Web Server for Post-Failure Data Collection in Virtual Machines
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Solution Overview
Problem
Software appliances with Secure Shell (SSH) disabled for security purposes face challenges in debugging and failure analysis due to lack of accessible interfaces after a hard failure, making it difficult to collect service data for failed software applications.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a web server on a virtual machine running the software application and operating system to obtain and provide service data after a failure, allowing the web server to send this data to an external entity, even when SSH is disabled, by executing commands and storing relevant data in a First Failure Data Capture file.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If SSH is disabled to prevent unauthorized access to the software appliance, then security is improved, but the ability to collect service data after failure deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a web server as an intermediary component that runs inside the software appliance and provides a HTTP-based interface for collecting service data. This web server acts as a mediator between external entities and the failed software application, allowing data collection without requiring SSH access. The web server listens on a public port and serves failure analysis data through standard web protocols, thus resolving the contradiction by providing an alternative access mechanism that maintains security while enabling post-failure data collection.
2Difficulty of detecting and measuring
If a virtual machine image is taken for failure analysis, then diagnostic capability is improved, but data transfer difficulty and complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts only the essential failure analysis data from the virtual machine environment and makes it available through the web server interface. Instead of transferring the entire virtual machine image, the system extracts specific service data, logs, and diagnostic information that are relevant for failure analysis. This extraction approach reduces the data transfer burden significantly while maintaining the diagnostic capability needed for effective failure analysis.
3Ease of operation
If the software application interface is used for data collection, then ease of operation is improved, but the interface becomes unavailable after hard failure
Solution Approach 1:
The web server is configured to remain operational even after the software application experiences a hard failure. The server continues to listen for HTTP requests and can serve failure analysis data from the failed application state. This preliminary configuration of the web server to persist through failures ensures that the data collection interface remains available when needed most, resolving the contradiction by designing the system to maintain interface functionality despite application-level failures.
Data Source
AI summary
An apparatus and a computer program product include a non-volatile computer readable medium and non-transitory program instructions embodied therein, the program instructions being configured to be executable by a processor to cause the processor to perform operations. The operations may include running a web server on a virtual machine that is running software application and an operating system that supports the software application, causing the operating system to obtain and provide service data for the software application after failure of the software application, causing the web server to receive the service data from the operating system, and causing the web server to send the obtained service data to an entity that is outside the virtual machine.