JP2800673B2 - Fault information collection device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a fault information collecting apparatus for collecting and storing fault information when a fault occurs in a processing device constituting an information processing system, and more particularly, to collecting fault information for predetermined fixed items. The present invention relates to a failure information collection device having both a function of collecting and a function of collecting failure information on a new additional item separately from the function.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Each processing unit such as a central processing unit and an input / output processor constituting an information processing system and a fault information collecting unit called a system diagnostic unit or a maintenance diagnostic unit are individually connected to a diagnostic interface or a diagnostic unit. Connected to each other by a common diagnostic interface in the form of a bus, when a processing device fails, internal information of the failed processing device is collected as failure information by the failure information collection device via the diagnostic interface, and a failure information file Has been conventionally proposed or put into practical use as seen in, for example, JP-A-61-240336.

[0003] Here, there are various items collected when a fault occurs, but what items are collected depends on the configuration of the fault information collecting means in the fault information collecting apparatus, that is, the fault which constitutes the fault information collecting means. It is fixedly incorporated into the logic of the information collection program, and information collection for a new item is dealt with by modifying the original failure information collection program to also collect that item.

[0004]

By the way, the fault information to be collected by the fault information collecting device has been carefully determined so as to be useful for determining the cause and location of the fault that has occurred. It is not determined in consideration of a special failure that occurs only in the user's information processing system or a failure that cannot be predicted at present. For this reason, when trying to collect data to deal with a failure that occurs only in a certain user's information processing system, conventionally, the original failure information collection program was modified to collect such data as well. I needed to.

However, in general, it is difficult for the user to modify the program. Therefore, it is necessary for the maker to carry out the modification of the program, convert the program into an executable object format, and incorporate it into the trouble information collecting apparatus on the user side. Therefore, it is difficult to promptly respond to a request for collecting additional information. In particular, at the time of remodeling, it is necessary to check the operation of the entire program including the non-remodeled part, and therefore, it is difficult to respond more quickly.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to allow a user to arbitrarily add a function of collecting fault information for a new item without modifying a function part for collecting fault information for a fixed item, and to provide additional information. It is an object of the present invention to provide a fault information collecting device that can start collecting information quickly.

[0007] In order to cope with the problem by modifying the failure information collection program, it is necessary to replace the original failure information collection program with the reconstructed failure information collection program. For this purpose, the operation of the program must be temporarily stopped. If a failure occurs during that time, there will be a period during which it is difficult to collect information even on fixed items.

Therefore, another object of the present invention is to provide a failure information collecting apparatus which does not interrupt the collection of information on an original fixed item even when a function of collecting failure information on a new item is added. It is in.

[0009]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a fault information collecting means for collecting fault information and storing it in a fault information storage means when a fault occurs in a processing device constituting an information processing system. In the device, by receiving a failure detection report from the failed processing device, failure information about a predetermined item is collected from the failed processing device and stored in the failure information storage means. A collection unit, an individual collection procedure storage unit for storing an individual collection procedure that defines a procedure for collecting information on items not collected by the failure information collection unit from the processing device, and an individual collection procedure storage unit. Registering means for registering an individual collection procedure, and executing the individual collection procedure started by the fault information collection means and stored in the individual collection procedure storage means. And, and a separate information collection means for storing the collected information in the fault information storing means.

The present invention employs a configuration capable of achieving the following various objects in addition to the above objects.

The collection by the individual collection procedure that is no longer required is stopped to prevent the processing efficiency from being reduced due to unnecessary collection, or the items collected in the individual collection procedure by the subsequent correction of the failure information collection means may cause the failure. The registration unit deletes the individual collection procedure in the individual collection procedure storage unit, which has been instructed to be deleted from the input device, for the purpose of preventing double collection due to collection by the information collection unit. Includes the ability to

For the purpose of facilitating failure analysis when the cause of the failure exists in a processing unit other than the processing unit that has issued the failure detection report, the information collection by the individual information collection unit is performed by the failure detection report. This is also performed from a processing device other than the processing device.

