Method and system for managing data service systems

• US 6,041,041 A
• Filed: 04/15/1997
• Issued: 03/21/2000
• Est. Priority Date: 04/15/1997
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Company (HP Inc.), Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.), Viavi Solutions, Inc. (Lumentum Holdings Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Agilent Technologies, Inc., Hewlett-Packard Company (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Perry, Edward H., Ramanathan, Srinivas, Jin, Tai
• Primary Examiner(s): Jung, Min
• Application Number:
  US08/838,117
• Time in Patent Office: 1,071 Days
• Field of Search: 370/241, 370/242, 370/244, 370/248, 370/250, 370/252, 370/401, 709/224, 714/25, 714/37, 714/38
• US Class Current: 370/241
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0213 Standardised network management protocols, e.g. simple network management protocol [SNMP]

Abstract

A scheme is described for a data service system having a number of modules. Some of the modules are interdependent. To measure the status of an individual module, the scheme first collects measurements from a number of measurement routes that involve the module. Then the scheme analyzes the interdependencies of the measurements to determine the status of the individual module. The scheme may also determine status of the data service system with a minimal number of measurement routes. This is done by determining (1) all possible measurement routes, (2) determining the dependency between the modules and the measurement routes, and (3) analyzing the dependency to select minimal number of the measurement routes. The scheme can diagnose whether a module is a problematic module or not by analyzing a number of measurements that involve the module. If one of the measurements is good, the module is identified as non-problematic. The data service system may also include a test target coupled to a networking module of the data service system to allow service test signals to be measured through the network module.

Claims

1. A method of determining status of a module among a plurality of modules of a data service system, the method comprising:

(A) collecting measurements from at least one measurement route that involves the module;

(B) analyzing interdependencies of the measurements to determine the status of the module, wherein the step (B) further comprises

(I) determining the status of the module if only one measurement route involves the module;

(II) if two or more measurement routes involve the module, then correlating the measurements based on their interdependencies.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of displaying the status of the module.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the measurements include active measurements and passive measurements.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the step (A) further comprises

(a) finding all measurement routes that involve the module;

(b) collecting the measurements from all the measurement routes that involve the module.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the step (II) further comprises

(a) normalizing the measurements to the same scale of values and frequency of measurements;

(b) finding which of the measurements are redundant and which of the measurements are non-redundant;

(c) removing the redundant measurements from consideration;

(d) for the non-redundant measurements, finding measurements that cover the same set of modules and adopting maximum values of these measurements;

(e) applying a minimum correlation function to all the remaining measurements to determine a representative correlated measurement;

(f) applying a rating function to the representative correlated measurement to obtain the status of the module.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the normalization function compares the values of each measurement to a predetermined threshold value for that measurement.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the modules can be functional modules or physical modules and the data service system is a web service system, wherein the status includes the information of availability or performance.

8. A method of determining status of a data service system by a minimal number of measurements, wherein the data service system has a plurality of modules, comprising:

(A) determining all possible measurement routes for measuring all of the modules based on a predetermined topology of the system;

(B) determining dependencies between the modules and the measurement routes;

(C) analyzing the dependencies to select a minimal number of measurement routes that involve all of the modules to determine the status of the system.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising the step of displaying the status of the data service system.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the step (B) further comprises the step of generating a dependency graph between the modules and the measurement routes.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the step (C) further comprises the steps of

(I) determining the number of measurement routes each module is involved;

(II) selecting a module that is covered by a minimum number of measurement routes;

(III) removing the module and one of the measurement routes that covers the module from the dependency graph, wherein all other modules covered by the particular measurement route are also removed from the dependency graph;

(IV) repeating the steps (II) and (III) until there is no module in the dependency graph;

(V) calculating a first total number and total set of the measurement routes removed from the dependency graph.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising the step of repeating the steps (I) through (V) for each of the dependencies involving the selected module until the minimal number and set is determined.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein the modules can be functional modules or physical modules and the data service system is a web service system.

