JPH11126168A - Information processing system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To guarantee the normal execution of a report in the case of occurrence of a real fault, by periodically checking the entire system in a system for reporting a fault in an information processor to a monitoring device. SOLUTION: A line adapter 31 for fault report provided inside the information processor internally, has a communication control part 14 for controlling communication with the outside a timer control part 11 required for executing the periodical check, and a memory part 12 storing items required for communication with the opposite side. Independently of this information processor, the line adapter 31 for fault report confirms the normality of the information processor, a line information processor and a monitoring device. When any fault occurs as a result of normality confirmation, its position is confirmed and reported to the information processor or in the case of a fault at the information processor, it is reported to the information processor monitoring device.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to an information processing system,
Especially in computer systems that can monitor devices remotely, monitor device failures, and monitor device status, ensure that partial failures of devices do not become fatal failures over time so that they can be done quickly and accurately. The present invention relates to an information processing system that requires a trouble report.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, when an information processing device failure occurs, this type of information processing system is connected to an information processing device monitoring device resident at a maintenance service center via a public line from a communication adapter of the information processing device. The failure is reported, and the information processing device monitoring device can check the status of the information processing. The trigger of the report in this case is limited to a case where a failure occurs in a part of the information processing device.

[0003] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 62-222755 describes a technique as a device necessary for reporting a failure in an information processing device and a technique for confirming the normality of a line.

[0004]

In the conventional information processing system described above, a failure occurs in a part of the information processing apparatus, and when the failure information is reported to the information processing apparatus monitoring apparatus, the line or the monitoring apparatus fails. If the error has occurred, it is not possible to report the fault that has occurred in the information processing apparatus. In addition, since all the failure reporting processes are performed by software, the processing load on the information processing device increases during that time, affecting the processing time of normal jobs, and some failures while the software is operable. In that case, it is possible to report a failure, but the problem is that it is impossible to report a failure in which software cannot operate.

Further, in the technique described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 62-222755, a test pattern is provided in a terminal on the information processing apparatus side and in a terminal on the office side, and a test pattern having the same frame format as that of ordinary digital communication is transferred by both. This is a method of reporting an abnormality in these terminals and lines to a higher-level device (information processing device or station). Therefore, it is impossible to check the normality of the higher-level device. There is no means for notifying the host device of the other party. In other words, this method is not sufficient when a fault-to-restless system configuration is performed.

[0006] The present invention aims at improving reliability and processing speed over the prior art, and is specifically as follows.

An object of the present invention is to allow an information processing apparatus to confirm the normality of a line or an information processing apparatus monitoring apparatus in advance.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a failure report adapter of the above information processing apparatus having a control unit having information on the information processing apparatus monitoring apparatus, and confirming the normality by processing only the failure report adapter. Is to do.

Another object of the present invention is to have a timer in the adapter for fault reporting and to periodically check the normality.

Another object of the present invention is to double the above-mentioned adapter for fault reporting, and to be able to report a fault and confirm normality even if one of the adapters for fault reporting breaks down. .

Another object of the present invention is to make it possible to report a state to a monitoring apparatus even when the information processing apparatus falls into a state where a failure report cannot be made.

[0012]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, when a failure occurs in an information processing apparatus, the normality of the line and the information processing apparatus monitoring apparatus is determined in advance so that the failure information can be accurately transferred to the information processing apparatus monitoring apparatus. Has a means for confirming.

Further, the present means is characterized in that a function for confirming normality is provided in an adapter dedicated to fault information notification, so that the function is automatically performed without affecting the speed of normal processing in the information processing apparatus. I have.

Further, by duplicating this adapter, it is possible to specify a failure point when confirming normality, and when one of the adapters has failed when an information processing apparatus actually fails. But on the other hand, it is characterized by being able to report.

The information processing apparatus has a signal indicating that the information processing apparatus itself is in a normal state. The signal is assumed to be continuously output from the information processing apparatus. If the information processing device is interrupted, it means that the information processing device has fallen into an inoperable failure, and the information processing device is notified of the failure.

