CLOUD-BASED RECOVERY SYSTEM

• US 20180239659A1
• Filed: 02/21/2017
• Published: 08/23/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 02/21/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Nallabothula, Kiran, Symington, Dylan, Palla, Nagaraju, Alvarado, Amanda A., Stern, Ricardo Soares
• Granted Patent: US 10,338,991 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0709 in a distributed system consisting of a plurality of standalone computer nodes, e.g. clusters, client-server systems
• 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 11/0793 Remedial or corrective actions recovery from an exception in an instruction pipeline G06F9/3861; by retry G06F11/1402; for recovering from a failure of a protocol instance or entity H04L69/40
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2294 by remote test

Abstract

A computing system in a server environment receives a diagnostic data package, corresponding to a problem, from a client computing system and runs a problem-specific analyzer to generate additional problem-specific data. A root cause for the problem is identified along with a recovery action, based on the diagnostic data package and the additional problem-specific data. The root cause and recovery action are communicated to the client computing system.

Claims

1. A computing system, comprising:

a communication system that receives a diagnostic data package from a client computing system, the diagnostic data package including a problem scenario identifier and a set of problem-specific diagnostic data obtained from the client computing system;

a state-based diagnostic system that runs a problem-specific diagnostic analyzer, based on the problem scenario identifier, to obtain problem-specific diagnostic information from a remote server environment in which the computing system is deployed; and

data analysis logic that identifies an estimated root cause for the problem scenario based on aggregated data that includes the diagnostic data package and the problem-specific diagnostic information from the remote server environment obtained by running a problem-specific diagnostic analyzer, the data analysis logic identifying a suggested recovery action, based on the estimated root cause, the communication system communicating the suggested recovery action to the client computing system.

2. The computing system of claim 1 wherein the state-based diagnostic system comprises:

problem-specific diagnostic execution logic configured to access a problem-to-diagnostic analyzer mapping to identify the problem-specific diagnostic analyzer and run the problem-specific diagnostic analyzer to obtain the problem-specific diagnostic information from the remote server environment.

3. The computing system of claim 2 wherein the state-based diagnostic system comprises:

data aggregation logic configured to aggregate the diagnostic data package and the problem-specific diagnostic information from the remote server environment obtained by running a problem-specific diagnostic analyzer, to obtain the aggregated data.

4. The computing system of claim 3 wherein the data analysis logic comprises:

root cause identifier logic configured to receive the aggregated data and identify the estimated root cause of the problem scenario; and

recovery action identifier logic configured to identify the suggested recovery action based on the estimated root cause.

5. The computing system of claim 4 wherein the data analysis logic comprises:

likely success metric generator logic configured to generate a root cause confidence metric indicative of a confidence level corresponding to the estimated root cause, the communication system communicating the root cause confidence metric and the estimated root cause to the client computing system along with the suggested recovery action.

6. The computing system of claim 4 wherein the likely success metric generator logic is configured to generate a recovery action confidence metric indicative of a confidence level corresponding to the suggested recovery action, the communication system communicating the recovery action confidence metric to the client computing system along with the suggested recovery action.

7. The computing system of claim 4 and further comprising:

data storage logic configured to generate an aggregated data record corresponding to the problem scenario and including the aggregated data along with identifier data identifying a client computing system, root cause identifier information identifying the estimated root cause, recovery action identifier information identifying the suggested recovery action, suggestion status information indicative of whether the suggested recovery action was surfaced for the user and whether it was performed, and result data indicative of a result of performing the suggested recovery action.

8. The computing system of claim 7 wherein the identifier data comprises a tenant identifier and a user identifier and wherein the data storage logic is configured to store the aggregated data record, with a time indicator indicating a time corresponding to the problem scenario, so the aggregated data record can be identified based on a time when the problem scenario was detected by tenant and user.

9. A computer implemented method, comprising:

receiving, at a server environment that is remote from a client computing system, a diagnostic data package from a client computing system, the diagnostic data package including a problem scenario identifier and a set of problem-specific diagnostic data obtained from the client computing system;

running a problem-specific diagnostic analyzer, based on the problem scenario identifier, to obtain problem-specific diagnostic information from the remote server environment;

identifying an estimated root cause for the problem scenario based on aggregated data that includes the diagnostic data package and the problem-specific diagnostic information from the remote server environment obtained by running a problem-specific diagnostic analyzer;

identifying a suggested recovery action, based on the estimated root cause; and

communicating the suggested recovery action to the client computing system.

