Rules engine for troubleshooting video content delivery network

A process for a rules engine generating troubleshooting messages for a content delivery network, the rules engine operative on a stream of log events, the process having:

• a rules generation step for generating rules, each rule having a log identifier, one or more rule match conditions, each rule match condition having a field identifier and a field value to compare, each said rule also having an action to perform on a match condition of said rule;
• at least one of said rules comprising a first subset of rules verifying network connectivity, a second subset of rules verifying server configuration, said second subset of rules identifying a non-responsive server, said first subset of rules and said second subset of rules executed prior to a third subset of rules which identifies a failure which requires said first subset of rules and said second subset of rules identify correct operation prior to application of said third subset of rules;
• a log aggregation step where a series of log entries from a plurality of logs are formed into a single stream of messages ordered according to the timestamp of each log entry;
• a rules application step where said rules are applied to said single stream of messages, thereby resulting in a plurality of actions associated with said match conditions;
• a display step whereby said match conditions for each said rule are placed into a display window which includes a summary part containing said actions and a log part containing said single stream of messages.

A rules engine for a video content delivery network, said rules engine having:

• a processor;
• a non-signal computer readable medium that stores program instructions for the processor, the program instructions including:
• a plurality of rules, each said rule having:
• a log identifier,
• one or more a match conditions, each match condition including a string or substring match value;
• an action to take when said match condition is met, said action including a dependency identifier which causes subsequent rules to be executed which have a dependency which matches a particular said dependency identifier;
• at least one said rule comprising a first subset of rules verifying network connectivity, a second subset of rules verifying server configuration, said second subset of rules identifying a non-responsive server, said first subset of rules and said second subset of rules executed prior to a third subset of rules which identifies a failure which requires said first subset of rules and said second subset of rules identify correct operation prior to application of said third subset of rules;
• an action to take when said match condition is not met;
• an optional expiry timer value whereby said match condition is not tested until a time interval specified by said expiry timer value passes.