JP2000010829A - Device and method for supporting fault analysis - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a fault analysis supporting device which is small in system load and preserves gathered operating procedure information in an easy-to-reuse form. SOLUTION: A client-side system 10 has an application start monitor program 22 which monitors the start and end of application to be-monitored, a procedure monitor program 28 which symbolizes and records as instantaneous information the operating procedure of the application 20 incorporated in the application, a memory 24 which temporarily stores a log file 26 as the operating procedure, and a display 18. A development-side system 12 has a procedure script generating program 32 which generates a procedure script file 34 having a fixed keyword so that the operating procedure can easily be reproduced from the log file 30 wherein the operating procedure is recorded, a procedure reproducing program 34 which can reproduce the operating procedure, the application to be monitored, and a display 40. A fault occurring in the client-side system 10 is analyzed.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a failure analysis support system in a computer system, and more particularly to a failure analysis support apparatus and method for recording and reproducing a failure when an application failure occurs.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an operation reproducing method and an operation reproducing system of this kind of monitoring control program have been disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-16.
An example is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 0703, entitled "Operation Reproduction Method and Operation Reproduction System of Monitoring Control Program".
According to the technology described in this publication, as a customer system, there is a customer computer in which a CRT and a pointing device are connected. The customer's computer is CR
It has a monitoring control program for controlling the T and the pointing device, an operation history storage program for recording the operation history of the pointing device, and a memory for temporarily storing history information. On the other hand, the factory system has a monitoring control program, a memory, and an operation history reading / operation reproducing program for reading and reproducing an operation history. The exchange of information between these two systems is performed on a floppy disk.

[0003] Information on the operation of the pointing device operated by the user is stored in real time as operation history information by an operation history storage program resident on the customer system. The recorded operation history information is stored on a floppy disk and sent to the factory system. The factory system uses an operation history reading and operation reproduction program, and operates under the same environment as the customer system to reliably reproduce the operation. This allows the manufacturer to analyze failures and problems that have occurred in the customer system.

[0004]

In the above-mentioned prior art, the operation history storage program resides on the computer system, so that the load on the computer system is large. This leads to unstable operation of other applications and a decrease in the stability of the system itself. In the factory system, since the operation history reading / reproducing program directly uses the operation history information, if the specification of the operation history information is changed, the program must be changed according to the changed specification. Therefore, there is a problem that the use of the operation history information is restricted.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a failure analysis support apparatus and method with a small system load.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a failure analysis support apparatus and method capable of storing obtained operation history information in a form that can be easily reused.

[0007]

According to the present invention, there is provided a failure analysis support apparatus comprising: an application to be monitored; an application activation monitoring program for monitoring activation and termination of the application; and an operation procedure from an input device when the application is activated. A customer-side system having a procedure monitoring program for recording the operation procedure, a memory for temporarily storing the operation procedure, and a log file for recording the operation procedure stored in the memory; and recording in the first log file. From the second log file in which the same operation procedure as the performed operation procedure is recorded, and from this second log file, create a procedure script file including fixed keywords so that the operation procedure can be easily reproduced. A procedure script generation program and an application in the same environment as the application to be monitored And Shon, on the application, and a development-side system having a procedure reproducing program for reproducing the operating procedure from said procedure script file. The exchange of information between the two systems, the customer system and the development system, is performed on an electronic recording medium such as a floppy disk.

The present invention also relates to a failure analysis support method for analyzing a failure occurring in a computer of a customer side system on a development side system, wherein the customer side system checks whether an application has been started. Recording the operating procedure of the application in the memory when the application is started, checking the free space of the memory and / or checking whether the screen is switched, and switching the screen when there is no free space in the memory or when the screen is switched. And writing the operating procedure of the memory to a first log file, wherein the operating procedure is the same as the operating procedure recorded in the first log file. Reading the second log file, and the read log file Extracting a valid operation procedure from the extracted operation procedure, generating a procedure script file composed of fixed keywords from the extracted operation procedure, reading the procedure script file, and an application of the customer side system. The method includes a step of starting an application in the same environment, and a step of reproducing the operation procedure on the application using the procedure script file.

[0009]

Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIG. FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a failure analysis support device according to the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the failure analysis support apparatus includes a customer system 10, a development system 12, and an electronic recording medium such as a floppy disk that passes operation data of the customer system 10 to the development system 12. 14.

The customer system 10 includes a keyboard 16
, Display 18, application 20 registered in advance as a monitoring target, and application 2
The system comprises an application start monitoring program 22 for monitoring whether 0 is started on the system, a memory 24 for temporarily recording operation procedures, and a log file 26 for recording operation procedures. Application 2
0 incorporates a procedure monitoring program 28,
The procedure monitoring program 28 encodes and records the immediate information of the operation procedure of the application 20. The operation information to be recorded is screen data, input data, user operation, processing history, and processing time.

