AUTOMATIC NETWORK DOMAIN DIAGNOSTIC REPAIR AND MAPPING

• US 20110131327A1
• Filed: 11/30/2009
• Published: 06/02/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 11/30/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Heublein, Christopher Todd, Bair, Courtney Seth, Jones, Kimberly A.
• Granted Patent: US 8,224,962 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/226
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/06 Management of faults, events, alarms or notifications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/14 Network analysis or design
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0811 by checking connectivity
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/4511 using domain name system [DNS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services

Abstract

An automatic network domain diagnostic, repair, and mapping tool facilitates access by a user to shared resources on a network. A user provides an address, such as a domain name system (DNS) address, of the shared resource and user identification information, such as a username and password. The provided address is checked and repaired if necessary to identify the network server having the shared resource. The identified server is checked, such as by pinging the server, to ensure that it is actually responding. The supplied user identification is checked, such as by querying a domain controller, to confirm whether the user identification corresponds to an existing account. When the checks are complete, and everything is found to be in order, the shared resource is mapped automatically for the user.

Claims

1. A method implemented in a computer network, comprising:

receiving from a user an address of a shared resource on a computer on the computer network and a user identification;

checking the address of the shared resource to identify the computer;

checking the computer to determine whether it is responding;

checking whether the user identification corresponds to an existing open account; and

when the computer is determined to be responding and the user identification corresponds to the existing open account, automatically mapping the shared resource for use by the user.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein checking the address of the shared resource includes repairing the address received from the user.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the address received from the user includes a domain name system (DNS) address and wherein checking the address includes checking and repairing the domain name system address and any suffixes.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein checking the computer includes pinging a server containing the shared resource.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein checking whether the user identification corresponds to the existing open account includes querying a network domain controller to confirm whether the user identification corresponds to the existing open account.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising generating and presenting to the user a report showing results of the check steps.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the user identification includes a password and further comprising including in the report an expiration date of the password.

8. A computer program product including a computer readable storage medium having stored thereon computer program instructions for controlling a data processing system in a computer network, comprising:

computer program instructions stored on the computer readable storage medium to receive from a user an address of a shared resource on a computer on the computer network and a user identification;

computer program instructions stored on the computer readable storage medium to check the address of the shared resource to identify the computer;

computer program instructions stored on the computer readable storage medium to check the computer to determine whether it is responding;

computer program instructions stored on the computer readable storage medium to check whether the user identification corresponds to an existing open account; and

computer program instructions stored on the computer readable storage medium to automatically map the shared resource for use by the user when the computer is determined to be responding and the user identification corresponds to the existing open account.

9. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein the computer program instructions to check the address of the shared resource includes computer program instructions stored on the computer readable storage medium to repair the address received from the user.

10. The computer program product of claim 9, wherein the address received from the user includes a domain name system (DNS) address and wherein the computer program instructions to check the address includes computer program instructions stored on the computer readable storage medium to check and repair the domain name system address and any suffixes.

11. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein the computer program instructions to check the computer includes computer program instructions stored on the computer readable storage medium to ping a server containing the shared resource.

12. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein the computer program instructions to check whether the user identification corresponds to the existing open account includes computer program instructions stored on the computer readable storage medium to query a network domain controller to confirm whether the user identification corresponds to the existing open account.

13. The computer program product of claim 8 further comprising computer program instructions stored on the computer readable storage medium to generate and present to the user a report showing results of the check steps.

14. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein the user identification includes a password and further comprising computer program instructions stored on the computer readable storage medium to include in the report an expiration date of the password.

15. An apparatus, comprising:

a processor unit connected to a network; and

a memory coupled to the processor unit and having stored therein instructions that are readable by the processor unit for controlling the processor unit to receive from a user an address of a shared resource on a computer on the network and a user identification;

check the address of the shared resource to identify the computer;

check the computer to determine whether it is responding;

check whether the user identification corresponds to an existing open account; and

automatically map the shared resource for use by the user when the computer is determined to be responding and the user identification corresponds to the existing open account

16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the instructions for controlling the processor to check the address of the shared resource include instructions for controlling the processor to repair the address received from the user.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the address received from the user includes a domain name system (DNS) address and wherein the instructions for controlling the processor to check the address includes instructions for controlling the processor to check and repair the domain name system address and any suffixes.

18. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the instructions for controlling the processor to check the computer includes instructions for controlling the computer to ping a server containing the shared resource.

19. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the instructions for controlling the processor to check whether the user identification corresponds to the existing open account includes instructions for controlling the processor to query a network domain controller to confirm whether the user identification corresponds to the existing open account.

20. The apparatus of claim 15 further comprising instructions for controlling the processor to generate and present to the user a report showing results of the check steps.