Checking and repairing a network configuration

• US 7,787,456 B2
• Filed: 05/09/2008
• Issued: 08/31/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 02/20/2004
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Agrawal, Dakshi, Basham, Robert Beverley, Ratliff, James Mitchell, Yardley, Brent William, Verma, Dinesh C., Voruganti, Kaladhar, Shackelford, David Michael, McBride, Gregory Edward, Lee, Kang-Won, Gopisetty, Sandeep, Filali-Adib, Khalid, Le, Cuong Minh
• Primary Examiner(s): Kumar; Pankaj
• Assistant Examiner(s): Jones; Prenell P
• Application Number:
  US12/118,572
• Publication Number:
  US 20080205300A1
• Time in Patent Office: 844 Days
• Field of Search: 370/352, 370/254, 370/356, 370/392, 370/389, 379/265, 707/1, 707/10, 707/3, 717/101, 709/229, 709/223, 709204-207, 709/216, 709/217, 705/1
• US Class Current: 370/389
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0866 Checking the configuration
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0893 Assignment of logical groups to network elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0894 Policy-based network configuration management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/50 Testing arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1097 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]

Abstract

Disclosed is a technique for correcting a configuration problem. The configuration problem is detected. It is determined whether there is at least one solution for the configuration problem in a knowledge data store. When it is determined that there is at least one solution in the knowledge data store, automatically selecting a solution to solve the configuration problem. When said solution can be automatically applied, automatically applying said solution. When said solution cannot be automatically applied, notifying a user.

Claims

1. An article of manufacture embodied as one of hardware logic and a non-transitory computer readable storage medium including program logic for correcting a configuration problem, wherein the program logic when executed by a processor of a computer causes the computer to perform operations, wherein the operations comprise

discovering the configuration problem in a network by:

generating an event for a transaction, wherein configuration data is associated with the event;

generating a trigger for the event, wherein a configuration policy is associated with the trigger; and

comparing the configuration data with the configuration policy to determine that the configuration policy has been violated;

determining that there are multiple solutions for the configuration problem in a knowledge data store;

automatically selecting a solution from the multiple solutions to solve the configuration problem;

when said solution can be automatically applied, automatically applying said solution;

and

when said solution cannot be automatically applied, notifying a user.

2. The article of manufacture of claim 1, wherein operations for detecting the configuration problem further comprise:

periodically interrogating said component in the network for data; and

determining whether there is a configuration problem based on the interrogation.

3. The article of manufacture of claim 1, wherein operations for detecting the configuration problem further comprise:

receiving at least one report from at least one component in the network; and

determining whether there is a configuration problem based on the report.

4. The article of manufacture of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise:

when a component in the network identifies a solution, allowing the component to automatically apply the solution.

5. The article of manufacture of claim 1, wherein the configuration problem is at least one of the network configuration problem and a storage configuration problem.

6. A system for correcting a configuration problem, comprising:

a processor;

a non-transitory computer readable storage medium accessible to the processor; and

program logic including code that causes the processor to perform;

discovering the configuration problem in a network by;

generating an event for a transaction, wherein configuration data is associated with the event;

generating a trigger for the event, wherein a configuration policy is associated with the trigger; and

comparing the configuration data with the configuration policy to determine that the configuration policy has been violated;

determining that there are multiple solutions whether there is at least one solution for the configuration problem in a knowledge data store;

automatically selecting a solution from the multiple solutions to solve the configuration problem;

when said solution can be automatically applied, automatically applying said solution; and

when said solution cannot be automatically applied, notifying a user.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the code for detecting the configuration problem causes the processor to further perform:

periodically interrogating said component in the network for data; and

determining whether there is a configuration problem based on the interrogation.

8. The system of claim 6, wherein the code for detecting the configuration problem causes the processor to further perform:

receiving at least one report from at least one component in the network; and

determining whether there is a configuration problem based on the report.

9. The system of claim 6, wherein the code causes the processor to further perform:

when a component in the network identifies a solution, allowing the component to automatically apply the solution.

10. The system of claim 6, wherein the configuration problem is at least one of the network configuration problem and a storage configuration problem.

11. A method for correcting a configuration problem, comprising:

discovering the configuration problem in a network by;

generating an event for a transaction, wherein configuration data is associated with the event;

generating a trigger for the event, wherein a configuration policy is associated with the trigger; and

comparing the configuration data with the configuration policy to determine that the configuration policy has been violated;

determining that there are multiple solutions for the configuration problem in a knowledge data store;

automatically selecting a solution from the multiple solutions to solve the configuration problem;

when said solution can be automatically applied, automatically applying said solution; and

when said solution cannot be automatically applied, notifying a user.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein detecting the configuration problem further comprises:

periodically interrogating said component in the network for data; and

determining whether there is a configuration problem based on the interrogation.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein detecting the configuration problem further comprises:

receiving at least one report from at least one component in the network; and

determining whether there is a configuration problem based on the report.

14. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

when a component in the network identifies a solution, allowing the component to automatically apply the solution.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein the configuration problem is at least one of the network configuration problem and a storage configuration problem.