Artificial intelligence for infrastructure management

• US 9,886,955 B1
• Filed: 06/29/2016
• Issued: 02/06/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 06/29/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Emc IP Holding Company LLC (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Emc IP Holding Company LLC (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Inventors: Tetreault, Brian R., Ahigian, Megan R., O'Reilly, Jr., Daniel K., Burns, Michael J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Han, Qi
• Application Number:
  US15/196,592
• Time in Patent Office: 587 Days
• Field of Search: 704235, 704231, 704 1, 704 9, 704 10, 704251, 704257
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/90332 Natural language query formulation or dialogue systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/90335 Query processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/279 Recognition of textual entities
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/26 Speech to text systems G10L15/08 takes precedence

Abstract

Described are techniques for performing system management such as a system including one or more data storage systems or appliances. User input may be received by a chat processing engine. The user input may be a natural language input to perform a request. The user input may be received from a management application used to perform data storage management. The chat processing engine may perform first processing of the user input to determine a response to the request. The response may be sent to the management application. The natural language input from a user may be in the form of text or voice that is converted to text for processing by the chat processing engine.

Claims

1. A method of performing system management comprising:

receiving, using a processor, first user input by a chat processing engine, wherein said first user input is a natural language input to perform a request and is received from a user interface of a management application used to perform data storage management of a data storage system, wherein said first user input includes a first command and is received from a first user, and wherein first context information for the first user includes different command options specified by the first user in connection with prior interactions in which the first user previously issued the first command;

performing, by the chat processing engine and using a processor, first processing of the first user input to determine a response to the request;

sending, using a processor, the response to the user interface of the management application, wherein said first user input and the response are transmitted over a data storage system management control path that is used for data storage system management and control commands, wherein said data storage system management control path is separate from a data path over which I/O operations are issued to access data stored on the data storage system; and

performing second processing to service the request in accordance with the first context information for the first user, wherein the first user input omits a first option for the first command and said second processing includes determining a first value for the first option for the first command, wherein said first value is included in the first context information for the first user, the first value being previously specified by the first user in connection with the prior interactions in which the first user previously specified the first command.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first user input includes any of a data storage management command or a data storage management query.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving first voice input; and

performing voice to text conversion of the first voice input and generating the first user input comprising text of a natural language.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said natural language input includes text having a structure based on rules of a written or spoken human language.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said first processing includes:

determining whether the first user input matches a predetermined pattern associated with at least one command, query, operation or task; and

responsive to determining the first user input matches the predetermined pattern, determining that the first user input is requesting to perform the at least one command, query, operation or task associated with the predetermined pattern.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the predetermined pattern is a first of a plurality of predetermined patterns associated with multiple candidate actions including any of:

multiple commands, multiple queries, multiple operations and multiple tasks, and the method includes the user selecting one of the multiple candidate actions to be taken in connection with servicing the request.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein each of the plurality of predetermined patterns includes any of:

one or more predetermined keywords, one or more phrases, and one or more punctuation marks.

8. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

forming the response, wherein the response includes a natural language response asking for confirmation that the first user input is requesting to perform the at least one command, query, operation or task associated with the predetermined pattern.

9. The method of claim 5, wherein the first command is the at least one command, query, operation or task associated with the predetermined pattern.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the first user input is received at a first data storage component that is any of the data storage system and a data storage appliance having storage managed using the management application, and wherein said second processing includes performing any one or more of:

performing a first call in accordance with a first application programming interface to obtain first information internal within the first data storage component, said first information used in connection with servicing the request;

performing a second call in accordance with a second application programming interface to obtain second information from another component that is external from the first data storage component and included in a same local area network as the first data storage component, said second information used in connection with servicing the request;

obtaining third information from a system database, said third information including any of;

current data storage system configuration information describing physical and logical entities in a data storage network comprising the first data storage component, and historical information denoting previously observed state information of components of a data storage network comprising the first data storage component, said third information used in connection with servicing the request; and

