JPS6029982B2 - Pseudo failure generating device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a pseudo failure generating device for a peripheral device in an electronic computer system.

FIG. 1 shows a schematic configuration of a computer system, in which a higher-level device such as a central processing unit is connected to a lower-level device 2 such as an input/output control device, and a lower-level connection device for the input/output device is connected to the lower-level device 2. 3 are connected. Usually, the lower-order device 2 and the lower-order connection device are collectively called a peripheral device, and a plurality of peripheral devices of this type are interconnected to form one system. Conventionally, in such a system configuration, when checking and evaluating the operation of the higher-level device when the lower-level device 2 fails or performs a special operation, the normality of program processing, etc. in the higher-level device, etc., the lower-level device 2 is used exclusively. A special dedicated failure generating device of equal or larger scale was used in place of the lower-level device. but,
Conventional dedicated fault generating devices are not only very expensive, but also extremely difficult to generate pseudo faults or special conditions under arbitrary conditions or at arbitrary timing during program processing. The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned circumstances, and is such that a pseudo-failure generating device is placed between a higher-level device and a lower-level device, and a part or most of the necessary operations are performed by the lower-level device. The goal is to make it simple and versatile. Hereinafter, the content of the present invention will be explained in detail with reference to illustrated embodiments.

FIG. 2 shows the usage pattern of the pseudo-failure generation device according to the present invention, which shows the operation of the higher-level device when the lower-level device 2, which is one of the components of the system, has a failure or special operation, and the operation of the higher-level device 1 during special operations. When checking the normality of program processing etc.
It is shown that the pseudo failure generating device 4 is used by being connected between the higher-level device 1 and the lower-level device 2.

FIG. 3 is a main configuration diagram of the pseudo-fault generating device 4, which includes a higher-level device interface section 41, a lower-level device interface section 42, and an interface control section 43.
, occurrence condition detection section 44, pseudo state generation section 45, occurrence condition/report information setting section 46, and occurrence condition/report information storage section 4
Consists of 7. Some of the interface signal lines of the higher-level device interface section 41 and the lower-level device interface section 42 are connected to each other via the interface control section 43 of the pseudo failure generating device 4, and can be temporarily or permanently inhibited as necessary. At the same time, a newly generated signal within the pseudo fault generating device can be sent out instead. In addition, the host device interface section 4
1 and the lower device interface unit 42 are directly connected without going through the interface control unit 43, but these signal lines are constantly monitored by the interface control unit 43 and are connected as necessary. It is now possible to send out a signal newly generated within the pseudo-fault generating device. The control of inhibition, cancellation of inhibition, switching, etc. of the interface signal line may be performed directly by hardware, or may be performed by control of a microprogram. FIG. 4 is a flow diagram of the main operation of the pseudo fault generating device 4, and an overview of the operation of the fault generating device will be explained using this flowchart.

First, the operator sets necessary occurrence conditions and report information in advance in the setting section 46 in accordance with the process or program of the host device 1 to be confirmed and evaluated, and stores them in the occurrence condition/report information storage section 47.

As a setting method, you can use the attached operation panel to set one set at a time, or you can store a large number of combinations in advance on a floppy disk, etc., and read them out one after another as needed. But it's okay. The occurrence conditions to be set include the type of failure or special condition (■), the device number (V) of the lower-level device 2 and the lower-level connected device 3, the execution command type (C), the occurrence start cycle (L), and the occurrence duration cycle. (N), reporting timing n), depending on the type of lower-level device, the operation area (C, to C2) on the target lower-level connected device medium is also set as a condition. In addition, the report information to be set includes status information (DSB) that indicates the operating status of lower-layer devices and lower-layer connected devices, more detailed fault information and auxiliary information (SSB), and special operation sequences as necessary. specify. These occurrence conditions and report information are merely examples, and the essence of the present invention does not change even if some of them may be deleted or others may be added. The pseudo-failure generating device 4 does not participate in the interface response operation between the higher-level device and the lower-level device until the necessary occurrence conditions, report information, etc. are set and the start of operation is instructed.

