Detection and isolation of data items causing computer process crashes
First Claim
1. A method of detecting a data item that causes a process running on a computer system to crash when processed, wherein the process running on the computer system processes multiple data items, the method comprising:
- associating unique identifiers with data items prior to the data items being processed;
provided the processing of a particular data item causes a crash, storing the unique identifier corresponding to the particular data item in a persistent storage;
restarting the process in response to the crash;
reading the unique identifier from the persistent storage; and
flagging the particular data item associated with the unique identifier as causing the process to crash.
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Abstract
Described herein is technology for, among other things, detecting a data item that causes a process running within a computer system processing multiple data items to crash when the data item is processed. The technology involves associating a unique identifier with each data item prior to the data item being processed. If the processing of a particular data item causes a crash, the particular data item'"'"'s unique identifier is stored in a persistent storage and the process is restarted in response to the crash. Once the process has restarted, the unique identifier is read from the persistent storage and the data item associated with the unique identifier is flagged as the data item that caused the process to crash.
69 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method of detecting a data item that causes a process running on a computer system to crash when processed, wherein the process running on the computer system processes multiple data items, the method comprising:
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associating unique identifiers with data items prior to the data items being processed;
provided the processing of a particular data item causes a crash, storing the unique identifier corresponding to the particular data item in a persistent storage;
restarting the process in response to the crash;
reading the unique identifier from the persistent storage; and
flagging the particular data item associated with the unique identifier as causing the process to crash. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A system for detecting a data item that causes a process running on a computer system to crash when processed, wherein the process running on the computer system processes multiple data items, the system comprising:
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a processor having an entry point that associates and temporarily stores a unique identifier with data items prior to the data item being processed;
at least one persistent storage for storing data;
an exception module which is invoked whenever the processing of a particular data item causes a crash, wherein the exception module causes the unique identifier associated with the particular data item to be stored in the at least one persistent storage;
a data item manager that, upon the process restarting, reads the unique identifier corresponding to the particular data item from the at least one persistent storage and flags the particular data item associated with the unique identifier as causing the process to crash. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A computer-usable medium having computer-readable program code stored thereon for causing a computer system to execute a method for detecting a data item that causes a process running on a computer system to crash when processed, wherein the process running on the computer system processes multiple data items, the method comprising the steps of:
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(a) loading a current data item from a queue of a plurality of data items;
(b) determining a unique identifier for the current data item;
(c) determining if the unique identifier exists in a persistent storage on the computer system;
(d) if the unique identifier does exist in the persistent storage;
i. flagging the current data item as a poison data item; and
(e) if the unique identifier does not exist in the persistent storage;
i. processing the current data item; and
ii. if a crash occurs while processing the current data item;
(1) storing the unique identifier in the persistent storage; and
(2) restarting the process. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification