JP2007123955A - Computer system, network apparatus, fault occurrence notification method, and fault occurrence notification program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a technology capable of transmitting information denoting occurrence of a fault via a communication network even when the fault causes disabled access to an external storage device, resulting in causing unable communication network settings. <P>SOLUTION: A microcode storage section 2 stores in advance information of identifying a network apparatus 1. On the occurrence of the fault causing a disabled access to the external storage section 105, a network control section 106 transmits the information including the identification of identifying the network apparatus 1 and denoting the occurrence of the fault to an administration host computer 2 via the communication network 3 by means of multicast. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a computer system, a network device, a failure occurrence notification method, and a failure occurrence notification program for notifying occurrence of a failure via a communication network.

  There are computer systems in which devices are connected to a computer via a communication network.

  When a failure occurs in an apparatus constituting the computer system, it is necessary to quickly detect the occurrence of the failure, analyze the failure, and perform a recovery operation. Therefore, using a management protocol such as SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol), the management host computer connected to the communication network periodically monitors the operating state of the device connected to the communication network, or the device is managed by the management host computer. By transmitting information indicating the occurrence of a failure to the management host computer, the management host computer detects the occurrence of the failure and transmits information indicating the occurrence of the failure to the maintenance service center or the like to prompt the recovery of the failure.

  In such a computer system, the maintenance service center analyzes the failure based on the transmitted information indicating the occurrence of the failure. Therefore, for early recovery of a failure, it is preferable that the information indicating the occurrence of the failure transmitted to the maintenance service center includes information sufficient to identify the location where the failure has occurred.

  On the other hand, a RAID (Redundant Arrays of Inexpensive Disks) device composed of a plurality of magnetic disk drives is used as a storage device in order to increase the capacity of data processed by the computer system and increase the reliability of the storage device. A lot is happening. A RAID device distributes data to a plurality of magnetic disk drives and stores them with redundancy, so that even if one of the magnetic disk drives fails, the data can be restored. Each of the RAID controllers that control the disk drive and the magnetic disk drive can be replaced as parts.

  There is a virtual tape subsystem that provides services to a host computer using this RAID device as a storage device. The virtual tape subsystem behaves like a magnetic tape device with respect to the host computer. Then, the received data is written in the magnetic tape and stored in the RAID device for management. In such a system, the virtual tape controller that provides services to the host computer, the RAID controller, and the respective magnetic disk drives can be replaced in the event of a failure.

  In this virtual tape subsystem, network parameters necessary for communication network connection such as IP address, subnet mask, gateway host computer IP address, DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) settings, etc. are stored in the virtual tape controller. In some cases, network parameter settings are erased when a virtual tape controller failure occurs and is replaced, and network parameters need to be reconfigured to connect to a communication network. The device (RAID) needs to store network parameters.

  In other words, in a computer system in which network parameters are stored in an external storage device such as a magnetic disk drive, a communication network cannot be set if a failure that prevents access to the external storage device occurs. There is a problem that information indicating a failure cannot be transmitted via a communication network.

  In addition, if the IP address cannot be set due to a failure of the DHCP server, the IP address assigned by DHCP is exhausted, or the IP address is duplicated due to a network parameter setting error, information indicating the failure is sent to the communication network. Cannot be sent through.

  Therefore, when such a failure occurs, information indicating the failure is not transmitted to the maintenance service center, so the failure location cannot be specified, and the failure location must be confirmed by going to the installation location of the device. It was.

  Patent Document 1 describes a method in which a server stores recovery information in order to recover to a setting before a failure after replacing a failed part when a hard disk or the like fails.

  Patent Document 2 describes a method for notifying a specific group of host computers that an IP address acquired by DHCP has been changed.

  Patent Document 3 describes a method in which a server that detects the occurrence of a failure notifies all computers in the system that an alternative host computer in place of the failure-occurring host computer can take over the processing.

