System and method for detection of, notification of, and automated repair of problem conditions in a messaging system

• US 6,021,262 A
• Filed: 07/12/1996
• Issued: 02/01/2000
• Est. Priority Date: 07/12/1996
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Thomas, Stephen David, Cote, Joseph Paul-Emile Pierre
• Primary Examiner(s): Kim, Kenneth S.
• Application Number:
  US08/678,819
• Time in Patent Office: 1,299 Days
• Field of Search: 395/184.01, 395/185.1, 395/200.54, 395/185.01, 395/200.53
• US Class Current: 714/48
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0781 Error filtering or prioritizing based on a policy defined by the user or on a policy defined by a hardware/software module, e.g. according to a severity level
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/327 Alarm or error message display

Abstract

The present invention is directed to systems and methods for automatically monitoring the status of messaging software. When a deficiency in the messaging software or a messaging link connecting messaging systems is detected, the invention refers to a configurable schedule of settings that defines actions to be taken. Actions may include identifying at least one message that should be sent when a particular warning or alert occurs, identifying the method to send the message, identifying the destination or recipient of the message, and identifying a time to send the message. In addition, the schedule allows an administrator to configure operation times for notification methods. If the system decides that notification should be sent via a method that is not allowed to operate until a certain time, notification using that method will be delayed until the allowed time. Using the time to send the notification, the method that should be used to send the notification, and the time that the identified notification method is allowed to execute, the system schedules the notifications and sends the appropriate notifications when the time arrives. If indicated by the schedule, the system will also undertake automatic repair of the deficiency by performing such actions as stopping and restarting various software components, executing new software components, or performing an automated shutdown and restart of the affected system. An administrator can prevent attempts at automated repair by placing a system in a maintenance mode which locks out all automated repair actions but leaves notification actions intact.

Claims

1. A method for identifyinig deficiencies in a distributed computer system comprising a plurality of interconected server computers, for initiating notification actions in response to identified deficiencies, and for attempting automated repair of identified deficiencies in a server computer, said method comprising the steps of:

detecting at least one of a plurality of predetermined deficiency conditions that interfere with normal operation of any of said plurality of server computers in said distributed computer system;

obtaining information stored in a schedule of settings that defines actions to be taken when said at least one of said plurality of deficiency conditions occurs; and

using a notification and repair process stored at the server computer at which the deficiency is detected to select, based on said information, a course of action including at least one of either;

sending a deficiency notifier of said at least one of said plurality of deficiency conditions by using the notification and repair process stored at the server computer to

     1) idenitify a notification to be sent, identify a method for sending said notification, identify a destination for said notification, and identify a time to send the notification, and then

     2) when said time arrives, send said notification to said destination by said identified method for sending notification;

or

testing whether the server computer with said deficiency is in a maintenance mode and only if said server computer is not in said maintenance mode then automatically repairing said at least one of said plurality of deficiency conditions by performing at least the steps of

     1) identifying what actions should be taken to automatically repair said at least one of said plurality of deficiency conditions and then

     2) initiating said actions.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein

the schedule corresponds to a set of urgency levels comprising a warning level and an alert level;

and

an alert notification action corresponding to the alert level indicates more urgency than a warning notification action corresponding to the warning level.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein sending the deficiency notifier comprises sending a messaging system message.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein sending the deficiency notifier comprises sending a network priority message.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein sending the deficiency notifier comprises executing a notification application.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein sending the deficiency notifier comprises the steps of:

selecting a plurality of notification actions; and

inserting a delay period between the execution of at least one of the notification actions and the execution of at least one other of the notification actions.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein

at least one of the notification actions is directed to a first recipient;

and

at least one other of the notification actions is directed to a different, second recipient.

8. The method of claim 2, wherein the alert notification action is executed subsequently to an execution of the warning notification action.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein sending a deficiency notifier comprises executing a program that causes a pager communication.

10. A method for identifying deficiencies in a distributed computer system as recited in claim 1 wherein sending notification comprises the steps of sending notification by at least one of either electronic mail, priority network message, or pager message.

11. A method for identifying deficiencies in a distributed computer system as recited in claim 1 wherein if no response is received to a notification then the method further comprises the step of sending at least one additional notification.

12. A method for identifying deficiencies in a distributed computer system as recited in claim 1 wherein said configurable schedule allows settings to be modified by a system administrator.

13. A method for identifying deficiencies in a distributed computer system as recited in claim 1 wherein automatically repairing said at least one of said plurality of deficiency conditions further comprises the step of initiating an action comprising at least one of either starting a software component or shutting down and restarting a computer.

