Anomaly management scheme for a multi-agent system

• US 8,200,743 B2
• Filed: 03/11/2005
• Issued: 06/12/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 03/22/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: British Telecommunications PLC (BT Group PLC)
• Original Assignee: British Telecommunications PLC (BT Group PLC)
• Inventors: Lee, Habin, Mihailescu, Patrik, Shepherdson, John W
• Primary Examiner(s): Swearingen, Jeffrey R
• Assistant Examiner(s): Elfervig, Taylor
• Application Number:
  US10/592,669
• Publication Number:
  US 20070192400A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,650 Days
• Field of Search: 370/216, 709/201, 709/202, 709/224, 709/227, 714/2, 714/4, 714/25, 719/313, 719/317, 719/318
• US Class Current: 709/202
• 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 11/0784 Routing of error reports, e.g. with a specific transmission path or data flow
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/079 Root cause analysis, i.e. error or fault diagnosis in a hardware test environment G06F11/22; in a software test environment G06F11/36
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/046 comprising network management agents or mobile agents therefor
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/048 mobile agents
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0695 the faulty arrangement being the maintenance, administration or management system
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/50 Testing arrangements

Abstract

An anomaly management method is provided for a multi-agent system (MAS) in which a plurality of application agents are arranged to be capable of interacting with each other over a communications network. The MAS has a plurality of anomaly management agents arranged to receive reports from a referring agent regarding a referred agent when a referring agent has determined an interaction anomaly has occurred which was potentially caused by one or more conditions associated with a referred agent. The anomaly management agent is arranged to determine one or more conditions associated with the referred agent which have caused the interaction anomaly. The anomaly management agent is also arranged to remedy the condition. The method comprises at least one of said plurality of anomaly management agents receiving a message containing information related to the interaction with the referred agent from the referring agent. The message comprises information identifying the referred agent and other information related to the interaction anomaly. One or more possible conditions associated with the referred agent which may have caused the interaction anomaly are determined from the information provided by the referring agent. A plurality of tests is then performed to determine at least one condition associated with the referred agent. Finally, the condition associated with the referred agent is remedied. The referring agent may then be provided with feedback information to enable the interaction to be resumed.

Claims

1. An inter-agent interaction anomaly management method for a distributed computing environment implemented as a communications network comprising a plurality of devices, wherein said plurality of devices collectively comprise a multi-agent system supporting inter-agent interactions in said distributed computing environment, the system comprising a plurality of application agent groups, each application agent group of said plurality of application agent groups comprising one or more application agents, and one or more administrative agents arranged to flexibly assign one or more anomaly management agents to each application agent group of said plurality of application agent groups of said multi-agent system, the inter-agent interaction anomaly management method comprising:

a referring application agent of one of the plurality of devices, said at least one of the plurality of devices including a processor, performing the steps of;

participating or seeking to participate in an interaction with a referred application agent of another one of said plurality of devices;

determining that an interaction anomaly has occurred if the interaction with said referred application agent did not proceed in accordance with the expectations of the referring application agent;

determining if a condition related to the referred application agent has caused said interaction anomaly in the interaction by performing the steps of;

communicating with one or more agent description directories which associate the referred application agent with one or more said anomaly management agents to determine which one or more of said anomaly management agents should receive a report message;

generating the report message which contains information related to the interaction anomaly and enabling the referred application agent to be identified by an anomaly management agent; and

referring the referred application agent by sending the report message to at least one receiving anomaly management agent associated with the application agent group of the referred application agent, whereby the information provided by the report message is processed by a receiving anomaly management agent to determine if at least one condition affecting the referred application agent has caused the interaction anomaly;

at least one of the administration agents performing the steps of;

contacting a directory facilitator agent to get a list of all the agent descriptions registered by application agents and anomaly management agents;

calculating a load index value which indicates how many anomaly management agents are providing an anomaly management service for how many application agents in each application agent group of said plurality of application agent groups;

comparing the load index value of each application agent group of said plurality of application agent groups with a predetermined value in a load balancing rule which balances the load of application agents to anomaly management agents for each application agent group of said plurality of application agent groups in the multi-agent system; and

