Failure differentiation and recovery in distributed systems

• US 20080129464A1
• Filed: 11/30/2006
• Published: 06/05/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 11/30/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: WSOU Investments, LLC (WSOU Holdings, LLC)
• Original Assignee: Nokia Corporation
• Inventors: Frey, Jan, Suni, Mikko T., Muller, Ulrich U.
• Granted Patent: US 8,166,156 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/146.2
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/18 Automatic repetition systems, e.g. Van Duuren systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0631 using root cause analysis; using analysis of correlation between notifications, alarms or events based on decision criteria, e.g. hierarchy, tree or time analysis
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0663 Performing the actions predefined by failover planning, e.g. switching to standby network elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/22 Parsing or analysis of headers
• 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 data packet is received which includes an indication comprising a process state indication and a transmission state indication, the indication is compared with an expected indication, and it is determined if the data packet is valid or not based on a result of the comparison.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving a data packet including an indication comprising at least one of a process state indication and a transmission state indication;

comparing the indication with an expected indication; and

determining if the data packet is valid or not based on a result of the comparison.

2. The method of claim 1, comprising:

detecting a process failure of a sending process sending the data packet in case an expected process state indication does not match the process state indication in the comparing.

3. The method of claim 1, comprising:

detecting a transmission failure between a sending process sending the data packet and a receiving process receiving the data packet in case an expected transmission state indication does not match the transmission state indication in the comparing.

4. The method of claim 1, comprising:

updating an expected process state indication to the process state indication when the expected process state indication is older than the process state indication in the comparing.

5. The method of claim 1, comprising:

discarding the data packet when an expected process state indication is younger than the process state indication in the comparing.

6. The method of claim 1, comprising:

updating an expected process state indication to the process state indication and updating an expected transmission state indication to the transmission state indication when the expected process state indication is older than the process state indication in the comparing.

7. The method of claim 1, comprising:

updating an expected transmission state indication to the transmission state indication when the process state indication equals an expected process state indication and the expected transmission state indication is older than the transmission state indication in the comparing.

8. The method of claim 1, comprising:

discarding the data packet when the process state indication equals an expected process state indication and an expected transmission state indication is younger than the transmission state indication in the comparing.

9. The method of claim 1, comprising:

determining if the data packet is the first data packet received since a process start of a receiving process receiving the data packet;

skipping the comparing when it is determined that the data packet is the first data packet received since the process start; and

updating an expected process state indication to the process state indication when it is determined that the data packet is the first data packet received since the process start.

10. The method of claim 9, comprising:

updating an expected transmission state indication to the transmission state indication when it is determined that the data packet is the first data packet received since the process start.

11. The method of claim 1, comprising:

including an indication in a data packet to be transmitted, the indication comprising at least one of a process state indication and a transmission state indication.

12. The method of claim 11, comprising:

changing the process state indication when a failure of an own process is detected.

13. The method of claim 11, comprising:

changing the transmission state indication when a transmission failure between a process to receive the data packet and an own process is detected.

14. A method comprising:

including an indication in a data packet to be transmitted, the indication comprising at least one of a process state indication and a transmission state indication, wherein the indication is to be compared at a receiving process receiving the data packet with an expected indication in order to detect whether a data packet including the indication is valid or not based on the comparison; and

transmitting the data packet.

15. The method of claim 14, comprising:

assigning the process state indication at a process start of a sending process sending the data packet.

16. The method of claim 14, comprising:

initialising the transmission state indication at a process start of a sending process sending the data packet to a predetermined value for all processes.

17. The method of claim 14, comprising:

changing the process state indication when a failure of a sending process sending the data packet is detected.

18. The method of claim 14, comprising:

changing the transmission state indication when a transmission failure between a sending process sending the data packet and the receiving process receiving the data packet is detected.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein the process state indication is either increased strictly monotonic or decreased strictly monotonic when the failure of the sending process is detected.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein the transmission state indication is either increased strictly monotonic or decreased strictly monotonic when the transmission failure between the sending process and the receiving process is detected.

21. The method of claim 15, wherein the process state indication is assigned by a central instance.

22. The method of claim 15, wherein the process state indication is assigned by the sending process.

23. A device comprising:

a receiving unit configured to receive a data packet including an indication comprising at least one of a process state indication and a transmission state indication;

a comparing unit configured to compare the indication with an expected indication; and

a determining unit configured to determine if the data packet is valid or not based on a result of the comparison by the comparing unit.

24. The device of claim 23, comprising:

a detecting unit configured to detect a process failure of a sending process sending the data packet in case an expected process state indication does not match the process state indication in the comparing by the comparing unit.

25. The device of claim 23, comprising:

a detecting unit configured to detect a transmission failure between a sending process sending the data packet and a receiving process receiving the data packet in case an expected transmission state indication does not match the transmission state indication in the comparing.

26. The device of claim 23, comprising:

an updating unit configured to update an expected process state indication to the process state indication when the expected process state indication is older than the process state indication in the comparing by the comparing unit.