14. A method for identifying deficiencies in a distributed computer system comprising a plurality of interconnected server computers, for initiating notification actions in response to identified deficiencies, and for attempting automated repair of identified deficiencies in a server computer, said method comprising the steps of:

detecting at least one of a plurality of predetermined deficiency conditions that interfere with normal operation of any of said plurality of server computers in said distributed computer system;

identifying the severity of said at least one of said plurality of deficiency conditions and based on the severity signaling at least one of a plurality of predefined condition levels;

evaluating said at least one of said plurality of deficiency conditions and said signaled condition level to identify actions to be taken; and

using a notification and repair process stored at the server computer at which the deficiency is detected to select, based on said evaluation, a course of action including at least one of either;

sending a deficiency notifier of said at least one of said plurality of deficiency conditions by performing at least the steps of;

using the notification and repair process stored at the server computer to identify at least one notification to be sent, to identify at least one method for sending said at least one notification, to identify at least one destination for said at least one notification, and to identify at least one time that said at least one notification should be sent;

using the notification and repair process stored at the server computer to identify a time that the notification action is permitted to execute for the identified notification method and based on the time that the identified notification method is permitted to execute and based on the time identified for sending the notification, then scheduling the times that notifications will be sent by the selected method; and

when said scheduled times arrive, then sending said at least one notification by said identified method of notification to said at least one destination;

or

sending an automatic repair command for said at least one of said plurality of deficiency conditions by performing at least the steps of;

identifying at least one appropriate action to automatically repair said at least one of said plurality of deficiency conditions, said at least one action including at least one of either initiating execution of a software component or shutting down and restarting a computer system; and

initiating said actions.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the step of sending deficiency notifier comprises:

selecting a plurality of notifications;

wherein at least one of the notifications is directed to a first recipient; and

wherein at least one other of the notifications is directed to a different, second recipient.

16. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions comprising:

monitoring means for monitoring deficiencies in a distributed computer system comprising a server computer, said monitoring means comprising;

means for detecting at least one of a plurality of deficiency conditions in said distributed computer system; and

means for initiating execution of notification and repair means for sending notification of detected deficiencies and for automatically repairing deficiencies; and

said notification and repair means comprising means for identifying (1) a notification to be set, (2) a method to send said notification, (3) a destination for said notification, and (4) a time to send said notification;

means for identifying a time that a notification action is permitted to execute for the identified notification method;

means for scheduling the notification action based on (1) the identified method, (2) the time to send said notification and (3) the time that the notification action is permitted to execute for the identified notification method;

means for executing the scheduled notification action when the scheduled time arrives to send the identified notification to the identified destination via the identified method; and

means for automatically repairing said detected deficiency condition by either initiating execution of a software component or shutting down and restarting said server computer.

17. The computer readable medium of claim 16 comprising:

means for storing a configurable schedule of settings adapted to be configured by a system administrator; and

wherein the schedule contains a set of urgency levels comprising a warning level and an alert level; and

wherein an alert notification action corresponding to the alert level indicates more urgency than a warning notification action corresponding to the warning level.

18. The computer readable medium of claim 16, wherein executing the notification action comprises sending a messaging system message.

19. The computer readable medium of claim 16, wherein executing the notification action comprises sending a network priority message.

20. The computer readable medium of claim 16, wherein executing the notification action comprises executing a notification application.

21. The computer readable medium of claim 16, wherein

a plurality of notification actions is selected;

and

wherein the computer executable instructions comprises means for causing the computer system to insert a delay period between the execution of at least one of the notification actions and the execution of at least one other of the notification actions.

22. The computer readable medium of claim 21, wherein

at least one of the notification actions is directed to a first recipient;

and

at least one other of the notification actions is directed to a different, second recipient.

23. A computer-readable medium as recited in claim 16 wherein the identified method comprises at least one of either electronic mail, priority network message, or pager message.

24. A computer-readable medium as recited in claim 16 wherein said notification and repair means further comprises means for sending at least one additional notification if no response is received to a notification.

25. A computer-readable medium as recited in claim 16 wherein said means for identifying (1) a notification to be sent, (2) a method to send said notification, (3) a destination for said notification, and (4) a time to send said notification retrieves information stored in a configurable schedule of settings that allows settings to be modified by a system administrator.

26. A computer-readable medium as recited in claim 16 wherein said notification and repair means comprises means for testing whether the server computer is in a maintenance mode that inhibits automatic repair actions from being performed.

27. The computer readable medium of claim 17, wherein the alert notification action is executed subsequently to an execution of the warning notification action.

28. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions comprising:

a monitor component adapted to monitor deficiencies in a distributed computer system comprising a server computer, said monitoring comprising;

a detector adapted to detect at least one of a plurality of deficiency conditions in said distributed computer system;

means for determining the severity of said at least one of said plurality of deficiency conditions and signaling a predefined condition level; and

means for initiating execution of a notification and repair module;

a configurable schedule of settings adapted to be configured by a system administrator; and

said notification and repair module comprising

means for retrieving from said configurable schedule (1) a notification to be sent, (2) a method to send said notification, (3) a destination for said notification, (4) a time to send said notification and (5) a time that the method can be used to send said notification;

a scheduler adapted to schedule a time to send the notification based on (1) the method to send said notification, (2) the time to send said notification and (3) the time that the method can be used to send said notification; and

means for sending said notification to said destination at said scheduled time via said method to send said notification.