Predictive monitoring and problem identification in an information technology (IT) infrastructure

Abstract

An information technology (IT) infrastructure may be monitored, and the data thus collected may be used to infer problems and predict future conditions. In one embodiment, the present invention may include receiving a plurality of component metrics, each component metric related to a corresponding component of an (IT) infrastructure of an enterprise, each component being associated with one or more gross-level rules, and generating an indicator set by comparing each received component metric to relevant historical values of the component metric. In one embodiment, the present invention may also include determining that a gross-level rule is out of compliance, comparing the indicator set to one or more historical indicator sets to determine whether the indicator set resembles any of the one or more historical indicator sets, and performing an appropriate action based on the result of the comparison.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS [0001] This application is a Continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 10 / 112,015 filed on Mar. 29, 2002, which said application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application Nos. 60 / 281,991 and 60 / 282,363, both filed on Apr. 17, 2001, all of which are hereby incorporated by reference for all purposes.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] 1. Field of the Invention [0003] The present invention applies to the field of monitoring and maintaining an enterprise's information technology infrastructure and, in particular, to predicting performance irregularities in an enterprise's information technology infrastructure, and inferring possible problems causing the irregularities. [0004] 2. Description of the Related Art [0005] Modern businesses rely on information technology (IT) to assist in carrying out business tasks. An enterprise's IT infrastructure needs to consistently perform to specification to ensure the success of the business. The IT infr...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

"The present invention is a system for monitoring an information technology infrastructure and using the data collected to infer problems and predict future conditions. The system receives multiple component metrics related to different components of the infrastructure and compares them to historical values. If a rule is found to be out of compliance, the system compares the indicator set to historical indicator sets to determine if there is a match. Based on the match, the system takes appropriate action to address the problem. Overall, the invention helps to improve the efficiency and reliability of information technology infrastructure monitoring."

Problems solved by technology

However, some enterprises have IT infrastructures so large and complex that merely having information about individual components or subcomponents may not be very helpful.

However, if a server failure combination does cause a problem so that the enterprise's website stops functioning properly, it may not be quickly determined which server or servers of the failed servers are the critical servers causing the problem.

Furthermore, prior art monitors are incapable of predicting when problems or out-of-compliance conditions, i.e. performance irregularities may occur.

Thus, IT technicians must wait until the IT infrastructure fails to function according to specification, and then they must find the cause of the failure without assistance from the monitors, other than the raw data they provide.

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