Automated verification of correctness of aspects of an information technology system

• US 20060156274A1
• Filed: 05/23/2005
• Published: 07/13/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 12/14/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kyndryl Incorporated
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Andreev, Dmitry, Grunin, Galina, Vilshansky, Gregory, Greenstein, Paul G.
• Granted Patent: US 7,797,739 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/100
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/008 Reliability or availability analysis

Abstract

A method for verifying correctness of an Information Technology (IT) structure instance D of an IT structure R, a method for detecting an unauthorized change in an operating instance X of an IT structure R, a method for verifying conformance of an IT structure to an IT delivery environment, associated computer program products, and associated processes for integrating computing infrastructure. The method for verifying correctness of an IT structure instance D determines whether a reverse specification RD for D differs from R. The method for detecting an unauthorized change in an operating instance X of an IT structure R determines whether authorized changes in R have occurred. The method for verifying conformance of an IT structure to an IT delivery environment verifies compliance of the IT structure relating to: product standard compliance, compliance of software elements of the IT structure primitive composition, software application type compliance, and network traffic compliance.

Claims

1. A method for verifying correctness of an Information Technology (IT) structure instance D of an IT structure R of an IT system, said method comprising:

providing information relating to the IT structure instance D, said IT instance D having resulted from deployment of the IT structure R;

generating a real IT structure RD from the information relating to the IT structure instance D;

comparing R and RD to determine whether RD differs from R; and

if said comparing determines that RD differs from R then indicating that said deployment was unsuccessful else indicating that said deployment was successful.

2. The method of claim 1, said providing information comprising gathering the information, said gathering being performed by at least one IT agent.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein if said comparing determines that RD differs from R then indicating at least one difference between RD and R.

4. A computer program product, comprising a computer usable medium having a computer readable program code embodied therein, said computer readable program code comprising an algorithm adapted to implement a method for verifying correctness of an Information Technology (IT) structure instance D of an IT structure R, said method comprising:

providing information relating to the IT structure instance D, said IT instance D having resulted from deployment of the IT structure R;

generating a real IT structure RD from the information relating to the IT structure instance D;

comparing R and RD to determine whether RD differs from R; and

if said comparing determines that RD differs from R then indicating that said deployment was unsuccessful else indicating that said deployment was successful.

5. The computer program product of claim 4, said providing information comprising gathering the information, said gathering being performed by at least one IT agent.

6. The computer program product of claim 4, wherein if said comparing determines that RD differs from R then indicating at least one difference between RD and R.

7. A process for integrating computing infrastructure, said process comprising integrating computer-readable code into a computing system, wherein the code in combination with the computing system is capable of performing a method for verifying correctness of an Information Technology (IT) structure instance D of an IT structure R, said method comprising:

providing information relating to the IT structure instance D, said IT instance D having resulted from deployment of the IT structure R;

generating a real IT structure RD from the information relating to the IT structure instance D;

comparing R and RD to determine whether RD differs from R; and

if said comparing determines that RD differs from R then indicating that said deployment was unsuccessful else indicating that said deployment was successful.

8. The process of claim 7, said providing information comprising gathering the information, said gathering being performed by at least one IT agent.

9. The process of claim 7, wherein if said comparing determines that RD differs from R then indicating at least one difference between RD and R.

10. A method for detecting an unauthorized change in an operating instance X of an Information Technology (IT) structure R of an IT system, said method comprising the steps of:

(a) determining if X is a correctly deployed instance of R; and

(b) if said determining determines that X is not a correctly deployed instance of R then signaling that X is not a correctly deployed instance of R and exiting said method, else

(b1) delaying or not delaying for a pre-specified period of time followed by

(b2) if R is determined to have acquired an authorized change since step (a) then exiting said method else looping back to step (a).

11. The method of claim 10, wherein said delaying or not delaying in step (b1) consists of said delaying.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein said delaying or not delaying in step (b1) consists of said not delaying.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein said authorized change is a change relating to a translation or binding process operating on R.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein said authorized change is a change resulting from a version control function of a development environment.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein R is determined to have acquired said authorized change, based on information obtained from a development environment that is aware of which IT structures of the IT system are in a process of being changed.

16. A computer program product, comprising a computer usable medium having a computer readable program code embodied therein, said computer readable program code comprising an algorithm adapted to implement method for detecting an unauthorized change in an operating instance X of an Information Technology (IT) structure R of an IT system, said method comprising the steps of:

(a) determining if X is a correctly deployed instance of R; and

(b) if said determining determines that X is not a correctly deployed instance of R then signaling that X is not a correctly deployed instance of R and exiting said method, else

(b1) delaying or not delaying for a pre-specified period of time followed by

(b2) if R is determined to have acquired an authorized change since step (a) then exiting said method else looping back to step (a).

17. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein said delaying or not delaying in step (b1) consists of said delaying.

18. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein said delaying or not delaying in step (b1) consists of said not delaying.

19. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein said authorized change is a change relating to a translation or binding process operating on R.

20. The computer program product of claim 19, wherein said authorized change is a change resulting from a version control function of a development environment.

21. The computer program product of claim 19, wherein R is determined to have acquired said authorized change, based on information obtained from a development environment that is aware of which IT structures of the IT system are in a process of being changed.

22. A process for integrating computing infrastructure, said process comprising integrating computer-readable code into a computing system, wherein the code in combination with the computing system is capable of performing a method for detecting an unauthorized change in an operating instance X of an Information Technology (IT) structure R of an IT system, said method comprising the steps of:

(a) determining if X is a correctly deployed instance of R; and

(b) if said determining determines that X is not a correctly deployed instance of R then signaling that X is not a correctly deployed instance of R and exiting said method, else

(b1) delaying or not delaying for a pre-specified period of time followed by

(b2) if R is determined to have acquired an authorized change since step (a) then exiting said method else looping back to step (a).

23. The process of claim 22, wherein said delaying or not delaying in step (b1) consists of said delaying.

24. The process of claim 22, wherein said delaying or not delaying in step (b1) consists of said not delaying.

25. The process of claim 22, wherein said authorized change is a change relating to a translation or binding process operating on R.

26. The process of claim 25, wherein said authorized change is a change resulting from a version control function of a development environment.

27. The process of claim 25, wherein R is determined to have acquired said authorized change, based on information obtained from a development environment that is aware of which IT structures of the IT system are in a process of being changed.

28. A method for verifying conformance of an Information Technology (IT) structure of an IT system to an IT delivery environment, said method comprising:

verifying product standard compliance of the IT structure by verifying that a primitive composition of the IT structure does not comprise a non-abstract element that is not in conformance with all standards established for the IT delivery environment;

verifying compliance of software elements the primitive composition of the IT structure by verifying that the IT structure does not comprise a software element that is forbidden from being used in the IT delivery environment, and by further verifying that each software element of the IT structure required for use in the IT delivery environment satisfies all dependencies of said each software element required by the IT delivery environment;

verifying software application type compliance of the IT structure by verifying that the IT structure does not comprise a software application type that is forbidden by the IT delivery environment; and

verifying network traffic compliance of the IT structure by verifying that;

the IT structure does not use a protocol forbidden by the IT delivery environment, the IT structure does not comprise an interface on any port forbidden by the IT delivery environment from accessing external data flow into the IT delivery environment from outside of the IT delivery environment, and the IT structure does not comprise an interface on any port forbidden by the IT delivery environment from facilitating outward data flow from within the IT delivery environment to outside of the IT delivery environment.

29. The method of claim 28, said method further comprising verifying network bandwidth compliance of the IT structure by verifying that a total peak network bandwidth required collectively by the software elements of the primitive composition of the IT structure does not exceed a total spare network bandwidth capacity of the IT delivery environment.

30. The method of claim 28, said method further comprising verifying monitoring and administrative access compliance of the IT structure by verifying that the IT structure has all interfaces necessary for providing access to the IT structure by a monitoring system of the IT delivery environment.

31. The method of claim 28, said method further comprising verifying that the required service level compliance of the IT structure does not have incident response requirements that cannot be fulfilled by the IT delivery environment.

32. The method of claim 28, said method further comprising:

verifying required security level compliance of the IT structure;

verifying Internet availability provided by the IT delivery environment to satisfy Internet connectivity requirements of the IT structure;

verifying that power consumption requirements of the IT structure are compatible with a power capacity of the IT delivery environment;

verifying that the IT structure uses only physical network interfaces supported by the IT delivery environment; and

verifying that a space requirement of the hardware devices comprised by an IT primitive composition of the IT structure can be satisfied by the IT delivery environment.

