System and method for achieving autonomic computing self-healing, utilizing meta level reflection and reasoning

• US 7,260,743 B2
• Filed: 01/13/2004
• Issued: 08/21/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 01/13/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kyndryl Incorporated
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Gusler, Carl Phillip, Hamilton, Rick Allen II, Fellenstein, Craig William, Ibrahim, Mamdouh
• Primary Examiner(s): Beausoliel; Robert
• Assistant Examiner(s): Riad; Amine
• Application Number:
  US10/756,143
• Publication Number:
  US 20050188285A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,316 Days
• Field of Search: 714/26
• US Class Current: 714/26
• 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 11/0793 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

Abstract

A mechanism is provided for achieving autonomic computing self-healing utilizing meta level reflection. In a base level, a monitor detects an error in a production environment. The base level provides a reification message comprising data about the error to a meta level. A reasoning system in the meta level receives the reification message and analyzes the data using knowledge of computational components in the base level. The reasoning system identifies a self-healing action for the error and returns a reversion message comprising a signal to implement the self-healing action. Responsive to receiving the signal, the base level implements the self-healing action.

Claims

1. A method of handling errors, said method comprising:

under control of a base level,

detecting an error in a production environment;

providing a reification message comprising data about said error to a rule-based expert system in a meta level, wherein the rule-based expert system in said meta level receives the reification message;

analyzes said data, using knowledge of base-level computational components;

chooses a self-healing action for said error; and

returns a reversion message comprising a signal to implement the self-healing action; and

responsive to receiving the signal at the base level, implementing said self-healing action at said base level,

wherein the error is an out of memory condition; and

wherein the production environment comprises a heap and wherein the self-healing action comprises at least one of reconstructing objects in the heap or storing objects from the heap that are not accessed frequently off-line.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

utilizing said base level to perform computation in said production environment; and

utilizing said meta level to perform computation concerning behavior of said base-level computational components.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said analyzing further comprises:

applying at least one rule to said data.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein:

said analyzing further comprises applying a rule for control of at least one component at said base level; and

said implementing further comprises controlling said at least one component.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

implementing said base level and said meta level on the same computer.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

implementing said base level and said meta level on separate computers.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

implementing said base level on a plurality of computers.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein implementing said solution further comprises one or more actions chosen from

managing memory;

connecting to an alternative database;

terminating an application;

and starting an application.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the production environment comprises an operating system and wherein the self-healing action comprises requesting more memory resources from the operating system.

10. A system of handling errors, said system comprising:

means for detecting an error in a production environment;

means for providing a reification message comprising data about the error to a rule-based expert system in a meta level;

means for performing introspection at said rule-based expert system, in response to said reification message, wherein the introspection uses knowledge of computational components of the production environment to identify a self-healing action for the error;

means for providing a reversion message from the rule-based expert system to the production environment, wherein the reversion message comprises a signal to implement the self-healing action; and

means for implementing the self-healing action at said production environment,

wherein the error is an out of memory condition; and

wherein the production environment comprises a heap and wherein the self-healing action comprises at least one of reconstructing objects in the heap or storing objects from the heap that are not accessed frequently off-line.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein said means for performing introspection further comprises:

means for applying at least one rule to said data.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein:

said means for performing introspection further comprises means for applying a rule for control of at least one component at said base level; and

said means for implementing further comprises means for controlling said at least one component.

13. The system of claim 10, further comprising:

means for implementing said base level and said meta level on the same computer;

wherein said meta level is a logical concept.

14. The system of claim 10, further comprising:

means for implementing said base level and said meta level on separate computers.

15. The system of claim 10, further comprising:

means for implementing said base level on a plurality of computers.

16. The system of claim 10, wherein said means for implementing further comprises means for performing one or more actions chosen from

managing memory;

connecting to an alternative database;

terminating an application;

and starting an application.