System design method, system design apparatus, and storage medium storing system design program, for analyzing failure restoration procedure

• US 9,740,575 B2
• Filed: 09/17/2013
• Issued: 08/22/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 10/17/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NEC Corporation
• Original Assignee: NEC Corporation
• Inventors: Tadano, Kumiko
• Primary Examiner(s): MCCARTHY, CHRISTOPHER S
• Application Number:
  US14/435,519
• Publication Number:
  US 20150301908A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,435 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1451 by selection of backup contents
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1469 Backup restoration techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/84 Using snapshots, i.e. a logical point-in-time copy of the data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/74 Reverse engineering; Extracting design information from source code

Abstract

Provided are a system design method, a system design system, and a system design reform assistance program. A system design apparatus includes a unit for receiving an analysis model which represents a system failure restoration sequence, a unit for identifying, from the received analysis model, a minimum combination of component failure which does not satisfy either a restoration time requisite or a necessary cost requisite and a unit for outputting the identified minimum combination of component failure. The unit for identifying the minimum combination of component failure further includes a unit for estimating the restoration time of a system, and a unit for estimating the cost required for restoration of the system.

Claims

1. A system design apparatus, comprising:

a processor and a memory storing therein a program, wherein the processor is configured to execute the program and thereby implement;

an analysis model receiving unit that is configured to receive an analysis model that represents a failure restoration procedure for a system;

a minimum combination specifying unit that is configured to specify a minimum combination of component failures that does not satisfy a restoration time or a necessary cost requirement, from the analysis model; and

a minimum combination output unit that is configured to output the minimum combination of component failures,

wherein the minimum combination specifying unit comprises;

a restoration time estimation unit that is configured to estimate the restoration time of the system; and

a cost estimation unit that is configured to estimate the necessary cost requirement for restoration of the system;

and

wherein the analysis model is a state transition model in which a state transition occurs based on a specific probability distribution.

2. The system design apparatus, according to claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to implement:

a failure restoration procedure receiving unit that is configured to receive the failure restoration procedure for the system; and

an analysis model generation unit that is configured to combine model modules to generate a combined analysis model from the failure restoration procedure, wherein

the minimum combination specifying unit is further configured to specify the minimum combination of component failures that does not satisfy the restoration time or the necessary cost requirement, from the combined analysis model.

3. The system design apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the processor is further configured to implement:

a combination pruning unit that prunes a combination of component failures that is not necessary for analysis.

4. The system design apparatus according to claim 2, wherein

the failure restoration procedure includes, at least, information relating to a state of a component in which a failure occurs, information relating to a failure restoration operation for restoring a component in which the failure occurs, or information relating to a condition under which the failure restoration operation is executed, and

the analysis model generation unit is further configured to

convert the information relating to the state of the component, the information relating to the failure restoration operation, and the information relating to the condition under which the failure restoration operation is executed, included in the failure restoration procedure, into elements configuring the analysis model, based on a predetermined rule for conversion between the failure restoration procedure and the analysis model, and

integrate the converted elements configuring the analysis model, to generate the analysis model.

5. The system design apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to implement:

a requirement receiving unit that is configured to receive requirements for the restoration time and the necessary cost requirement for restoration, relating to failure restoration of the system,

wherein the minimum combination specifying unit is further configured to

generate an estimated restoration time of the system and generate an estimated necessary cost requirement for restoration of the system, based on the analysis model, and

specify the minimum combination of component failures that does not satisfy the restoration time or the necessary cost requirement, based on the requirements for the restoration time and the necessary cost requirement for restoration, and based on the estimated restoration time and estimated necessary cost requirement for restoration.

6. A system design method comprising:

receiving an analysis model that represents a failure restoration procedure for a system,

specifying a minimum combination of component failures that does not satisfy a restoration time or a necessary cost requirement, from the analysis model, and

outputting the minimum combination of component failures,

wherein, when the minimum combination of component failures is specified,

generating an estimated restoration time of the system, and

generating an estimated necessary cost requirement for restoration of the system,

wherein the analysis model is a state transition model in which a state transition occurs based on a specific probability distribution.

7. The system design method according to claim 6, further comprising:

receiving requirements for the restoration time and the necessary cost requirement for restoration, relating to failure restoration of the system, and

specifying the minimum combination of component failures that does not satisfy the restoration time or the necessary cost requirement, based on the requirements for the restoration time and the necessary cost requirement for restoration, and based on the estimated restoration time and the estimated necessary cost requirement for restoration.

8. A non-transitory computer readable medium recorded with a system design program for causing an information processing apparatus to function as:

an analysis model receiving unit that is configured to receive an analysis model that represents a failure restoration procedure for a system;

a minimum combination specifying unit that is configured to specify a minimum combination of component failures that does not satisfy a restoration time or a necessary cost requirement, from the analysis model; and

a minimum combination output unit that is configured to output the minimum combination of component failures,

wherein the minimum combination specifying unit comprises;

a restoration time estimation unit that is configured to estimate a restoration time of the system; and

a cost estimation unit that is configured to estimate a necessary cost requirement for restoration of the system,

wherein the analysis model is a state transition model in which a state transition occurs based on a specific probability distribution.

9. The non-transitory computer readable medium recorded with the system design program according to claim 8, the system design program further causing the information processing apparatus to function as:

a requirement receiving unit that is configured to receive requirements for the restoration time and the necessary cost requirement for restoration, relating to failure restoration of the system;

wherein the minimum combination specifying unit is further configured to

estimate generate an estimated restoration time of the system and an estimated necessary cost requirement for restoration of the system, based on the analysis model, and

specify the minimum combination of component failures that does not satisfy the restoration time or the necessary cost requirement, based on the requirements for restoration time and the necessary cost requirement for restoration, and based on the estimated restoration time and estimated necessary cost requirement for restoration.