System and Method for Automatically Enforcing Change Control in Operations Performed by Operational Management Products

• US 20080215713A1
• Filed: 03/02/2007
• Published: 09/04/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 03/02/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Kaczmarski, Michael Allen, Van Hise, David Gregory, Cannon, David Maxwell, Klingenberg, Bernhard Julius
• Granted Patent: US 7,853,675 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/221
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/71 Version control security arrangements therefor G06F21/57; Configuration management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/00 Arrangements for maintenance, administration or management of data switching networks, e.g. of packet switching networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0813 characterised by the conditions triggering a change of settings
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0856 by backing up or archiving configuration information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0866 Checking the configuration
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/75 Indicating network or usage conditions on the user display
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

A system and method for enforcing change control in operations performed by operational management products (OMPs) are provided. The system and method automate the checking of a request-for-change (RFC) state by an OMP when the OMP is installed in an environment where a change management database (CMDB) has been installed and certain resources or operations have been placed under strict change control. The OMPs of the illustrative embodiments require an RFC identifier to be specified when a change operation of the OMP is invoked. The RFC identifier is used by the OMP to access a service management system so that the OMP may determine if the RFC identifier is valid, IT resources are in the correct state, and the change is scheduled to be performed at the current time. If these checks are passed, then the change operation associated with the RFC is permitted to occur.

Claims

1. A method for performing automated change control on one or more data processing system resources, comprising:

receiving a change operation command specifying an operation for changing a configuration of a resource in a data processing system;

automatically determining if one of the change operation or the resource is under strict change control;

automatically performing a request-for-change (RFC) validation check on the change operation command if the change operation or the resource is under strict change control; and

automatically performing a change operation corresponding to the change operation command to thereby change the configuration of the resource if results of the RFC validation check indicate that the change operation should be permitted.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the change operation command includes a RFC identifier for an RFC corresponding to the change operation command.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein automatically performing a RFC validation check comprises:

performing a lookup operation in a service management system based on the RFC; and

determining if current conditions meet requirements of the RFC for performance of the change operation.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein determining if current conditions meet requirements of the RFC for performance of the change operation comprises at least one of determining if the RFC is valid, determining if a current date and time match a scheduled date and time associated with the RFC, or determining if a state of the data processing system is such that the resource may be modified by the change operation.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

automatically performing error processing on the change operation command if the RFC validation check on the change operation command fails.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein automatically performing error processing on the change operation command comprises determining which error processing to perform based on the requested change operation and an identification of the resource.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the error processing comprises one of:

denying the change operation and issuing at least one message to one or more data processing devices of the data processing system indicating a check failure;

permitting the change operation to be performed and issuing at least one message to one or more data processing devices of the data processing system indicating the check failure and indicating that the change operation was permitted;

or

submitting an incident report, identifying a problem encountered, to a user and automatically performing a re-check of the RFC validation in response to the user responding with an input indicating the problem to be resolved.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein the error processing comprises:

utilizing an interface to a process manager of the data processing system to automatically open a new RFC for the change operation; and

sending a notification message to a data processing device of the data processing system indicating that the original change operation command could not be completed but that a new RFC was created for the change operation, wherein the notification message includes a new RFC identifier.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein automatically determining if one of the change operation or the resource is under strict change control comprises:

obtaining configuration information for the data processing system from a configuration management database (CMDB), wherein the configuration information specifies at least one of which change operations or resources are under strict change control; and

determining if one of the change operation or the resource is under strict change control based on the configuration information from the CMDB.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the change operation is performed on a configuration item in a configuration management database, the configuration item representing the resource in the data processing system.

11. A computer program product comprising a computer useable medium having a computer readable program, wherein the computer readable program, when executed on a computing device, causes the computing device to:

receive a change operation command specifying an operation for changing a configuration of a resource in a data processing system;

automatically determine if one of the change operation or the resource is under strict change control;

automatically perform a request-for-change (RFC) validation check on the change operation command if the change operation or the resource is under strict change control; and

automatically perform a change operation corresponding to the change operation command to thereby change the configuration of the resource if results of the RFC validation check indicate that the change operation should be permitted.

12. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein the change operation command includes a RFC identifier for an RFC corresponding to the change operation command.

13. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein the computer readable program causes the computing device to automatically perform a RFC validation check by:

performing a lookup operation in a service management system based on the RFC; and

determining if current conditions meet requirements of the RFC for performance of the change operation.

14. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein the computer readable program causes the computing device to determine if current conditions meet requirements of the RFC for performance of the change operation by at least one of determining if the RFC is valid, determining if a current date and time match a scheduled date and time associated with the RFC, or determining if a state of the data processing system is such that the resource may be modified by the change operation.

15. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein the computer readable program further causes the computing device to:

automatically perform error processing on the change operation command if the RFC validation check on the change operation command fails.

16. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the computer readable program causes the computing device to automatically perform error processing on the change operation command by determining which error processing to perform based on the requested change operation and an identification of the resource.

17. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the error processing comprises one of:

denying the change operation and issuing at least one message to one or more data processing devices of the data processing system indicating a check failure;

permitting the change operation to be performed and issuing at least one message to one or more data processing devices of the data processing system indicating the check failure and indicating that the change operation was permitted;

or

submitting an incident report, identifying a problem encountered, to a user and automatically performing a re-check of the RFC validation in response to the user responding with an input indicating the problem to be resolved.

18. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the error processing comprises:

utilizing an interface to a process manager of the data processing system to automatically open a new RFC for the change operation; and

sending a notification message to a data processing device of the data processing system indicating that the original change operation command could not be completed but that a new RFC was created for the change operation, wherein the notification message includes a new RFC identifier.

19. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein the computer readable program causes the computing device to automatically determine if one of the change operation or the resource is under strict change control by:

obtaining configuration information for the data processing system from a configuration management database (CMDB), wherein the configuration information specifies at least one of which change operations or resources are under strict change control; and

determining if one of the change operation or the resource is under strict change control based on the configuration information from the CMDB.

20. A system, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory coupled to the processor, wherein the memory comprises instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to;

receive a change operation command specifying an operation for changing a configuration of a resource in a data processing system;

automatically determine if one of the change operation or the resource is under strict change control;

automatically perform a request-for-change (RFC) validation check on the change operation command if the change operation or the resource is under strict change control; and

automatically perform a change operation corresponding to the change operation command to thereby change the configuration of the resource if results of the RFC validation check indicate that the change operation should be permitted.