Synchronizing problem resolution task status using awareness of current state and transaction history

• US 9,384,080 B2
• Filed: 09/01/2009
• Issued: 07/05/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 09/01/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Bhatnagar, Radhika, Court, Barnaby L., Etgen, Michael P., Kundavaram, Anjan R., Schreiber, Elizabeth A., Styles, David B.
• Primary Examiner(s): KUDIRKA, JOSEPH R
• Application Number:
  US12/551,737
• Publication Number:
  US 20110055619A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,499 Days
• Field of Search: 714/26, 714/35, 714/38.1, 714/38.14, 714/2, 714/25, 714/46, 714/57, 717/124, 717/127, 717/128
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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 11/0793 Remedial or corrective actions recovery from an exception in an instruction pipeline G06F9/3861; by retry G06F11/1402; for recovering from a failure of a protocol instance or entity H04L69/40

Abstract

Systems, methods and articles of manufacture are disclosed for synchronizing a transaction profile with a resolution status of a problem experienced by an application. The problem may be detected for the application. A transaction profile may be retrieved for the detected problem. The transaction profile may include a sequence of transactions to be performed on the system to remedy the open problem. Transactions occurring on the system may be monitored, and an instance of the transaction profile may be updated accordingly to create a synchronized transaction profile.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method to manage transaction states to facilitate avoidance of repeated transactions when resolving system problems, the computer-implemented method comprising:

configuring one or more computer processors of a system to perform an operation comprising;

identifying a first instance of a problem experienced by an application executing on the system;

responsive to identifying the first instance of the problem, creating a transaction profile associated with the problem, wherein the transaction profile specifies a sequence of transactions that are performed on the system to resolve the problem, wherein the transaction profile is associated with a transaction token comprising an identification (ID) value;

identifying a second instance of the problem experienced by the application executing on the system;

responsive to identifying the second instance of the problem;

detecting a first transaction performed on the system, wherein the first transaction is associated with the transaction token;

upon determining the first transaction matches one of the sequence of transactions of the transaction profile, marking the one of the sequence of transactions in the transaction profile as having been performed;

conveying that the first transaction, of the sequence of transactions, has been performed;

passing the transaction token to a second transaction, of the sequence of transactions; and

causing the system to perform the remainder of the sequence of transactions.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the transaction token is passed to each transaction of the sequence of transactions,

wherein creating the transaction profile comprises monitoring a set of transactions performed on the system responsive to identifying the first instance of the problem, wherein the monitoring includes:

(i) logging a user-initiated transaction performed on the system;

(ii) monitoring for an event of the system;

(iii) monitoring for an event of the application;

(iv) monitoring for an event of another application executing on the system; and

(v) running a verification script to determine a status of the application and the another application.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein a symptom catalog for the problem comprises:

(i) a set of symptoms of the problem, (ii) a description of a business impact of the problem, (iii) a set of solutions for resolving the problem, and (iv) a set of annotations describing characteristics of the problem, wherein, when monitoring the set of transactions monitors for an event of another application, the application and the another application execute in a single application stack on the system.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 3, wherein the operation further comprises:

upon determining that the marked one of the sequence of transactions completes the sequence of transactions to be performed on the system to remedy the problem, setting the status of the problem as closed.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 4, wherein the transaction is marked by a transaction application, wherein the transaction application comprises:

a profile manager configured to create the transaction profile associated with the problem responsive to identifying the first instance of the problem;

a list of problem identifiers identifying the first and second instances of the problem experienced by the application executing on the system;

a profile generator configured to mark the transaction in the transaction profile as having been performed;

a request manager configured to receive a user request to perform the remainder of the sequence of transactions;

a notifier configured to convey that the first transaction, of the sequence of transactions, has been performed; and

a verifier configured to evaluate the user request to determine whether the requested remainder of the sequence of transactions, when performed, are performed successfully.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, wherein the first transaction is initiated by a first user of the system, wherein the remainder of the sequence of transactions is only first performed responsive to receiving input.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, wherein the operation further comprises:

receiving a request from a second user to perform a one of the sequence of transactions on the system; and

upon determining that the first user initiated the first transaction, blocking performance the transaction specified in the request received from the second user.

8. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium containing a program which, when executed, performs an operation to manage transaction states to facilitate avoidance of repeated transactions when resolving system problems, the operation comprising:

identifying a first instance of a problem experienced by an application executing on the system;

creating a transaction profile associated with the problem, wherein the transaction profile specifies a sequence of transactions that are performed on the system to resolve the problem, wherein the transaction profile is associated with a transaction token comprising an identification (ID) value;

identifying a second instance of the problem experienced by the application executing on the system;

responsive to identifying the second instance of the problem;

detecting a first transaction performed on the system, wherein the first transaction is associated with the transaction token;

upon determining the first transaction matches one of the sequence of transactions of the transaction profile, marking the one of the sequence of transactions in the transaction profile as having been performed;

conveying that the first transaction, of the sequence of transactions, has been performed;

passing the transaction token to a second transaction, of the sequence of transactions; and

causing the system to perform the remainder of the sequence of transactions.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the transaction token is passed to each transaction of the sequence of transactions,

wherein creating the transaction profile comprises monitoring a set of transactions performed on the system responsive to identifying the first instance of the problem, wherein the monitoring includes:

