Process activity and error monitoring system and method

• US 6,898,733 B2
• Filed: 10/31/2001
• Issued: 05/24/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 10/31/2001
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP (Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Company)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Sundaresan, Sankar-Ram, Siegmund, Thorsten, Bollerud, Christopher W., Parks, Jeff A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Iqbal, Nadeem
• Assistant Examiner(s): Bonura, Timothy M.
• Application Number:
  US09/999,794
• Publication Number:
  US 20030084377A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,301 Days
• Field of Search: 714/15, 714/20, 714/37, 714/39, 714/49, 714/50
• US Class Current: 714/15
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0715 in a system implementing multitasking multitasking per se G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0775 Content or structure details of the error report, e.g. specific table structure, specific error fields
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0778 Dumping, i.e. gathering error/state information after a fault for later diagnosis
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0781 Error filtering or prioritizing based on a policy defined by the user or on a policy defined by a hardware/software module, e.g. according to a severity level
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1438 Restarting or rejuvenating
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3017 where the computing system is implementing multitasking multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46; allocation of resources G06F9/50
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/302 where the computing system component is a software system
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3055 Monitoring arrangements for monitoring the status of the computing system or of the computing system component, e.g. monitoring if the computing system is on, off, available, not available error or fault processing without redundancy G06F11/0703; error detection or correction by redundancy in data representation G06F11/08; error detection or correction by redundancy in operation G06F11/14; error detection or correction by redundancy in hardware G06F11/16

Abstract

A system and method that uses a process management console to maintain multiple processes that perform software services from within a presentation layer and a database layer. The method includes defining an active process list for a plurality of processes that provide services in the presentation and database layers. Another step is monitoring the plurality of processes that are active in the presentation and database layers by using a process monitor. The next step is determining when one of the processes has abnormally terminated, using the process monitor to periodically compare the active process list to the list of processes currently executing. When a process fails, the system reactivates the process under the automatic control of the process monitor, and the reactivation is performed automatically. The system can also generate an error message that is logged or sent as an email to support personnel when a process has failed.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

dividing a software application into multiple processes that perform software services from within a presentation layer and a database layer;

defining an active process list for a plurality of processes that provide services in the presentation and database layers;

monitoring the plurality of processes that are executing in the presentation and database layers, using a process monitor located in a process management console;

determining when one of the processes has abnormally terminated by using the process monitor to periodically compare the active process list to the list of processes currently executing; and

reactivating the terminated process that has abnormally terminated, under the automatic control of the process monitor.

2. A method as in claim 1, further comprising the step of generating an error message that is logged when the process monitor has determined that a process has terminated.

3. A method as in claim 1, further comprising the step of restarting the monitoring of the plurality of processes that are active in the presentation and database layers.

4. A method as in claim 1, further comprising the step of monitoring presentation layer processes to determine an execution state of the presentation processes.

5. A method as in claim 1, further comprising the step of monitoring a database and business rules layer to determine an execution state of the processes for the database and business rules layer.

6. A method as in claim 2, generating an error message that is logged in a database in the process management console.

7. A method as in claim 2, generating an error message that is transmitted to a support system.

8. A method as in claim 2, generating an error message that is transmitted to human support personnel.

9. A method as in claim 1, wherein the active process list includes processes that should be executing in the presentation layer and the database layer.

10. A method as in claim 1, wherein the multiple processes perform software services to assemble and transmit web pages of a web site.

11. A method as in claim 10, further comprising:

formatting, with the presentation layer, the web pages.

12. A method as in claim 10, further comprising:

storing, in the presentation layer, the web pages.

13. A method as in claim 10, further comprising:

storing, in the database layer, database records that are used in the web pages.

14. A method as in claim 10, further comprising:

storing, in the database layer, rules that effect control access to the web pages.

15. A method as in claim 1, wherein the presentation layer and the database layer are located on separate processing nodes to distribute processing loads of the software services.

16. A method as in claim 1, wherein the presentation layer and the database layer are located in physically separate nodes from the process management console.

17. A method, comprising:

providing multiple software layers each having multiple processes that process software services in relation to an electronic document;

enabling an application developer of the electronic document to create a group of pre-defined errors that can occur in the processes;

logging process operations in an error log file, as the errors occur in the processes;

scanning the error log file periodically after entries in the error log file have been created;

analyzing the entries in the error log file to determine if the error belongs to the group of pre-defined errors that require support notification;

sending support notification when the error is a pre-defined error that requires support notification.

18. A method as in claim 17, further comprising the step of sending the support notification to a system management console.

19. A method as in claim 18, further comprising the step of allowing a support person to view support notifications on the system management console in real time.

20. A method as in claim 18, further comprising the step of recording the support notification in an error log within the system management console.

21. A method as in claim 18, further comprising the step of sending the support notification to a support person as an email message.

22. A method as in claim 18, further comprising the step of logging errors in the error log file where the errors are selected from the group of errors consisting of performance errors, activity process errors, and general errors.

23. A method as in claim 17, wherein the multiple processes perform software services to assemble web pages.

24. A method as in claim 17, wherein the multiple processes perform software services to transmit web pages.

25. A system, comprising:

a core processing unit that executes a plurality of processes to fulfill digital document requests, wherein the processes are provided in multiple software layers that process software services in relation to an electronic document;

a logging module, coupled to the core processing unit, wherein the logging unit stores log data in an error log file;

an error log processing module to read the error log file and identify errors that meet a pre-set error criteria level; and

a notification module to provide support notification regarding a process status for the processes that are performing processing in relation to the electronic document, the support notification being provided when the errors meet the pre-set error criteria levels.

26. A system as in claim 25, further comprising a console error logging unit to log errors that meet the pre-set error criteria level.

27. A system as in claim 25, wherein the logging module logs process performance data to determine if processes are performing at pre-determined performance levels.

28. A system as in claim 25, wherein the logging module logs process activity data to determine whether a process has failed.

29. A method, comprising:

providing multiple software layers each having multiple processes that process software services in relation to an electronic document;

creating a group of pre-defined errors that can occur in the processes, wherein the pre-defined errors are stored in an error catalog;

logging process operations in a error log file, as the errors occur in the processes;

scanning the error log file periodically after entries in the error log file have been created;

analyzing the entries in the error log file to determine if the error belongs to the group of pre-defined errors that require support notification;

sending support notification when the error is a pre-defined error that requires support notification.

30. A method as in claim 29, further comprising the step of sending the support notification to support personnel.

31. A method as in claim 29, wherein the multiple processes perform software services to assemble web pages.

32. A method as in claim 29, wherein the multiple processes perform software services to transmit web pages.