Measuring catastrophic failure rates in updates
First Claim
1. A computer program product for measuring a catastrophic failure rate in software updates, the computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium containing executable computer program code for performing a method comprising:
- sending software updates to a plurality of computers, the software updates installing update check programs on the computers and configuring the update check programs to execute at a specified reporting time after the update check program installation;
receiving from a plurality of the update check programs a positive operations notification at the specified reporting time indicating that the update check programs are okay;
tracking the number of positive operations notifications received in comparison to the number of the software updates sent;
detecting a high catastrophic failure rate for the software updates responsive to the number of positive operations notifications received being below an expected threshold number of positive operations notifications that should be received by the specified reporting time; and
determining whether the software updates sent are causing catastrophic failures in the computers based on the detection of a high catastrophic failure rate.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Preventing continued distribution of a software update that is causing problems in computers is a challenging problem, particularly where the update causes a catastrophic failure such that the problem cannot be reported by the computer since the computer has been completely disabled. To manage this problem, when an update is delivered for installation, it first installs a program and configures it to execute at a specified reporting time. When that time is reached, the program sends a positive operations notification to the update server indicating that the program is okay or sends a notification that the program is okay so far, but the user is now shutting down the computer. The number of notifications received is tracked by the system in comparison to the number of software updates sent. If the notifications received are smaller than expected, the update may be causing catastrophic failures in the computers, preventing the sending of the notification, and thus the system can take corrective action to manage this problem early on, before more problematic updates are sent out.
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Citations
17 Claims
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1. A computer program product for measuring a catastrophic failure rate in software updates, the computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium containing executable computer program code for performing a method comprising:
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sending software updates to a plurality of computers, the software updates installing update check programs on the computers and configuring the update check programs to execute at a specified reporting time after the update check program installation; receiving from a plurality of the update check programs a positive operations notification at the specified reporting time indicating that the update check programs are okay; tracking the number of positive operations notifications received in comparison to the number of the software updates sent; detecting a high catastrophic failure rate for the software updates responsive to the number of positive operations notifications received being below an expected threshold number of positive operations notifications that should be received by the specified reporting time; and determining whether the software updates sent are causing catastrophic failures in the computers based on the detection of a high catastrophic failure rate. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4)
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5. A computer-implemented method of measuring a catastrophic failure rate in software updates, the method comprising:
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sending software updates to a plurality of computers, the software updates installing update check programs on each of the computers and configuring the update check programs to execute at a specified reporting time after the update check program installation; receiving from a plurality of the update check programs a positive operations notification at the specified reporting time indicating that the update check programs are okay; tracking the number of positive operations notifications received in comparison to the number of the software updates sent; detecting a high catastrophic failure rate for the software updates responsive to the number of positive operations notifications received being below an expected threshold number of positive operations notifications that should be received by the specified reporting time; and determining whether the software updates sent are causing catastrophic failures in the computers based on the detection of a high catastrophic failure rate. - View Dependent Claims (6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A computer system measuring a catastrophic failure rate in software updates sent by an update server, the system comprising:
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a processor; a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing software modules for execution by the processor, the modules comprising; a sending module for sending software updates to a plurality of computers, the software updates installing update check programs on each of the computers and configuring the update check programs to execute at a specified reporting time after the update check program installation; a receiving module for receiving from a plurality of the update check programs a positive operations notification at the specified reporting time indicating that the update check programs are okay; a tracking module for tracking the number of positive operations notifications received in comparison to the number of the software updates sent; and a failure determination module for; detecting a high catastrophic failure rate for the software updates responsive to the number of positive operations notifications received being below an expected threshold number of positive operations notifications that should be received by the specified reporting time; and determining whether the software updates sent are causing catastrophic failures in the computers based on the detection of a high catastrophic failure rate. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A computer system for measuring a catastrophic failure rate in software updates, the system comprising:
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a processor; a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing an update control module for execution by the processor, the update control module for; sending software updates to a plurality of computers, the software updates installing update check programs on each of the computers and configuring the update check programs to execute at a specified reporting time after the update check program installation; receiving from a plurality of the update check programs a positive operations notification at the specified reporting time indicating that the update check programs are okay; tracking the number of positive operations notifications received in comparison to the number of the software updates sent; detecting a high catastrophic failure rate for the software updates responsive to the number of positive operations notifications received being below an expected threshold number of positive operations notifications that should be received by the specified reporting time; and determining whether the software updates sent are causing catastrophic failures in the computers based on the detection of a high catastrophic failure rate. - View Dependent Claims (17)
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Specification