JPH07101390B2 - Remote monitoring system for information processing equipment - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial field of use] The present invention relates to remote control of an information processing device for monitoring the presence or absence of a failure in the information processing device at a remote maintenance center connected via a communication line. It concerns a surveillance system.

[Conventional technology]

As a conventional remote monitoring system of this type, a system support device with an automatic collection function and automatic transmission function of failure information is connected to an information processing device, and this system support device communicates with a maintenance center installed in a remote place. There is a remote monitoring system that is connected via a line and is configured such that when a failure occurs in an information processing apparatus, the system support apparatus automatically collects the failure information and notifies the maintenance center through a communication line.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention]

With the remote monitoring system as described above, it is possible to monitor the occurrence of a failure of the information processing apparatus and its status from a maintenance center at a remote location, but there are the following problems. That is, if the information processing device has no failure, the system support device does not send the failure information to the maintenance center.
The reason why the failure information is not sent may be that the information processing device has not failed, or there is a failure, but the system support device or communication line has failed, so the notification itself cannot be made. This is because the maintenance center cannot determine it.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a remote monitoring system capable of monitoring whether or not a failure has occurred in a system support device or a communication line itself at a maintenance center.

[Means for Solving the Problems]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention provides a system support device connected to an information processing device and a maintenance center connected via a communication line, and when a failure occurs in the information processing device, In a remote monitoring system for an information processing device, wherein the system support device collects information and transmits it to the maintenance center via the communication line, the system support device sends a notification indicating the normality of its own device at predetermined time intervals. A normality notification mechanism for transmitting to the maintenance center via the communication line, and a power-off information transmission mechanism for transmitting power-off information to the maintenance center via the communication line when the information processing device is powered off. In addition, the maintenance center monitors whether or not the notification is issued from the system support device at predetermined time intervals, and displays an abnormality occurrence when the notification is interrupted. , A normality report monitoring mechanism that stops monitoring the report when the power-off information is transmitted.

[Action]

In the remote monitoring system of the present invention, when a failure occurs in the information processing apparatus, the system support apparatus collects information about the failure and transmits the information to the maintenance center via the communication line. In parallel with the automatic operation, the normality notification mechanism provided in the system support device sends a notification indicating the normality of the system support device itself to the maintenance center via the communication line at predetermined intervals for maintenance. The normality notification monitoring mechanism of the center monitors whether or not the notification is issued from the system support device at predetermined time intervals, and when the notification is interrupted, the abnormality occurrence is displayed. Also,
When the information processing device is powered off, the power-off information transmission mechanism provided in the system support device transmits the power-off information to the maintenance center via the communication line, and the normality notification monitoring mechanism of the maintenance center notifies the information. Stop monitoring.

[Embodiment] Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention, in which a system support device 1 connected to an information processing device 2 and a maintenance center 3 at a remote place are connected by a communication line 4 so that the information processing device 2 fails. When a fault occurs, the fault information is sent to the system support device 1
2 shows a remote monitoring system that collects data and transmits it to the maintenance center 3 via the communication line 4. The system support device 1 is a device that individually receives at least power-off control from the information processing device 2, and includes a notification control means 11, a failure information collection means 12, a power-off detection means 13 and a first timing means 14. I'm out. Further, the maintenance center 3 includes a monitoring control means 31, a second timing means 32 and a monitoring abnormality detection means 33.

The failure information collecting unit 12 of the system support apparatus 1 is connected to the information processing apparatus 2, collects various kinds of failure information from the information processing apparatus 2 and outputs it to the notification control unit 11 when a failure occurs in the information processing apparatus 2. Have a function.

The power-off detection means 13 is connected to the information processing device 2 and has a function of outputting to the notification control means 11 information indicating that power-off of the information processing device 2 due to stop of operation or the like is detected.

The first timing means 14 is initialized when the system support device 1 is turned on or when an initialization command is received from the notification control means 11, and if initialized, the timing operation is performed until immediately before that. After starting once, start a new time measurement, immediately start the time measurement immediately before initialization, and either start a predetermined time T1 after the start of the time measurement or issue a time stop command from the notification control means 11. Keep timing until you receive it,
It has a function of outputting to the notification control means 11 information indicating that the fixed time has elapsed when the time is measured until the fixed time T1 has passed.