  Patent Document 4 describes a method in which a gateway computer that transfers a multicast packet converts the multicast packet into a unicast packet and transmits it to a transmission destination.

  Non-Patent Document 1 describes a method for confirming whether an IP address assigned by DHCP is in use.

JP 2001-43156 A (paragraphs 0019 to 0036, FIG. 1) JP 2001-326656 A (paragraphs 0022 to 0058, FIG. 1) JP 2003-186722 A (paragraphs 0017 to 0055, FIG. 1) Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-242962 (paragraphs 0019 to 0047, FIG. 1) R. Droms, “Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (Request for Comments: 2131) 4.4.1 Initialization and allocation of network address”, March, 1997, T er, in March, 1997. Search], Internet <URL: http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2131.txt>

  However, Patent Document 1 does not mention detection of the occurrence of a failure and cannot solve the above-described problem.

  The method described in Patent Document 2 does not support notification of occurrence of a failure. In addition, the method described in Patent Document 3 sets network parameters such as an IP address in a request source (that is, a faulty host computer) in order to transmit a request packet for allowing an alternative host computer to take over processing. It is necessary to. However, when a failure occurs in which a network parameter such as an IP address cannot be set, there is a problem that a request packet cannot be transmitted and the occurrence of the failure cannot be notified.

  The method described in Patent Document 4 requires a gateway host computer that converts a multicast packet into a unicast packet, which is expensive.

  In addition, even when the method described in Patent Document 1 and the method described in Patent Document 3 are combined, if a failure occurs in which a network parameter such as an IP address cannot be set, The problem that the request packet cannot be transmitted and the occurrence of the failure cannot be notified cannot be solved.

  Even if the method described in Patent Document 2 and the method described in Patent Document 4 are combined, if an IP address cannot be assigned by DHCP, the failure cannot be notified. There is a problem.

  Therefore, the present invention provides a computer system, a network device, a failure occurrence notification method, and a failure that can notify the occurrence of a failure via a communication network even when a failure occurs in which a network parameter of the communication network cannot be set. The purpose is to provide an outbreak notification program.

  A computer system according to the present invention is a computer system that is connected to a communication network, and a network device in which a failure has occurred notifies the computer of the occurrence of the failure via the communication network. The network device is connected to the communication network. Detecting means for detecting that a network parameter that is a parameter cannot be specified, and failure information generating means for generating failure information indicating that a failure has occurred when the failure detecting means detects that the network parameter cannot be specified And transmission means for transmitting the failure information by multicast.

  The network device includes identification information storage means for preliminarily storing information for identifying the network device, and the failure information generation means generates failure information including information for identifying the network device stored in the identification information storage means. Also good.

  The network device may include network parameter storage means for storing network parameters, and the failure detection means may detect that the network parameters cannot be specified by detecting that the network parameter storage means cannot be accessed.

  The failure information generation means may generate failure information including information indicating the failure that has occurred. The failure information generating unit may generate failure information including information indicating a failure that the network parameter storage unit cannot be accessed.

  Network parameter providing means for transmitting network parameters to the network apparatus in response to a request from the network apparatus. The network apparatus requests the network parameter providing means to transmit network parameters, and receives network parameters from the network parameter providing means. The failure detection means cannot identify the network parameter by detecting that the network parameter reception means cannot receive the network parameter or that the received network parameter is in use. You may detect that.

  The first communication network to which the network device in which the failure has occurred is connected to the second communication network to which the computer is connected, and the failure information transmitted by the network device is transmitted via the first communication network. You may provide the gateway apparatus which receives and transmits the received failure information to a computer via a 2nd communication network.

  A network device according to the present invention is a network device that notifies a computer of the occurrence of a failure via a communication network, and detects failure that a network parameter that is a parameter for connecting to the communication network cannot be specified; When failure detection means detects that a network parameter cannot be specified, it includes failure information generation means for generating failure information indicating that a failure has occurred, and transmission means for transmitting the failure information by multicast. To do.

