JPH11331194A - Device and system for monitor - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a device with which a computer can be stopped immediately and a server computer on standby can succeed to the monitoring function of a communication route, when a serious fault occurs at a server computer. SOLUTION: For this monitoring system, a system condition display device 14 is provided inside main system monitoring servers 11 and by providing plural communication routes 16 and 17, even if a fault occurs at the communication routes 16 and 17, that fault can be displayed on the system condition display device 14 by switching them to the normal communication route so that reliability is improved. Furthermore, a slave system monitoring server 15 of the same configuration as the main system monitoring server 11 is provided, and even if the main system monitoring server breaks down, since the slave system monitoring server 15 can be used as the main system monitoring server, reliability is further improved.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to data communication on a communication path such as a local area network (hereinafter referred to as a LAN) in a plant system in the field of a power generation and distribution facility, a supervisory control system for a plant facility, and a wide area information management system. The present invention relates to a monitoring device and a monitoring system for monitoring a communication path and taking a countermeasure if a failure occurs, for the purpose of improving the reliability of the system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, in a plant control system, a power distribution monitoring system, and the like, stable operation, that is, high reliability is expected in addition to high-speed response. In these systems, the suspension of communication due to a failure or the like also causes the system to stop.
This is a problem that must be avoided as much as possible. Under such recognition, various attempts have been made to improve reliability.

[0003] As an example, in order to improve the reliability of communication on a communication path, a communication path has been multiplexed by connecting two or more communication media. The redundant communication path is used when one is used as a normal communication path and the other is used as an alternative path in the event of a failure, or when both are normal for load distribution purposes. Was distributed to both communication paths.

[0004] A conventional fault detecting method and a fault avoiding method will be described below. FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of a system using a conventional dual path configuration. Reference numeral 41 denotes a computer (hereinafter, referred to as a monitoring server) including a communication path failure detection device. The monitoring server periodically transmits a broadcast message (broadcast) to each connected communication path. In response to a response from each computer on the communication path, the failure detection device 42 on the monitoring server determines whether the computer and the communication path are faulty or normal.

When a failure in the communication path is detected, the communication path is switched by the failure switching device 43. For this reason, a program that has been performing communication using a communication path in which a failure has occurred can take over processing to communication on another communication path without stopping communication.

On the other hand, each communication path information held by the monitoring server 41 is transmitted to the system status display computer 46 at regular intervals using the communication path, and the state of the communication path is displayed on the display monitor 47. Also, the monitoring server 4
In order to prepare for a system failure, it is common practice to duplicate the monitoring server to improve reliability.

[0007]

As described above, the conventional high-reliability communication device is constructed on the premise of the normal operation of the monitoring server. there were. When a certain application program on the monitoring server is executed with a high priority and monopolizes the CPU, the detecting device and the switching device on the monitoring server cannot operate normally.

In this case, the detection device cannot detect its own fault, and as a result, falls into a state in which an abnormal state cannot be detected. Since the state in which the CPU is occupied by the application is a serious failure of the system that should not normally occur, it is necessary to immediately execute computer stop processing such as shutdown. However, since the shutdown program is also configured by a software program, it is unlikely to operate normally in a state where CPU assignment cannot be expected.
In addition, since the monitoring server and the system status display computer are communicating via a communication path such as a LAN, if an error occurs in both communication paths of the system status display computer,
There was a problem that the system status could not be displayed correctly.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems. In the event that a serious failure has occurred in a server computer, the computer can be immediately stopped, and the communication path monitoring function is on standby. It is an object of the present invention to obtain a device that can be taken over by a server computer, and to obtain a display device that can always correctly display a system state even if a communication path is abnormal.

[0010]

(1) A monitoring device according to the present invention monitors a communication state of a communication path to detect a failure, and a failure detecting device detects a failure based on the failure detected by the failure detecting device. And a display device for displaying a communication state such as a failure in the communication path.

(2) In the monitoring system according to the present invention, a monitoring system is formed by connecting two monitoring devices of the above item (1) to a plurality of communication paths, and a fault detecting device of at least one of the monitoring devices is provided. When a failure is detected in a communication path, the switching device of the monitoring device switches to a normal communication path.

(3) A monitoring device according to the present invention monitors a communication state of a communication path and detects a failure, and switches over to a normal communication path according to the failure detected by the failure detection device. A monitoring device that stops the operation of the monitoring device by an external stop signal and sends a stop signal to another monitoring device; and a display device that displays a communication state such as a failure in the communication path. Things.

(4) The monitoring device according to the present invention forms a monitoring system by connecting the two monitoring devices described in (3) above to a communication path, and the fault detecting device of one monitoring device is connected to the other monitoring device. When a failure is detected, the stop device of the one monitoring device sends a stop signal to stop the other monitoring device.

[0014]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiment 1 Hereinafter, a first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In FIG. 1, 1
1 is a main monitoring server, 12 and 22 are fault detecting devices for detecting faults in communication paths (including devices not shown such as computers and communication devices connected to the communication paths), and 13 and 23 are communication path switching devices. , 14, and 24 are system status display devices whose outputs are displayed on a display monitor 18.
Reference numeral 15 denotes a slave monitoring server, and reference numerals 16 and 17 denote communication paths. Computers and communication devices other than those illustrated may be connected to this communication path. The display monitor 18 is shared by the slave monitoring server 12 and the master monitoring server 15, but may be provided separately.