The notification control means 11 initializes the first time counting means 14 when the failure information collecting means 12 outputs failure information or when the first time measuring means 14 outputs information indicating that a certain time has elapsed. At the same time, a function of transmitting the above-mentioned failure information or information indicating that a certain period of time has passed to the maintenance center 3 via the communication line 4, and information indicating that the information processing device 2 has been powered off are output from the power disconnection detecting means 13. When the first time measuring means 14
Has a function of instructing to stop the clocking and transmitting the information indicating the power-off to the maintenance center 3 through the communication line 4. FIG. 2 shows a flow of an example of such processing of the notification control means 11.

On the other hand, the supervisory control means 31 of the maintenance center 3 detects the failure information of the information processing device 2 transmitted from the system support device 1 via the communication line 4, the information indicating that a certain time has elapsed, and the power-off of the information processing device. When the information is received, and the received information is failure information of the information processing device 2 or information indicating that a certain time has elapsed, an initialization command is issued to the second timing means 32, and the received information is the information processing device 2. When it is the information of the power-off, the second time measuring means 32 has a function of issuing a time stop command. FIG. 3 shows a flow of an example of such processing of the monitor control means 31.

The second time measuring means 32, if the time measuring operation is being performed immediately before receiving the initialization command from the monitoring control means 31, once finishes the time measuring operation and then newly starts time measuring, and measures the time immediately before initialization. If the operation is not started, the timekeeping is started immediately, and the timekeeping is continued until a predetermined time T2 is passed after the start of the timekeeping or a time stop command is received from the monitoring control means 31, and the timekeeping is performed until the predetermined time T2 is passed, It has a function of outputting information indicating that a certain time has passed to the monitoring abnormality detection means 33. here,
The fixed time T2 is set to be longer than the fixed time T1 in the first timing means 14.

The monitoring abnormality detection means 33 has a function of displaying that an abnormality has occurred in the system support device 1 or the communication line 4 when the information indicating that the predetermined time has elapsed is output from the second timing means 32.

Next, the operation of the present embodiment thus configured will be described with reference to the drawings.

First, when the information processing device 2, the system support device 1, and the communication line 4 in FIG. 1 are operating normally, the power supply of the system support device 1 initializes the first timing means 14 to measure the time. After the start, and when a certain time T1 has passed after the start of the time measurement, the information indicating that the certain time has elapsed is sent from the first time measuring means 14 to the notification control means 11. In the notification control means 11, the process of FIG. 2 indicates that the received information is information indicating that a certain time has elapsed.
When the determination is made by 111, the initialization command is sent to the first timing means 14 in step 112 to initialize it, and then the received information is sent to the maintenance center 3 via the communication line 4 in step 114. In the maintenance center 3, the monitor control means 31 receives the above information. That is, the processing 31 of FIG.
Received by 1. Upon receiving the information, the monitor control means 31 determines in step 312 that the information is information indicating that a certain time has elapsed, and in step 313, the second time counting means 3
Send an initialization command to 2 to initialize it.

When the above operation is performed, the first time measuring means 14 of the system support device 1 has started the second time measuring operation, and the second time measuring means 32 of the maintenance center 3 has started the first time measuring operation. ing. Here, the time to continue clocking when each clocking means does not receive the initialization command or the clock stop command is
A practical value in which the time measuring time T2 of the second time measuring means 32 is longer than the time measuring time T1 of the first time measuring means 14 in advance, for example, the time measuring time of the first time measuring means 14 is one hour, and the second time measuring means. 32 clock times are set to be 2 hours. Therefore, for example, one hour after the above-mentioned operation, the first time measuring means 14 outputs again the information indicating that the fixed time has elapsed, notifies the maintenance center 3 and initializes the second time measuring means 32. The operation of is repeated. As described above, as long as the information processing device 2, the system support device 1, and the communication line 4 are operating normally, the system support device 1 repeatedly notifies the maintenance center 3 of the passage of a fixed time period, Second time measuring means 32 is time
It will always be initialized before the end of T2 timing.

Next, a case where the system support device 1 and the communication line 4 are normal and the information processing device 2 fails will be described. In this case, the failure information collecting means 12 of the system support apparatus 1 collects the failure information of the information processing apparatus 2, and the information is sent to the notification control means 11. When the notification control means 11 determines in step 111 in FIG. 2 that the received information is failure information, the step 112 resets the received failure information after initializing the first timing means 14 in step 112. To notify the maintenance center 3 via the communication line 4. In the maintenance center 3, the monitor control means 31 receives the failure information (step 311), and when it is determined in step 312 that the received information is failure information, the second timer means 32 is initialized in step 313. To do. The received fault information is processed in the same manner as the conventional one. On the other hand, in the system support device 1 in which the notification of the failure information to the maintenance center 3 due to the failure occurrence of the information processing device 2 is completed, the first time counting means 14 restarts the time counting again, and thereafter, at the constant time intervals already described. Is repeated.

