Automated software maintenance based on forecast usage

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9483247-B2
Application number	US-201414165273-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 27, 2014
Priority date	Jan 27, 2014
Publication date	Nov 1, 2016
Grant date	Nov 1, 2016

Abstract

Various embodiments illustrated and described herein schedule a software upgrade as part of normal workload assignment and management. In one embodiment, a workload automation system evaluates the projected workload on a system affected by a software upgrade. Policies may determine requirements that should be met during the software upgrade, such as jobs that may or may not be postponed, preferred times of software upgrade, etc. The software upgrade may also have constraints associated with it, such as a time by which the upgrade must be completed, the order of upgrade if multiple systems are involved, etc. These constraints may be part of the policies or may be separate. Based on forecasted workload automation, policies, and any other constraints a time slot for software upgrade is selected and the upgrade is scheduled for the time slot as part of a work queue.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer implemented method comprising:
determining a software upgrade to be performed for a first system;
forecasting utilization of the first system based, at least in part, on a schedule of a plurality of jobs to be executed on the first system and historical data of the first system;
determining a first policy associated with a first job of the plurality of jobs, wherein the first job cannot be postponed based on the first policy;
determining a second policy associated with a second job of the plurality of jobs, wherein the second job can be postponed based on the second policy;
determining that the software upgrade has to be completed by a deadline;
determining that the first job prevents the software upgrade from being completed by the deadline;
in response to determining that the first job prevents the software upgrade from being completed by the deadline, assigning the first job to be executed on a second system;
determining that the second job prevents the software upgrade from being completed by the deadline;
in response to determining that the second job prevents the software upgrade from being completed by the deadline, postponing execution of the second job to after the deadline;
selecting a time before the deadline for the software upgrade based, at least in part, on the schedule of the plurality of jobs, the reassignment of execution of the first job, the postponement of execution of the second job, the deadline, and the forecasted utilization; and
scheduling the software upgrade to be executed at the selected time.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:
selecting a plurality of times for the software upgrade based, at least in part, on the schedule of the plurality of jobs, the deadline, and the forecasted utilization, wherein the plurality of times include the selected time; and
generating a report that indicates the plurality of times.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein said forecasting utilization of the first system based, at least in part, on a schedule of a plurality of jobs to be executed on the first system and historical data of the first system comprises forecasting utilization of the first system for a period of time based, at least in part, on a schedule of a plurality of jobs to be executed on the first system and historical data of the first system, wherein the period of time complies with the deadline.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising generating a report including the selected time.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising delegating selecting a time for the software upgrade to a third system.

6. A first system comprising:
a processor;
a memory device;
a computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code, the program code executable by the processor to cause the first system to:
determine a software upgrade to be performed for a second system;
forecast utilization of the second system based, at least in part, on a schedule of a plurality of jobs to be executed on the second system and historical data of the second system;
determine a first policy associated with a first job of the plurality of jobs, wherein the first job cannot be postponed based on the first policy;
determine a second policy associated with a second job of the plurality of jobs, wherein the second job can be postponed based on the second policy;
determine that the software upgrade has to be completed by a deadline;
determine whether the first job prevents the software upgrade from being completed by the deadline;
in response to a determination that the first job prevents the software upgrade from being completed by the deadline, assign the first job to be executed on a third system;
determine whether the second job prevents the software upgrade from being completed by the deadline;
in response to a determination that the second job prevents the software upgrade from being completed by the deadline, postpone execution of the second job to after the deadline;
select a time before the deadline for the software upgrade based, at least in part, on the schedule of the plurality of jobs, the reassignment of execution of the first job, the postponement of execution of the second job, the deadline, and the forecasted utilization; and
schedule the software upgrade to be executed at the selected time.

7. The first system of claim 6 , wherein the program code executable by the processor to cause the first system to forecast utilization of the second system based, at least in part, on a schedule of a plurality of jobs to be executed on the second system and historical data of the second system comprises program code executable by the processor to cause the first system to forecast utilization of the second system for a period of time based, at least in part, on a schedule of a plurality of jobs to be executed on the second system and historical data of the second system, wherein the period of time complies with the deadline.

8. The first system of claim 6 further comprising program code executable by the processor to cause the first system to delegate selecting a time for the software upgrade to the second system.

9. The system of claim 6 further comprising program code executable by the processor to cause the first system to generate a report including the selected time.

10. The first system of claim 6 further comprising program code executable by the processor to cause the first system to:
select a plurality of times for the software upgrade based, at least in part, on the schedule of the plurality of jobs, the deadline, and the forecasted utilization, wherein the plurality of times include the selected time; and
generate a report that indicates the plurality of times.

11. A computer product comprising:
a non-transitory computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code embodied therewith, the computer readable program code to:
determine a software upgrade to be performed for a first system;
forecast utilization of the first system based, at least in part, on a schedule of a plurality of jobs to be executed on the first system and historical data of the first system;
determine a first policy associated with a first job of the plurality of jobs, wherein the first job cannot be postponed based on the first policy;
determine a second policy associated with a second job of the plurality of jobs, wherein the second job can be postponed based on the second policy;
determine that the software upgrade has to be completed by a deadline;
determine whether the first job prevents the software upgrade from being completed by the deadline;
in response to a determination that the first job prevents the software upgrade from being completed by the deadline, assign the first job to be executed on a second system;
determine whether the second job prevents the software upgrade from being completed by the deadline;
in response to a determination that the second job prevents the software upgrade from being completed by the deadline, postpone execution of the second job to after the deadline;
select a time before the deadline for the software upgrade based, at least in part, on the schedule of the plurality of jobs, the reassignment of execution of the first job, the postponement of execution of the second job, the deadline, and the forecasted utilization; and
schedule the software upgrade to be executed at the selected time.

12. The computer program product of claim 11 , wherein the computer readable program code to schedule the software upgrade at the selected time comprises computer readable program code to schedule the software upgrade at the selected time as a wor

Assignees

• Ca Inc

Inventors

• Mandava Srikanth

Classifications

• G06F9/5038

  considering the execution order of a plurality of tasks, e.g. taking priority or time dependency constraints into consideration (scheduling strategies G06F9/4881 and subgroups) · CPC title

• G06F9/4856

  resumption being on a different machine, e.g. task migration, virtual machine migration (G06F9/5088 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G06F11/3419

  by assessing time · CPC title

• G06F8/65 Primary

  Updates (security arrangements therefor G06F21/57) · CPC title

• G06F9/4806

  Task transfer initiation or dispatching · CPC title