  Identification information storage means for preliminarily storing information for identifying the network device may be included, and the failure information generation means may generate failure information including information for identifying the network device stored in the identification information storage means.

  Network parameter storage means for storing the network parameter may be included, and the failure detection means may detect that the network parameter cannot be specified by detecting that the network parameter storage means cannot be accessed.

  The failure information generation means may generate failure information including information indicating the failure that has occurred. The failure information generating unit may generate failure information including information indicating a failure that the network parameter storage unit cannot be accessed.

  Network parameter receiving means for requesting network parameter providing means for transmitting network parameters in response to a request, and receiving network parameters from the network parameter providing means, and the failure detecting means includes network parameter receiving means By detecting that the network parameter cannot be received or that the received network parameter is being used, it may be detected that the network parameter cannot be specified.

  The failure occurrence notification method according to the present invention is a failure occurrence notification method in which a network device in which a failure has occurred notifies the computer of the occurrence of the failure via the communication network, and the failure detection means of the network device is connected to the communication network. A failure detection step for detecting that the network parameter, which is a parameter for determining the network parameter, cannot be specified, and that the failure detection means of the network device has detected a failure when the failure detection means detects that the network parameter cannot be specified Including a failure information generation step for generating failure information indicating the failure information, and a transmission step for transmitting the failure information by multicast by the transmission means of the network device.

  The failure information generation unit may generate failure information including information for identifying the network device stored in advance in the identification information storage unit in the failure information generation step.

  The failure detection unit of the network device may detect that the network parameter cannot be specified by detecting that the network parameter storage unit storing the network parameter cannot be accessed in the failure detection step.

  The fault information generation means may generate fault information including information indicating the fault that has occurred in the fault information generation step. The failure information generation unit may generate failure information including information indicating a failure that the network parameter storage unit cannot be accessed in the failure information generation step.

  A network parameter receiving step in which the network parameter receiving means of the network device requests the network parameter providing means for transmitting the network parameter in response to a request from the network device, and receives the network parameter from the network parameter providing means. And the network device failure detecting means detects that the network parameter receiving means cannot receive the network parameter or that the received network parameter is in use at the failure detecting step. It may be detected that cannot be specified.

  The gateway device that connects the first communication network to which the network device in which the failure has occurred is connected to the second communication network to which the computer is connected transmits the failure information transmitted by the network device to the first communication network. And transferring the received failure information to the computer via the second communication network.

  A failure occurrence notification program according to the present invention is a failure occurrence notification program installed in a network device for notifying other computers of the occurrence of a failure via a communication network, and is a parameter for connecting the computer to the communication network. Failure detection processing that detects that a network parameter cannot be specified, failure information generation processing that generates failure information indicating that a failure has occurred when the failure detection processing detects that a network parameter cannot be specified, and failure And a transmission process for transmitting information by multicast.

  According to the present invention, since failure information is transmitted by multicast, even when a failure occurs in which a network parameter for connecting to a communication network cannot be specified, the occurrence of the failure can be notified via the communication network. .

  When the identification information storage unit is configured to store information for identifying the network device in advance, it is possible to notify the device in which the failure has occurred. Failures such as when the failure information generation means cannot access the device storing the network parameters, when it cannot receive network parameters from the connected device, or when the received network parameters are in use If it is configured to generate failure information indicating that a failure has occurred, the content of the failure can be notified.

  When the gateway device is configured to transmit the failure information transmitted by the network device to the computer, the occurrence of the failure is notified even if the network device and the computer are connected to different communication networks. Can do.

Embodiment 1 FIG.
A first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of a computer system according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

  The computer system according to the first embodiment of this invention includes a management host computer 2 that manages connected devices and a network device 1 that is connected to the management host computer 2 via a communication network 3.

