METHOD FOR FINDING AND FIXING STABILITY PROBLEMS IN PERSONAL COMPUTER SYSTEMS

• US 20110125716A1
• Filed: 11/25/2009
• Published: 05/26/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 11/25/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Drews, Clemens, Haber, Eben M., Smith, Mark A., Tang, John C.
• Granted Patent: US 8,407,189 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/674
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0706 the processing taking place on a specific hardware platform or in a specific software environment
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/079 Root cause analysis, i.e. error or fault diagnosis in a hardware test environment G06F11/22; in a software test environment G06F11/36
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1453 using de-duplication of the data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1469 Backup restoration techniques

Abstract

A method for assisting an administrator to identify files suspected of causing instability on a personal computer comprises periodically creating file content sharing logs concurrently with archiving files of a plurality of personal computers by de-duplicating, when a notification is received regarding instability of a personal computer, then analyzing archive file content sharing log of the personal computer made immediately after receiving the notification for unique system and program files, missing files and newly installed files to generate an instability report. A missing or corrupted file can be restored back on the unstable personal computer by performing a backup restore operation on the unstable personal computer.

Claims

1. A method for finding a cause of a stability problem in a computer connected to a computer network, said computer network additionally comprising a plurality of computers, at least one of which is designated a system administrator, said method comprising

creating a plurality of file content sharing logs for files from said computer and for files from said plurality of computers;

if a notification of an instability in said computer is received, then

selecting a candidate file content sharing log to analyze by either choosing a post-instability file content sharing log or if no post-instability file content sharing log is available then by creating a new file content sharing log and using the new file content sharing log as the candidate file content sharing log;

analyzing said candidate file content sharing log for instability of said computer; and

generating, in part by determining a uniqueness of files in said candidate file content sharing log, an instability analysis report comprising a list of suspicious files suspected to be a cause of the stability problem in the computer.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said act of analyzing comprises analyzing at least one program file.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said act of analyzing comprises analyzing at least one system file.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said act of analyzing further comprises

checking, for at least one file, if another file with a same name exists on at least one other computer from the plurality of computers.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said act of analyzing further comprises

determining, for at least one file, a number of versions of said at least one file on at least one other computer from the plurality of computers.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein said act of analyzing further comprises

deciding, for at least one file, if there is significance sharing of said at least one file with other computers from the plurality of computers.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein said act of analyzing further comprises

performing a missing file analysis to determine files missing from said computer.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein said instability analysis report comprises a name of at least one of a missing file or a suspicious file.

9. A computer program product comprising a computer readable medium including a computer program, wherein the computer program when performed on a computer connected to a computer network causes the computer to implement a method of finding a cause of a stability problem in another computer connected to the computer network;

said computer program product including;

computer usable program code for creating a plurality of file content sharing logs for files on said another computer;

computer usable program code for selecting, depending on a time of creation, a file content sharing log to analyze from said plurality of file content sharing logs;

computer usable program code for analyzing files in said selected file content sharing log for instability of said another computer;

computer usable program code for generating an instability analysis report comprising a list of suspicious files; and

computer usable program code for identifying files installed on said another computer within a predetermined time window prior to said instability problem.

10. The computer program product of claim 9, wherein said act of analyzing comprises analyzing at least one of a program file or a system file.

11. The computer program product of claim 9, wherein said act of analyzing comprises determining a hardware profile of said another computer.

12. The computer program product of claim 9 further comprising computer usable program code for

checking, for at least one file, if another file with a same name exists on at least one other computer connected to said computer network.

13. The computer program product of claim 9 further comprising computer usable program code for

determining, for at least one file, a number of versions of said at least one file on at least one other computer connected to said computer network.

14. The computer program product of claim 9 further comprising Computer usable program code for

deciding, for at least one file on said another computer, if there is significance sharing of said at least one file with other computers connected to said computer network;

said deciding responsive to a predetermined threshold of significance.

15. The computer program product of claim 9 further comprising computer usable program code for

performing a missing file analysis to determine files missing from said another computer.

16. A method of restoring stability of an unstable computer in a network having a plurality of computers, comprising

creating, at various times, a plurality of file content sharing logs for said unstable computer and said plurality of computers;

receiving a notification of instability in said unstable computer;

checking availability of an instability analysis report for said unstable computer;

if no instability analysis report is available for said unstable computer, then

generating an instability analysis report by using at least one file content sharing log for said unstable computer and a plurality of file content sharing logs from substantially all of said plurality of computers; and

performing a backup restore operation on said unstable computer.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein said backup restore operation restores at least one system file on said unstable computer;

said at least one system file selected from a de-duplicated backup archive created at a time prior to receiving said notification of instability.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein said backup restore operation restores at least one program file on said unstable computer;

said at least one program file selected from a de-duplicated backup archive created at a time after receiving said notification of instability.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein said backup restore operation deletes at least one system file on said unstable computer;

said at least one system file reported in said instability analysis report as being installed on said unstable computer within a predetermined time window prior to receiving said notification of instability.

20. The method of claim 16, wherein said backup restore operation deletes at least one program file on said unstable computer;

said at least one program file reported in said instability analysis report as being installed on said unstable computer within a predetermined time window prior to receiving said notification of instability.

21. The method of claim 16, wherein said backup restore operation is performed using a de-duplicated backup archive created before receiving said notification of instability.

22. The method of claim 16, wherein said backup restore operation is performed using a de-duplicated backup archive created after receiving said notification of instability.

23. A computer program product comprising a computer useable medium including a computer readable program, wherein the computer readable program when performed on a computer connected to a network causes the computer to implement a method of restoring stability of another computer connected to the network;

said computer program product including;

computer usable program code for periodically creating a file content sharing log for said another computer;

computer usable program code for receiving a notification of instability in said another computer;

computer usable program code for generating an instability analysis report for said another computer; and

computer usable program code for performing a backup restore operation on said another computer, said backup restore operation restoring on said another computer at least one file listed in said instability analysis report.

24. The computer program product of claim 23, wherein said backup restore operation restored at least one of a system file or a program file selected from a de-duplicated backup archive created at a time prior to receiving said notification of instability on said another computer.

25. The computer program product of claim 23, wherein said backup restore operation deletes at least one of a system file or a program file selected from a de-duplicated backup archive created at a time prior to receiving said notification of instability on said another computer.