FAULT ANALYSIS APPARATUS, FAULT ANALYSIS METHOD, AND RECORDING MEDIUM

• US 20100325489A1
• Filed: 02/20/2009
• Published: 12/23/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 03/07/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NEC Corporation
• Original Assignee: NEC Corporation
• Inventors: Nakadai, Shinji
• Granted Patent: US 8,448,025 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 714/26
• 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 11/0751 Error or fault detection not based on redundancy power supply failures G06F1/30; network fault management H04L41/06
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/079 Root cause analysis, i.e. error or fault diagnosis in a hardware test environment G06F11/22; in a software test environment G06F11/36
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2257 using expert systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3476 Data logging G06F11/14, G06F11/2205 take precedence

Abstract

The present invention determines the type of each piece of system information including a plurality of index values indicative of abnormality levels of a monitoring target device, as follows. The system information and identification information for the system information are sequentially received from the monitoring target device configured to sequentially output the system information together with the identification information for the system information. The piece of the received system information is compared with a predetermined determination criterion and thus determined to be of a particular type based on a result of the comparison. The determined type is output in association with the identification information. Input information indicative of a true type is accepted and stored in association with the identification information. The determination criterion is updated based on the piece of the system information and the information indicative of the true type. In the type determination procedure, an index value irrelevant to the abnormality level of the monitoring target device is included in the piece of the system information for comparison with the determination criterion.

Claims

1. A fault analysis apparatus comprising:

system information reception means for sequentially receiving system information including a plurality of index values indicative of abnormality levels of a monitoring target device and identification information for the system information, from the monitoring target device configured to sequentially output the system information together with the identification information for the system information;

type determination means for comparing each piece of the system information received by the system information reception means with a predetermined determination criterion to determine each piece of the system information to be of a particular type based on a result of the comparison;

a determination result output section configured to output the identification information for each piece of the system information and the type determined for each piece of the system information, in association with each other;

fault case registration means for accepting input information indicative of the true type of the identification information for each piece of the system information;

a case storage section for storing the identification information for each piece of the system information in association with the true type; and

pattern learning means for updating the determination criterion based on each piece of the system information received by the system information reception means and the true type stored in association with the identification information for each piece of the system information,

wherein the type determination means determines each piece of the system information to be of a particular type by including an index value irrelevant to the abnormality level of the monitoring target device, in each piece of the system information for comparison with the determination criterion.

2. The fault analysis apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the index value irrelevant to the abnormality level of the monitoring target device includes transmission count information indicative of the number of times that the monitoring target device has transmitted data to another device connected to the monitoring target device, during a predetermined period.

3. The fault analysis apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the index value irrelevant to the abnormality level of the monitoring target device includes time information indicative of time.

4. The fault analysis apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the index value irrelevant to the abnormality level of the monitoring target device includes day-of-the-week information indicative of a day of the week.

5. The fault analysis apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the system information reception means comprises temporal status estimated value calculation means for calculating current predicted values for the index values included in the system information received by the system information reception means, based on the index values, and

the index value irrelevant to the abnormality level of the monitoring target device includes the predicted value calculated by the temporal situation estimated value calculation means.

6. The fault analysis apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the fault analysis apparatus is connected to each of a first monitoring target device and a second monitoring target device so as to be capable of communicating with each of the first and second monitoring target devices,

the case storage section stores the identification information for each piece of the system information in association with true type for each of the monitoring target devices,

the system information reception means calculates a relationship between each index value for the first monitoring target device and the index value for the second monitoring target device to determine a predicted value of the index value for the second monitoring target device based on the calculated relationship between each index value of the first monitoring target devices and the value calculated, and

the type determination means compares the predicted value determined by the configuration status estimated value calculation means with the determination criterion to determine each piece of the system information on the second monitoring target device to be of a particular type.

7. The fault analysis apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the index value irrelevant to the abnormality level of the monitoring target device includes event count information indicative of the number of times that an event has occurred in the monitoring target device during a predetermined period.

8. The fault analysis apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the information indicative of the true type indicates whether the monitoring target device is normal or abnormal.

9. The fault analysis apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the fault case registration means receives the information indicative of the true type from a terminal operated by an operator.

10. A fault analysis method using an information processing apparatus, the method comprising:

a step in which the information processing apparatus sequentially receives system information including a plurality of index values indicative of abnormality levels of a monitoring target device and identification information for the system information, from the monitoring target device configured to sequentially output the system information together with the identification information for the system information;

a step in which the information processing apparatus compares each piece of the received system information with a predetermined determination criterion to determine each piece of the system information to be of a particular type based on a result of the comparison;

a step in which the information processing apparatus outputs the identification information for each piece of the system information and each type determined for each piece of the system information, in association with each other;

a step in which the information processing apparatus accepts input information indicative of the true type of the identification information for each piece of the system information;

a step in which the information processing apparatus stores the identification information for each piece of the system information in association with the true type;

a step in which the information processing apparatus updates the determination criterion based on each piece of the received system information and the true type stored in association with the identification information for each piece of the system information; and

a step in which the information processing apparatus determines each piece of the system information to be of a particular type by including an index value irrelevant to the abnormality level of the monitoring target device, in each piece of the system information for comparison with the determination criterion.

11. A recording medium into which is written a program for causing a computer to operate, the program causing the computer to execute:

a procedure in which the computer sequentially receives system information including a plurality of index values indicative of abnormality levels of a monitoring target device and identification information for the system information, from the monitoring target device configured to sequentially output the system information together with the identification information for the system information;

a procedure in which the computer compares each piece of the received system information with a predetermined determination criterion to determine each piece of the system information to be of a particular type based on a result of the comparison;

a procedure in which the computer outputs the identification information for each piece of the system information and each type determined for each piece of the system information, in association with each other;

a procedure in which the computer accepts input information indicative of the true type of the identification information for each piece of the system information;

a procedure in which the computer stores the identification information for each piece of the system information in association with the true type;

a procedure in which the computer updates the determination criterion based on each piece of the received system information and the true type stored in association with the identification information for each piece of the system information; and

a procedure in which the computer determines each piece of the system information to be of a particular type by including an index value irrelevant to the abnormality level of the monitoring target device, in each piece of the system information for comparison with the determination criterion.