[0013] In order to be able to judge whether additional items can be collected according to the location and type of the fault that has occurred, during the individual collecting procedure stored in the individual collecting procedure storing means, the fault information collecting means is determined. Thus, a procedure for analyzing the fault information collected this time and a procedure for comparing the analysis result with a designated value to determine whether collection is possible or not are included.

In order to reduce the burden on the creator by creating the individual collection procedure in the source format, the registration means translates the individual collection procedure in the source format input from the input device. The individual collection procedure in the object format is stored in the individual collection procedure storage means, and the individual information collection means converts the object stored in the individual collection procedure storage means. A configuration that performs an individual collection procedure of the form. (2) The registration unit stores the individual collection procedure in the source format input from the input device in the individual collection procedure storage unit, and the individual information collection unit stores the individual collection procedure in the individual collection procedure storage unit. A configuration that interprets and executes source format individual collection procedures. Is adopted.

[0015]

In the fault information collecting apparatus according to the present invention, when a fault detection report is issued from one of the processing apparatuses constituting the information processing system due to a fault, the fault information collecting means is set in advance. Fault information on the determined item is collected from the processing device in which the fault has occurred, stored in the fault information storage means, and thereafter, the individual information collecting means is activated. The activated individual information collecting means executes an individual collecting procedure which defines a procedure for collecting information on items not collected by the fault information collecting means registered in the individual collecting storage means by the registering means from the processing device. Then, the collected information is stored in the failure information storage means.

[0016]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

Referring to FIG. 1, a fault information collecting apparatus 1 according to one embodiment of the present invention includes a processing interface 3-1 to 3-n constituting an information processing system 3 by a diagnosis interface 2 in the form of a diagnosis bus. It is connected to the. Note that the failure information collection device 1 may be connected to each of the processing devices 3-1 to 3-n through an individual diagnosis interface.

Each of the processing units 3-1 to 3-n is a processing unit such as a central processing unit or an input / output processing processor.
Each processing device has a hardware failure detecting means 4-1 to 4-1.
4-n are provided. The hardware failure detection means 4-1 to 4-n detects a failure in the hardware or firmware of the self-processing devices 3-1 to 3-n and collects failure information through the diagnostic interface 2 when the failure occurs. This is a means for issuing a fault detection report to the device 1, and is composed of known means such as a parity check circuit and a circuit for detecting lighting of an EIF (error indicator flip-flop). Note that the hardware failure detection means 4-1 to 4-
n, when a failure is detected, the processing device 3-1 to 3-
The n clocks are stopped, and the operation of the failed processing device stops. Further, when the processing device in which the failure has occurred is the central processing device, the operation of the other processing devices is usually stopped.

The fault information collecting device 1 includes processing devices 3-1 to 3-1.
3-n is a device that collects and accumulates fault information by receiving a fault detection report from the hardware fault detecting means 4-1 to 4-n. As shown in FIG. Failure information storage file 12, individual information collection means 13, individual collection procedure file 14, registration means 15, C
An RT 16 and a keyboard 17 are provided.

The failure information storage file 12 constitutes failure information storage means for storing the failure information collected by the failure information collection means 11 and the failure information collected by the individual information collection means 13. Provided above.

The individual collection procedure file 14 is an individual collection procedure for storing an individual collection procedure that defines a procedure for collecting information on items that are not collected by the fault information collection means 11 from the processing units 3-1 to 3-n. It constitutes a procedure storage means and is provided on a fixed disk device, for example.

FIG. 2 shows an example of the contents of the individual collection procedure file 14. In the individual collection procedure file 14 of this example, two individual collection procedures A and B in the object format are stored, and the number of registrations =
2. The start addresses a and b of the area where the individual collection procedures A and B are stored are registered.

The registration means 15 stores the individual collection procedure file 1
4 is a means for registering an individual collection procedure, and is connected to a keyboard 17 operated by a user and a CRT 16 for displaying various information to the user. The registering means 15 in this example inputs a source format individual collection procedure from the keyboard 17, translates (compiles) it, converts it into an object format individual collection procedure, and stores it in the individual collection procedure file 14. An example of the processing is shown in FIG.