Next, the operation will be described. (1) The monitoring server 11 performs communication path 1 and communication path 2
Broadcast transmission is performed in a fixed cycle. (2) The slave monitoring server 15 responds to the broadcast as the monitored computer. (3) The failure detection device 12 of the monitoring server 11 determines whether the response of the slave server 15 and, if another computer is connected, the response from the computer is interrupted, and if a certain period of time elapses, the communication path of the It determines that there is an error and outputs a communication path error signal. (4) The communication path switching device 13 switches to a normal communication path in response to a communication path abnormality signal. (5) On the other hand, the system status display device 14 on the monitoring server 11 displays the system status on the display monitor 18 based on the system status collected by the monitoring server 11 (communication status such as presence / absence of a communication path failure and the content of the failure). Is displayed on the screen.

In this example, the communication route (LAN) is 2
It consists of three or more components, or one or more components.
It may be operated as a book configuration. Communication path 1
In the case of this configuration, the switching operation of the communication path is not performed, but the monitoring server 41 and the system status display computer 46 are not separated as shown in FIG.
Since they are integrated as in 1 and 15, the system status can always be displayed correctly even if there is a failure in both communication paths, and it is more economical to integrate them.

Also, the main monitoring server 11 breaks down,
The operation when the slave monitoring server 15 is used as the master monitoring server is the same as the operation of the master monitoring server.

As described above, in the first embodiment, since the system status display device is provided in the monitoring server to display the system status, even if a failure occurs in all communication paths, the system status is displayed. Can be displayed.

Embodiment 2 In the first embodiment, the case where the reliability is improved by sharing the monitoring server and the display device has been described. However, as shown in FIG. 2, the dedicated line 29 and the servers 21 and 25 are respectively stopped. Device 3
By providing 0 and 35, remote shutdown processing from one monitoring server to the other monitoring server is possible without passing through the communication paths 16 and 17, and a more reliable device can be obtained.

The slave monitoring server 25 responds to the broadcast from the master monitoring server 21 and monitors the operation of the master monitoring server 21 at the same time. That is, when it is determined that the interruption of the broadcast is a cause other than the LAN abnormality (such as a severe failure stop of the monitoring server), the stop device 35 sends a stop signal via the dedicated line 29 by the stop device 35 to send the stop signal. Stop.

Also, the stopping device 35 of the slave monitoring server 25
Receives a stop signal from the outside, and
It is also possible to stop. As described above, when an abnormality of the primary monitoring server 21 is detected, the secondary monitoring server 25
Starts broadcast transmission and acts as the primary monitoring server.

As described above, in the second embodiment, even if a failure occurs in the main monitoring server, the monitoring server is immediately stopped, and the monitoring function of the communication path is taken over by the standby monitoring server that is waiting. Can be passed. Also, since a system status display device is provided in each monitoring server to display the system status, the system status can be displayed even if a failure occurs in both communication paths.

Embodiment 3 FIG. In the first embodiment, the case where the communication path and the monitoring device are multiplexed to improve the reliability has been described. However, as shown in FIG. 3, a single monitoring server is used and a plurality of communication paths such as LANs are provided. By this connection, the reliability of the communication path is improved, and at the same time, since only one monitoring server is required, the configuration of the entire monitoring system can be simplified, and a monitoring system that is economically superior can be obtained.

Embodiment 4 In the second embodiment, the case where the monitoring device provided with the stopping device is multiplexed to improve the reliability has been described. However, as shown in FIG. 4, one monitoring server is provided and a communication path such as a LAN is used. By connecting a plurality of monitoring systems, the reliability of the communication path is improved, and at the same time, only one monitoring server is required, so that the configuration of the entire monitoring system can be simplified and a monitoring system that is economically superior can be obtained.

[0025]

As described above, according to the present invention, the system status can always be displayed even if there is a fault in the communication path, and the other party's monitoring device is stopped via the dedicated line, so that the reliability is improved. High monitoring devices and systems are obtained.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a monitoring system according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of a monitoring system according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram of a monitoring system according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram of a monitoring system according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a system configuration diagram showing a conventional LAN monitoring device.

[Explanation of symbols]

11, 21, 31, 32 Main monitoring server (monitoring device) 12, 22 Failure detecting device 13, 23 Communication path switching device 14, 24 System screen display device 15, 25 Secondary monitoring server (monitoring device) 16, 17 Communication Route 18 Display monitor 29 Dedicated line 30, 31 Stop device

──────────────────────────────────────────────────の Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification code FI H04L 29/14 H04L 13/00 311

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A failure detection device for monitoring a communication state of a communication path to detect a failure, a switching device for switching to a normal communication path according to the failure detected by the failure detection device, a failure of the communication path, and the like. And a display device for displaying a communication state of the communication device. 2. A monitoring system is formed by connecting two monitoring apparatuses according to claim 1 to a plurality of communication paths, and when at least one of the monitoring apparatuses detects a failure in the communication path, the monitoring is performed. A monitoring system, characterized in that the switching device switches to a normal communication path. 3. A failure detection device for monitoring a communication state of a communication path to detect a failure, a switching device for switching to a normal communication path in response to the failure detected by the failure detection device, and a stop signal from the outside. A stop device that stops the operation of the monitoring device and sends a stop signal to another monitoring device;
A monitoring device comprising: a display device that displays a communication state such as a failure in the communication path. 4. A monitoring system is formed by connecting two monitoring devices according to claim 3 to a communication path, and when a failure detection device of one monitoring device detects a failure of the other monitoring device, said one monitoring device A monitoring system, wherein the stopping device sends a stop signal to stop the other monitoring device.