Constructing and utilizing a knowledge graph for information technology infrastructure

Abstract

A system operation management server computer (server) and related methods are disclosed. The server is programmed to learn the features of and relations among computer devices from various types of data related to the computer devices and build a knowledge graph (KG) to represent IT infrastructure. The server is also programmed to manage a collection of issue resolution rules each mapping the states of certain computer devices that characterize a known issue and a known resolution of the known issue. In response to receiving a support bundle that contains data related to a target computer system that has encountered an unknown issue the server is programmed to determine which issue resolution rules are applicable to the support bundle based on the KG and transmit a recommendation for resolving the unknown issue.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A computer-implemented method of resolving infrastructure issues, comprising:
 receiving, by a processor, device data regarding a hierarchy of device classes;   creating, by the processor, a knowledge graph having a set of nodes and a set of edges based on the device data,   each of the set of nodes representing one of the hierarchy of device classes,   each of the set of edges connecting two nodes of the set of nodes representing one of a plurality of types of relations, including a first type indicating a coupling between two device classes represented by the two nodes, a second type indicating that the two device classes are substitutes for each other, and a third type indicating that one of the two device classes as a child class belongs to the other of the two device classes as a parent class,   at least one of the set of nodes or one of the set of edges having one or more attributes;   obtaining rule data related to a plurality of issue resolution rules,   each of the plurality of issue resolution rules mapping at least one device state corresponding to a known issue to a resolution of the known issue,   each of the at least one device state being associated with one of the one or more attributes of one of the set of nodes or the set of edges;   receiving a support bundle for a computer system that has encountered an unknown issue,   the support bundle including data automatically produced by the computer system,   the computer system comprising a plurality of interoperating computer devices in the hierarchy of device classes;   identifying a specific issue resolution rule of the plurality of issue resolution rules that is applicable to the support bundle based on the knowledge graph, the identifying comprising considering a node or an edge in the knowledge graph of which no instance is included in the computer system;   transmitting a recommendation in response to the support bundle based on the resolution in the specific issue resolution rule to resolve the unknown issue.   
     
     
         2 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , a node of the set of nodes being associated with an attribute that is specific to a device class represented by the node. 
     
     
         3 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , the set of nodes having at least one common attribute, including an IP address, subset information, or virtual large area network (VLAN) information. 
     
     
         4 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , a node of the set of nodes having an attribute, the value of which is determined at run time of a device class represented by the node. 
     
     
         5 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 obtaining new device data related to a first device class of the hierarchy of device classes, the new device data indicating that the first device class is no longer compatible with a second device class of the hierarchy of device classes related to the first device class;   creating a new version of the knowledge graph based on the new device data.   
     
     
         6 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , further comprising updating the knowledge graph to additionally include a node or an edge, a device state associated with which is mapped by the specific issue resolution rule. 
     
     
         7 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , further comprising updating the knowledge graph to additionally include a node or an edge, an instance of which is in the computer system. 
     
     
         8 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , the creating comprising computing a weight for an edge of the set of edges that represents the first type of relation, the weight representing how compatible the two device classes are, how often two instances respectively of the two device classes are coupled together in a computer system, or how heavily an operation of one of the two instances depends on an operation of the other. 
     
     
         9 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 8 , the identifying comprising:
 determining a subset of the knowledge graph where each edge representing the first type of relation is associated with a weight above a threshold, the specific issue resolution rule mapping only device states being associated with attributes of a node or an edge in the subset of the knowledge graph.   
     
     
         10 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , the identifying comprising extracting one or more device states from the support bundle using n-gram analysis, name entity recognition, or subject-predicate-object triplet extraction. 
     
     
         11 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 10 ,
 the second type of relation indicating that the two device classes have similar features but made by different vendors,   the specific issue resolution rule mapping a first device state of the one or more device states being associated with a first node of the set of nodes or a second device state being associated with a second node connected with the first node by an edge representing the second type of relation in the knowledge graph.   
     