obtaining fourth information over an available public network, said fourth information used in connection with servicing the request.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the second processing includes:

determining any of a category and an attribute associated with the request; and

querying a chat processing engine database for an existing context that matches the request, wherein the existing context is the first context for the first user.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the existing context includes information for one or more previous sessions of the first user with the management application regarding any of a same command, same query, same operation, same task, same category, and same attribute of the request.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein said first processing includes performing natural language processing of the first user input, said natural language processing comprising:

parsing the first user input and determining one or more nouns and one or more verbs;

determining, based on the parsing, at least one command, query, operation or task being requested by the first user input; and

performing the second processing to service the request in accordance with the at least one command, query, operation or task requested by the first user input.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the first user input is received at a first data storage component that is any of a data storage system and a data storage appliance having storage managed using the management application, and wherein said second processing includes performing any one or more of:

performing a first call in accordance with a first application programming interface to obtain first information internal within the first data storage component, said first information used in connection with servicing the request;

performing a second call in accordance with a second application programming interface to obtain second information from another component that is external from the first data storage component and included in a same local area network as the first data storage component, said second information used in connection with servicing the request;

obtaining third information from a system database, said third information including any of;

current data storage system configuration information describing physical and logical entities in a data storage network comprising the first data storage component, and historical information denoting previously observed state information of components of a data storage network comprising the first data storage component, said third information used in connection with servicing the request; and

obtaining fourth information over an available public network, said fourth information used in connection with servicing the request.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the second processing includes:

determining any of a category and an attribute associated with the request; and

querying a chat processing engine database for an existing context that matches the request, wherein the existing context is the first context for the first user.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the existing context includes information for one or more previous sessions of the first user with the management application regarding any of a same command, same query, same operation, same task, same category, and same attribute of the request.

17. A system comprising:

a client system including a data storage system management application executing on a processor of the client system; and

a data storage system component including one or more processors and a memory, wherein the memory include code that, when executed, performs a method of system management comprising;

receiving, using a processor, first user input by a chat processing engine, wherein said first user input is a natural language input to perform a request and is received from a user interface of a management application used to perform data storage management of the data storage system component, wherein said first user input includes a first command and is received from a first user, and wherein first context information for the first user includes different command options specified by the first user in connection with prior interactions in which the first user previously issued the first command;

performing, by the chat processing engine and using a processor, first processing of the first user input to determine a response to the request;

sending, using a processor, the response to the user interface of the management application, wherein said first user input and the response are transmitted over a data storage system management control path that is used for data storage system management and control commands, wherein said data storage system management control path is separate from a data path over which I/O operations are issued to access data stored on the data storage system component; and

performing second processing to service the request in accordance with the first context information for the first user, wherein the first user input omits a first option for the first command and said second processing includes determining a first value for the first option for the first command, wherein said first value is included in the first context information for the first user, the first value being previously specified by the first user in connection with the prior interactions in which the first user previously specified the first command.

18. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising code stored thereon that, when executed by a processor, performs a method of system management comprising:

receiving, using a processor, first user input by a chat processing engine, wherein said first user input is a natural language input to perform a request and is received from a user interface of a management application used to perform data storage management of a data storage system, wherein said first user input includes a first command and is received from a first user, and wherein first context information for the first user includes different command options specified by the first user in connection with prior interactions in which the first user previously issued the first command;

performing, by the chat processing engine and using a processor, first processing of the first user input to determine a response to the request;

sending, using a processor, the response to the user interface of the management application, wherein said first user input and the response are transmitted over a data storage system management control path that is used for data storage system management and control commands, wherein said data storage system management control path is separate from a data path over which I/O operations are issued to access data stored on the data storage system; and

performing second processing to service the request in accordance with the first context information for the first user, wherein the first user input omits a first option for the first command and said second processing includes determining a first value for the first option for the first command, wherein said first value is included in the first context information for the first user, the first value being previously specified by the first user in connection with the prior interactions in which the first user previously specified the first command.