Information extraction for retrieval in dynamic system administration

计算机网络，特别是托管服务器群，已经成为非常复杂的系统，并且对24/7服务的要求要求快速纠正任何网络和服务器故障。纠正网络和服务器故障是一个耗时且知识密集型的过程，需要对网络设置和相关监控工具有深入的了解。系统管理员需要能够从任何可用的信息（故障单、诊断报告、日志文件数据）中诊断问题，以便快速识别和执行所需的纠正操作。在实践中，网络和web托管服务器系统管理员随着时间的推移积累了经验，但是为其他人记录他们的经验是费时的，因此不切实际。据估计，故障处理的大部分时间花在故障处理过程的两个步骤上，即(1)识别根本原因和(2)规划解决方案。如果一个解决方案可以将故障排除时间减少30%，那么对于一个雇佣了数千名技术支持人员的典型ISP公司来说，节省的成本将达到数千万美元。NetPal-2项目的目标是开发第二代故障排除助手，它：(1)自动提取和保存与已经解决的问题案例相关的信息到系统特定的知识库中；(2)从知识库中检索可能与未解决的问题相关的案例，从而帮助系统管理员识别原因并找到解决方案，比查找通用Web资源要快得多。

Computer networks, and in particular hosting server farms, have become very complex systems, and the requirement for 24/7 service requires fast correction of any network and server failures. Correcting network and server failures is a time-consuming, knowledge-intensive process that requires in-depth knowledge of the network setup and the relevant monitoring tools. System administrators need the ability to diagnose the problem from any information available (trouble tickets, diagnostic reports, log file data), in order to identify and perform quickly the required corrective actions. In practice, network and web hosting server system administrators accumulate experience over time, but documenting their experience for others is time consuming and therefore impractical. It is estimated that most of the troubleshooting time is spent on two steps of the troubleshooting process, (1) Identification of the root cause, and (2) Planning the resolution. The cost savings to a typical ISP company that employs thousands of technical support staff will be in the tens of millions of dollars if a solution can be found to reduce the troubleshooting time by 30%. The objective of the NetPal-2 project is to develop a second-generation troubleshooting assistant that: (1) automatically extracts and saves into a system-specific knowledge base the relevant information to problem cases already resolved; (2) retrieves cases from the knowledge base that are potentially relevant to an unresolved problem, thereby helping the system administrator to identify causes and locate a solution much faster than looking up generic Web resources.