14. The method of claim 8, wherein the status includes the information of availability or performance.

15. A method of determining if a module among a plurality of modules of a data service system is a problematic module, comprising:

(A) analyzing a number of measurements that involve the module, wherein the step (A) further comprises

a) determining from a dependency graph whether the number of measurements involve other known problematic modules, wherein the dependency graph shows interdependencies between the measurements and the modules;

(b) determining which measurement of the measurements does not involve other known problematic modules;

(c) identifying that measurement as good;

(B) if one of the measurements is good, then identifying the module as non-problematic;

(C) if one of the measurements that only involves the module is problematic, then identifying the module as problematic.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising the step of identifying the module as problematic if one of the measurements involving only the module and other known non-problematic modules is problematic.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the modules can be functional modules or physical modules and the data service system is a web service system, wherein the status includes the information of availability or performance.

18. An apparatus, comprising:

(A) a storage medium;

(B) a software program stored in the storage medium to, when executed by a computer system, determine status of a module among a plurality of modules of a data service system, the software comprising

(I) a first set of instructions that collect measurements from at least one measurement route that involves the module;

(II) a second set of instructions that analyze interdependencies of the measurements to determine the status of the module, wherein the second set of instructions further

determine the status of the module if only one measurement route involves the module;

correlate the measurements based on their interdependencies if two or more measurement routes involve the module.

19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the software program further comprises a third set of instructions that display the status of the module, wherein the measurements include active measurements and passive measurements.

20. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the software program further comprises a fourth set of instructions that

find all measurement routes that involve the module;

and

collect the measurements from all the measurement routes that involve the module.

21. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein correlation of the measurements is done by

normalizing the measurements to the same scale;

finding which of the measurements are redundant and which of the measurements are non-redundant;

removing the redundant measurements from consideration;

for the non-redundant measurements, finding measurements that cover the same set of modules and adopting maximum values of these measurements;

applying a minimum correlation function to all the remaining measurements to determine a representative correlated measurement;

applying a rating function to the representative correlated measurement to obtain the status of the module.

22. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the rating function compares the values of one of the measurements to a predetermined threshold value for that measurement.

23. An apparatus, comprising:

(A) a storage medium;

(B) a software program stored in the storage medium to, when executed by a computer system, determine status of a data service system having a plurality of modules by a minimal number of measurements, the software comprising

(I) a first set of instructions that determine all possible measurement routes for measuring all of the modules based on a predetermined topology of the system;

(II) a second set of instructions that determine dependencies between the modules and the measurement routes;

(III) a third set of instructions that analyze the dependencies to select a minimal number of measurement routes that involve all of the modules to determine the status of the system.

24. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the software program further comprises a third set of instructions that display the status that includes information of availability or performance of the system, wherein the measurements include active and passive measurements, wherein the modules can be functional modules or physical modules and the data service system is a web service system.

25. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the second set of instructions further generate a dependency graph between the modules and the measurement routes.

26. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein the third set of instructions further perform the following steps

(I) determining the number of measurement routes each module is involved;

(II) selecting a module that is covered by a minimum number of measurement routes;

(III) removing the module and one of the measurement routes that covers the module from the dependency graph, wherein all other modules covered by the particular measurement route are also removed from the dependency graph;

(IV) repeating the steps (II) and (III) until there is no module in the dependency graph;

(V) calculating a first total number and total set of the measurement routes removed from the dependency graph.

27. The apparatus of claim 26, further comprising a fifth set of instructions that repeat the steps (I) through (V) for each of the dependencies involving the selected module until the minimal number is determined.

28. An apparatus, comprising:

(A) a storage medium;

(B) a software program stored in the storage medium to, when executed by a computer system, determine if a module among a plurality of modules of a data service system is a problematic module, the software comprising

(I) a first set of instructions that analyze a number of measurements that involve the module, wherein the first set of instructions further

determine from a dependency graph whether the number of measurements involve other known problematic modules, wherein the dependency graph shows inter-dependency between the measurements and the modules;

determine which measurement of the measurements does not involve other known problematic modules;

identify that measurement as good;

(II) a second set of instructions that identify the module as non-problematic if one of the measurements is good;

(III) a third set of instructions that identify the module as problematic if one of the measurements that only involves the module is problematic.

29. The apparatus of claim 28, further comprising a forth set of instructions that identify the module as problematic if one of the measurements that only involves the module and other known non-problematic modules is problematic.

30. The apparatus of claim 28, wherein the modules can be functional modules or physical modules and the data service system is a web service system, wherein the status includes the information of availability or performance.