Partition Error Monitoring via Status Indicators and Log Copying
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Solution Overview
Problem
In data processing systems with multiple partitions, errors at boot or run time often go unnoticed due to lack of immediate error history, making timely recovery or diagnostics challenging, and there's no guarantee that error history will be available upon reboot.
Innovation Solution
A method for error monitoring in computer systems that involves providing a partition status indicator and an error log area for each partition, where error entries are copied from failing partitions to running partitions, and their status is updated to facilitate error reporting and recovery.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If error history is stored only on the virtual operator panel of the failed partition, then the system structure remains simple, but error information becomes unavailable when the partition fails
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a partition manager as an intermediary component that monitors partition status and manages error log areas in shared storage. This mediator transfers error information from failed partitions to running partitions, ensuring error history availability without requiring direct access to the failed partition's virtual operator panel.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates copies of error log entries from the failed partition's error log area and transfers them to the error log area of a running partition. This copying mechanism preserves error information even when the original partition fails, making error history available for diagnostics and recovery.
2Loss of time
If the system waits for partition reboot to access error history, then storage structure remains simple, but recovery time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs preliminary actions by continuously monitoring partition status indicators and proactively transferring error log entries to running partitions before the failed partition can be rebooted. This advance preparation ensures error information is immediately available when needed for recovery, eliminating the wait time associated with traditional reboot-dependent error access.
3Measurement precision
If error logs are maintained separately for each partition, then error tracking precision improves, but storage space consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the error log storage functionality by allowing running partitions to share and access error log areas of failed partitions through the partition manager. Instead of requiring completely separate error log storage for each partition, the system combines access rights and enables information sharing, reducing total storage requirements while maintaining accurate error tracking for each partition.
Data Source
AI summary
A method and computer program product for error monitoring partitions in a computer system. Provided to each partition is a partition status indicator (PSI) denoting a RUNNING or FAIL status of the partition, and an error log area (ELA) for storing partition error entries. The ELA includes a partition identifier, an entry status indicator (ESI) indicating READ/UNREAD status for the error entry, and an error identifier. An error procedure performed for each first partition whose partition status indicator indicates the FAIL status includes: copying each error entry in the ELA of the first partition whose ESI indicates the UNREAD status into the ELA of a second (running) partition; setting the ESI to the READ status for each copied error entry in the ELA of the first partition; and having the ESI set to the UNREAD status for each copied error entry in the ELA of the second partition.