Method and apparatus for performing network diagnostics

• US 20060248389A1
• Filed: 04/29/2005
• Published: 11/02/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 04/29/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Qian, Tin, Gavrilescu, Alexandru, Thaler, David G.
• Granted Patent: US 7,350,107 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 714/26
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0659 by isolating or reconfiguring faulty entities

Abstract

A network diagnostics system allows determining a root cause for a network problem caused by a local or a remote component of the network, wherein the network diagnostic system may receive the symptoms of such a problem from an application. The network diagnostic system uses a plurality of helper classes, each of the plurality of helper classes providing diagnostic information about an object or a class of objects on the network. Moreover, the network diagnostic system may also use one or more extensible helper classes that are designed to receive information from third party helper classes.

Claims

1. A method of providing helper class extensions for a network diagnostic system, the method comprising:

defining an extensible helper class;

adding metadata defining the extensible helper class to a helper class list of the network diagnostic system;

receiving a problem instance related to an object;

performing a best match lookup in the helper class list in response to the problem instance;

finding the extensible helper class addressing the problem instance;

dynamically determining object attributes further defining the problem instance;

adding the further defining object attributes to the problem instance; and

repeating the best match lookup using the further defining object attributes to find a new helper class for the problem instance.

2. A method of claim 1, further comprising loading a third party helper class based on the further defining object attributes.

3. A method of claim 2, wherein the network diagnostic system uses a public application programming interface extension to communicate with an application.

4. A method of claim 2, wherein the problem instance includes user identifying information and wherein the extensible helper class uses the user identifying information in determining the object attributes further defining the problem instance.

5. A method of claim 2, further comprising:

sending the further defining object attributes to a diagnostic user interface;

generating an error message at the diagnostic user interface using the further defining object attributes; and

sending the error message to a client application that generated the problem instance.

6. A method of claim 2, further comprising maintaining helper class statistics relating a plurality of problem instances to a plurality of helper classes.

7. A method of claim 2, further comprising storing a plurality of problem instances occurring in the last specified period and corresponding helper classes in a cache.

8. A method of claim 2, further comprising storing a relationship between the user defining information and various attributes of the problem instance.

9. A method of claim 2, further comprising:

determining a plurality of events related to the problem instance;

receiving temporal state information for the plurality of events; and

analyzing the temporal state information to isolate a potential root cause event for the problem instance.

10. A method of claim 9, further comprising:

determining a plurality of root cause event objects related to the potential root cause event; and

invoking a plurality of helper classes related to the plurality of root cause event objects.

11. A method of providing helper classes for a network diagnostic system, the method comprising:

defining a helper class;

adding metadata defining the helper class to a helper class list of the network diagnostic system;

receiving a problem instance;

performing a best match lookup in the helper class list in response to the problem instance;

determining object attributes further defining the problem instance; and

selecting a best communication channel from a plurality of communication channels to communicate to an object defined by the object attributes.

12. A method of claim 11, further comprising communicating with the object using the best communication channel.

13. A method of claim 11, further comprising communicating with another network diagnostic system using the best communication channel, the another network diagnostic system having a permission to access the object.

14. A method of claim 11, wherein selecting the best communication channel uses at least one of a strict prioritization logic and a first to work logic routine to select the best communication channel.

15. A method of claim 11, wherein the plurality of channels includes at least one of:

(1) a wireless communication channel;

(2) a landline communication channel;

(3) a digital subscriber line communication channel; and

(4) a cable based communication channel.

16. A network diagnostic system for providing helper class extensions, the system comprising:

an extensible class definition module adapted to define an extensible helper class;

a helper class list including metadata for the extensible helper class;

a generic client API adapted to receive a problem instance related to an object;

a best match lookup module adapted to analyze the helper class list in response to the problem instance to find the extensible helper class addressing the problem instance;

an object attributes determination module adapted to dynamically determine object attributes further defining the problem instance;

an object attribute addition module adapted to add the further defining object attributes to the problem instance; and

a new helper class definition module adapted to perform a best match lookup using the further defining object attributes to find a new helper class for the problem instance.

17. A network diagnostic system of claim 16, further comprising a public application programming interface extension to communicate with an application.

18. A network diagnostic system of claim 16, further comprising a third party helper class addition module adapted to load a third party helper class corresponding the new helper class.

19. A network diagnostic system of claim 16, further comprising a helper class statistics storage module adapted to store relationships between a plurality of problem instances and a plurality of helper classes.

20. A network diagnostic system of claim 16, further comprising a channel provider application programming interface adapted to select a best mode communication channel to connect to an object identified by the helper class.