Patent Grant
8150960
Computers and computing systems have affected nearly every aspect of modem living. Computers are generally involved in work, recreation, healthcare, transportation, entertainment, household management, etc. The functionality of computers has also been enhanced by their ability to be interconnected through various network connections.
Computers generally execute instructions where the instructions are able to take into account internal and external inputs. For example, a computer instruction may be executed depending on how previous instructions have been executed. Computer instructions may also be executed in a fashion that takes into account various external parameters such as user inputs, sensor inputs, data received from a networked computer, etc.
Understandably, computers may have errors occur when executing instructions. Errors may occur as the result of un-expected inputs or un-received data, bugs in the computer instructions, and even environmental factors that affect computer hardware including heat and energy radiation.
Many computer programs include functionality for generating an event. Events are indicators that an occurrence has taken place at a computer system. Events may be generated when errors occur. Additionally, events may be generated for other reasons such as to indicate that data has been received, instructions have been executed, an input has been received, etc.
Events are typically displayed by tools, such as an event viewer, associated with the application that generated them. The application can display the event to a user in a user readable format to enable the user to be alerted to the event including information regarding what caused the event. To display an event, the event is provided to the appropriate resource which combines static information and dynamic information to display the event. The static information may include, context information such as user names, description strings, category information, etc. Description strings are static descriptions that describe what happened to cause the event. The description stings are combined with dynamic insertion string variables to convey specific information. Categories may classify events. Exemplary categories are security and configuration. Pointers may be coded at design time to identify the static information. Thus, the static information is generally not included in the event, but can be retrieved based on pointers that are included in the event. When an event is displayed, the static information can be added to the event so as to provide context information about the event. The dynamic information may include information in the event including various pieces of runtime information such as the date and time at which event was generated and insertion strings for the event description.
Events may include complex or technical information that the average computer user does not know how to address. Often, a computer user will provide the event to a network administrator or other technical support to provide debugging based on the information in the event. In one example, the network administrator may examine the event on the computer on which the event was generated. This may be inconvenient in that it requires the network administrator to physically locate themselves at the machine where the event was generated and may cause strain on network administrator resources when the network administrator services a large number of individual machines or machines that are located in a geographically large area. Alternatively, the administrator could connect to each remote machine that he is managing to view the events. This also may be cumbersome and time consuming
In an alternative example, the network administrator may view the event at a network administrator computer. The network administrator can copy a log file that includes the event to the network administrator computer. However, to view the event properly, the network administrator computer needs to load the tools associated with the application program that generated the event. The may require installing the entire application program. If a network administrator services a large number of individual user computers each with different application programs, different versions of application programs, different operating system, etc., the network administrator may need to maintain a large number of program applications, versions, operating systems, etc. to service the user computers.
When events logs are forwarded to the network administrator and displayed using resources at the network administrator computer, the events lack the static context information pointed to by the pointers in the event. The context information is application specific and as such the resources for that application may not be available when the event is forwarded to the network administrator computer.
The subject matter claimed herein is not limited to embodiments that solve any disadvantages or that operate only in environments such as those described above. Rather, this background is only provided to illustrate one exemplary technology area where some embodiments described herein may be practiced.
One embodiment described herein includes a method of handling events. The method may be practiced, for example, in a networked computer system including an event handling computer connected to one or more event generating computers. The method includes an act of generating an event at an event generating computer. The event is rendered into a rendered event in an application independent format by combining static context information with dynamic event information. The rendered event is transmitted to the event handling computer, where it can be viewed by tools such as an event viewer without requiring additional resources.
Another method of handling events is illustrated which may be practiced in a networked computer environment including an event handling computer connected to one or more event generating computers. The method includes subscribing to a publication/subscription service at an event generating computer. Subscribing to a publication/subscription service includes specifying a format for events as either being rendered or raw events. Rendered events include data readable in an application independent format. Raw events include data in a format readable by an application associated with the event. The method further includes receiving an event from the event generating computer in the format specified in the act of subscribing to a publication/subscription service.
Another embodiment includes a computer system for use in a network environment including one or more interconnected computers. The network environment may include an event handling computer configured to display events received at the event handling computer. The computer system includes a processor configured to run program modules and application programs. The computer system further includes a storage medium configured to store data and program modules. The storage medium includes a publication/subscription service configured to receive subscriptions from one or more event handling computers to receive events. The storage medium further includes an application program configured to generate events. The storage medium also includes an event rendering program module configured to render events as rendered events readable in an application independent format. The rendered events include static context information and dynamic event information. The storage medium also includes a sending program module configured to send rendered events to event handling computers registered with the publication/subscription service.
This Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the Detailed Description. This Summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.
Additional features and advantages will be set forth in the description which follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by the practice of the teachings herein. Features and advantages of the invention may be realized and obtained by means of the instruments and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims. Features of the present invention will become more fully apparent from the following description and appended claims, or may be learned by the practice of the invention as set forth hereinafter.
In order to describe the manner in which the above-recited and other advantages and features can be obtained, a more particular description of the subject matter briefly described above will be rendered by reference to specific embodiments which are illustrated in the appended drawings. Understanding that these drawings depict only typical embodiments and are not therefore to be considered to be limiting in scope, embodiments will be described and explained with additional specificity and detail through the use of the accompanying drawings in which:
Embodiments herein may comprise a special purpose or general-purpose computer including various computer hardware, as discussed in greater detail below.
One embodiment described in more detail below includes an event handling computer that is designed to handle events from a number of event generating computers. The event handling computer may include a machine operated by a network administrator or other technical support individual. In this way, the network administrator or other technical support individual can service events generated at event generating machines. The event handling computer can subscribe to publication/subscription services at event generating computers that are to be serviced by the network administrator or other technical support individual at the event handling computer.
When subscribing to the publication/subscription services, the subscriptions to the publication/subscription services include filter criteria defining events to be transmitted from the event generating computer to the event handling computer. In addition, the event handling computer can specify a format for events as either being rendered or raw events. Rendered events comprise data readable in an application independent format. For example, the rendered events may be rendered text that includes both static and dynamic information, where the static information provides context information such as usernames, description strings, categories and the like, and the dynamic information provides event specific information, such as date and time at which event was generated and insertion strings for the event description strings. Raw events comprise data in a format readable by tools related to an application that generated the event and, while they may include a pointer to static information, they do not include the static information itself. Events are then received from the event generating computer when the events meet the filter criteria and are in the format specified. Rendered events can be displayed directly at the event handling computer by reference to a rendered event definition that describes how the rendered event should be displayed. The rendered event definition may be, for example, a schema defining the rendered event format. Raw events can be displayed by calling tools associated with an application that generated the event. When raw events are displayed remote from the computer system that generated the event by using tools at the event handling computer, displaying the raw event may not include some context information, such as that information described as being pointed to by the static pointer.
Referring now to
Each of the event generating computers includes software applications that generate events. Events may be generated in response to errors. Other events may be generated in response to external inputs, data being received, processes being completed, and the like. The generated events may be referred to herein as raw events. Raw events typically include a pointer to static information and a dynamic portion. For example, and referring now to
The dynamic text portion 206 includes details generated in conjunction with the happening of the event generation. Exemplary details may include, for example, the date and time at which event was generated and insertion strings for the event description strings.
Returning again to
An exemplary event subscription is illustrated below.
In one particular embodiment, Web Services may be used to define and transmit events 120 as rendered events 210. Web Services is a standardized way of integrating applications. Standardized XML documents can be used with SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol) messages and WSDL (Web Services Description Language) descriptions to integrate applications without an extensive knowledge of the applications being integrated.
In one embodiment, if an event occurs that meets the filter criteria, and the specified format is a rendered event 210, the event generating computer 102 will render the event as a rendered event 210 according to the rendered event definition. The event 120 will then be sent to the event handling computer 110. The event 120 may be included in an event package that contains one or more events based on the batching specified in the subscription request. The event package may contain a subscription ID, a locale and the content type which can be raw events or rendered events. A schema for an event package is as shown below:
An example event package is as shown below:
For example, an event indicating that the disk drive C: has read errors is represented as follows:
An example rendered event is as shown below:
Events from BMC (baseboard management controller) machines and other hardware monitoring machines can have additional custom data along with standard properties. A BMC is a specialized microcontroller embedded on the motherboard of a computer. The BMC manages the interface between system management software and computer hardware. The BMC may generate events based on conditions such as temperature, cooling fan speeds, power mode, operating system (OS) status, etc. An example event with additional hardware information is as shown below:
At the event handling computer 110, a rendered event 210 can be displayed by reference to the rendered event definition. In this way, the rendered event 210 can be displayed without the need to launch the application that generated the event or an application associated with the event or without launching tools associated with the application that generated the event.
