Self-aware and self-healing computing system

• US 9,081,655 B2
• Filed: 01/23/2009
• Issued: 07/14/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 08/30/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Gangadhar, Deepak K.
• Primary Examiner(s): LOHN, JOSHUA A
• Application Number:
  US12/358,288
• Publication Number:
  US 20090138759A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,363 Days
• Field of Search: 714/26, 714/47, 714/47.1, 714/47.2, 714/47.3
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/008 Reliability or availability analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1423 by reconfiguration of paths
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3447 Performance evaluation by modeling
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3452 Performance evaluation by statistical analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3495 for systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/875 Monitoring of systems including the internet

Abstract

A method and a computing system for performing the method. Microstates of components of a computing system are organized into macrostates of the computing system. Each microstate represents a state that a component of the computing system is able to individually enter. Each macrostate represents a state that the computing system is able to enter as a whole. The macrostates of the computing system are organized into meta-dynamic states of the computing system. The computing system is monitored such that perturbations of the computing system are detected, wherein a perturbation of the computing system will result in movement thereof to a new meta-dynamic state. It is determined that the new meta-dynamic state is undesirable. A path is determined. The path causes the computing system to move back to a desirable meta-dynamic state. The computing system is caused to move on the path to the desirable meta-dynamic state.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

organizing a plurality of microstates of a plurality of components of a computing system into a plurality of macrostates of the computing system, wherein each microstate represents a state that a component of the computing system is able to individually enter, wherein each macrostate represents a state that the computing system is able to enter as a whole, and wherein the macrostates of the computing system are included within a plurality of meta-dynamic states of the computing system subject to each meta-dynamic state being a set of macrostates of the macrostates of the computing system;

monitoring the computing system, such that perturbations of the computing system are detected, wherein a perturbation of the computing system will result in movement thereof to a new meta-dynamic state, determining that the new meta-dynamic state is undesirable;

determining a path to cause the computing system to move back to a desirable meta-dynamic state; and

causing the computing system to move on the path to the desirable meta-dynamic state.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the macrostates are organized into attractors, each attractor being a stable state in which the computing system is stable, and wherein the method further comprises constructing an attractor separation map indicating how the attractors are separated from one another by a plurality of hamming distances, each hamming distance being a number of bits that differ between two attractors.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the meta-dynamic states have a dynamic system invariance property, such that the computing system is capable of being in different macrostates when in a meta-dynamic state, but remains dynamically invariant regardless of which macrostate the computing system is in.

4. The method of claim 1, said method further comprising:

organizing the meta-dynamic states into a plurality of desirable meta-dynamic states, a plurality of undesirable meta-dynamic states, and a plurality of transient meta-dynamic states, wherein each desirable and undesirable meta-dynamic state is a stable meta-dynamic state of the computing system, and wherein each transient meta-dynamic state is an unstable meta-dynamic state of the computing system, such that the computing system automatically proceeds to one of the desirable and undesirable meta-dynamic states from the transient meta-dynamic state over time.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said determining the path comprises:

constructing a microstate/meta-dynamic state graph that depicts which of the meta-dynamic states the computing system enters when one or more of the microstates are changed according to one or more parameters, wherein construction of the microstate/meta-dynamic state graph is completed when the desirable meta-dynamic state has been reached from the new meta-dynamic state that is undesirable.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the one or more parameters comprise:

a maximum number of components that the computing system is able to force a microstate change on at the same time;

a cost associated with each microstate change that the computing system is able to force;

a time limit for how long movement of the computing system to the desirable meta-dynamic state from the new meta-dynamic state that is undesirable is able to maximally take; and

a desired meta-dynamic state that is the desirable meta-dynamic state to which the computing system is to move.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein said determining the path further comprises:

construing a self-heal graph from the microstate/meta-dynamic state graph, such that the new meta-dynamic state that is undesirable is at a center of the self-heal graph, and the desirable meta-dynamic state is at a periphery of the self-heal graph, wherein the self-heal graph comprises a plurality of paths from the new meta-dynamic state that is undesirable to the desirable meta-dynamic state, each path having an associated cost that is incurred for the computing system to move along the path from the new meta-dynamic state that is undesirable to the desirable meta-dynamic state.

8. A computer-readable storage medium comprising a computer program stored thereon, said computer program configured be executed by a computing system to perform a method, said method comprising:

organizing a plurality of microstates of a plurality of components of a computing system into a plurality of macrostates of the computing system, wherein each microstate represents a state that a component of the computing system is able to individually enter, wherein each macrostate represents a state that the computing system is able to enter as a whole, and wherein the macrostates of the computing system are included within a plurality of meta-dynamic states of the computing system subject to each meta-dynamic state being a set of macrostates of the macrostates of the computing system;

monitoring the computing system, such that perturbations of the computing system are detected, wherein a perturbation of the computing system will result in movement thereof to a new meta-dynamic state,

determining that the new meta-dynamic state is undesirable;

determining a path to cause the computing system to move back to a desirable meta-dynamic state; and

causing the computing system to move on the path to the desirable meta-dynamic state.

9. The storage medium of claim 8, wherein the macrostates are organized into attractors, each attractor being a stable state in which the computing system is stable, and wherein the method further comprises constructing an attractor separation map indicating how the attractors are separated from one another by a plurality of hamming distances, each hamming distance being a number of bits that differ between two attractors.

10. The storage medium of claim 8, wherein the meta-dynamic states have a dynamic system invariance property, such that the computing system is capable of being in different macrostates when in a meta-dynamic state, but remains dynamically invariant regardless of which macrostate the computing system is in.

