JP2007128185A - Information processor, information processing system, information processing method and information processing program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an information processor, information processing system, information processing method and information processing program for flexibly facilitating countermeasures even to the change of system configurations. <P>SOLUTION: This information processor is configured of a transition information storing means 142 for storing a plurality of statuses to be obtained by a specifying function and transition information by associating them; a current status specifying means 126 for specifying the current status of the specific function when the status transition instruction is acquired from another device 200; a transition processing specifying means 128 for specifying, based on transition information stored so as to be associated with the specifying function by the transition information storing means 142, an instructed status shown by a status transition instruction and the current status, transition processing necessary for achieving the transition of the current status to the instructed status; a status transition means 130 for achieving transition to the instructed status; and a completion notification transmitting means 132 for transmitting completion notification showing that the transition to the instructed status is completed to the other device 200. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus, an information processing system, an information processing method, and an information processing program that perform processing in cooperation with other information processing apparatuses.

  In recent years, the computer system has become complicated, and the management cost of the computer system has increased. Therefore, research on a self-management system that allows the computer system itself to manage the computer system has been conducted (see, for example, “Non-Patent Document 1”).

  In order to realize a self-management system, it is necessary to detect problems occurring in the computer system and to plan and execute countermeasures against the problems. In the autonomic computing toolkit (hereinafter referred to as ACToolkit) (Non-patent Document 2) proposed for realizing a self-management system, the manager should monitor the manager called Autonomous Management Engine (hereinafter referred to as AME). A self-management system is realized by specifying resources, events to be detected from monitored resources, and actions for them.

An architectural blueprint for autonomic computing, IBM white paper What is autonomic computing, Softbank publishing; ISBN: 4797330376

  However, when realizing a self-management system, the dependency between the components of the system to be automatically managed becomes a problem. That is, in order for one component of the system to operate normally, another component may need to be in a particular state.

  For example, in order for the client program to operate normally, the server program needs to be activated. In this case, in order to realize the self-management system, it is necessary to provide the self-management system with the dependency relationship between the client program and the server program, the method for determining the state of the server program, and the method for starting the server program as management knowledge. is there.

  However, in the conventional self-management system, the management knowledge regarding the dependency relationship between the components is centrally managed. For this reason, there is a problem that it is not possible to flexibly cope with changes such as addition or replacement of components. For example, in ACToolkit, it is necessary to add or change the operation for the monitoring target resource or event of AME.

  Further, in the conventional self-management system, there is no framework for reusing knowledge specific to necessary software for self-management. In other words, management knowledge regarding a plurality of components is managed in a mixed format. For this reason, it is difficult to determine the relationship between management knowledge and components.

  For this reason, for example, when a change such as addition of new software is added to the computer system, it is necessary for the administrator to investigate the Web and literatures and collect necessary knowledge. It was also necessary to organize the collected knowledge for the computer system that it manages.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above, and an object of the present invention is to provide an information processing apparatus, an information processing system, an information processing method, and an information processing program that can flexibly cope with a change in system configuration.

  In order to solve the above-described problems and achieve the object, the present invention is an information processing apparatus that performs processing in cooperation with another information processing apparatus, and a plurality of states that can be taken by a specific function of the information processing apparatus A transition information holding unit that holds the transition information indicating a state that can be transitioned from each state in association with each other, and a state transition instruction that instructs the state of the specific function to transition to a predetermined state. A state transition instruction acquiring unit that acquires from another device depending on the state of the current state, a current state specifying unit that specifies a current state of the specific function when the state transition instruction acquiring unit acquires the state transition instruction, The transition information held by the transition information holding unit in association with the specific function, the instruction state indicated by the state transition instruction acquired by the state transition instruction acquiring unit, and the current state specifying unit. Based on the identified current state, a transition process identifying unit that identifies a transition process necessary for transitioning from the current state to the instruction state, and the transition process identified by the transition process identifying unit A state transition unit for executing and transitioning to the instruction state; and a completion notification for transmitting to the other device a completion notification indicating that the transition to the instruction state is completed when the state transition unit completes the process And a transmission means.

