Preventing execution of processes responsive to changes in the environment

• US 8,365,185 B2
• Filed: 12/28/2007
• Issued: 01/29/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 12/28/2007
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Bobak, Mythili K., McConnell, Tim A., Swanson, Michael D.
• Primary Examiner(s): TO, JENNIFER N
• Application Number:
  US11/965,978
• Publication Number:
  US 20090172682A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,859 Days
• Field of Search: 718/103
• US Class Current: 718/106
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/40 for recovering from a failure of a protocol instance or entity, e.g. service redundancy protocols, protocol state redundancy or protocol service redirection management of faults, events, alarms or notifications in data switching networks H04L41/06

Abstract

Processes are programmatically categorized into a plurality of categories, which are prioritized. Serialization is used to control execution of the processes of the various categories. The serialization ensures that processes of higher priority categories are given priority in execution. This includes temporarily preventing processes of lower priority categories from being executed.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method of managing processing within a computing environment, said method comprising:

programmatically providing, without user intervention, a plurality of categories of processes, said plurality of categories of processes having a plurality of priorities associated therewith, and wherein the plurality of categories of processes comprises one or more of a category of critical processes, a category of monitoring processes, a category of preparatory processes, and a category of administrative processes, and wherein each category of the plurality of categories has a serialization protocol associated therewith to manage processing among the plurality of categories, and wherein the serialization protocol for one category is different from the serialization protocol of another category; and

programmatically preventing execution, by a processor, of a process of one category of processes and allowing execution of a process of another category of processes, in response to detecting a change in configuration of an Information Technology (IT) environment, wherein the change in configuration comprises at least one of adding one or more resources to the IT environment to be used by a business application of the IT environment that employs a plurality of types of resources, removing one or more resources from the IT environment that are used by a business application that employs a plurality of types of resources, or altering a management policy of the IT environment, and wherein the preventing execution comprises blocking execution of the process or terminating execution of the process.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the programmatically preventing comprises using serialization to control execution of processes, in which the execution of the process of the one category is prevented and execution of the process of the another category is allowed.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of categories comprises a category of critical processes, a category of monitoring processes, a category of preparatory processes, and a category of administrative processes.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 3, wherein the category of critical processes has the highest priority of the plurality of categories, the category of monitoring processes has the next highest priority, the category of preparatory processes has the second lowest priority, and the category of administrative processes has the lowest priority of the plurality of categories.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising executing a plurality of processes of a selected category of processes in parallel.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, wherein the selected category of processes comprises administrative processes.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

initiating execution of a process of a category of processes of the plurality of categories of processes;

determining whether a configuration change in the IT environment has occurred since creation of the process; and

invalidating the process, in response to the determining indicating the configuration change.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 7, wherein the determining comprises comparing state of the IT environment at time of creation of the process and state of the current IT environment to detect whether there is a configuration change.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

executing a process of a category of processes; and

determining that the process has terminated abnormally.

10. A system of managing processing within a computing environment, said system comprising:

a memory storing a plurality of categories of processes programmatically provided without user intervention, said plurality of categories having a plurality of priorities associated therewith, and wherein the plurality of categories comprises one or more of a category of critical processes, a category of monitoring processes, a category of preparatory processes, and a category of administrative processes, and wherein each category of the plurality of categories has a serialization protocol associated therewith to manage processing among the plurality of categories, and wherein the serialization protocol for one category is different from the serialization protocol of another category; and

a processor to programmatically prevent execution of a process of one category of processes and allow execution of a process of another category of processes, in response to detecting a change in configuration of an Information Technology (IT) environment, wherein the change in configuration comprises at least one of adding one or more resources to the IT environment to be used by a business application of the IT environment that employs a plurality of types of resources, removing one or more resources from the IT environment that are used by a business application that employs a plurality of types of resources, or altering a management policy of the IT environment, and wherein the preventing execution comprises blocking execution of the process or terminating execution of the process.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the programmatically preventing comprises using serialization to control execution of processes, in which the execution of the process of the one category is prevented and execution of the process of the another category is allowed.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the plurality of categories comprises a category of critical processes, a category of monitoring processes, a category of preparatory processes, and a category of administrative processes.

13. A computer program product for managing processing within a computing environment, said computer program product comprising:

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

programmatically providing, without user intervention, a plurality of categories of processes, said plurality of categories having a plurality of priorities associated therewith, and wherein the plurality of categories comprises one or more of a category of critical processes, a category of monitoring processes, a category of preparatory processes, and a category of administrative processes, and wherein each category of the plurality of categories has a serialization protocol associated therewith to manage processing among the plurality of categories, and wherein the serialization protocol for one category is different from the serialization protocol of another category; and

programmatically preventing execution, by a processor, of a process of one category of processes and allowing execution of a process of another category of processes, in response to detecting a change in configuration of an Information Technology (IT) environment, wherein the change in configuration comprises at least one of adding one or more resources to the IT environment to be used by a business application of the IT environment that employs a plurality of types of resources, removing one or more resources from the IT environment that are used by a business application that employs a plurality of types of resources, or altering a management policy of the IT environment, and wherein the preventing execution comprises blocking execution of the process or terminating execution of the process.

14. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein the programmatically preventing comprises using serialization to control execution of processes, in which the execution of the process of the one category is prevented and execution of the process of the another category is allowed.

15. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein the method further comprises:

initiating execution of a process of a category of processes of the plurality of categories of processes;

determining whether a configuration change in the IT environment has occurred since creation of the process; and

invalidating the process, in response to the determining indicating the configuration change.

16. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein the method further comprises:

executing a process of a category of processes; and

determining that the process has terminated abnormally.