in the event that there are any application agent groups that have an unbalanced load index,

re-assigning one or more anomaly management agents from application agent groups which have surplus anomaly management agents to one or more overloaded application agent group that have too few anomaly management agents; and

modifying a service description of each re-assigned anomaly management agent and updating a registry of the directory facilitator agent.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said administration agent balances the load of application agents in each application agent group of said plurality of application agent groups served by anomaly management agents using a load balancing rule which comprises:

a tag for the number of anomaly management agents for the size of the application agent group, the tag consisting of;

a tag representing a minimum number of anomaly management agents for the application agent group;

a tag representing a maximum number of anomaly management agents for the application agent group;

a tag representing a minimum number of agents in the application agent group; and

a tag representing a maximum number of agents in the application agent group; and

a tag used to specify re-assignment criteria to determine the anomaly management agents that should be re-assigned to other load unbalanced application agent groups.

3. The method as claimed in claim 2, wherein said re-assignment criteria is specified as:

the anomaly management agents that have been idle for the longest time duration among the anomaly management agents which are serving an application agent group with too many anomaly management agents for the group size should be moved to an overloaded application agent group that has too small a number of anomaly management agents for the application agent group size.

4. An inter-agent interaction anomaly management method for distributed computing environment implemented as a communications network comprising a plurality of devices, wherein said plurality of devices comprise a multi-agent system supporting inter-agent interactions in said distributed computing environment, the multi-agent system comprising a plurality of application agent groups, each application agent group of said plurality of application agent groups comprising one or more application agents, and one or more administrative agents arranged to flexibly assign one or more anomaly management agents to each application agent group of said plurality of application agent groups of said multi-agent system, the inter-agent interaction anomaly management method comprising:

a referring application agent of one of the plurality of devices, said at least one of the plurality of devices including a processor, performing the steps of;

participating or seeking to participate in an interaction with a referred application agent of another one of said plurality of devices;

determining that an interaction anomaly has occurred if the interaction with said referred application agent did not proceed in accordance with expectations of the referring application agent;

determining if a condition related to the referred application agent has caused said interaction anomaly in the interaction by performing the steps of;

communicating with one or more agent description directories which associate the referred application agent with one or more said anomaly management agents to determine which one or more of said anomaly management agents should receive a report message;

generating the report message which contains information related to the interaction anomaly and enabling the referred application agent to be identified by an anomaly management agent; and

referring the referred application agent by sending the report message to at least one receiving anomaly management agent associated with the application agent group of the referred application agent, whereby the information provided by the report message is processed by a receiving anomaly management agent to determine if at least one condition affecting the referred application agent has caused the interaction anomaly;

wherein the inter-agent interaction anomaly management method is arranged to provide a load balancing scheme for said multi-agent system and the inter-agent interaction anomaly management method maintains a number of anomaly management agents associated with a number of application agents within a predetermined range, the inter-agent interaction anomaly management method comprising the steps of;

determining the number of application agents in each application agent group of said plurality of application agent groups of the multi-agent system;

determining the number of anomaly management agents responsible for each application agent group of said plurality of application agent groups of the multi-agent system;

determining, for each application agent group of said plurality of application agent groups of the multi-agent system, a ratio of the number of anomaly management agents providing an anomaly management service for each application agent in the application agent group to the number of application agents in the application agent group, and,

modifying a location directory entry for one or more said anomaly management agents associated with said application agent groups for which the ratio is above the predetermined range to re-associate the anomaly management agents with application agent groups for which the ratio is below said predetermined range.