  According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an information processing system in which a plurality of devices perform processing in cooperation, and a dependent information processing device that depends on another device among the plurality of devices is the dependent information processing. Restriction information holding means for holding the specific process executed in the apparatus and the restriction information indicating the specific state in the specific function of another information processing apparatus that must be established to execute the specific process in association with each other And based on the constraint information retrieved by the constraint information retrieval unit, the constraint information retrieval unit that retrieves the constraint information corresponding to the specific process from the constraint information retained by the constraint information retention unit, Transition instruction transmitting means for identifying the other information processing apparatus and transmitting a state transition instruction indicating transition of the state of the specific function of the other information processing apparatus to the specific state; The other information processing device identified by the constraint information search means includes a plurality of states that can be taken by the specific function of the other information processing device and transition information indicating a state that can be transitioned from each state. Transition information holding means for holding in association with each other, state transition instruction acquisition means for acquiring the state transition instruction for instructing to change the state of the specific function to the specific state, and the state Current state specifying means for specifying the current state of the specific function when the transition instruction acquiring means acquires the state transition instruction; and the transition information held by the transition information holding means in association with the specific function; Whether the current state is based on the instruction state indicated by the state transition instruction acquired by the state transition instruction acquiring unit and the current state specified by the state specifying unit. A transition process specifying means for specifying a transition process necessary for transitioning to the indicated state; a state transition means for executing the transition process specified by the transition process specifying means and making a transition to the indicated state; and the state And a transmission unit that transmits a completion notification indicating that the transition to the instruction state is completed to the dependent information processing device when the transition unit completes the process. A completion notification receiving unit that receives the completion notification indicating that the transition indicated in the transition instruction has been completed from the information processing device, and the identification function of the specific function when the completion notification receiving unit receives the completion notification. And a process management means for executing the process.

  Another embodiment of the present invention is an information processing method for performing processing in cooperation with another information processing apparatus, and a state transition instruction for instructing transition of the state of the specific function to a predetermined state, State transition instruction acquisition step acquired from another device depending on the state of the specific function, and current state specification step for specifying the current state of the specific function when the state transition instruction is acquired in the state transition instruction acquisition step And a transition information holding unit that holds a plurality of states that can be taken by the specific function of the information processing apparatus and transition information indicating a state that can be changed from each state in association with the specific function. The transition information, the instruction state indicated in the state transition instruction acquired in the state transition instruction acquisition step, and the current state specified by the current state specifying means Based on the transition process specifying step for specifying a transition process necessary for transitioning from the current state to the instruction state, the transition process specified in the transition process specifying step is executed, and the instruction state is set. A transition state transition step, and a completion notification transmission step of transmitting a completion notification indicating that the transition to the instruction state is completed to the other device when the processing in the state transition step is completed. Features.

  Another embodiment of the present invention is an information processing method in an information processing system in which a plurality of devices perform processing in a coordinated manner, and a dependent information processing device that depends on another device among the plurality of devices includes: A specific process executed in the dependent information processing apparatus is associated with constraint information indicating a specific state in a specific function of another information processing apparatus that must be established in order to execute the specific process. Based on the constraint information retrieved in the constraint information retrieval step, the constraint information retrieval step for retrieving the constraint information corresponding to the specific process from the constraint information retained by the constraint information retaining unit, the other information A transition instruction transmission step for identifying an information processing apparatus and transmitting a state transition instruction indicating transition of the state of the specific function of the other information processing apparatus to the specific state And the other information processing device identified by the constraint information search means obtains the state transition instruction from the dependent information processing device instructing the state of the specific function to transition to the specific state. A state transition instruction acquisition step, a current state specification step for specifying a current state of the specific function when the state transition instruction is acquired in the state transition instruction acquisition step, and the specific function of the other information processing apparatus. Transition information holding means that holds a plurality of possible states and transition information indicating states that can be transitioned from each state in association with each other, and holds the transition information in association with the specific function, and the state transition instruction Based on the instruction state indicated in the state transition instruction acquired in the acquisition step and the current state specified in the state specifying step, A transition process specifying step for specifying a transition process necessary for transitioning from the current state to the instruction state, and a state transition step for executing the transition process specified in the transition process specifying step and making a transition to the instruction state A transmission step of transmitting a completion notification indicating that the transition to the instruction state is completed to the dependent information processing device when the processing in the state transition step is completed; and A completion notification receiving step for receiving the completion notification indicating that the transition indicated in the transition instruction has been completed, and the completion notification received in the completion notification receiving step. And a process management step for executing a specific process.