  The communication network 3 is realized by, for example, a communication network, a wireless LAN, or the like corresponding to Ethernet (registered trademark), FDDI (Fiber-Distributed Data Interface), etc., but the present invention is not limited to this. Instead, it may be realized by another communication network.

  The network apparatus 1 includes a CPU (central processing unit) (fault detection means, fault information generation means) 101 that operates according to program control, and a microcode storage unit (identification information storage means) that stores microcode for operating the CPU 101. 102, an external storage device 105 that stores information, an external storage device control unit 104 that controls the external storage device (network parameter storage unit) 105, and a network control unit that transmits and receives information to and from the management host computer 2 (transmission unit, network parameter reception) Means) 106 and an internal bus 103 for connecting each part of the network device 1.

  The network device 1 is realized by, for example, a virtual tape library device, and the failure of the device is notified to the management host computer 2.

  Further, the term “external” used for the external storage device 105 does not indicate that it is installed outside the casing of the network device 1, but the CPU 101 does not directly control the CPU 101. Control is performed via the control unit 104. Specifically, the external storage device 105 is realized by non-volatile storage means such as a RAID device, for example.

  The CPU 101 operates according to the microcode stored in the microcode storage unit 102 according to program control, and controls each unit of the network device 1.

  The microcode storage unit 102 stores in advance a microcode for controlling the operation of the CPU 101, a multicast address and a UDP (User Datagram Protocol) port number of information indicating a failure, and information for identifying the network device 1 in advance. ing. The information for identifying the network device 1 is, for example, a MAC (Media Access Control) address, a product identifier, a product serial number, and the like of the network device 1.

  The external storage device control unit 104 controls the external storage device 105 in accordance with an instruction from the CPU 101.

  The external storage device 105 stores network parameters that are parameters for the network device 1 to connect to the communication network 3. The network parameter may include the IP address of the management host computer 2.

  When the network parameters stored in the external storage device 105 are set by the CPU 101, the network control unit 106 transmits and receives information to and from the management host computer 2 via the communication network 3 in accordance with instructions from the CPU 101. Further, the network control unit 106 transmits information indicating a failure by multicast under the control of the CPU 101. Note that sending information by multicast means sending information to a single computer or a plurality of computers belonging to the same group (of a multicast address) at the same time, not to a computer having a specific IP address.

  When the network device 1 detects that the network parameter that is a parameter for connecting to the communication network cannot be specified in the computer, and detects that the network parameter cannot be specified in the failure detection process, the network device 1 detects the failure. A failure occurrence notification program characterized by executing failure information generation processing for generating failure information indicating that it has occurred and transmission processing for transmitting failure information by multicast is installed.

  Next, the operation of the first exemplary embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 2 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the first embodiment of the present invention.

  When the network device 1 is activated, the CPU 101 causes the external storage device control unit 104 to check whether the external storage device 105 can be normally accessed (step S101).

  When the CPU 101 confirms that the external storage device control unit 104 can normally access the external storage device 105, the CPU 101 stores the network device 1 and management host computer 2 stored in the external storage device 105 in the external storage device control unit 104. The network parameters including the IP address are read (step S102).

  Then, the CPU 101 sets the read network parameter in the network control unit 106 (step S103).

  When the CPU 101 confirms that the external storage device control unit 104 cannot normally access the external storage device 105 (that is, the network parameter cannot be set (specified)), the CPU 101 generates information indicating a failure and sends it to the network control unit 106. The data is transmitted by multicast to the management host computer 2 via the communication network 3 (step S104).

  Specifically, the network control unit 106 transmits information indicating a failure to the UDP port number of the multicast address of the group to which the management host computer 2 belongs in a format that the management host computer 2 can recognize.

  FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of a packet of information indicating a failure. In FIG. 3, a packet of information indicating a failure includes a multicast address (Destination Address) of a group to which the management host computer 2 belongs in the IP Header portion, and a UDP port number (Destination Port) in the UDP Header portion. In the Packet Data part, the MAC address (MAC Address), product identifier (Product Identifier), product serial number (Product Serial No.), failure status (Status), and failure It includes an example of including details (Details) information.

