Collaborative collection of diagnostics data of software programs

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9606894-B2
Application number	US-201514638040-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 4, 2015
Priority date	Mar 4, 2015
Publication date	Mar 28, 2017
Grant date	Mar 28, 2017

Abstract

A computing environment includes multiple software programs running on multiple endpoint computing machines. Each software program has associated diagnostics data. Each endpoint machine is running a diagnostics agent. The diagnostics agents are in communication with each other. A monitoring server interacting with the multiple software programs detects a malfunctioning associated with a software program running on a target endpoint, and submits a request to collect the diagnostics data of the malfunctioning software program. This collecting request is submitted to a service software program different from the malfunctioning program. The service software program may be running on a service endpoint different from the target endpoint. The requested diagnostics data is retrieved by the service software program from a diagnostics agent running on the target endpoint. The monitoring server then receives the requested diagnostics data from the service software program.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A computer program product for performing diagnostics activities in a computing environment, the computing environment including a plurality of software programs running on a plurality of endpoint computing machines, the computer program product comprising a computer readable medium having program instructions embodied therewith, the program instructions executable by at least one processor to perform a method comprising:
interacting with the plurality of software programs, each of the plurality of software programs associated with diagnostics data, each of the plurality of endpoint computing machines running a diagnostics agent of a plurality of diagnostics agents, the plurality of diagnostics agents in communication with each other;
detecting a malfunctioning interaction with a malfunctioning software program of the plurality of software programs, the malfunctioning software program running on a target endpoint computing machine of the plurality of endpoint computing machines;
submitting, in response to the detecting the malfunctioning interaction, a collecting request for the diagnostics data of the malfunctioning software program to a service software program of the plurality of software programs, the service software program different from the malfunctioning software program; and
receiving the diagnostics data from the service software program, the diagnostics data retrieved by the service software program from a target diagnostics agent of the plurality of diagnostics agents running on the target endpoint computing machine.

2. The computer program product of claim 1 , wherein the service software program is running on a service endpoint computing machine of the plurality of endpoint computing machines, the service endpoint computing machine being different from the target endpoint computing machine.

3. The computer program product of claim 2 , wherein the diagnostics data is retrieved by the service software program through a service diagnostics agent of the plurality of diagnostics agents, the service diagnostics agent running on the service endpoint computing machine.

4. The computer program product of claim 3 , wherein the method performed by the at least one processor further comprises:
forwarding, by the service software program to the service diagnostics agent, the collecting request;
submitting, by the service diagnostics agent to the target diagnostics agent, a retrieving request for the diagnostics data;
receiving, by the service diagnostics agent from the target diagnostics agent, the diagnostics data; and
returning, by the service diagnostics agent to the service software program, the diagnostics data.

5. The computer program product of claim 3 , wherein the method performed by the at least one processor further comprises:
retrieving the diagnostics data by the target diagnostics agent; and
returning, by the target diagnostics agent to the service diagnostics agent, the diagnostics data.

6. The computer program product of claim 1 , wherein the method performed by the at least one processor further comprises:
deploying a new software program onto a new endpoint computing machine;
determining that none of the plurality of software programs are deployed on the new endpoint computing machine;
deploying a new diagnostics agent onto the new endpoint computing machine; and
establishing, by the new diagnostics agent, communication with the plurality of diagnostics agents.

7. The computer program product of claim 6 , wherein the method performed by the at least one processor further comprises:
sharing, by the new diagnostics agent with the plurality of diagnostics agents, one or more memory structures storing the diagnostics data of the new software program, the sharing according to configuration information associated with the new software program.

8. The computer program product of claim 6 , wherein the establishing the communication with the plurality of diagnostics agents comprises discovering the diagnostics agent of each of the plurality of diagnostics agents.

9. The computer program product of claim 1 , wherein the method performed by the at least one processor further comprises:
selecting, before the submitting the collecting request, the service software program according to one or more selection criteria.

10. A computer system for performing diagnostics activities in a computing environment, the computing environment including a plurality of software programs running on a plurality of endpoint computing machines, the computer system comprising:
a memory; and
a processor in communication with the memory, wherein the computer system is configured to perform a method, the method comprising:
interacting with the plurality of software programs, each of the plurality of software programs associated with diagnostics data, each of the plurality of endpoint computing machines running a diagnostics agent of a plurality of diagnostics agents, the plurality of diagnostics agents in communication with each other;
detecting a malfunctioning interaction with a malfunctioning software program of the plurality of software programs, the malfunctioning software program running on a target endpoint computing machine of the plurality of endpoint computing machines;
submitting, in response to the detecting the malfunctioning interaction, a collecting request for the diagnostics data of the malfunctioning software program to a service software program of the plurality of software programs, the service software program different from the malfunctioning software program; and
receiving the diagnostics data from the service software program, the diagnostics data retrieved by the service software program from a target diagnostics agent of the plurality of diagnostics agents running on the target endpoint computing machine.

11. The computer system of claim 10 , wherein the service software program is running on a service endpoint computing machine of the plurality of endpoint computing machines, the service endpoint computing machine being different from the target endpoint computing machine.

12. The computer system of claim 11 , wherein the diagnostics data is retrieved by the service software program through a service diagnostics agent of the plurality of diagnostics agents, the service diagnostics agent running on the service endpoint computing machine.

13. The computer system of claim 12 , wherein the method further comprises:
forwarding, by the service software program to the service diagnostics agent, the collecting request;
submitting, by the service diagnostics agent to the target diagnostics agent, a retrieving request for the diagnostics data;
receiving, by the service diagnostics agent from the target diagnostics agent, the diagnostics data; and
returning, by the service diagnostics agent to the service software program, the diagnostics data.

14. The computer system of claim 12 , wherein the method further comprises:
retrieving the diagnostics data by the target diagnostics agent; and
returning, by the target diagnostics agent to the service diagnostics agent, the diagnostics data.

15. The computer system of claim 10 , wherein the method further comprises:
deploying a new software program onto a new endpoint computing machine;
determining that none of the plurality of software programs are deployed on the new endpoint computing machine;
deploying a new diagnostics agent onto the new endpoint computing machine; and
establishing, by the new diagnostics agent, communication with the plurality of diagnostics agents.

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Della Corte Gianluca
• Delle Cese Giancarlo
• Sgro Antonio M
• Toro Pia
• Trovato Ignazio F

Classifications

• G06F11/302

  where the computing system component is a software system · CPC title

• G06F11/3612 Primary

  by runtime analysis (performance monitoring G06F11/3466) · CPC title

• G06F11/30

  Monitoring · CPC title

• G06F11/3476

  Data logging (G06F11/14, G06F11/2205 take precedence) · CPC title

• G06F11/3006

  where the computing system is distributed, e.g. networked systems, clusters, multiprocessor systems (multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46; allocation of resources G06F9/50) · CPC title