Abstract:
Temporary access is provided to enable a service provider to service a customer&#39;s system resource such as data processing or communication equipment. A prearranged but dormant user account for the service provider is automatically activated in response to a trigger event such as the opening of a trouble ticket. The account is automatically deactivated upon detecting a closure event associated with the trigger event, such as the closing of the trouble ticket, expiration of a predetermined time interval following detection of the trigger event, or occurrence of a predetermined time. This provides a timely yet secure way for a customer to allow a service provider access to system resources which requires neither a standing open account nor manual opening and closing of a user account for the service provider.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
   The present invention relates to the field of servicing system resources such as data processing and communication equipment, and more specifically to a method for automatically providing temporary access to system resources for purposes such as satisfying service requests from a trouble ticket system. 
   BACKGROUND 
   As the business world has become relentlessly more competitive and as system resources such as data processing and communication equipment have become increasingly complex, it has become advantageous for a business enterprise to engage a specialized service provider to maintain, repair, and manage system resources. Engaging a specialized service provider frees a business to focus on its core activities rather than on its system resources. Moreover, a specialized service provider may achieve expertise and economies of scale in its niche that are unavailable to its customers, whose business interests lie elsewhere. 
   In some situations, a service provider may have a central facility that remotely services a number of customers. In other situations, the service provider may share facilities with the customer. In either case, the service provider must have a user account that enables the service provider to gain access to the customer&#39;s system resources in order to diagnose and repair problems. 
   Today, such accounts are maintained in two ways: either the service provider has a user account that stands open full time, or the customer manually opens and closes an account whenever the service provider needs access to system resources. 
   Unfortunately, both of these ways of maintaining accounts have significant disadvantages. In the first situation, having an open standing account exposes the customer to breaches of security by vandals who enter through the open account. In the second situation, waiting for the ad hoc opening of an account when service is needed delays the resolution of the customer&#39;s problems, and may lead to unwanted loss of business or degradation of operational efficiency. 
   Thus there is a need for an improved way of providing an account that enables a service provider to access a customer&#39;s system resources in a timely and responsive way so that problems may be resolved as quickly as possible, and yet does not subject the customer to the security risks associated with having a standing open account. 
   SUMMARY 
   The present invention offers an improved way of providing an account that enables a service provider to access a customer&#39;s system resources. In an embodiment of the invention, temporary access for servicing a system resource such as data processing or communication equipment is provided by activating a prearranged but otherwise dormant user account in automatic response to the occurrence of a trigger event associated with the system resource. A trigger event may be, for example, the opening of a trouble ticket by a trouble ticket system. In another embodiment of the invention, the prearranged user account is deactivated (returned to dormancy) automatically upon occurrence of a closure event associated with the trigger event. A closure event may be, for example, the closing of a trouble ticket or downgrading the severity classification of a problem tracked by a trouble ticket, the expiration of a predetermined time interval following detection of the trigger event, the occurrence of a predetermined time of day such as every midnight, and so forth. 
   Thus the invention provides a timely yet secure way for a customer to allow a service provider temporary access to system resources that requires neither a standing open account nor manual ad hoc opening and closing of a user account for the service provider. These and other aspects of the invention will be more fully appreciated when considered in the light of the following detailed description and drawings. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       FIG. 1  is a block diagram that shows an exemplary structure suitable for application of the present invention. 
       FIG. 2  is a flowchart that shows aspects of a method for providing temporary access for servicing a system resource according to a first embodiment of the invention. 
       FIG. 3 . is a flowchart that shows other aspects of the inventive method in a second embodiment. 
       FIG. 4 . is a flowchart that shows yet other aspects of the inventive method in a third embodiment. 
   

   DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
   The invention provides a timely yet secure way for allowing a service provider to have the temporary access needed for servicing a customer&#39;s system resources, but does not require that a user account be left standing open or that a user account be manually opened and closed by the customer on behalf of the service provider. 
     FIG. 1  is a block diagram that shows an exemplary structure suitable for application of the present invention. A service provider  100  provides services to a customer&#39;s monitored system  110 . For example, the services provided by the service provider  100  may include one or more of the following: repair of the monitored system  110 , maintenance, performance tracking, security management, change management, and so forth. In order to provide these services, the service provider  100  needs a user account with the monitored system  110  that enables the service provider  100  to access elements of the monitored system  110 . 
