Conditional actions based on runtime conditions of a computer system environment

• US 7,958,393 B2
• Filed: 12/28/2007
• Issued: 06/07/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 12/28/2007
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Swanson, Michael D., Bobak, Mythili K., McConnell, Tim A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Baderman; Scott T
• Assistant Examiner(s): PATEL, KAMINI B
• Application Number:
  US11/965,897
• Publication Number:
  US 20090172461A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,257 Days
• Field of Search: 714/15
• US Class Current: 714/15
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0709 in a distributed system consisting of a plurality of standalone computer nodes, e.g. clusters, client-server systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0793 Remedial or corrective actions recovery from an exception in an instruction pipeline G06F9/3861; by retry G06F11/1402; for recovering from a failure of a protocol instance or entity H04L69/40

Abstract

Conditionally performing delegated actions based on runtime conditions of the environment. A component of an Information Technology environment conditionally performs an action, such as its own recovery, based on whether the component can have such action delegated to it and/or whether that component is currently being shared by multiple business applications of the environment.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method of controlling performance of actions within an Information Technology (IT) environment, said computer-implemented method comprising:

determining, by a processor during runtime of the IT environment, whether a given component of the IT environment is being shared at a selected point in time during runtime by a plurality of business applications of the IT environment, wherein the given component is being shared at the selected point in time responsive to the given component being included at the selected point in time in a plurality of recovery segments representing the plurality of business applications; and

directing the given component to take action itself based on the determining, wherein the action to be taken is dependent on whether the given component is being shared at the selected point in time by the plurality of business applications.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the action comprises performing by the component its own recovery, in response to the determining indicating that the component is not being shared at the selected point in time.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein the recovery is to be performed within a predefined amount of time to ensure a goal associated with the component is met.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 3, further comprising indicating to the component the predefined amount of time.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 3, wherein the goal comprises a recovery time objective.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, wherein the component comprises a resource and the recovery time objective is a portion of a total recovery time objective specified for a set of related resources of which the resource is a part.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the action comprises disabling recovery operations by the component, wherein the component is prohibited from performing its own recovery in response to the determining indicating the component is being shared at the selected point in time.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising deciding whether the component can be delegated to, and wherein the action comprises performing by the component its own recovery, in response to the determining indicating that the component is not being shared at the selected point in time and the deciding indicating that the component can be delegated to.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the determining is performed, in response to an indication that an action can be delegated to the component.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the sharing ability of the component changes dynamically during runtime of the IT environment.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 10, wherein the component comprises a resource of a first resource set and is not being shared, and wherein the computer-implemented method further comprises adding the resource to another resource set, wherein the resource is now shared by multiple business applications.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 10, wherein the component comprises a resource, said resource being included in multiple resource sets and therefore shared by multiple applications, and wherein the computer-implemented method further comprises removing the resource from the multiple resource sets except for one resource set such that the resource is no longer shared by multiple business applications.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the selected point in time comprises at least one of a Recovery Segment associated with the component being activated for monitoring, a Recovery Segment associated with the component being deactivated for monitoring, a resource being added to a Recovery Segment associated with the component, or a resource being removed from a Recovery Segment associated with the component.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the action to be taken is dependent on the criticality of one or more business applications of the IT environment impacted by the action to be taken.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the one or more business applications comprises at least two business applications, wherein one business application of the at least two business applications is of a greater criticality than another business application of the at least two business applications, and wherein the action to be taken is dependent on the impact to the one business application as compared to the impact to the another business application.

16. A system of controlling performance of actions within an Information Technology (IT) environment, said system comprising:

at least one processor to determine, during runtime of the IT environment, whether a given component of the IT environment is being shared at a selected point in time during runtime by a plurality of business applications of the IT environment, wherein the given component is being shared at the selected point in time responsive to the given component being included at the selected point in time in a plurality of recovery segments representing the plurality of business applications; and

at least one processor to direct the given component to take action itself based on the determining, wherein the action to be taken is dependent on whether the given component is being shared at the selected point in time by the plurality of business applications.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the action comprises performing by the component its own recovery, in response to the determining indicating that the component is not being shared at the selected point in time.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein the action comprises disabling recovery operations by the component, wherein the component is prohibited from performing its own recovery in response to the determining indicating the component is being shared at the selected point in time.

19. A computer program product for controlling performance of actions within an Information Technology (IT) environment, the computer program product including:

a non-transitory computer readable storage medium readable by a processor and storing instructions for execution by the processor for performing a method comprising;

determining, during runtime of the IT environment, whether a given component of the IT environment is being shared at a selected point in time during runtime by a plurality of business applications of the IT environment, wherein the given component is being shared at the selected point in time responsive to the given component being included at the selected point in time in a plurality of recovery segments representing the plurality of business applications; and

directing the given component to take action itself based on the determining, wherein the action to be taken is dependent on whether the given component is being shared at the selected point in time by the plurality of business applications.

20. The computer program product of claim 19, wherein the action comprises performing by the component its own recovery, in response to the determining indicating that the component is not being shared at the selected point in time.

21. The computer program product of claim 19, wherein the action comprises disabling recovery operations by the component, wherein the component is prohibited from performing its own recovery in response to the determining indicating the component is being shared at the selected point in time.

22. The computer program product of claim 19, wherein the determining is performed, in response to an indication that an action can be delegated to the component.