Methods and apparatus for monitoring events and implementing corrective action in a computer system

Claim 3

The method of claim 1, wherein the step of determining whether said goal is satisfied is performed when said goal is first provided, wherein said links are established during that step.

Claim 4

The method of claim 1, including the step of inspecting said fact base for any link relating to a fact when that fact is updated, and, if such a link is found, determining whether a goal indicated by that link is still satisfied.

Claim 5

The method of claim 1, including the step of analyzing occurrence of said event to identify and establish validity of a fact related to the event.

Claim 6

The method of claim 1, including the step of testing whether an operation will enable said goal to be re-satisfied by temporarily updating said fact base to indicate consequences of effecting that operation, and determining whether said goal is satisfied by reference to said fact base in its temporarily updated state.

Claim 7

The method of claim 1, including the step of providing a description of reasons for a goal not being satisfied, if no operation can be found which will enable said goal to be re-satisfied.

Claim 8

The system management method of claim 1 wherein said event affects availability of the service.

Claim 9

System management apparatus for monitoring occurrence of and attempting to remedy effects of events affecting a service intended to be provided by a computer system made up of cooperating physical and logical entities, said apparatus comprising: a declarative model specifying requirements needing to be met for said service to be available, said requirements being set out in terms of the entities required and their inter-relationships; an inference engine for carrying out inferencing operations in relation to said declarative model; a specification of a goal to be satisfied by said system in respect of at least one aspect of said service; a fact base for holding facts relating to the system; an identification of at least one fact which relates to the system and upon which said goal depends, said fact being included in said fact base; at least one link being established by determining whether said goal is satisfied, said link indicating a dependency relationship between said goal and said at least one fact, and said link being included in said fact base; a definition of at least one event which can occur in the system and whose occurrence in the system can affect validity of said fact; and means for detecting occurrence of said event, and thereupon: determining whether said fact is valid or invalid; if said fact has become invalid, causing said inferencing engine to perform inferencing operations on the declarative model and causing reference to be made to said fact base for ascertaining whether a requirement relevant to said goal is met by the system, and determining whether said goal is still satisfied; it said goal is no longer satisfied, seeking an operation for enabling said goal to be re-satisfied; and performing said operation.

Claim 10

System management apparatus for monitoring occurrence of and attempting to remedy effects of events affecting a service intended to be provided by a computer system made up of cooperating physical and logical entities, said apparatus comprising: a declarative model specifying requirements needing to be met for said service to be available, said requirements being set out in terms of the entities required and their inter-relationships; an inference engine for carrying out inferencing operations in relation to said declarative model; a specification of a goal to be satisfied by said system in respect of at least one aspect of said service; a fact base for holding facts relating to the system; an identification of at least one fact which relates to the system and upon which said goal depends, said fact being included in said fact base; at least one link being established by determining whether said goal is satisfied, said link indicating a dependency relationship between said goal and said at least one fact, and said link being included in said fact base; a definition of at least one event which can occur in the system and whose occurrence in the system can affect validity of said fact; and means for detecting occurrence of said event, and thereupon: determining whether said fact is valid or invalid; if said fact has become invalid, causing said inferencing engine to perform inferencing operations on the declarative model and causing reference to be made to said fact base for ascertaining whether a requirement relevant to said goal is met by the system, and determining whether said goal is still satisfied; it said goal is no longer satisfied, seeking an operation for enabling said goal to be re-satisfied; and performing said operation.

Claim 11

The system management apparatus of claim 8 wherein said event affects availability of the service.

Claim 12

The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the determination of whether the goal is satisfied is performed and the links are established when the goal is first provided.

Claim 15

The system management method of claim 11 wherein the at least one event affects availability of the service.

Claim 16

The method of claim 11, wherein the determination of whether the goal is satisfied is performed and the links are established when the goal is first provided.

