USER SUPPORT EXPERIENCE WITH AUTOMATICALLY GENERATED VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENT

• US 20150135013A1
• Filed: 11/14/2013
• Published: 05/14/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 11/14/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Zhang, Yi, Srinivasan, Sridhar, Howard, John Hal, Thomas, Satish, Chowdhury, Murtaza
• Granted Patent: US 9,405,645 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 714/27
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2294 by remote test
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3058 Monitoring arrangements for monitoring environmental properties or parameters of the computing system or of the computing system component, e.g. monitoring of power, currents, temperature, humidity, position, vibrations thermal management in cooling arrangements of a computing system G06F1/206
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/366 using diagnostics G06F11/0703 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3664 Environments for testing or debugging software
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45595 Network integration; Enabling network access in virtual machine instances
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/455 Emulation; Interpretation; Software simulation, e.g. virtualisation or emulation of application or operating system execution engines
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45558 Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0637 Strategic management or analysis, e.g. setting a goal or target of an organisation; Planning actions based on goals; Analysis or evaluation of effectiveness of goals
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/20 Administration of product repair or maintenance

Abstract

A virtual environment service obtains automatically collected diagnostic information from a deployed instance of a computer system and automatically generates a reproduction of an environment of the instance of the computer system, based upon the collected diagnostic data. User interactions with the virtual diagnostic environment can be recorded to identify a technical issue with the deployed instance of the computer system. A fix for the issue is applied in the virtual diagnostic environment so that it can be verified by the user prior to applying it to the deployed instance.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

displaying an issue description user interface display with issue description user input mechanisms that receive user issue description inputs indicative of a technical issue in a deployed computer system;

automatically receiving diagnostic environment data indicative of an environment of the deployed computer system;

automatically generating a diagnostic environment, based on the diagnostic environment data, corresponding to the environment of the deployed computer system;

receiving developer inputs generating a fix for the technical issue in the diagnostic environment; and

storing the fix for application to the deployed computer system.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 and further comprising:

after automatically generating the diagnostic environment, generating user reproduction displays that receive user reproduction inputs reproducing the technical issue in the diagnostic environment.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2 and further comprising:

recording the user reproduction inputs for review by a developer.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 2 and further comprising:

receiving a user input confirming that the technical issue was reproduced in the diagnostic environment.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 2 wherein automatically generating a diagnostic environment comprises:

generating a computer system instance that reproduces the deployed computer system.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 5 and further comprising:

displaying a user application input mechanism that receives user inputs to apply the fix to the diagnostic environment.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 6 and further comprising:

displaying user verification input mechanisms that receive user verification inputs verifying whether the fix addresses the technical issue in the diagnostic environment.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 7 wherein displaying user verification input mechanisms comprises:

displaying screens that mimic screens in the deployed computer system; and

receiving user inputs performing steps in the diagnostic environment during which the technical issue is encountered in the deployed computer system.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 5 wherein automatically generating a diagnostic environment comprises:

provisioning a virtual computer system instance based on the diagnostic environment data;

mapping the user to the virtual computer system instance so the user has access to the virtual computer system instance; and

mapping technical support personnel to the virtual computer system instance so the technical support personnel have access to the virtual computer system instance.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein receiving diagnostic environment data comprises:

receiving an operating system identification identifying an operating system in the deployed computer system;

receiving a deployed computer system version number;

receiving an indication of updates installed on the deployed computer system; and

receiving an indication of fixes installed on the deployed computer system.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 and further comprising:

after receiving the user description inputs and the diagnostic environment data, querying a fix service to identify potentially relevant fixes that can be applied to the deployed computer system;

displaying the potentially relevant fixes for application by the user to the deployed computer system; and

if the user applies one of the potentially relevant fixes to the deployed computer system, sending the user a link to return to a process flow for addressing the technical issue if the applied potentially relevant fix does not address the technical issue.

12. A system, comprising:

an issue reporting component that receives user inputs describing a technical issue encountered in a deployed computing system instance;

a virtual environment service that generates a virtual computing system instance, based on environment data automatically collected from the deployed computing system instance;

a virtual machine control system that receives reproduction user inputs reproducing the technical issue on the virtual computing system instance and that receives developer inputs generating a fix for the technical issue on the virtual computing system instance; and

a computer processor that is a functional part of the system and that is activated by the issue reporting component, the virtual environment service and the virtual machine control system to facilitate receiving user inputs, generating the virtual computing system instance and receiving the reproduction user inputs and the developer inputs.

13. The system of claim 12 and further comprising:

a verification component that receives user verification inputs verifying that the fix addresses the technical issue on the virtual computing system instance.

14. The system of claim 12 wherein the deployed computing system instance comprises a deployed business system instance and wherein the virtual environment service comprises:

a virtual machine generator that generates the virtual computing system instance as a virtual business system instance that mimics operation of the deployed computing system instance.

15. The system of claim 14 wherein the virtual environment service further comprises:

a mapping generator that generates mappings between the user and the virtual business system instance and between a developer and the virtual business system instance so the user and the developer have access to the virtual business system instance in the virtual machine control system.

16. A computer readable storage medium storing computer readable instructions which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform steps, comprising:

displaying an issue description user interface display with issue description user input mechanisms that receive user issue description inputs indicative of a technical issue in a deployed computer system instance;

automatically receiving diagnostic environment data indicative of an environment of the deployed computer system instance;

automatically generating a diagnostic environment, based on the diagnostic environment data, corresponding to the environment of the deployed computer system instance, that mimics the deployed computer system instance;

generating user reproduction displays that receive user reproduction inputs verifying that the technical issue is reproducible in the diagnostic environment;

receiving developer inputs generating a fix for the technical issue in the diagnostic environment; and

storing the fix for application to the deployed computer system instance.

17. The computer readable storage medium of claim 16 and further comprising:

displaying a user application input mechanism that receives user inputs to apply the fix to the diagnostic environment.

18. The computer readable storage medium of claim 17 and further comprising:

displaying user verification input mechanisms that receive user verification inputs verifying whether the fix addresses the technical issue in the diagnostic environment.

19. The computer readable storage medium of claim 18 wherein displaying user verification input mechanisms comprises:

displaying screens that mimic screens in the deployed computer system instance; and

receiving user inputs performing steps in the diagnostic environment corresponding to steps in the deployed computer system instance during which the technical issue is encountered in the deployed computer system instance.

20. The computer readable storage medium of claim 16 and further comprising:

after receiving the user description inputs and the diagnostic environment data, querying a fix service to identify potentially relevant fixes that can be applied to the deployed computer system instance to address the technical issue;

displaying the potentially relevant fixes for application by the user to the deployed computer system instance; and

if the user applies one of the potentially relevant fixes to the deployed computer system instance, sending the user a link to return to a process flow for addressing the technical issue if the applied potentially relevant fix does not address the technical issue.