  According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an information processing program for causing a computer to execute information processing that performs processing in cooperation with another information processing device, and transitioning the state of the specific function to a predetermined state. A state transition instruction acquisition step of acquiring a state transition instruction to be instructed from another device depending on the state of the specific function, and a current state of the specific function when the state transition instruction is acquired in the state transition instruction acquisition step A transition information holding unit that associates and holds a plurality of states that can be taken by the specific function of the information processing apparatus, and transition information that indicates a state that can be transitioned from each state, the specific function The transition information held in association with the instruction state indicated in the state transition instruction acquired in the state transition instruction acquisition step, and the current Based on the current state specified by the state specifying means, a transition process specifying step for specifying a transition process necessary for making a transition from the current state to the instruction state, and specifying in the transition process specifying step A state transition step for executing the transition process and transitioning to the instruction state, and when the process in the state transition step is completed, a completion notification indicating completion of the transition to the instruction state is sent to the other device And a completion notification transmission step for transmission.

  In the information processing apparatus according to the present invention, the transition information holding unit holds a plurality of states that can be taken by the specific function of the information processing apparatus and transition information indicating states that can be transitioned from each state in association with each other When the state transition instruction acquiring unit acquires a state transition instruction that instructs to change the state of the specific function to the predetermined state from another device that depends on the state of the specific function, the current state specifying unit The transition processing specifying means specifies the transition processing necessary for transitioning from the current state to the indicated state based on the information held by the transition information holding means, the instruction state, and the current state. After completion of the state transition, the completion notification transmission unit transmits a completion notification. Therefore, when another device performs processing depending on the state of the predetermined function of the information processing device, the other device When receiving the al transition indication completes the state transition by the above process. Therefore, even when the configuration of the information processing apparatus is updated, there is no need to make any changes in other apparatuses that depend on the apparatus, and the effect of being able to flexibly cope with changes in the system. Play.

  Embodiments of an information processing apparatus, an information processing system, an information processing method, and an information processing program according to the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. Note that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an overall configuration of an information processing system 10 according to an embodiment. The information processing system 10 includes a plurality of computers 100, 200... Connected to the network 5. Each computer included in the information processing system 10 according to the present embodiment proceeds with processing while depending on the states of other devices.

  In the embodiment, the dependency processing will be described by taking the server computer 100 and the dependency computer 200 depending on the state of a predetermined function of the server computer 100 when processing is taken as an example.

  The server computer 100 and the dependent computer 200 are an SSH (Secure Shell) client and an SSH server, respectively. SSH is a service for operating a remote computer from a nearby computer using encrypted communication.

  When using SSH, it is necessary to install an SSH server on a remotely operated computer and install an SSH client on a nearby computer used for remote operation.

  In SSH, it is possible to perform encrypted communication using public key cryptography. Public key cryptography is to realize secure encryption by using a secret key and a public key and not exposing the secret key to the outside. In a program in which an SSH server or an SSH client is installed, if the secret key setting is not secure, it can be prevented from operating normally.

  SSH can be used by designating a computer to be remotely operated, for example, “ssh remote.example.jp” from CLI (Command Line Interface).

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of the server computer 100. The server computer 100 includes a first content 111, a second content 112, and a server computer management unit 120. Further, the server computer management unit 120 includes a transition instruction receiving unit 122, a function specifying unit 124, a current state specifying unit 126, a transition process specifying unit 128, a state transition unit 130, a completion notification transmitting unit 132, a function It has an information database (DB) 140 and a transition information DB 142.

  Specifically, the first content 111 is an open daemon, and is a program that implements a function as an SSH server. The second content 112 is a program that implements a mail receiving function. As described above, the first content 111 and the second content 112 are contents for realizing a predetermined function. The server computer management unit 120 manages the processing state of the first content 111 and the second content 112.

  The transition instruction receiving unit 122 receives a transition instruction from the outside via the network 5. The transition instruction is information indicating that a predetermined function is set in a predetermined state. For example, information indicating that the first content 111 is activated. Further, the transition instruction receiving unit 122 specifically receives from the dependency computer 200 depending on the 100.

  The function specifying unit 124 specifies the function indicated in the transition instruction received by the transition instruction receiving unit 122. At this time, information stored in the function information DB 140 is referred to. The function information DB 140 stores function information. The function information is information indicating content for actually realizing each function installed in the server computer 100 such as the first content 111 and the second content 112.

  The current state specifying unit 126 specifies the current state of the function specified by the function specifying unit 124. At this time, the information stored in the transition information DB 142 is referred to. The transition information DB 142 stores state information of each function. Here, the state information is information indicating a processing state in each function such as a standby state and an activation state. Furthermore, information indicating the current state of each function is also held.