When the specified event format is a raw event 202, and when the event 120 is received at the event handling computer 110, a raw event 202 can be displayed at the event handling computer 110 by running the application or tools associated with the event at the event handling computer 110.
Referring now to
The method 300 further includes an act of rendering the event into a rendered event in an application independent format by combining static context information with dynamic event information (act 304). As illustrated in
In one embodiment, rendering the event (act 302) may include rendering the event in a written language specified by the event handling computer. Referring now to
Returning again to
In one embodiment, the method 300 may further include an act of receiving a message from the event handling computer specifying filter criteria defining what events should be transmitted to the event handling computer. As described above, the event handling computer 110 can subscribe to a publication/subscription service 112 at an event generating computer 102 so as to receive events 120 from the event generating computer 102. In one embodiment, the subscription 122 may be a message, such as for example a SOAP xml message, that includes filter criteria specifying what events should be received.
The method may further include an act of receiving a message from the event handling computer specifying a format for events as either being rendered or raw events. Rendered events include data readable in an application independent format. Raw events include data in a format readable by an application or tools associated with the application that generated the event. An event handling computer 110 may, in one embodiment, include a specification of the format for events 120 as a part of a subscription 122 to an event generating computer 102.
In one embodiment, the method 300 may further include providing an indication to the event handling computer that the event is a rendered event. For example, in
Referring now to
In one embodiment, subscribing to a publication/subscription service (act 402) may further include specifying language criteria including an indication of a written language in which the event is to be rendered. For example, a language may be specified that corresponds to a language spoken by a network administrator at the event handling computer 110.
In one embodiment, specifying filter criteria and specifying a format for events as either being rendered or raw events includes sending an XML message to the event generating computer.
The method 400 further includes an act of receiving an event from the event generating computer in the format specified in the act of subscribing to a publication/subscription service (act 406). As illustrated in
Receiving an event (act 406) may include receiving a rendered event including a static portion and a dynamic portion where the static portion includes context information and the dynamic portion includes information generated in conjunction with generating the event. The method 400 further includes processing the rendered event by displaying the event in an application independent format. For example, the event may be displayed in a text viewer as the rendered event is sufficiently rendered so as to provide both static context information and dynamic information.
In another embodiment, receiving an event (act 406) may include receiving a raw event. In this example, the method 400 further includes processing the raw event by displaying the raw event using the application associated with the raw event. For example, an application on the event handling computer 110 may be that same as or associated with an application on the event generating computer 102 that generated the event. Thus, the event handling computer can process the event by displaying the event using an application that was designed to display the event.
Receiving an event from the event generating computer (act 406) may be accomplished by pulling events 120 from the event generating computer 102. In an alternative embodiment, the events 120 may be pushed from the event generating computer 102.
Referring now to
As shown in
In one embodiment one or more of the application programs 536 may be configured to generate events. As described above, an application program may generate events in response to errors or for other reasons. The computer system 520 further includes other program modules 537. In one embodiment, one program module is an event rendering program module. The event rendering program module is configured to render events as rendered events readable in an application independent format. The rendered events include static context information and dynamic event information as described previously herein. The computer system 520 may further include a sending program module configured to send rendered events to event handling computers registered with the publications/subscription service 112. The event rendering module and sending program module may be embodied as a single program module. Thus, as described previously herein in conjunction with the description of
In the example shown in
Embodiments may also include computer-readable media for carrying or having computer-executable instructions or data structures stored thereon. Such computer-readable media can be any available media that can be accessed by a general purpose or special purpose computer. By way of example, and not limitation, such computer-readable media can comprise RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium which can be used to carry or store desired program code means in the form of computer-executable instructions or data structures and which can be accessed by a general purpose or special purpose computer. When information is transferred or provided over a network or another communications connection (either hardwired, wireless, or a combination of hardwired or wireless) to a computer, the computer properly views the connection as a computer-readable medium. Thus, any such connection is properly termed a computer-readable medium. Combinations of the above should also be included within the scope of computer-readable media.
Computer-executable instructions comprise, for example, instructions and data which cause a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or special purpose processing device to perform a certain function or group of functions. Although the subject matter has been described in language specific to structural features and/or methodological acts, it is to be understood that the subject matter defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features or acts described above. Rather, the specific features and acts described above are disclosed as example forms of implementing the claims.
The present invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from its spirit or essential characteristics. The described embodiments are to be considered in all respects only as illustrative and not restrictive. The scope of the invention is, therefore, indicated by the appended claims rather than by the foregoing description. All changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are to be embraced within their scope.
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