Apparatus and method for managing communication between a failed application and other executing applications

• US 6,757,289 B1
• Filed: 06/04/1999
• Issued: 06/29/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 04/23/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: RPX Clearinghouse LLC (RPX Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Nortel Networks Limited (Nortel Networks Corporation)
• Inventors: Berger, Michael, DiBurro, Larry, Lee, Robert, Miller, William, Cain, Bradley
• Primary Examiner(s): MARCELO, MELVIN C
• Application Number:
  US09/326,022
• Time in Patent Office: 1,852 Days
• Field of Search: 370/216, 370/401, 370/466, 709/311, 709/318, 709/328, 709/329, 714/15, 714/23, 719/328, 719/329
• US Class Current: 370/401
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/22 Alternate routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/28 using route fault recovery
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/14 Multichannel or multilink protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• 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

An apparatus and method of managing communication between a first application that has failed and an executing second application permits the first application to establish a path to the second application. To that end, a fail message (notifying the second application that the first application has failed) is forwarded toward the second application, and the first application is restarted. As noted above, the first application establishes a path to the second application after it is restarted. Once the path is established, the second application is notified that the first application is ready to communicate via the path.

Claims

1. A method of managing communication between a first application that has failed and an executing second application, the method comprising:

forwarding a failed message toward the second application, the fail message notifying the second application that the first application has failed;

restarting the first application;

controlling the first application to establish a path to the second application after the first application is restarted; and

notifying the second application that the first application is ready to communicate via the established path.

2. The method as defined by claim 1 wherein in response to receipt of notification that the first application has failed, the second application enters a non-communication state in which the second application does not forward messages toward the first application until notified that the first application is ready to communicate via the path.

3. The method as defined by claim 1 wherein the first application receives a ready message from the second application, the ready message including data indicating that the second application is ready to communicate via the path, the first and second applications being configured to not communicate via the path until after the second application is notified that the first application is ready and the first application receives the ready message indicating that the second application is ready to communicate.

4. The method as defined by claim 1 wherein the path includes a plurality of channels.

5. The method as defined by claim 4 wherein each channel has an associated handler function, each handler function processing messages in its assigned channel in a uniform manner.

6. The method as defined by claim 1 wherein the first application is monitored by monitoring function, the fail message being generated by the monitoring function after the monitoring function detects that the first application has failed.

7. The method as defined by claim 6 wherein the monitoring function is a part of an application program interface utilized by the first application and the second application, the application program interface providing a common interface for the first application and a second application.

8. The method as defined by claim 6 wherein the monitoring function restarts the first application.

9. The method as defined by claim 1 wherein the path is established by controlling the first application to access a configuration file identifying the path configuration data, and establishing the path based upon the accessed path configuration data.

10. The method as defined by claim 1 wherein the first application and second application are executing within a single computer system.

11. The method as defined by claim 10 wherein the single computer system is a routing device.

12. The method as defined by claim 1 wherein the second application continues executing at least from the time that the first application failed, to the time that the path is established.

13. An apparatus for managing communication between a first application that has failed and an executing second application, the apparatus comprising:

a monitoring module that monitors the first application, the monitoring module forwarding a fail message toward the second application after the first application fails, the fail message notifying the second application that the first application has failed, the monitoring module restarting the first application after it fails; and

a controller within the first application, the controller causing the first application to establish a path to the second application after the first application is restarted,

the controller causing the first application to notify the second application that the first application is ready to communicate via the established path.

14. The apparatus as defined by claim 13 wherein in response to receipt of notification that the first application has failed, the second application enters a non-communication state in which the second application does not forward messages toward the first application until notified that the first application is ready to communicate via the path.

15. The apparatus as defined by claim 13 further comprising:

a receiver that receives a ready message from the second application, the ready message including data indicating that the second application is ready to communicate via the path, the first and second applications not communicating via the path until after the second application is notified that the first application is ready and the first application receives the ready message indicating that the second application is ready to communicate.

16. The apparatus as defined by claim 13 wherein the path includes a plurality of channels.

17. The apparatus as defined by claim 16 wherein each channel has an associated handler function, each handler function processing messages in its assigned channel in a uniform manner.

18. The apparatus as defined by claim 13 wherein the monitoring module is a part of an application program interface utilized by the first application and the second application, the application program interface providing a common interface for the first application and a second application.

19. The apparatus as defined by claim 13 wherein the path is established by controlling the first application to access a configuration file identifying the path configuration data, and establishing the path based upon the accessed path configuration data.

20. The apparatus as defined by claim 13 wherein the first application and second application are executing within a single computer system.

21. The apparatus as defined by claim 20 wherein the single computer system is a routing device.

22. The apparatus as defined by claim 13 wherein the second application continues executing at least from the time that the first application failed, to the time that the path is established.

23. A computer program product for use on a computer system for managing communication between a first application that has failed and an executing second application, the computer program product comprising a computer usable medium having computer readable program code thereon, the computer readable program code including:

program code for forwarding a fail message toward the second application, the fail message notifying the second application that the first application has failed;

program code for restarting the first application;

program code for controlling the first application to establish a path to the second application after the first application is restarted; and

program code for notifying the second application that the first application is ready to communicate via the established path.

24. The computer program product as defined by claim 23 wherein in response to receipt of notification that the first application has failed, the second application enters a non-communication state in which the second application does not forward messages toward the first, application until notified that the first application is ready to communicate via the path.

25. The computer program product as defined by claim 23 wherein the first application includes program code for receiving a ready message from the second application, the ready message including data indicating that the second application is ready to communicate via the path, the first and second applications not communicating via the path until after the second application is notified that the first application is ready and the first application receives the ready message indicating that the second application is ready to communicate.

26. The computer program product as defined by claim 23 wherein the path includes a plurality of channels.

27. The computer program product as defined by claim 26 wherein each channel has an associated handler function, each handler function processing messages in its assigned channel in a uniform manner.

28. The computer program product as defined by claim 23 wherein the first application is monitored by a monitoring function, the fail message being generated by the monitoring function after the monitoring function detects that the first application has failed.

29. The computer program product as defined by claim 28 wherein the monitoring function is a part of an application program interface utilized by the first application and the second application, the application program interface providing a common interface for the first application and a second application.

30. The computer program product as defined by claim 28 wherein the monitoring function restarts the first application.

31. The computer program product as defined by claim 23 wherein the program code for controlling includes program code for controlling the first application to access a configuration file identifying the path configuration data, and establishing the path based upon the accessed path configuration data.

32. The computer program product as defined by claim 23 wherein the first application and second application are executing within a single computer system.

33. The computer program product as defined by claim 32 wherein the single computer system is a routing device.

34. The computer program product as defined by claim 23 wherein the second application continues executing at least from the time that the first application failed, to the time that the path is established.