Fault notification method and related provider facility

• US 6,907,551 B2
• Filed: 10/02/2001
• Issued: 06/14/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 10/02/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP (Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Company), NTT Docomo Incorporated (Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation)
• Original Assignee: NTT Docomo Incorporated (Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation)
• Inventors: Katagiri, Tomoaki, Kubota, Hiroshi
• Primary Examiner(s): Iqbal, Nadeem
• Application Number:
  US09/969,898
• Publication Number:
  US 20020073364A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,351 Days
• Field of Search: 714/57, 714/48, 714/47, 714/49, 714/52, 714/43, 714/39, 714/31, 714/56, 714/37, 714/18, 709/223, 709/224, 709/226, 709/206, 709/207, 709/217, 709/229
• US Class Current: 714/57
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/327 Alarm or error message display
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/875 Monitoring of systems including the internet
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/06 Management of faults, events, alarms or notifications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5032 Generating service level reports
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5054 Automatic deployment of services triggered by the service manager, e.g. service implementation by automatic configuration of network components
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5061 characterised by the interaction between service providers and their network customers, e.g. customer relationship management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5074 Handling of user complaints or trouble tickets
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5093 wherein the managed service relates to messaging or chat services

Abstract

A service desk server receives trouble ticket information TC showing a fault status of a device, whereupon incident information X is generated (t0). Subsequently, the faulty service name is retrieved from fault information table based on the trouble ticket information TC. The service desk server then enters the service name in a template to generate fault notification message data html1 and html2 for transfer to a first and a second web server, respectively. Each of first and second web servers is thereby prompted to post a fault notification on their web site, on the basis of fault notification message data html1 and html2. Thus, fault information can be automatically notified to end users.

Claims

1. A fault notification method for posting fault information on a web site when a fault occurs in a provider facility which provides a variety of services to a terminal connected to the facility via a communication network, comprising the steps of:

detecting, from a plurality of monitored devices among devices constituting said provider facility, faulty devices;

generating specific fault information, wherein said specific fault information includes node information to identify a faulty device and application information to identify a malfunctioning application in said faulty device;

automatically retrieving from a predetermined rule base, based on said generated specific fault information, at least a service type, that is out of service, wherein said node information, said application information, and said service type are correlated in said predetermined rule base;

entering said located service type in a prepared template to generate fault notification message data; and

automatically posting said fault information on a web site based on said generated fault notification message data, wherein said fault information is accessible by end users of services provided by said provider facility who otherwise access said malfunctioning application.

2. A fault notification method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said fault notification message data is generated by entering said service type and items extracted from said specific fault information in said template.

3. A fault notification method as claimed in claim 2, wherein said generated fault notification message data is automatically posted on a web site via a plurality of communication networks.

4. A fault notification method as claimed in claim 1,

wherein said plurality of monitored devices, among the devices constituting said provider facility, are a plurality of server devices and a plurality of network devices.

5. A fault notification method for posting fault information on a web site when a fault occurs in a provider facility which provides a variety of services to a terminal connected to the facility via a communication network, comprising the steps of:

detecting, from a plurality of monitored devices among devices constituting said provider facility, faulty devices;

generating specific fault information;

automatically retrieving from a predetermined rule base, based on said generated specific fault information a service type, from among a plurality of provided services, that is out of service and a projected time when service will be restored;

requesting manual entry by a system administrator of a service type and a projected time when service will be restored in response to unsuccessful automatic retrieval from said predetermined rule base of said service type and said projected time when service will be restored;

requesting manual entry by the system administrator of a projected time when service will be restored in response to successful automatic retrieval from said predetermined rule base of a service type and unsuccessful automatic retrieval from said predetermined rule base of a projected time when service will be restored;

automatically entering said automatically retrieved or said manually entered service type and the projected time when service will be restored in a prepared template to create fault notification message data; and

automatically posting fault information on a web site based on said fault notification message data so that end users of services provided by the provider facility will be notified what service is out and when said service is expected to be restored.

10. A fault notification method as claimed in claim 5,

wherein said specific fault information includes node information for identifying a faulty device and application information for identifying a malfunctioning application in said faulty device;

and

wherein said node information, said application information, and at least a service type that is out of service are correlated with one another in said predetermined rule base.

11. A fault notification method as claimed in claim 5, wherein automatically entering comprises entering said automatically retrieved or said manually entered service type and the projected time when service will be restored in a first prepared template and entering said automatically retrieved service type in a second prepared template when the projected time when service will be restored is not automatically retrieved.

12. A fault notification method as claimed in claim 11, wherein entering said automatically retrieved service type in a second prepared template comprises in response to receipt of a manually entered projected time when service will be restored, entering said automatically retrieved service type and said manually entered projected time when service will be restored in said first prepared template.

6. A fault notification method for posting fault information on a web site when a fault occurs in a provider facility which provides a variety of services to a terminal connected to the facility via a communication network, comprising the steps of:

detecting, from a plurality of monitored devices among devices constituting said provider facility, faulty devices;

generating specific fault information for the detected faulty devices;

determining, based on said generated specific fault information, whether to automatically post fault information, and

when it is determined that said fault information is to be automatically posted;

locating, on the basis of said generated specific fault information and a predetermined rule base, at least a service type, among provided services, that would be out of service;

automatically posting information about the service type on a web site as fault information so that end users of said service type will be notified, and

when it is determined that said fault information is not to be posted automatically;

prompting, on a display, an administrator to enter information on a service type that is out of service, and post information on said entered service type on a web site as fault information so that end users of said service type will be notified.

