System and method for determining fault isolation in an enterprise computing system

• US 7,340,649 B2
• Filed: 03/20/2003
• Issued: 03/04/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 03/20/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dell Products LP (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Dell Products LP (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Inventors: Cox, Robert V., Heracleous, Stephanos S., Angamuthu, Karthikeyan
• Primary Examiner(s): Beausoliel; Robert
• Assistant Examiner(s): GUYTON, PHILIP A
• Application Number:
  US10/394,348
• Publication Number:
  US 20040187048A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,811 Days
• Field of Search: 714/26, 714/27
• US Class Current: 714/27
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0727 in a storage system, e.g. in a DASD or network based storage system drivers for digital recording or reproducing units G06F3/06; circuits for error detection or correction within digital recording or reproducing units G11B20/18; for distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS], H04L67/1097
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0748 in a remote unit communicating with a single-box computer node experiencing an error/fault remote testing G06F11/2294
• 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: H04L 41/0645 by additionally acting on or stimulating the network after receiving notifications

Abstract

A system and method for determining fault isolation in an enterprise computing system is disclosed. A method includes automatically troubleshooting errors in an enterprise computing system that receives at an analyzer engine a status notification from a first component. In response to receiving the status notification, the method automatically selects a first analyzer policy file from a set of analyzer policy files based on the status notification received at the analyzer engine, wherein the analyzer policy file contains troubleshooting logic for determining root causes for errors. The method automatically attempts to communicate with a second component based on the troubleshooting logic within the first analyzer policy file. The method automatically determines a root cause for the status notification based on the troubleshooting logic in the selected analyzer policy file and based on information obtained in connection with the attempt to communicate with the second component.

Claims

1. A method for automatically troubleshooting errors in an enterprise computing system, the method comprising:

receiving at an analyzer engine a status notification from a first component within the enterprise computing system;

in response to receiving the status notification, automatically selecting a first analyzer policy file from a set of analyzer policy files based on the status notification received, wherein the analyzer policy files contain troubleshooting logic for determining root causes for errors in the enterprise computing system;

wherein the first analyzer policy file has a predefined protocol identifying a set of analyzer modules usable by the first analyzer policy file for determining the cause of the status notification;

automatically attempting to communicate with a second component of the enterprise computing system based on the troubleshooting logic within the first analyzer policy file;

automatically determining a root cause for the status notification based on the troubleshooting logic in the selected analyzer policy file and based on information obtained in connection with the attempt to communicate with the second component of the enterprise computing system;

determining a configuration change to the enterprise computing system; and

in response to determining the configuration change to the enterprise computing system, automatically modifying the predefined protocol for the first analyzer policy file to modify the set of analyzer modules usable by the first analyzer policy file.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first component and the second component comprise the same component within the enterprise computing system.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the status notification comprises simple network management protocol (SNMP) traps.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the status notification comprises network (NT) events.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing output for a user, wherein the output identifies the root cause for the status notification.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein providing output comprises automatically causing the enterprise system to notify an administrator in response to determining the root cause.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising based on the root cause for the status notification, identifying corrective steps for the enterprise computing system.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising automatically selecting a second analyzer policy file from the set of analyzer policy files based on information obtained in connection with the attempt to communicate with the second component and the status notification until a root cause is determined.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein determining a configuration change to the enterprise computing system comprises detecting a new computer component or utility.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein automatically modifying the first analyzer policy file comprises developing or reconfiguring the first analyzer policy file.

11. A computer program product stored on a computer-readable medium for use in an enterprise computing system, comprising:

an analyzer module selected from a set of analyzer modules, each analyzer module containing a diagnosis protocol operable to gather information from a computer component for determining a root cause of a fault, wherein the diagnosis protocol provides instructions to test one or more computer components;

an analyzer policy file selected from a set of analyzer policy files, the analyzer policy file containing troubleshooting logic for selecting the analyzer module;

an analyzer engine operable to utilize a status notification for selecting the analyzer policy file, such that the analyzer engine utilizes the information from the computer component to either return a determination of the root cause of the fault or to select another analyzer policy file;

an analysis results file automatically generated by the analyzer engine, the analysis results file operable to identify the root cause of the fault and provide one or more corrective steps; and

an updating engine operable to determine a configuration change to the enterprise computing system, and in response to determining the configuration change to the enterprise computing system, automatically modify the troubleshooting logic for the selected analyzer policy file.

12. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein the analyzer modules comprises common analyzer modules and component analyzer modules.

13. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein the analyzer policy file comprises an object-based file including an extensible markup language (XML) metadata interchange format.

14. The computer program product of claim 11, further comprising an output device operable to display the analysis results file to a user.

15. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein determining a configuration change to the enterprise computing system comprises detecting a new computer component or utility.