DYNAMIC SELECTION OF ACTIONS IN AN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY ENVIRONMENT

• US 20090171733A1
• Filed: 12/28/2007
• Published: 07/02/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 12/28/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Swanson, Michael D., Bobak, Mythili K., McConnell, Tim A.
• Granted Patent: US 9,558,459 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/8
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/46 Multiprogramming arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063 Operations research, analysis or management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0631 Resource planning, allocation, distributing or scheduling for enterprises or organisations
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/188 Electronic negotiation

Abstract

Management of an Information Technology environment is facilitated by preparing the environment for management. The environment is prepared for a specific management goal, such as an availability goal or a performance goal. To prepare the environment, one or more recommended preparatory actions are selected, initiated and monitored. Resources associated with the actions are also monitored.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method of facilitating management of an Information Technology (IT) environment, said method comprising:

determining a current state of one or more resources of the IT environment; and

programmatically selecting, based on the current state, one or more preparatory actions to be recommended for the IT environment.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the one or more preparatory actions are selected to achieve a goal for the IT environment.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein the goal comprises a quantified IT management goal.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising initiating at least one recommended preparatory action.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 4, further comprising monitoring execution of the at least one recommended preparatory action.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 4, further comprising monitoring a prepared state of one or more resources associated with the at least one initiated preparatory action.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 4, further comprising backing out the at least one recommended preparatory action, in response to a detected failure.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising generating a preparatory process to include the one or more selected preparatory actions.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 8, further comprising modifying the preparatory process.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 8, wherein the preparatory process comprises a plurality of preparatory actions, and wherein said method further comprises splitting the plurality of preparatory actions into a set of one or more preparatory actions to be performed at prepare time and a set of one or more preparatory actions to be performed at another time.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 10, further comprising ordering at least one of the set of one or more preparatory actions to be performed at prepare time or the set of one or more preparatory actions to be performed at another time.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein a plurality of preparatory actions are selected, and wherein the method further comprises initiating execution of at least two preparatory actions of the plurality of preparatory actions in parallel.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the one or more preparatory actions are associated with at least one resource shared across a plurality of business applications.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 13, wherein each business application of the plurality of business applications has a management goal associated therewith, and wherein conflicting management goals are reconciled such that the shared resource is prepared to support the most stringent management goal of the conflicting management goals.

15. A system to facilitate management of an Information Technology (IT) environment, said system comprising:

at least one computing component to determine a current state of one or more resources of the IT environment; and

at least one computing component to programmatically select, based on the current state, one or more preparatory actions to be recommended for the IT environment.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the one or more or more preparatory actions are selected to achieve a goal for the IT environment.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein the one or more preparatory actions are associated with at least one resource shared across a plurality of business applications.

18. An article of manufacture comprising:

at least one computer usable medium having computer readable program code logic to facilitate management of an Information Technology (IT) environment, said computer readable program code logic when executing performing the following;

determining a current state of one or more resources of the IT environment; and

programmatically selecting, based on the current state, one or more preparatory actions to be recommended for the IT environment.

19. The article of manufacture of claim 18, wherein the one or more preparatory actions are selected to achieve a goal for the IT environment.

20. The article of manufacture of claim 18, wherein the one or more preparatory actions are associated with at least one resource shared across a plurality of business applications, each business application of the plurality of business applications having a management goal associated therewith, and wherein conflicting management goals are reconciled such that the shared resource is prepared to support the most stringent management goal of the conflicting management goals.