JP2001101037A - Computer card - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To communicate fault information to the outside part without being affected by the operating state of a computer body. SOLUTION: A fault information holding region 8 is ensured in a memory 3 of a computer card 1, and fault information is obtained separately from an HDD 45 of a computer 41, and when the operation of the computer 41 is stopped due to any fault, the fault information is read from the fault information holding part 8 according to a request for transmitting fault information from a monitoring device 42, and transmitted to the monitoring device 42.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a computer card connected to a computer main body.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 4 shows a computer 41 for executing an application program and the like, a monitoring device 42 for monitoring the operation status of the computer 41, and a LAN 43 for connecting the computer 41 and the monitoring device 42. A computer system 40 is shown. In addition, the computer 41
A control unit 44 for controlling the operation of the computer 41 and an HD for storing application programs, data, and the like.
It has a D (hard disk drive) 45, a computer card 46 for transmitting and receiving data to and from the LAN 43, and an internal bus 47. Usually, the monitoring of the computer 41 in the computer system 40 is performed by the computer card 46.
Is periodically transmitted to the monitoring device 42 with the hardware configuration information and the failure information collected by the software. Also, regarding failure information regarding software such as application programs, refer to the operation system (O
With the notification function provided in S), the detected fault information is written to the HDD 45, and the fault information written to the HDD 45 is periodically written to the computer card 46 and the LAN.
This has been realized by notifying the monitoring device 42 via 43.

[0003]

However, the computer system having the above-described computer monitoring function also has the following problems. That is, the fault information relating to the software is once stored in the HDD, and then the control unit reads out the fault information at a fixed cycle, and reads the fault information through the computer card.
Since the data is transmitted to the AN, if the contents of the HDD cannot be read due to an abnormality in the computer main body, the failure information cannot be notified to the monitoring device. Impossible or significantly delayed. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems, and has been made in consideration of, for example, the locking of the OS.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a computer card connected to a computer that enables a monitoring device to refer to already acquired fault information even when an abnormality occurs in a computer main body.

[0004]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a computer card which is connected to a computer and transmits / receives data to / from an external network, and controls the operation of the computer card. A control unit;
A memory for storing various data; and a power supply for supplying power to the control unit and the memory, wherein the control unit secures an area for storing only fault information in the memory at startup. And Further, in the invention according to claim 2, in a computer card connected to the computer and transmitting and receiving data to and from an external network, a control unit for controlling the operation of the computer card, a memory for storing various data, It is characterized by including a fault information memory that stores only fault information, and a power supply that supplies power to the control unit, the memory, and the fault information memory.

[0005]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, an embodiment of a computer system using a computer card according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a computer card of the present invention. The computer card 1 includes a control unit 2 for controlling the operation of the computer card 1, a memory 3 for storing various data, a power supply 4 for supplying power to the control unit 2 and the memory 3, an internal bus 5, A computer-side interface 6 and a LAN-side interface 7 are provided. Then, the control unit 2 of the computer card 1 secures a failure information holding area 8 for storing only the failure information in a partial area of the memory 3, and writes data other than the failure information into the failure information holding area 8. Ban. Next, a procedure of collecting and transmitting fault information of a computer connected to the above-described computer card will be described with reference to a flowchart of FIG. Note that the system configuration is the same as the configuration in FIG. 2, so reference is made to FIG. The control unit 44 of the computer 41 constantly monitors whether or not a failure has occurred while the computer 41 is operating (ST1).
The fault information is written into the fault information holding area 6 of the memory 3 in the computer card 1 (ST2). However, usually, the memory provided in the computer card 1 has a smaller capacity than the HDD,
Since it is not realistic to write the same contents as the fault information stored in the fault information 5, the fault information written in the fault information holding area 8 indicates which software has a fault,
Also, only information on which hardware has a failure is assumed.

In this way, the failure information generated in the computer 41 is stored in the HDD 45 and the failure information holding area 8 of the computer card 1. Here, it is assumed that a failure has occurred in the computer 41 and the failure information stored in the HDD 45 cannot be read. At this time, since the computer card 1 has its own power supply 4, it is possible to continue the operation even if a failure that causes the computer 41 to become inoperable occurs. In response to the transmission request, the fault information held in the fault information holding area 8 can be sent to the monitoring device 42 via the LAN 43. In the above description, the computer 4
1 controller 44 is the fault information holding area 8 of the computer card 1
However, when the controller 2 of the computer card 1 monitors the processing contents of the controller 44 of the computer 41 and detects the writing of the failure information to the HDD 45, The information may be acquired, and it may be determined which software or hardware has caused the failure, and the writing to the failure information holding area 8 may be performed. In this case, since it is not necessary to change the function of the computer 41, the same effects as those of the present invention can be obtained only by replacing the computer card 1 with a conventional one.

Next, another embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the configuration of a computer card 21 according to another embodiment of the present invention. The difference from the computer card 1 is that a dedicated memory (fault information memory) 24 for storing fault information is provided. It is to have. With such a configuration, it is not necessary to perform a process for securing an area for storing fault information in the memory when the computer card 21 is started up, so that the fault information can be acquired immediately after the computer 41 starts up. Becomes As described above, the computer card 1 of the present invention secures an area for holding fault information in the memory 3 at the time of startup, and obtains a history of fault information from the control unit 44 of the computer 41. Failure information can be provided to the monitoring device 42 without being affected by the state. Also, in the above description,
Although it is described that the computer card 1 (21) is provided with an area for storing only failure information or a dedicated memory, for example,
It can also be used as an area or a dedicated memory for storing data that is obtained from another computer connected via a LAN, and that is accessed particularly frequently. By obtaining such frequently accessed data, for example, when the computer 41 is started, it is possible to reduce the amount of data flowing through the LAN, thereby reducing the network load.

[0008]

As described above, the computer card of the present invention stores fault information in parallel with the HDD of the computer main body. To provide fault information.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a computer card according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a computer card according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure for acquiring failure information of a computer card.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a configuration of a computer system.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1, 21: Computer card 2, 22: Control unit 3, 23: Memory 4, 25: Power supply 8: Fault information holding area 24: Memory for fault information

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A computer card connected to a computer for transmitting and receiving data to and from an external network, a control unit for controlling operation of the computer card, a memory for storing various data, the control unit and the memory And a power supply for supplying power to the computer card, wherein the control unit secures an area for storing only fault information in the memory at startup. 2. A computer card connected to a computer for transmitting and receiving data to and from an external network, a control unit for controlling the operation of the computer card, a memory for storing various data, and storing only failure information. And a power supply for supplying power to the controller, the memory, and the fault information memory.