JP3520143B2 - Information processing system - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an information processing system, and more particularly to an information processing system for realizing non-stop operation of the information processing system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in order to improve the processing performance of an information processing system that is operated on a daily basis and prevent possible failures, information processing is performed as part of maintenance management work for the information processing system. Various control programs that directly control the operation of the system have been upgraded to a more complete version.
When rewriting the program by version upgrade, after stopping all the daily operations of the information processing system, a new control program for the operations recorded in the auxiliary storage device such as the hard disk drive is newly added. Rewrite to a different version of the control program. Then, when the information processing system is turned on again to start the daily operation work, the rewritten new version of the control program is read from the hard disk device, and the operation of the information processing system is controlled based on the read control program. (“Program loading control system” and the like described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-250169).

[0003]

In recent years, there has been a great demand from users for non-stop operation of information processing systems, and the rewriting of programs accompanying the version upgrade of control programs for information processing systems is also required. It is required to be able to carry out without stopping the operation work of, but the version upgrade of the control program by the above-mentioned conventional technology is premised on stopping all the operation work of the information processing system,
Since no consideration has been given to rewriting the program during operation, there is a problem that the operation efficiency of the information processing system is reduced by the above-described version upgrade.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to solve the above problems and rewrite the program accompanying the version upgrade of the control program, which is a part of the maintenance and management work for the information processing system, in parallel with the daily operation work. It is to provide an information processing system that can be performed.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, the information processing system of the present invention comprises a plurality of programs.
And a storage device that stores the version information of each program
And the program to be used among the above programs.
The version information of the
The program to be used is read from the storage device and held.
A plurality of processing devices that execute processing according to the system;
Device and control device for controlling operations of the plurality of processing devices
An information processing system including the storage device
Stores the multiple programs and the version information.
2 or more first areas for storage, and for each first area
A second area for storing valid information indicating whether it is effective or ineffective is provided.
The control device is connected to a communication line, and the communication circuit is connected.
The multiple programs that are sent over the wire
Version upgrade program for each and the above
Receives version information of version upgrade program
However, according to the valid information of the two or more first areas,
The barge received in the first area shown to be invalid
Stores the upgrade program and the version information
Means, the version upgrade program, and
It corresponds to the first area in which the version information is stored.
Means for switching the valid information from invalid to valid
If each of the plurality of processing devices is the storage device,
The program to be used and the version read from
Holding means for holding information stored in the holding means.
According to the version information and the valid information that are held
The duplicate stored in the first area shown to be valid.
The bar of programs to use out of a number of programs
John information is compared and stored in the first area.
The program to be used is
If it is a program, the barge from the first area
Upgrade program and version upgrade program
The version information of the program is read and the holding hand is read.
And means for holding it by a step.

Further, in the above description, the storage device is
Update information that indicates whether there is a version upgrade for each program
And a third area for storing
In addition, the corresponding to the version upgrade program
Means for setting update information to have version upgrade, and
The update information of a plurality of processors is
A processor that uses a program that indicates
And a means for issuing a gram rewriting instruction.
And

With the above configuration, for example, when a new version of the control program is transferred via a communication line by maintenance work from a remote place, a group of control processors (service processor, system controller,
The instruction processor, etc.) stores the control programs and their version information in a control program group storage area that is not currently valid in the dedicated hardware area.
When the storage of all transferred control programs is completed, the control program group storage area is validated, so that the setting value of the corresponding V flag in the program management information section is changed and each processing device is changed. Let us know. In response to this, each processing device loads the latest control program from the control program group storage area that has become valid as described above, and upgrades the control program.

As a result, it is possible to rewrite the program accompanying the version upgrade of the control program, which is a part of the maintenance and management work for the information processing system, in parallel with the daily operation work.