When the start of operation is instructed, the occurrence condition detection unit 44 monitors the interface response operation of the lower-level device with the higher-level device one by one via both interface units 41 and 42 and the interface control unit 43, but when the set occurrence condition is does not intervene with interface response behavior until a condition matching the condition is detected. When the set combination of occurrence conditions is detected, that is, the set device number N), the execution command)
When the device number, execution command, etc. sent from the higher-level device match, the number of occurrences is counted and the interface response operation is not similarly intervened until the number of occurrences has been reached. When the number of occurrences reaches the occurrence start cycle peak), the pseudo-state generating unit 45 transmits the information from the higher-level device to the lower-level device or lower-level device at an appropriate timing determined by the type (K) of the set failure or special condition and the reporting timing (n). In addition to suppressing the interface signal from the host device to the higher-level device, the interface response operation with the higher-level device is taken over by the lower-level device, and report information (DSB) etc. set in the storage unit 47 is read out to control the interface. section 43, higher-level device interface section 41
Report via. Depending on the type of failure or special condition that has been set, it is also possible to partially intervene in the response operation of the lower-level device, for example by causing errors in data during data transfer, before taking over the interface response operation. Also, in some types of failures or special situations, instead of reporting report information, the interface response behavior itself can be changed to a special sequence. After reporting the report information, the pseudo failure generating device 4 responds on behalf of the lower device to a series of processes from the higher-level device triggered by the report information, etc., and provides detailed failure information and other information as necessary. It reports auxiliary information (SSB) to higher-level devices and positions the media of lower-level connected devices. After entering the next normal operation in this manner, the interface response operation is returned to the lower-level device via the lower-level device interface section 42. Thereafter, the pseudo-failure generation device 4 monitors the interface response operation again, and when it detects a state that matches the set generation condition, it takes over the interface response operation and performs the processing in the same manner. If the above operations continue for the generation duration cycle W), the scheduled series of processing will be completed, but if specified in advance,
These cycles can also be repeated again.

In addition, the generation start cycle (L) and the generation continuation cycle (N
), as described above, once the generation start cycle (stop) is reached, continue to set the generation duration cycle W.
) may be used, or a method may be used in which generation is stopped each time or until the generation start cycle peak () is reached, and then generated after that, and such a loop is repeated for the generation duration cycle (peak). In general, for peripheral devices in computer systems, interface response operations between upper and lower-level devices include time-dependent operations such as data transfer, which are determined by the functions and performance of the lower-level devices and lower-level connected devices, and device numbers and execution There are time-independent things such as sending and receiving commands, status information, etc.

Taking over the interface response operation by suppressing the interface signal by the pseudo-failure generating device described above is easier and more common if it is performed during a time-independent response operation, but it is Depending on the function and performance of the connected device, if there is a relatively sufficient time margin, it is possible to take over even during time-dependent response operations. In addition, as stated above, the fault generating device only monitors the interface response operation until it detects a state that matches the occurrence condition the number of times that match the occurrence start cycle peak. Functions of devices and subordinate connected devices;
A method may also be used in which the interface signals are temporarily suppressed once at a time within the permissible range of performance, detailed checks are made with the response operation stopped, and the suppression is then released. As a specific example of the timing at which the interface response operation with a higher-level device is transferred from a lower-level device to this pseudo-failure generation device, in the operation sequence of a commonly used peripheral device, the startup sequence of an input/output command, the input/output command Status information reporting sequence when receiving the first command in a chain command, status information reporting sequence when receiving the second and subsequent commands, status information reporting sequence when data transfer ends, offline when lower-level device or lower-level connected device terminates after chain command ends A typical example is a status information reporting sequence using an interrupt.