     
         12 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 10 , the identifying comprising:
 selecting an issue resolution rule from the plurality of issue resolution rules that refers to a first device state and a second device state of the one or more device states,   the first device state and the second device state being associated with two nodes of the set of nodes;   when the issue resolution rule refers to a third device state being associated with an edge connecting the two nodes that is not extracted from the support bundle, transmitting a request for confirming a presence of an instance of the edge in the computer system.   
     
     
         13 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , the identifying comprising:
 determining multiple issue resolution rules of the plurality of issue resolution rules that are applicable to the support bundle based on the knowledge graph;   assigning ranks to the multiple issue resolution rules based on an extent of applicability to the support bundle,   the specific issue resolution rule having one of highest ranks among the multiple issue resolution rules.   
     
     
         14 . One or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media storing instructions which when executed cause one or more processors to perform a method of resolving infrastructure issues, the method comprising:
 receiving device data regarding a hierarchy of device classes;   creating a knowledge graph having a set of nodes and a set of edges based on the device data,   each of the set of nodes representing one of the hierarchy of device classes,   each of the set of edges connecting two nodes of the set of nodes representing one of a plurality of types of relations, including a first type indicating a coupling between two device classes represented by the two nodes, a second type indicating that the two device classes are substitutes for each other, and a third type indicating that one of the two device classes as a child class belongs to the other of the two device classes as a parent class,   at least one of the set of nodes or one of the set of edges having one or more attributes;   obtaining rule data related to a plurality of issue resolution rules,   each of the plurality of issue resolution rules mapping at least one device state corresponding to a known issue to a resolution of the known issue,   each of the at least one device state being associated with one of the one or more attributes of one of the set of nodes or the set of edges;   receiving a support bundle for a computer system that has encountered an unknown issue,   the support bundle including data automatically produced by the computer system,   the computer system comprising a plurality of interoperating computer devices in the hierarchy of device classes;   identifying a specific issue resolution rule of the plurality of issue resolution rules that is applicable to the support bundle based on the knowledge graph, the identifying comprising considering a node or an edge in the knowledge graph of which no instance is included in the computer system;   transmitting a recommendation in response to the support bundle based on the resolution in the specific issue resolution rule to resolve the unknown issue.   
     
     
         15 . The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of  claim 14 , the creating comprising computing a weight for an edge of the set of edges that represents the first type of relation, the weight representing how compatible the two device classes are, how often two instances respectively of the two device classes are coupled together in a computer system, or how heavily an operation of one of the two instances depends on an operation of the other. 
     
     
         16 . The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of  claim 15 , the identifying comprising:
 determining a subset of the knowledge graph where each edge representing the first type of relation is associated with a weight above a threshold,   the specific issue resolution rule mapping only device states being associated with attributes of a node or an edge in the subset of the knowledge graph.   
     
     
         17 . The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of  claim 14 , the identifying comprising extracting one or more device states from the support bundle using n-gram analysis, name entity recognition, or subject-predicate-object triplet extraction. 
     
     
         18 . The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of  claim 17 ,
 the second type of relation indicating that the two device classes have similar features but made by different vendors,   the specific issue resolution rule mapping a first device state of the one or more device states being associated with a first node of the set of nodes or a second device state being associated with a second node connected with the first node by an edge representing the second type of relation in the knowledge graph.   
     
     
         19 . The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of  claim 17 , the identifying comprising:
 selecting an issue resolution rule from the plurality of issue resolution rules that refers to a first device state and a second device state of the one or more device states,   the first device state and the second device state being associated with two nodes of the set of nodes;   when the issue resolution rule refers to a third device state being associated with an edge connecting the two nodes that is not extracted from the support bundle, transmitting a request for confirming a presence of an instance of the edge in the computer system.   
     
     
         20 . The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of  claim 14 , the identifying comprising:
 determining multiple issue resolution rules of the plurality of issue resolution rules that are applicable to the support bundle based on the knowledge graph;   assigning ranks to the multiple issue resolution rules based on an extent of applicability to the support bundle,   the specific issue resolution rule having one of highest ranks among the multiple issue resolution rules.