  The transition process specifying unit 128 specifies a process for making a transition from the current state specified by the current state specifying unit 126 to the state indicated by the transition instruction. At this time, the information stored in the transition information DB 142 is referred to. The state transition unit 130 executes the process specified by the transition process specifying unit 128 and causes the function indicated by the transition instruction to transition to the state indicated by the transition instruction.

  When the processing of the state transition unit 130 is completed, the completion notification transmission unit 132 transmits a completion notification indicating that the transition to the state indicated by the transition instruction is completed to the transmission source of the transition instruction via the network 5. To do.

  The first content 111, that is, the distribution package of the open daemon, includes state information indicating the state of the open daemon. When the opensh daemon is installed, the transition information of the opensh daemon is read into the transition information DB 142. Furthermore, the function information in the function information DB 140 is updated.

  The open daemon package is provided with information that the open daemon is an SSH server (hereinafter referred to as package information). Then, the function information is updated by an installation apparatus that can update the function information based on the package information. As another example, the administrator of the server computer 100 may update the function information.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram schematically illustrating a data configuration of the function information DB 140. Functions and contents for actually realizing the functions are stored in association with each other. For example, “opensh daemon” is stored in association with the function “SSH”.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining data stored in the transition information DB 142. FIG. 4 schematically shows transition information of the opensh daemon. The opensh daemon transitions between three states: a start state, a stop state, and an error 1 state. The stop state is a state in which the opensh daemon is stopped normally. The error 1 state is a state in which the secret key file referred to by the opensh daemon is a dangerous setting, that is, a setting that can be read by a user other than the administrator, and the opensh daemon has failed to start. In order for the SSH client to connect to the open daemon, the open daemon needs to be activated.

  As shown in FIG. 4, a transition can be made between the stopped state and the activated state. From the error 1 state, it is possible to transition only to the stopped state. In order to make a transition from the stopped state to the activated state, the program 1 may be executed. In order to make a transition from the activated state to the deactivated state, the program 2 may be executed. In order to make a transition from the error 1 state to the stop state, the program 3 may be executed. The program 1, the program 2, and the program 3 are operations necessary for changing the state of the open daemon, and are specialized for the open daemon.

  Note that the information about the state transition of the opensh daemon as shown in FIG. 4 is the knowledge obtained from the experience of operating and managing the opensh daemon and the literature on the opensh daemon. Based on such information, it is registered by an administrator or the like.

  Further, the transition information DB 142 stores information capable of recognizing which state is the current state. Specifically, a flag indicating the current state is given as shown in FIG.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram schematically illustrating the data configuration of the transition information DB 142. The transition information DB 142 stores information regarding the transition state described with reference to FIG. 4 for each content. As shown in FIG. 5, the transition information DB 142 stores attribute information, state information, and transition information for each content.

  The attribute information includes an attribute necessary for determining the state of the open daemon and a method for calculating the attribute value. As shown in FIG. 5, the opensh daemon has two attributes “process” and “key security”.

  For example, the attribute information “process: /var/run/sshd.pid in / proc /” illustrated in FIG. 5 indicates the following contents. In other words, the attribute value of the attribute “process” becomes “true” when the character string described in the file “/var/run/sshd.pid” exists in the “/ proc” directory. If not, “false” is displayed.

  The state information includes known states of the opensh daemon and attribute values in each state. For example, “activation: process = true, key security = true” shown in FIG. 5 indicates the following contents. That is, if the process attribute value is true and the key security attribute is true, the opensh daemon is in an activated state.

  The transition information is information indicating processing necessary for transitioning the state of the open daemon. The transition information includes a transition name, a pre-state, a post-state, and a process. For example, “transition 1: stop, start, program 1” shown in FIG. 5 indicates the following contents. That is, in order to make a transition from the stopped state to the activated state, the program 1 is executed.

  FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of the dependency computer 200. The dependency computer 200 includes an open client 210, a constraint information DB 220, and a dependency computer management unit 230. Further, the open client 210 has a constraint information search unit 212 and a process execution management unit 214. The dependency computer management unit 230 includes a transition instruction transmission unit 232 and a completion notification reception unit 234.

  The open client 210 is a program that implements a function as an SSH client. The processing in the open client 210 depends on the state of the function that the server computer 100 has. The dependency computer management unit 230 manages processing in the open client 210.