5. An inter-agent interaction anomaly management method for a distributed computing environment implemented as a communications network comprising a plurality of devices, wherein said plurality of devices comprise a multi-agent system supporting inter-agent interactions in said distributed computing environment, the multi-agent system having a configuration to run a plurality of application agent groups, each application agent group of said plurality of application agent groups comprising one or more application agents, and having a configuration to run one or more administrative agents, the inter-agent interaction anomaly management method comprises:

a referring application agent of one of the plurality of devices, said at least one of the plurality of devices including a processor, performing steps of;

participating or seeking to participate in an interaction with a referred application agent of another one of said plurality of devices;

determining that an interaction anomaly has occurred if the interaction with said referred application agent did not proceed in accordance with the expectations of the referring application agent;

determining if a condition related to the referred application agent has caused said interaction anomaly in the interaction by;

communicating with one or more agent description directories which associate the referred application agent with one or more anomaly management agents to determine which one or more of said anomaly management agents should receive a report message;

generating the report message which contains information related to the interaction anomaly and enabling the referred application agent to be identified by an anomaly management agent; and

referring the referred application agent by sending the report message to at least one receiving anomaly management agent associated with an application agent group of the referred application agent, whereby the information provided by the report message is processed by a receiving anomaly management agent to determine if at least one condition affecting the referred application agent has caused the interaction anomaly;

each of said one or more administrative agents performing steps of;

assigning one or more said anomaly management agents to each application agent group of said plurality of application agent groups of said multi-agent system, and

reassigning surplus anomaly management agents to an overloaded application agent group if the overloaded application agent group has a number of anomaly management agents serving a number of application agents which is out of balance compared with a desired value of a load index, wherein the load index indicates the number of anomaly management agents and the number of application agents in each application agent group of said plurality of application agent groups.

6. A method as claimed in claim 5, wherein a service description for each anomaly management agent in the multi-agent system is advertised by the respective anomaly management agent sending an appropriate communication to a directory facilitator agent which maintains a service directory that contains mappings between the agent names of anomaly management agents and services offered by said anomaly management agents.

7. A method as claimed in claim 6, wherein the referring application agent performs said step of communicating with one or more agent description directories by creating a query message that is sent to the directory facilitator agent, the query message containing a service description and an identifier for the application agent group assigned to the referring application agent, wherein the method further comprises the steps of:

the directory facilitator agent receiving said query message searching a service directory to locate any agent descriptions that match the service description contained in the query message;

the directory facilitator agent which receives said query message sending a response message to the referring application agent containing an agent description for an anomaly management agent having a service description matching the service description contained in the query message, the agent description containing a identifier for the anomaly management agent and the address of the device the anomaly management agent is located on.

8. A method as claimed in claim 7, wherein an anomaly management agent description contains a service description which contains a group number for an application agent group for which the anomaly management agent is responsible.

9. A method as claimed in claim 8, wherein the anomaly management agent is flexibly assigned to application agent groups by being able to change the application agent group for which the anomaly management agent is responsible by changing a service description for the anomaly management agent to a different group number when the number of application agents in a current application agent group is relatively smaller than the number of application agents in another application agent group.

10. A method as claimed in claim 5, further comprising one of said one or more administration agents performing the steps of:

contacting said directory facilitator agent to get a list of all agent descriptions registered by application agents and anomaly management agents;

calculating a load index value which indicates how many anomaly management agents are providing an anomaly management service for how many application agents in each application agent group of said plurality of application agent groups;

comparing the load index value of each application agent group of said plurality of application agent groups with a predetermined value in a load balancing rule which balances the load of application agents to anomaly management agents for each application agent group of said plurality of application agent groups in the multi-agent system; and

in the event that there are any application agent groups that have an unbalanced load index,

re-assigning the anomaly management agents from application agent groups which have surplus anomaly management agents to one or more overloaded application agent group that have too few anomaly management agents; and

modifying the service descriptions of the re-assigned anomaly management agents and updating a registry of the directory facilitator agent.

11. A method as claimed in claim 10, wherein the one or more administration agents balance the load of application agents in each application agent group of said plurality of application agent groups served by anomaly management agents using a load balancing rule which comprises:

a tag for the number of anomaly management agents for the size of the application agent group, the tag consisting of;

a tag representing a minimum number of anomaly management agents for the application agent group;

a tag representing a maximum number of anomaly management agents for the application agent group;

a tag representing a minimum number of agents in the application agent group; and

a tag representing a maximum number of agents in the application agent group; and

a tag used to specify re-assignment criteria to determine the anomaly management agents that should be re-assigned to one or more other load unbalanced application agent groups.