[0016]

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of an information processing system to which the present invention is applied. As shown in FIG. 2, in the present invention, n information processing apparatuses 211 to 21n are connected by a network 22 and monitored by an information processing apparatus monitoring apparatus 23. The present invention relates to an information processing system in which when a failure occurs in each of the information processing devices 211 to 21n, the content of the failure is reported to the information processing device monitoring device 23 via the network 22. The feature of the present invention is that the information processing devices 211 to 211 are caused by a failure that has occurred in the network 22 or the information processing device monitoring device 23 before the failure report.
In order to prevent the failure report of 21n from being performed, the normality of the network 22 and the information processing device monitoring device 23 is to be confirmed in advance.

As shown in FIG. 3, each of the information processing apparatuses 211 to 21n has a failure report line adapter 31 dedicated to the failure report for reporting the failure, and the failure report data is transmitted to the modem 32 or the like. The data is transmitted to the external network 22 via the network.

FIG. 1 shows a first embodiment of the present invention, which is a detailed view of the failure report line adapter 31 shown in FIG. 3, and includes a timer control unit 11, a memory unit 12, and a communication control unit 14. . The memory unit 12 stores data for connecting to the information processing device monitoring device 23 and data for confirming normality, and can use the timer control unit 11 to periodically confirm normality. And

Next, FIG. 4 shows a second embodiment of the present invention, and shows an information processing apparatus 41 in which a failure report line adapter is duplicated in the information processing apparatus 21n. That is, it has a first failure report line adapter 42 and a second failure report line adapter 43 having exactly the same functions. Thus, if the normality check using the first failure report line adapter 42 fails, the line adapter is switched and the second failure report line adapter 43 is used for retry. As a result, it is possible to specify which part between the information processing device 21n and the information processing device monitoring device 23 shown in FIG. 2 has a problem. Table 1 summarizes the results. Table 1 will be described later in detail.

Further, by duplicating the fault reporting line adapter, if a fault actually occurs in the information processing device, even if one of the line adapters has failed, a fault report can be made by using the other. It becomes possible.

Next, the operation of the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 and 4 will be described with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS.

First, the information processing apparatus 21n initializes the failure report line adapter 31 as part of the startup processing. The initialized line adapter 31 is the communication control unit 1
4 sets a value in the timer of the timer control unit 11 and simultaneously activates the timer (502). Next, when a certain time has elapsed (504), the timer measurement ends, and the communication control unit 1
4 reads information for connecting to the information processing device monitoring device 23 from the memory unit 12 (505), and starts normality confirmation processing (506). The information processing apparatus monitoring apparatus 23 that has received the normality confirmation processing returns to the information processing apparatus 21n that it is normal (507), and the processing ends when it returns to the information processing apparatus 21n. Then, the timer is reset again (502), and when a predetermined time has elapsed and an instruction to end the measurement is issued from the timer control unit 11, normality confirmation processing is started again (506), and this operation is repeated.

If the information processing device 21n
If a fault has occurred and an actual fault report has to be made (503), the measurement is interrupted and the processing moves to memory data load (505). By this procedure,
Immediately before the actual failure report is made, the normality is confirmed, and the failure report can be made reliably.

In step 507, if there is no response from the information processing apparatus monitoring apparatus 23, the processing shifts to step 509. If the failure report line adapter 31 has a single configuration, this failure report line adapter 31 The operator of the information processing apparatus is notified that there is a problem in the network 22 and the information processing apparatus monitoring apparatus 23 by the method (510). If it is an unattended site, report the failure using another means of notification. This problem report,
For example, it is conceivable that a call number of a pager or the like held by a maintenance person is registered in the memory unit of the communication control unit, and the maintenance person is directly called.

On the other hand, if the line adapter is duplexed in 509, the memory data of the second line adapter is loaded (512), and the normality confirmation processing is performed again (513). Therefore, if normality is confirmed, that is, if there is a response from the information processing device monitoring device 23, the information processing device 21n is notified that no failure report was made from the first failure report adapter, and If there is a failure report from the device side, the information is transferred to the information processing device monitoring device 23 (511).

If the normality cannot be confirmed in 514, that is, if there is no response, as in 510, the information processing device 23 is notified that there is no reply, or in the case of an unmanned site, the maintenance staff is provided by another means. Notify (51
5).

Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 6 shows an information processing apparatus 61 in which fault reporting line adapters 611 and 612 are provided and duplexed, and modems 621 and 622 are connected to each other, and connected to a general public line network 625 via these. I have. When a failure occurs in the information processing device 61, the content of the failure is reported from one of the failure report adapters 611 and 612 to the information processing device monitoring device 63 to which the modems 623 and 624 are connected. FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of such a system.

In FIG. 6, one of the modems 621 on the information processing device 61 side is the modem 6 of the information processing monitoring device 63.
23, and the modem 622 is connected to the modem 624.
It is assumed that the information (call number) is stored in each of the memory units 714 and 717 in FIG. Further, the duplicated failure reporting line adapter 61 shown in FIG.
7, reference numerals 1 and 612 denote timer control units 71 and 71, respectively.
5, 718, memory units 714, 717, communication control unit 71
6 and 719, and the failure report line adapter 61
1 and 612 alone, enabling the system to periodically check the normality of the system without affecting the normal operation of the information processing device 612.

The information processing device 61 has a signal 711 indicating that the information processing device 61 is operating normally.
Are connected to the communication control units 716 and 719 of the failure report adapters 611 and 612, respectively. Therefore, as for this signal 711, if the information processing device 61 is in a normal state, the signal “1” is continuously output, and if the signal 711 is interrupted and becomes the signal “0”, the information processing device 61 becomes inoperable. The communication control units 716 and 719 determine that the occurrence has occurred, and notify the information processing device monitoring device 63.

At this time, the duplexed fault reporting line adapters 611 and 612 are divided into a primary adapter and a secondary adapter. When a fault report and normality are confirmed, the first operation is performed on the primary side adapter. It is only. However, if one adapter is always the primary adapter, potential failures of the other adapter itself, which is defined as the secondary adapter, and the cables, modems, etc. connected to the adapter below, will cause communication problems on the primary adapter side. Can be detected only when the error occurs and the processing moves to the secondary adapter, and it is easy to fall into a double failure.

In order to solve this problem, after the normality confirmation processing or the failure report is completed between the two adapters, the primary and the secondary are switched by the signals 712 and 713 so that the communication processing is equally performed in both of them. ing. The signals 712 and 713 output "1" when the device itself is the primary adapter and "0" when the device is the secondary adapter by a method of notifying the other party of its own state using two input / output signal lines. Output. That is, the side to which "0" is input is the primary, and the side to which "1" is input is the secondary. This signal is set to one at the time of initialization, and the side to which "0" is input first becomes the primary. If the other party is out of order, nothing is input, so "0" remains input and the terminal itself always becomes the primary.

The operation of this embodiment will be described with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. In this description, it is assumed that the failure reporting line adapter selected as the primary is 611.

First, when the information processing device 61 is brought online (801), the duplexed fault reporting line adapters 611 and 612 are also initialized, and the primary and secondary are determined. The failure reporting line adapter 611 that has become primary sets a value in its own timer control unit 715 and starts measurement (802). When the time reaches the set time (804), data necessary for notifying the information processing device monitoring device 63 from the memory unit 714 is loaded (8).
05), normality confirmation processing is started (806). The normality is confirmed by sending a command from the line adapter for failure defendant 611 to the information processing device monitoring device 63, and the information processing device monitoring device 63 receiving the command returns a certain reply,
Whether the reply is correct or not is determined by a handshake-type confirmation method as determined by the communication control unit 716 in the failure report line adapter 611. Therefore, the abnormality is judged to be abnormal when the reply from the information processing apparatus monitoring device 63 is invalid or when there is no reply and a timeout occurs.

During the timer measurement, the information processing device 61
For reporting an actual failure from the server or a signal 71 indicating that the information processing device 61 has become inoperable and normal operation.
If the signal of 1 is interrupted becomes "0" (803), the timer measurement is interrupted and the normality confirmation processing is performed in the form of adding the fault information (811 to 813, 815).