Next, the operation when the power of the information processing device 2 is cut off will be described. In this case, the system support device 1 continues to operate regardless of the power-off of the information processing device 2, the power-off detection means 13 detects the power-off, and the information is notified by the notification control means.
Send to 11. When the information control means 11 determines in step 111 of FIG. 2 that the information is information related to power-off, it sends a time stop command to the first time counting means 14 in step 113 to stop the time counting operation. In step 114, the received information about power-off is notified to the maintenance center 3 via the communication line 4. Monitoring control means in the maintenance center 3
When 31 receives the notified information (process 311) and determines in process 312 that the information is power-off information,
A time stop command is sent to the second time measuring means 33 to stop the time counting operation. When the power of the information processing device 2 is cut off in this way, the information related to the power cut-off is sent from the system support device 1 to the maintenance center 3, and thereafter the first clocking means 14 of the system support device 1 stops the clocking. However, the above-mentioned notification at regular intervals will not occur. However, at the same time, at the maintenance center 3, the second time measuring means 32 stops the passage of time,
Information indicating that a certain period of time has elapsed is not output from the second timing means 33.

Next, an operation will be described in the case where a failure occurs in the system support apparatus 1 or the communication line 4 while the information processing apparatus 2 is powered on and the failure information notification function does not operate. In this case, even if a failure occurs in the information processing operation 2, the failure information does not reach the maintenance center 3, and the information indicating that a certain period of time has passed and the information regarding disconnection of the information processing device 2 do not reach the maintenance center 3. Therefore, the second time measuring means 32 of the maintenance center 3 is not initialized within a fixed time or stopped, and as a result of continuing the time measurement, the information indicating that after the fixed time T2 is monitored, the abnormality detecting means. Output to 33. As a result, the monitoring abnormality detection means 33 displays that a failure has occurred in the failure information reporting function.

〔The invention's effect〕

As described above, in the remote monitoring system for the information processing apparatus of the present invention, the notification indicating the normality of the system support apparatus itself is sent to the maintenance center via the communication line at every predetermined time, and the system support is performed at the maintenance center. It monitors whether or not the above-mentioned notification is issued from the device at predetermined time intervals, and displays the fact that the system support device or the communication line has failed due to the interruption of the notification. The maintenance center can monitor whether or not the failure has occurred. For this reason, the reason why the failure information is not sent is that there is no failure in the information processing device, or because there is a failure in the system support device or communication line, the failure information cannot be reported. There is an effect that the maintenance center can discriminate. Also, when the power of the information processing device is cut off, the monitoring of the notification from the system support device at the maintenance center is stopped, so even if the power of the system support device itself is cut off after the power of the information processing device is cut off, the notification is interrupted. It is possible to prevent the maintenance center from displaying the occurrence of an error by mistake.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a flow chart showing an example of processing of the notification control means 11, and FIG. 3 is a flow chart showing an example of processing of the monitoring control means 31. In the figure, 1 ... system support device 2 ... information processing device 3 ... maintenance center 4 ... communication line 11 ... report control means 12 ... failure information collection means 13 ... power supply disconnection detection means 14 ... first Time measuring means 31 ... Monitoring control means 32 ... Second time measuring means 33 ... Monitoring abnormality detection means

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A system support apparatus connected to an upper processing apparatus and a maintenance center are connected via a communication line, and when a failure occurs in the information processing apparatus, the system support apparatus provides information about the failure. In a remote monitoring system of an information processing device that collects and transmits to the maintenance center via the communication line, the system support device may transmit a notification indicating normality of its own device via the communication line at predetermined time intervals. A normality notification mechanism for transmitting to the maintenance center; and a power-off information transmitting mechanism for transmitting power-off information to the maintenance center via the communication line when the information processing device is powered off, and The maintenance center monitors whether or not the notification has been issued from the system support device at predetermined time intervals, displays an abnormality occurrence when the notification is interrupted, and displays the power-off information. Remote monitoring system of the information processing apparatus characterized by including a health report monitoring mechanism for stopping the monitoring of the notification to when signal.