12. A method as claimed in claim 11, wherein said re-assignment criteria is specified as:

anomaly management agents that have been idle for the longest time duration among the anomaly management agents which are serving an application agent group with too many anomaly management agents for the application agent group size should be moved to an overloaded application agent group that has too small a number of anomaly management agents for the application agent group size.

13. A method as claimed in claim 5, in which the referring application agent sought to initiate participation in the interaction with the referred application agent, prior to said step of determining that the interaction with said referred application agent is not proceeding in accordance with the expectations of the referring application agent.

14. A method as claimed in claim 5, in which the referring application agent sought to respond to the referred application agent to participate in an interaction with the referred application agent, prior to said step of determining that the interaction with said referred application agent is not proceeding in accordance with the expectations of the referring application agent.

15. A method as claimed in claim 5, wherein at least one condition causing the interaction anomaly comprises a fault related to a service component of the referred application agent.

16. A method as claimed in claim 15, wherein at least one condition causing an interaction anomaly comprises a fault related to the device supporting the referred application agent.

17. A method as claimed in claim 15, wherein at least one condition causing the interaction anomaly comprises a fault related to an agent container associated with the referred application agent.

18. A method as claimed in claim 15, wherein at least one condition causing the interaction anomaly comprises a fault related to the referred application agent.

19. A method as claimed in claim 5, wherein the referred application agent reports to one of a plurality of anomaly management agents arranged to manage referrals related to the referred application agent, said one of the plurality of anomaly management agents having been associated with the referred application agent in accordance with a load balancing rule implemented within the multi-agent system using one or more agent description directories provided for the multi-agent system.

20. A method as claimed in claim 5, wherein the anomaly management agent processing the reported information proceeds to implement an anomaly management scheme to remedy the at least one condition affecting the referred application agent by determining the cause of the interaction anomaly detected in the interaction between the referring application agent and the referred application agent by determining at least one condition associated with the referred application agent which has caused the interaction by performing the steps of:

processing information provided by the referring application agent to identify a device associated with the referred application agent;

sending a test message to the device associated with the referred application agent to determine if at least one condition is associated with the device is a condition which caused the interaction anomaly in the interaction between the referring and referred application agents; and

in the event no response to the test message is received by the anomaly management agent from the device, or if a test message is received containing information which, when processed indicates that the device has a condition which caused the interaction anomaly,

determining a condition affecting the device exists which has caused the anomaly in the interaction between the referred and referring application agents.

21. A method as claimed in claim 20, wherein the condition determined is a fault associated with the device.

22. A method as claimed in claim 20, wherein in the step of processing information provided by the referring application agent to identify the device associated with the referred application agent, an agent container associated with the device associated with the referred application agent is also identified, wherein the method further comprises the steps of:

the anomaly management agent sending a test message to the agent container of the referred application agent; and

,

in the event no response to the test message is received from the agent container or if a test message is received containing information which, when processed indicates that the agent container has a condition which caused the interaction anomaly,

determining a condition affecting the agent container exists which has caused the interaction anomaly in the interaction between the referred and referring application agents.

23. A method as claimed in claim 22, wherein said condition of the agent container is a fault associated with the agent container.

24. A method as claimed in claim 20, the method further comprising:

sending a test message to the referred application agent to determine if the referred application agent has a condition which caused the interaction anomaly; and

if the response from the referred application agent does not meet one or more predetermined criteria,

determining the referred application agent has said condition which has caused the interaction anomaly.

25. A method as claimed in claim 24, wherein the anomaly management agent determines that a detected condition is related to a fault associated with the referred application agent.

26. A method as claimed in claim 25, wherein the condition is not related to a fault associated with the referred application agent, and the anomaly management agent determines that the detected condition requires the referred application agent to be modified to interact with the referring application agent.

27. A method as claimed in claim 20, wherein in the event that no condition is determined by the anomaly management agent to be associated with the referred application agent, the anomaly management agent performs a service level test.