These basic operation processes are common to many common peripheral devices and can be used for general purposes, but even for devices with slightly different operations and processes, microprogram control can be used to control this pseudo-failure generating device. By adopting this method, it is possible to set more detailed generation conditions and to generate detailed special conditions in a pseudo manner by preparing multiple microprograms tailored to the functions and characteristics of each device. It is possible. Furthermore, depending on the control method of this pseudo fault generation device, multiple occurrence conditions/report information may be stored in advance in the storage unit 45 at the same time, and these may be used sequentially or in combination to simulate multiple faults. It is also possible to generate

For example, as shown in Fig. 5, if the occurrence conditions 1 and 2 are set appropriately, during the execution of the processing program A on the host device, a pseudo failure 1 will be generated according to the occurrence condition 1 at point a, and the After skipping to the recovery processing program B, it is possible to generate a pseudo failure 2 according to the occurrence condition 2 at point q during the process, and causing the program to jump to the double failure recovery processing program C. Of course, all normal operations during this time are performed by lower-level devices and lower-level connected devices, and this pseudo failure generating device
, only a part of the processing is performed at the point, and in this way, it is possible to check the program processing etc. when a double failure occurs. As explained above, according to the present invention, in the interface response operation between a lower-level device and a higher-level device, a failure state or a special state that is difficult to occur normally is programmed in advance according to the processing content to be checked and evaluated at that time. By setting this in advance, you can easily generate a pseudo failure or special condition without making any modifications to the lower-level device, and the necessary processing can be performed by intervening in the interface operation midway through the lower-level device. Since the normal operation is completely executed by the upper device or the lower layer, the state at the time of a pseudo failure can be made very close to the actual state.

Further, as long as the interface response operations are basically the same, the pseudo failure generating device of the present invention can be used almost universally for many such devices.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a diagram showing an example of a system configuration targeted by the present invention, Fig. 2 is a diagram showing a usage pattern of a pseudo fault generating device according to the present invention, and Fig. 3 is an example of an implementation of the pseudo fault generating device according to the present invention. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the main operation flow of FIG. 3, and FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of multiple processing. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Higher order device, 2... Lower order device, 3... Lower order connection device, 4... Pseudo fault generating device, 41... Upper order device interface section, 42... Lower order device interface section, 43 ...interface control section, 44.
... Occurrence condition detection section, 45 ... Pseudo state generation section, 46
. . . Occurrence condition/report information setting section, 47 . . . Occurrence condition/report information storage section. Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 3 Figure 5 Figure 4

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. Connected between a higher-level device and a lower-level device controlled by the higher-level device, for checking the normality of processing in the higher-level device when the lower-level device has a failure, special operation, etc. A pseudo-fault generating device that pseudo-generates any fault or special condition in a device, a means for setting and storing pseudo-fault occurrence conditions and fault information, and an interface between the higher-level device and the lower-level device. means for monitoring a response operation, and when a state matching the set occurrence condition of the previous interface response operation is detected, taking over and executing at least a part of the interface response operation of the lower device; A pseudo-failure generation device characterized by having means for reporting the fault information to a higher-level device and responding on behalf of a lower-level device to a processing request from the higher-level device based on the report. 2. In the pseudo-fault generating device as set forth in claim 1, multiple sets of occurrence conditions and fault information are set and stored, and these are used sequentially or in combination to cause multiple pseudo-faults to occur. Features of pseudo-fault generating device. 3. In the pseudo-failure generating device according to claim 1, when a state matching the occurrence condition is detected a specified number of times, it intervenes in the interface response operation for the first time or takes over the interface response operation, and then performs the operation according to the occurrence condition. A pseudo-failure generation device characterized in that each time a matching condition is detected, the same process is continuously performed until a specified number of times is reached. 4. In the pseudo-fault generating device according to claim 3, after intervening in the interface response operation or taking over the interface response operation for the first time, the pseudo-failure generation device restarts after detecting a state that meets the generation condition a specified number of times. A pseudo-failure generation device that performs similar processing and repeats such operations another specified number of times.