  That is, generating information indicating a failure means generating a packet including information for identifying the network device 1, for example, generating a packet including information such as the MAC address of the network device 1 illustrated in FIG. 3. To do.

  The information indicating the failure illustrated in FIG. 3 indicates that the failure that the data cannot be read from the LBA (Logical Block Address) 0x0011022 sector address of the external storage device 105 (Disk Read Fail) has occurred. The column shows.

  The management host computer 2 waits in advance for receiving failure information using the UDP port number of this multicast address, and receives information indicating the failure.

  As described above, according to this embodiment, the network device 1 transmits information indicating a failure to the management host computer 2 using the multicast address as the transmission destination by UDP multicast without using the IP address. . Therefore, even when the network parameter cannot be read due to a failure such as the external storage device 105 or an interface of the external storage device 105, the network device 1 can transmit information indicating the failure to the management host computer 2. .

Embodiment 2. FIG.
A second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of the second embodiment of the present invention.

  In the second embodiment of the present invention, the network device 1 is connected to the first communication network 6, and the management host computer 2 is connected to the first communication network 6 via the gateway host computer (gateway device) 5. Connected to the second communication network 7. In addition, a DHCP server (network parameter providing means) 4 is connected to the first communication network 6.

  Since other configurations are the same as those in the first embodiment, the same reference numerals as those in FIG. The first communication network 6 and the second communication network 7 are realized by, for example, a communication network, a wireless LAN, or the like corresponding to Ethernet, FDDI (Fiber-Distributed Data Interface), and the like. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and may be realized by another communication network.

  DHCP is a protocol for dynamically assigning network parameters to each device at startup. The DHCP server 4 assigns an IP address to the network device 1 connected to the first communication network 6, and assigns the assigned IP address. Manage network parameters including.

  The network control unit 106 of the network device 1 requests the DHCP server 4 to transmit network parameters via the first communication network 6 under the control of the CPU 101.

  In response to a request from the network device 1, the DHCP server 4 sends network parameters including the IP address of the network device 1, the subnet mask, and the IP address of the gateway host computer 5 via the first communication network 6. Send to.

  The CPU 101 of the network device 1 sets the network parameter received from the DHCP server 4 in the network control unit 106.

  When transmitting information indicating a failure to the management host computer 2, the network device 1 first transmits information indicating the failure to the gateway host computer 5. Then, the gateway host computer 5 transmits information indicating the failure received from the network device 1 to the management host computer 2.

  In addition, when transmitting information to the network device 1, the management host computer 2 first transmits information to the gateway host computer 5. Then, the gateway host computer 5 transmits the information received from the management host computer 2 to the network device 1.

  When the gateway host computer 5 receives the multicast Membership Report from the management host computer 2, the gateway host computer 5 transmits the multicast packet received via the first communication network 6 to a device connected to the second communication network 7. To do.

  The gateway host computer 5 is realized by, for example, a host computer having a plurality of communication network interfaces, a server, a router, or the like.

  Next, the operation of the second exemplary embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of the management host computer 2 according to the second embodiment of this invention.

  The management host computer 2 transmits an Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP) Membership Report (commonly called JOIN) in order to have the gateway host computer 5 transmit the multicast packet transmitted by the network device 1 (step S201).

  Then, the management host computer 2 waits for reception of the multicast packet in order to receive the multicast packet transmitted by the network device 1 (step S202).

  Next, the operation of the network device 1 according to the second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 6 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the network device 1 according to the second embodiment of this invention.

  The network device 1 requests the DHCP server 4 to transmit network parameters (step S301).

