DART database: a warehouse of issue management

DARTs (Diagnosis, Analysis and Resolution Tool) are small programs that implement problem resolution or execution of a system management or maintenance procedure. DART configuration is very straightforward, it consists mainly of checking boxes and radio buttons on DART’s configuration page. With one operation, DART’s configuration can be changed for one device, a subset of devices and all the devices at a site. Typically, it takes less than one minute.

You can perform frequently recurring DART configuration operations using point-and-click wizards eliminating the need to access DART configuration pages directly. Over time, we plan to move scrip configuration activities to wizards. You can access DART’s configuration page via the ReSOFT server based ReSOFT site management facility using a browser from anywhere on the Internet, or via the DART configuration console from any device with a connection to the customer network using any browser.

Even though DARTs are independent, they can be related. As a result, there can be collections of common routines that are used by more than one DART. These are called PROCs and are simply a convenience to avoid duplicating parts of one DART in another. They are only required to add common code that is issue-specific, since this kind of code is not allowed in the engine.

There are actually several different classes of DARTs. These classes are not rigidly enforced, and are more of a notational convenience for understanding the structure of the client.

• Issue Resolution - backbone for automated support
• System - critical local processing support
• Utility - tools for remote diagnosis and support
• Application - entire major product features

The DART database typically occupies no more than 1-2 Mbytes. The local event database is an SQL database, which is the exact mirror of the event database residing on the ReSOFT server. Local copies of the DART configuration and asset databases are also located on each supported device. This means that on each system where the ReSOFT client is installed, we can have the same functions as on the ReSOFT server including event notifications and reporting, and asset management.