Forwarding of diagnostic messages in a group

• US 20030028822A1
• Filed: 08/01/2001
• Published: 02/06/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 08/01/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Miller, Robert, Thayib, Kiswanto, Morey, Vicki Lynn, Williams, Laurie Ann
• Granted Patent: US 6,925,582 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 714/25
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0893 Assignment of logical groups to network elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1095 Replication or mirroring of data, e.g. scheduling or transport for data synchronisation between network nodes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/22 Parsing or analysis of headers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/32 Architecture of open systems interconnection [OSI] 7-layer type protocol stacks, e.g. the interfaces between the data link level and the physical level
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/40 for recovering from a failure of a protocol instance or entity, e.g. service redundancy protocols, protocol state redundancy or protocol service redirection management of faults, events, alarms or notifications in data switching networks H04L41/06

Abstract

A system and method in data processing networks with distributed processing or multiple nodes provide a capability to insure that the protocols implicated in a first or original protocol are identified so that diagnostic messages sent during execution of that protocol are traceable. Thus, each of the diagnostic messages are delivered to the requestor of the original protocol before the original request completes. A linkage is provided between the original protocol and all protocols nested within it.

Claims

1. A method of forwarding diagnostic messages among members of groups in a data processing system while the members are executing protocols, comprising the steps of:

attaching a header to the message, the header including the following header fields;

(1) a protocol handle identifying the originator protocol from which the request originated; and

(2) a forwarding handle identifying, if present, a protocol which is the current parent of the protocol;

sending the diagnostic message to the member of the group identified by the forwarding handle.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the identified forwarding handle is of null value and the protocol is an original protocol, and said step of sending comprises:

sending the diagnostic message to the member of the group which originated the protocol.

3. The method of claim 2, further including the step of:

including in the header to the message an identifier of the member and group which originated the message.

4. The method of claim 1, further including the step of:

including in the header to the message an identifier of the member and group of the parent protocol originator, if any, which originated the message.

5. A computer system including a plurality of groups, each group composed of one or more members, said computer system forwarding diagnostic messages among the members of the groups and including:

means for forming a message including in its header message the following header fields;

(1) a protocol handle identifying the originator protocol from which the request originated; and

(2) a forwarding handle identifying, if present, a protocol which is the current parent of the protocol;

means for sending the diagnostic message to the member of the group identified by the forwarding handle.

6. The computer system of claim 5, wherein the identified forwarding handle is of null value and the protocol is an original protocol, and said means for sending comprises:

means for sending the diagnostic message to the member of the group which originated the protocol.

7. The computer system of claim 5, wherein said means for forming a header message further includes:

means for including in the header to the message an identifier of the member and group which originated the diagnostic message.

8. The computer system of claim 5, wherein said means for forming a header message further includes:

means for including in the header to the message an identifier of the member and group of the parent protocol originator, if any, which originated the diagnostic message.

9. A computer memory element containing stored in signal bearing media a diagnostic message forwarded among members of one or more groups in a computer system, the stored diagnostic message containing a header message including the following header fields:

(1) a protocol handle identifying the originator protocol from which the request originated; and

(2) a forwarding handle identifying, if present, a protocol which is the current parent of the protocol.

10. The computer memory element of claim 9, wherein the header message contained in the stored diagnostic message further includes:

an identifier of the member and group which originated the diagnostic message.

11. The computer memory element of claim 9, wherein the header message contained in the stored diagnostic message further includes:

an identifier of the member and group of the parent protocol originator, if any, which originated the diagnostic message.

12. A method of forwarding diagnostic messages among members of groups in a data processing system to those members executing protocols implicated by the message, comprising the steps of:

forwarding as part of the diagnostic message a header including the following header fields;

(1) a protocol handle identifying the originator protocol from which the request originated; and

(2) a forwarding handle identifying, if present, a protocol which is the current parent of the protocol;

examining the forwarding handle at each member of the groups of the system to ascertain if that member was a parent of the protocol identified in the forwarding handle field of the header of the diagnostic message.

13. The method of claim 12, further including the step of:

forwarding another diagnostic message having a header including the following header fields;

(1) a protocol handle identifying the originator protocol from which the request originated; and

(2) a forwarding handle identifying, if present, a protocol which is the current parent of the protocol.

14. The method of claim 13, further including the step of:

sending the diagnostic message to the member of the group identified by the forwarding handle of another diagnostic message.

15. The method of claim 14, further including the step of:

repeating the steps of claims 13 and 14 until the forwarding handle of the header field indicates the protocol is an original protocol.