   The monitored system  110  includes access control logic  120 , which the service provider communicates with through a communication port  130 . A purpose of the access control logic  120  is to authenticate users, including the service provider  100 , who attempt to log-in to or otherwise engage system resources  140  of the monitored system  110 . 
   The control logic may accomplish authentication by reference to user account records maintained on an associated database  150 . These records may concern privileges of the service provider  100  as well as privileges of other users  160  of the monitored system  110 . User accounts are set up according to criteria established by the customer, and the access control logic  120  allows or denies access to the system resources  140  based on satisfaction of these criteria. 
   Within the scope of the invention, the system resources  140  may include data processing equipment such as large, mid-range, and personal computers; Internet web servers; communication equipment such as private branch exchanges, telephone switches, multiplexers, and so forth; as well as other devices such as computer-controlled industrial machinery or other equipment that can be serviced remotely by a service provider such as the service provider  100  of  FIG. 1 . However, for the purpose of clarity but not limitation, the invention is described here generally using terms suitable for embodiments wherein the system resources  140  include an Internet web server. 
   As shown in  FIG. 1 , a monitoring tool  170  monitors the system resources  140  for problems that need the attention of the service provider  100 , such as malfunction, overload, degraded performance, exhausted capacity, and so forth. For example, the monitoring tool  170  may be a health checking system for an Internet web server. Although the monitoring tool  170  is shown in  FIG. 1  as separate from the system resources  140 , the two may be combined, the monitoring tool  170  may be combined with other elements of the monitored system  110 , and so forth. 
   The monitoring tool  170  is functionally connected to a trouble ticket system  180 , so that the monitoring tool  170  may automatically open trouble tickets on the trouble ticket system  180  when the monitoring tool  170  detects problems with the system resources  140  that need the attention of the service provider  100 . The trouble ticket system  180  may have a connection to the service provider  100 , for example through the access control logic  120  and the communication port  130  as shown in  FIG. 1 , so that the trouble ticket system  180  may pass trouble tickets to the service provider  100 . 
   Trouble ticket systems, which may also be called incident reporting systems, issue tracking systems, and so forth, are well known to those skilled in the art. Many trouble ticket systems characterize the severity of a problem so that a service provider such as the service provider  100  has a sense of the urgency of resolving the problem. For example, a trouble ticket may characterize the severity of a problem as low, medium, or high. The severity classification may be reduced during the course of problem resolution, for example from high to medium in response to installation of a short-term patch, or in response to reconfiguration of system resources to skirt the problem. When the problem is resolved satisfactorily, the trouble ticket is closed. 
   Although  FIG. 1  shows the trouble ticket system  180  as internal to the monitored system  110 , the trouble ticket system  180  may be outside the monitored system  110 , for example co-located with the service provider  100 . In some situations, the trouble-ticket system  180  may communicate with the service provider  100  by e-mail, or through the World Wide Web, for example in the case of a Java-based trouble ticket system. A purpose of such communication is to transfer information relevant to the problem experienced by the system resources  140  to the service provider  100 . 
   As shown in  FIG. 1 , the monitored system  110  may include a clock  190  for time-stamping records in the database  150 , providing time of day to the access control logic  120 , counting-down predetermined intervals of time, and so forth. 
     FIG. 2  is a flowchart that shows aspects of the inventive method. The customer who is responsible for the monitored system  110  establishes—i.e., prearranges—a user account for the service provider  100  (step  200 ), for example by recording the provisions of such an account on the database  150 . When activated, the prearranged user account enables the service provider  100  to log-in to and access the system resources  140 , i.e., when the prearranged user account is activated, the access control logic  120  allows the service provider  100  to gain access to the system resources  140  through the prearranged user account. Until the prearranged user account is activated, however, the prearranged user account is dormant, which means here that the access control logic  120  blocks attempts to use the prearranged user account. The prearranged user account may be activated by the trouble ticket system  180 , by the monitoring tool  170 , or by other logic such as logic within the monitored system  110 . The prearranged user account may be deactivated, i.e., returned to dormancy, by the trouble ticket system  180 , by the monitoring tool  170 , by the access control logic  120 , or by other logic such as logic within the monitored system  110 . 