[0009]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION An embodiment of a maintenance management system for control programs according to the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of an information processing system including an embodiment of a maintenance management system for control programs according to the present invention. The information processing system shown in FIG. 1 includes a service processor (SVP) 1, which performs various controls of the entire system, and a main storage device (MS), which dynamically stores control data such as programs and various management information. 2, an input / output processing unit (IOP) for performing overall control of input / output 3, an instruction processor (IP) 5 for issuing a direct instruction such as an input / output instruction, these processors (SVP1, IOP3, IP5) and MS2 , Various input / output devices (I / O) 6a, 6b, ..., 6n connected to the system controller (SC) 4, IOP3
Composed of. A hard disk device (SVPHD) 7 in the service processor is included in the SVP 1, and the version information indicating the program version is static along with the program body used in each processing device that constitutes the information processing system. Stored in.

Inside the MS2, SVP1, IOP3,
A dedicated hardware area (HSA) 8 for storing the program body extracted from the SVP HD 7 and its version information, which is accessible from each of the IPs 5, is provided. In addition, inside the IOP 3, a channel processor (CH) that actually controls the channel processing operation under control is provided.
P) 9 and I / Os 6a, 6b, ..., 6n, respectively, to control specific input / output operations (C)
H) 10a, 10b, ..., 10n, each of which is provided with a program storage area (CS) 11p, 11 to be described later.
a, 11b, ..., 11n are provided. In addition, CH1
0a, 10b, ..., 10n correspond to the type of I / O 6a, 6b ,.
There are multiple types.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a schematic format of the dedicated hardware area (HSA) 8 in FIG.
In the figure, the HSA 8 is divided into four table areas, each of which stores an HSA program management information section 81 (program management information section), a directory 82, a control program dedicated to each processing device, and its IO.
PCSA0: 83 and IOPCSA1: 84 (control program group storage area), and directory 82 contains IOPCSA0:
83 and IOPCSA1: 84 have the start address of the control program storage location of CHP9 and CH10a, 1
It is stored corresponding to each of 0b, ..., 10n. In this embodiment, IOPCSA 0:83 and IOPCSA
Only the case where two surfaces of 1:84 are provided will be described, but it is also possible to adopt a configuration in which an IOPCSA having a larger number of surfaces is provided. Further, it is general that other types of table areas are provided in the HSA 8.
In this embodiment, only the parts related to the essence of the invention are shown.

In FIG. 2, the HSA program management information section 81 has a V flag area 810 holding a V flag indicating which of IOPCSA0: 83 and IOPCSA1: 84 is valid, a CHP 9 to be managed, and CH
CS11p, 1 in 10a, 10b, ..., 10n
.., 11n is composed of an update flag area 811 holding an update flag (RBIT) indicating whether or not the reference control program stored in each of 1a, 11b, ..., 11n has been rewritten to the latest version. . In this embodiment, the contents of each of IOPCSA0: 83 and IOPCSA1: 84 are valid when the set value of the V flag is V = 1, and not valid when V = 0. Also, C
For each of HP9 and CH10a, 10b, ..., 10n, when the set value of RBIT is RBIT = 1, the corresponding channel processor or the control program dedicated to the channel is being upgraded, and when RBIT = 0, the upgrade is completed or It is assumed that there is no version upgrade instruction.
In the above, “the contents of IOPCSA0: 83 are valid”
And CHP9 and CH10a, 10b, ..., 10
n is the control program (latest version) that includes the procedure for controlling the operation of each connected device.
Indicates that it is stored in IOPCSA 0:83.

The directory 82 is composed of IOPCSA 0:83 and IOPCSA 1:84 stored in the HSA 8 and CH.
The head address of a dedicated control program (CHP program and each CH type program) corresponding to each of P9 and CH10a, 10b, ..., 10n is shown.

IOPCSA0: 83 and IOPCSA1: 84 have the same format, and the program body and its version information are stored for each of the dedicated control programs (CHP program and each CH type program) loaded from SVPHD7. .