  If the network device 1 cannot receive the network parameter because the DHCP server 4 cannot be found or the IP address is not allocated due to exhaustion of the IP address (step S302), Since the CPU 101 cannot set (specify) the network parameter, the CPU 101 determines that a failure has occurred and generates information indicating the failure. For example, when the network parameter cannot be received, the CPU 101 includes the content indicating that the network parameter could not be received in the information indicating the failure. The network control unit 106 transmits information indicating a failure by multicast (step S303).

  Further, when the network device 1 receives the network parameter from the DHCP server 4 and is assigned an IP address, the network device 1 sets the ARP to the assigned IP address in order to check whether the assigned IP address is in use. A (Address Resolution Protocol) packet is transmitted (step S304).

  When the CPU 101 of the network device 1 receives an ARP response (for example, when the DHCP server 4 transmits a network parameter in response to a request but the other device is using the network parameter) (in step S305) Y) It is determined that the assigned IP address cannot be used, and the network control unit 106 is caused to transmit information indicating a failure by multicast (step S303). In this case, the CPU 101 includes the content indicating that the received network parameter is being used in the information indicating the failure.

  When the gateway host computer 5 receives the information indicating the failure transmitted by the network device 1 via the first communication network 6, the gateway host computer 5 transmits the received information indicating the failure via the second communication network 7. Send to.

  If the CPU 101 of the network device 1 does not receive an ARP response even after a predetermined time has elapsed (N in step S305), the CPU 101 determines that the assigned IP address can be used and has received it from the DHCP server 4. Network parameters are set in the network control unit 106 (step S306).

  The method for confirming whether the IP address assigned by DHCP shown in steps S304 and S305 is in use is based on the method described in Non-Patent Document 1.

  As described above, according to this embodiment, even when the network device 1 and the management host computer 2 are connected to different communication networks, the network device 1 informs the management host computer 2 of information indicating a failure. Can be sent.

  The present invention can be applied to a network device in which network parameters are stored in an external storage device such as a RAID device and the RAID device control unit and the CPU can be exchanged independently. Further, the present invention can be applied to a network device that uses DHCP and dynamically receives an IP address assignment from a server.

It is a block diagram which shows one structural example of the computer system in the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart explaining the operation | movement of the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows an example of the packet of the information which shows a failure. It is a block diagram which shows one structural example of the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart explaining operation | movement of the management host computer of the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart explaining operation | movement of the network apparatus of the 2nd Embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Network apparatus 2 Management host computer 3 Communication network 4 DHCP server 5 Gateway host computer 6 1st communication network 7 2nd communication network 101 CPU
102 Microcode storage unit 103 Internal bus 104 External storage device control unit 105 External storage device 106 Network control unit

Claims (21)