(i) logging a user-initiated transaction performed on the system;

(ii) monitoring for an event of the system;

(iii) monitoring for an event of the application;

(iv) monitoring for an event of another application executing on the system; and

(v) running a verification script to determine a status of the application and the another application.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein a symptom catalog for the problem comprises:

(i) a set of symptoms of the problem, (ii) a description of a business impact of the problem, (iii) a set of solutions for resolving the problem, and (iv) a set of annotations describing characteristics of the problem, wherein, when monitoring the set of transactions monitors for an event of another application, the application and the another application execute in a single application stack on the system.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein the operation further comprises:

upon determining that the marked one of the sequence of transactions completes the sequence of transactions to be performed on the system to remedy the problem, setting the status of the problem as closed.

12. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the transaction is marked by a transaction application, wherein the transaction application comprises:

a profile manager configured to create the transaction profile associated with the problem responsive to identifying the first instance of the problem;

a list of problem identifiers identifying the first and second instances of the problem experienced by the application executing on the system;

a profile generator configured to mark the transaction in the transaction profile as having been performed;

a request manager configured to receive a user request to perform the remainder of the sequence of transactions;

a notifier configured to convey that the first transaction, of the sequence of transactions, has been performed; and

a verifier configured to evaluate the user request to determine whether the requested remainder of the sequence of transactions, when performed, are performed successfully.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 12, wherein the first transaction is initiated by a first user of the system, wherein the remainder of the sequence of transactions is only first performed responsive to receiving input.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the operation further comprises:

receiving a request from a second user to perform a one of the sequence of transactions on the system; and

upon determining that the first user initiated the first transaction, blocking performance the transaction specified in the request received from the second user.

15. A system, comprising:

one or more computer processors; and

a memory containing a program, which when executed by the one or more computer processors is configured to perform an operation to manage transaction states to facilitate avoidance of repeated transactions when resolving system problems, the operation comprising;

identifying a first instance of a problem experienced by an application executing on the system;

creating a transaction profile associated with the problem, wherein the transaction profile specifies a sequence of transactions that are performed on the system to resolve the problem, wherein the transaction profile is associated with a transaction token comprising an identification (ID) value;

identifying a second instance of the problem experienced by the application executing on the system;

responsive to identifying the second instance of the problem;

detecting a first transaction performed on the system, wherein the first transaction is associated with the transaction token;

upon determining the first transaction matches one of the sequence of transactions of the transaction profile, marking the one of the sequence of transactions in the transaction profile as having been performed;

conveying that the first transaction, of the sequence of transactions, has been performed;

passing the transaction token to a second transaction, of the sequence of transactions; and

causing the system to perform the remainder of the sequence of transactions.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the operation further comprises:

monitoring the transactions performed on the system, wherein the transaction token is passed to each transaction of the sequence of transactions,

wherein creating the transaction profile comprises monitoring a set of transactions performed on the system responsive to identifying the first instance of the problem, wherein the monitoring includes;

(i) logging a user-initiated transaction performed on the system;

(ii) monitoring for an event of the system;

(iii) monitoring for an event of the application;

(iv) monitoring for an event of another application executing on the system; and

(v) running a verification script to determine a status of the application and the another application.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein, wherein a symptom catalog for the problem comprises:

(i) a set of symptoms of the problem, (ii) a description of a business impact of the problem, (iii) a set of solutions for resolving the problem, and (iv) a set of annotations describing characteristics of the problem, wherein, when monitoring the set of transactions monitors for an event of another application, the application and the another application execute in a single application stack on the system.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the operation further comprises:

upon determining that the sequence of transactions completes the sequence of transactions to be performed on the system to remedy the problem, setting the status of the problem as closed.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the transaction is marked by a transaction application, wherein the transaction application comprises:

a profile manager configured to create the transaction profile associated with the problem responsive to identifying the first instance of the problem;

a list of problem identifiers identifying the first and second instances of the problem experienced by the application executing on the system;

a profile generator configured to mark the transaction in the transaction profile as having been performed;

a request manager configured to receive a user request to perform the remainder of the sequence of transactions;

a notifier configured to convey that the first transaction, of the sequence of transactions, has been performed; and

a verifier configured to evaluate the user request to determine whether the requested remainder of the sequence of transactions, when performed, are performed successfully.

20. The system of claim 19, method of claim 5, wherein the first transaction is initiated by a first user of the system, wherein the remainder of the sequence of transactions is only first performed responsive to receiving the input.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the operation further comprises:

receiving a request from a second user to perform a one of the sequence of transactions on the system; and

upon determining that the first user initiated the first transaction, blocking performance the transaction specified in the request received from the second user.