The development side system 12 is the customer side system 1
0, a log file 30 recording the operation procedure of the application 20, a procedure script generation program 32 for converting the log file 30 into a procedure script file,
A procedure script file 34 composed of screen data, input data, and user operation information, which are effective information for reproducing the operation procedure, and an operation of the customer system 10 based on the information read from the procedure script file 34 and recorded. It is composed of a procedure reproduction program 36 to be reproduced, an application 38 which is the same environment as the application 20 of the customer side system 10, and a display 40.

When the user starts up the customer-side system 10, the application start-up monitoring program 22 starts up.
Initial settings are made, and the activation of the application 20 on the system is monitored. When the application 20 is activated, the application activation monitoring program 22 records the operation procedure of the application 2
Then, the procedure monitoring program 28 incorporated in the program 0 is started. The procedure monitoring program 28
The information that symbolizes the immediate information of the operating procedure in the memo 24
To temporarily memorize. The recorded operation information includes screen data, input data, user operation, processing history, and processing time. The operation procedure information of the memory 24 is stored in the log file 26 as operation information when there is no free space in the memory 24 or when the screen of the application is switched.

The operation information of the log file 26 is stored in the electronic recording medium 14 such as a floppy disk, sent to the development system 12, and taken into the log file 30. The log file 30 is once converted into a procedure script file 34 by a procedure script generation program 32. The information recorded in the procedure script file 34 is screen data, input data, and user operations.
The procedure reproduction program 36 is a procedure script file 3
4 on the application 38, the customer system 10
The operation performed by the application 20 is reproduced.

Next, the operation of the failure analysis support apparatus will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the processing of the customer system. FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing processing of the development system. As shown in FIG. 2, the application start monitoring program 22 starts processing at the same time when the customer system 10 is started. The application activation monitoring program 22 starts checking whether the pre-registered application 20 has been activated and terminated (step A1). The activation and termination of the application 20 are periodically checked at regular time intervals (this time interval is 5 seconds in the present embodiment). If the application 20 has not been activated, the application 20 enters the waiting state again (step A2).

When the target application 20 is activated, the application activation monitoring program 22 gives an instruction to start recording the operation procedure to the procedure monitoring program 28 (step A3). Upon receiving the instruction, the procedure monitoring program 28 encodes the immediate information of the operation and starts recording (step A4). Information to be recorded is screen data, input data, user operation, processing history, and processing time. The procedure monitoring program 28 temporarily records the collected information in the memory 24 on the system. At the same time as recording the information, the free space of the memory 24 is checked (step A5). If there is no free space, the information on the memory 24 is written to the log file 26 (step A7), and the process returns to step A4. If the screen of the application 20 has not been switched, the procedure monitoring program 28 checks whether or not a stop instruction has been issued from the application activation monitoring program 22 (step A8). If there is no end instruction, the operation procedure is recorded (steps A4 to A7). If there is an instruction to end, the process ends.

The log file 26 is recorded on an electronic recording medium 14 such as a floppy disk, sent to the development system 12, and the operation information data is analyzed.

In the development system 12, as shown in FIG. 3, a log file 26 recorded in the customer system 10 is used.
Is prepared as a log file 30 via the electronic recording medium 14.

The procedure script generation program 32 reads the log file 30 (step B1) and extracts only information effective for the operation procedure from the log file 30 (step B2). Information to be extracted is screen data, input data, and user operations. The procedure script generation program 32 generates a procedure script file 34 composed of fixed keywords based on the extracted information (Step B3). The procedure script file 34 is read by the procedure reproduction program 36 (Step B4). The procedure reproduction program 36 is the client system 1
The application 38 that is the same environment as the application 20 of the application 0 is started (step B5). Then, as described in the procedure script file 34,
The operation procedure operated by the application 20 of the customer system 10 is reproduced on the application 38 (step B6). The reproduced operation procedure is displayed on the display 40
Is displayed through

In steps B2 and B3, the procedure script file 34 is generated from the log file 30 by the procedure script generation program 32 because the procedure script file 34 is converted into a procedure script file composed of fixed keywords. Is changed,
This is because there is little influence on the reproduction of the procedure in the development-side system 12.

Next, a specific embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a specific example of data and the like.
As shown in FIG. 4, the application start monitoring program 22 starts at the same time as the system starts, performs initial settings, and constantly monitors the start of the application 20 in the background. At the same time as the application 20 is activated, the procedure monitoring program 28 incorporated in the application 20 is activated. The user performs an operation of inputting data 1 and transmitting data 1, inputting data 2 and transmitting data 2 on the screen of the application 20 (FIG. 4A) (FIG. 4B). The operation procedure is coded as immediate information in accordance with the operation procedure symbol comparison table shown in FIG. The operation procedure temporarily recorded in the memory 24 is recorded in the log file 26 by the procedure monitoring program 28 when there is no free space in the memory 24 or when the screen of the application 20 is switched (FIG. 4C). . The operation information to be recorded in the log file 26 is screen data, input data, user operation, processing history, and processing time.

