, Inc.
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Gupta, Manish, Neogi, Anindya, Sailer, Anca, Appleby, Karen, Agarwal, Manoj K., Kar, Gautam
• Granted Patent: US 7,437,611 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 714/25
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0709 in a distributed system consisting of a plurality of standalone computer nodes, e.g. clusters, client-server systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/079 Root cause analysis, i.e. error or fault diagnosis in a hardware test environment G06F11/22; in a software test environment G06F11/36
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3409 for performance assessment
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3452 Performance evaluation by statistical analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/81 Threshold
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/87 Monitoring of transactions

Abstract

A problem determination system and method reduces the time and effort required by system administrators to trouble shot transaction processing difficulties in a large distributed I/T environment by monitoring system component performance and computing operational performance threshold limits based on dependency graphs for the system. Using this data, a prioritized list of suspect components for the I/T system is generated.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method for performing problem determination within a distributed transaction system comprising the steps of:

computing operational limits for a set of resources in a distributed transaction system;

determining a poor performance status for said resources relative to said operational limits;

generating a list of root cause components which are likely to be causing said poor performance status;

prioritizing said list of root cause components; and

providing said prioritized list of root cause components to a system administrator.

2. The computer implemented method for performing problem determination within a distributed transaction system according to claim 1 wherein the step of computing operational limits for a set of resources in a distributed transaction system further comprises the steps of:

capturing monitoring information from said distribution transaction system;

computing individual component level thresholds from user level SLAs; and

generating dynamic dependency data and said monitoring information.

3. The computer implemented method for performing problem determination within a distributed transaction system according to claim 1 wherein the step of determining a poor performance status for said resources relative to said operational limits further comprises the steps of:

obtaining monitoring information relative to performance of a transaction;

identifying a sub-set of resources that are used to perform said transaction from said set of resources in said distributed transaction system;

obtaining performance information for each resource of said sub-set of resources; and

comparing said monitoring information with said performance information to make performance status determination.

4. The computer implemented method for performing problem determination within a distributed transaction system according to claim 1 wherein the step of generating a list of root cause components which are likely to be causing said poor performance status further comprises the steps of:

selecting one of several algorithms for calculating a severity value for each of said component; and

creating a priority list of said set root cause components based on severity values.

5. The computer implemented method for performing problem determination within a distributed transaction system according to claim 1 wherein the step of prioritizing said list of root cause components further comprises the steps of:

identifying said resource within a rank as a parent or child resource; and

modifying said priority relative to parent or child ranking.

6. The computer implemented method for performing problem determination within a distributed transaction system according to claim 1 wherein the step of providing said prioritized list of root cause components to a system administrator further comprises the steps of:

accepting formatting preference from a system administrator;

formatting said prioritized list of root cause components as requested by said system administrator; and

communicating said formatted prioritized list of root cause components to said system administrator.

7. A problem determination system implemented in computer readable media, comprising:

means for computing operational limits for a set of resources in a distributed transaction system;

means for determining a poor performance status for said resources relative to said operational limits;

means for generating a set of root cause components which are likely to be causing said poor performance status; and

means for prioritizing said set of root cause components; and

means for providing said prioritized set of root cause components to a systems administrator.

8. The problem determination system according to claim 7 wherein, said means for computing operational limits includes:

means for capturing monitoring information from said distributed transaction system;

means for automatically computing individual component level thresholds from user level SLAs; and

means for generating a dynamic dependency information for said distributed transaction system using static dependency data and said monitoring information.

9. The problem determination system according to claim 7 wherein, said means for determining poor performance status for said resources relative to said operational limits includes:

means for obtaining monitoring information relative to performance of a transaction;

means for identifying a sub-set of resources that are used to perform said transaction from said set of resources in said distributed transaction system;

means for obtaining performance information for each resource of said sub-set of resources; and

means for comparing said monitoring information with said performance information to make performance status determination.

10. The problem determination system according to claim 7 wherein, means for generating a set of root cause components which are likely to be causing said poor performance status includes:

means for selecting one of several algorithms for calculating a severity value for each of said resources; and

means for creating a priority list of said set root cause components based on severity values.

11. The problem determination system according to claim 7 wherein, means for generating a set of root cause components which are likely to be causing said poor performance status includes:

means for selecting one of several algorithms for calculating a severity value for each of said resources; and

means for creating a priority list of said set root cause components based on severity values.

12. The problem determination system according to claim 7 wherein, means for prioritizing said set of root cause components includes:

means for identifying said resource within a rank as a parent or child resource; and

means for modifying said priority relative to parent or child ranking.

13. The problem determination system according to claim 7 wherein, means for providing said prioritized set of root cause components to a systems administrator includes:

means for accepting formatting preference from a system administrator;

means for formatting said prioritized list of root cause components as requested by said system administrator; and

means for communicating said formatted prioritized list of root cause components to said system administrator.

14. A distributed transaction system in which problem determination is performed on an automated basis, comprising:

a set of resources configured as a distributed transaction system;

means for computing operational limits for a set of resources in a distributed transaction system;

means for determining a poor performance status for said resources relative to said operational limits;

means for generating a set of root cause components which are likely to be causing said poor performance status; and

means for prioritizing said set of root cause components; and

means for providing said prioritized set of root cause components to a systems administrator.

15. The distributed transactions system according to claim 14 wherein, said means for computing operational limits includes:

means for capturing monitoring information from said distributed transaction system;

means for automatically computing individual component level thresholds from user level SLAs; and

means for generating a dynamic dependency information for said distributed transaction system using static dependency data and said monitoring information.

16. The distributed transactions system according to claim 14 wherein, said means for determining poor performance status for said resources relative to said operational limits includes:

means for obtaining monitoring information relative to performance of a transaction;

means for identifying a sub-set of resources that are used to perform said transaction from said set of resources in said distributed transaction system;

means for obtaining performance information for each resource of said sub-set of resources; and

means for comparing said monitoring information with said performance information to make performance status determination.

17. The distributed transactions system according to claim 14 wherein, means for generating a set of root cause components which are likely to be causing said poor performance status includes:

means for selecting one of several algorithms for calculating a severity value for each of said resources; and

means for creating a priority list of said set root cause components based on severity values.

18. The distributed transactions system according to claim 14 wherein, means for generating a set of root cause components which are likely to be causing said poor performance status includes:

means for selecting one of several algorithms for calculating a severity value for each of said resources; and

means for creating a priority list of said set root cause components based on severity values.

19. The distributed transactions system according to claim 14 wherein, means for prioritizing said set of root cause components includes:

means for identifying said resource within a rank as a parent or child resource; and

means for modifying said priority relative to parent or child ranking.

20. The distributed transactions system according to claim 14 wherein, means for providing said prioritized set of root cause components to a systems administrator includes:

means for accepting formatting preference from a system administrator;

means for formatting said prioritized list of root cause components as requested by said system administrator; and

means for communicating said formatted prioritized list of root cause components to said system administrator.