JPH08179968A - Fault information collecting device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To provide a fault information collecting device capable of informing a maintenance center of fault information even when a fault occurs in a maintenance processor. CONSTITUTION: The fault information collecting device capable of immediately informing the maintenance center of the fault information even when the fault occurs in the maintenance processor 10 and taking a quick countermeasure for the fault and with high reliability can be provided by providing a memory device 30 which holds the fault information sent without intervening the maintenance processor 10, and an auxiliary maintenance processor 20 which reads out the fault information from the memory device when the fault occurs in the maintenance processor and informs the maintenance center of it.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a fault information collecting device for an information processing device, and more particularly to a logical device even when a maintenance processor connected to a plurality of logical devices through a diagnostic interface and collecting the fault information fails. The present invention relates to a fault information collecting device capable of reporting the fault information of the above to the maintenance center.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In the conventional technique of this type, a logic unit, for example, a main system unit including a central processing unit has a hardware fault detecting means for detecting a fault on its own hardware. Is detected, fault information is reported to the maintenance processor connected through the diagnostic interface,
The maintenance processor reported this failure information to the maintenance center through the communication line.

[0003]

In the above-mentioned prior art,
When a maintenance processor that has the function of receiving failure information and sending it to the maintenance center when a hardware failure occurs in this system device fails to send a notification of the failure to the maintenance center, the response to the failure is delayed and There was a problem that it took time to restore.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, and an object of the present invention is to provide a highly reliable fault information collecting device, particularly a maintenance processor. An object of the present invention is to provide a failure information collecting device capable of reporting failure information even if a failure occurs.

[0005]

In order to solve this problem, the fault information collecting apparatus of the present invention is configured to store fault information received from a logical unit and read out from the storage unit when a maintenance processor fails. It also has an auxiliary maintenance processor for reporting failure information to the maintenance center.

[0006] In particular, the storage means may collect the failure information without going through the maintenance processor. Further, in order to reduce the amount of hardware, the storage means may be provided in the failure detection means in the logic device.

The auxiliary maintenance processor may be configured to repeat the operations of reading from the storage means and notifying the maintenance center while the maintenance processor is in failure. Specifically, the auxiliary maintenance processor checks the presence / absence of a failure of the maintenance processor at regular intervals even after detecting the failure of the maintenance processor once, and reads the failure information from the storage means each time the failure is detected. This can be achieved by notifying the maintenance center. Further, the auxiliary maintenance processor can notify the maintenance center only of the failure information stored in the storage means that has not been reported to the maintenance center. Specifically, in the storage means,
This can be realized by providing a means for holding information on whether or not the failure information to be held has already been reported to the maintenance center.

Further, as a means for detecting a failure of the maintenance processor, the auxiliary maintenance processor sends an inquiry signal to the maintenance processor at regular intervals, and if there is no response to this, it is determined that the maintenance processor has failed. Means can be provided.

[0009]

The failure information from the logic device is stored in the storage means without passing through the maintenance processor. After that, when the maintenance processor fails and cannot report to the maintenance center, the auxiliary maintenance processor detects this, reads the fault information in the storage means, and reports it to the maintenance center. The auxiliary maintenance processor can repeat this operation as long as the maintenance processor fails.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the fault information collecting device of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a fault information collecting device according to a first embodiment of the present invention. The system devices 1 and 2, the maintenance processor 10, the auxiliary maintenance processor 20, and the storage device 30 constitute an information processing system, and are connected by a diagnostic interface 40. The maintenance processor 10 and the auxiliary maintenance processor 20 are connected to a maintenance center (not shown) through a communication line.
Further, the maintenance processor 10 and the auxiliary maintenance processor 20 are connected via an interface 41. The system devices 1 and 2 have hardware fault detection means 110 and 120 for detecting faults on their own hardware, respectively, and a maintenance processor 10 and a storage device via a diagnostic interface 40 for passing fault information. Thirty
Fault information to. The hardware failure detecting means 110 and 120 are configured so that they can operate normally even when the main system devices 1 and 2 have a hardware failure. The maintenance processor 10 has a diagnostic interface 40.
It has a failure report receiving means 200 for receiving failure information of the main system devices 1 and 2, and a failure report transmitting means 400 for notifying the maintenance center of the failure information. The auxiliary maintenance processor 20 detects maintenance processor failure detection means 500 when the maintenance processor 10 fails, failure information collection means 600 that reads failure information of the main system device from the storage device 30 when the maintenance processor fails, and this failure. Failure report auxiliary transmission means 700 for reporting information to the maintenance center
And have.

