Call-stack pattern matching for problem resolution within software

Abstract

A method of diagnosing a fault condition within software can include, responsive to a fault condition within a computing system belonging to an organization, automatically sending call-stack information for the fault condition to a first server within the organization. Within the first server, the call-stack information for the fault condition can be compared with call-stack information from prior fault conditions that occurred within the organization to determine whether the call-stack information for the fault condition matches call-stack information from one of the prior fault conditions. The method further can include sending the call-stack information to a second server for comparison with call-stack information from prior fault conditions that occurred within at least one different organization if the call-stack information for the fault condition does not match.

Description

BACKGROUND [0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to fault detection and resolution in software-based systems. [0003] 2. Description of the Related Art [0004] As the complexity of software-based systems increases, so too does the difficulty of identifying the source of faults, referred to as “crashes” or other anomalous behavior, within such systems. Often, when a particular software application is used across an entire organization, the same fault within the software application may be experienced by more than one user. This can lead to a significant amount of wasted time as users cope with “crashing” software applications. The possibility of data loss or corruption also exists. Presently, however, there is no reliable way of correlating software faults across an organization or to diagnose and solve the problem. [0005] One attempted solution has been to rely upon the computer operating system to collect system and / or application execution information...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

As the complexity of software-based systems increases, so too does the difficulty of identifying the source of faults, referred to as “crashes” or other anomalous behavior, within such systems.

Often, when a particular software application is used across an entire organization, the same fault within the software application may be experienced by more than one user.

This can lead to a significant amount of wasted time as users cope with “crashing” software applications.

The possibility of data loss or corruption also exists.

Presently, however, there is no reliable way of correlating software faults across an organization or to diagnose and solve the problem.

This technique, however, does have disadvantages.

One disadvantage is that whether information about the software fault is actually sent depends upon the user's decision to follow through with sending the information.

If the user chooses not to send the information, the fault goes unreported.

If the problem is widespread within a large organization, and users continually choose not to report the fault, the problem may go unnoticed for a significant period of time.

As noted, this can lead to wasted time as well as possible data loss.

Another disadvantage is that even if a user chooses to send the fault information, it is provided to the operating system manufacturer.

Both parties are likely to remain unaware of the frequency of any recurring software problems.

As such, the problem can go unnoticed by system administrators of the organization experiencing the fault resulting in loss of productivity.

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