FIG. 3 shows a program storage area (CS11p, CS11p, in the channel processor or channel in FIG. 1).
11a, 11b, ..., 11n) is a diagram showing a schematic format. In the figure, CS11p, 11a, 11
b, ..., 11n each corresponds to CHP9 and C
Program area 111 for storing and executing control programs dedicated to H10a, 10b, ..., 10n
And a program version area 110 for storing the program version of the control program, and IOPCSA
It is composed of a program loading unit 112 in which a boot program for loading a corresponding control program from either 0:83 or IOPCSA1: 84 is stored. Here, a case where the program area is only one surface will be described, but it is also possible to provide a plurality of program areas.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing the flow of version upgrade by the maintenance management system of the control program of the present invention, and FIGS. 5 and 6 show the contents of the dedicated hardware area and each program storage area before and after the version upgrade. It is a figure which shows an example. Hereinafter, a case where the control program dedicated to CHP9 executed in CS11p is rewritten to the latest version will be described with reference to FIGS. 4 to 6. Here, the channels connected to CHP9 are CH10a (type A) and CH1.
Only 0b (type B).

In FIG. 5, SV before version upgrade
The states of PHD7 and HSA8 are as follows. [SVPHD7] CHP program (program version 1) CH type A program (program version 1) CH type B program (program version 0) [HSA8] -IOPCSA0: V = 0 CHP program (program version 0) CH type A program (program Version 0) CH type B program (program version 0) -IOPCSA1: V = 1 CHP program (program version 1) CH type A program (program version 1) CH type B program (program version 0) where CHP9, CH10a, In the program area in the program storage area of CH10b, the IOPC in HSA8 in which the set value of the V flag is valid with V = 1
Each program on the SA1 side is loaded, and these programs control the operation of the channels and input / output devices under control.

In FIG. 4, first, for example, from a remote place via a transmission line such as a communication line, CHP9, CH10a,
When a new program dedicated to each processing unit of CH10b and its version information are sent, they are first sent to SVP.
1 is stored in SVPHD7. In this embodiment, the program version 2 of the control program dedicated to CHP9 is sent and stored in SVPHD7.

In step 401, the latest control program stored in the SVP HD7 and its version information are
It is loaded into IOPCSA in HSA8. At this time, SVP
1 is IOPCSA0: 83 and IOPCSA1: 84 in HSA8
Check the V flag of and the set value is V = 0 (not valid = currently not used by the system) IO
Load the latest control program and its version information into PCSA. In the case of this embodiment, when accessing the HSA 8 from the control program of each processing device, the setting value is always V = 1 (valid) side IOPCSA
Since the program to be loaded is not limited to the program dedicated to the CHP9 to be upgraded, all processing units (CHP9, C
H10a, CH10b). That is, in FIG. 5, a valid IOPCSA has a V flag setting value of V = 1.
Since it is the IOPCSA1: 84 of the side that is set, the CHP program (program version 2), CH type A program (program version 1), CH type B program (program version 0) ) Is loaded.

At step 402, the RBIT 811 in the HSA program management information section 81 is set. That is, S
The VP1 obtains the processing device which is the target of the version upgrade currently being executed from the program name in the SVP HD7, and sets only RBIT corresponding to the processing device to "1", so that the control program of the processing device is controlled. Indicates that rewriting will be performed. In FIG. 5, since only the CHP9 program is rewritten to the latest version of the program, "1" is set only in RBIT: CHP corresponding to CHP9.

In step 403, upon completion of the processing in steps 401 and 402, the IOPCSA on the side storing the latest control program and its version information is validated, and the control program currently used by the system is IOPC on the side where the version information is stored
The setting value of the V flag is switched so that SA is invalidated. That is, in FIG. 5, the setting value of the V flag on the side of IOPCSA0: 83 in which the latest control program and its version information are stored is set to "1" and the IOPCSA is set.
The set value of the V flag on the 1:84 side is set to “0”. After that, in step 404, the program rewriting instruction from the SVP 1 is issued only to the processing device for which RBIT = 1 is set, that is, the CHP 9. Above, Step 4
01 to 404 are the flow of processing in SVP1.

