JPH06242991A - Fault monitor system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To automatically send a report to customers by electronic mailing or facsimile if a fault occurs in a computer system. CONSTITUTION:The system consists of mail terminals and facsimile devices 37 of customers, a customer computer system group 12, a central monitor system 2 which monitors the computer system group at all times, a customer monitor center 3 which takes fault countermeasures for customers, and an electronic mail server 4. If a fault occurs in a customer computer system 1, that is automatically reported to the central monitor system 2. If the fault occurs at the computer system itself, the fault is reported from a subprocessor SVP8 for monitoring a processor and peripheral devices, but when the fault occurs to attached facilities (air conditioner, power supply facilities, etc.) 10, the fault is reported from AOB 9. The central monitor center 2 once receiving the report gathers more detailed fault data from the SVP8 and AOB9. The fault state is analyzed and the result is reported to a customer monitor center 3 for the customer by telephone or a buzzer, etc.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a fault monitoring system for reporting a fault of a computer system to a customer by using an electronic mail system and a fax.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art The conventional fault monitoring method is ASSIST (Advanc
ed Service Support Information System Technology) system pamphlet, or as described in HITAC Manual No. 6180-2-002 "M-880 Processor Group", at the central monitoring center under the system of 24 hours 365 days. Accepts notifications of failures that occur in the customer's computer system, analyzes the failure information at the customer's corresponding monitoring center, and rushes to the customer system to perform failure repair work (computer part replacement, incidental equipment measures, etc.) The method is known.

[0003]

In the above-mentioned prior art, when a failure of the computer system occurs, contacting the customer is as follows.
A telephone call is sent from the customer-centered monitoring center. For example, if a failure occurs at midnight, it will result. If you are contacted on a holiday, you may be absent. Depending on the customer, it may be possible to confirm the post-report. Furthermore, if you are at home, you want to check the failure status or countermeasure status at home.

An object of the present invention is to use ASISTIST as a method of contacting a customer when a failure occurs in a computer system.
It is to provide a fault monitoring method for automatically sending e-mail and fax from the system.

[0005]

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention for achieving the above object, a customer's mail terminal and fax machine, a customer computer system group, a central monitoring system for constantly monitoring the computer system group, and a customer The system consists of a customer monitoring center and e-mail system that take countermeasures against failures. When a failure occurs in the customer computer system, the central monitoring system is automatically notified.
In the case of computer system failure, SVP (SerVice Proc) which is a sub-processor for monitoring the processing device and peripheral devices
In the case of ancillary equipment (air conditioner, power supply equipment, etc.), the AOB (Automatic Operation Board) will notify each of them.

Upon receiving the notification, the central monitoring center collects more detailed failure data from the SVP and AOB, analyzes the failure status, and informs the customer monitoring center corresponding to the customer by telephone or buzzer. Detailed failure analysis and countermeasures are performed by the maintenance staff of the customer monitoring center communicating with the failure countermeasure support system of the central monitoring center from the terminal and referring to the customer failure file. The central monitoring center is equipped with a means for creating a failure notification mail, and when a failure occurs, while the failure countermeasure is being carried out, and when the failure countermeasure is completed, it is notified to the customer's designated location by the method designated by email or fax . The notification method is based on the notification schedule for the customer. The fault notification mail is automatically generated from the communication between the maintenance staff and the fault countermeasure support system. As soon as the countermeasure method for the failure is known, the repair work (computer part replacement, incidental equipment countermeasures, etc.) is carried out immediately under the customer system.

[0007]

According to the present invention, as a method of contacting a customer when a failure occurs in the computer system, notification by e-mail or fax becomes possible.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a system to which the electronic mail interlocking type fault monitoring of the present invention is applied. The customer computer system 1 and the customer computer system 1 are constantly monitored, and when a failure occurs, an automatic notification is received, and a central monitoring system 2 that supports countermeasures against the failure. The system is composed of a customer monitoring center 3 for dealing with customers, an electronic mail server 4 for receiving failure notification mails from a central monitoring center 4, a customer contact point 5 (home, office, etc.). 6
And are connected via lines 40 to 47, respectively.

