Health monitor for a geographically distributed voice messaging system

• US 7,680,254 B2
• Filed: 06/29/2005
• Issued: 03/16/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 06/30/2004
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Glenayre Electronics Incorporated (EDCI Holdings Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Glenayre Electronics Incorporated (EDCI Holdings Incorporated)
• Inventors: Archer, Shafford R. Jr., Lowman, Philip L., Plotky, Jon S., Spencer, James H., Moraes, Ian M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Gauthier; Gerald
• Application Number:
  US11/170,532
• Publication Number:
  US 20060239423A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,721 Days
• Field of Search: 379/1.02, 379/14.01, 379/26.01, 379/88.18, 379/9.03, 379/88.23, 379/114.03, 379/88, 379/18, 379/29.01, 379/88.13, 379/88.26, 463/16, 713/201, 709/245, 709/203, 709/206, 714/43, 455/414.1
• US Class Current: 379/88.18
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/24 with provision for checking the normal operation
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/53325 Interconnection arrangements between voice mail systems

Abstract

A health monitor subsystem detects and responds to faults within a geographically disperse voice messaging system. The health monitor subsystem comprises agent, manager, interface, and common processes. The agent process monitors a respective voice messaging system component operative on the host. The manager process monitors and manages detected faults on the host. The interface process exposes a status responsive to the host. The common process monitors and manages a platform of hosts. The health monitor subsystem enables monitoring at the component, host, and platform levels.

Claims

1. A health monitor subsystem configured to detect and respond to faults within a geographically disperse voice messaging system, the subsystem comprising:

an agent process configured to monitor an associated voice messaging system component that is operative on a host within the voice messaging system;

a manager process coupled to the agent process and configured to monitor and manage detected faults on the host within the voice messaging system, wherein the manager process is adapted to forward a command to a hardware reset process, the hardware reset process configured to temporarily remove power to the host prior to restarting the host;

an interface process coupled to the manager process and configured to expose a status associated with the host within the voice messaging system; and

a common process coupled to the manager process and configured to monitor and manage a platform comprising a plurality of hosts that are within the voice messaging system.

2. The health monitor subsystem of claim 1, wherein the agent process is further configured to restart the respective voice messaging system component.

3. The health monitor subsystem of claim 1, wherein the agent process is further configured to register with and send periodic messages that include status information to the manager process.

4. The health monitor subsystem of claim 1, wherein the agent process is configured to receive a manager process request.

5. The health monitor subsystem of claim 1, wherein the manager process communicates with a hardware mechanism to restart the host.

6. The health monitor subsystem of claim 1, wherein the manager process communicates alarm conditions.

7. The health monitor subsystem of claim 1, wherein the manager process comprises dependencies among components operative on the host.

8. The health monitor subsystem of claim 1, wherein an application programming interface is integrated with one of the agent, manager, interface, and common processes, the application programming interface configured to communicate at least one of registration, fault, and request information.

9. The health monitor subsystem of claim 8, wherein the request information is associated with an operational condition.

10. The health monitor subsystem of claim 8, wherein the request information is associated with a command operative to disable a component.

11. A method for monitoring conditions across a geographically disperse voice message system, comprising:

monitoring a first status condition responsive to a respective voice messaging system component operative on a host within the voice messaging system;

monitoring a second status condition responsive to the operation of a respective host within the voice messaging system;

monitoring a third status condition responsive to the operation of a respective platform;

providing a network accessible mechanism for discerning an operative health of one of the platform, the host, and the voice messaging system component in accordance with one or more the first status condition, the second status condition and the third status condition; and

automatically responding to an undesired condition within a component process, wherein at least one response to the undesired condition comprises restarting the component process.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein monitoring a first status condition comprises periodically receiving information transmitted from the respective voice messaging system component.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein monitoring a first status condition comprises periodically polling the respective voice messaging system component for information.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein monitoring a first status condition comprises inserting an agent process in the respective voice messaging system component.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein monitoring a second status condition comprises inserting a manager process in the respective host.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein monitoring a third status condition comprises providing a common process operative within a computing device remote from a host that is coupled to the common process.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein knowledge of component dependencies is distributed across a plurality of hosts operative within the voice message system.

18. The method of claim 11, wherein responding comprises restarting the host.

19. The method of claim 11, wherein providing a network accessible mechanism comprises generating a graphical user interface that enables an operator to view the health of the voice messaging system on the platform, host, and component levels.