METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR PROVIDING IMMUNITY TO COMPUTERS

• US 20100153768A1
• Filed: 12/15/2008
• Published: 06/17/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/15/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Yildiz, Mehmet
• Granted Patent: US 8,271,834 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 714/2
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0748 in a remote unit communicating with a single-box computer node experiencing an error/fault remote testing G06F11/2294
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0781 Error filtering or prioritizing based on a policy defined by the user or on a policy defined by a hardware/software module, e.g. according to a severity level
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0793 Remedial or corrective actions recovery from an exception in an instruction pipeline G06F9/3861; by retry G06F11/1402; for recovering from a failure of a protocol instance or entity H04L69/40

Abstract

A method and system for providing immunity to a computer system wherein the system includes an immunity module, a recovery module, a maintenance module, an assessment module, and a decision module, wherein the immunity module, the recovery module, the maintenance module and the assessment module are each linked to the decision module. The maintenance module monitors the system for errors and sends an error alert message to the assessment module, which determines the severity of the error and the type of package required to fix the error. The assessment module sends a request regarding the type of package required to fix the error to the recovery module. The recovery module sends the package required to fix the error to the maintenance module, which fixes the error in the system.

Claims

1. A method for providing immunization to a computer system including an immunity module, a recovery module, a maintenance module, an assessment module, and a decision module, the method comprising:

monitoring the system for errors by the maintenance module;

upon discovering an error by the maintenance module, sending an error alert message to the assessment module;

determining the severity of the error and the type of package required to fix the error by the assessment module;

sending a request regarding the type of required package to the recovery module;

sending the package required to fix the error from the recovery module to the maintenance module; and

fixing the error in the system.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the recovery module comprises a local recovery component, an emergency recovery component, a global recovery component and an alternative recovery component, and wherein the method further comprises:

sending the request regarding the package required to fix the error to the emergency recovery component if the error is severe or sending the request regarding the package required to fix the error to the local recovery component if the error is not severe.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the emergency recovery component checks to see whether it has the package;

if the package is in the emergency recovery component, the package is sent to the maintenance module;

if the package is not in the emergency recovery component, the request regarding the type of package is sent to the local recovery component, wherein the local recovery component sends the package to the maintenance module if the package is in the local recovery component.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein, if the package is not in the local recovery component, the request regarding he type of package is sent to the global recovery component, wherein the global recovery component sends the package to the maintenance module if the package is in the global recovery component.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the global recovery component comprises packages from a plurality of members, wherein the members contribute packages to the global recovery component and wherein the global recovery component is updated with new packages continuously.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein, if the package is not in the global recovery component, the request regarding the type of package is sent to the alternate recovery component, wherein the alternate recovery component sends the package to the maintenance module if the package is in the alternate recovery component.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the alternate recovery component comprises system generated packages created by the immunity module.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein, if the package is not in the alternate recovery component, the request regarding the type of package is sent to the immunity module, wherein the immunity module comprise an error creation component and an error assimilation component, wherein the immunity module creates the package to fix the error.

9. A system for providing immunity to a computer system comprising:

an immunity module;

a recovery module;

a maintenance module;

an assessment module; and

a decision module, wherein the immunity module, the recovery module, the maintenance module and the assessment module are each linked to the decision module.

10. The system of claim 9 wherein the maintenance module monitors the system for errors and sends an error alert message to the assessment module upon discovery of an error;

wherein the assessment module determines the severity of the error and the type of package required to fix the error;

wherein the assessment module sends a request regarding the type of required package to the recovery module;

wherein the recovery module sends the package required to fix the error to the maintenance module; and

wherein the maintenance module fixes the error in the system.

11. The system of claim 10 wherein the recovery module comprises a local recovery component, an emergency recovery component, a global recovery component and an alternative recovery component;

and

wherein the assessment module sends the request regarding the package required to fix the error to the emergency recovery component if the error is severe or sends the request regarding the package required to fix the error to the local recovery component if the error is not severe.

12. The system of claim 11 the emergency recovery component sends the package to the maintenance module if the package is contained in the emergency recovery component;

and

wherein, if the package is not in the emergency recovery component, the emergency recovery component sends the request regarding the type of package to the local recovery component, wherein the local recovery component sends the package to the maintenance module if the package is contained in the local recovery component.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the local recovery component sends the request regarding the type of package to the global recovery component if the package is not contained in the local recovery component;

wherein the global recovery component comprises packages from a plurality of members, wherein the members contribute packages to the global recovery component and wherein the global recovery component is updated with new packages continuously; and

wherein the global recovery component sends the package to the maintenance module if the package is contained in the global recovery component.

14. The system of claim 13 wherein the global recovery component sends the request regarding the type of package to the alternate recovery component if the package is not contained in the global recovery component;

wherein the alternate recovery component comprises system generated packages created by the immunity module;

wherein the alternate recovery component sends the package to the maintenance module if the package is in the alternate recovery component.

15. The system of claim 14 wherein alternate recovery component the request regarding the type of package to the immunity module if the required package is not contained in the alternate recovery module;

wherein the immunity module comprise an error creation component and an error assimilation component; and

wherein the immunity module creates the package to fix the error.

16. A computer program product encoded in a computer readable medium for instructing a computer system to provide immunization thereto, the computer system including an immunity module, a recovery module, a maintenance module, an assessment module, and a decision module, the program code configured to cause the computer system to perform the method comprising:

monitoring the system for errors by the maintenance module;

upon discovering an error by the maintenance module, sending an error alert message to the assessment module;

determining the severity of the error and the type of package required to fix the error by the assessment module;

sending a request regarding the type of required package to the recovery module;

sending the package required to fix the error from the recovery module to the maintenance module; and

fixing the error in the system.

17. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein the recovery module comprises a local recovery component, an emergency recovery component, a global recovery component and an alternative recovery component, the program code further configured to:

send the request regarding the package required to fix the error to the emergency recovery component if the error is severe or to the local recovery component if the error is not severe; and

if the package is not in the emergency recovery component, send the request regarding the type of package to the local recovery component, wherein the local recovery component sends the package to the maintenance module if the package is in the local recovery component.

18. The computer program product of claim 17, the program code further configured to:

send the request regarding the type of package to the global recovery component if the package is not in the local recovery component;

wherein the global recovery component comprises packages from a plurality of members, wherein the members contribute packages to the global recovery component and wherein the global recovery component is updated with new packages continuously; and

wherein the global recovery component sends the package to the maintenance module if the package is contained in the global recovery component.

19. The computer program product of claim 18, the program code further configured to:

send the request regarding the type of package to the alternate recovery component if the package is not contained in the global recovery component;

wherein the alternate recovery component comprises system generated packages created by the immunity module; and

wherein the alternate recovery component sends the package to the maintenance module if the package is in the alternate recovery component.

20. The computer program product of claim 19, the program code further configured to:

send the request regarding the type of package to the immunity module if the package is not contained in the alternate recovery component;

wherein the immunity module comprise an error creation component and an error assimilation component; and

wherein the immunity module creates the package to fix the error.