Claim 17

System management apparatus for monitoring occurrence of and attempting to remedy effects of events in a computer system made up of cooperating physical and logical entities, said entities being logically arranged into groups and each group including a management entity, and said events affecting a service intended to be provided by entities in a first group, said apparatus comprising: a first management entity for a respective first one of said groups; a second management entity for a respective second one of said groups different from said first group; a declarative model specifying requirements needing to be met for said service to be available, said requirements being set out in terms of the entities required and their inter-relationships; an inference engine in said second management entity for carrying out inferencing operations in relation to said declarative model; a specification of a goal to be satisfied by said system in respect of at least one aspect of said service; an identification, in said first management entity, that satisfaction of said goal requires a sub-goal to be satisfied, and that satisfaction of said sub-goal involves system entities in said second group; means for communication to said second management entity from said first management entity a requirement to determine whether said sub-goal is satisfied; a fact base storing facts relating to the second group; an identification, in said second management entity, of at least one fact which relates to said second group and upon which said sub-goal depends, said fact being included in said fact base; at least one link, said one link being established by determining, in said second management entity, whether said sub-goal is satisfied, said link indicating a dependency relationship between said sub-goal and said at least one fact, and being included in said fact base; a definition, in said second management entity, of at least one event which can occur in the second group and whose occurrence in said second group can affect validity of said fact; means in said second management entity for maintaining a watch, autonomously of said first management entity, for occurrence of said event and upon detection thereof: determining whether said face is valid or invalid; if said fact has become invalid, causing said inferencing engine to perform inferencing operations on the declarative model, ascertaining whether a requirement relevant to said sub-goal is met by making reference to said fact base to determine whether said sub-goal is still satisfied; if said sub-goal is no longer satisfied, seeking an operation which will enable said sub-goal to be re-satisfied; performing said operation if one can be found; and if no such operation can be found, communicating non-satisfaction of said sub-goal to said first management entity.

Claim 18

System management apparatus for monitoring occurrence of and attempting to remedy effects of events in a computer system made up of cooperating physical and logical entities, said entities being logically arranged into groups and each group including a management entity, and said events affecting a service intended to be provided by entities in a first group, said apparatus comprising: a first management entity for a respective first one of said groups; a second management entity for a respective second one of said groups different from said first group; a declarative model specifying requirements needing to be met for said service to be available, said requirements being set out in terms of the entities required and their inter-relationships; an inference engine in said second management entity for carrying out inferencing operations in relation to said declarative model; a specification of a goal to be satisfied by said system in respect of at least one aspect of said service; an identification, in said first management entity, that satisfaction of said goal requires a sub-goal to be satisfied, and that satisfaction of said sub-goal involves system entities in said second group; means for communication to said second management entity from said first management entity a requirement to determine whether said sub-goal is satisfied; a fact base storing facts relating to the second group; an identification, in said second management entity, of at least one fact which relates to said second group and upon which said sub-goal depends, said fact being included in said fact base; at least one link, said one link being established by determining, in said second management entity, whether said sub-goal is satisfied, said link indicating a dependency relationship between said sub-goal and said at least one fact, and being included in said fact base; a definition, in said second management entity, of at least one event which can occur in the second group and whose occurrence in said second group can affect validity of said fact; means in said second management entity for maintaining a watch, autonomously of said first management entity, for occurrence of said event and upon detection thereof: determining whether said face is valid or invalid; if said fact has become invalid, causing said inferencing engine to perform inferencing operations on the declarative model, ascertaining whether a requirement relevant to said sub-goal is met by making reference to said fact base to determine whether said sub-goal is still satisfied; if said sub-goal is no longer satisfied, seeking an operation which will enable said sub-goal to be re-satisfied; performing said operation if one can be found; and if no such operation can be found, communicating non-satisfaction of said sub-goal to said first management entity.

Claim 19

The system management apparatus of claim 14 wherein the at least one event affects availability of the service.

Claim 20

The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the determination of whether the goal is satisfied is performed and the links are established when the goal is first provided.