System and method for providing server status awareness

• US 9,021,074 B2
• Filed: 11/08/2007
• Issued: 04/28/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 11/08/2007
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: O'Sullivan, Patrick Joseph, Gallagher, Brian Douglas, Srikanth, Hema, Mullin, Robert James
• Primary Examiner(s): KHAN, AFTAB N
• Application Number:
  US11/937,079
• Publication Number:
  US 20090125622A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,728 Days
• Field of Search: 709/223, 709/224, 709/225, 707/10, 714/48, 715/736
• US Class Current: 709/223
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/22 comprising specially adapted graphical user interfaces [GUI]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0876 Network utilisation, e.g. volume of load or congestion level
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/04 Real-time or near real-time messaging, e.g. instant messaging [IM]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/234 for tracking messages
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1001 for accessing one among a plurality of replicated servers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1008 based on parameters of servers, e.g. available memory or workload monitoring of computer activity G06F11/30
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1031 Controlling of the operation of servers by a load balancer, e.g. adding or removing servers that serve requests
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1034 Reaction to server failures by a load balancer
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1038 Load balancing arrangements to avoid a single path through a load balancer
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/75 Indicating network or usage conditions on the user display
• 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

A method including analyzing one or more network interactions of a user. One or more servers associated with the one or more network interaction may be identified. A listing of at least a portion of the one or more servers may be rendered.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method comprising:

analyzing, using a server status process executing on a client electronic device via one or more computing devices, one or more network interactions of a user, wherein the server status process is interfaced with one or more client applications;

identifying, via the one or more computing devices, one or more servers associated with the one or more network interactions, including anticipating at least one server the user will utilize and is not currently utilizing based upon, at least in part, current application usage of the user in a usage profile;

rendering, via the one or more computing devices, a listing of at least a portion of the one or more servers in an instant messaging user interface;

evaluating the one or more servers identified as being interacted by the user, via the one or more computing devices, for a status of the one or more servers on a periodic basis;

providing, via the one or more computing devices, an indicator of the status of the at least a portion of the one or more servers via the instant messaging user interface;

providing, with the indicator of the status, at least one corrective action instruction via the instant messaging user interface that is selectable by the user when the status is a server problem status;

updating by storing a recent one or more network interactions in the usage profile, via the one or more computing devices, the status of the at least a portion of the one or more servers, wherein the one or more servers reflected in the usage profile for one user are different than the one or more servers identified for another user in accordance with respective network interactions;

removing in the usage profile, via the one or more computing devices, at least one server from the listing of at least a portion of the one or more servers when the at least one server has not been associated with the recent one or more network interactions of the user after a predetermined period of non-usage of current application; and

wherein the status is provided in the form of visual indicators including a color-coded server listing in the instant messaging user interface.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more network interactions include one or more of:

application usage, database usage, mail server access, and instant messaging server access.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the color coded server listing includes a green color to show a healthy server, a yellow color for a server that is working slowly due to experiencing heavy traffic, and a red color for a server that is experiencing an outage or that is under maintenance, reflecting that the server is unavailable for use.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one corrective action instruction is provided in the form of a hover-over message.

5. A computer program product residing on a non-transitory computer readable medium having a plurality of instructions stored thereon which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:

analyzing, using a server status process executing on a client electronic device, one or more network interactions of a user, wherein the server status process is interfaced with one or more client applications;

identifying one or more servers associated with the one or more network interactions, including anticipating at least one server the user will utilize and is not currently utilizing based upon, at least in part, current application usage of the user in a usage profile;

rendering a listing of at least a portion of the one or more servers in an instant messaging user interface;

evaluating the one or more servers identified as being interacted by the user for a status of the one or more servers on a periodic basis;

providing an indicator of the status of the at least a portion of the one or more servers via the instant messaging user interface;

providing, with the indicator of the status, at least one corrective action instruction via the instant messaging user interface that is selectable by the user when the status is a server problem status;

updating by storing a recent one or more network interactions in the usage profile, the status of the at least a portion of the one or more servers wherein the one or more servers reflected in the usage profile for one user are different than the one or more servers identified for another user in accordance with respective network interactions;

removing in the usage profile at least one server from the listing of at least a portion of the one or more servers when the at least one server has not been associated with the recent one or more network interactions of the user after a predetermined period of non-usage of current application; and

wherein the status is provided in the form of visual indicators including a color-coded server listing in the instant messaging user interface.

6. The computer program product of claim 5, wherein the one or more network interactions include one or more of:

application usage, database usage, mail server access, and instant messaging server access.

7. The computer program product of claim 5, wherein the color coded server listing includes a green color to show a healthy server, a yellow color for a server that is working slowly due to experiencing heavy traffic, and a red color for a server that is experiencing an outage or that is under maintenance, reflecting that the server is unavailable for use.

8. The computer program product of claim 5, wherein the at least one corrective action instruction is provided in the form of a hover-over message.