JPH02121048A - Peripheral controller - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain sufficient fault information when a fault is inspected by retaining the control table and the operating history of a magnetic tape controller, in which the fault occurs, when the fault occurs and the operating history of another magnetic tape controller paired with the above-mentioned controller at that time in the saving storage area of the above-mentioned controller. CONSTITUTION:When the fault occurs in the title peripheral controller composed of a device cross call, the control information and operating history information of the controller, in which the fault occurs, are saved as the fault information according to the instructions of the control means of microprocessors 12, 22, etc. Further, the operating history information and the control information of the other party side controller are retained in the saving storage area of the controller, in which the fault occurs, by using communication means 15 and 25 between controllers 1 and 2. Thus, the sufficient fault information can be obtained for the time when the fault is inspected afterwards.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a peripheral control device, and particularly to a peripheral control device in which a peripheral device is shared by a plurality of control devices.

[Conventional technology]

In peripheral control devices, when a failure occurs in the control device, the control table and operation history of the device are copied to a save area in the control memory for each control device, and the subsequent failure It has a configuration that can be used for analysis.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

In the conventional peripheral control device described above, in the case of a so-called device cross-call configuration in which the recording/reproducing section is controlled by a plurality of control devices, failure information is saved for each control device. Therefore, only the information of the control device that detected the abnormality is saved as failure information.

On the other hand, failures that occur in devices with a device cross-call configuration may be caused by mutual operations of a plurality of control devices. In this case, information from only one control device is insufficient as failure information, and it is necessary to know what kind of operation was being performed by the other control device at that time.

Therefore, when investigating failures in peripheral control equipment,
The problem is that not only the control device in which the abnormality has been detected but also other control devices operating in connection with the abnormality must be investigated, which requires a lot of effort.

[Purpose of the invention]

The purpose of the present invention is to improve the disadvantages of the above conventional example,
In particular, it is an object of the present invention to provide a peripheral control device from which control information necessary for fault investigation can be obtained extremely easily.

[Means to solve the problem]

In the present invention, first and second control means for controlling a single peripheral device, a storage means containing a control program for the peripheral device, and a communication means provided between the first and second control means. It is equipped with Each control means is provided with a save storage area for saving failure information. and a first evacuation execution means that saves the control memory contents in the evacuation storage area of one of the control means related to the occurrence of the failure when a failure occurs in either the first or second control means; The present invention is configured to include a second save execution means that saves the operation information of the other control means that occurs in this case to the save storage area of one control means. This aims to achieve the above-mentioned purpose.

[Embodiments of the invention]

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIG.

The embodiment shown in FIG. A control storage section 14.24 as a storage means containing a control program, etc., and a communication register 15.25 as a communication means installed between the first and second control means.
It is equipped with The first and second control means are provided with a save storage area for saving failure information. Then, when a failure occurs in either the first or second control means.

A first evacuation execution means that saves the control memory contents to the evacuation storage area of one of the control means related to the occurrence of a failure, and a first evacuation execution means that saves the control memory contents to the evacuation storage area of the one control means related to the occurrence of the failure, and a first evacuation execution means that saves the operation information of the other control means that occurs in this case to the evacuation memory of the one control means. and second evacuation execution means for evacuation to the area. The functions related to each of these save execution means are actually performed by the above-mentioned microprocessor 12.22.

Furthermore, the above-mentioned backup storage area is actually the control storage unit 1.
4.24. To explain this in more detail, FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a magnetic tape control device that is an embodiment of the present invention. The magnetic tape control devices 1 and 2 are a pair of control devices, and have a device cross-call configuration connected to a host device 3 and a recording/reproducing mechanism 4, respectively. The magnetic tape control devices 1 and 2 both have the function of controlling the recording/reproducing mechanism 4 based on commands from the host device 3. The higher-level device connection section 11 controls the interface when performing command transfer, data transfer, and status transfer with the higher-level device 3. Microprocessor 12 controls the overall operation of the magnetic tape device. The recording and reproducing control unit 13 controls data transfer to the recording and reproducing mechanism 4, gives operation instructions, detects errors, and the like. The control storage unit 14 is a memory in which the microprocessor 12 stores control tables and the like for controlling the magnetic tape control device, and a portion of the control storage unit 14 is allocated to a failure information save area. Communication register 1
5 is a communication register for exchanging control information between the magnetic tape control device 1 and the magnetic tape control device 2, and is composed of a plurality of registers. The magnetic tape controllers 1 and 2 control the recording/reproducing mechanism 4 while constantly communicating with each other.

