Distributed Maintenance Mode Control

• US 20140075008A1
• Filed: 09/07/2012
• Published: 03/13/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 09/07/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Douglas, Clinton, Robinson, Todd D.
• Granted Patent: US 9,542,250 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0709 in a distributed system consisting of a plurality of standalone computer nodes, e.g. clusters, client-server systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0778 Dumping, i.e. gathering error/state information after a fault for later diagnosis
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0784 Routing of error reports, e.g. with a specific transmission path or data flow
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3055 Monitoring arrangements for monitoring the status of the computing system or of the computing system component, e.g. monitoring if the computing system is on, off, available, not available error or fault processing without redundancy G06F11/0703; error detection or correction by redundancy in data representation G06F11/08; error detection or correction by redundancy in operation G06F11/14; error detection or correction by redundancy in hardware G06F11/16
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3079 the data filtering being achieved by reporting only the changes of the monitored data

Abstract

A distributed maintenance mode system and method includes receiving an indicator that a monitored system has entered maintenance mode. Trap data is received for the monitored system. It is determined whether the monitored system is in maintenance mode based on the indicator. The trap data is stored and a billable incident ticket is generated for the monitored system if it is determined that the monitored system is not in maintenance mode. The trap data is stored and no billable incident ticket is generated for the monitored system if it is determined that the monitored system is in maintenance mode.

Claims

1. A distributed maintenance mode system, comprising:

a computer processor;

computer memory, the computer memory comprising program instructions that, when executed, cause the computer processor to;

receive an indicator that a monitored system has entered maintenance mode;

receive trap data for the monitored system;

determine whether the monitored system is in maintenance mode based on the indicator;

store the trap data and generate a billable incident ticket for the monitored system if it is determined that the monitored system is not in maintenance mode; and

store the trap data and generate no billable incident ticket for the monitored system if it is determined that the monitored system is in maintenance mode.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the program instructions, when executed, further cause the computer processor to:

receive an indicator listing a plurality of monitored systems entering maintenance mode;

receive trap data for at least one of the plurality of monitored systems;

determine whether the one of the plurality of monitored systems are in maintenance mode based on the indicator file;

store the trap data and generating a billable incident ticket for the one of the plurality of monitored systems system if it is determined that one of the plurality of monitored systems is not in maintenance mode; and

store the trap data and generating no billable incident ticket for the one of the plurality of monitored systems if it is determined that one of the plurality of monitored systems is in maintenance mode.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the indicator specifying that a monitored system has entered maintenance mode delineates a component of the monitored system, the program instructions, when executed, further cause the computer processor to:

receive trap data for the monitored system pertaining to the component;

determine whether the monitored system component is in maintenance mode based on the indicator;

store the trap data and generating a billable incident ticket for the monitored system component if it is determined that the monitored system component is not in maintenance mode; and

store the trap data and generating no billable incident ticket for the monitored system component if it is determined that the monitored system component is in maintenance mode.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the indicator delineates at least one activity by the monitored system component, the program instructions, when executed, further cause the computer processor to:

receive trap data for the monitored system pertaining to the activity as performed by the component;

determine whether the monitored system activity is the activity specified by the indicator;

store the trap data and generating a billable incident ticket for the monitored system component activity if it is determined that the monitored system component activity was not specified; and

store the trap data and generating no billable incident ticket for the monitored system component activity if it is determined that the monitored system component activity was specified by the indicator.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the indicator delineates a specific type of activity

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the indicator is created by a scheduler designating a span of time in which the monitored system is to be in maintenance mode.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the span of time is set at a future time.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the indicator is generated immediately in response to an input by a user.

9. The system of claim 1, the program instructions, when executed, further cause the computer processor to:

display a list of monitored systems that are in maintenance mode.

10. The system of claim 9, the program instructions, when executed, further cause the computer processor to:

display, for each monitored system in the list, at least the identity of an initiator of maintenance mode, and a time for the maintenance mode.

11. A distributed maintenance mode method, comprising:

receiving, using computer memory, an indicator that a monitored system has entered maintenance mode;

receiving, using computer memory, trap data for the monitored system;

determining, using a computer processor, whether the monitored system is in maintenance mode based on the indicator;

storing, using the computer memory, the trap data and generating, using the computer processor, a billable incident ticket for the monitored system if it is determined that the monitored system is not in maintenance mode; and

storing, using the computer memory, the trap data and generating no billable incident ticket for the monitored system if it is determined that the monitored system is in maintenance mode.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

receiving, using computer memory, an indicator listing a plurality of monitored systems entering maintenance mode;

receiving, using computer memory, trap data for at least one of the plurality of monitored systems;

determining, using the computer processor, whether the one of the plurality of monitored systems are in maintenance mode based on the indicator file;

storing, using computer memory, the trap data and generating, using the computer processor, a billable incident ticket for the one of the plurality of monitored systems system if it is determined that one of the plurality of monitored systems is not in maintenance mode; and

storing, using computer memory, the trap data and generating no billable incident ticket for the one of the plurality of monitored systems if it is determined that one of the plurality of monitored systems is in maintenance mode.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the indicator specifying that a monitored system has entered maintenance mode delineates a component of the monitored system, the method further comprising:

receiving, using computer memory, trap data for the monitored system pertaining to the component;

determining, using the computer processor, whether the monitored system component is in maintenance mode based on the indicator;

storing, using computer memory, the trap data and generating, using the computer processor, a billable incident ticket for the monitored system component if it is determined that the monitored system component is not in maintenance mode; and

storing, using computer memory, the trap data and generating no billable incident ticket for the monitored system component if it is determined that the monitored system component is in maintenance mode.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the indicator delineates at least one activity by the monitored system component, the method further comprising:

receiving, using computer memory, trap data for the monitored system pertaining to the activity as performed by the component;

determining, using the computer processor, whether the monitored system activity is the activity specified by the indicator;

storing, using computer memory, the trap data and generating, using the computer processor, a billable incident ticket for the monitored system component activity if it is determined that the monitored system component activity was not specified; and

storing, using computer memory, the trap data and generating no billable incident ticket for the monitored system component activity if it is determined that the monitored system component activity was specified by the indicator.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein the indicator delineates a specific type of activity.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein the indicator is created by a scheduler designating a span of time in which the monitored system is to be in maintenance mode.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the span of time is set at a future time.

18. The method of claim 11, wherein the indicator is generated immediately in response to an input by a user.

19. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

displaying, using the computer processor, a list of monitored systems that are in maintenance mode.

20. The method of claim 19, the method further comprising:

displaying, using the computer processor, for each monitored system in the list, at least the identity of an initiator of maintenance mode, and a time for the maintenance mode.