Referring to FIG. 2, the hardware failure detection means 110 includes a failure detection determination section 111 for detecting a hardware failure of the main system device 1 and a failure detection determination section 111.
The failure report receiving means 20 in the maintenance processor 10 receives the failure information from the output from the diagnostic interface 40.
0 and the failure detection reporting unit 112 reporting to the storage device 30.
It has and. Other hardware failure detection means 120
Also has a similar configuration.

The fault report receiving means 200 in the maintenance processor 10 is the hardware fault detecting means 1 in the main system device.
It receives the failure information from 10 or 120 and sends the failure information to the failure report transmitting means 400.

As shown in FIG. 3, the fault report transmitting means 400 detects the fault information received through the communication line to the maintenance center 410, and detects that the maintenance center has succeeded in diagnosing. A transmitted notification unit 4 that notifies the storage device 30 of successful transmission via the interface 40.
20 and 20 are provided.

As shown in FIG. 4, the storage device 30 stores a fault information storage unit 310 for storing fault information and whether the fault information stored in the fault information storage unit 310 has already been transmitted to the maintenance center. Management information storage unit 320 that stores information
And a control unit 330 that controls input / output with the outside via the diagnostic interface 40 and controls storage / update / readout of the contents of the failure information storage unit 310 and the management information storage unit 320.

The maintenance processor failure detection means 500 sends an inquiry signal to the maintenance processor 10 at regular intervals through the interface 41. If there is no response, the maintenance processor failure detection means 500 determines that the maintenance processor 10 has failed, and the failure information collection means 600 indicates to that effect. Is to be notified.

As shown in FIG. 5, when the failure information collecting means 600 receives a notification from the maintenance processor failure detecting means 500 that the maintenance processor 10 has failed, it accesses the storage device 30 via the diagnostic interface 40. Then, the failure information and the management information that are stored are read out, and the storage device reading unit 610 that sends the failure information and the management information to the failure presence / absence determining unit 620, and the management information sent from the storage device reading unit 610 are still notified to the maintenance center. It is provided with a failure presence / absence determination unit 620 that determines whether there is any failure information that has not been reported, and sends the failure information to the failure report auxiliary transmission means 700 when it is determined that there is unreported failure information.

The fault report auxiliary transmission means 700 notifies the maintenance center of the fault information when it is sent.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described in detail with reference to FIGS.

First, the operation when the maintenance processor is operating normally is as follows. The failure detection determination unit 111 in the hardware failure detection unit 110 monitors a hardware failure of the main system device 1, and when a failure is detected, the failure detection determination unit 111 notifies the failure detection reporting unit 112 of this. In response to this, the fault detection report unit 112 sends the fault information through the diagnostic interface 40 to the fault report receiving means 2 in the maintenance processor 10.
00 and storage device 30. The hardware failure detection means 120 also performs the same operation.

Failure report receiving means 2 of the maintenance processor 10
00 is a hardware failure detecting means 11 in the main body system device.
The fault information from 0 and 120 is received via the diagnostic interface 40, and this fault information is sent to the fault report transmitting means 400.

