Software problem identification tool

• US 8,099,628 B2
• Filed: 05/20/2009
• Issued: 01/17/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 06/05/2008
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Simeoni, Maurizio
• Primary Examiner(s): Beausoliel, Jr., Robert
• Assistant Examiner(s): Manoskey, Joseph D
• Application Number:
  US12/469,292
• Publication Number:
  US 20090307668A1
• Time in Patent Office: 972 Days
• Field of Search: 714/25, 714/32, 714/37, 714/38.1, 714/38.11, 714/38.14, 714/45
• US Class Current: 714/26
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3668 Software testing software testing in telephone exchanges H04M3/242, testing of hardware G06F11/22

Abstract

A method for identifying a problem in a software application is presented. The method may include enabling a user to define at least one usage scenario for a software application. The software application may be executed on a reference computer system according to the usage scenario and data reflecting a status of the reference computer system and the software application during execution may be acquired. The software application may be further executed in a subject computer system according to the usage scenario. Data reflecting a status of the subject computer system and the software application during execution may likewise be acquired. Finally, the data from the reference computer system may be compared with the data from the subject computer system to identify at least one difference therebetween.

Claims

1. A method for identifying a problem in a software application executed on a computer system, the method comprising:

enabling a user to generate a usage scenario descriptor for a software application, wherein the usage scenario descriptor is a data structure describing a usage scenario for execution on a computer system;

parsing the usage scenario descriptor to determine the usage scenario;

executing, on a reference computer system, the usage scenario according to the usage scenario descriptor;

acquiring a snapshot of data reflecting a status of the reference computer system and the software application during execution;

executing, on a subject computer system, the usage scenario according to the usage scenario descriptor;

acquiring a snapshot of data reflecting a status of the subject computer system and the software application during execution; and

comparing the snapshot reflecting the status of the reference computer system with the snapshot reflecting the status of the subject computer system to identify at least one difference therebetween.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising enabling the user to analyze the at least one difference to identify a potential problem in the subject computer system.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein enabling a user to generate a usage scenario descriptor further comprises enabling a manufacturer to generate a usage scenario descriptor describing age scenario typical of the software application.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein enabling a user to generate a usage scenario descriptor comprises enabling the user to generate a usage scenario descriptor specific to the software application.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising depicting at least one of a relationship and a flow of data between software components in the software application executed on the subject computer system.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising executing the method at the end of a software installation process.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising automatically executing the method upon detecting an error in the subject computer system.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising executing the method in a distributed computing environment.

9. A computer program product for identifying a problem in a software application executed on a computer system, the computer program product comprising:

a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer-usable program code stored thereon, the computer-usable program code comprising;

computer-usable program code for enabling a user to generate a usage scenario descriptor for a software application, wherein the usage scenario descriptor is a data structure describing a usage scenario for execution on a computer system;

computer-usable program code for parsing the usage scenario descriptor to determine the usage scenario;

computer-usable program code for executing, in a reference computer system, the usage scenario according to the usage scenario descriptor;

computer-usable program code for acquiring a snapshot of data reflecting a status of the reference computer system and the software application during execution;

computer-usable program code for executing, in a subject computer system, the usage scenario according to the usage scenario descriptor;

computer-usable program code for acquiring a snapshot of data reflecting a status of the subject computer system and the software application during execution; and

computer-usable program code for comparing the snapshot from the reference computer system with the snapshot from the subject computer system to enable a user to identify at least one difference therebetween.

10. The computer program product of claim 9, wherein the computer-usable program code for enabling a user to generate a usage scenario descriptor comprises computer-usable program code for enabling a manufacturer to generate a usage scenario descriptor for a usage scenario typical of the software application.

11. The computer program product of claim 9, wherein the computer-usable program code for enabling a user to generate a usage scenario descriptor comprises computer-usable program code for enabling a user to generate a usage scenario descriptor specific to the software application.

12. The computer program product of claim 9, further comprising computer-usable program code for depicting at least one of a relationship and a flow of data between software components in the software application executed on the subject computer system.

13. The computer program product of claim 9, further comprising computer-usable program code for executing the foregoing computer-usable program code at the end of a software installation process.

14. The computer program product of claim 9, further comprising computer-usable program code for automatically executing the foregoing computer-usable program code upon detecting an error in the subject computer system.

15. The computer program product of claim 9, further comprising computer-usable program code for executing the foregoing computer-usable program code in a distributed computing environment.

16. A system for identifying a problem in a software application installed on a computer system, the system including:

at least one processor;

at least one memory device storing data structures for execution on the at least one processor, the data structures comprising;

a usage scenario descriptor to define at least one usage scenario for a software application;

a discovery engine manager module to execute, in each of a reference computer system and a subject computer system, the software application according to the usage scenario described in the usage scenario descriptor, and acquire a snapshot of data reflecting a status of each of the reference computer system and the subject computer system during execution; and

a usage scenario comparator module to compare the snapshot reflecting the status of the reference computer system with the snapshot reflecting the status of the subject computer system to enable a user to identify at least one difference therebetween.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the usage scenario descriptor is structured as an XML file.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein the data structures further comprise a usage scenario viewer module to enable the user to analyze the at least one difference to identify a potential problem in the subject computer system.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the usage scenario viewer module further graphically represents at least one of a relationship and a flow of data between software components of the software application executed on the subject computer system.

20. The system of claim 16, wherein the usage scenario descriptor is provided by a manufacturer to define at least one usage scenario typical of the software application.