Logging of exception data

• US 20040260474A1
• Filed: 06/17/2003
• Published: 12/23/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 06/17/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Stopyro, James W., Redlin, Charles James, Salem, Hany A., Malin, Francis Gerard
• Granted Patent: US 7,360,114 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 702/6
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/069 using logs of notifications; Post-processing of notifications

Abstract

A method, apparatus, system, and signal-bearing medium that in an embodiment determine whether to log an exception based on whether the exception has already occurred. In an embodiment, exceptions that repeatedly occur at the same source and location within the source are logged on the first occurrence, and not logged thereafter. In this way, data can be saved about the exception, yet system resources are not consumed by repeated logging.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

determining whether to log an exception based on whether the exception previously occurred.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining further comprises:

determining whether to log the exception based on whether the exception previously occurred at an identical source.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining further comprises:

determining whether to log the exception based on whether the exception occurred at an identical source and an identical location within the source.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

logging the exception when the exception did not previously occur; and

incrementing an exception count when the exception did previously occur.

5. An apparatus comprising:

means for determining whether an exception previously occurred at an identical source; and

means for incrementing an exception count when the exception did previously occur at the identical source.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, further comprising:

means for logging the exception when the exception did not previously occur at the identical source.

7. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the means for determining further comprises:

means for determining whether the exception previously occurred at an identical location within the identical source.

8. The apparatus of claim 5, further comprising:

means for determining whether to log the exception based on the exception count.

9. A signal-bearing medium encoded with instructions, wherein the instructions when executed comprise:

determining whether an exception has previously been logged based on an exception identifier, a source identifier, and a probe identifier; and

when the exception has not previously been logged, creating a new log entry and storing the exception identifier, the source identifier, and the probe identifier in the new log entry.

10. The signal-bearing medium of claim 9, further comprising:

when the exception has not previously been logged, storing a timestamp in the new log entry.

11. The signal-bearing medium of claim 9, further comprising:

when the exception has previously been logged in an existing log entry, incrementing an exception count in the existing log entry.

12. The signal-bearing medium of claim 9, further comprising:

;

when the exception has previously been logged in an existing log entry, updating a timestamp in the existing log entry.

13. A signal-bearing medium encoded with a data structure to be accessed by an exception method to be executed by a processor, wherein the data structure comprises at least one entry, wherein the at least one entry comprises:

an exception identifier that identifies an exception;

a source identifier that identifies a source of the exception; and

a probe identifier that identifies a location of the exception within the source, wherein

the exception method is to determine whether a first exception matches the entry based on the exception identifier, the source identifier, and the probe identifier,

wherein when the first exception does not match the entry, the exception method is to log a call stack associated with the first exception, and

wherein when the first exception does match the entry, the exception method is to refrain from logging the call stack.

14. The signal-bearing medium of claim 13, wherein the at least one entry further comprises:

a timestamp, wherein when the first exception does match the entry, the exception method is to update the timestamp.

15. The signal-bearing medium of claim 13, wherein the at least one entry further comprises:

an exception count, wherein when the first exception does match the entry, the exception method is to increment the exception count.

16. The signal-bearing medium of claim 13, wherein the exception method is to determine whether a first exception matches the entry based on a hash function.

17. A server comprising:

a processor; and

a storage device encoded with instructions, wherein the instructions when executed on the processor comprise;

receiving an exception identifier, a source identifier, and a probe identifier from an application,

determining whether the exception identifier, the source identifier, and the probe identifier match any of a plurality of entries in a cache,

when the exception identifier, the source identifier, and the probe identifier do not match any of the plurality of entries, adding a new entry to the plurality of entries and saving data associated with a status of the application, and

when the exception identifier, the source identifier, and the probe identifier match one of the plurality of entries, updating an exception count in the one entry and refraining from saving the data.

18. The server of claim 17, wherein the instructions further comprise:

when the exception identifier, the source identifier, and the probe identifier do not match any of the plurality of entries, updating a timestamp in the new entry.

19. The server of claim 17, wherein the instructions further comprise:

when the exception identifier, the source identifier, and the probe identifier match the one of the plurality of entries, updating a timestamp in the one entry.

20. The server of claim 17, wherein the data comprises a call stack associated with the application.