The fault information collecting means 11 is a hardware fault detecting means 4 for the processing units 3-1 to 3-n in which the fault has occurred.
By receiving a fault detection report from the diagnostic interface 2 from -1 to 4-n, the data of a predetermined item among the data indicating the internal state of the processing device 3-1 to 3-n in which the fault has occurred is changed. This is a unit that collects as the failure information through the diagnostic interface 2 and stores it in the failure information storage file 12, and then starts the individual information collection unit 13. FIG. 4 shows an example of the processing of the failure information collecting means 11.

When the individual collection procedure file 14 has an individual collection procedure in the form of an object in the individual collection procedure file 14 at the time of activation, the individual information collection means 13 executes the procedure and stores the collected information in the failure information storage file 12. Yes, an example of the processing is shown in FIG.

The operation of this embodiment will be described below.

When the user wants to collect fault information other than the items collected by the fault information collecting means 11, the user registers the fault information with the registration means 15.
Is used to register the individual collection procedure for the collection in the individual collection procedure file 14. This registration is performed as follows.

When the user activates the registration means 15 by operating the keyboard 17, the registration means 15 starts the processing shown in FIG. 3, and first, "add", "update", "delete",
The menu item “End” is displayed on the CRT 16 (S
1) Wait for any menu item to be selected (S
2). Here, “adding” means adding a new individual collection procedure to the individual collection procedure file 14, and “updating” means replacing a new individual collection procedure to replace an individual collection procedure already registered in the individual collection procedure file 14. "Deletes" the registered individual collection procedure from the individual collection procedure file 14, and "end" means ends the processing of the registration unit 15.

Now, if the user selects the "addition" menu item in order to additionally register a new individual collection procedure, the registration means 15 proceeds from step S3 to step S4, where the source created by the user is selected. The individual collecting procedure of the format is input from the keyboard 17. Then, the individual collection procedure of the input source format is compiled and the individual information collection unit 13 is compiled.
Is converted into an individual collection procedure in an object format which can be executed by (S5), and this is registered in the individual collection procedure file 14 (S6). At this time, the individual collection procedure file 14 shown in FIG.
+1 is added to the number of registered headers (the initial value is 0), an individual collection procedure in the object format is written in a free space in the area immediately after the header, and the start address is written in the header.

When the above-described registration operation is repeated for the two created individual collection procedures A and B, the two individual collection procedures A and B in the object format are stored in the individual collection procedure file 14 as shown in FIG. You will be registered.

The procedure to be registered as the individual collection procedures A and B is optional for the user. An example is shown in FIG.
And FIG.

FIG. 6 shows the procedure of the individual collection procedure A in the form of a flowchart.
2, the device in which the fault is detected is recognized from the fault information stored this time (S41), and it is determined whether or not the device in which the fault is detected is the processing device 3-1 (S42).
Only when the value is 1, the internal information of the processing device 3-2, which is one of the other processing devices, is collected through the diagnostic interface 2 (S43). In general, the cause of a failure often exists in the processing unit in which the failure is detected, but in some cases, the cause may be in another processing unit related to the processing unit. Procedure A may be required in some cases. For example, when the processing device 3-1 is a central processing unit and the processing device 3-2 is an input / output processor, GSB holding a copy of a register is used as internal information in the input / output processor.
(General store buffer) is to be collected.

FIG. 7 shows the procedure of the individual collection procedure B in the form of a flowchart.
2, the device and the type of the fault detected from the fault information stored this time are recognized (S51), and it is determined whether or not the type of the fault is a firmware fault (S52). In this case, detailed information indicating the status of the firmware is collected from the processing device in which the failure is detected (S53).