The customer computer system 1 has a plurality of CPUs (C
entral processor unit) 7, SVP for monitoring CPU 7
8 and AOB 9 for monitoring the auxiliary equipment 10.
The program configuration of the CPU 7 is an operating system (OS) 11, a subsystem 12 that operates under the OS 11 and manages a network or a database, and a job 13 of a user. Abnormalities in the OS 11 and the subsystem 12 are detected by the SVP 8. In the incidental equipment 10,
An air conditioner facility 14, a power source facility 15, various sensors 16 such as temperature and electric leakage are included. The abnormality of the auxiliary equipment 10 is detected by the AOB 9. The SVP 8 is composed of a fault monitor 17 for reporting a fault to the central monitoring center 2 and for exchanging data with the central monitoring center 2, and a built-in disk 18 for storing fault data. Similarly, the AOB 9 is also composed of a fault monitor 19 for reporting a fault to the central monitoring center 2 and for exchanging data with the central monitoring center 2, and a built-in disk 20 for storing fault data.

The central monitoring center 2 has a countermeasure time file 21 and a customer address file 2 as disk files.
2. The customer failure file 23 connects. The countermeasure time file 21 is composed of a correspondence table of the factors of each failure and the time required for countermeasures against the failure. Countermeasure time file 21
Is used as the scheduled completion time of measures when a failure occurs and a customer is notified of a failure e-mail. The structure of the customer address file 22 will be described with reference to FIG. Reference numeral 51 is a customer name, and entries 52 to 55 exist corresponding to the customer name. A plurality of sets of entries 52 to 55 may be described corresponding to customer names. 52 is a reporting date and 53 to 55 are reporting methods on the corresponding day. Reference numeral 52 may be a date designation, or designation of weekdays, holidays, or the like. 53 to 55 describe the notification method for each time zone and are variable. For example, in 53, the time zone 1 is a notification designation by email, and the email ID of the recipient is also described. 55 is a notification designation by e-mail and fax,
The mail ID and fax number are described. With the above notification schedule, for example, it is possible to report to the office on weekdays and to the home etc. at night and on holidays. Countermeasure time file 2
1, the customer address file 22 is a component for implementing the present invention. The customer failure file 23 is SVP8,
This is a file that stores failure information obtained from AOB9.

The program configuration of the central monitoring system 2 is
Operating system (OS) 24, failure countermeasure support system 25, notification reception 27, failure notification mail creation 2
6, FAX output 27, mail exchange 28.
The notification reception 27 is activated by the SVP 8 or AOB 9 when a failure occurs in the customer computer system 1. Notification reception 27
Analyzes the content of the report and activates the failure countermeasure support system 25. Further, the maintenance staff of the customer monitoring center 3 is notified of the failure by telephone or buzzer. The failure countermeasure support system 25 is the SVP8 of the customer computer system 1.
The failure data 18 in the above or the failure data 20 in the AOB 9 is collected and stored in the customer failure file 23. The fault countermeasure support system 25 is further connected to the terminal 38 of the customer monitoring center 3 by the public line 6. The maintenance person uses the terminal 38 to communicate with the failure countermeasure support system 25 to analyze the failure, examine countermeasures, arrange replacement parts, and the like.

The fault countermeasure support system 25 has a fault occurrence mail, a fault countermeasure status mail 33, during communication with the terminal 38.
In order to create the failure completion mail 32, the failure notification mail creation 26 is activated.

The contents of the fault notification mail will be described with reference to FIG. Reference numeral 31 is a failure occurrence mail, which is created when a failure occurs. Reference numeral 72 is a failure occurrence time, 73 is a failure occurrence device, and 7
4 is the content of the failure, and 75 is the scheduled completion time of the countermeasure. The failure content of 74 is a failure factor such as a power failure, a CPU weight, a machine check, an I / O system failure, and a subsystem failure. The scheduled time for completion of 75 measures is the measure time file 21
It is the required countermeasure time corresponding to the failure cause code obtained by referring to.

