Managing processing of a computing environment during failures of the environment

• US 8,375,244 B2
• Filed: 12/28/2007
• Issued: 02/12/2013
• 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., Swanson, Michael D.
• Primary Examiner(s): SCHELL, JOSEPH O
• Application Number:
  US11/965,872
• Publication Number:
  US 20090172470A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,873 Days
• Field of Search: 714/2, 714/3, 714/15, 714/17, 714/37, 714/47.1, 714/47.3, 709/220, 709/224
• US Class Current: 714/3
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1482 by means of middleware or OS functionality
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0654 using network fault recovery ring fault isolation or reconfiguration in loop networks without recovery actions by a network management system H04L12/437
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/22 comprising specially adapted graphical user interfaces [GUI]

Abstract

Recovery processing is provided for management components of an Information Technology (IT) environment. The recovery processing recovers the components, as well as performs one or more tasks that were being performed by the components prior to recovery.

Claims

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

determining that a management component executing on a processor and performing recovery within the IT environment, including performing one or more recovery tasks for one or more resources within the IT environment, is to be recovered itself; and

recovering the management component that was performing the one or more recovery tasks, wherein the recovering comprises continuing to perform at least one recovery task that was being performed by the management component prior to the management component being recovered, and wherein performing recovery within the IT environment adheres to one or more customer-defined quantified recovery goals associated with one or more resources impacted by a failure associated with recovery and considers an effect that recovery of one business process within the IT environment has on another business process of the IT environment.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the at least one recovery task is performed non-disruptively absent user intervention.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the at least one recovery task is related to availability management of the IT environment.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the recovering is performed by another instance of the management component, and wherein the method further comprises dynamically determining in real-time the another instance to perform the recovery.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 4, wherein the dynamically determining comprises programmatically selecting the another instance from a plurality of instances of the management component based on an assessment of the current IT environment.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising continuing to monitor one or more resources of the IT environment despite the recovering, wherein the monitoring is to manage the one or more resources.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the at least one recovery task is part of a management process comprising one or more tasks, and wherein the recovering comprises:

assessing the management process to determine the at least one recovery task to be performed; and

performing the at least one recovery task.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 7, wherein the performing of a recovery task of the at least one recovery task comprises:

rolling back the recovery task to a known state; and

performing the recovery task from the known state.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 7, wherein the performing the at least one recovery task comprises forward completing the recovery task.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the management component is a part of a business resilience system executing on a processor and used to manage recovery operations, the business resilience system comprising a business resilience runtime component of which the management component is a part that provides management functionality across one or more distinct recovery segments, wherein a recovery segment is a customer-defined grouping of one or more IT resources.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the management component comprises at least one of:

a component to manage one or more business applications of the IT environment, a runtime management component to manage the IT environment, and a supporting component used by one or more other components in managing the IT environment.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the performing recovery adheres to one or more customer-defined quantified recovery goals by taking into consideration partial recovery performed prior to the management component being recovered.

13. A computer system of facilitating recovery within an Information Technology (IT) environment, said computer system comprising:

a memory; and

a processor in communications with the memory, wherein the computer system is configured to perform a method, said method comprising;

determining that a management component executing on a processor and performing recovery within the IT environment, including performing one or more recovery tasks for one or more resources within the IT environment, is to be recovered itself; and

recovering the management component that was performing the one or more recovery tasks, wherein the recovering comprises continuing to perform at least one recovery task that was being performed by the management component prior to the management component being recovered, and wherein performing recovery within the IT environment adheres to one or more customer-defined quantified recovery goals associated with one or more resources impacted by a failure associated with recovery and considers an effect that recovery on one business process within the IT environment has on another business process of the IT environment.

14. The computer system of claim 13, wherein the at least one recovery task is performed non-disruptively absent user intervention.

15. The computer system of claim 13, wherein the at least one recovery task is related to availability management of the IT environment.

16. A computer program product for facilitating recovery within an Information Technology (IT) environment, the computer program product comprising:

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

determining that a management component executing on a processor and performing recovery within the IT environment, including performing one or more recovery tasks for one or more resources within the IT environment, is to be recovered itself; and

recovering the management component that was performing the one or more recovery tasks, wherein the recovering comprises continuing to perform at least one recovery task that was being performed by the management component prior to the management component being recovered, and wherein performing recovery within the IT environment adheres to one or more customer-defined quantified recovery goals associated with one or more resources impacted by a failure associated with recovery and considers an effect that recovery of one business process within the IT environment has on another business process of the IT environment.

17. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein the at least one recovery task is performed non-disruptively absent user intervention.

18. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein the recovering is performed by another instance of the management component, and wherein the method further comprises dynamically determining in real-time the another instance to perform the recovery.

19. The computer program product claim 16, further comprising continuing to monitor one or more resources of the IT environment despite the recovering, wherein the monitoring is to manage the one or more resources.

20. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein the management component is a part of a business resilience system executing on a processor and used to manage recovery operations, the business resilience system comprising a business resilience runtime component of which the management component is a part that provides management functionality across one or more distinct recovery segments, wherein a recovery segment is a customer-defined grouping of one or more IT resources.