In a computer system that is connected to a communication network and a network device in which a failure has occurred notifies the computer of the occurrence of the failure via the communication network.
The network device is:
A failure detection means for detecting that a network parameter that is a parameter for connecting to a communication network cannot be specified;
A failure information generation unit that generates failure information indicating that a failure has occurred when the failure detection unit detects that a network parameter cannot be identified;
And a transmission means for transmitting the failure information by multicast. The network device includes identification information storage means for storing in advance information for identifying the network device,
The computer system according to claim 1, wherein the failure information generation unit generates failure information including information for identifying the network device stored in the identification information storage unit. The network device includes network parameter storage means for storing network parameters,
The computer system according to claim 1, wherein the failure detection unit detects that the network parameter cannot be specified by detecting that the network parameter storage unit cannot be accessed. The computer system according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the failure information generation unit generates failure information including information indicating a failure that has occurred. The computer system according to claim 4, wherein the failure information generation unit generates failure information including information indicating a failure that the network parameter storage unit cannot be accessed. Network parameter providing means for transmitting network parameters to the network device in response to a request from the network device;
The network device is:
Network parameter receiving means for requesting the network parameter providing means to transmit network parameters and receiving network parameters from the network parameter providing means;
The failure detection unit detects that the network parameter cannot be specified by detecting that the network parameter reception unit cannot receive the network parameter or that the received network parameter is in use. The computer system according to claim 5. The first communication network to which the network device in which the failure has occurred is connected to the second communication network to which the computer is connected, and the failure information transmitted by the network device is transmitted to the first communication network. The computer system according to any one of claims 1 to 6, further comprising a gateway device that receives the failure information via the second communication network and transmits the received failure information to the computer via the second communication network. In a network device that notifies a computer of a failure via a communication network,
A failure detection means for detecting that a network parameter that is a parameter for connecting to a communication network cannot be specified;
A failure information generation unit that generates failure information indicating that a failure has occurred when the failure detection unit detects that a network parameter cannot be identified;
And a transmission means for transmitting the failure information by multicast. Including identification information storage means for preliminarily storing information for identifying the network device,
The network device according to claim 8, wherein the failure information generation unit generates failure information including information for identifying the network device. Network parameter storage means for storing network parameters,
The network device according to claim 8 or 9, wherein the failure detection means detects that the network parameter cannot be specified by detecting that the network parameter storage means cannot be accessed. The network device according to any one of claims 8 to 10, wherein the failure information generation unit generates failure information including information indicating a failure that has occurred. The network device according to claim 11, wherein the failure information generation unit generates failure information including information indicating a failure that the network parameter storage unit cannot be accessed. Network parameter receiving means for requesting network parameter providing means for transmitting network parameters in response to a request and receiving network parameters from said network parameter providing means;
9. The failure detecting means detects that the network parameter cannot be specified by detecting that the network parameter receiving means cannot receive the network parameter or that the received network parameter is in use. The network device according to claim 12. In the failure occurrence notification method in which the network device in which the failure has occurred notifies the computer of the occurrence of the failure via the communication network.
A failure detection step of detecting that the failure detection means of the network device cannot identify a network parameter that is a parameter for connecting to a communication network;
A fault information generating step in which the fault information generating means of the network device generates fault information indicating that a fault has occurred when the fault detecting means detects that the network parameter cannot be specified;
A failure occurrence notification method comprising: a transmission step in which the transmission means of the network device transmits the failure information by multicast. The failure occurrence notification method according to claim 14, wherein the failure information generation means generates failure information including information for identifying the network device stored in advance in the identification information storage means in the failure information generation step. 16. The failure detection unit of the network device detects that the network parameter cannot be specified by detecting that the network parameter storage unit storing the network parameter cannot be accessed in the failure detection step. The failure notification method described. The failure occurrence notification method according to any one of claims 14 to 16, wherein the failure information generation means generates failure information including information indicating the failure that has occurred in the failure information generation step. The failure occurrence notification method according to claim 17, wherein the failure information generation means generates failure information including information indicating a failure that the network parameter storage means cannot be accessed in the failure information generation step. The network parameter receiving unit of the network device requests the network parameter providing unit that transmits the network parameter in response to the request of the network device, and sends the network parameter from the network parameter providing unit. Including a receiving step,
The failure detection means of the network device detects the network parameter by detecting that the network parameter reception means cannot receive the network parameter or the received network parameter is in use in the failure detection step. The failure occurrence notification method according to any one of claims 14 to 18, wherein it is detected that identification is not possible. The gateway device that connects the first communication network to which the network device in which the failure has occurred is connected to the second communication network to which the computer is connected, transmits the failure information transmitted by the network device to the first communication network. The failure according to any one of claims 14 to 19, further comprising a transfer step of receiving the failure information received via a communication network and transmitting the received failure information to the computer via the second communication network. Occurrence notification method. In a failure occurrence notification program installed in a computer for notifying other computers of the occurrence of a failure via a communication network,
On the computer,
A failure detection process for detecting that a network parameter that is a parameter for connecting to a communication network cannot be specified;
A failure information generation process for generating failure information indicating that a failure has occurred when the failure detection process detects that a network parameter cannot be identified; and
A failure occurrence notification program for executing transmission processing for transmitting the failure information by multicast.

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