FIX DELIVERY SYSTEM

• US 20130159989A1
• Filed: 12/06/2012
• Published: 06/20/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 12/20/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: DECKERT, MARLIN R., LUI, KING SHING K., NIGUL, LEHO
• Granted Patent: US 8,997,086 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/172
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/61 Installation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/65 Updates security arrangements therefor G06F21/57

Abstract

A fix delivery system receives situation data representative of a problem, analyzes the received situation data to determine whether the problem associated with the situation data matches a known problem, and responsive to a determination that the problem associated with the situation data does not match a known problem, conducts problem determination to identify the problem. The fix delivery system further receives a developed cumulative fix for the identified problem, builds an installable cumulative fix for the identified problem using the situation data, and responsive to a determination that the installable cumulative fix meets predetermined requirements and the installable cumulative fix is a new installable cumulative fix, saves the new installable cumulative fix in a storage system and sends the new installable cumulative fix to a requester.

Claims

1. A processor-implemented method for implementing a fix delivery system, the computer-implemented process comprising:

receiving, by a processor, a situation data representative of a problem;

analyzing, by the processor, a received situation data to determine whether a problem associated with the situation data matches a known problem;

responsive to a determination that the problem associated with the situation data does not match the known problem, conducting a problem determination to identify the problem;

receiving a developed cumulative fix for an identified problem;

building an installable cumulative fix for the identified problem using the situation data;

determining whether the installable cumulative fix meets predetermined requirements;

responsive to a determination that the installable cumulative fix meets predetermined requirements, determining whether the installable cumulative fix is a new installable cumulative fix;

responsive to a determination that the installable cumulative fix is a new installable cumulative fix, saving the installable cumulative fix in a storage system; and

sending the installable cumulative fix to a requester.

2. The processor-implemented method of claim 1, wherein receiving situation data representative of a problem further comprises:

retrieving, by a data retrieval module, artifacts representative of a problem from a data processing system for identifying the problem, wherein the data retrieval module comprises a pluggable subsystem that provides a capability in which custom data retrieval modules are added as needed for new products and new features of existing products, and wherein the data retrieval module comprises data retrieval module plugins that are tailored to a specific implementation of data structures representative of a specific product and component instance.

3. The processor-implemented method of claim 1, wherein analyzing the received situation data to determine whether the problem associated with the situation data matches a known problem further comprises:

analyzing the received situation data by traversing a set of rules using a rule based analysis sub-process, wherein the rule based analysis sub-process includes pattern identification, wherein an identified pattern comprises a signature of a problem, an error condition raised by the problem, and a context in which the problem occurred;

performing a situation analysis on the problem, wherein the situation analysis analyzes a collection of information representative of a problem instance in order to identify the problem and each rule in the set of rules that related to a specific problem; and

comparing an identified problem with a set of known problems in a storage system.

4. The processor-implemented method of claim 1, wherein receiving a developed cumulative fix for the identified problem further comprises:

collecting atomic fixes, from among a set of atomic fixes, in accordance with the identified problem and situation data to form an installable cumulative fix to resolve the identified problem;

requesting a new atomic fix from a development service, in accordance with the identified problem and situation data; and

in response to receiving the new atomic fix, saving the new atomic fix in the set of atomic fixes for subsequent use.

5. The processor-implemented method of claim 1, wherein building an installable cumulative fix for the identified problem using the situation data further comprises:

using information contained within the situation data to describe a context of the system requesting the fix; and

tailoring the installable cumulative fix to a specific implementation of data structures representative of a specific product and component instance of a requesting system.

6. The processor-implemented method of claim 1, wherein determining whether the installable cumulative fix meets predetermined requirements further comprises:

testing the installable cumulative fix using information contained within the situation data to describe a context of the system requesting a fix to ensure the installable cumulative fix resolves the problem.

7. The processor-implemented method of claim 1, wherein responsive to a determination that the installable cumulative fix meets predetermined requirements, determining whether the installable cumulative fix is a new installable cumulative fix further comprises:

responsive to a determination that the installable cumulative fix is not a new installable cumulative fix, sending the installable cumulative fix to a requester.

8. A computer program product for implementing a fix delivery system, the computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having program code embodied therewith, the program code readable and executable by a processor to:

receive, by a processor, a situation data representative of a problem;

analyze, by the processor, a received situation data to determine whether a problem associated with the situation data matches a known problem;

responsive to a determination that the problem associated with the situation data does not match the known problem, conduct a problem determination to identify the problem;

receive a developed cumulative fix for an identified problem;

build an installable cumulative fix for the identified problem using the situation data;

determine whether the installable cumulative fix meets predetermined requirements;

responsive to a determination that the installable cumulative fix meets predetermined requirements, determine whether the installable cumulative fix is a new installable cumulative fix;

responsive to a determination that the installable cumulative fix is a new installable cumulative fix, save the installable cumulative fix in a storage system; and

send the installable cumulative fix to a requester.

9. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein the program code is further readable and executable by the processor to:

retrieve, by a data retrieval module, artifacts representative of a problem from a data processing system for identifying the problem, wherein the data retrieval module comprises a pluggable subsystem that provides a capability in which custom data retrieval modules are added as needed for new products and new features of existing products, and wherein the data retrieval module comprises data retrieval module plugins that are tailored to a specific implementation of data structures representative of a specific product and component instance.

10. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein the program code is further readable and executable by the processor to:

analyze the received situation data by traversing a set of rules using a rule based analysis sub-process, wherein the rule based analysis sub-process includes pattern identification, wherein an identified pattern comprises a signature of a problem, an error condition raised by the problem, and a context in which the problem occurred;

perform a situation analysis on the problem, wherein the situation analysis analyzes a collection of information representative of a problem instance in order to identify the problem and each rule in the set of rules that related to a specific problem; and

compare an identified problem with a set of known problems in a storage system.

11. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein the program code is further readable and executable by the processor to:

collect atomic fixes, from among a set of atomic fixes, in accordance with the identified problem and situation data to form an installable cumulative fix to resolve the identified problem;

request a new atomic fix from a development service, in accordance with the identified problem and situation data; and

in response to receiving the new atomic fix, save the new atomic fix in the set of atomic fixes for subsequent use.

12. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein the program code is further readable and executable by the processor to:

use information contained within the situation data to describe a context of the system requesting the fix; and

tailor the installable cumulative fix to a specific implementation of data structures representative of a specific product and component instance of a requesting system.

13. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein the program code is further readable and executable by the processor to:

test the installable cumulative fix using information contained within the situation data to describe a context of the system requesting a fix to ensure the installable cumulative fix resolves the problem.

14. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein the program code is further readable and executable by the processor to:

responsive to a determination that the installable cumulative fix is not a new installable cumulative fix, send the installable cumulative fix to a requester.

15. An apparatus for implementing a fix delivery system, the apparatus comprising:

a communications fabric;

a memory connected to the communications fabric, wherein the memory contains computer executable program code;

a communications unit connected to the communications fabric;

an input/output unit connected to the communications fabric;

a display connected to the communications fabric; and

a processor unit connected to the communications fabric, wherein the processor unit executes the computer executable program code to direct the apparatus to;

receive, by a processor, a situation data representative of a problem;

analyze, by the processor, a received situation data to determine whether a problem associated with the situation data matches a known problem;

responsive to a determination that the problem associated with the situation data does not match the known problem, conduct a problem determination to identify the problem;

receive a developed cumulative fix for an identified problem;

build an installable cumulative fix for the identified problem using the situation data;

determine whether the installable cumulative fix meets predetermined requirements;

responsive to a determination that the installable cumulative fix meets predetermined requirements, determine whether the installable cumulative fix is a new installable cumulative fix;

responsive to a determination that the installable cumulative fix is a new installable cumulative fix, save the installable cumulative fix in a storage system; and

send the installable cumulative fix to a requester.

16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the processor unit executes the computer executable program code to receive situation data representative of a problem to further direct the apparatus to:

retrieve, by a data retrieval module, artifacts representative of a problem from a data processing system for identifying the problem, wherein the data retrieval module comprises a pluggable subsystem that provides a capability in which custom data retrieval modules are added as needed for new products and new features of existing products, and wherein the data retrieval module comprises data retrieval module plugins that are tailored to a specific implementation of data structures representative of a specific product and component instance.

17. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the processor unit executes the computer executable program code to analyze the received situation data to determine whether the problem associated with the situation data matches a known problem to further direct the apparatus to:

analyze the received situation data by traversing a set of rules using a rule based analysis sub-process, wherein the rule based analysis sub-process includes pattern identification, wherein an identified pattern comprises a signature of a problem, an error condition raised by the problem, and a context in which the problem occurred;

perform a situation analysis on the problem, wherein the situation analysis analyzes a collection of information representative of a problem instance in order to identify the problem and each rule in the set of rules that related to a specific problem; and

compare an identified problem with a set of known problems in a storage system.

18. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the processor unit executes the computer executable program code to receive a developed cumulative fix for the identified problem to further direct the apparatus to:

collect atomic fixes, from among a set of atomic fixes, in accordance with the identified problem and situation data to form an installable cumulative fix to resolve the identified problem;

request a new atomic fix from a development service, in accordance with the identified problem and situation data; and

in response to receiving the new atomic fix, save the new atomic fix in the set of atomic fixes for subsequent use.

19. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the processor unit executes the computer executable program code to build an installable cumulative fix for the identified problem using the situation data to further direct the apparatus to:

use information contained within the situation data to describe a context of the system requesting the fix; and

tailor the installable cumulative fix to a specific implementation of data structures representative of a specific product and component instance of a requesting system.

20. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the processor unit executes the computer executable program code to determine whether the installable cumulative fix meets predetermined requirements to further direct the apparatus to:

test the installable cumulative fix using information contained within the situation data to describe a context of the system requesting a fix to ensure the installable cumulative fix resolves the problem.