A computer system performance analysis expert system (EXPERFORM)

The authors have constructed an expert system, called EXPERFORM, which can be used to diagnose and propose counterplans for performance problems on NEC´s ACOS-4 series. EXPERFORM exploits the expert´s knowledge in the form of production rules, frames, and predicates. Most effort was placed on the study of human expert analysis methods and on organizing the knowledge structure. The diagnosis and proposed counterplan knowledge are categorized into three layers of production rules. Rules in each layer correspond to a certain kind of knowledge. To control rule-block implementation, a blackboard mechanism is employed. To accelerate rule execution, two approaches were utilized. EXPERFORM has been released and has been evaluated at several user sites. Its performance is estimated to be that of a human expert with three years´ experience