METHODS FOR MANAGING PROCESS ACTIVITY DATA USING A SYSTEM-WIDE DAEMON

• US 20110055607A1
• Filed: 08/31/2009
• Published: 03/03/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 08/31/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Inventors: Hughes, Richard
• Granted Patent: US 8,307,230 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 713/323
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3203 Power management, i.e. event-based initiation of a power-saving mode
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3228 Monitoring task completion, e.g. by use of idle timers, stop commands or wait commands
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3476 Data logging G06F11/14, G06F11/2205 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 10/00 Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management

Abstract

Techniques for managing process activity statistics using a system-wide daemon are described herein. A power management daemon retrieves process activity status data from a system monitoring file stored within a data processing system, in response to a request received from a session client via an application programming interface (API). The power management daemon is a single system-wide component within the data processing system to provide the process activity status data to a plurality of session clients. The retrieved process activity status data is returned to the client via the API, where the system monitoring file requires a predetermined accessing privilege for accessing. Thus, through the power management daemon, the session client does not have to satisfy the predetermined accessing privilege in order to access the process activity status data stored in the system monitoring file.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

retrieving, by a power management daemon, process activity status data from a system monitoring file stored within a data processing system, in response to a request received from a session client via an application programming interface (API), the power management daemon being a system-wide component within the data processing system to provide the process activity status data to a plurality of session clients; and

returning, by the power management daemon, the retrieved process activity status data to the client via the API, wherein the system monitoring file requires a predetermined accessing privilege for accessing, and wherein the session client receives the process activity status data without having to satisfy the predetermined accessing privilege in order to access the process activity status data stored in the system monitoring file.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

computing, by the power management daemon, process wakeup statistics based on the process activity status data, including a number of wakeup events within a predetermined period of time caused by one or more processes running within the data processing system; and

returning the computed statistics to the client via the API.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

enabling system logging performed by a system monitor of the data processing system in response to the request if the session client is the first overall client accessing the API, wherein an output of the system logging is saved to the system monitoring file; and

disabling the system logging when there is no session client currently accessing the API.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising maintaining a reference count within the power management daemon, the reference count representing a number of session clients currently accessing the API, wherein the system logging is disabled when the reference count reaches a predetermined value.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

incrementing the reference count when an additional session client starts accessing the API; and

decrementing the reference count when an existing session client stops accessing the API.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising invoking an authentication framework to authenticate the session client based on one or more authentication policies to determine whether the session client is allowed to access the process activity status data, wherein the session client is allowed to access the process activity status data when the authentication framework successfully authenticates the session client.

7. A computer readable storage medium including instructions that, when executed by a processing system, cause the processing system to perform a method comprising:

retrieving, by a power management daemon, process activity status data from a system monitoring file stored within a data processing system, in response to a request received from a session client via an application programming interface (API), the power management daemon being a system-wide component within the data processing system to provide the process activity status data to a plurality of session clients; and

returning, by the power management daemon, the retrieved process activity status data to the client via the API, wherein the system monitoring file requires a predetermined accessing privilege for accessing, and wherein the session client receives the process activity status data without having to satisfy the predetermined accessing privilege in order to access the process activity status data stored in the system monitoring file.

8. The computer readable storage medium of claim 7, wherein the method further comprises:

computing, by the power management daemon, process wakeup statistics based on the process activity status data, including a number of wakeup events within a predetermined period of time caused by one or more processes running within the data processing system; and

returning the computed statistics to the client via the API.

9. The computer readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the method further comprises:

enabling system logging performed by a system monitor of the data processing system in response to the request if the session client is the first overall client accessing the API, wherein an output of the system logging is saved to the system monitoring file; and

disabling the system logging when there is no session client currently accessing the API.

10. The computer readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the method further comprises maintaining a reference count within the power management daemon, the reference count representing a number of session clients currently accessing the API, wherein the system logging is disabled when the reference count reaches a predetermined value.

11. The computer readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein the method further comprises:

incrementing the reference count when an additional session client starts accessing the API; and

decrementing the reference count when an existing session client stops accessing the API.

12. The computer readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the method further comprises invoking an authentication framework to authenticate the session client based on one or more authentication policies to determine whether the session client is allowed to access the process activity status data, wherein the session client is allowed to access the process activity status data when the authentication framework successfully authenticates the session client.

13. An apparatus for managing process activity status data, comprising:

an application programming interface (API); and

a data collector coupled to the API to retrieve process activity status data from a system monitoring file stored within a data processing system, in response to a request received from a session client via the API, the apparatus being a single system-wide component within the data processing system to provide the process activity status data to a plurality of session clients, wherein the data collector is configured to return the retrieved process activity status data to the client via the API, wherein the system monitoring file requires a predetermined accessing privilege for accessing, and wherein the session client receives the process activity status data without having to satisfy the predetermined accessing privilege in order to access the process activity status data stored in the system monitoring file.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, further comprising:

a statistics calculator coupled to the data collector and the API to compute process wakeup statistics based on the process activity status data, including a number of wakeup events within a predetermined period of time caused by one or more processes running within the data processing system; and

a repository coupled to the statistics calculator to store a copy of the process activity status data and the calculated statistics data, wherein the computed statistics is returned to the client via the API.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, further comprising a communications interface coupled to the API to communicate with a system monitor to enable system logging of the data processing system in response to the request if the session client is the first overall client accessing the API, wherein an output of the system logging is saved to the system monitoring file, and to disable the system logging when there is no session client currently accessing the API.

16. The apparatus of claim 15, further comprising a reference count representing a number of session clients currently accessing the API, wherein the system logging is disabled when the reference count reaches a predetermined value.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the reference count is incremented when an additional session client starts accessing the API and the reference count is decremented when an existing session client stops accessing the API.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, further comprising an authentication unit to authenticate the session client based on one or more authentication policies to determine whether the session client is allowed to access the process activity status data, wherein the session client is allowed to access the process activity status data when the session client is successfully authenticated.