  The constraint information DB 220 stores constraint information. Here, the restriction information is information indicating contents that become restrictions when the open client 210 proceeds with processing. The restriction information is information indicating the state of the function on which the processing of the open client 210 depends. For example, when the open client 210 is activated, it is assumed that the server computer 100 needs to be activated. In this case, the constraint information indicating the activation of the server computer 100 is stored in association with the activation process of the open client 210.

  The constraint information search unit 212 searches the constraint information DB 220 for constraint information associated with the process being executed in the open client 210. Then, based on the constraint information, the computer on which the processing of the open client 210 depends, that is, the target computer is specified. Furthermore, the state of the target computer necessary for proceeding with the processing of the open client 210 is specified based on the constraint information.

  The process execution management unit 214 manages the execution of processes by the open client 210. For example, the process is suspended until the target computer specified by the constraint information search unit 212 is in the state indicated by the constraint information.

  The transition instruction transmission unit 232 transmits, to the target computer via the network 5, a transition instruction indicating that the target computer specified by the constraint information search unit 212 transitions to the state specified by the constraint information search unit 212. In the present embodiment, it is transmitted to the server computer 100.

  The completion notification receiving unit 234 receives a completion notification from the target computer, that is, the server computer 100 via the network 5. When the completion notification reception unit 234 receives the completion notification, the process execution management unit 214 resumes the processing of the opensh client 210.

The dependency computer 200 has an open client installed. An open client is a program that implements a function as an SSH client. The distribution package of the open client includes constraint information for the normal operation of the open client. When an open client is installed, a constraint information search unit 212 for transmitting the constraint information stored in the constraint information DB 220 to the dependency computer management unit 230 is installed. The constraint information search unit 212 may be, for example, the following program that wraps an open client.
#! / Usr / bin / python
import os
import sys
import client_manager
const = search_constraint (“connect”)
host = search_host (const, sys.argv)
client_manager. request (const, host)
os. System ("/ usr / bin / ssh% s", sys.argv [1])

  In this example, “search_constraint” is a program that searches the constraint information for constraints related to the function to be used. In the above example, the restriction on the connection function of the open client is searched by specifying “connect” as an argument.

  “Search_host” is a program for searching for a computer that should satisfy the constraint from the constraint information. In the above example, the computer that should satisfy the constraint when using the connection function of the open client is searched. “Client_manager” is a program in which a client computer management device is installed. In the above example, the management apparatus of the client computer is requested to satisfy the constraint (const) on the computer specified by “host”.

  The wrap program as described above can be used as an open client by using the alias function. As another example, the constraint information search unit 212 may be realized by replacing a shared library, for example.

  FIG. 7 is a diagram schematically showing the data configuration of the constraint information DB 220. As shown in FIG. Stores constraint information for various functions of the open client 210. In addition to each function, the constraint information includes an access destination computer and a condition in association with the function. As shown in FIG. 7, the access destination computer associated with the function “connection” is “<STDIN>”. That is, the computer is designated from the standard input. Here, for example, the server computer 100 is designated.

  The condition associated with the function “connection” is “SSH server = startup”. This indicates that the “SSH server” needs to be in the “activated” state. That is, what is specified in the constraint information is a condition for the function, not a condition for the content that is implemented to realize the function. That is, the condition does not depend on the content.

  FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a dependency process when the server computer 100 performs a process depending on the dependency computer 200. Here, processing when the server computer 100 makes the SSH server available will be described. As a premise, the SSH server of the server computer 100, that is, the opensh daemon is assumed to be in the error 1 state.

  First, the dependency computer 200 acquires the ssh connection request input from the user (step S100). Next, the dependent computer 200 attempts to connect to the server computer 100 using the open client 210. Specifically, a command “ssh server.example.jp” is issued from the CLI. Here, “server.example.jp” is the address of the server computer 100.

  Next, the constraint information search unit 212 of the opensh client 210 refers to the constraint information (step S102) and identifies the target computer (step S104). Further, the target function in the target computer is specified (step S106). Next, the server computer management unit 120 of the server computer 100 is notified that the SSH server in the server computer 100 needs to be activated. That is, a transition instruction is transmitted to the identified target computer (step S108).

  When the transition instruction receiving unit 122 of the server computer 100 receives the transition instruction from the dependent computer 200, the function specifying unit 124 refers to the function information DB 140 and specifies the target function (step S110). Furthermore, the content implemented as the target function is specified. Specifically, an SSH server is specified as the target function, and an openns daemon associated with the SSH server in the function information DB 140 is specified.