11. The storage medium of claim 8, said method further comprising:

organizing the meta-dynamic states into a plurality of desirable meta-dynamic states, a plurality of undesirable meta-dynamic states, and a plurality of transient meta-dynamic states, wherein each desirable and undesirable meta-dynamic state is a stable meta-dynamic state of the computing system, and wherein each transient meta-dynamic state is an unstable meta-dynamic state of the computing system, such that the computing system automatically proceeds to one of the desirable and undesirable meta-dynamic states from the transient meta-dynamic state over time.

12. The storage medium of claim 8, wherein said determining the path comprises:

constructing a microstate/meta-dynamic state graph that depicts which of the meta-dynamic states the computing system enters when one or more of the microstates are changed according to one or more parameters, wherein construction of the microstate/meta-dynamic state graph is completed when the desirable meta-dynamic state has been reached from the new meta-dynamic state that is undesirable.

13. The storage medium of claim 12, wherein the one or more parameters comprise:

a maximum number of components that the computing system is able to force a microstate change on at the same time;

a cost associated with each microstate change that the computing system is able to force;

a time limit for how long movement of the computing system to the desirable meta-dynamic state from the new meta-dynamic state that is undesirable is able to maximally take; and

a desired meta-dynamic state that is the desirable meta-dynamic state to which the computing system is to move.

14. The storage medium of claim 12, wherein said determining the path further comprises:

construing a self-heal graph from the microstate/meta-dynamic state graph, such that the new meta-dynamic state that is undesirable is at a center of the self-heal graph, and the desirable meta-dynamic state is at a periphery of the self-heal graph, wherein the self-heal graph comprises a plurality of paths from the new meta-dynamic state that is undesirable to the desirable meta-dynamic state, each path having an associated cost that is incurred for the computing system to move along the path from the new meta-dynamic state that is undesirable to the desirable meta-dynamic state.

15. The storage medium of claim 14, wherein said determining the path further comprises:

selecting an optimal path from the paths from the meta-dynamic state that is undesirable to the desirable meta-dynamic state that have lowest associated costs, wherein the optimal path is the path that the computing system is caused to move on to the desirable meta-dynamic state.

16. A computing system comprising a computer-readable storage medium, said storage medium comprising a computer program stored thereon, said computer program configured be executed by the computing system to perform a method, said method comprising:

organizing a plurality of microstates of a plurality of components of a computing system into a plurality of macrostates of the computing system, wherein each microstate represents a state that a component of the computing system is able to individually enter, wherein each macrostate represents a state that the computing system is able to enter as a whole, and wherein the macrostates of the computing system are included within a plurality of meta-dynamic states of the computing system subject to each meta-dynamic state being a set of macrostates of the macrostates of the computing system;

monitoring the computing system, such that perturbations of the computing system are detected, wherein a perturbation of the computing system will result in movement thereof to a new meta-dynamic state,

determining that the new meta-dynamic state is undesirable;

determining a path to cause the computing system to move back to a desirable meta-dynamic state; and

causing the computing system to move on the path to the desirable meta-dynamic state.

17. The computing system of claim 16, wherein the macrostates are organized into attractors, each attractor being a stable state in which the computing system is stable, and wherein the method further comprises constructing an attractor separation map indicating how the attractors are separated from one another by a plurality of hamming distances, each hamming distance being a number of bits that differ between two attractors.

18. The computing system of claim 16, wherein the meta-dynamic states have a dynamic system invariance property, such that the computing system is capable of being in different macrostates when in a meta-dynamic state, but remains dynamically invariant regardless of which macrostate the computing system is in.

19. The computing system of claim 16, said method further comprising:

organizing the meta-dynamic states into a plurality of desirable meta-dynamic states, a plurality of undesirable meta-dynamic states, and a plurality of transient meta-dynamic states, wherein each desirable and undesirable meta-dynamic state is a stable meta-dynamic state of the computing system, and wherein each transient meta-dynamic state is an unstable meta-dynamic state of the computing system, such that the computing system automatically proceeds to one of the desirable and undesirable meta-dynamic states from the transient meta-dynamic state over time.

20. The computing system of claim 16, wherein said determining the path comprises:

constructing a microstate/meta-dynamic state graph that depicts which of the meta-dynamic states the computing system enters when one or more of the microstates are changed according to one or more parameters, wherein construction of the microstate/meta-dynamic state graph is completed when the desirable meta-dynamic state has been reached from the new meta-dynamic state that is undesirable.

21. The computing system of claim 20, wherein the one or more parameters comprise:

a maximum number of components that the computing system is able to force a microstate change on at the same time;

a cost associated with each microstate change that the computing system is able to force;

a time limit for how long movement of the computing system to the desirable meta-dynamic state from the new meta-dynamic state that is undesirable is able to maximally take;

and a desired meta-dynamic state that is the desirable meta-dynamic state to which the computing system is to move.

22. The computing system of claim 20, wherein said determining the path further comprises:

construing a self-heal graph from the microstate/meta-dynamic state graph, such that the new meta-dynamic state that is undesirable is at a center of the self-heal graph, and the desirable meta-dynamic state is at a periphery of the self-heal graph, wherein the self-heal graph comprises a plurality of paths from the new meta-dynamic state that is undesirable to the desirable meta-dynamic state, each path having an associated cost that is incurred for the computing system to move along the path from the new meta-dynamic state that is undesirable to the desirable meta-dynamic state.