At this time, in the case of failure information from the information processing device 61, the failure information is written into the memory unit 714 (812), and the failure flag is set to "1" (813). Here, the communication control unit 716 notifies the information processing device 61 that the information has been received, and releases the information processing device 61. When the signal 711 indicating normal operation becomes the interruption signal “0”, the failure flag is set to “2” (815). After performing such processing, the normality confirmation processing is started.

Therefore, first, the information processing device monitoring device 63
(807), and if there is a normal response, the failure flag is determined (808). If there is a failure report, a failure report is sent to the information processing apparatus monitoring device 63 (809). If the signal 711 indicating a normal operation becomes the interruption signal “0”, a message prepared in advance in the memory unit 714 is loaded into the communication control unit 716 and reported to the information processing device monitoring device 63.

After these operations are completed, the primary and secondary failure reporting line adapters are exchanged, the failure reporting line adapter 611 itself is initialized, and the other failure reporting line adapter 612 becomes primary and is started from the timer set. 802).

If no response is received from the information processing apparatus monitoring device 63 in 807, the state in which there is no response is stored (816 in FIG. 9). The contents to be stored are “1” as a status flag when an invalid reply is returned from the information processing device monitoring device 63 or when there is no reply and a timeout occurs (81).
7). If the connection to the modulation / demodulation device 623 is not established, “2” is stored as the status flag (8).
22).

Thereafter, the processing is shifted to the failure reporting line adapter 612 on the secondary side, and the data for the normality confirmation processing is loaded from the memory unit 717 as in the primary side (816). Then, the normality confirmation processing is similarly started in the failure report line adapter 612 on the secondary side (819). Therefore, if there is a response from the information processing device monitoring device 63, the modulation / demodulation device 62 of the information processing device monitoring device 63 connected on the primary side corresponds to item No. 2 in Table 1.
If there is no response from the information processing device monitoring device 63, or if there is no response from the information processing device monitoring device 63 itself or if there is an invalid reply, the modem 23 on the information processing device monitoring device 63 side that issued the connection request on the primary side It can be understood that there is a connection abnormality (for example, a cable) between the information processing device monitoring device 63 and the information processing device monitoring device 63.

[0040]

[Table 1]

On the other hand, if there is no response from the modem 623 on the information processing device monitoring device 63 side because there is no connection on the primary side, the failure reporting line adapter 611, the modem 621 on the primary side, and the primary side do not. It is conceivable that the modulation / demodulation device 623 on the information processing device monitoring device 63 side to which connection was attempted is abnormal. This corresponds to item No. 4 in Table 1. And. In addition to the fact that either of these failures has occurred, the failure is notified to the information processing device monitoring device 63 via the secondary adapter (821 or 825). Of course, if there is fault information, it is notified at the same time (809 or 814).

If there is no response from the secondary adapter, the state in which there is no response is stored as in the primary side (823), and the connection between the modem and the demodulator on the information processing apparatus monitoring apparatus 63 side is stored for both the primary and the secondary. If confirmed, the information processing device monitoring corresponding to item No. 3 in Table 1 is found to be abnormal in the device 63 (82
4) If both the primary and secondary are not connected at all, it is determined that the line corresponding to item No. 5 in Table 1 is abnormal (826). In these cases, the notification to the information processing device monitoring device 63 is impossible, so that the information processing device 6
Notifying the operator resident on the first side, or if this information processing device 61 is operating at an unmanned site, the information processing device monitoring device 63 by another method.
Notify the side.

Another notification method is a method of connecting a telephone capable of connecting to a general public line network by a wireless method, such as a portable telephone, to the information processing apparatus and reporting the abnormality if the line is abnormal. The reason for this is that, in this case, the probability that the general public line will be disconnected is considered to be sufficiently low for the category of line abnormality (826), and it is mainly due to a failure in the exchange in the office where the information processing device is operating. Is the most. Therefore, a telephone, such as a portable telephone that does not pass through a private branch exchange, that can be connected to the general public line network 625 in a wireless manner is connected to the information processing device, and via this, the information processing male replacement device 63 is connected to the information processing device. It is possible to consider a system configuration that gives notification.
Further, when the information processing device monitoring device 63 is abnormal, a method of calling a maintenance person by calling a pager or the like can be considered. When the notification is over, the primary,
The secondary is switched and replaced, the processing ends, and the timer setting on the primary side is started again.

