Circular Buffer for Device Core Dump History
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current techniques for debugging and diagnosing software crashes in network devices are inefficient and resource-intensive, relying on synchronized timestamps from syslogs or SNMP data, which can be inaccurate and require additional processing resources, and may not provide a historical record of memory states prior to crashes.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a circular buffer in network devices to store historical records of processor utilization and operation information at regular time intervals, allowing for efficient retrieval of memory states before a crash without requiring multiple logs or timestamp synchronization.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If synchronized timestamps from syslogs or SNMP data are used for debugging, then historical operation information can be obtained, but the measurement precision is inaccurate and additional processing resources are consumed
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by pre-storing operation information in a circular buffer at regular time intervals before a crash occurs. This eliminates the need for timestamp synchronization during debugging, as the historical data is already captured and organized in chronological order in the buffer, providing both complete information and accurate timing without post-hoc processing.
2Loss of information
If multiple logs with timestamp synchronization are used to reconstruct memory states, then historical records can be obtained, but device complexity and processing resources increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the collection of operation information, timing data, and memory state recording into a single circular buffer structure. Instead of maintaining separate logs that require synchronization, all data is captured together at regular intervals and stored sequentially in the buffer, simplifying the system architecture while preserving complete historical memory states.
Solution Approach 2:
The circular buffer pre-captures and stores operation information at regular time intervals before a crash occurs. This preliminary recording eliminates the need for complex post-crash log reconstruction and timestamp synchronization, providing ready-to-analyze historical data that reduces both device complexity and processing resource requirements.
3Measurement precision
If traditional core dump techniques are used, then the current memory state is captured, but historical information prior to the crash is lost
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements preliminary action by continuously capturing and storing operation information in the circular buffer at regular time intervals before a crash occurs. This ensures that historical memory states are preserved chronologically in the buffer, allowing debuggers to examine not only the final crash state but also the sequence of events leading up to it, thereby preventing information loss while maintaining accurate memory state recording.
Data Source
AI summary
A device may receive information related to an operation of the device during each of multiple time intervals. The device may store, for each time interval of the multiple time intervals, the information in a respective slot of a circular buffer that includes multiple slots. The circular buffer may be used to store a historical record of the information in one or more of the multiple slots. The historical record may be provided from the circular buffer during a dump of the device. The device may provide the historical record during the dump of the device based on storing the historical record of the information in the one or more of the multiple slots.