Trace-on-failure flag indexing for log isolation
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Solution Overview
Problem
In large computer networks, isolating tracelog information for failed sessions from a vast volume of logs is cumbersome due to the size and distribution of logs, making it difficult to efficiently identify and retrieve relevant error information in a timely manner.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of run-time annotation of metadata in log files with trace-on-failure flags, combined with on-device file indexing, allows for efficient lookup and retrieval of messages associated with specific error contexts, reducing the search space by orders of magnitude and enabling fast isolation of session-oriented failure logs.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If the volume of event logs is increased to support larger network scales, then the network capacity increases, but the difficulty of isolating tracelog information for failed sessions increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the large volume of event logs by introducing failure-type indicators that categorize log entries according to their failure types. This segmentation allows the system to divide the haystack of logs into distinct segments based on failure characteristics, making it easier to locate specific failure-related tracelogs without examining every single log entry.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces failure-type indicators as intermediary elements between the raw log data and the search/query mechanism. These indicators act as mediators that pre-process and tag log entries with failure-related metadata, enabling efficient filtering and isolation of relevant tracelogs without requiring full-text search through the entire log volume.
2Quantity of substance
If the volume of event logs is increased to support larger network scales, then the network capacity increases, but the time required to isolate tracelog information increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by pre-tagging log entries with failure-type indicators at the time of log generation or during a preliminary processing phase. This advance preparation ensures that when a tracelog isolation query is executed, the system can immediately filter using pre-computed indicators rather than performing time-consuming searches through the entire log volume at query time.
3Measurement precision
If the size of log files is increased to capture more session information, then the measurement precision improves, but the complexity of isolating specific failure logs increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by adding failure-type indicators specifically to log entries that contain failure information, rather than uniformly processing or tagging all log entries. This localized approach maintains high measurement precision for failure-related logs while avoiding the complexity overhead of processing entire log files with the same level of detail.
Data Source
AI summary
In one embodiment, a device writes messages and corresponding trace-on-failure flags to log files when failure conditions are detected. The device propagates the trace-on-failure flags to headers of the log files. The device forms a file index of the log files that have trace-on-failure flags set in their headers. The device performs, using the file index, a lookup of messages in the log files associated with a particular error context. The device sends data from the lookup to an electronic display.