Method and system for predictive enterprise resource management

• US 7,225,250 B1
• Filed: 10/30/2000
• Issued: 05/29/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 10/30/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Objective Systems Integrators, Inc. (Mycom Group Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Agilent Technologies, Inc.
• Inventors: Harrop, Thomas C.
• Primary Examiner(s): Wiley; David
• Assistant Examiner(s): ENGLAND, DAVID E
• Application Number:
  US09/702,160
• Time in Patent Office: 2,402 Days
• Field of Search: 709222-224, 709/226, 714 46- 57, 714/4, 714/5, 714/25, 714/26, 702/182, 702/186, 702/188, 703/4, 703/13, 370/224, 370/241
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0681 Configuration of triggering conditions
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/147 for predicting network behaviour
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/16 using machine learning or artificial intelligence
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/22 comprising specially adapted graphical user interfaces [GUI]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5003 Managing SLA; Interaction between SLA and QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5025 by proactively reacting to service quality change, e.g. by reconfiguration after service quality degradation or upgrade
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0817 by checking functioning
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/10 Active monitoring, e.g. heartbeat, ping or trace-route
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/16 Threshold monitoring

Abstract

A system and method are disclosed which predict whether a performance problem within a network is likely to be encountered during future operation. Furthermore, a preferred embodiment not only predicts the likelihood of a performance problem, but further determines the appropriate preventative measures to be taken in an attempt to prevent a predicted performance problem from occurring. In a preferred embodiment, a management system (MS) that oversees the operation of a network is implemented to predict likely performance problems within the network, and may determine appropriate preventative measures for preventing predicted performance problems within the network. Polling gateway(s) may be utilized to periodically poll the network resources in order to retrieve status information for such resources, including but not limited to status of disk(s), database(s), memory, CPU(s), and operating system(s) within the network. The gathered status information is then evaluated by the MS by, for example, correlating such status information with known performance rules for the network to predict potential performance problems, and based on such evaluation, the MS may predict whether a future performance problem is likely to be encountered. Once a future performance problem has been predicted, the MS determines an appropriate preventive action for preventing the performance problem from occurring, and the MS may initiate the appropriate preventive action before the occurrence of the predicted performance problem in an attempt to prevent such performance problem. Most preferably, the network management system is implemented to “learn” symptoms of performance problems over time.

Claims

1. A method of managing a network comprising the steps of:

polling resources of the network to gather real-time status information about the network;

evaluating performance of the network by identifying network-wide patterns in the gathered real-time status information; and

determining, based on the result of said step of evaluating and from at least one previously defined rule correlating disparate characteristics of the resources of the network, an action for preventing a future network-wide performance problem from occurring;

wherein said disparate characteristics include those selected from;

CPU run queue capacity, CPU run queue blocks, CPU run queue waits, context switching, memory paging, swap allocation, disk writes, disk blocking, disk waiting, disk utilization, network inbound packets, network outbound packets, network errors, and network collisions.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of:

initiating the action before the future network-wide performance problem occurring in an attempt to prevent the future network-wide performance problem.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said step of evaluating performance of the network further includes:

correlating the real-time status information with at least one previously defined rule.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the at least one previously-defined rule defines a known pattern for the gathered real-time status information that foreshadows the occurrence of the future network-wide performance problem.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the future network-wide performance problem is caused by anyone or more of the problems selected from:

operability problem of the resources of the network, operability problem of the network, failure of the resources of the network, failure of the network, integrity problem of the resources of the network, integrity problem of the network, efficiency problem of the resources of the network, efficiency problem of the network, decreased processing speed of the resources of the network, decreased processing speed of the network, usage capacity problem of the resources of the network, and usage capacity problem of the network.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of polling resources includes gathering the real-time status information for anyone or more of:

network status, disk status, database status, memory status, CPU status, and operating system status.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of polling resources includes gathering the real-time status information by a plurality of distributed gateways that are communicatively coupled to a central management system.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the at least one previously defined rule includes at least one user defined rule.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the at least one previously defined rule is implemented as software code executing on a management system.

10. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

the at least one previously defined rule correlating disparate network elements.

11. A system for managing a network, said system comprising:

at least one polling gateway that is operable to poll one or more network elements to gather real-time status information for said one or more network elements;

at least one processor-based management server communicatively coupled to the at least one polling gateway to receive the gathered real-time status information from said at least one polling gateway; and

the at least one processor-based management server predicting the occurrence of a network-wide performance problem within the network based on the gathered real-time status information;

wherein said at least one polling gateway includes a plurality of distributed polling gateways that are each operable to poll particular ones of disparate network elements that include network elements that communicate in different network protocols and include network elements selected from;

SNMP network elements, CMIP network elements, and network elements using TCP/IP protocol.

12. The system of claim 11 wherein said one or more network elements include a plurality of network elements distributed in the network.

13. The system of claim 11 wherein said one or more network elements include a plurality of disparate network elements.

14. The system of claim 11 wherein at least one rule defines an appropriate action for said at least one processor-based management server to respond to a defined condition being detected.

15. The system of claim 14 wherein said appropriate action is an action for attempting to prevent the network-wide performance problem predicted by detection of said defined condition from occurring.

16. The system of claim 14 wherein upon detection of said defined condition, said at least one processor-based management server initiates said appropriate action before said network-wide performance problem occurring.

17. The system of claim 11, wherein at least one rule defines a known pattern for status information that foreshadows the occurrence of said network-wide performance problem.

