JPH04317235A - Trace synchronizing system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To easily establish the correspondence of a trace event between a trace taken in a communication control device and the trace taken in a host device. CONSTITUTION:A means notifying of time information immediately before the host device actuates the trace to the communication control device, a means re-notifying of the time information from the host device to the communication control device each time a prescribed time has passed, a means writing the time information notified to the communication control device in a trace area as the trace event, a means initializing a free-run timer used in the communication control device as the time stamp for the respective trace even when the time information is notified from the host device, a means transferring trace data to the host device when the transfer of the trace data taken in the communication control device is requested from the host device, and a means stopping the counting of time lapse up to a prescribed time in the host device when the stop of the tracing is requested in the host device, are provided.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

[Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a trace synchronization method, and particularly to a trace synchronization method for initializing time stamps to synchronize traces of a communication control device and traces collected in a host device. Regarding.

0002

[Prior Art] A conventional trace synchronization method prints out the trace data of both the trace of the communication control device and the trace collected in the host device in separate lists, and prints out the trace data of both the trace data of the communication control device and the trace collected in the host device. The data was analyzed to determine the relative relationship between each trace event in both traces.

0003

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] The conventional trace synchronization method described above takes the relative relationship between each trace event between the trace collected in the communication control device and the trace collected in the host device. Since it is necessary to store enough data in each trace event of both traces to enable the In order to determine the relative relationship between each trace event in both traces by referring to the data, it is necessary to be familiar with both the traces collected by the communication control device and the traces collected by the host device. A large amount of time is required to determine the relative relationships between each trace event in a trace.

0004

[Means for Solving the Problems] The trace synchronization method of the present invention collects traces individually in a host device and a communication control device, and enables the communication control device to specify starting and stopping of the trace. In the trace method, there is a means for the higher-level device to notify the communication control device of time information immediately before starting tracing, and a means for the higher-level device to notify the communication control device of time information again every time a certain period of time has elapsed. means for writing time information notified to the communication control device into a trace area as a trace event; and means for writing time information notified to the communication control device as a trace event into a trace area; means for initializing a free-run timer in the communication control device; means for transferring trace data to the host device when transfer of trace data collected by the communication control device is requested by the host device; and means for stopping counting of the elapsed time up to the predetermined time in the host device when there is a request to stop tracing.

[0005]

Embodiments Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is an operation sequence showing an embodiment of the trace synchronization method of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of a trace area in one embodiment of the present invention.

Next, the operation of the present invention will be specifically explained using an embodiment according to the operation sequence shown in FIG.

[0008] As a precondition, when a certain amount of trace events are written to the trace area, the trace data is transferred to the higher-level device, and the trace is not activated from the higher-level device to the communication control device. It shall be assumed that

Before requesting the communication control device to start tracing, the host device sends the communication control device the time information used as a timestamp for each trace event of the trace being collected by the host device at that time. At the same time, the host device notifies the communication control device of time information every 10 minutes. Upon receiving the notification of the time information, the communication control device initializes to "0" a free-run timer that is used for a trace time stamp in the communication control device and is capable of counting up to 10 minutes. Also, the notified time information is held in the control table and written in the trace area, and is used as the reference time for the timestamp of trace events that occur thereafter.

[0010] Immediately after the host device notifies the communication control device of the time information, it issues a trace activation request. When the communication control device receives a trace start request from the host device, it first sets the write address of the trace event to the start address of the trace area. After changing the write address, the time information held in the control table is written to the beginning of the trace area indicated by the trace event write address. After writing time information to the trace area, update the trace write address. A trace event writing process is performed in accordance with the occurrence of a trace event in the communication control device. The count value of the free run timer is stored in each trace event as a timestamp.

[0011] The host device requests the communication control device to transfer trace data. The communication control device continues writing the trace event to the trace area in accordance with the occurrence of the trace event. At this time, when a certain amount of trace events are written in the trace area, the trace data is transferred to the host device in accordance with the trace data transfer request. Immediately after receiving the trace data transfer, the host device issues a trace data transfer request to the communication control device.

[0012] When a trace data transfer request is made from a host device, if 10 minutes have passed since time information was notified, the count value is set to 10 minutes in order to clarify the timing of the time information notification request. The set interval timer times out. Accordingly, the host device requests the communication control device to forcibly terminate the trace data transfer request. In accordance with this request, the trace data transfer request is forcibly terminated in the communication control device. The host device confirms the completion of the request and notifies the communication control device of time information.

[0013] When a request to stop tracing is generated in the higher-level device while tracing is being started for the communication control device, the higher-level device immediately stops counting the interval timer and requests the communication control device to start tracing. Request a stop.

[0014] Through the above operations, the relative relationship of each trace event in the trace collected by the host device and the trace collected by the communication control device can be clarified by synchronized time. It becomes possible.

[0015]

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, the trace synchronization method of the present invention uses the time information of the timestamp stored in each trace event of the trace collected in the host device in the communication control device. Notification is made according to the request, and the communication control device places the notified time information on the trace as a trace event, initializes the free-run timer of the communication control device, and when a trace event occurs, writes the free-run time information as a timestamp of each trace event. By storing the timer count value, the timestamp of each trace event indicates the elapsed time from the time information notified immediately before, and therefore the trace collected in the communication control device and the higher-level device It becomes possible to easily associate each trace event of the collected traces, reducing the load on maintenance work and shortening the time required to analyze the traces.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an operation sequence showing an embodiment of the trace synchronization method of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of a trace area in an embodiment of the present invention.

Claims (2)

[Claims] [Claim 1] In a tracing method in which a trace is collected individually in a host device and a communication control device, and it is possible to specify starting and stopping of the trace to the communication control device,
The higher-level device notifies the communication control device of the time information immediately before starting tracing, and the higher-level device notifies the communication control device of the time information again every time a certain period of time elapses, and then notifies the communication control device. When the time information is notified from the host device, the free-run timer used as a timestamp for each trace event is initialized in the communication control device, and the time information is written to the trace area as a trace event. When the transfer of the trace data being collected is requested by the host device, the trace data is transferred to the host device, and when there is a request to stop tracing in the host device, the trace data is transferred to the host device until the above-mentioned certain period of time. A tracing method characterized by stopping counting of elapsed time. [Claim 2] In a tracing method in which traces are collected individually in a host device and a communication control device, and it is possible to specify start and stop of the trace to the communication control device,
means for the host device to notify the communication control device of time information immediately before starting tracing; means for the host device to notify the communication control device of the time information again every time a certain period of time has elapsed; and the communication control device. means for writing time information notified to the trace area as a trace event, and a free-run timer used as a timestamp for each trace event in the communication control device when time information is notified from the host device. means for initializing, means for transferring trace data to a higher-level device when the higher-level device requests transfer of trace data collected in the communication control device, and means for transmitting trace data to the higher-level device when the higher-level device requests to stop tracing. A communication control device comprising: means for stopping counting of elapsed time up to the certain time in a host device when a certain time elapses.