Handling multiple operating system capabilities in a logical partition data processing system

• US 20030204780A1
• Filed: 04/25/2002
• Published: 10/30/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 04/25/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: McIntosh, Gordon D., Patel, Kanisha, Dawkins, George John, Desai, Prakash Vinodrai
• Granted Patent: US 6,920,587 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 714/24
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0712 in a virtual computing platform, e.g. logically partitioned systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0781 Error filtering or prioritizing based on a policy defined by the user or on a policy defined by a hardware/software module, e.g. according to a severity level
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0793 Remedial or corrective actions recovery from an exception in an instruction pipeline G06F9/3861; by retry G06F11/1402; for recovering from a failure of a protocol instance or entity H04L69/40

Abstract

A method, computer program product, and data processing system for handling errors or other events in a logical partition (LPAR) data processing system is disclosed. When an operating system is initialized in a logical partition, it registers its capabilities for handling particular errors or other events with management software. When an error or other event affecting that logical partition occurs, the management software checks to see if the particular error or event is one that the operating system is capable of handling. If so, the operating system is notified. Otherwise, the management software directs the operating system to take other appropriate action, such as termination of the operating system and/or partition.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, from an operating system, information identifying a set of events that the operating system is capable of handling;

in response to an occurrence of an event, determining whether the event is contained within the set of events;

in response to a determination that the event is contained within the set of events, notifying the operating system of the event; and

in response to a determination that the event is not contained within the set of events, directing the operating system to perform an operation.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the event is an error.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the error has occurred in a hardware component.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the operation is terminating execution of the operating system.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the operating system is executing within a logical partition in a data processing system and wherein terminating execution of the operating system includes terminating the logical partition.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the operation is handling a fatal error.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

in response to directing the operating system to perform the operation, determining whether the operating system has performed the operation; and

in response to an determination that the operating system has failed to perform the operation, terminating execution of the operating system.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the operating system is executing within a logical partition in a data processing system and wherein terminating execution of the operating system includes terminating the logical partition.

9. A method comprising:

initiating an operating system within a logical partition of a data processing system; and

registering with management software operating in the data processing system a set of error conditions capable of being handled by the operating system.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the management software comprises firmware of the data processing system.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the management software executes in an environment that is external to the logical partition.

12. A computer program product in a computer-readable medium comprising functional descriptive material that, when executed by a computer, enables the computer to perform acts including:

receiving, from an operating system, information identifying a set of events that the operating system is capable of handling;

in response to an occurrence of an event, determining whether the event is contained within the set of events;

in response to a determination that the event is contained within the set of events, notifying the operating system of the event; and

in response to a determination that the event is not contained within the set of events, directing the operating system to perform an operation.

13. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein the event is an error.

14. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein the error has occurred in a hardware component.

15. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein the operation is terminating execution of the operating system.

16. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the operating system is executing within a logical partition in a data processing system and wherein terminating execution of the operating system includes terminating the logical partition.

17. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein the operation is handling a fatal error.

18. The computer program product of claim 12, comprising additional functional descriptive material that, when executed by the computer, enables the computer to perform additional acts including:

in response to directing the operating system to perform the operation, determining whether the operating system has performed the operation; and

in response to an determination that the operating system has failed to perform the operation, terminating execution of the operating system.

19. The computer program product of claim 18, wherein the operating system is executing within a logical partition in a data processing system and wherein terminating execution of the operating system includes terminating the logical partition.

20. A computer program product in a computer readable medium containing functional descriptive material that, when executed by a computer, enables the computer to perform acts including:

initiating an operating system within a logical partition of a data processing system; and

registering with management software operating in the data processing system a set of error conditions capable of being handled by the operating system.

21. The computer program product of claim 20, wherein the functional descriptive material forms a portion of the operating system.

22. The computer program product of claim 20, comprising additional functional descriptive material that, when executed by the computer, enables the computer to perform additional acts including:

loading the operating system from a storage device.

23. A data processing system comprising:

a processing unit including at least one processor;

memory in communication with the processing unit; and

firmware stored within the memory,

wherein the processing unit executes the firmware to perform acts including;

receiving, from an operating system, information identifying a set of events that the operating system is capable of handling;

in response to an occurrence of an event, determining whether the event is contained within the set of events;

in response to a determination that the event is contained within the set of events, notifying the operating system of the event; and

in response to a determination that the event is not contained within the set of events, directing the operating system to perform an operation.

24. The data processing system of claim 23, wherein the event is an error.

25. The data processing system of claim 24, wherein the error has occurred in a hardware component.

26. The data processing system of claim 23, wherein the operation is terminating execution of the operating system.

27. The data processing system of claim 26, wherein the operating system is executing within a logical partition of the data processing system and wherein terminating execution of the operating system includes terminating the logical partition.

28. The data processing system of claim 23, wherein the operation is handling a fatal error.

29. The data processing system of claim 23, wherein the processing unit executes the firmware to perform the additional acts of:

in response to directing the operating system to perform the operation, determining whether the operating system has performed the operation; and

in response to an determination that the operating system has failed to perform the operation, terminating execution of the operating system.

30. The data processing system of claim 29, wherein the operating system is executing within a logical partition of the data processing system and wherein terminating execution of the operating system includes terminating the logical partition.

31. A data processing system comprising:

means for receiving, from an operating system, information identifying a set of events that the operating system is capable of handling;

means, responsive to an occurrence of an event, for determining whether the event is contained within the set of events;

means, responsive to a determination that the event is contained within the set of events, for notifying the operating system of the event; and

means, responsive to a determination that the event is not contained within the set of events, for directing the operating system to perform an operation.

32. A data processing system comprising:

means for initiating an operating system within a logical partition of a data processing system; and

means for registering with management software operating in the data processing system a set of error conditions capable of being handled by the operating system.