Towards a Holistic Approach to Fault Management: Wheels Within a Wheel

Systems with high dependability requirements are increasingly relying on complex on-line fault management systems. Such fault management systems involve a combination of multiple steps – monitoring, data analysis, planning and execution – that are typically independently developed and optimized. We argue that it is inefficient and ineffective to improve any particular fault management step without taking into account its interactions and dependencies with the rest of the steps. Through six real-life examples, we demonstrate this inefficiency and how it results in systems that either under-perform or are over-budget. We propose a holistic approach to fault management that is aware of all relevant aspects, and explicitly considers the couplings between the different fault management steps. We believe it will produce systems that will better meet cost, performance and dependability objectives.