In the individual collection procedure illustrated in FIGS. 6 and 7, in each of the individual collection procedures, a procedure for analyzing the fault information collected this time and a comparison between the analysis result and a designated value are performed. Although the procedure for determining whether or not the process is permitted is included, it goes without saying that a procedure for unconditionally collecting data of a certain item of a certain processing device can also be adopted as the individual collecting procedure.

The above description of the registration means 15 is for an additional case. However, if update is selected, it is possible to replace the registered individual collection procedure with a newly created individual collection procedure.
In this case, the registration unit 15 performs the processing S as shown in FIG.
The process proceeds to step S8 after steps S7 and S7, and the contents registered in the individual collection procedure file 14 are displayed on the CRT 16 to allow the user to select an individual collection procedure to be updated. Then, in step S9, the individual collection procedure of the newly created source format input from the keyboard 17 is converted into the object format in step S10, and the individual collection procedure to be updated is deleted from the individual collection procedure file 14 in step S11. In step S6, the created new individual collection procedure in the object format is registered in the individual collection procedure file 14.

When deletion is designated, the registration means 1
5 proceeds to step S13 via steps S3, S7 and S12, displays the contents registered in the individual collection procedure file 14 on the CRT 16 and allows the user to select an individual collection procedure to be deleted. The selected individual collection procedure to be deleted is deleted from the individual collection procedure file 14.

Next, as shown in FIG. 2, for example, a case where a failure occurs in the processing unit 3-1 in a state where two individual collection procedures A and B are registered in the individual collection procedure file 14 will be described. The operation of the failure information collection device 1 will be described.

When a fault occurs in the processing device 3-1, it is detected by the hardware fault detecting means 4-1 and a fault detection report is sent to the fault information collecting means 11 of the fault information collecting apparatus 1 through the diagnostic interface 2. Is done.

As shown in FIG. 4, the fault information collecting means 11 receives the fault detection report output from the hardware fault detecting means 4-1 of the processing device 3-1 through the diagnostic interface 2 in step S21. Next, data of a predetermined item among the data indicating the internal state of the processing device 3-1 is collected as failure information through the diagnostic interface 2 (S22), and the collected failure information is sequenced in the failure information storage file 12. Write (S23). Then, the individual information collecting means 13 is activated (S24), and after the processing of the individual information collecting means 13, the diagnostic interface 2 is started.
Then, predetermined processing such as resetting or initializing the processing device 3-1 is performed (S25).

The individual information collecting means 13 started by the fault information collecting means 11 determines whether or not the number of registered headers of the individual collection procedure file 14 is 0 as shown in FIG. 5 (S31). If there is, the process ends. On the other hand, if it is not 0, the variable N is set to 1 (S32), and the Nth individual collection procedure from the top of the individual collection procedure file 14 is executed (S33). Therefore, in the case of the individual collection procedure file 14 shown in FIG. 2, the individual collection procedure A in the object format is executed first. Then, referring to FIG. 6, by executing the individual collection procedure A, first, the failure information storage file 12
In step S41, the fault information collecting unit 11 recognizes the device in which the fault has been detected from the fault information stored this time (S41), and checks whether the detected device is the processing device 3-1. S41) In this case, since it was the processing device 3-1, the internal information of the processing device 3-2 is collected through the diagnostic interface 2.

After the execution of the individual collection procedure A, the individual information collecting means 13 determines whether or not there is information collected by the individual collection procedure executed this time (S34). The information obtained is the failure information storage file 12
(S35). Then, the variable N is incremented by 1 (S3
6), if N is not the number of registrations (NO in S37), there is an unexecuted individual collection procedure, so the flow returns to step S33 to execute the next individual collection procedure. Thus, in the case of the individual collection procedure file 14 shown in FIG. 2, the individual collection procedure B is executed next, and if there is collected information, it is stored in the failure information storage file 12. On the other hand, if N> the number of registrations (YES in S37), the process ends.

In the above embodiment, the individual information collecting means 13
Executes the individual collection procedure in the object format. However, by providing the individual information collection means 13 with an interpreter function, the individual information collection means 13 may be configured to interpret and execute the individual collection procedure in the source format. In this case, the processing S5 and S10 in FIG. 3 of the registration unit 15 are omitted, and the individual collection procedure of the input source format is registered in the individual collection procedure file 14 as it is.

