Automatically targeting notifications about events on a network to appropriate persons

• US 20060177058A1
• Filed: 02/07/2005
• Published: 08/10/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 02/07/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Zakrajsek, Frank, Sarwono, Edhi
• Granted Patent: US 7,743,137 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 380/211
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1895 for short real-time information, e.g. alarms, notifications, alerts, updates
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0686 Additional information in the notification, e.g. enhancement of specific meta-data
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 11/04 with alarm systems, e.g. fire, police or burglar alarm systems

Abstract

Automatically notifying, in response to an event associated with a particular server and/or application on a network, only appropriate person(s) such as, for example, only the IT member(s) responsible for supporting the server and/or application. The work schedules and the work schedule exceptions of one or more persons may be taken into account when determining whom to notify of an event on a network. Event information may be received. In response, subscription information for a plurality of subscribers may be accessed, which may include any of: one or more applications for which the subscriber is responsible; one or more servers for which the subscriber is responsible; a work schedule of the subscriber for receiving notifications, and one or more exceptions to this schedule. At least one subscriber may be selected by comparing this information to the event information, and a notification may be sent to the at least one subscriber.

Claims

1. A method of notifying at least one person of an occurrence of an event associated with a first application and/or a first server, comprising computer-implemented acts of:

(A) receiving event information specifying the event, the event information including an indication of the first application and/or and indication of the first server;

(B) accessing subscription information from one or more data sources that store information about a plurality of subscribers subscribed to receive notification of certain events, wherein, for each subscriber, the subscription information specifies one or more applications and/or servers for which the subscriber is responsible;

(C) selecting at least one of the plurality of subscribers including, for each of the plurality of subscribers, determining whether one of the applications and/or servers specified by the subscription information for the subscriber is the first application and/or first server, respectively; and

(D) sending a notification of the event to the at least one subscriber.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising of an act of:

(E) accessing schedule information for one or more of the plurality of the subscribers, wherein the schedule information includes, for each of the one or more subscribers, a work schedule of the subscriber and one or more work schedule exceptions for the subscriber,

wherein the act (C) includes basing the selection at least in part on the work schedule and the one or more work schedule exceptions of one or more subscribers.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the act (C) comprises, for each of the one or more subscribers:

comparing the work schedule and the one or more work exceptions of the subscriber to a current time corresponding to a time at which the act (C) is performed.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the event information includes one or more of the following pieces of event information:

a server group to which the server belongs;

a severity of the notification;

a description of the notification; and

a source of the event,

wherein the subscription information includes, for each subscriber of the plurality of subscribers, one or more of the following pieces of subscription information;

one or more server groups for which the subscriber is responsible;

a threshold level of severity of an event for which to notify the subscriber;

one or more event descriptions for which to notify the subscriber; and

one or more event sources for which to notify the subscriber, and

wherein the act (C) includes selecting the at least one subscriber from the plurality of subscriber based at least in part on comparing, for each of the plurality of subscribers, at least one of the one or more pieces of subscription information to a corresponding one of the pieces of event information.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the event information includes one or more of the following pieces of event information:

a server group to which the server belongs;

a severity of the notification;

a description of the notification; and

a source of the event,

wherein the subscription information includes, for each subscriber of the plurality of subscribers, one or more of the following pieces of subscription information;

one or more server groups for which the subscriber is responsible;

a threshold level of severity of an event for which to notify the subscriber;

one or more event descriptions for which to notify the subscriber; and

one or more event sources for which to notify the subscriber, and

wherein the act (C) includes basing the selection at least in part on comparing, for each of the plurality of users, at least one of the one or more pieces of subscription information to a corresponding one of the pieces of event information.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising an act of:

(E) providing a user interface enabling a user to enter subscription information for one or more subscribers into the one or more data sources.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein one or more of the acts (A)-(D) are implemented using SQL Notification Services available from Microsoft Corporation.

