Information Retrieval in Network Administration

Abstract

Network administration is a task that requires experience in relating symptoms of network problems with possible causes and corrective actions. We describe the design of a system and more specifically its information retrieval component, which aims to retrieve articles relevant to a given problem case from a collection of articles describing previously solved problems and their associated solutions. An article is described by a term vector. We present a methodology for defining the vocabulary and preliminary results for assessing the quality of expert-proposed modifications to the vocabulary. We obtain vocabulary-derived document classes from a selforganising map and assess vocabulary quality using the quality of classification into these classes.

EMITS: An Experience Management System for IT Management Support

“…George et al proposed an information retrieval based approach [12] to a similar problem. They assist the system administrators to correct failures.…”

Semantic Approach Utilizing Data Mining and Case-Based Reasoning for It Support Service

“…Failures have to be corrected without any delay to maintain high quality service. The steps in problem resolution are observing service alerts, raising trouble tickets, assigning tickets, identifying root cause, planning resolution, implementing resolution and notification/clean up [15]. The major troubleshooting effort is spent on identifying the root cause and planning resolution.…”

“…In [15], the information retrieval component of system is described that retrieves relevant articles from a collection of previously solved problems and their associated solutions. This system assists the system administrators in problem resolution by identifying similar problems and retrieving the steps taken to resolve those problems.…”