Consolidated monitoring system and method using the internet for diagnosis of an installed product set on a computing device

• US 7,107,257 B2
• Filed: 11/05/2001
• Issued: 09/12/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 11/05/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Lenovo PC International Limited (Lenovo Group Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Lenovo Singapore Pte Limited (Lenovo Group Ltd.)
• Inventors: Manrique, Walter A., Iulo, Bernard
• Primary Examiner(s): Robinson, Greta
• Assistant Examiner(s): Lu, Kuen S.
• Application Number:
  US10/008,742
• Publication Number:
  US 20030088549A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,772 Days
• Field of Search: 709/223, 709/224, 709/200, 707/3, 707/203, 707/200, 707/2, 707/10, 707/102, 717/173, 714/20, 714/38
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3051 Monitoring arrangements for monitoring the configuration of the computing system or of the computing system component, e.g. monitoring the presence of processing resources, peripherals, I/O links, software programs verification or detection of system hardware configuration G06F11/2247
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/71 Version control security arrangements therefor G06F21/57; Configuration management
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/917 Text
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99932 Access augmentation or optimizing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99943 Generating database or data structure, e.g. via user interface

Abstract

A system for managing computer system performance is provided. The system includes a workstation including existing installed components that includes software, hardware device, system upgrade, and/or a peripheral device. The system also includes a consolidated monitoring tool executing on the workstation. Upon installing a new component or a new service, the tool queries the workstation for an inventory of the existing components, acquires vendor information for the new component, and builds a database of information. The information includes product information relating to the existing components. The tool also connects to a web site for a vendor associated with the new component via the link, retrieves product information for the new component from the web site, verifies requirements and compatibility of the new component against existing installated components, determines an optimum configuration for the workstation, and configures the workstation in accordance with the optimum configuration.

Claims

1. A system for managing computer system performance, comprising:

a workstation including existing installed components, the installed components including at least one of software, hardware device, system upgrade, and a peripheral device;

a consolidated monitoring tool executing on the workstation; and

a link to a communications network;

wherein upon installing a new component or acquiring a new service for the workstation, the consolidated monitoring tool performs;

querying the workstation for an inventory of the existing installed components;

acquiring vendor contact information for the new component;

building a database of information acquired in response to the querying, the database of information including product information relating to the existing installed components, the product information including a product name, current release level, current maintenance level, and a web site address for each vendor system associated with the existing installed components;

connecting to a web site for a vendor system associated with the new component via the link;

retrieving product information relating to the new component from the web site;

verifying requirements and compatibility of the new component against the existing installed components based upon results of the retrieving and the product information relating to the existing installed components; and

determining an optimum configuration for the workstation based upon the verifying, and configuring the workstation in accordance with the optimum configuration.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the peripheral device includes at least one of a printer, a scanner, a facsimile, and a data storage facility.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the retrieving product information relating to the new component includes retrieving product alerts, validation of the product'"'"'s maintenance level, current message translation tables, and diagnostic information.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the message translation tables include at least one of:

a warning flag;

error symptom strings;

expanded text or display; and

a wizard.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the warning flag indicates at least one of:

an existing event or situation is recoverable;

a diagnosis exists for a given error string; and

a wizard is available for a given event.

6. The system of claim 4, wherein the error symptom strings contain at least one of a program name, a failure code, routine name, and offsets.

7. The system of claim 4, wherein the expanded text or display include explanations of an event or condition.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the verifying requirements and compatibility include verifying existing system resources for the workstation.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the configuring includes tuning existing installed components of the workstation, the tuning operable for adjusting a component to operate efficiently in its system environment.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the tuning is triggered upon an occurrence of an abnormal event.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the consolidated monitoring tool further performs diagnostics, the diagnostics performed by:

retrieving a detailed description of an error encountered by the workstation; and

presenting the detailed description to the workstation.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the consolidated monitoring tool performs the diagnostics via:

retrieving a list of action items from the database, the action items including at least one of a suggested configuration, tuning, and system upgrade; and

presenting the list to the workstation.

13. The system of claim 11, further comprising:

upon encountering a severe error, the consolidated monitoring tool performs;

providing a detailed explanation of the severe error;

providing an explanation of a recovery plan underway to correct the severe error; and

connecting to the vendor system web site for assistance.

14. A method for managing computer system performance, comprising:

querying a workstation for an inventory of existing installed components in response to installing a new component on the workstation, the existing installed components including at least one of software, hardware device, system upgrade, and a peripheral device;

acquiring vendor contact information for the new component;

building a database of information acquired in response to the querying, the database of information including product information relating to the existing installed components, the product information including a product name, current release level, current maintenance level, and a web site address for each vendor system associated with the existing installed components;

connecting to a web site for a vendor associated with the new component via a communications link;

retrieving product information relating to the new component from the web site;

verifying requirements and compatibility of the new component against the existing installed components based upon results of the retrieving and the product information relating to the existing installed components; and

determining an optimum configuration for the workstation based upon the verifying, and configuring the workstation in accordance with the optimum configuration.