System and method for determining fault isolation in an enterprise computing system

• US 7,664,986 B2
• Filed: 02/14/2008
• Issued: 02/16/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 03/20/2003
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Dell Products LP (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Dell Products LP (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Inventors: Cox, Robert V., Heracleous, Stephanos S., Angamuthu, Karthikeyan
• Primary Examiner(s): GUYTON, PHILIP A
• Application Number:
  US12/031,125
• Publication Number:
  US 20080133978A1
• Time in Patent Office: 733 Days
• Field of Search: 714/26, 714/27, 702182-185, 709/220, 709/221
• US Class Current: 714/27
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0727 in a storage system, e.g. in a DASD or network based storage system drivers for digital recording or reproducing units G06F3/06; circuits for error detection or correction within digital recording or reproducing units G11B20/18; for distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS], H04L67/1097
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0748 in a remote unit communicating with a single-box computer node experiencing an error/fault remote testing G06F11/2294
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/079 Root cause analysis, i.e. error or fault diagnosis in a hardware test environment G06F11/22; in a software test environment G06F11/36
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0645 by additionally acting on or stimulating the network after receiving notifications

Abstract

A system and method for determining fault isolation in an enterprise computing system is disclosed. A method includes automatically troubleshooting errors in an enterprise computing system that receives at an analyzer engine a status notification from a first component. In response to receiving the status notification, the method automatically selects a first analyzer policy file from a set of analyzer policy files based on the status notification received at the analyzer engine, wherein the analyzer policy file contains troubleshooting logic for determining root causes for errors. The method automatically attempts to communicate with a second component based on the troubleshooting logic within the first analyzer policy file. The method automatically determines a root cause for the status notification based on the troubleshooting logic in the selected analyzer policy file and based on information obtained in connection with the attempt to communicate with the second component.

Claims

1. A method for automatically troubleshooting errors in a computing system, the method comprising:

receiving an error notification associated with the computing system;

automatically selecting an analyzer policy file for determining a cause of the received error notification;

wherein the selected analyzer policy file has a predefined protocol identifying a set of analyzer modules usable by the selected analyzer policy file for determining the cause of the error notification;

determining a configuration change to the computing system; and

in response to determining the configuration change to the computing system, automatically modifying the predefined protocol for the selected analyzer policy file to modify the set of analyzer modules usable by the selected analyzer policy file for determining a cause for a subsequent error notification.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining a configuration change to the computing system comprises detecting a new computer component or utility.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein automatically modifying the selected analyzer policy file comprises developing or reconfiguring the selected analyzer policy file.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving the error notification from a first component of the computing system;

automatically attempting to communicate with a second component of the computing system based on troubleshooting logic within the selected analyzer policy file; and

automatically determining a cause for the error notification based on the troubleshooting logic in the selected analyzer policy file and based on information obtained in connection with the attempt to communicate with the second component of the computing system.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the error notification comprises simple network management protocol (SNMP) traps.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the error notification comprises network (NT) events.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing output for a user that identifies the cause of the error notification.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising, in response to determining the cause for the error notification, identifying corrective steps for the computing system.

9. A fault isolation troubleshooting system for use in a computing system, comprising one or more tangible computer readable media having stored thereon:

a plurality of analyzer policy files, each analyzer policy file including troubleshooting logic for determining causes of errors associated with the computing system;

one or more instructions comprising an analyzer engine operable to receive an error notification, select the analyzer policy file based on the received error notification, and use the troubleshooting logic of the selected analyzer policy file to identify the cause of the error notification; and

one or more instructions comprising an updating engine operable to determine a configuration change to the computing system, and in response to determining the configuration change to the computing system, automatically modify the troubleshooting logic of the selected analyzer policy file.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein determining a configuration change to the computing system comprises detecting a new computer component or utility.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein:

the selected analyzer policy file has a predefined protocol identifying a set of analyzer modules usable by the selected analyzer policy file for determining a cause of an error notification; and

automatically modifying the troubleshooting logic of the selected analyzer policy file comprises modifying the set of analyzer modules usable by the selected analyzer policy file for determining a cause of an error notification.

12. The system of claim 9, wherein the error notification comprises simple network management protocol (SNMP) traps.

13. The system of claim 9, wherein the error notification comprises network (NT) events.

14. The system of claim 9, further comprising a user interface for providing output to a user that identifies the cause of the error notification.

15. The system of claim 9, wherein the analyzer engine is further operable to identifying corrective steps for the computing system regarding the identified cause of the error notification.

16. A method for automatically troubleshooting errors in a computing system, comprising:

receiving a first error notification associated with the computing system;

from a plurality of analyzer policy files for determining causes of error notifications, automatically selecting a first analyzer policy file based at least on the received first error notification, the first analyzer policy file having a predefined protocol identifying a first set of analyzer modules usable by the first analyzer policy file for determining the cause of the first error notification;

automatically determining a cause for the first error notification using the first set of analyzer modules associated with the first analyzer policy file;

receiving a second error notification associated with the computing system;

from the plurality of analyzer policy files for determining causes of error notifications, automatically selecting a second analyzer policy file based at least on the received second error notification, the second analyzer policy file having a predefined protocol identifying a second set of analyzer modules usable by the second analyzer policy file for determining the cause of the second error notification, second set of analyzer modules having at least one different analyzer module than the first set of analyzer modules;

automatically determining a cause for the second error notification using the second set of analyzer modules associated with the second analyzer policy file;

determining a configuration change to the computing system; and

in response to determining the configuration change to the computing system, automatically modifying the predefined protocol for at least one of the first and second analyzer policy files to modify the set of analyzer modules usable by at least one of the first and second analyzer policy files for determining a cause for a subsequent error notification.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein determining a configuration change to the computing system comprises detecting a new computer component or utility.