The fault notifying section 410 in the fault report transmitting means 400 which has received the fault information notifies the maintenance center of the received fault information through the communication line. The transmitted notification unit 420 detects that the notification to the maintenance center has been successful, and notifies the storage device 30 of the successful transmission via the diagnostic interface 40.

The control unit 330 in the storage device 30 causes the fault information storage unit 310 to sequentially store the fault information sent via the diagnostic interface 40. In addition, the notification of successful transmission is transmitted via the diagnostic interface 40 to the transmitted notification unit 4
When sent from 20, the corresponding management information in the management information storage unit 320 is updated, and information indicating that the corresponding failure information has been transmitted to the maintenance center is stored.

In the normal state, the maintenance processor 10 operates normally in this way, and the failure information of the main system device is reported to the maintenance center.

In this state, it is assumed that the maintenance processor 10 fails for some reason and stops operating. In this case, the maintenance processor failure detection means 500, which issues an inquiry signal to the maintenance processor 10 at regular intervals through the interface 41, detects that there is no response from the maintenance processor 10, and the maintenance processor 10 is detected. Determines that a failure has occurred and notifies the failure information collecting means 600 of the failure.

When the storage device reading section 610 in the fault information collecting means 600 receives the notification from the maintenance processor fault detecting means 500 that the maintenance processor 10 has failed, it accesses the storage device 30 through the diagnostic interface 40 and stores it. The failure information and the management information that have been read are read and sent to the failure presence / absence determining unit 620. The failure presence / absence determining unit 620 determines whether there is any failure information that has not been reported to the maintenance center based on the management information sent. When it is determined that there is unreported fault information, the fault information is transmitted to the fault report auxiliary transmission unit 700, and the fault information auxiliary transmission unit 700 notifies the maintenance center of this.
If it is determined that there is no unreported fault information, the process ends without performing any processing.

The operation of the auxiliary maintenance processor 20 is not limited to once. Maintenance processor failure detection means 500
Even if the failure of the maintenance processor 10 is detected once, the inquiry to the maintenance processor 10 is repeated at regular intervals,
Each time a failure is detected, the failure information collecting means 600 may be notified. Alternatively, once a failure of the maintenance processor 10 is detected, a means for directly receiving the failure information report from the hardware failure detection means 110, 120 and sending this failure information to the failure report auxiliary transmission means 700 is provided. May be. In this case, the auxiliary maintenance processor 20 completely replaces the role of the maintenance processor 10.

As described above, according to the present invention, even if the maintenance processor 10 fails, the auxiliary maintenance processor 20 reports the failure information to the maintenance center, so that a highly reliable failure information collecting apparatus can be realized.

Particularly, in this embodiment, since the failure information to the storage device 30 is directly sent from the hardware failure detecting means 110 and 120 without passing through the maintenance processor 10, the maintenance processor 10 causes a failure, and Even if the failure information of the system device cannot be collected, the auxiliary maintenance processor informs the maintenance center of information about the failure that has occurred thereafter, so that the failure occurrence can be known without delay.

Further, in this embodiment, since only the fault information that has not been reported is reported, the maintenance center may have the same configuration as the conventional one, and no increase in extra hardware and software is caused. However, even if the failure presence / absence determining unit 620 is omitted and the failure information already notified is also sent to the maintenance center,
The high reliability effect of the present invention remains the same. In this case, the configuration for managing whether or not the notification has been made in the present embodiment is unnecessary.

Further, in the present embodiment, the maintenance processor failure detection determination unit 510 is used to determine the failure of the maintenance processor.
Has a merit that it does not require a complicated circuit and can be easily realized because it has a configuration that issues an inquiry signal to the maintenance processor 10 at regular intervals and determines that a failure has occurred when there is no response. are doing. However, this is also not an essential requirement of the present invention, and can be appropriately realized by using another type of check circuit or the like.

