Systems and methods for cloud-based probing and diagnostics

• US 9,614,745 B2
• Filed: 01/09/2014
• Issued: 04/04/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 01/09/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Citrix Systems, Inc. (Cloud Software Group)
• Original Assignee: Citrix Systems, Inc. (Cloud Software Group)
• Inventors: Mathur, Nitin Kumar, Parihar, Himanshu, Venkatesh, Praveen Kumar, Vasudevan, Karthikeyan
• Primary Examiner(s): PATEL, KAMINI B
• Application Number:
  US14/151,633
• Publication Number:
  US 20150195182A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,181 Days
• Field of Search: 714 16
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2289 by configuration test
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2294 by remote test
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3006 where the computing system is distributed, e.g. networked systems, clusters, multiprocessor systems multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46; allocation of resources G06F9/50
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3051 Monitoring arrangements for monitoring the configuration of the computing system or of the computing system component, e.g. monitoring the presence of processing resources, peripherals, I/O links, software programs verification or detection of system hardware configuration G06F11/2247
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3433 for load management allocation of a server based on load conditions G06F9/505; load rebalancing G06F9/5083; redistributing the load in a network by a load balancer H04L67/1029
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/815 Virtual middleware or OS functionality using virtual machines to implement generic software techniques for error detection or fault masking G06F11/1484
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0661 by reconfiguring faulty entities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/082 the condition being updates or upgrades of network functionality
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0853 by actively collecting configuration information or by backing up configuration information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0866 Checking the configuration
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0811 by checking connectivity
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/50 Testing arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/4511 using domain name system [DNS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/20 for managing network security; network security policies in general filtering policies H04L63/0227
• 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

Systems and methods of the present disclosure are directed to providing centralized diagnostic services to a plurality of heterogeneous computing environments deployed at different data centers on different networks. In some embodiments, a centralized diagnostic tool establishes a connection to a server of a data center that deploys a computing environment with components. The centralized diagnostic tool validates automatically a component of the computing environment based on a corresponding configuration file received from the server for the component. The centralized diagnostic tool establishes a virtual device simulating a client application executing on a client device. The client application can be configured to communicate with the component. The centralized diagnostic tool automatically initiates a request using a predetermined protocol flow, and the virtual device transmits the request to the component. The virtual device receives a response to the request indicative of a status of the computing environment.

Claims

1. A method of providing centralized diagnostic services to a plurality of heterogeneous computing environments deployed at different data centers on different networks, the method comprising:

establishing, by a centralized diagnostic tool executing on one or more servers of a first network, a connection to a server on a second network of a data center of a plurality of data centers, each of the plurality of data centers deploying a computing environment with one or more components configured differently from one or more components of a second computing environment of a second data center of the plurality of data centers;

validating automatically, by the centralized diagnostic tool, a configuration of at least one of the one or more components of the computing environment based on a corresponding configuration file received from the server for the at least one component;

establishing, by the centralized diagnostic tool, a virtual device simulating a client application executing on a client device on the first network to communicate with the at least one component on the server of the second network, the client application configured to communicate with the at least one component of the computing environment on the second network;

transmitting, by the virtual device, a request to the at least one component, the request automatically initiated by the centralized diagnostic tool using a predetermined protocol flow comprising a flow of a plurality of request and response pairs between the client application and the at least one component based on at least a type of the at least one component; and

receiving, by the virtual device from the at least one component, a response to the request indicative of a status of the computing environment.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the predetermined protocol flow comprises a flow of requests and responses to be simulated between the virtual device and the at least one component.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining, by a state machine of the centralized diagnostic tool, a validity of the response based on the predetermined protocol flow;

identifying, by the state machine, a second state for the protocol flow based on the determined validity of the response; and

initiating, by the centralized diagnostic tool, a transition to the second state.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining, by a state machine of the centralized diagnostic tool, a validity of the response based on the predetermined protocol flow;

generating a second request based on the validity of the response and the predetermined protocol flow; and

transmitting, by the virtual device, the second request to the at least one component.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

receiving, by the virtual device, a second response to the second request;

generating, using the state machine, a third request based on the second response and the predetermined protocol flow, the third request different from the request and the second request.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

analyzing, by the centralized diagnostic tool, the response from the at least one component to identify the status of the computing environment; and

determining a corrective action to the computing environment based on the status.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the corrective action relates to resolvability of a domain name associated with the at least one component of the computing environment.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the corrective action relates to reachability via the network of the at least one component of the computing environment.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein the corrective action relates to firmware of the computing environment.

10. The method of claim 1, comprising:

analyzing, by the centralized diagnostic tool, the response from the at least one component; and

initiating, by the centralized diagnostic tool, a termination of the protocol flow based on the analysis.

20. The system of claim 1, wherein the centralized diagnostic tool is further configured to:

analyze the response from the at least one component; and

initiate a termination of the protocol flow based on the analysis.

11. A system for providing centralized diagnostic services to a plurality of heterogeneous computing environments deployed at different data centers on different networks, the system comprising:

a processor;

a centralized diagnostic tool configured to execute on the processor of one or more servers of a first network and to;

establish a connection to a server on a second network of a data center of a plurality of data centers, each of the plurality of data centers deploying a computing environment with one or more components configured differently from one or more components of a second computing environment of a second data center of the plurality of data centers;

automatically validate a configuration of at least one of the one or more components of the computing environment based on a corresponding configuration file received from the server for the at least one component; and

establish a virtual device simulating a client application executing on a client device on the first network to communicate with the at least one component on the server of the second network, the client application configured to communicate with the at least one component of the computing environment on the second network; and

the virtual device configured to execute on the one or more servers of the first network and to;

transmit a request to the at least one component, the request automatically initiated by the centralized diagnostic tool using a predetermined protocol flow comprising a flow of a plurality of request and response pairs between the client application and the at least one component based on at least a type of the at least one component; and

receive, from the at least one component, a response to the request indicative of a status of the computing environment.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the predetermined protocol flow comprises a flow of requests and responses to be simulated between the virtual device and the at least one component.

13. The system of claim 11, further comprising:

a state machine configured to execute on the one or more servers of the first network and to;

determine a validity of the response based on the predetermined protocol flow; and

identify a second state for the protocol flow based on the determined validity of the response; and

wherein the centralized diagnostic tool is further configured to initiate a transition to the second state.

14. The system of claim 11, further comprising:

a state machine configured to execute on the one or more servers of the first network and to;

determine a validity of the response based on the predetermined protocol flow; and

generate a second request based on the validity of the response and the predetermined protocol flow; and

wherein the virtual device is further configured to transmit the second request to the at least one component.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein:

the virtual device is further configured to receive a second response to the second request; and

the state machine is further configured to generate a third request based on the second response and the predetermined protocol flow, the third request different from the request and the second request.

16. The system of claim 11, wherein the centralized diagnostic tool is further configured to:

analyze the response from the at least one component to identify the status of the computing environment; and

determine a corrective action to the computing environment based on the status.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the corrective action relates to resolvability of a domain name associated with the at least one component of the computing environment.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein the corrective action relates to reachability via the network of the at least one component of the computing environment.

19. The system of claim 16, wherein the corrective action relates to firmware of the computing environment.