Reference numeral 32 is a failure completion mail, which is created when the failure countermeasure is completed. Reference numeral 76 is a failure countermeasure completion time, and 77 is a countermeasure content. The maintenance staff of the customer monitoring center 3 uses the terminal 38 to send the failure completion mail to the failure countermeasure support system 2
It is created when the failure status is updated in the failure countermeasure end processing during the communication procedure with 5.

Reference numeral 33 is a fault countermeasure status mail. As with the failure completion email, the maintenance personnel of the customer monitoring center 3
8 is used during the trouble countermeasure processing during the communication procedure with the trouble countermeasure support system 25. Created according to the status of measures. Reference numeral 78 denotes a countermeasure status, which indicates a progress status of countermeasures such as during parts ordering, particularly when contacting another company in the case of equipment of another company, and currently exchanging parts. 79 is a scheduled time for completing the countermeasure, which is a more accurate time for completing the countermeasure accompanying the failure analysis. The failure notification mail creation 26 refers to the customer address file 22 to send the created failure notification mail. Since the customer address file 22 describes the report schedule as described with reference to FIG. 2, the customer address file 22 reports to the designated place of the customer according to the schedule. In the case of mail transmission, the mail exchange 28 is activated. The mail exchange 28 communicates the failure notification mail with the mail exchange 34 operating under the electronic mail system 35 of the electronic mail server 4, and registers it in the post office box 39 of the corresponding mail ID of the mail box 30. In the post office box 39, there are a failure occurrence mail 31, a failure countermeasure status mail 33, a failure completion mail 32, and a general mail. The customer can use the mail terminal 36
Can understand the status of countermeasures. In case of fax transmission,
Start FAX output 3. The FAX output 3 converts the contents of the mail into fax data. The data is sent to the FAX 37 at the customer's designated place via the public line.

The e-mail server 4 has an existing e-mail system 35 and a mail exchange 28 of the central monitoring system 2.
And a mail exchange 34 for exchanging mail information. The mail exchange 34 stores the failure notification mail in the post office box 39 of each customer of the mail box 30.

In the above embodiment, when a failure occurs, the SVP8,
The AOB 9 notifies the central monitoring system 2 and the central monitoring system 2 contacts the customer by e-mail or fax. However, in the modified example, the SVP 8 or AOB 9 directly notifies the customer by e-mail or fax. . At the same time, the central monitoring system 2 is also notified. The central monitoring system 2 receives the notification and takes countermeasures against the failure.
The central monitoring system 2 reports the failure countermeasure status mail and the failure completion mail as in the above embodiment. In this method,
Since the central monitoring system 2 is not used, the customer is informed of the failure occurrence earlier, but there is no particular difference.
In the configuration of the modified example, the customer computer system 1 has a customer address file 22. Further, the SVP 8 and AOB 9 also perform the same processing as the failure notification mail creation 26, the mail exchange 28, and the FAX output 29.

[0018]

According to the present invention, when a failure occurs in the computer system, the conventional telephone notification to the customer is sent by electronic mail,
Made possible by fax. The customer does not have to be awakened in the event of a failure at midnight. Further, it is possible to receive more detailed information than the conventional automatic notification by telephone.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram including an electronic mail interlocking type fault monitoring system of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of the contents of a file that describes a report schedule for a customer.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing the contents of a fault notification mail.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Customer computer system, 2 ... Central monitoring system, 3 ...
Customer monitoring center, 4 ... E-mail server, 8 ... SVP,
9 ... AOB, 10 ... Ancillary equipment, 21 ... Countermeasure time file, 22 ... Customer address file, 23 ... Customer fault file, 25 ... Fault countermeasure support system, 26 ... Fault notification mail creation, 27 ... Notification reception, 28 ... Mail exchange , 29 ...
FAX output, 34 ... Mail exchange, 35 ... E-mail system, 30 ... Mail box, 36 ... Mail terminal, 37
... FAX, 39 ... PO Box.