  Next, the current state specifying unit 126 specifies the current state based on the information stored in the transition information DB 142 (step S112). Specifically, each attribute value is calculated with reference to the attribute information of the opensh daemon. Further, based on the calculated attribute value and state information, it is specified that the current state is the error 1 state.

  Next, the transition process specifying unit 128 specifies the transition process (step S114). Specifically, the transition process is specified based on the transition information stored in the transition information DB 142. For example, a graph theory search algorithm or the like is used. Thereby, in order to make a transition from the error 1 state to the activated state, the program 3 and the program 1 are specified as a process that needs to be executed, that is, a transition process. Program 3 and program 1 are executed in this order. That is, the execution order is also specified.

  Next, the state transition unit 130 executes the transition process identified by the transition process identification unit 128 and completes the transition to the state indicated by the transition instruction (step S116). Specifically, the program 3 and the program 1 are executed in this order. Thereby, the transition to the activation state of the opensh daemon is completed.

  After the transition is completed, the completion notification transmission unit 132 transmits a completion notification indicating that the transition to the activated state is completed to the dependent computer 200 (step S118). If the current state and the state indicated by the transition instruction are the same, the server computer 100 transmits a completion notification without performing the above processing.

  When the completion notification reception unit 234 of the dependency computer 200 receives the completion notification, the process execution management unit 214 instructs execution of the process (step S120). Specifically, the server computer 100 starts connection processing to the dependency computer 200. Thus, the dependency process is completed.

  Note that the transition instruction transmitted by the server computer 100 is information that depends only on the function of the dependent computer 200 and does not depend on the content implemented to realize the function. For this reason, even if content other than the open daemon is implemented as an SSH server, for example, when a transition instruction is received, the current state in this content is specified, and the transition instruction is indicated from this state. It is possible to make a transition to the state. That is, even if the content corresponding to a certain function in the dependent computer 200 is changed to another content, it is not necessary to change the setting in the server computer 100.

  Further, in a conventional centralized management system, when an SSH server is installed in a computer other than the server computer 100 included in the information processing system 10, a change corresponding to this is necessary. On the other hand, in the information processing system 10 according to the present embodiment, such a response is not necessary, and a computer in which an SSH server is newly installed may be specified in “<STDIN>”.

  FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of the information processing system 10 according to the embodiment. The information processing system 10 includes, as a hardware configuration, a ROM 52 that stores a dependency processing program that executes dependency processing in the information processing system 10, a CPU 51 that controls each unit of the information processing system 10 according to the program in the ROM 52, A RAM 53 that stores various data necessary for control of the information processing system 10, a communication I / F 57 that communicates by connecting to a network, and a bus 62 that connects each unit are provided.

  The dependency processing program in the information processing system 10 described above is a file in an installable or executable format on a computer-readable recording medium such as a CD-ROM, floppy (R) disk (FD), or DVD. It may be recorded and provided.

  In this case, the dependency processing program is loaded onto the main storage device by being read from the recording medium and executed by the information processing system 10 so that each unit described in the software configuration is generated on the main storage device. It has become.

  Further, the dependency processing program of the present embodiment may be stored on a computer connected to a network such as the Internet and provided by being downloaded via the network.

  As described above, the present invention has been described using the embodiment, but various changes or improvements can be added to the above embodiment.

  As such a first modified example, in the present embodiment, the dependency process between a plurality of computers that perform cooperative processing has been described. Instead, however, the dependency between a plurality of programs included in one computer is described. You may apply to processing. In this case, a transition instruction is sent to a program on which each of a plurality of programs in one computer depends, and the dependence destination program returns a completion instruction when the transition to the state indicated by the transition instruction is completed.

  Further, as a second modification example, in the present embodiment, the case where the predetermined function of the dependent computer 200 depends on the state of the function of the server computer 100 has been described, but in addition to this, the server computer 100 The predetermined function may depend on the function status of the dependent computer 200 or other computers. In this case, the computer on which the server computer 100 depends includes the various functions of the server computer management unit 120 of the server computer 100 described with reference to FIG. Further, the server computer 100 includes various functions of the dependency computer 200 described with reference to FIG.