In this embodiment, two main system devices are provided, but the present invention is not limited to this and any number of one or more devices may be used. Although the storage device 30 is a device separate from the main system device in this embodiment, it may be physically provided in any logical device. With such a configuration, it is not necessary to newly provide a storage device as compared with the conventional technique, so that it can be realized with a smaller amount of hardware, which contributes to cost reduction. However, the configuration must be such that it is not affected by the hardware failure of the logical unit.

Another embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

In this embodiment, the memory device 30 in FIG. 1 is removed and replaced with the hardware failure detecting means 1
Storage means are provided in 10 and 120. FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the hardware failure detecting means 110 in the second embodiment. The hardware failure detection means 110 in the present embodiment maintains a failure information through a failure detection determination unit 111 that detects a hardware failure of the main system device 1 and an output from the failure detection determination unit 111 through the diagnostic interface 40. A fault detection report unit 112 that reports the same fault information to the control unit 115 while reporting to the fault report receiving unit 200 in the processor 10, a fault information storage unit 113 that stores the fault information, and a fault information storage unit 113. A management information storage unit 114 for storing information on whether the stored failure information has already been transmitted to the maintenance center;
From the diagnostic interface 40 or the fault detection reporting unit 1
The control unit 115 acquires information from the storage device 12, and stores / updates / reads the contents of the failure information storage unit 113 and the management information storage unit 114. The other hardware failure detecting means 120 has the same configuration as this. Further, the storage device reading unit 610 in the failure information collecting unit 600.
When the notification indicating that the maintenance processor 10 has failed is received from the maintenance processor failure detection means 500,
The hardware failure detecting means 110, 120 is accessed through the diagnostic interface 40, the stored failure information and management information are read, and this is sent to the failure presence / absence determining unit 620.

The other structure is the same as that of the first embodiment except that the storage device 30 is not provided.

Next, the operation of the second embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS.
This will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 5 and 6.

First, the normal operation is as follows.
Failure determination section 111 in hardware failure detection means 110
Monitors the hardware failure of the main system device 1, and when detecting the failure, notifies the failure detection reporting unit 112 of this. In response to this, the fault detection report unit 112 reports the fault information to the fault report receiving means 200 in the maintenance processor 10 through the diagnostic interface 40, and at the same time, the control unit 11
Report to 5. The hardware failure detection means 120 also performs the same operation.

Failure report receiving means 2 of the maintenance processor 10
00 is a hardware failure detecting means 11 in the main body system device.
The fault information from 0 and 120 is received via the diagnostic interface 40, and this fault information is sent to the fault report transmitting means 400.

The fault notifying section 410 in the fault report transmitting means 400 that has received the fault information notifies the maintenance center of the received fault information through the communication line. The transmitted notification section 420 detects that the notification to the maintenance center has succeeded, and notifies the hardware failure detection means 110 and 120 of the successful transmission via the diagnostic interface 40.

The control unit 115 in the hardware failure detecting means 110 causes the failure information storage unit 113 to sequentially store the failure information sent from the failure detection reporting unit 112. In addition, the failure information storage unit 1 via the diagnostic interface 40
When a notification of successful transmission of the failure information stored in 13 is sent from the transmitted notification section 420, the corresponding management information in the management information storage section 114 is updated, and the corresponding failure information is updated to the maintenance center. The information indicating that the data has been transmitted is stored in.

In the normal state, the maintenance processor 10 operates normally in this way, and the failure information of the main system device is reported to the maintenance center.

In this state, it is assumed that the maintenance processor 10 fails for some reason and stops operating. In this case, the maintenance processor failure detection means 500, which issues an inquiry signal to the maintenance processor 10 at regular intervals through the interface 41, detects that there is no response from the maintenance processor 10, and the maintenance processor 10 is detected. Determines that a failure has occurred and notifies the failure information collecting means 600 of the failure.