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (72) Hideo Saito Hideo Saito, 504-2 Shinanomachi, Totsuka-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa Niitsu Electronic Service Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor ▲ Hidenami Nami Shinano, Totsuka-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa Machi 504-2, Nikkei Electronics Service Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Tsutomu Ito 1-280, Higashi Koikeku, Kokubunji, Tokyo (72) Central Research Laboratory, Hitachi Ltd. (72) Toshio Hirosawa 1-280, Higashi Koikeku, Kokubunji, Tokyo Central Research Laboratory of Hitachi, Ltd. (72) Motohide Kunizai 1-280, Higashi Koikeku, Kokubunji City, Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Hitachi, Ltd. (72) Koji Ueoka 1-280, Higashi Koikeku, Kokubunji, Tokyo Hitachi Central Research Laboratory (72) Inventor Tadashi Yamagishi 5 Totsuka-cho, Totsuka-ku, Yokohama-shi, Kanagawa 030 Incorporated company Hitachi, Ltd. Software Development Division (72) Inventor Masakatsu Abe 5030 Totsuka-cho, Totsuka-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture Incorporated Hitachi Ltd. Software Development Division (72) Inventor Yoshikazu Ichikawa Naka, Yokohama, Kanagawa 6-81 Onoue-cho, Hitachi Software Engineering Co., Ltd. In-house (72) Inventor Masahiko Ishimaru 6-81 Onoue-cho, Naka-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa Hitachi Software Engineering Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Michio Hirano Yokohama, Kanagawa 6-81, Onoue-cho, Naka-ku Hitachi Software Engineering Co., Ltd. In-house (72) Inventor Shigeru Sasaki 6-81, Onoue-cho, Naka-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa Hitachi Software Engineering Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Kaoru Kamitsuma Yokohama, Kanagawa 6-81 Onoue-cho, Naka-ku, Hitachi Hitachi Software Engineering Stock Association In-house

Claims (10)

[Claims] 1. In a configuration of a computer system group and a monitoring system for managing the computer system group, the monitoring system accepts a fault report generated in the computer system group, analyzes the fault, and displays an analysis result. A fault monitoring system comprising means for notifying a customer of the computer system having a fault by electronic mail. 2. A configuration of a computer system group and a monitoring system for managing the computer system group, wherein the monitoring system accepts a fault report generated in the computer system group, analyzes the fault, and outputs the analysis result. A failure monitoring system comprising means for sending a fax directly to the customer of the computer system where the failure has occurred. 3. The fault monitoring system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the reporting means reports to a customer when a fault occurs, during a fault countermeasure, and when a fault countermeasure is completed. 4. The fault monitoring system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein said reporting means follows a predetermined reporting schedule. 5. The fault monitoring system according to claim 4, wherein the report schedule indicates a report destination and a report method of mail or fax for each time zone. 6. The fault monitoring system according to claim 3, wherein the reporting means when a fault occurs reports a fault occurrence time, a fault occurrence device, a fault content, and a countermeasure completion scheduled time. 7. The fault monitoring system according to claim 3, wherein the reporting means under fault countermeasure reporting the countermeasure status and the scheduled time of countermeasure completion. 8. The fault monitoring system according to claim 3, wherein the reporting means at the time of failure completion reports the failure completion time and countermeasure content. 9. A fault monitoring system comprising a computer system and a subsystem directly connected to the computer system for fault monitoring, comprising means for reporting a fault occurrence report to a customer from the subsystem by electronic mail. . 10. A fault monitoring system comprising a computer system and a subsystem directly connected to the computer system for fault monitoring, comprising means for faxing a fault occurrence report to a customer from the subsystem.