Enhanced techniques for detecting programming errors in device drivers

• US 10,261,925 B2
• Filed: 06/23/2017
• Issued: 04/16/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 06/23/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: McGarvey, Conal, Mikesell, Andrew D.
• Primary Examiner(s): Phan, Raymond N
• Application Number:
  US15/632,182
• Publication Number:
  US 20180373654A1
• Time in Patent Office: 662 Days
• Field of Search: 710260-269, 710 46- 50
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0745 in an input/output transactions management context input/output processing in general G06F13/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0772 Means for error signaling, e.g. using interrupts, exception flags, dedicated error registers
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0778 Dumping, i.e. gathering error/state information after a fault for later diagnosis
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/079 Root cause analysis, i.e. error or fault diagnosis in a hardware test environment G06F11/22; in a software test environment G06F11/36
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 13/24 using interrupt G06F13/32 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 13/26 with priority control
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/212 with details for data modelling support

Abstract

Enhanced techniques for detecting programming errors in device drivers are provided. The techniques disclosed herein enable a system to measure a number of aspects of IRPs including, but not limited to, data identifying processed IRPs, data indicating concurrent IRPs, data identifying a stack location associated with a status of an IRP, and individual status values, which may indicate whether IRPs have failed, succeeded or pended. The disclosed techniques enable a system to determine when and where IRPs were sent or not sent to a stack of device objects and/or to individual device objects. The disclosed techniques enable the system to measure the processing of concurrent IRPs. By the use of filters that are positioned in predetermined locations within a stack, disclosed techniques can test and monitor drivers without imposing unduly burdensome loads on the system.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for measuring processing of a plurality of interrupt request packets communicated to a stack comprising a plurality of device objects and a plurality of filters, the computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving the plurality of interrupt request packets at a first filter of the plurality of filters;

communicating the plurality of interrupt request packets to one or more device objects of the plurality of device objects from the first filter for processing of the plurality of interrupt request packets at the one or more device objects;

communicating the plurality of interrupt request packets to a second filter of the plurality of filters from the one or more device objects; and

generating reporting data at the first filter and the second filter, the reporting data comprising an identification of individual interrupt request packets of the plurality of interrupt request packets, the reporting data indicating a received time-in value for the individual interrupt request packets, a time-out value for the individual interrupt request packets; and

one or more status values for the individual interrupt request packets.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining one or more adjustments to a computing environment based on the reporting data;

modifying the computing environment based on the one or more adjustments; and

causing one or more interrupt request packets to be sent to the stack for measuring processing of the one or more interrupt request packets.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the one or more status values indicates when the individual interrupt request packets have succeeded, failed, or pended.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising determining when two or more interrupt request packets of the plurality of interrupt request packets are concurrent, wherein two or more request packets are concurrent when the two or more request packets have an overlapping time-in-flight.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of device objects and the plurality of filters are arranged in a serial configuration, the first filter positioned to receive interrupt request packets before a first device object of the plurality of device objects.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the second filter is at a stack location positioned before the last device object in the serial configuration.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, further comprising configuring the one or more interrupt request packets based on the reporting data.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein the determining one or more adjustments to a computing environment comprises a machine learning process for storing and analyzing the reporting data for improving test iterations.

9. A system, comprising:

a processor;

a memory having a stack data structure, the stack data structure comprising a plurality of device objects and a plurality of filters, the memory having computer-executable instructions stored thereupon which, when executed by the processor, cause the system to

receive the plurality of interrupt request packets at a first filter of the plurality of filters;

communicate the plurality of interrupt request packets to one or more device objects of the plurality of device objects from the first filter for processing of the plurality of interrupt request packets at the one or more device objects;

communicate the plurality of interrupt request packets to a second filter of the plurality of filters from the one or more device objects; and

generate reporting data at the first filter and the second filter, the reporting data comprising an identification of individual interrupt request packets of the plurality of interrupt request packets, the reporting data indicating a received time-in value for the individual interrupt request packets, a time-out value for the individual interrupt request packets; and

one or more status values for the individual interrupt request packets.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the instructions further cause the system to:

determine one or more adjustments to a computing environment based on the reporting data;

modify the computing environment based on the one or more adjustments; and

cause one or more interrupt request packets to be sent to the stack for measuring processing of the one or more interrupt request packets.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the one or more status values indicates when the individual interrupt request packets have succeeded, failed, or pended.

12. The system of claim 9, wherein the instructions further cause the system to determine when two or more interrupt request packets of the plurality of interrupt request packets are concurrent, wherein two or more request packets are concurrent when the two or more request packets have an overlapping time-in-flight.

13. The system of claim 9, wherein the plurality of device objects and the plurality of filters are arranged in a serial configuration, the first filter positioned to receive interrupt request packets before a first device object of the plurality of device objects.

14. The system of claim 9, wherein the second filter is at a stack location positioned before the last device object in the serial configuration.

15. The system of claim 10, wherein the instructions further cause the system to configure the one or more interrupt request packets based on the reporting data.

16. The system of claim 10, wherein determining one or more adjustments to a computing environment comprises a machine learning process for storing and analyzing the reporting data for improving future test iterations.

17. A computer-readable storage medium storing a stack data structure, the stack data structure comprising a plurality of device objects and a plurality of filters, wherein the computer-readable storage medium further comprises computer-executable instructions stored thereupon which, when executed by one or more processors of a system, cause the one or more processors of the system to:

receive the plurality of interrupt request packets at a first filter of the plurality of filters;

communicate the plurality of interrupt request packets to one or more device objects of the plurality of device objects from the first filter for processing of the plurality of interrupt request packets at the one or more device objects;

communicate the plurality of interrupt request packets to a second filter of the plurality of filters from the one or more device objects; and

generate reporting data at the first filter and the second filter, the reporting data comprising an identification of individual interrupt request packets of the plurality of interrupt request packets, the reporting data indicating a received time-in value for the individual interrupt request packets, a time-out value for the individual interrupt request packets; and

one or more status values for the individual interrupt request packets.

18. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the instructions further cause the system to:

determine one or more adjustments to a computing environment based on the reporting data;

modify the computing environment based on the one or more adjustments; and

cause one or more interrupt request packets to be sent to the stack for measuring processing of the one or more interrupt request packets.

19. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein the instructions further cause the system to configure the one or more interrupt request packets based on the reporting data.

20. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein determining one or more adjustments to a computing environment comprises a machine learning process for storing and analyzing the reporting data for improving future test iterations.