27. The device of claim 23, comprising:

a detecting unit configured to discard the data packet when an expected process state indication is younger than the process state indication in the comparing by the comparing unit.

28. The device of claim 23, comprising:

an updating unit configured to update an expected process state indication to the process state indication and updating an expected transmission state indication to the transmission state indication when the expected process state indication is older than the process state indication in the comparing by the comparing unit.

29. The device of claim 23, comprising:

an updating unit configured to update an expected transmission state indication to the transmission state indication when the process state indication equals an expected process state indication and the expected transmission state indication is older than the transmission state indication in the comparing by the comparing unit.

30. The device of claim 23, comprising:

a detecting unit configured to discard the data packet when the process state indication equals an expected process state indication and an expected transmission state indication is younger than the transmission state indication in the comparing by the comparing unit.

31. The device of claim 23, wherein

the determining unit is configured to determine if the data packet is the first data packet received since a process start of a receiving process receiving the data packet, and to skip the comparing by the comparing unit when it determines that the data packet is the first data packet received since the process start, the device comprising:

an updating unit configured to update an expected process state indication to the process state indication when it is determined by the determining unit that the data packet is the first data packet received since the process start.

32. The device of claim 31, wherein

the updating unit is configured to update an expected transmission state indication to the transmission state indication when it is determined by the determining unit that the data packet is the first data packet received since the process start.

33. The device of claim 23, comprising:

an including unit configured to include an indication in a data packet to be transmitted, the indication comprising at least one of a process state indication and a transmission state indication.

34. The device of claim 33, comprising:

a changing unit configured to change the process state indication when a failure of an own process is detected.

35. The device of claim 33, comprising:

a changing unit configured to change the transmission state indication when a transmission failure between a process to receive the data packet and an own process is detected.

36. A device comprising:

an including unit configured to include an indication in a data packet to be transmitted, the indication comprising at least one of a process state indication and a transmission state indication, wherein the indication is to be compared at a receiving process receiving the data packet with an expected indication in order to detect whether a data packet including the indication is valid or not based on the comparison; and

a transmitting unit configured to transmit the data packet.

37. The device of claim 36, comprising:

an assigning unit configured to assign the process state indication at a process start of a sending process sending the data packet.

38. The device of claim 36, comprising:

an initialising unit configured to initialise the transmission state indication at a process start of a sending process sending the data packet to a predetermined value for all processes.

39. The device of claim 36, comprising:

a changing unit configured to change the process state indication when a failure of a sending process sending the data packet is detected.

40. The device of claim 36, comprising:

a changing unit configured to change the transmission state indication when a transmission failure between a sending process sending the data packet and the receiving process receiving the data packet is detected.

41. The device of claim 39, wherein the changing unit is configure to either increase the process state indication strictly monotonic or decrease the process state indication strictly monotonic when the failure of the sending process is detected.

42. The device of claim 40, wherein the changing unit is configured to either increase the transmission state indication strictly monotonic or decrease the transmission state indication strictly monotonic when the transmission failure between the sending process and the receiving process is detected.

43. The device of claim 36, wherein the process state indication is assigned by a central instance.

44. A computer program product comprising a computer-readable medium including a program for a processing device, comprising software code portions for, when the program is run on the processing device,

receiving a data packet including an indication comprising at least one of a process state indication and a transmission state indication;

comparing the indication with an expected indication; and

determining if the data packet is valid or not based on a result of the comparison.

46. The computer program product according to claim 44 or 45, wherein the program is directly loadable into an internal memory of the processing device.

45. A computer program product comprising a computer-readable medium including a program for a processing device, comprising software code portions for, when the program is run on the processing device,

including an indication in a data packet to be transmitted, the indication comprising at least one of a process state indication and a transmission state indication, wherein the indication is to be compared at a receiving process receiving the data packet with an expected indication in order to detect whether a data packet including the indication is valid or not based on the comparison;

and

transmitting the data packet.

47. A semiconductor chip comprising:

a receiving unit configured to receive a data packet including an indication comprising at least one of a process state indication and a transmission state indication;

a comparing unit configured to compare the indication with an expected indication; and

a determining unit configured to determine if the data packet is valid or not based on a result of the comparison by the comparing unit.

48. A semiconductor chip comprising:

an including unit configured to include an indication in a data packet to be transmitted, the indication comprising at least one of a process state indication and a transmission state indication, wherein the indication is to be compared at a receiving process receiving the data packet with an expected indication in order to detect whether a data packet including the indication is valid or not based on the comparison; and

a transmitting unit configured to transmit the data packet.

49. A device comprising:

receiving means for receiving a data packet including an indication comprising at least one of a process state indication and a transmission state indication;

comparing means for comparing the indication with an expected indication; and

determining means for determining if the data packet is valid or not based on a result of the comparison by the comparing means.

50. A device comprising:

including means for including an indication in a data packet to be transmitted, the indication comprising at least one of a process state indication and a transmission state indication, wherein the indication is to be compared at a receiving process receiving the data packet with an expected indication in order to detect whether a data packet including the indication is valid or not based on the comparison; and

transmitting means for transmitting the data packet.