Finally, Table 1 is supplemented. This embodiment does not take into account multiple faults in which faults occur simultaneously at a plurality of locations because they are extremely rare. For example, in Table 1, if the first device is not connected and the second device is connected to the other modem, the failure reporting line adapter starts from the first device.
It can be inferred that there is an abnormality between the modems on the monitoring device side, and from the second device it can be estimated that there is an abnormality between the partner modem and the monitoring device. In this case, there is no overlapping part at the failure point, and multiple failures have occurred in the present system. In other words, if only a single failure is taken into account, the result of Table 1 cannot be such that the first device is not connected and the second device is connected up to the partner modem, or vice versa. Not represented. Therefore, Table 1 considers the case of all faults with only the five item numbers.

[0045]

A first effect of the present invention is that a failure report can be made reliably at the time of an actual failure report, and a failure on the line side can be detected and reported during normal operation. The reason for this is that a function for checking the normality of the line and the information processing monitoring device is provided in advance, and if a connection failure occurs, the maintenance staff can be notified of the fact by any method.

The second effect is that the failure report processing and the normal path reverse confirmation do not impose a load on the normal processing.
The reason is that all the processes are performed by the fault reporting line adapter independently of the information processing device.

Further, since all the failure reporting processes can be performed in the line adapter in this way, a fatal failure that makes the information processing device unreportable can be detected by the line adapter and reported to the monitoring device. Is also one of the effects.

[Brief description of the drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram of an information processing system to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a connection between the failure report line adapter shown in FIG. 1 and a modem;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a schematic configuration diagram for explaining an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a detailed view of the embodiment shown in FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 is a first half of a flowchart showing the operation of the embodiment shown in FIGS. 6 and 7;

FIG. 9 is a latter half of a flowchart showing the operation of the embodiment shown in FIGS. 6 and 7;

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 Timer control part 12 Memory part 14 Communication control part 211 Information processing device 212 Information processing device 21n Information processing device 22 Net network 23 Information processing device monitoring device 31 Fault reporting line adapter 32 Modulation / demodulation device etc. 41 Information processing device 42 First fault Report line adapter 421 Communication control unit 422 Timer control unit 423 Memory unit 43 Second failure report line adapter 431 Communication control unit 432 Timer control unit 433 Memory unit 44 Modulator / demodulator 45 Modulator / demodulator 61 Information processor 611 Failure report line adapter 612 Failure reporting line adapter 621 Modulator / demodulator 622 Modulator / demodulator 623 Modulator / demodulator 624 Modulator / demodulator 714 Memory unit 715 Timer control unit 716 Communication control unit 717 Memory unit 718 Timer control unit 719 Communication control unit

Claims (5)

[Claims] An information processing device monitoring device for monitoring the information processing device via a line using the communication adapter, the information processing device monitoring device being connected to the information processing device; An information processing apparatus capable of reporting the content of a failure that has occurred in a processing apparatus to the information processing apparatus monitoring apparatus, and enabling the information processing apparatus monitoring apparatus to monitor the state of the information processing apparatus. An information processing system, wherein the normality of the information processing device monitoring device is confirmed in the system. 2. The communication adapter according to claim 1, further comprising: a storage unit in which a procedure for connecting to the information processing device monitoring device is stored, wherein normality of the line and the information processing device monitoring device is automatically checked without affecting system operation. 2. The information processing system according to claim 1, wherein the information processing is performed in an adaptive manner. 3. The information processing system according to claim 2, wherein a timer is provided in the communication adapter, and the normality of the information processing apparatus is periodically checked. 4. The communication adapter is multiplexed, and even if one of the communication adapters fails, a fault is reported to the information processing device monitoring device via the other, and normality is confirmed to the information processing device monitoring device and the line. The information processing system according to claim 1, wherein the information processing system is enabled. 5. When a failure that disables operation of the information processing device occurs, the communication adapter detects that a failure that disables operation of the information processing device has occurred, and notifies the information processing device monitoring device. The information processing system according to claim 2, wherein the information processing system is capable of performing the processing.