28. A method as claimed in claim 20, wherein following said steps performed to determine one or more conditions which have caused the interaction anomaly, the anomaly management agent further performs the steps of:

generating appropriate feedback information related to the condition; and

sending the feedback information to the referring application agent.

29. A method as claimed in claim 5, wherein

a plurality of application agents are arranged to be capable of interacting with each other over a communications network,

wherein one or more of said anomaly management agents receive said report message and is arranged to determine one or more conditions associated with the referred application agent which have caused the interaction anomaly,

wherein each anomaly management agent receiving said report message is further arranged to remedy said one or more conditions to remove said one or more conditions,

wherein the report message contains information related to the interaction with the referred application agent from the referring application agent comprising information identifying the referred application agent and other information related to the interaction anomaly, and said method further comprises each said anomaly management agent:

receiving said report message identifying one or more possible conditions associated with the referred application agent from the information provided by the referring application agent which may have caused the interaction anomaly;

performing a plurality of tests to determine at least one condition associated with the referred application agent and selected from said possible one or more conditions of the referred application agent which caused the anomaly to occur; and

remedying the condition associated with the referred application agent.

30. A method as claimed in claim 29, wherein said at least one condition associated with the referred application agent is a condition associated with one of the following:

a device associated with the referred application agent;

an agent container associated with the referred application agent;

the referred application agent;

a service provided by the referred application agent.

31. A method as claimed in claim 29, wherein said at least one condition comprises a fault.

32. A method as claimed in claim 29, wherein the referring application agent selects an anomaly management agent to refer the referred application agent to by reference to a location directory and a service directory containing a description of one or more characteristics of the referred application agent which associates the referred application agent with a anomaly management agent.

33. A method as claimed in claim 29, wherein the referring application agent provides information to the anomaly management agent which includes information identifying the referred application agent, a time of the referral, one or more detected conditions associated with the referred application agent which the referring application agent has determined are relevant to the anomaly;

and an identity of the referring application agent.

34. A method as claimed in claim 29, wherein the referred application agent comprises one or more role components, wherein the anomaly management agent is capable of communicating with a mediating agent to provide a description of each of said one or more role components, and wherein the condition which causes the anomaly in the interaction between the referred application agent and the referring application agent is determined to be associated with the service provided by the referred application agent, and to remedy the condition, the anomaly management agent obtains a new description of a service role component for the referred application agent from the mediating agent.

35. A method as claimed in claim 29, wherein, when a condition is determined to exist with a referred application agent which has cause the anomaly, one of said one or more anomaly management agents moves to an agent container of the referred application agent with the condition and the following are performed:

creating a replica agent of the referred application agent;

copying an internal state of the referred application agent to the replica agent;

updating a registry by replacing the referred application agent registry entry with a registry entry for the replica agent, to enable the replica agent to interact with the referring application agent.

36. A method as claimed in claim 29, wherein the referred application agent is provided with at least one service role component and wherein said at least one service role component is determined to be a cause of a condition causing the interaction anomaly, the method further comprising:

one of said one or more anomaly management agents sending a request message to the referred application agent identifying said at least one service role component causing the interaction anomaly;

the referred application agent processing the received message;

the referred application agent sending a message to a mediator agent in the multi-agent system;

the mediator agent providing a replacement service role component for each service role component causing the interaction anomaly to the referred application agent;

the referred application agent replacing each service role component causing the interaction anomaly with a service role component provided by the mediator agent.

37. A method as claimed in claim 29, wherein, when said at least one condition associated with the referred application agent is a condition associated with an agent container provided by the referred application agent, further comprising the steps of:

one of said one or more anomaly management agents sending a notification message to a demon agent of a device associated with the referred application agent;

on receiving the message, the demon agent creating a replica container of the agent container of the referred application agent;

the demon agent creating one or more replica agents for each of the agents in the agent container;

the demon agent copying internal states of the one of more agents in the agent container into one or more replica agents in the replica container; and

the demon agent updating a location directory and a service directory with agent descriptions of each of the replica agents.