Next, the operation of the above configuration will be explained.

The microprocessor 12 analyzes commands and data sent from the host device 3 via the host device connection section 11, and sends instructions to the recording and playback control section 13 to actually drive the recording and playback mechanism 4.
Send via. In order to avoid inconsistent control between the magnetic tape control device 1 and the magnetic tape control device 2, a part of the control information is shared between the two control devices. These shared information are updated by the microprocessor 12.22 using the communication register 15.25.

The microprocessor 12 uses the control storage unit 14 not only to control the magnetic tape but also to trace the operation history of the magnetic tape control device 1. Instructions between the magnetic tape control device 1 and the host device 3.

The microprocessor 12 writes status exchanges in chronological order to a trace storage area in the control storage unit 14. This trace information is very effective in analyzing the details of a failure when it occurs.

In the case of normal operation, the control storage unit 14 is sequentially overwritten and used. At this time, when the microprocessor 12 detects a fault in the magnetic tape control bag Nl, it saves the control table, trace information, and other necessary information in the control storage unit 14 to prevent the information at the time of the fault from being overwritten. Store in a save area in control memory.

At the same time, the microprocessor 12 writes into the communication register 15 a code requesting the magnetic tape control device 2 to send trace information, which is an operation history, and some control information. Microprocessor 2 of magnetic tape controller 2
2 checks the contents of the communication register 25 at regular intervals.

When the microprocessor 22 detects from the contents of the communication register 25 that the magnetic tape control bag W1 requests trace information, it edits a part of the control information to ``the latest number of trace information + step''. , communication register 25
write to. When the microprocessor 22 finishes writing all the communication information, it writes a code indicating the end of trace information transfer to the communication register 25. When the microprocessor 12 of the magnetic tape control device 1 detects completion of setting the trace information on the magnetic tape control device 2 side from the contents of the communication register 15, it reads the trace information from the communication register 15 and stores it in the backup memory along with its own failure information. Write to area.

As a result of the above operations, the control table and operation history at the time of the failure of the magnetic tape control device in which the failure occurred and the operation history of the paired magnetic tape control device at that time are saved in the backup storage area of the failure control device.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, according to the present invention, when a failure occurs in a peripheral control device having a device cross-call configuration, the control means such as a microprocessor uses the control means such as a microprocessor to send control information and operation history information of the failure control device as failure information according to instructions thereof. evacuate, and using communication means between control devices,
By adopting a configuration in which the operation history information and control information of the other party's control device are saved in the backup storage area of the faulty control device, sufficient fault information can be obtained in a subsequent fault investigation.

Since fault information for multiple control devices is stored in a single control device, it is possible to know the operation of the entire peripheral control subsystem at the time of a fault simply by reading the backup storage area of the faulty control device. It can provide excellent peripheral control equipment.

12.22... A microprocessor which also functions as first and second control means, 14.24... A control storage section as a storage means, 15.25... A communication register as a communication means.

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) first and second control means for controlling a single peripheral device, storage means containing a control program for the peripheral device, and a device installed between the first and second control means; each of the control means is provided with an evacuation storage area for saving failure information, and when a failure occurs in either the first or second control means, the control storage contents are saved. a first evacuation execution means that saves the operation information of the other control means that occurs in this case to the evacuation storage area of the one control means related to the occurrence of a failure; A peripheral control device comprising: second evacuation execution means for evacuation.