PROCESSING MAIN CAUSE ERRORS AND SYMPATHETIC ERRORS IN DEVICES IN A SYSTEM

• US 20140108852A1
• Filed: 10/17/2012
• Published: 04/17/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 10/17/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Padilla, Ricardo S., Sorenson, Todd C., Valverde, David V., He, Wang Ping
• Granted Patent: US 9,021,305 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 714/3
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0706 the processing taking place on a specific hardware platform or in a specific software environment
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/079 Root cause analysis, i.e. error or fault diagnosis in a hardware test environment G06F11/22; in a software test environment G06F11/36
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0793 Remedial or corrective actions recovery from an exception in an instruction pipeline G06F9/3861; by retry G06F11/1402; for recovering from a failure of a protocol instance or entity H04L69/40
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/16 Error detection or correction of the data by redundancy in hardware

Abstract

Provided are a computer program product, system, and method for processing main cause errors and sympathetic errors in devices in a system. Error data for the devices in the system are analyzed to determine a main cause error for one of the devices that cause at least one sympathetic error in the system. A main cause event object for the determined main cause error and at least one sympathetic event object for the determined at least one sympathetic error resulting from the main cause error are generated. A determination is made from the at least one sympathetic event object of at least one sympathetic event action to perform. The determined at least one sympathetic event action is performed to recover from the at least one sympathetic error represented by the at least one sympathetic event object providing the at least one sympathetic event action.

Claims

1. A computer program product for handling errors in a system having devices, wherein the computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code embodied therein that executes to cause operations, the operations comprising:

analyzing error data for the devices in the system to determine a main cause error for one of the devices that cause at least one sympathetic error in the system,

generating a main cause event object for the determined main cause error;

generating at least one sympathetic event object for the determined at least one sympathetic error resulting from the main cause error, wherein the at least one sympathetic event object indicates a sympathetic event action to perform for the sympathetic error represented by the sympathetic event object;

determining from the at least one sympathetic event object at least one sympathetic event action to perform for the at least one sympathetic error; and

performing the determined at least one sympathetic event action to recover from the at least one sympathetic error represented by the at least one sympathetic event object providing the at least one sympathetic event action.

2. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise:

using the main cause event object to determine whether the main cause error represented by the main cause event object is active, wherein the determining and the performing of the at least one sympathetic event action are performed in response to determining that the main cause error is active.

3. The computer program product of claim 2, wherein the using the main cause event object to determine whether the main cause error is active comprises determining from the main cause event object for the main cause error an active function pointer;

and

executing the active function pointer to check state information in the system or at least one of the devices in the system to determine whether the main cause error is active.

4. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise:

indicating the main cause error as active in persistent information in the system, wherein while the main cause error is indicated as active; and

generating sympathetic event objects for sympathetic errors resulting from the main cause error indicated in the persistent information as active.

5. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise:

indicating the main cause event object as inactive in response to determining that system and device state information indicates that the main cause error represented by the main cause event object is not present.

6. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise:

transmitting, by the system, information indicating the main cause error to a remote system having devices;

generating, by the remote system, a main cause event object for the transmitted main cause error comprising a remote main cause error to the remote system;

analyzing, by the remote system, error data for devices at the remote system to determine whether there are sympathetic errors at the devices in the remote system resulting from the remote main cause error at the system transmitting the remote main cause error; and

generating a sympathetic event object for the determined at least one sympathetic error at the devices in the remote system indicating a sympathetic event action;

determining, at the remote system, at least one sympathetic event action to perform for the determined at least one sympathetic event for the at least one sympathetic error in the remote system resulting from the remote main cause error; and

performing the determined at least one sympathetic event action at the remote system.

7. The computer program product of claim 6, wherein the operations further comprise:

receiving, by the remote system, indication that the received remote main cause error is inactive; and

indicating, by the remote system, the remote main cause event error as inactive.

8. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the main cause event object indicates at least one sympathetic event object for at least one sympathetic error at the device causing the main cause error.

9. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein the main cause event object indicates at least one sympathetic event object for at least one sympathetic error for at least one device that does not cause the main cause error.

10. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein the at least one device that does not cause the main cause error having the at least one sympathetic error comprises at least one of a redundant partner device providing redundancy for the device having the main cause error and a device comprising a child device to the device having the main cause error.

11. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the sympathetic event actions comprise either a cancel of the determined sympathetic event object or performing operations in the system to recover from the sympathetic error represented by the sympathetic event object.

12. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein the operations performed in the system for the sympathetic event actions comprise at least one of setting system flags, resetting system flags, and calling a sympathetic event handler function.