When the storage device reading unit 610 in the failure information collecting unit 600 receives a notification from the maintenance processor failure detecting unit 500 that the maintenance processor 10 has failed, the hardware failure detecting unit 110 is passed through the diagnostic interface 40. , 120 to read the stored fault information and management information and send it to the fault presence / absence determination unit 620. The failure presence / absence determining unit 620 determines whether there is any failure information that has not been reported to the maintenance center based on the management information sent. If it is determined that there is unreported failure information, failure report auxiliary transmission means 70
0 to send the fault information to fault information auxiliary transmission means 700
Reports this to the maintenance center. If it is determined that there is no unreported fault information, the process ends without performing any processing.

As in the case of the first embodiment, the operation of the auxiliary maintenance processor is not limited to once, but may be repeated, for example, at regular intervals.

When the storage means is provided in each hardware failure detection means in this way, the failure information is reported from the failure detection report section 112 to the storage means without passing through the diagnostic interface 40. The load can be reduced.

Further, since an independent storage device connected to the diagnostic interface is unnecessary, the amount of hardware can be reduced, which is advantageous in cost.

[0047]

As is apparent from the above description, the present invention provides a storage means for holding fault information, and an auxiliary maintenance processor for reading fault information from the storage means and notifying the maintenance center when the maintenance processor fails. Even if a failure occurs in the maintenance processor, it is possible to immediately report the failure information to the maintenance center, enabling quick response to the failure, and realizing a highly reliable failure information collection device. To be done.

In particular, the storage means collects the failure information without passing through the maintenance processor, so that the failure information generated after the maintenance processor cannot collect the failure information can also be notified to the maintenance center. Further, by providing the storage means in the failure detection means in the logic device, it is possible to suppress an increase in the amount of hardware.

Even after the failure of the maintenance processor is once detected, the auxiliary maintenance processor checks the existence of the failure of the maintenance processor at regular intervals and activates the failure information collecting means each time the failure is detected. The failure of the logical device that occurs after the maintenance processor fails can also be notified to the maintenance center.

In addition, when only the failure information stored in the storage means that has not been reported to the maintenance center is reported to the maintenance center, it is not necessary to add extra hardware and software to the maintenance center. .

Further, as a means for detecting a failure of the maintenance processor, a means for the auxiliary maintenance processor to send an inquiry signal to the maintenance processor at regular intervals and to judge that the maintenance processor has failed when there is no response to this. By providing it, there is an effect that it is not necessary to use a complicated configuration.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of hardware failure detection means.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a failure report transmitting unit.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a storage device.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a configuration of fault information collecting means.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a hardware failure detecting means according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

[Description of Reference Signs] 1, 2 main system device 10 maintenance processor 20 auxiliary maintenance processor 30 storage device 40 diagnostic interface 41 interface 110, 120 hardware failure detection means 111 failure detection determination unit 112 failure detection report unit 113 failure information storage unit 114 Management information storage unit 115 Control unit 200 Fault report receiving unit 310 Fault information storage unit 320 Management information storage unit 330 Control unit 400 Fault report transmitting unit 410 Fault reporting unit 420 Sent notification unit 500 Maintenance processor fault detection unit 600 Fault information collecting unit 610 Storage device reading unit 620 Failure presence / absence determination unit 700 Auxiliary failure report transmission means

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A fault information collecting device comprising a maintenance processor for collecting fault information of a logical device and notifying the collected fault information to a maintenance center, the fault information collecting device collecting the fault information and collecting the collected fault information. A fault information collecting device comprising: a storage unit that holds the fault information and an auxiliary maintenance processor that reports the fault information read from the storage unit to the maintenance center when the maintenance processor fails. 2. The fault information collecting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the storage unit collects the fault information from the logical device without passing through the maintenance processor. 3. The auxiliary maintenance processor notifies the maintenance center of only the failure information stored in the storage unit that has not been reported to the maintenance center. Fault information collection device. 4. The fault information collecting apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the logic device has fault detecting means for detecting its own fault, and the storage means is provided in the fault detecting means.