8. A system for notifying at least one person of an occurrence of an event associated with a first application and/or a first server, the system comprising:

a subscriber selection module to select at least one subscriber from a plurality of subscribers subscribed to receive notifications of certain events, the module operative to receive event information specifying the event, the event information including an indication of the first application and/or and indication of the first server, to access subscription information from one or more data sources that store information about the plurality of subscribers, wherein, for each subscriber, the subscription information specifies one or more applications and/or servers for which the subscriber is responsible, and to determine, for each of the plurality of subscribers, whether one of the applications and/or servers specified by the subscription information for the subscriber is the first application and/or the first server, respectively; and

a notification distribution module to send a notification of the event to the at least one subscriber.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the subscriber selection module comprises means for selecting the at least one subscriber.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the subscriber selection module is operative to access schedule information for one or more of the plurality of the subscribers, wherein the schedule information includes, for each of the one or more subscribers, a work schedule of the subscriber and one or more work schedule exceptions for the subscriber, and

wherein the subscriber selection module is operative to base the selection at least in part on the work schedule and the one or more work schedule exceptions of one or more subscribers.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the subscriber selection module is operative to compare, for each of the one or more subscribers, the work schedule and the one or more work exceptions of the subscriber to a current time corresponding to a time at which the selection is made.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the event information includes one or more of the following pieces of event information:

a server group to which the server belongs;

a severity of the notification;

a description of the notification; and

a source of the event,

wherein the subscription information includes, for each subscriber of the plurality of subscribers, one or more of the following pieces of subscription information;

one or more server groups for which the subscriber is responsible;

a threshold level of severity of an event for which to notify the subscriber;

one or more event descriptions for which to notify the subscriber; and

one or more event sources for which to notify the subscriber, and

wherein the subscriber selection module is operative to select the at least one subscriber from the plurality of subscriber based at least in part on comparing, for each of the plurality of subscribers, at least one of the one or more pieces of subscription information to a corresponding one of the pieces of event information.

13. The system of claim 8, wherein the event information includes one or more of the following pieces of event information:

a server group to which the server belongs;

a severity of the notification;

a description of the notification; and

a source of the event,

wherein the subscription information includes, for each subscriber of the plurality of subscribers, one or more of the following pieces of subscription information;

one or more server groups for which the subscriber is responsible;

a threshold level of severity of an event for which to notify the subscriber;

one or more event descriptions for which to notify the subscriber; and

one or more event sources for which to notify the subscriber, and

wherein the subscriber selection module is operative to base the selection at least in part on comparing, for each of the plurality of users, at least one of the one or more pieces of subscription information to a corresponding one of the pieces of event information.

14. The system of claim 8, further comprising:

a subscription management module that provides a user interface enabling a user to enter subscription information for one or more subscribers into the one or more data sources.

15. The system of claim 8, wherein the subscriber selection module and/or the notification module comprise at least part of a SQL Notification Services architecture available from Microsoft Corporation.

16. A computer program product comprising:

a computer-readable medium; and

computer-readable signals, stored on the computer-readable medium, that define instructions that, as a result of being executed by a computer, control the computer to perform a process of notifying at least one person of an occurrence of an event associated with a first application and/or a first server, the process comprising computer-implemented acts of;

(A) receiving event information specifying the event, the event information including an indication of the first application and/or and indication of the first server;

(B) accessing subscription information from one or more data sources that store information about a plurality of subscribers subscribed to receive notification of certain events, wherein, for each subscriber, the subscription information specifies one or more applications and/or servers for which the subscriber is responsible;

(C) selecting at least one of the plurality of subscribers including, for each of the plurality of subscribers, determining whether one of the applications and/or servers specified by the subscription information for the subscriber is the first application and/or first server, respectively; and

(D) sending a notification of the event to the at least one subscriber.

17. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein the process further comprises an act of:

(E) accessing schedule information for one or more of the plurality of the subscribers, wherein the schedule information includes, for each of the one or more subscribers, a work schedule of the subscriber and one or more work schedule exceptions for the subscriber,

wherein the Act (C) includes basing the selection at least in part on the work schedule and the one or more work schedule exceptions of one or more subscribers.

18. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein the act (C) comprises, for each of the one or more subscribers:

comparing the work schedule and the one or more work exceptions of the subscriber to a current time corresponding to a time at which the act (C) is performed.

19. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein the event information includes one or more of the following pieces of event information:

a server group to which the server belongs;

a severity of the notification;

a description of the notification; and

a source of the event,

wherein the subscription information includes, for each subscriber of the plurality of subscribers, one or more of the following pieces of subscription information;

one or more server groups for which the subscriber is responsible;

a threshold level of severity of an event for which to notify the subscriber;

one or more event descriptions for which to notify the subscriber; and

one or more event sources for which to notify the subscriber, and

wherein the act (C) includes basing the selection at least in part on comparing, for each of the plurality of users, at least one of the one or more pieces of subscription information to a corresponding one of the pieces of event information.

20. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein the process further comprises an act of:

(E) providing a user interface enabling a user to enter subscription information for one or more subscribers into the one or more data sources.