10. The computer implemented method of claim 9 wherein running a problem-specific diagnostic analyzer comprises:

accessing a problem-to-diagnostic analyzer mapping to identify the problem-specific diagnostic analyzer; and

running the problem-specific diagnostic analyzer to obtain the problem-specific diagnostic information from the remote server environment.

11. The computer implemented method system of claim 10 and further comprising:

generating the aggregated data by aggregating the diagnostic data package and the problem-specific diagnostic information from the remote server environment obtained by running a problem-specific diagnostic analyzer.

12. The computer implemented method of claim 11 wherein identifying an estimated root cause comprises:

receiving the aggregated data; and

identifying the estimated root cause of the problem scenario by accessing a mapping that correlates the problem scenario and aggregated data to the estimated root cause.

13. The computer implemented method of claim 12 and further comprising:

generating a root cause confidence metric indicative of a confidence level corresponding to the estimated root cause; and

communicating the root cause confidence metric and the estimated root cause to the client computing system along with the suggested recovery action.

14. The computer implemented method of claim 12 and further comprising:

generating a recovery action confidence metric indicative of a confidence level corresponding to the suggested recovery action; and

communicating the recovery action confidence metric to the client computing system along with the suggested recovery action.

15. The computer implemented method of claim 12 and further comprising:

generating an aggregated data record corresponding to the problem scenario and including the aggregated data along with identifier data identifying a client computing system, root cause identifier information identifying the estimated root cause, recovery action identifier information identifying the suggested recovery action, suggestion status information indicative of whether the suggested recovery action was surfaced for the user and whether it was performed, and result data indicative of a result of performing the suggested recovery action.

16. The computer implemented method of claim 15 wherein the identifier data comprises a tenant identifier and a user identifier and further comprising:

storing the aggregated data record, with a time indicator indicating a time corresponding to the problem scenario, so the aggregated data record can be identified based on when problem scenarios arose and by tenant and user.

17. A computing system, comprising:

a communication system that receives a diagnostic data package from a client computing system, the diagnostic data package including a problem scenario identifier and a set of problem-specific diagnostic data obtained from the client computing system;

problem-specific diagnostic execution logic configured to access a problem-to-diagnostic analyzer mapping, based on the problem scenario identifier, to identify a problem-specific diagnostic analyzer and run the problem-specific diagnostic analyzer to obtain problem-specific diagnostic information from a remote server environment in which the computing system is deployed;

data aggregation logic configured to aggregate the diagnostic data package and the problem-specific diagnostic information from the remote server environment obtained by running the problem-specific diagnostic analyzer, to obtain the aggregated data; and

data analysis logic that identifies an estimated root cause for the problem scenario based on aggregated data that includes the diagnostic data package and the problem-specific diagnostic information from the remote server environment obtained by running the problem-specific diagnostic analyzer, the data analysis logic identifying a suggested recovery action, based on the estimated root cause, the communication system communicating the suggested recovery action to the client computing system.

18. The computing system of claim 17 wherein the data analysis logic comprises:

root cause identifier logic configured to receive the aggregated data and identify the estimated root cause of the problem scenario;

recovery action identifier logic configured to identify the suggested recovery action based on the estimated root cause; and

likely success metric generator logic configured to generate a root cause confidence metric indicative of a confidence level corresponding to the estimated root cause, the communication system communicating the root cause confidence metric and the estimated root cause to the client computing system along with the suggested recovery action.

19. The computing system of claim 18 wherein the likely success metric generator logic is configured to generate a recovery action confidence metric indicative of a confidence level corresponding to the suggested recovery action, the communication system communicating the recovery action confidence metric to the client computing system along with the suggested recovery action.

20. The computing system of claim 19 and further comprising:

data storage logic configured to generate an aggregated data record corresponding to the problem scenario and including the aggregated data along with identifier data identifying a client computing system, root cause identifier information identifying the estimated root cause, recovery action identifier information identifying the suggested recovery action, suggestion status information indicative of whether the suggested recovery action was surfaced for the user and whether it was performed, and result data indicative of a result of performing the suggested recovery action.