7. A fault notification method for posting fault information on a web site when a fault occurs in a provider facility which provides a variety of services to a terminal connected to the facility via a communication network, comprising the steps of:

detecting, from a plurality of monitored devices among devices constituting said provider facility, faulty devices and generating specific fault information, including node information indicative of a faulty device and application information indicative of a malfunctioning application;

retrieving data, based on said generated specific fault information, from memory contents, wherein each memory content includes node information and application information, and each of said memory contents include, as necessary, a service type that is out of service and an estimated recovery time,

and when a service type and estimated recovery time are located as a result of the retrieval;

automatically posting, on a web site, fault information including information on said service type and a restoration time, wherein the restoration time is obtained by addition of the amount of said estimated recovery time to a fault time that is the time when the fault occurs.

8. A fault notification method as claimed in claim 7, further comprising the steps of:

i.)in the case that only a service type is located as a result of said retrieval, automatically posting information on said service type as first fault information; and

ii.)prompting an administrator to enter a projected restoration time, and when the projected restoration time is entered;

iii.)posting, on a web site, information on said service type and said entered projected restoration time as second fault information.

9. A provider facility for providing a variety of services to a terminal connected to the facility via a communication network, comprising:

monitoring means for monitoring operations of a plurality of monitored devices among devices constituting said provider facility wherein said monitoring means is configured to generate specific fault information, including node information identifying a malfunctioning device;

storing means for storing, in advance, said node information and information on a service type that is out of service, said node information and said service type information being correlated;

generating means for retrieving, based on said specific fault information, said service type information from said storing means, wherein said generating means is configured to enter said service type information in a prepared template for a fault notification message to generate a fault notification message; and

posting means for posting fault information based on said generated fault notification message.

13. A fault notification method for posting fault information on a web site when a fault occurs in a provider facility which provides a variety of services to a terminal connected to the facility via a communication network, comprising the steps of:

generating specific fault information that includes node information and application information, said node information indicative of a faulty device within a plurality of monitored devices constituting a provider facility and said application information indicative of a malfunctioning application in said faulty device;

automatically requesting from a predetermined rule base one of a plurality of service types, that is out of service and a projected time when said one of said service types will be restored, wherein said request includes at least one of said node information or said application information;

generating a request for manual entry by a system administrator of a service type and manual entry of a projected time when service will be restored in response to an unsuccessful automatic request for said service type and said projected time when service will be restored;

generating a request for manual entry by a service administrator of a projected time when service will be restored in response to a successful request for a service type and an unsuccessful request for a projected time when service will be restored;

automatically inserting in a first predefined fault notification message template said automatically requested or said manually entered service type and said projected time when service will be restored;

automatically inserting in a second predefined fault notification message template said automatically requested service type when said automatic request for said projected time when service will be restored was not successful; and

automatically posting fault information on a web site based on said first predefined fault notification message template or said second predefined fault notification message template so that end users of said services provided by said provider facility are alerted to a non-operational service.

14. A fault notification method as claimed in claim 13, further comprising:

in response to receipt of a manually entered projected time when service will be restored, inserting in the first predefined fault notification message template said automatically requested service type and said manually entered projected time when service will be restored; and

replacing said posted fault information that was posted based on said second predefined fault notification message template with fault information based on said automatically requested service type and said manually entered projected time when service will be restored that was inserted in said first predefined fault notification message template.

15. A system to provide fault notification when a fault occurs in a provider facility that provides a variety of services to a terminal connected to said facility via a communication network, the system comprising:

an operating monitor server configured to receive event information over the communication network from monitored nodes in said provider facility, wherein said event information includes at least one of a condition of operation or a fault indication,

wherein said operating monitor server is further configured to process said received event information and selectively generate trouble ticket information;

a service desk server configured to receive and process said trouble ticket information and access a rule based fault information table to automatically generate fault notification message data comprising a faulty service when said faulty service can be determined based on said trouble ticket information;

wherein said service desk server is further configured to generate a request for manual entry by a system administrator of fault notification message data comprising a faulty service and a projected time when service will be restored when fault notification message data is cannot be automatically generated from said rule based fault information table; and

wherein said service desk server is further configured to generate a fault notification message from said fault notification message data to alert end users of services of said provider facility of said faulty service.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein said fault notification message comprises an estimated recovery time and a faulty service name generated from said fault information table when said fault notification message data is automatically generated.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein said fault notification message composes a first fault notification message configured to be displayed on a space constrained terminal display and a second fault notification message configured to be displayed on a space unconstrained terminal display.

18. The system of claim 15, wherein said service desk server is further configured to generate a request for manual entry by a system administrator of fault notification message data comprising only a projected time when a faulty service will be restored when fault notification message data automatically generated from said rule based fault information table includes said faulty service.

19. The system of claim 15, wherein said event information includes at least one of node information indicative of a faulty device and application information indicative of a malfunctioning application, and said rule based fault information table selectively comprises correlation of at least one of said node information or said application information with a faulty service and a projected time when service will be restored.