1 is a diagram illustrating an overall configuration of an information processing system 10 according to an embodiment. 2 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of a server computer 100. FIG. It is a figure which shows typically the data structure of function information DB140. It is a figure for demonstrating the data stored in transition information DB142. It is a figure which shows typically the data structure of transition information DB142. 3 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of a dependency computer 200. FIG. It is a figure which shows typically the data structure of constraint information DB220. It is a flowchart which shows the dependence process at the time of the server computer 100 performing the process dependent on the dependence computer 200. FIG. It is a figure which shows the hardware constitutions of the information processing system 10 which concerns on embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

5 Network 10 Information processing system 51 CPU
52 ROM
53 RAM
57 Communication I / F
62 Bus 100 Server computer 111 First content 112 Second content 120 Server computer management unit 122 Transition instruction receiving unit 124 Function specifying unit 126 Current state specifying unit 128 Transition process specifying unit 130 State transition unit 132 Completion notification transmitting unit 200 Dependent computer 210 Client 212 Constraint information search unit 214 Processing execution management unit 230 Dependent computer management unit 232 Transition instruction transmission unit 234 Completion notification reception unit 140 Function information DB
142 Transition information DB
220 Constraint information DB

Claims (8)

An information processing apparatus that performs processing in cooperation with another information processing apparatus,
Transition information holding means for holding a plurality of states that can be taken by the specific function of the information processing apparatus and transition information indicating states that can be changed from each state in association with each other;
State transition instruction acquisition means for acquiring a state transition instruction for instructing transition of the state of the specific function to a predetermined state from another device depending on the state of the specific function;
Current state specifying means for specifying the current state of the specific function when the state transition instruction acquiring means acquires the state transition instruction;
The transition information held by the transition information holding unit in association with the specific function, the instruction state indicated by the state transition instruction acquired by the state transition instruction acquiring unit, and the current state specifying unit A transition process specifying means for specifying a transition process necessary for transitioning from the current state to the instruction state based on the current state;
State transition means for executing the transition process specified by the transition process specifying means and making a transition to the instruction state;
An information processing apparatus comprising: a completion notification transmission unit configured to transmit a completion notification indicating that the transition to the instruction state is completed to the other device when the state transition unit completes the process. . A specific content for realizing the specific function;
The current state specifying means specifies the current state in the specific content,
The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the transition process specifying unit specifies the transition process in the specific content. The information processing apparatus implements a plurality of functions,
The transition information holding unit holds, for each function, a plurality of states that each function can take and the transition information in association with each other,
The state transition instruction acquisition means acquires the state transition instruction that instructs a transition of a predetermined function to a predetermined state from the other device,
A function specifying unit for specifying the function indicated by the state transition instruction acquired by the state transition instruction acquiring unit;
The current state specifying means specifies the current state of the function specified by the function specifying means when the state transition instruction acquiring means acquires the state transition instruction,
The transition processing specifying means includes the transition information held by the transition information holding means in association with the function, the current state specified by the state specifying means, and the instruction indicated in the state transition instruction. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the transition process necessary for transitioning from the current state to the instruction state is specified based on a state. An information processing system in which a plurality of devices perform processing in cooperation,
Of the plurality of devices, the dependent information processing device that depends on other devices is
A specific process executed in the dependent information processing apparatus is associated with constraint information indicating a specific state in a specific function of another information processing apparatus that must be established in order to execute the specific process. Constraint information holding means;
Constraint information search means for searching for constraint information corresponding to the specific process from the constraint information held by the constraint information holding means;
State transition indicating that the other information processing apparatus is specified based on the restriction information searched by the restriction information search unit, and the state of the specific function of the other information processing apparatus is changed to the specific state. Transition instruction transmission means for transmitting an instruction,
The other information processing apparatus specified by the constraint information search means is
Transition information holding means for holding a plurality of states that can be taken by the specific function of the other information processing apparatus and transition information indicating states that can be transitioned from each state in association with each other;
State transition instruction acquisition means for acquiring the state transition instruction for instructing transition of the state of the specific function to the specific state from the dependent information processing apparatus;
Current state specifying means for specifying the current state of the specific function when the state transition instruction acquiring means acquires the state transition instruction;
The transition information held by the transition information holding unit in association with the specific function, the instruction state indicated by the state transition instruction acquired by the state transition instruction acquisition unit, and the state specifying unit Based on the current state, a transition process specifying means for specifying a transition process necessary for transitioning from the current state to the instruction state;
State transition means for executing the transition process specified by the transition process specifying means and making a transition to the instruction state;