   The method of  FIG. 2  then awaits the occurrence of a trigger event (step  210 ) associated with the system resources  140 . A trigger event may be, for example, detection of a problem by the monitoring tool  170 , opening of a trouble ticket on the trouble ticket system  180 , and so forth. In automatic response to the occurrence of a trigger event, the prearranged user account is activated (step  220 ). 
   The method then awaits the occurrence of a closure event associated with the trigger event (step  230 ). A closure event may be the occurrence of a service condition, for example the closing of a previously opened trouble ticket, or the reduction in severity of a problem tracked by the trouble ticket. A closure event may also, or alternatively, be the satisfaction of a temporal condition, for example the expiration of a predetermined period of time after the occurrence of the trigger event (e.g., two hours after the opening of a trouble ticket), or at a predetermined time of day (e.g., at each midnight). In automatic response to the occurrence of the closure event, the prearranged user account is deactivated (step  240 ), and the method returns to await the occurrence of another trigger event (step  210 ). 
     FIG. 3  is a flowchart that shows aspects of another embodiment of the inventive method. The customer who is responsible for the monitored system  110  establishes a prearranged user account for the service provider  100  (step  300 ). When activated, the prearranged user account enables the service provider  100  to log-in to and access the system resources  140 , i.e., when the prearranged user account is activated, the access control logic  120  allows the service provider  100  to gain access to the system resources  140  through the prearranged user account. Until the prearranged user account is activated, however, the prearranged user account is dormant. The prearranged user account may be activated by the trouble ticket system  180 , by the monitoring tool  170 , or by other logic such as logic within the monitored system  110 . The prearranged user account may be deactivated, i.e., returned to dormancy, by the trouble ticket system  180 , by the monitoring tool  170 , by the access control logic  120 , or by other logic such as logic within the monitored system  110 . 
   The method of  FIG. 3  then awaits the opening of a trouble ticket associated with the system resources  140  (step  310 ). In automatic response to the opening of the trouble ticket, the prearranged user account is activated (step  320 ). Once the prearranged user account has been activated, the method then awaits the closing of the trouble ticket (step  330 ). In automatic response to the closing of the trouble ticket, the prearranged user account is deactivated (step  340 ), and the method returns to await the opening of another trouble ticket (step  310 ). 
     FIG. 4  is a flowchart that shows aspects of yet another embodiment of the inventive method. The customer who is responsible for the monitored system  110  establishes a prearranged user account for the service provider  100  (step  400 ). When activated, the prearranged user account enables the service provider  100  to log-in to and access the system resources  140 , i.e., when the prearranged user account is activated, the access control logic  120  allows the service provider  100  to gain access to the system resources  140  through the prearranged user account. Until the prearranged user account is activated, however, the prearranged user account is dormant. The prearranged user account may be activated by the trouble ticket system  180 , by the monitoring tool  170 , or by other logic such as logic within the monitored system  110 . The prearranged user account may be deactivated, i.e., returned to dormancy, by the trouble ticket system  180 , by the monitoring tool  170 , by the access control logic  120 , or by other logic such as logic within the monitored system  110 . 
   The method of  FIG. 4  then awaits the opening of a trouble ticket associated with the system resources  140  (step  410 ). In automatic response to the opening of the trouble ticket, the prearranged user account is activated (step  420 ). Once the prearranged user account has been activated, the method then awaits satisfaction of a temporal condition associated with the trouble ticket (step  430 ). Such a temporal condition may be, for example, the expiration of a predetermined period of time after the opening of the trouble ticket (e.g., two hours after the opening of the trouble ticket), or at a predetermined time of day (e.g., at each midnight). In automatic response to satisfaction of the temporal condition, the prearranged user account is deactivated (step  440 ), and the method returns to await the opening of another trouble ticket (step  410 ). 
   From the foregoing description, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the present invention enables a service provider to have temporary access a to customer&#39;s system resources in a timely and responsive way so that problems may be resolved as quickly as possible, and yet does not subject the customer to the security risks associated with having a standing open account. For descriptive convenience, invention has been put in the context of a customer and a service provider. Nevertheless, the invention is not limited to a narrow meaning of the terms “customer” and “service provider,” and applies as well where access to a monitored system is required only temporarily to satisfy a service request. The invention applies as well, for example, in situations where the customer and the service provider are part of the same company, with the service provider being the owner of a particular application who may require temporary system access or additional system privileges to address a problem with the application. Thus, and in general, the foregoing description is illustrative rather than limiting, and the invention is limited only by the following claims.