18. The system of claim 11 wherein at least one rule defines statistical analysis of said status information that foreshadows the occurrence of said network-wide performance problem.

19. The system of claim 11 wherein at leas tone rule defines a known correlation of status information that foreshadows the occurrence of said network-wide performance problem.

20. The system of claim 11 wherein said network-wide performance problem is caused by anyone or more of the problems selected from:

operability problem of said one or more network elements, operability problem of the network, failure of said one or more network elements, failure of the network, integrity problem of said one or more network elements, integrity problem of the network, efficiency problem of said one or more network elements, efficiency problem of the network, decreased processing speed of said one or more network elements, decreased processing speed of the network, usage capacity problem of said one or more network elements, and usage capacity problem of the network.

21. The system of claim 11 wherein said status information includes one or more from:

network status, disk status, database status, memory status, CPU status, and operating system status.

22. A management system for managing one or more layers of a network, wherein said managing includes predicting network-wide performance problems that are to occur within one or more layers of the network and taking responsive actions in an attempt to prevent or timely respond to the predicted said network-wide performance problems, said management system comprising:

at least one processor-based management server communicatively coupled to at least one polling gateway that is operable to poll at least one network element to gather real-time status information for said at least one network element, the at least one polling gateway including a plurality of distributed polling gateways that are each operable to poll particular ones of disparate said at least one network element, wherein the disparate said at least one network element include said at least one network element that communicate in different network protocols, and said at least one network element selected from;

SNMP network elements, CMIP network elements, and network elements using TCP/IP protocol;

the at least one processor-based management server including software code executing thereon, wherein said software code learns a condition for predicting said network-wide performance problem within one or more layers of the network from said gathered real-time status information to enable the processor-based management server to predict the occurrence of said network-wide performance problem within the network.

23. The management system of claim 22 wherein said at least one network element include a plurality of said at least one network element distributed in the network.

24. The management system of claim 22 wherein said at least one network element include a plurality of disparate said at least one network element.

25. The management system of claim 22 wherein at least one rule defines an action for said at least one processor-based management server to take in response to said condition being detected.

26. The management system of claim 25 wherein said action is an action for attempting to prevent the network-wide performance problem predicted by the detection of said condition from occurring.

27. The management system of claim 25 wherein upon detection of said condition said at least one processor-based management server initiates said action before said network-wide performance problem occurs.

28. The management system of claim 22, wherein said condition includes a pattern for status information that foreshadows the occurrence of said network-wide performance problem.

29. The management system of claim 22 wherein said condition includes statistical analysis of said status information that foreshadows the occurrence of said network-wide performance problem.

30. The management system of claim 22 wherein said condition includes correlation of status information that foreshadows the occurrence of said network-wide performance problem.

31. The management system of claim 22 wherein said network-wide performance problem is caused by anyone or more of the problems selected from:

operability problem of said at least one network element, operability problem of the network, failure of said at least one network element, failure of the network, integrity problem of said at least one network element, integrity problem of the network, efficiency problem of said at least one network element, efficiency problem of the network, decreased processing speed of said at least one network element, decreased processing speed of the network, usage capacity problem of said at least one network element, and usage capacity problem of the network.

32. The management system of claim 22 wherein said status information includes one or more from:

network status, disk status, database status, memory status, CPU status, and operating system status.

33. The management system of claim 22 wherein said at least one network element is represented as an object within object-oriented software executing on the processor-based server, said object having one or more attributes for which said status information may be gathered.

34. The management system of claim 33 wherein said condition includes correlation of one or more attributes of one or more objects to define the prediction of said network-wide performance problem.

35. The management system of claim 22 wherein said management system includes a business management layer.

36. The management system of claim 35 wherein said network-wide performance problem includes a business performance problem.

37. The management system of claim 36 wherein said at least one network element includes an electronic commerce system for processing commercial transactions with customers via the Internet, and wherein said business performance problem includes a problem resulting in inability of said electronic commerce system processing said commercial transactions.

38. The management system of claim 22 wherein said management system includes a service management layer.

39. The management system of claim 38 wherein said network-wide performance problem includes a service performance problem.

40. The management system of claim 39 wherein said service performance problem includes problem with the quality provided to subscribers or clients of the network.

41. The management system of claim 22 wherein said management system includes a network management layer.

42. The management system of claim 22 wherein said management system includes an element management layer.

43. The management system of claim 42 wherein said network-wide performance problem includes a network element performance problem.

44. The management system of claim 22 wherein said management system includes a plurality of at least the following layers:

business management layer, service management layer, network management layer, and element management layer, and wherein a plurality of said layers are correlated within said at least one rule.

45. A management system for managing one or more layers of a network, wherein said managing includes predicting network-wide performance problems that are to occur within one or more layers of the network and taking responsive actions in an attempt to prevent or timely respond to the predicted said network-wide performance problems, said management system comprising:

at least one processor-based management server communicatively coupled to at least one polling gateway that is operable to poll at least one network element to gather real-time status information for said at least one network element;

the at least one processor-based management server including software code executing thereon, wherein said software code learns a condition for predicting said network-wide performance problem within one or more layers of the network from said gathered real-time status information to enable the processor-based management server to predict the occurrence of said network-wide performance problem within the network; and

a plurality of at least the following layers;

business management layer, service management layer, network management layer, and element management layer, and wherein said network-wide performance problem is a problem within any of said plurality of layers.