38. An inter-agent interaction anomaly management system for a distributed computing environment implemented as a communications network comprising a plurality of devices, wherein said plurality of devices comprise a multi-agent system supporting inter-agent interactions in said distributed computing environment, the multi-agent system having configuration to run a plurality of application agent groups, each application agent group of the plurality of application agent groups comprising one or more application agents, and having a configuration to run one or more administrative agents, the inter-agent interaction anomaly management system comprising:

at least one said plurality of devices comprising a processing system having at least one processor and having a configuration to run a referring application agent to;

participate or seek to participate in an interaction with a referred application agent of another one of said plurality of devices;

determine that an interaction anomaly has occurred if the interaction with said referred application agent did not proceed in accordance with the expectations of the referring application agent;

determine if a condition related to the referred application agent has caused said interaction anomaly in the interaction by;

communicating with one or more agent description directories which associate the referred application agent with one or more said anomaly management agents to determine which one or more of said anomaly management agents should receive a report message;

generating the report message which contains information related to the interaction anomaly and enabling the referred application agent to be identified by an anomaly management agent; and

referring the referred application agent by sending the report message to at least one receiving anomaly management agent associated with the application agent group of the referred application agent, whereby the information provided by the report message is processed by a receiving anomaly management agent to determine if at least one condition affecting the referred application agent has caused the interaction anomaly,

each of said one or more administrative agents being configured to assign one or more anomaly management agents to each application agent group of said plurality of application agent groups of said multi-agent system and being configured to reassign surplus anomaly management agents to an overloaded application agent group if the overloaded application agent group has a number of anomaly management agents serving a number of application agents which is out of balance compared with a desired value of a load index, wherein the load index indicates the number of anomaly management agents and the number of application agents in each application agent group of said plurality of application agent groups.

39. A system as claimed in claim 38, comprising a plurality of anomaly management agents, wherein each anomaly management agent is associated with one or more agent containers, each agent container being associated with at least one application agent, and the system further comprises:

an agent location registry; and

an agent service registry,

wherein the agent location registry and agent service registry collectively provide a description of the location and service of agents in the multi-agent system, and

wherein each of said anomaly management agents is associated with one or more agents of the multi-agent system, wherein collectively the agent location registry and the agent service registry are arranged to enable a referring application agent to identify an anomaly management agent for reporting to when said referred application agent is suspected of having a condition which causes an interaction anomaly in an interaction between the referred application agent and the referring application agent.

40. A system as claimed in claim 38, wherein a demon agent resides on a client device associated with an application agent of the multi-agent system, wherein each said demon agent is arranged to monitor the functionality of the application agent of the client device the said demon agent resides on.

41. A system as claimed in claim 38, wherein one or more executable software component mediator agents maintain a library of executable software components for an application agent of the multi-agent system to enable the application agent to respond to query messages from application agents.

42. A system as claimed in claim 38, wherein an anomaly management agent contacts an agent management system agent and a directory facility agent in the multi-agent system to update one or more registries of the multi-agent system with information related to the referred application agent following the anomaly management agent remedying a condition associated with the referred application agent which caused the interaction anomaly.

43. A system as claimed in claim 42, wherein the information provided to update at least one of said one or more registries of the multi-agent system comprises information related to a replica agent replacing the referred application agent.

44. A system as claimed in claim 38, wherein an application agent, an agent container, and a demon agent residing on a client device in the multi-agent system each implement a test interface that responds to a test message from an anomaly management agent of the multi-agent system.

45. A system as claimed in claim 38, arranged to maintain the number of anomaly management agents associated with a number of agents within a predetermined range, the system further having a configuration to:

determine the number of application agents in each application agent group of said plurality of application agent groups of the multi-agent system;

determine the number of anomaly management agents responsible for each application agent group of said plurality of application agent groups of the multi-agent system;

determine, for each application agent group of said plurality of application agent groups of the multi-agent system, the ratio of the number of anomaly management agents providing an anomaly management service for each application agent in the application agent group to the number of application agents in the application agent group, and,

modify a location directory and/or service directory entry for one or more said anomaly management agents associated with said application agent groups for which the ratio is above the predetermined range to re-associate the anomaly management agents with one or more application agent groups for which the ratio is below said predetermined range.