In step 405, the program load unit 112 of the processing device which has received the program rewriting instruction from the SVP 1 stores the value of the program version in the program version area 111 which is the reference target of the processing device at the present time, The value of the new program version on the IOPCSA side where the setting value of the V flag is newly set to "1" is compared, and the processing is branched according to the result. That is, when the new program version is larger (latest version) (step 405 = Yes), the process branches to step 406 to start the rewriting process of the control program in the processing device. If it is smaller (older version) or equal (same version) (step 405 = No), the process branches to step 405a, and the control program in the processing device is not rewritten, but in the corresponding HSA program management information section 81. Only the RBIT setting value of 0 is cleared and the normal processing by the control program currently being referred to is restarted. In FIG. 5, C which is the current reference target
The value of the program version of the control program for HP9 is '1' and the newly loaded CH on IOPCSA0: 83 side
Since the value of the program version of the control program for P9 is "2", the process branches to step 406 to start the rewriting process of the control program in the processing device.

At step 406, the program loading unit 112 of the processing device (CHP9) which is about to rewrite the control program to the latest version prohibits the activation and the reception of an interrupt newly issued from another processing device. As a result, there is no new processing request to this processing device (CHP9) from other processing devices, and when all the processing currently being executed is completed within a certain period of time, CHP9 is in the state of not executing any processing ( Idle state),
It branches to step 411 (step 407 = Yes,
Step 408 = No). However, if the idle state has not been reached even after a lapse of a certain time after the activation and the acceptance of the interrupt are prohibited, the process branches to step 409 (step 407 = No, step 408 = Yes).
In step 409, the activation and interrupt acceptance prohibited in step 406 are resumed, and the program rewriting instruction is queued in the queuing table to suspend the rewriting of the control program.
Go to 0.

In step 410, normal processing by the control program currently being referred to is continued until the program rewriting instruction is dequeued from the queuing table of the program (step 410 = No),
When dequeued, the process returns to step 406 again. In this way, the processing device that has received the program rewriting instruction from the SVP1 during the period from the prohibition of the activation and the reception of the interrupt newly issued from the other processing device to the idle state within a certain time is The idle test process of steps 406 to 410 is repeatedly executed. The above-described process is a process for preventing another processing device that has issued the start-up and interrupt from interpreting that a failure has occurred when a certain time or more has elapsed since the start-up and interrupt acceptance were prohibited. In FIG. 5, after starting the input / output processing from the IP5 for the CHP9 and accepting the input / output interrupt from the CH10a and the CH10b, and confirming that the CHP9 is in the idle state, the steps from step 411 onward are performed. Execute the process.

In step 411, the control program in the processing unit in the idle state is rewritten to the latest version. In this embodiment, the program load unit 112 of the CS 11p in the CHP 9 sends the latest program and its program version based on the directory 82 from the valid IOPCSA0: 83 side where the setting value of the V flag is V = 1. Read and CS1
By storing in the 1p program area 111 and the program version area 110, the program is rewritten to the latest version. As a result, CHP
The control program dedicated to 9 is rewritten from version "1" to version "2".

In step 412, the setting value of the corresponding RBIT in the HSA program management information section 81 is set to "0" for the processing device in which the rewriting of the control program and its program version is completed. This informs all the other processing units that the rewriting of the program is completed. Finally, in step 413, the prohibition of the activation and the acceptance of the interrupt newly issued from another processing device is released, and the normal processing is restarted.

As a result of the above processing, the states of the SVP HD7 and HSA 8 after the upgrade as shown in FIG. 6 are as follows. [SVPHD7] CHP program (program version 2) CH type A program (program version 1) CH type B program (program version 0) [HSA8] -IOPCSA0: V = 1 CHP program (program version 2) CH type A program (program Version 1) CH type B program (program version 0) -IOPCSA1: V = 0 CHP program (program version 1) CH type A program (program version 1) CH type B program (program version 0) where CHP9, CH10a, In the program area in the program storage area of CH10b, the IOPC in HSA8 in which the set value of the V flag is valid with V = 1
Each program on the SA0 side is loaded.