A transmission unit that transmits a completion notification indicating that the transition to the instruction state is completed to the dependent information processing device when the state transition unit completes the process;
The dependency information processing apparatus includes:
A completion notification receiving means for receiving from the other information processing apparatus the completion notification indicating that the transition indicated in the transition instruction has been completed;
An information processing system, further comprising: a process management unit that executes the specific process of the specific function when the completion notification reception unit receives the completion notification.   The information processing system according to claim 4, wherein the transition instruction transmitting unit of the dependent information processing apparatus transmits the transition instruction before executing the specifying process of the specific function. An information processing method for performing processing in cooperation with another information processing apparatus,
A state transition instruction obtaining step for obtaining a state transition instruction for instructing transition of the state of the specific function to a predetermined state from another device depending on the state of the specific function;
A current state specifying step for specifying a current state of the specific function when the state transition instruction is acquired in the state transition instruction acquiring step;
The transition information holding unit that holds a plurality of states that can be taken by the specific function of the information processing apparatus and transition information indicating a state that can be changed from each state is held in association with the specific function. Based on the transition information, the instruction state indicated in the state transition instruction acquired in the state transition instruction acquisition step, and the current state specified by the current state specifying unit, the current state is changed to the instruction state. A transition process identification step for identifying a transition process necessary for transition;
A state transition step of executing the transition process identified in the transition process identification step and transitioning to the instruction state;
An information processing method comprising: a completion notification transmission step of transmitting a completion notification indicating that the transition to the instruction state is completed to the other device when the processing in the state transition step is completed. An information processing method in an information processing system in which a plurality of devices perform processing in cooperation,
Among the plurality of devices, a dependent information processing device that depends on another device has a specific process executed in the dependent information processing device, and other information that must be established in order to execute the specific process A constraint information search step of searching for constraint information corresponding to the specific process from the constraint information held by the constraint information holding unit that holds the constraint information indicating the specific state in the specific function of the processing device in association with each other;
State transition indicating that the other information processing apparatus is specified based on the restriction information searched in the restriction information search step, and the state of the specific function of the other information processing apparatus is changed to the specific state. A transition instruction transmission step for transmitting an instruction;
State transition instruction for acquiring, from the dependent information processing apparatus, the state transition instruction instructing the other information processing apparatus identified by the restriction information retrieval unit to transition the state of the specific function to the specific state. An acquisition step;
A current state specifying step for specifying a current state of the specific function when the state transition instruction is acquired in the state transition instruction acquiring step;
A transition information holding unit that holds a plurality of states that can be taken by the specific function of the other information processing apparatus and transition information indicating a state that can be transitioned from each state is stored in association with the specific function. Based on the transition information, the instruction state indicated in the state transition instruction acquired in the state transition instruction acquisition step, and the current state specified in the state specifying step, from the current state to the instruction state A transition process identification step for identifying a transition process necessary for transition to
A state transition step of executing the transition process identified in the transition process identification step and transitioning to the instruction state;
A transmission step of transmitting to the dependent information processing device a completion notification indicating that the transition to the instruction state is completed when the processing in the state transition step is completed;
A completion notification receiving step in which the dependent information processing device receives the completion notification indicating that the transition indicated in the transition instruction has been completed from the other information processing device;
An information processing method comprising: a process management step for executing the specific process of the specific function when the completion notification is received in the completion notification reception step. An information processing program for causing a computer to execute information processing that performs processing in cooperation with another information processing device,
A state transition instruction obtaining step for obtaining a state transition instruction for instructing transition of the state of the specific function to a predetermined state from another device depending on the state of the specific function;
A current state specifying step for specifying a current state of the specific function when the state transition instruction is acquired in the state transition instruction acquiring step;
The transition information holding unit that holds a plurality of states that can be taken by the specific function of the information processing apparatus and transition information indicating a state that can be changed from each state is held in association with the specific function. Based on the transition information, the instruction state indicated in the state transition instruction acquired in the state transition instruction acquisition step, and the current state specified by the current state specifying unit, the current state is changed to the instruction state. A transition process identification step for identifying a transition process necessary for transition;
A state transition step of executing the transition process identified in the transition process identification step and transitioning to the instruction state;
An information processing program comprising: a completion notification transmission step of transmitting a completion notification indicating that the transition to the instruction state is completed to the other device when the processing in the state transition step is completed.

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