The operation information recorded in the memory 24 is, as described above, an operation procedure symbol comparison table (FIG. 4).
This is converted into a symbol corresponding to (e)). This conversion to the symbols minimizes the size of the log file because the screen of the target application and the user operation are recorded as the corresponding symbols.

In reproducing the operation procedure in the development-side system 12, a procedure script file 34 necessary for reproducing the procedure
Is generated. The procedure script generation program 32 extracts only valid information from the log file 30 (FIG. 4C), and extracts the procedure script file 34 (FIG. 4C).
(D)) is generated. Information recorded in the procedure script file 34 and effective for reproduction is stored in the log file 30.
This is screen data, input data, and user operations recorded in (FIG. 4C). Procedure script file 34
Is recorded as a reusable procedure script with only the reproduction information of the procedure, and is generated as a short and readable fixed keyword. The procedure reproduction program 36 reads the generated procedure script file 34 and reproduces the operation procedure on an application 38 which is the same environment as the application 20 of the customer system 10. Thereby, it is possible to analyze a failure or a problem that has occurred in the customer system.

Next, another embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. In this embodiment, the memory 2 shown in FIG.
4 and the log file 26 are configured as an external battery backup memory 46 including a memory 42 and a log file 44.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, since the memory 24 for recording the operation procedure exists inside the system, it always depends on the operation of the system. If a failure occurs during a user operation, there is a possibility that not only the application being operated but also the entire system may be down. If the whole system goes down, the recorded contents will be lost when the system goes down. On the other hand, by providing the memory 42 of the external battery backup memory as a temporary recording location of the operation procedure as in the embodiment of FIG. 5, it is possible to save data when a more serious failure occurs without increasing the load on the system. It becomes possible.

[0025]

According to the present invention, the load on the system can be minimized by making the resident application startup monitoring program monitor only the startup and termination of the target application. . In addition, since the screen of the target application and the user operation are recorded as symbols corresponding to each, the capacity of the log file can be minimized. Also,
In the operation procedure reproduction on the development side system, since the procedure reproduction program reads and operates the procedure script with fixed keywords, even if the specification of the log file collected on the customer side system changes, the procedure Can be reproduced. Therefore, the reusability of the procedure script file and the procedure reproduction program is improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing processing of a customer system.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating processing of a development-side system.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a specific example of data and the like.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a configuration of another embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Customer system 12 Development system 14 Electronic recording medium 16 Keyboard 18 Display 20 Application 22 Application startup monitoring program 24 Memory 26 Log file 28 Procedure monitoring program 30 Log file 32 Procedure script generation program 34 Procedure script file 36 Procedure reproduction program 38 Application 40 Display 42 Memory 44 Log file 46 External battery backup memory

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A customer system having a program for monitoring the start and end of an application, a program for recording an operation procedure of the application in a first log file when the application is started, and a first log file. A second log file in which the same operation procedure as the recorded operation procedure is recorded, a program for generating a procedure script file described by a fixed keyword from the second log file, and an operation procedure from the procedure script file; And a development system having a procedure reproduction program to perform the failure analysis. 2. An application to be monitored, an application activation monitoring program for monitoring the activation and termination of the application, a procedure monitoring program for recording an operation procedure from an input device when the application is activated, and temporarily storing the operation procedure A customer-side system having a memory for temporarily storing, and a log file for recording the operation procedure stored in the memory; and a second system in which the same operation procedure as the operation procedure recorded in the first log file is recorded. And a procedure script generating program for creating a procedure script file composed of fixed keywords from the second log file so that the operation procedure can be easily reproduced. Environment application and the application A development system having a procedure reproduction program for reproducing the operation procedure from a procedure script file. 3. The exchange of information between a first log file of the customer system and a second log file of the development system is performed on an electronic recording medium. The failure analysis support device as described. 4. The system according to claim 2, wherein said memory of said customer system and said log file are constituted by an external backup memory provided outside said customer system. Failure analysis support device. 5. The fault analysis support apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said procedure monitoring program symbolizes immediate information of an operation procedure and stores the information in the memory. 6. A failure analysis support method for analyzing, on a development side system, a failure occurring in a computer of a customer side system, wherein in the customer side system, a step of checking whether an application has been started, and a step of starting the application Recording the operating procedure of the application in the memory, checking the free space of the memory and / or checking whether the screen has been switched, and determining whether there is no free space in the memory or when the screen is switched. And writing the operating procedure of the memory to a first log file. In the developing system, a second log in which the same operating procedure as the operating procedure recorded in the first log file is recorded Steps to read the file and valid operations from the read log file Extracting the order, generating a procedure script file composed of fixed keywords from the extracted operation procedure, reading the procedure script file, and has the same environment as the application of the customer system. A failure analysis support method, comprising: activating an application; and reproducing the operation procedure on the application using the procedure script file. 7. The failure analysis support method according to claim 6, wherein the recording in the memory is performed by symbolizing immediate information of an operation procedure.