Method and device for predicting faults in an IT system

A method for predicting faults in a distributed heterogeneous IT system, the method comprising:

• creating a shadow snapshot of said system, said shadow snapshot comprising one local checkpoint in an explorer node and at least one client checkpoint in at least one remote client node, each checkpoint reflecting the state of the corresponding node;
• running a path exploration engine based on said local checkpoint of said shadow snapshot in order to predict faults, wherein a plurality of possible inputs are used by said exploration engine in order to explore different paths;
• wherein path exploration comprises sending messages from said explorer node to at least one receiving client node, generating a new predicted state in said client node based on said message and on a client checkpoint of said client node, and sending a reply message from said client node to said explorer nodes, wherein said reply message depends on said predicted state and does not reveal the client checkpoint of said client node.

An appliance comprising:

• a memory space that stores a local checkpoint taken from the current state of the appliance;
• an interface for receiving messages from other remote client nodes of a distributed heterogeneous IT system;
• a path exploration engine arranged for predicting the future state of said appliance, taking into account said local checkpoint and said messages, wherein the received messages do not reveal local checkpoints of said other remote client nodes.

A method for predicting faults in a distributed heterogeneous IT system, the method comprising:

• creating a local checkpoint in an explorer node of said system, said local checkpoint reflecting the state of said explorer node;
• running a path exploration engine on said local checkpoint in order to predict faults, wherein a plurality of possible inputs are used by said exploration engine in order to explore different paths, wherein path exploration comprises sending messages to remote client nodes, and receiving messages from said remote clients, wherein said received messages do not reveal checkpoints of said remote client nodes, so as to avoid leakage of any confidential information,
• wherein said path exploration is executed and communicates with the remote client nodes in isolation from the running environment of said explorer node, so that the fault prediction does not impact the running operation of said explorer node.