Distributed autonomic solutions repository

• US 8,250,563 B2
• Filed: 10/24/2007
• Issued: 08/21/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 10/16/2003
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Chefalas, Thomas E., Mastrianni, Steven J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Zhen, Li
• Assistant Examiner(s): Pan, Hang
• Application Number:
  US11/877,968
• Publication Number:
  US 20080065577A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,763 Days
• Field of Search: 717/171, 717/101, 717/178
• US Class Current: 717/171
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/95 Retrieval from the web
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/70 Software maintenance or management

Abstract

Managing software is provided. A solution to a problem that has occurred with a program on a client data processing system is received by a server. This solution is created while solving the problem that occurred on the data processing system. The solution includes a process that may be executed on another data processing system to solve the same problem on that data processing system. The process is, for example, a script, a macro, or a set of computer executable steps or instructions. A database of solutions is selectively updated to reflect the new solution. In response to a request for a solution by another client system to a problem, the server will respond with the current solution that exists in the database.

Claims

1. A method for managing software, the method comprising the steps of:

identifying, by a client computer, a problem in a program within the client computer using a software agent located within the client computer;

recording, by the client computer-using the software agent located within the client computer, diagnostic steps into a script as the diagnostic steps are taken by a user to diagnose the problem within the client computer, wherein the user does not take any action to have the diagnostic steps recorded;

recording, by the client computer using the software agent located within the client computer, correction steps into the script as the correction steps are taken by the user to correct the problem within the client computer, wherein the user does not take any action to have the correction steps recorded;

responsive to the correction steps correcting the problem within the client computer, sending, by the client computer, a solution that includes the correction steps and a problem identifier associated with the problem automatically to a server computer via a network;

responsive to the server computer receiving the solution that includes the correction steps and the problem identifier associated with the problem from the client computer via the network, searching, by the server computer, a rules database in the server computer for a stored solution that includes the problem identifier associated with the problem;

responsive to locating the stored solution that includes the problem identifier associated with the problem in the rules database in the server computer, determining, by the server computer, whether the stored solution includes stored correction steps that are the same as the correction steps that corrected the problem within the client computer;

responsive to determining that the stored correction steps associated with the stored solution that includes the problem identifier associated with the problem are not the same as the correction steps that corrected the problem within the client computer, identifying, by the server computer, differences between the stored correction steps associated with the stored solution that includes the problem identifier associated with the problem and the correction steps that corrected the problem within the client computer; and

updating, by the server computer, the stored solution to include the identified differences between the stored correction steps associated with the stored solution and the correction steps that corrected the problem within the client computer to form a second stored solution.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

responsive to connecting to the server computer by a second client computer, obtaining, by the second client computer, updates to the rules database, wherein the updates include the second stored solution;

responsive to the second client computer obtaining the updates, updating, by the second client computer, a local rules database in the second client computer to include the updates; and

responsive to an occurrence of the problem in the second client computer, using, by the second client computer, the second stored solution in the local rules database to correct the problem in the second client computer.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

updating, by the server computer, the stored solution to form the second stored solution by eliminating correction steps from the stored correction steps and adding new correction steps to the stored solution with the identified differences.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, by the server computer, a number of reported problems from client computers subsequent to installation of a new software solution on the client computers;

responsive to determining that the installation of the new software solution is causing the number of reported problems from the client computers, sending, by the server computer, instructions to the client computers rolling back the installation of the new software solution to a previous version of the program;

determining, by the server computer, whether the number of reported problems from the client computers decreases after rolling back the installation of the new software solution to the previous version of the program on the client computers based on monitoring the client computes; and

responsive to determining that the number of reported problems from the client computers decreases after the rolling back of the installation of the new software solution to the previous version of the program on the client computers, removing, by the server computer, the new software solution as a fix for the problem from the rules database.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the problem is a printing problem, and wherein the new software solution is a new printer driver software version.

6. A computer program product stored in a computer readable storage device having computer usable program code embodied therein that is executable by a computer for managing software, the computer program product comprising:

computer usable program code for identifying, by a client computer, a problem in a program within the client computer using a software agent located within the client computer;

computer usable program code for recording, by the client computer using the software agent located within the client computer, diagnostic steps into a script as the diagnostic steps are taken by a user to diagnose the problem within the client computer, wherein the user does not take any action to have the diagnostic steps recorded;

computer usable program code for recording, by the client computer using the software agent located within the client computer, correction steps into the script as the correction steps are taken by the user to correct the problem within the client computer, wherein the user does not take any action to have the correction steps recorded;

computer usable program code sending, by the client computer, a solution that includes the correction steps and a problem identifier associated with the problem automatically to a server computer via a network in response to the correction steps correcting the problem within the client computer;

computer usable program code searching, by the server computer, a rules database in the server computer for a stored solution that includes the problem identifier associated with the problem in response to the server computer receiving the solution that includes the correction steps and the problem identifier associated with the problem from the client computer via the network;

computer usable program code for determining, by the server computer, whether the stored solution includes stored correction steps that are the same as the correction steps that corrected the problem within the client computer in response to locating the stored solution that includes the problem identifier associated with the problem in the rules database in the server computer;

computer usable program code for identifying, by the server computer, differences between the stored correction steps associated with the stored solution that includes the problem identifier associated with the problem and the correction steps that corrected the problem within the client computer to form identified differences in response to determining that the stored correction steps associated with the stored solution that includes the problem identifier associated with the problem are not the same as the correction steps that corrected the problem within the client computer; and

computer usable program code for updating, by the server computer, the stored solution to include the identified differences between the stored correction steps associated with the stored solution and the correction steps that corrected the problem within the client computer to form a second stored solution.

7. The computer program product of claim 6, further comprising:

computer usable program code for obtaining, by a second client computer, updates to the rules database in responsive to connecting to the server computer by the second client computer, wherein the updates include the second stored solution;

computer usable program code for updating, by the second client computer, a local rules database in the second client computer to include the updates in response to the second client computer obtaining the updates; and

computer usable program code for using, by the second client computer, the second stored solution in the local rules database to correct the problem in the second client computer in response to an occurrence of the problem in the second client computer.

8. The computer program product of claim 6, further comprising:

computer usable program code for updating, by the server computer, the stored solution to form the second stored solution by eliminating correction steps from the stored correction steps and adding new correction steps to the stored solution with the identified differences.

9. The computer program product of claim 6, further comprising:

computer usable program code for receiving, by the server computer, a number of reported problems from client computers subsequent to installation of a new software solution on the client computers;

computer usable program code for sending, by the server computer, instructions to the client computers rolling back the installation of the new software solution to a previous version of the program in response to determining that the installation of the new software solution is causing the number of reported problems from the client computers;

computer usable program code for determining, by the server computer, whether the number of reported problems from the client computers decreases after rolling back the installation of the new software solution to the previous version of the program on the client computers based on monitoring the client computes; and

computer usable program code for removing, by the server computer, the new software solution as a fix for the problem from the rules database in response to determining that the number of reported problems from the client computers decreases after the rolling back of the installation of the new software solution to the previous version of the program on the client computers.

10. The computer program product of claim 9, wherein the problem is a printing problem, and wherein the new software solution is a new printer driver software version.