[0043]

As described above, according to the fault information collecting apparatus of the present invention, the following effects can be obtained.

By simply registering the individual collection procedure in the individual collection procedure storage means by the registration means, the function of collecting failure information for a new item can be added on the user side. It is possible to take quicker action than by modifying the collection means, and it is not necessary to stop the failure information collection means when registering the individual collection procedure. Also, the collection of information on the original fixed items is not interrupted.

Since the individual collection procedure in the individual collection procedure storage means can be freely deleted, it is possible to prevent the processing efficiency from being lowered due to the unnecessary collection being continued by the unnecessary individual collection procedure.

Since the information collection by the individual information collecting means is also performed from a processing device other than the processing device in which the failure has occurred, if the cause of the failure exists in a processing device other than the processing device which issued the failure detection report. Failure analysis becomes easier.

In the individual collecting procedure, a procedure for analyzing the fault information collected this time by the fault information collecting means and a procedure for comparing the analysis result with a designated value to determine whether or not collection is possible are included. It is possible to automate the determination of whether or not to collect additional items according to the location and type of the fault that has occurred, and it is possible to perform individual collection according to the situation.

Since the individual collection procedure need only be created in the source format, the burden on the person who creates the individual collection procedure is reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of the contents of an individual collection procedure file.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a processing example of a registration unit.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a processing example of a failure information collecting unit;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a processing example of an individual information collecting unit.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of an individual collection procedure in a flowchart format.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing another example of the individual collection procedure in a flowchart form.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Fault information collecting device 11 ... Fault information collecting means 12 ... Fault information storage file 13 ... Individual information collecting means 14 ... Individual collecting procedure file 15 ... Registration means 16 ... CRT 17 ... Keyboard 2. Diagnostic interface 3 ... Information processing system 3-1 to 3-n processing device 4-1 to 4-n hardware failure detection means

Claims (6)

(57) [Claims] 1. A failure information collection device that collects failure information and stores it in a failure information storage unit when a failure occurs in a processing device constituting an information processing system, and receives a failure detection report from the processing device in which the failure has occurred. With this, a failure information collection unit that collects failure information about a predetermined item from the processing device in which the failure has occurred and stores the failure information in the failure information storage unit; An individual collection procedure storage unit for storing an individual collection procedure that defines a procedure for collecting information from the processing device; a registration unit that registers the individual collection procedure in the individual collection procedure storage unit; Activated to execute the individual collection procedure stored in the individual collection procedure storage means and store the collected information in the failure information storage means. Fault information collection apparatus characterized by comprising a separate information collecting means. 2. The fault information collection device according to claim 1, wherein the registration unit includes a function of deleting an individual collection procedure in the individual collection procedure storage unit that is instructed to be deleted from the input device. 3. The fault information collecting device according to claim 2, wherein the information collection by said individual information collecting means is also performed for a processing device other than the processing device which has reported the fault detection report. 4. A procedure for analyzing fault information collected this time by the fault information collecting means during an individual collecting procedure stored in the individual collecting procedure storing means, and comparing the analysis result with a designated value. 4. The fault information collecting apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising: a step of determining whether collection is possible. 5. The registering means translates an individual collecting procedure in a source format input from an input device and converts it into an individual collecting procedure in an object format, and stores the individual collecting procedure in the object format in the individual collecting procedure storing means. The fault information collection device according to claim 4, wherein the individual information collection means has a configuration for executing an individual collection procedure in the form of an object stored in the individual collection procedure storage means. 6. The registration means stores an individual collection procedure of a source format input from an input device in the individual collection procedure storage means, and the individual information collection means stores the individual collection procedure in the individual collection procedure storage means. 5. The fault information collecting device according to claim 4, wherein the fault information collecting device is configured to interpret and execute an individual collecting procedure in a source format.