IDENTIFYING ISSUES PRIOR TO DEPLOYING SOFTWARE

• US 20170068526A1
• Filed: 09/04/2015
• Published: 03/09/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 09/04/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Quest Software, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Dell Products LP (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Inventors: Seigel, Jake
• Granted Patent: US 9,792,102 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/34 Recording or statistical evaluation of computer activity, e.g. of down time, of input/output operation ; Recording or statistical evaluation of user activity, e.g. usability assessment
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3409 for performance assessment
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3476 Data logging G06F11/14, G06F11/2205 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/36 Preventing errors by testing or debugging software
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/61 Installation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/71 Version control security arrangements therefor G06F21/57; Configuration management

Abstract

Systems and techniques for identifying potential problems associated with deploying a software package in a computing system are described. The software package may include multiple components that are installed in various locations in the computing system. Multiple agents that perform mock activities emulating the activities of the multiple components may be deployed in the computing system. Activity data may be gathered when the multiple agents are performing the mock activities and used to identify potential problems.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

identifying, by one or more processors, a plurality of components of a software package to be installed in a computing system;

determining, by the one or more processors, individual locations in the computer system in which to install individual components of the plurality of components;

installing, by the one or more processors, individual agents of a plurality of agents in the individual locations, wherein individual agents of the plurality of agents correspond to individual components of the plurality of components;

instructing, by the one or more processors, individual agents of the plurality of agents to perform mock activities that mimic activities of the individual components of the plurality of components;

gathering, by the one or more processors, activity data associated with the mock activities within a predetermined time period;

displaying at least a portion of the activity data; and

identifying, by a classifier executed by the one or more processors, a first potential problem based at least in part on the activity data.

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

correlating, by the one or more processors, the activity data based on criteria comprising at least one of a bandwidth usage of one more communication links in the computing system, a performance of one or more network elements in the computing system, or a usage associated with a resource in the computing system, wherein the resource comprises one of memory usage or processing capacity.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

installing the individual components corresponding to the individual agents; and

uninstalling the plurality of agents.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 3, wherein the first potential problem is associated with at least one of:

a topology of the computing system;

a resource associated with a network element of the computing system, wherein the resource comprises at least one of a memory capacity of the network element, a storage capacity of the network element, a processing capacity of the network element, or a networking bandwidth of the network element;

permissions associated with data stored in the computing system;

or

credentials associated with at least one agent of the plurality of agents.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

instructing the plurality of agents to perform additional mock activities based at least in part on determining that a first modification has been performed to the computing system;

determining additional activity data associated with the additional mock activities; and

identifying a second potential problem based on the additional activity data.

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

determining that a second modification to the computing system addresses the second potential problem.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the individual agents perform one or more of the mock activities to emulate one or more component activities associated with the individual components corresponding to the individual agents.

8. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing instructions that are executable by one or more processors to perform operations comprising:

determining a software package to be installed in a computing system, the software package comprising a plurality of components;

determining a location in the computer system in which to install a component of the plurality of components;

installing an agent of a plurality of agents in the location, wherein the agent corresponds to the component of the plurality of components;

instructing the agent to perform mock activities that emulate activities associated with the component;

determining activity data associated with the mock activities performed by the agent; and

identifying, by a classifier, at least one potential problem based at least in part on the activity data.

9. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 8, the operations further comprising:

installing the component corresponding to the agent; and

uninstall the agent.

10. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 9, wherein the at least one potential problem is associated with at least one of:

a topology of the computing system;

a resource associated with a network element of the computing system, wherein the resource comprises at least one of a memory capacity of the network element, a storage capacity of the network element, a processing capacity of the network element, or a networking bandwidth of the network element;

permissions associated with data stored in the computing system;

or

credentials associated with at least one agent of the plurality of agents.

11. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 8, further comprising:

instructing the agent to perform additional mock activities after determining that a modification to the computing system has been made, the modification determined based at least in part on the activity data; and

determining additional activity data associated with the additional mock activities.

12. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 11, further comprising:

determining, based at least in part on the additional activity data, that the modification to the computing system addresses a potential problem in the computing system.

13. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 11, further comprising:

performing an additional modification to the computing system; and

determining that the additional modification addresses the potential problem.

14. A server, comprising:

one or more processors; and

one or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing instructions that are executable by the one or more processors to perform operations comprising;

determining a plurality of components included in a software package that is to be installed in a computing system;

installing, in the computing system, an agent corresponding to a component of the plurality of components, wherein the agent is installed in a location where the component is to be installed;

instructing the agent to perform mock activities that emulate activities associated with the component;

determining activity data associated with the mock activities;

identifying, by a classifier algorithm, a potential problem based at least in part on the activity data; and

determining that the potential problem has been addressed.

15. The server of claim 14, the operations further comprising:

installing in the computing system the component corresponding to the agent; and

uninstalling the agent from the computing system.

16. The server of claim 14, further comprising:

generating, by the component, an event log associated with an event occurring in the computing system, wherein the event log is associated with complying with a government auditing standard or an industry auditing standard.

17. The server of claim 16, wherein the event log comprises at least one of:

a logon event log, a logoff event log, a failed logon event log, a directory accessed event log, a file created event log, a directory accessed event log, a data accessed event log, or a data copied event log.

18. The server of claim 14, wherein identifying the potential problem based at least in part on the activity data comprises:

correlating the activity data based on one or more criteria to create correlated activity data; and

identifying, using a classifier, the potential problem based at least in part on the correlated activity data.

19. The server of claim 14, wherein determining that the potential problem has been addressed comprises:

performing a modification to the computing system based at least in part on the activity data;

instructing the plurality of agents to perform additional mock activities in the modified computing system;

gathering additional activity data associated with the additional mock activities; and

determining that the potential problem has been addressed based at least in part on the additional activity data.

20. The server of claim 19, wherein the modification to the computing system comprises at least one of:

modifying a topology of the computing system;

adding a resource associated with a network element of the computing system, wherein the resource comprises at least one of a memory capacity of the network element, a storage capacity of the network element, a processing capacity of the network element, or a networking bandwidth of the network element;

modifying permissions associated with data stored in the computing system;

or

modifying credentials associated with at least one agent of the plurality of agents.