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An Iterative Approach to Trustable Systems Management Automation and Fault Handling

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Abstract

Automated systems management solutions aim to reduce the pressure on the administrators of complex, large-scale, distributed systems by enabling the automation of many of the common tasks of management. However, this creates a level of abstraction, which can act as a barrier between the administrator and the elements being controlled. This can impede the transition to new management paradigms required by the increase of off-premise resources and hybrid cloud systems. The resulting loss of control of the managed environment can contribute to a loss of trust in automated systems management solutions and affect their broader use. This paper proposes a novel approach where the administrator can control the automation level on a per task basis. Administrators define a management task as they would perform it directly and allow the solution to identify the triggers that cause the task to be enacted. The solution also allows administrators to define relevant task output that can be analyzed for fault states and enable error recovery without manual intervention. The impact of this approach leads to reduced management effort for the administrator, while retaining controllability and keeping automation costs low, along with reducing the incidence of errors.

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Acknowledgments

This work was carried out with the support of the GEYSERS (FP7-ICT-248657) project funded by the European Commission through the 7th ICT Framework Program. Neither this paper nor any part of its content has been published or accepted for publication elsewhere, nor has it been submitted to any other journal for review.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. SAP Belfast, Northern Ireland Science Park, Belfast, UK

    Barry McLarnon & Philip Robinson

  2. Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast, UK

    Barry McLarnon, Peter Milligan & Paul Sage

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  1. Barry McLarnon
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  2. Philip Robinson
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  3. Peter Milligan
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  4. Paul Sage
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Correspondence to Barry McLarnon.

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McLarnon, B., Robinson, P., Milligan, P. et al. An Iterative Approach to Trustable Systems Management Automation and Fault Handling. J Netw Syst Manage 22, 366–395 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10922-013-9295-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10922-013-9295-z

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