Zombie Server Detection via Productivity Utilization Segmentation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current methods for identifying zombie servers, which are no longer used but still maintained, face challenges due to low processor utilization differences between active and inactive servers, as management services can contribute to processor usage, making it difficult to distinguish between productive and unused servers.
Innovation Solution
The system detects zombie servers by labeling processes as utility or productivity software, calculating their utilization, and comparing the difference in utilization to determine if a server is idle, using a threshold to identify zombie servers based on repetitive calculations and network traffic analysis.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If processor utilization tracking is used to identify zombie servers, then identification simplicity is improved, but measurement precision deteriorates because management services contribute to processor utilization making it difficult to distinguish between productive and unused servers
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments processor utilization into two distinct categories: management service utilization and productivity application utilization. By separately tracking and analyzing these segmented metrics, the system can identify zombie servers based on productivity application usage while accounting for management service overhead, thereby resolving the measurement precision issue without sacrificing identification simplicity
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary classification mechanism that categorizes processes as either management services or productivity applications. This intermediary layer allows the system to filter out management service contributions when determining zombie server status, improving detection accuracy while maintaining operational simplicity
2Measurement precision
If processor utilization threshold is set low to identify zombie servers, then detection sensitivity is improved, but reliability deteriorates because non-zombie servers used for productivity applications also have low utilization
Solution Approach 1:
By segmenting utilization metrics into management services and productivity applications, the patent enables selective threshold application. Low thresholds can be applied specifically to productivity application utilization without being confounded by management service overhead, improving detection sensitivity while maintaining reliability by preventing false positives from management service activity
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies different quality standards and threshold criteria to different utilization segments. Productivity application utilization is evaluated with sensitivity-oriented thresholds, while management service utilization is evaluated separately, allowing local optimization of detection parameters for each category and reducing false positives
Data Source
AI summary
A zombie server can be detected. Detecting a zombie server can include receiving, at a server, network traffic and calculating a percentage of the network traffic as being productivity software layer 7 protocols every first time interval. Detecting a zombie server can also include marking the server as a zombie server based on the percentage every second time interval and processing the network traffic at the server to perform a number of actions by the productivity software.