US 9,003,230 B2Granted

Method and apparatus for cause analysis involving configuration changes

AssigneeHitachi, Ltd.

InventorsYutaka Kudo, Tetsuya Masuishi, Takahiro Fujita, Yoshitsugu Ono

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Abstract

A technique determines which configuration change(s) caused an application invocation failure of a computer application without the need for a knowledge database. To determine which configuration change is the most likely cause, the cause analysis program checks other computers that have experienced the same configuration changes. The cause analysis program checks and counts the application invocation results before and after each configuration change is done. If the same configuration changes are found in the other computers, the program checks whether each configuration change caused or cured the same problem in that computer. The program counts the similar cases for all of the computers. Subsequently, the program calculates the ratio of those instances involving a change from success to failure and the ratio of those instances involving a change from failure to success out of all instances for each configuration change.

Claims6

Dependent claims

A system comprising:

at least one first computer;
a second computer;
and
an analysis computer coupled to the at least one first computer and the second computer,
wherein the analysis computer is configured to:
(A) store configuration change history indicating configuration changes of the at least one first computer;
(B) store event log information indicating events related to a first object included in the at least one first computer;
(C) identify a certain configuration change of the second computer and events related to the first object in the second computer;
and
(D) perform at least one of (1) causal configuration change analysis or (2) fixing configuration change analysis as follows:
(1) as the causal configuration change analysis, calculate a rate of occurrence of a certain problem related to the first object regarding the certain configuration change, based on:
(1-1) at least one configuration change of the at least one first computer, which at least has a same configuration item as the certain configuration change, and
(1-2) at least one occurrence of the certain problem in the at least one first computer, after occurrence of the at least one configuration change of the at least one first computer;
wherein the rate of the occurrence of the certain problem is calculated based on a ratio of a number of computers in which the certain problem occurs after the configuration change to a total number of computers related to the certain configuration change;
(2) as the fixing configuration change analysis, calculate a rate of fixing the certain problem regarding the certain configuration change, based on:
(2-1) at least one configuration change of the at least one first computer, which at least has a same configuration item as the certain configuration change, and
(2-2) at least one event which is related to the first object included in the at least one first computer and indicates other than the certain problem, after occurrence of the at least one configuration change of the at least one first computer,
wherein the rate of fixing the certain problem is calculated based on a ratio of a number of computers in which the at least one event, indicating other than the certain problem, occurs after the certain configuration change to a total number of computers related to the certain configuration change;
and
(E) display the rate of occurrence of the certain problem or the rate of fixing the certain problem regarding the certain configuration change.

17 more elements

An analysis computer comprising:

a memory storing an analysis program;
and
a central processing unit executing the analysis program,
wherein the analysis program causes the analysis computer to:
(A) store configuration change history indicating configuration changes of at least one first computer;
(B) store event log information indicating events related to a first object included in the at least one first computer;
(C) identify a certain configuration change of a second computer and events related to the first object in the second computer, wherein the second computer is different from the at least one first computer;
and
(D) perform at least one of (1) casual configuration change analysis or (2) fixing configuration change analysis as follows:
(1) as the causal configuration change analysis, calculate a rate of occurrence of a certain problem related to the first object regarding the certain configuration change, based on:
(1-1) at least one configuration change of the at least one first computer, which at least has a same configuration item as the certain configuration change, and
(1-2) at least one occurrence of the certain problem in the at least one first computer, after occurrence of the at least one configuration change of the at least one first computer,
wherein the rate of the occurrence of the certain problem is calculated based on a ratio of a number of computers in which the certain problem occurs after the configuration change to a total number of computers related to the certain configuration change;
(2) as the fixing configuration change analysis, calculate a rate of fixing the certain problem regarding the certain configuration change, based on:
(2-1) at least one configuration change of the at least one first computer, which at least has a same configuration item as the certain configuration change, and
(2-2) at least one event which is related to the first object included in the at least one first computer and indicates other than the certain problem, after occurrence of the at least one configuration change of the at least one first computer,
wherein the rate of fixing the certain problem is calculated based on a ratio of a number of computers in which the at least one event, indicating other than the certain problem, occurs after the certain configuration change to a total number of computers related to the certain configuration change;
and
(E) display the rate of the occurrence of the certain problem or the rate of fixing the certain problem regarding the certain configuration change.

16 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 14/085,996Filed 21 Nov 2013 · continuation
Priority: 19 Aug 2011
Published: US 2014/0082423 A120 Mar 2014
Granted: 7 Apr 2015
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification9 codes

G06F 11/079
Error or fault processing not based on redundancy, i.e. by taking additional measures to deal with the error or fault not making use of…
G06F 11/0706
Error or fault processing not based on redundancy, i.e. by taking additional measures to deal with the error or fault not making use of…
H04L 41/0813
Configuration setting: characterised by the conditions triggering a change of settings
H04L 41/0856
By actively collecting configuration information or by backing up configuration information: by backing up or archiving configuration information

Family

PCT/IB2009/005640Parent of this continuation · filed 30 Mar 2009
Application13/213,512Parent of this continuation · filed 19 Aug 2011
US 8,024,617 B2Parent of this continuation · filed 20 Sep 2011
US 8,601,319 B2Parent of this continuation · filed 3 Dec 2013
US 2014/0082423 A1Pre-grant publication · published 20 Mar 2014
Application12/526,383Parent of this continuation
US 2011/0047414 A1Published application
US 2011/0307742 A1Published application
US 9,003,230 B2This patent

From the US filing history. Foreign family members aren’t listed.