DATA CENTER INFRASTRUCTURE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM FOR MAINTENANCE

• US 20130159039A1
• Filed: 12/15/2011
• Published: 06/20/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 12/15/2011
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Brech, Brad L., Lehman, Bret W., Molloy, Christopher L., Gamdon, Kenneth T.
• Application Number:
  US13/326,412
• Publication Number:
  US 20130159039A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/7.15
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling

Abstract

A change management system issues work tickets that list particular procedures for performing an action, for example, in a data center. If these procedures are not followed precisely, then an outage may occur. Advantageously, the change management system may be communicatively coupled to an infrastructure management system for verifying that the procedures were performed properly. For any work ticket that involves support devices (e.g., power supplies or cooling mechanisms) that are monitored by the infrastructure management system, the change management system may send a request to the infrastructure management system to verify that these support devices are in the correct mode or state. If not, the change management system may refuse to close the ticket and instruct a technician to change the support device to the proper condition. This may prevent outages that occur from a technician failing to follow the procedures detailed by the change management system.

Claims

1. A method for monitoring a data center, comprising:

issuing a work ticket from a change management system (CMS), the work ticket specifies a procedure that alters a condition of a support device in the data center;

upon receiving a request from the CMS to confirm that the procedure was performed properly, determining, by one or more computer processors, the condition of the support device in the data center using an infrastructure management system (IMS) communicatively coupled to the support device, wherein the support device is one of a plurality of devices in a support infrastructure system of the data center that support the functionality of one or more IT devices in the data center;

if the IMS determines that the condition of the support device is not in a desired state after the procedure is performed, transmitting an alert from the IMS to the CMS; and

if the IMS determines that the condition of the support device is in the desired state after the procedure is performed, transmitting a verification message from the IMS to the CMS instructing the CMS to close the work ticket.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the IT devices at least one of move, store, and manipulate data in response to client requests received at the data center.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving at the CMS a signal from a technician, the signal indicating that the procedure was performed;

upon receiving the signal, transmitting from the CMS to the IMS the request to confirm that the procedure was performed properly.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising, before receiving the signal from the technician, displaying a visual indicator on the support device viewable to the technician that uniquely identifies the support device from the plurality of devices in the support infrastructure system.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising, if the IMS determines that the condition of the support device is not the desired state, issuing a new work ticket from the CMS, the new work ticket comprising a new procedure for changing the condition of the support device to the desired state.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising, if the IMS determines that the condition of the support device is not the desired state, changing the condition of the support device to the desired state using the IMS.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the condition of the support device comprises at least one of:

an operational mode of the support device and a functional status of the support device.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the support device at least one of (i) provides power to an IT device in the data center configured to process data associated with a client request received at the data center and (ii) alters an environmental condition of the data center to achieve a desired value of the environmental condition.

9. A computer program product for monitoring a data center, the computer program product comprising:

a computer-readable storage memory having computer-readable program code embodied therewith, the computer-readable program code comprising computer-readable program code configured to;

issue a work ticket from a change management system (CMS), the work ticket specifies a procedure that alters a condition of a support device in the data center;

upon receiving a request from the CMS to confirm that the procedure was performed properly, determine, using an infrastructure management system (IMS) communicatively coupled to the support device, the condition of the support device in the data center, wherein the support device is one of a plurality of devices in a support infrastructure system of the data center that support the functionality of one or more IT devices in the data center;

if IMS determines that the the condition of the support device is not in a desired state after the procedure is performed, transmit an alert from the IMS to the CMS; and

if the IMS determines that the condition of the support device is in the desired state after the procedure is performed, transmit a verification message from the IMS to the CMS instructing the CMS to close closing the work ticket.

10. The computer program product of claim 9, wherein the IT devices at least one of move, store, and manipulate data in response to client requests received at the data center.

11. The computer program product of claim 9, further comprising computer-readable program code configured to:

receive at the CMS a signal from a technician, the signal indicating that the procedure was performed;

upon receiving the signal, transmit from the CMS to the IMS the request to confirm that the procedure was performed properly.

12. The computer program product of claim 11, further comprising computer-readable program code configured to, before receiving the signal from the technician, display a visual indicator on the support device viewable to the technician that uniquely identifies the support device from the plurality of devices in the support infrastructure system.

13. The computer program product of claim 9, further comprising computer-readable program code configured to, if the IMS determines that the condition of the support device is not the desired state, issue a new work ticket from the CMS, the new work ticket comprising a new procedure for changing the condition of the support device to the desired state.

14. The computer program product of claim 9, further comprising computer-readable program code configured to, if the IMS determines that the condition of the support device is not the desired state, changing the condition of the support device to the desired state using the IMS.

15. The computer program product of claim 9, wherein the condition of the support device comprises at least one of:

an operational mode of the support device and a functional status of the support device.

16. The computer program product of claim 9, wherein the support device at least one of (i) provides power to an IT device in the data center configured to process data associated with a client request received at the data center and (ii) alters an environmental condition of the data center to achieve a desired value of the environmental condition.

17. A system, comprising:

a change management system (CMS) configured to issue a work ticket, the work ticket specifies a procedure that alters a condition of a support device in the data center;

a support device in a data center, wherein the support device is one of a plurality of devices in a support infrastructure system of the data center that support the functionality of one or more IT devices in the data center; and

a infrastructure management system (IMS) communicatively coupled to the support device, wherein the IMS is configured to, upon receiving a request from the CMS to confirm that the procedure was performed properly, determine the condition of the support device in the data center,

wherein if the IMS determines that the condition of the support device is not in a desired state after the procedure is performed, the IMS is configured to transmit an alert to the CMS, and

wherein, if the IMS determines that the condition of the support device is in the desired state after the procedure is performed, the IMS is configured to transmit a verification message to the CMS instructing the CMS to close the work ticket.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the IT devices at least one of move, store, and manipulate data in response to client requests received at the data center.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein the CMS is configured to receive a signal from a technician, the signal indicating that the procedure was performed, and the CMS is configured to, upon receiving the signal, transmit to the IMS the request to confirm that the procedure was performed properly.

20. The system of claim 17, further comprising, if the IMS determines that the condition of the support device is not the desired state, the CMS is configured to issue a new work ticket, the new work ticket comprising a new procedure for changing the condition of the support device to the desired state.

21. The system of claim 17, wherein if the IMS determines that the condition of the support device is not the desired state, the IMS is configured to change the condition of the support device to the desired state.

22. The system of claim 17, wherein the condition of the support device comprises at least one of:

an operational mode of the support device and a functional status of the support device.

23. The system of claim 17, wherein the support device is configured to at least one of (i) provide power to an IT device in the data center configured to process data associated with a client request received at the data center and (ii) alter an environmental condition of the data center to achieve a desired value of the environmental condition.