Although not described in the above embodiment, when the system transits to a normal operating state (when the power is turned on or when the state of the processing device is changed from the offline state to the online state). , The program loading unit 112 provided in the program storage area (CS) in each processing unit automatically checks the value of the V flag set corresponding to IOPCSA0 and IOPCSA1, and the latest version of the program It is also possible to have this automatically loaded if is introduced.

[0030]

As described above in detail, according to the maintenance management system for a control program of the present invention, by providing a program management information section and a plurality of sets of control program group storage areas, the same version of different versions can be obtained. It is possible to obtain the effect that the control program can be secured in the information processing system at the same time to prepare for an unexpected situation. Further, by loading the latest control program from the effective control program group storage area only when various processing devices such as channel processors do not need to control the processing operation, it is possible to re-initialize. It is possible to eliminate the complicated operation and erroneous destruction of various tables related to the control program due to an operation error, and it is possible to safely upgrade the control program during the operation of the information processing system. Alternatively, by loading the latest control program when the processing device transitions to the normal operating state for operational work,
The effect that the operation work can be automatically started with the latest version of the control program is obtained.

Therefore, it becomes possible to rewrite the program accompanying the version upgrade of the control program, which is a part of the maintenance and management work for the information processing system, in parallel with the daily operation work, and to significantly improve the availability of the information processing system. The effect that it can be improved is obtained.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of an information processing system including an embodiment of a maintenance management system for control programs according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a schematic format of a dedicated hardware area in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a schematic format of a program storage area in the channel processor or channel in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the flow of version upgrade by the maintenance management system for control programs of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram (part 1) showing an example of the contents of a dedicated hardware area and each program storage area before and after a version upgrade.

FIG. 6 is a diagram (part 2) showing an example of the contents of a dedicated hardware area and each program storage area before and after version upgrade.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Service Processor (SVP) 2 Main Storage Device (MS) 3 Input / Output Processor (IOP) 4 System Controller (SC) 5 Instruction Processor (IP) 6a, 6b, ..., 6n Input / Output Device (I / O) 7 Hard disk drive in service processor (SVP
HD) 8 dedicated area for hardware (HSA) 9 channel processor (CHP) 10a, 10b, ..., 10n Channel (CH) 11p, 11a, 11b, ..., 11n Program storage area (CS)

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (58) Fields surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G06F 9/06

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A storage device for storing a plurality of programs and version information of each program, a program to be used among the plurality of programs and version information of the program to be used are read from the storage device and held therein. In an information processing system including a plurality of processing devices that execute processing according to the program to be used, and a control device that controls operations of the storage device and the plurality of processing devices, the storage device includes the plurality of programs and the Two or more first areas for storing version information and a first area
For storing valid information indicating valid or invalid for each area of
And a region connected to a communication line, the control device displays a version-up program for each of the plurality of programs, and version information of the version-up program, which is sent via the communication line. Received,
Means for storing the version upgrade program and the version information received in a first area of the two or more first areas which is indicated as invalid by the valid information, the version upgrade program and the means for storing the version information Means for switching the valid information corresponding to the first area storing version information from invalid to valid, each of the plurality of processing devices having the program to be used and the version information read from the storage device. Holding means for holding the program, and a program used among the plurality of programs stored in the first area indicated as valid by the version information and the validity information held in the holding means Of the program to be used stored in the first area by comparing And a means for reading the version-up program and the version information of the version-up program from the first area and holding the version-up information by the holding means. Information processing system. 2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the storage device further includes a third area for storing update information indicating presence / absence of version upgrade for each program, and the control device further includes: Means for setting the update information corresponding to the version-up program to version-up, and a program rewriting instruction to a processing device using a program in which the update information indicates version-up of the plurality of processing devices An information processing system comprising: a means for issuing.