46. A processing system having a configuration to run an administrative agent, which is part of a multi-agent system supporting inter-agent interactions in a distributed computing environment, the multi-agent system having configuration to run a plurality of application agent groups, each application agent group of said plurality of application agent groups comprising one or more application agents, wherein a referring application has a configuration to:

participate or seek to participate in an interaction with a referred application agent;

determine that an interaction anomaly has occurred if the interaction with said referred application agent did not proceed in accordance with the expectations of the referring application agent;

determine if a condition related to the referred application agent has caused said interaction anomaly in the interaction by;

communicating with one or more agent description directories which associate the referred application agent with one or more said anomaly management agents to determine which one or more of said anomaly management agents should receive a report message;

generating the report message which contains information related to the interaction anomaly and enabling the referred application agent to be identified by an anomaly management agent; and

referring the referred application agent by sending the report message to at least one receiving anomaly management agent associated with the application agent group of the referred application agent, whereby the information provided by the report message is processed by a receiving anomaly management agent to determine if at least one condition affecting the referred application agent has caused the interaction anomaly,

wherein the processing system having the configuration to run the administrative agent is configured to include at least one processor and to assign one or more anomaly management agents to each application agent group of said plurality of application agent groups of said multi-agent system and being configured to reassign surplus anomaly management agents to an overloaded application agent group if the overloaded application agent group has a number of anomaly management agents serving a number of application agents which is out of balance compared with a desired value of a load index, wherein the load index indicates the number of anomaly management agents and the number of application agents in each application agent group of said plurality of application agent groups.

47. An inter-agent interaction anomaly management method for a distributed computing environment implemented as a communications network comprising a plurality of communications devices collectively comprising a multi-agent system supporting inter-agent interactions in said distributed computing environment, the system comprising a plurality of application agent groups, each application agent group of said plurality of application agent groups comprising one or more application agents, and one or more administrative agents arranged to flexibly assign one or more anomaly management agents to each application agent group of said plurality of application agent groups of said multi-agent system, the inter-agent interaction anomaly management method comprising:

a referring application agent including a configuration having a processor and performing the steps of;

participating or seeking to participate in an interaction with a referred application agent;

determining that an interaction anomaly has occurred if the interaction with said referred application agent did not proceed in accordance with expectations of the referring application agent;

determining if a condition related to the referred application agent has caused said interaction anomaly in the interaction by performing the steps of;

communicating with one or more agent description directories which associate the referred application agent with one or more said anomaly management agents to determine which one or more of said anomaly management agents should receive a report message;

generating the report message which contains information related to the interaction anomaly and enabling the referred application agent to be identified by an anomaly management agent; and

referring the referred application agent by sending the report message to at least one receiving anomaly management agent associated with the application agent group of the referred application agent, whereby the information provided by the report message is processed by a receiving anomaly management agent to determine if at least one condition affecting the referred application agent has caused the interaction anomaly;

wherein the inter-agent interaction anomaly management method is arranged to provide a load balancing scheme for said multi-agent system and the inter-agent interaction anomaly management method maintains a number of anomaly management agents associated with a number of application agents within a predetermined range, the inter-agent interaction anomaly management method comprising the steps of;

determining the number of application agents in each application agent group of said plurality of application agent groups of the multi-agent system;

determining the number of anomaly management agents responsible for each application agent group of said plurality of application agent groups of the multi-agent system;

determining, for each application agent group of said plurality of application agent groups of the multi-agent system, a ratio of the number of anomaly management agents providing an anomaly management service for each application agent in the application agent group to the number of application agents in the application agent group, and

modifying a service directory entry for one or more said anomaly management agents associated with said application agent groups for which the ratio is above the predetermined range to re-associate the anomaly management agents with application agent groups for which the ratio is below said predetermined range.