Autonomic logging support

• US 20040225689A1
• Filed: 05/08/2003
• Published: 11/11/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 05/08/2003
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Dettinger, Richard D., Stevens, Richard J., Will, Eric W., Kulack, Frederick A.
• Application Number:
  US10/431,917
• Publication Number:
  US 20040225689A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/200
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0715 in a system implementing multitasking multitasking per se G06F9/46
• 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: H04L 41/0686 Additional information in the notification, e.g. enhancement of specific meta-data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/069 using logs of notifications; Post-processing of notifications

Abstract

A system, method and article of manufacture for event management in data processing systems and more particularly to managing events occurring in data processing systems in order to provide an effective logging mechanism. One embodiment provides a method of generating log file entries for events occurring during execution of a process in a data processing system. The method includes determining an importance level for an occurred event on the basis of trend analysis indicating evolution of the process and creating a log file entry for the occurred event if the determined importance level exceeds the predetermined threshold value.

Claims

1. A method of managing logging activity for a process in a data processing system, comprising:

monitoring at least one system status parameter for the data processing system; and

managing the logging activity for the process on the basis of the at least one system status parameter.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the process is an executable instance of an application.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein managing the logging activity comprises increasing the logging activity.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

monitoring one or more processes running in the data processing system in order to detect events occurring in the one or more processes; and

associating an importance level with each occurred event; and

wherein managing the logging activity comprises managing the logging activity on the basis of the at least one system status parameter and at least one of the associated importance levels.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one system status parameter comprises at least one of used memory, attributed processing capacity, relative storage usage of a process and a size of a log file configured for logging information relating to events occurring during execution of the process.

6. A method of generating log file entries for events occurring during execution of a process in a data processing system, the method comprising:

determining an importance level for an occurred event on the basis of trend analysis indicating evolution of the process;

comparing the determined importance level with a predetermined threshold value; and

creating a log file entry for the occurred event only if the determined importance level exceeds the predetermined threshold value.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the process is an executable instance of an application.

8. The method of claim 6, further comprising, before determining the importance level, creating a log file entry in a corresponding log file for each occurring event;

determining at least one system status parameter for the data processing system; and

comparing the at least one determined system status parameter with an associated predetermined parameter threshold; and

wherein determining the importance level comprises determining the importance level for the occurred event only if the at least one determined system status parameter exceeds the predetermined parameter threshold.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the at least one system status parameter comprises at least one of used memory, attributed processing capacity, relative storage usage of a process and a size of a log file configured for logging information relating to events occurring during execution of the process.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein determining the at least one system status parameter is performed according to a predetermined time schedule.

11. The method of claim 6, wherein determining the importance level on the basis of the trend analysis comprises determining process performance parameters to perform the trend analysis.

12. The method of claim 6, wherein determining the importance level on the basis of the trend analysis comprises determining system parameters of the data processing system comprising available storage capacity to perform the trend analysis.

13. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

determining the predetermined threshold value on the basis of user input.

14. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

determining the predetermined threshold value on the basis of predefined process parameters.

15. The method of claim 6, wherein creating the log file entry comprises initiating a running log process to create log file entries for all subsequently occurring events.

16. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

determining whether a corresponding log file exists;

if the corresponding log file exists, storing the created log file entry in the log file; and

if the corresponding log file does not exist, creating the corresponding log file; and

storing the created log file entry in the log file.

17. A computer readable medium containing a program which, when executed, performs an operation of generating log file entries for events occurring during execution of a process in a data processing system, the operation comprising:

determining an importance level for an occurred event on the basis of trend analysis indicating evolution of the process;

comparing the determined importance level with a predetermined threshold value; and

only if the determined importance level exceeds the predetermined threshold value, generating a log file entry for the occurred event.

18. The computer readable medium of claim 17, wherein the process is an executable instance of an application.

19. The computer readable medium of claim 17, wherein the operation further comprises, before determining the importance level,

generating a log file entry in a corresponding log file for each occurring event;

determining at least one system status parameter for the data processing system; and

comparing the at least one determined system status parameter with an associated predetermined parameter threshold; and

wherein determining the importance level comprises determining the importance level for the occurred event only if the at least one determined system status parameter exceeds the predetermined parameter threshold.

20. The computer readable medium of claim 19, wherein the at least one system status parameter comprises at least one of used memory, attributed processing capacity, relative storage usage of the process and a size of a log file configured for logging information relating to events occurring during execution of the process.

21. The computer readable medium of claim 19, wherein determining the at least one system status parameter is performed according to a predetermined time schedule.

22. The computer readable medium of claim 17, wherein determining the importance level on the basis of the trend analysis comprises determining process performance parameters to perform the trend analysis.

23. The computer readable medium of claim 17, wherein determining the importance level on the basis of the trend analysis comprises determining system parameters of the data processing system comprising available storage capacity to perform the trend analysis.

24. The computer readable medium of claim 17, wherein the operation further comprises:

determining the predetermined threshold value on the basis of user input.

25. The computer readable medium of claim 17, wherein the operation further comprises:

determining the predetermined threshold value on the basis of predefined process parameters.

26. The computer readable medium of claim 17, wherein generating the log file entry comprises initiating a running log process to create log file entries for all subsequently occurring events.

27. The computer readable medium of claim 17, wherein the operation further comprises:

determining whether a corresponding log file exists;

if the corresponding log file exists,

storing the created log file entry in the log file; and

if the corresponding log file does not exist,

creating the corresponding log file; and

storing the created log file entry in the log file.

28. A computer readable medium comprising:

an event manager program for initiating a background thread for each instance of an executing application in a data processing system, the background thread being configured to;

monitor at least one system status parameter for the data processing system;

monitor one or more processes running in the data processing system in order to detect events occurring in the one or more processes;

associate an importance level with each occurred event; and

identify a predetermined action to be taken in the data processing system on the basis of at least one of the associated importance levels and the at least one system status parameter.

29. The computer readable medium of claim 28, wherein at least one of the one or more processes is an executable instance of an application.

30. The computer program product of claim 28, wherein the at least one system status parameter comprises at least one of used memory, attributed processing capacity, relative storage usage of the one or more processes and a size of one or more log files configured for logging information relating to events occurring during execution of the one or more processes.

31. The computer program product of claim 28, wherein the predetermined action to be taken comprises at least one of generating a log file entry for a corresponding occurred event, notifying a user of the corresponding occurred event, initiate a running log process to create log file entries for all subsequently occurring events and inhibiting increased storage and processing capacity usage of a corresponding process.

32. A data processing system comprising:

an event manager residing in memory for initiating a background thread for each instance of an executing application, the background thread being configured to monitor at least one system status parameter for the data processing system;

monitor one or more processes running in the data processing system in order to detect events occurring in the one or more processes;

associate an importance level with each occurred event; and

identify a predetermined action to be taken in the data processing system on the basis of at least one of the associated importance levels and the at least one system status parameter; and

a processor for running the one or more processes and the at least one background thread.