33. A computer program product, comprising a computer usable medium having a computer readable program code embodied therein, said computer readable program code comprising an algorithm adapted to implement method for verifying conformance of an Information Technology (IT) structure of an IT system to an IT delivery environment, said method comprising:

verifying product standard compliance of the IT structure by verifying that a primitive composition of the IT structure does not comprise a non-abstract element that is not in conformance with all standards established for the IT delivery environment;

verifying compliance of software elements the primitive composition of the IT structure by verifying that the IT structure does not comprise a software element that is forbidden from being used in the IT delivery environment, and by further verifying that each software element of the IT structure required for use in the IT delivery environment satisfies all dependencies of said each software element required by the IT delivery environment;

verifying software application type compliance of the IT structure by verifying that the IT structure does not comprise a software application type that is forbidden by the IT delivery environment; and

verifying network traffic compliance of the IT structure by verifying that;

the IT structure does not use a protocol forbidden by the IT delivery environment, the IT structure does not comprise an interface on any port forbidden by the IT delivery environment from accessing external data flow into the IT delivery environment from outside of the IT delivery environment, and the IT structure does not comprise an interface on any port forbidden by the IT delivery environment from facilitating outward data flow from within the IT delivery environment to outside of the IT delivery environment.

34. The computer program product of claim 33, said method further comprising verifying network bandwidth compliance of the IT structure by verifying that a total peak network bandwidth required collectively by the software elements of the primitive composition of the IT structure does not exceed a total spare network bandwidth capacity of the IT delivery environment.

35. The computer program product of claim 33, said method further comprising verifying monitoring and administrative access compliance of the IT structure by verifying that the IT structure has all interfaces necessary for providing access to the IT structure by a monitoring system of the IT delivery environment.

36. The computer program product of claim 33, said method further comprising verifying that the required service level compliance of the IT structure does not have incident response requirements that cannot be fulfilled by the IT delivery environment.

37. The computer program product of claim 33, said method further comprising:

verifying required security level compliance of the IT structure;

verifying Internet availability provided by the IT delivery environment to satisfy Internet connectivity requirements of the IT structure;

verifying that power consumption requirements of the IT structure are compatible with a power capacity of the IT delivery environment;

verifying that the IT structure uses only physical network interfaces supported by the IT delivery environment; and

verifying that a space requirement of the hardware devices comprised by an IT primitive composition of the IT structure can be satisfied by the IT delivery environment.

38. A process for integrating computing infrastructure, said process comprising integrating computer-readable code into a computing system, wherein the code in combination with the computing system is capable of performing a method for verifying conformance of an Information Technology (IT) structure of an IT system to an IT delivery environment, said method comprising:

verifying product standard compliance of the IT structure by verifying that a primitive composition of the IT structure does not comprise a non-abstract element that is not in conformance with all standards established for the IT delivery environment;

verifying compliance of software elements the primitive composition of the IT structure by verifying that the IT structure does not comprise a software element that is forbidden from being used in the IT delivery environment, and by further verifying that each software element of the IT structure required for use in the IT delivery environment satisfies all dependencies of said each software element required by the IT delivery environment;

verifying software application type compliance of the IT structure by verifying that the IT structure does not comprise a software application type that is forbidden by the IT delivery environment; and

verifying network traffic compliance of the IT structure by verifying that;

the IT structure does not use a protocol forbidden by the IT delivery environment, the IT structure does not comprise an interface on any port forbidden by the IT delivery environment from accessing external data flow into the IT delivery environment from outside of the IT delivery environment, and the IT structure does not comprise an interface on any port forbidden by the IT delivery environment from facilitating outward data flow from within the IT delivery environment to outside of the IT delivery environment.

39. The process of claim 38, said method further comprising verifying network bandwidth compliance of the IT structure by verifying that a total peak network bandwidth required collectively by the software elements of the primitive composition of the IT structure does not exceed a total spare network bandwidth capacity of the IT delivery environment.

40. The process of claim 38, said method further comprising verifying monitoring and administrative access compliance of the IT structure by verifying that the IT structure has all interfaces necessary for providing access to the IT structure by a monitoring system of the IT delivery environment.

41. The process of claim 38, said method further comprising verifying that the required service level compliance of the IT structure does not have incident response requirements that cannot be fulfilled by the IT delivery environment.

42. The process of claim 38, said method further comprising:

verifying required security level compliance of the IT structure;

verifying Internet availability provided by the IT delivery environment to satisfy Internet connectivity requirements of the IT structure;

verifying that power consumption requirements of the IT structure are compatible with a power capacity of the IT delivery environment;

verifying that the IT structure uses only physical network interfaces supported by the IT delivery environment; and

verifying that a space requirement of the hardware devices comprised by an IT primitive composition of the IT structure can be satisfied by the IT delivery environment.