Information handling system and method for diagnosis, and repair, using rules collected by forward chaining

• US 7,890,447 B2
• Filed: 10/31/2007
• Issued: 02/15/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 10/31/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dell Products LP (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Dell Products LP (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Inventors: Abels, Timothy E., Janosky, Brian
• Primary Examiner(s): VINCENT, DAVID ROBERT
• Application Number:
  US11/931,012
• Publication Number:
  US 20090112786A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,203 Days
• Field of Search: 706 45- 47, 706/62
• US Class Current: 706/47
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 5/025 Extracting rules from data

Abstract

In an information handling system (IHS), IHS problem diagnosis and repair includes receiving configuration items of the IHS from a configuration management database, collecting a set of rules and corresponding actions relating to the configuration items of the IHS, the set of rules and corresponding actions collected from an expert system, collecting a prioritization of the set of rules and corresponding actions, filtering the set of rules and corresponding actions per the prioritization and based on a plurality of preferences, and sending the set of rules and corresponding actions to the IHS.

Claims

1. A method for information handling system (IHS) problem diagnosis and repair, the method comprising:

receiving configuration items for a user IHS from a configuration management database that tracks and records the configuration items for the user IHS, details about attributes of the configuration items for the user IHS, and relationships between the configuration items for the user IHS;

collecting a set of rules and corresponding actions from an expert system, wherein the set of rules and corresponding actions include all of a plurality of rules and corresponding actions in the expert system for an IHS having the received configuration items;

prioritizing the set of rules and corresponding actions by assigning a higher priority to rules and corresponding actions that have been found to be more successful in diagnosing and repairing problems in an IHS having the received configuration items to create a set of prioritized rules and corresponding actions;

filtering the set of prioritized rules and corresponding actions to create a set of filtered, prioritized rules and corresponding actions that includes a first subset of the prioritized rules and corresponding actions that are more commonly used with an IHS having the received configuration items relative to a second subset of the prioritized rules and corresponding actions that are not included in the set of filtered, prioritized rules and corresponding actions; and

sending the set of filtered, prioritized rules and corresponding actions to the user IHS, wherein the user IHS is operable to use the set of filtered, prioritized rules and corresponding actions locally to diagnose and repair problems with the user IHS.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

grouping the configuration items for the user IHS into a standard configuration group.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of rules and corresponding actions are collected using forward chaining.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the configuration items include hardware information and software information for the user IHS.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the configurations items include documentation information and personnel information for the user IHS.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

filtering the set of prioritized rules and corresponding actions using a cache limit.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

compressing and encrypting the set of filtered, prioritized rules and corresponding actions before sending the set of filtered, prioritized rules and corresponding actions to the user IHS.

8. A system for information handling system (IHS) problem diagnosis and repair, the system comprising at least one subsystem to:

receive configuration items for a user IHS from a configuration management database that tracks and records the configuration items for the user IHS, details about attributes of the configuration items for the user IHS, and relationships between the configuration items for the user IHS;

collect a set of rules and corresponding actions from an expert system, wherein the set of rules and corresponding actions include all of a plurality of rules and corresponding actions in the expert system for an IHS having the received configuration items;

prioritize the set of rules and corresponding actions by assigning a higher priority to rules and corresponding actions that have been found to be more successful in diagnosing and repairing problems in an IHS having the received configuration items to create a set of prioritized rules and corresponding actions;

filter the set of prioritized rules and corresponding actions to create a set of filtered, prioritized rules and corresponding actions that includes a first subset of the prioritized rules and corresponding actions that are more commonly used with an IHS having the received configuration items relative to a second subset of the prioritized rules and corresponding actions that are not included in the set of filtered, prioritized rules and corresponding actions; and

send the set of filtered, prioritized rules and corresponding actions to the user IHS, wherein the user IHS is operable to use the set of filtered, prioritized rules and corresponding actions locally to diagnose and repair problems with the user IHS.

9. The system of claim 8, further comprising at least one subsystem to:

group the configuration items for the user IHS into a standard configuration group.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the set of rules and corresponding actions are collected using forward chaining.

11. The system of claim 8, wherein the configuration items include hardware information and software information for the user IHS.

12. The system of claim 8, wherein the configuration items include documentation information and personnel information for the user IHS.

13. The system of claim 8, further comprising at least one subsystem to:

filter the set of prioritized rules and corresponding actions using a cache limit.

14. The system of claim 8, further comprising at least one subsystem to:

compress and encrypt the set of filtered, prioritized rules and corresponding actions before sending the set of filtered, prioritized rules and corresponding actions to the user IHS.

15. An information handling system (IHS) comprising:

a processor for processing instructions;

a network interface; and

a subsystem for connecting to a user IHS and an expert system via the network interface and using the processor to allow the user IHS to diagnose and repair issues with the user IHS, wherein the subsystem is operable to;

receive configuration items for the user IHS from a configuration management database that tracks and records the configuration items for the user IHS, details about attributes of the configuration items for the user IHS, and relationships between the configuration items for the user IHS;

collect the set of rules and corresponding actions from the expert system, wherein the set of rules and corresponding actions include all of a plurality of rules and corresponding actions in the expert system for an IHS having the received configuration items;

prioritize the set of rules and corresponding actions by assigning a higher priority to rules and corresponding actions that have been found to be more successful in diagnosing and repairing problems in an IHS having the received configuration items to create a set of prioritized rules and corresponding actions; and

filter the set of rules and corresponding actions to create a set of filtered, prioritized rules and corresponding actions that includes a first subset of the prioritized rules and corresponding actions that are more commonly used with an IHS having the received configuration items relative to a second subset of the prioritized rules and corresponding actions that are not included in the set of filtered, prioritized rules and corresponding actions; and

send the set of filtered, prioritized rules and corresponding actions to the user IHS, wherein the user IHS is operable to use the set of filtered, prioritized rules and corresponding actions locally to diagnose and repair problems with the user IHS.

16. The IHS of claim 15, wherein the configuration items include hardware information and software information for the user IHS.

17. The IHS of claim 15, wherein the configuration items include documentation information and personnel information for the user IHS.

18. The IHS of claim 15, further comprising a subsystem to:

compress and encrypt the set of filtered, prioritized rules and corresponding actions before sending the set of filtered, prioritized rules and corresponding actions to the user IHS.

19. The IHS of claim 15, wherein the set of rules and corresponding actions are collected using forward chaining.

20. The IHS of claim 15, further comprising a subsystem to:

filter the set of prioritized rules and corresponding actions using a cache limit.