Computer system monitoring based on entity relationships

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2017237602-A1
Application number	US-201615045114-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Feb 16, 2016
Priority date	Feb 16, 2016
Publication date	Aug 17, 2017
Grant date	—

Abstract

Monitoring the health of a computer system based on the relationships of entities, and the intelligent presentation of alerts based thereon. A rule-based engine may perform the monitoring and alerting. Problem(s) and problem entity(s) within a computing system are identified during the monitoring. Relationship(s) of the problem entity(s) with other entities in the computer system are then identified. A relationship type for each of the identified relationship(s) is determined. A combination of the identified problem(s), the identified problem entity(s), and the determined relationship type(s) are analyzed to determine root cause(s) of the problem(s). Based on the root cause(s), an alert is presented to a user comprising one or more actions the user can take regarding one or more user-visible entities of the computer system to fix the identified problem(s). The alerts may be fewer in number and more intuitive due to the analysis.

First claim

What is claimed:

1 . A computer system for monitoring the health of the computer system based on entity relationships, comprising:
one or more processors; and one or more storage devices having stored thereon computer-executable instructions that are executable by the one or more processors, and that configure the system to monitor the health of the computer system based on entity relationships, including computer-executable instructions that configure the computer system to perform at least the following:
identify one or more problems within the computer system and one or more entities within the computer system that are causing the one or more problems;
identify one or more relationships that the one or more problem entities have with other entities in the computer system;
determine a relationship type for each of at least one identified relationship;
analyze a combination of the one or more identified problems, the one or more identified problem entities, and the determined relationship type to thereby determine one or more root causes of the one or more problems; and
based on the one or more root causes, present to a user an alert comprising one or more actions the user can take with respect to one or more user-visible entities of the computer system, to thereby fix the one or more identified problems.

2 . The computer system of claim 1 , wherein a rules-based engine is used to determine the one or more root causes.

3 . The computer system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more actions presented to the user are based on a priority of what actions are most urgent.

4 . The computer system of claim 1 , wherein a determination that the one or more user-visible entities are visible is made based on an identification of the user.

5 . The computer system of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the one or more root causes of the one or more problems is fixed by the computer system rather than presenting an alert to the user.

6 . The computer system of claim 1 , wherein the determined relationship type comprises an entity contained within a different entity.

7 . The computer system of claim 1 , wherein one of the one or more identified problems is loss of redundancy.

8 . The computer system of claim 1 , wherein a filtering value is assigned to each identified problem entity based on one or more determined relationship types associated with each identified problem entity.

9 . A method, implemented at a computer system that includes one or more processors, for monitoring the health of the computer system based on entity relationships, the method comprising:
identifying one or more problems within the computer system and one or more entities within the computer system that are causing the one or more problems; identifying one or more relationships that the one or more problem entities have with other entities in the computer system; determining a relationship type for each of at least one identified relationship; analyzing a combination of the one or more identified problems, the one or more identified problem entities, and the determined relationship type to thereby determine one or more root causes of the one or more problems; and based on the one or more root causes, presenting to a user an alert comprising one or more actions the user can take with respect to one or more user-visible entities of the computer system, to thereby fix the one or more identified problems.

10 . The method of claim 9 , the method being performed by a rules-based engine that is used to determine the one or more root causes.

11 . The method of claim 10 , the method further comprising:
the rules-based engine filtering out at least one of the one or more root causes of the one or more problems rather than presenting an alert to the user.

12 . The method of claim 9 , the one or more actions presented to the user are based on a priority of what actions are most urgent.

13 . The method of claim 9 , the method further comprising the following prior to the presentation of the alert to the user:
identifying the user; and based on the identification of the user, determining that the one or more user-visible entities are visible.

14 . The method of claim 9 , wherein the determined relationship type comprises an entity that is composed of at least one component entity.

15 . The method of claim 9 , wherein one of the one or more identified problems is a disk failure.

16 . A computer system for monitoring the health of the computer system based on entity relationships, comprising:
one or more processors; and one or more storage devices having stored thereon computer-executable instructions that are executable by the one or more processors to configure the system to monitor the health of the computer system based on entity relationships by instantiating and/or operating the following:
a rules-based engine that analyzes the health of each entity of the computer system, as well as the overall health of the entire system, including at least the following:
identify one or more problems within the computer system and one or more entities within the computer system that are causing the one or more problems;
identify one or more relationships that the one or more problem entities have with other entities in the computer system;
determine a relationship type for each of at least one identified relationship;
analyze a combination of the one or more identified problems, the one or more identified problem entities, and the determined relationship type to thereby determine one or more root causes of the one or more problems; and
based on the one or more root causes, present to a user an alert comprising one or more actions the user can take with respect to one or more user-visible entities of the computer system, to thereby fix the one or more identified problems.

17 . The computer system of claim 16 , wherein the one or more actions presented to the user are based on a priority of what actions are most urgent.

18 . The computer system of claim 16 , wherein a determination as to what entities are user-visible entities is made based on an identification of the user.

19 . The computer system of claim 16 , wherein at least one of the one or more root causes of the one or more problems is fixed by the computer system rather than presenting an alert to the user.

20 . The computer system of claim 16 , wherein the determined relationship type comprises an entity that is loosely related to one or more different entities.

Assignees

• Microsoft Technology Licensing Llc

Inventors

• DAMATO Andrea
• Go Alexander Say
• Macgregor Donald
• Barbee Galen Dean
• Davidson Noah Aaron Cedar
• Maeso Gregorio

Classifications

• H04L41/065 Primary

  involving logical or physical relationship, e.g. grouping and hierarchies · CPC title

• H04L41/0654

  using network fault recovery (ring fault isolation or reconfiguration in loop networks without recovery actions by a network management system H04L12/437) · CPC title

• H04L67/10

  in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network (software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46) · CPC title

• H04L43/0817

  by checking functioning · CPC title

• H04L41/0883 Primary

  Semiautomatic configuration, e.g. proposals from system · CPC title