Relevant alert delivery in a distributed processing system with event listeners and alert listeners

• US 8,868,984 B2
• Filed: 12/07/2010
• Issued: 10/21/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 12/07/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Carey, James E., Markland, Matthew W., Sanders, Philip J.
• Primary Examiner(s): LOHN, JOSHUA A
• Application Number:
  US12/962,265
• Publication Number:
  US 20120144251A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,414 Days
• Field of Search: 714/26, 714/48, 714/57
• US Class Current: 714/48
• 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 11/0781 Error filtering or prioritizing based on a policy defined by the user or on a policy defined by a hardware/software module, e.g. according to a severity level
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/327 Alarm or error message display

Abstract

Relevant alert delivery including determining, by an events listener associated with an event queue, whether one or more events in an events queue have not been assigned to any events pool by any event analyzer; and if one or more events in the events queue have not been assigned to any events pool, identifying by the events listener in dependence upon the event analysis rules one or more alerts; sending by the event listener to an alerts queue all the alerts identified by the event listener; the alerts queue having an associated alerts listener; determining whether one or more alerts in the alerts queue have not been assigned to any alert pool; if one or more alerts in the alerts queue have not been assigned to any alerts pool, and determining in dependence upon alert analysis rules whether to suppress the alerts; and transmitting the unsuppressed alerts.

Claims

1. A system for relevant alert delivery in a distributed processing system, the apparatus comprising a computer processor, a computer memory operatively coupled to the computer processor, the computer memory having disposed within it computer program instructions capable, when executed by the computer processor, of causing the system to carry out the steps of:

determining, by an events listener associated with an event queue, whether one or more events in an events queue have not been assigned to any events pool by any event analyzer; and

responsive to determining that one or more events in the events queue have not been assigned to any events pool, identifying by the events listener in dependence upon the event analysis rules one or more alerts;

sending by the event listener to an alerts queue all the alerts identified by the event listener;

the alerts queue having an associated alerts listener;

determining, by the alerts listener, whether one or more alerts in the alerts queue have not been assigned to any alert pool; and

responsive to determining that one or more alerts in the alerts queue have not been assigned to any alerts pool, determining by the alert listener in dependence upon alert analysis rules whether to suppress the alerts; and

transmitting the unsuppressed alerts to one or more components of the distributed processing system.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the computer memory has disposed within it computer program instructions capable, when executed by the computer processor, of causing the system to carry out the steps of:

identifying by the alert listener in dependence upon alert analysis rules one or more additional alerts; and

transmitting the one or more additional alerts to one or more components of the distributed processing system.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein the computer memory has disposed within it computer program instructions capable, when executed by the computer processor, of causing the system to carry out the steps of:

identifying by the event analyzer in dependence upon event analysis rules and the events assigned to the events pool one or more alerts;

sending by the event analyzer to an alert analyzer all the alerts identified by the event analyzer.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein the computer memory has disposed within it computer program instructions capable, when executed by the computer processor, of causing the system to carry out the steps of:

determining by an alert analyzer in dependence upon alert analysis rules and the alerts in the alert pool whether to suppress any alerts; and

transmitting the unsuppressed alerts to one or more components of the distributed processing system.

5. The system of claim 4 wherein determining by the alert analyzer in dependence upon alert analysis rules and the alerts in the alert pool whether to suppress any alerts further comprises selecting events and determining whether to suppress any alerts in dependence upon the selected events.

6. The system of claim 4 wherein the computer memory has disposed within it computer program instructions capable, when executed by the computer processor, of causing the system to carry out the steps of identifying by the alert analyzer in dependence upon alert analysis rules, the alerts in the alert pool, and selected events one or more additional alerts;

and

transmitting the unsuppressed alerts further comprises transmitting the one or more additional alerts to one or more components of the distributed processing system.

7. A computer program product for relevant alert delivery in a distributed processing system, the computer program product disposed upon a computer readable medium, wherein the computer readable medium is not a signal, the computer program product comprising computer program instructions for:

determining, by an events listener associated with an event queue, whether one or more events in an events queue have not been assigned to any events pool by any event analyzer; and

responsive to determining that one or more events in the events queue have not been assigned to any events pool, identifying by the events listener in dependence upon the event analysis rules one or more alerts;

sending by the event listener to an alerts queue all the alerts identified by the event listener;

the alerts queue having an associated alerts listener;

determining, by the alerts listener, whether one or more alerts in the alerts queue have not been assigned to any alert pool; and

responsive to determining that one or more alerts in the alerts queue have not been assigned to any alerts pool, determining by the alert listener in dependence upon alert analysis rules whether to suppress the alerts; and

transmitting the unsuppressed alerts to one or more components of the distributed processing system.

8. The computer program product of claim 7 further comprising computer program instructions for:

identifying by the alert listener in dependence upon alert analysis rules one or more additional alerts; and

transmitting the one or more additional alerts to one or more components of the distributed processing system.

9. The computer program product of claim 7 further comprising computer program instructions for:

identifying by the event analyzer in dependence upon event analysis rules and the events assigned to the events pool one or more alerts;

sending by the event analyzer to an alert analyzer all the alerts identified by the event analyzer.

10. The computer program product of claim 7 further comprising computer program instructions for:

determining by an alert analyzer in dependence upon alert analysis rules and the alerts in the alert pool whether to suppress any alerts; and

transmitting the unsuppressed alerts to one or more components of the distributed processing system.

11. The computer program product of claim 10 wherein computer program instructions for determining by the alert analyzer in dependence upon alert analysis rules and the alerts in the alert pool whether to suppress any alerts further comprises computer program instructions for selecting events and computer program instructions for determining whether to suppress any alerts in dependence upon the selected events.

12. The computer program product of claim 10 further comprising computer program instructions for:

identifying by the alert analyzer in dependence upon alert analysis rules, the alerts in the alert pool, and selected events one or more additional alerts; and

transmitting the unsuppressed alerts further comprises transmitting the one or more additional alerts to one or more components of the distributed processing system.