13. A system having devices, comprising:

a processor; and

a computer readable storage medium having code executed by the processor to perform operations, the operations comprising;

analyzing error data for the devices in the system to determine a main cause error for one of the devices that cause at least one sympathetic error in the system,

generating a main cause event object for the determined main cause error;

generating at least one sympathetic event object for the determined at least one sympathetic error resulting from the main cause error, wherein the at least one sympathetic event object indicates a sympathetic event action to perform for the sympathetic error represented by the sympathetic event object;

determining from the at least one sympathetic event object at least one sympathetic event action to perform for the at least one sympathetic error; and

performing the determined at least one sympathetic event action to recover from the at least one sympathetic error represented by the at least one sympathetic event object providing the at least one sympathetic event action.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the operations further comprise:

using the main cause event object to determine whether the main cause error represented by the main cause event object is active, wherein the determining and the performing of the at least one sympathetic event action are performed in response to determining that the main cause error is active.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the operations further comprise:

indicating the main cause error as active in persistent information in the system, wherein while the main cause error is indicated as active; and

generating sympathetic event objects for sympathetic errors resulting from the main cause error indicated in the persistent information as active.

16. The system of claim 13, wherein the processor and computer readable storage are part of a first system, further comprising:

a remote system in communication with the first system;

wherein the first system transmits information indicating the main cause error to the remote system having devices;

wherein the remote system performs operations, the operations comprising;

generating a main cause event object for the transmitted main cause error comprising a remote main cause error to the remote system;

analyzing error data for devices at the remote system to determine whether there are sympathetic errors at the devices in the remote system resulting from the remote main cause error at the system transmitting the remote main cause error; and

generating a sympathetic event object for the determined at least one sympathetic error at the devices in the remote system indicating a sympathetic event action;

determining at least one sympathetic event action to perform for the determined at least one sympathetic event for the at least one sympathetic error in the remote system resulting from the remote main cause error; and

performing the determined at least one sympathetic event action at the remote system.

17. The system of claim 13, wherein the main cause event object indicates at least one sympathetic event object for at least one sympathetic error at the device causing the main cause error.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the main cause event object indicates at least one sympathetic event object for at least one sympathetic error for at least one device that does not cause the main cause error.

19. The system of claim 13, wherein the sympathetic event actions comprise either a cancel of the determined sympathetic event object or performing operations in the system to recover from the sympathetic error represented by the sympathetic event object.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the operations performed in the system for the sympathetic event actions comprise at least one of setting system flags, resetting system flags, and calling a sympathetic event handler function.

21. A method, comprising:

analyzing error data for devices in a system to determine a main cause error for one of the devices that cause at least one sympathetic error in the system,

generating a main cause event object for the determined main cause error;

generating at least one sympathetic event object for the determined at least one sympathetic error resulting from the main cause error, wherein the at least one sympathetic event object indicates a sympathetic event action to perform for the sympathetic error represented by the sympathetic event object;

determining from the at least one sympathetic event object at least one sympathetic event action to perform for the at least one sympathetic error; and

performing the determined at least one sympathetic event action to recover from the at least one sympathetic error represented by the at least one sympathetic event object providing the at least one sympathetic event action.

22. The method of claim 21, further comprising:

using the main cause event object to determine whether the main cause error represented by the main cause event object is active, wherein the determining and the performing of the at least one sympathetic event action are performed in response to determining that the main cause error is active.

23. The method of claim 21, further comprising:

indicating the main cause error as active in persistent information in the system, wherein while the main cause error is indicated as active; and

generating sympathetic event objects for sympathetic errors resulting from the main cause error indicated in the persistent information as active.

24. The method of claim 21, further comprising:

transmitting information indicating the main cause error to a remote system having devices;

generating, by the remote system, a main cause event object for the transmitted main cause error comprising a remote main cause error to the remote system;

analyzing, by the remote system, error data for devices at the remote system to determine whether there are sympathetic errors at the devices in the remote system resulting from the remote main cause error at the system transmitting the remote main cause error; and

generating a sympathetic event object for the determined at least one sympathetic error at the devices in the remote system indicating a sympathetic event action;

determining, at the remote system, at least one sympathetic event action to perform for the determined at least one sympathetic event for the at least one sympathetic error in the remote system resulting from the remote main cause error; and

performing the determined at least one sympathetic event action at the remote system.

25. The method of claim 21, wherein the main cause event object indicates at least one sympathetic event object for at least one sympathetic error at the device causing the main cause error.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein the main cause event object indicates at least one sympathetic event object for at least one sympathetic error for at least one device that does not cause the main cause error.

27. The method of claim 21, wherein the sympathetic event actions comprise either a cancel of the determined sympathetic event object or performing operations in the system to recover from the sympathetic error represented by the sympathetic event object.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein the operations performed in the system for the sympathetic event actions comprise at least one of setting system flags, resetting system flags, and calling a sympathetic event handler function.