Error management

• US 7,313,717 B2
• Filed: 04/17/2003
• Issued: 12/25/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 04/17/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle America, Inc. (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Sun Microsystems Incorporated (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Vecoven, Frederic Louis Ghislain Gabriel, Panicker, Sundeep R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Iqbal, Nadeem
• Application Number:
  US10/417,811
• Publication Number:
  US 20040210800A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,713 Days
• Field of Search: 714/4, 714/11, 714/13, 714/25, 714/30
• US Class Current: 714/4.2
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0712 in a virtual computing platform, e.g. logically partitioned systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0727 in a storage system, e.g. in a DASD or network based storage system drivers for digital recording or reproducing units G06F3/06; circuits for error detection or correction within digital recording or reproducing units G11B20/18; for distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS], H04L67/1097
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0772 Means for error signaling, e.g. using interrupts, exception flags, dedicated error registers
• 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 11/3006 where the computing system is distributed, e.g. networked systems, clusters, multiprocessor systems multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46; allocation of resources G06F9/50
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3013 where the computing system is an embedded system, i.e. a combination of hardware and software dedicated to perform a certain function in mobile devices, printers, automotive or aircraft systems testing or monitoring of control systems or parts thereof G05B23/02
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3031 where the computing system component is a motherboard or an expansion card
• 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 computer system includes a plurality of field replaceable units. A system controller monitors system errors. A diagnostic engine is responsive to the system controller detecting an error to identify a faulty field replaceable unit. A reconfiguration engine can then be operable to deconfigure the faulty field replaceable unit. By providing a diagnostic engine to identify a faulty field replaceable unit to be deconfigured, greater reliability with regard to the identification of a faulty unit can be achieved.

Claims

1. A computer system comprising:

a plurality of field replaceable units;

a system controller operable to monitor system errors;

a diagnostic engine operable to, in response to the system controller detecting an error, identify a suspected faulty field replaceable unit, wherein the diagnostic engine is further operable to store component health status information on the suspected faulty field replaceable unit; and

a reconfiguration engine operable to deconfigure the suspected faulty field replaceable unit.

2. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the component health status information comprises an indication that the suspected field replaceable unit is faulty and an indication of a diagnostic reason the suspected field replaceable unit was found faulty.

3. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the diagnostic engine is operable to cause component health status information concerning each suspected faulty field replaceable unit to be stored in the suspected faulty field replaceable unit concerned.

4. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the diagnostic engine resides on the system controller and is operable to analyze hardware generated information to distinguish between a first error and non-first errors.

5. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the diagnostic engine is operable to identify a list of suspected faulty field replaceable units.

6. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the component health status information is stored in a dynamic portion of a field replaceable unit identity (FRUID) memory in the suspected faulty field replaceable unit.

7. The computer system of claim 6, wherein the FRUID memory is an electrically erasable programmable read only memory.

8. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the diagnostic engine is responsive to previously stored suspected fault information stored in a field replaceable unit of the plurality of field replaceable units in determining whether the field replaceable unit is faulty.

9. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the reconfiguration engine is operable to configure a redundant hardware field replaceable unit in place of a deconfigured suspected faulty field replaceable unit.

10. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the reconfiguration engine is responsive to stored component health status information in the suspected faulty field replaceable unit to deconfigure the suspected faulty field replaceable unit.

11. The computer system of claim 1, further comprising a plurality of processor domain segments interconnected by a switch, wherein the reconfiguration engine is further operable to migrate a domain to another segment in order to isolate a faulty switch.

12. The computer system of claim 1, further comprising circuitry in the plurality of field replaceable units, wherein the circuitry comprises error status registers for logging errors detected in the circuitry.

13. The computer system of claim 12, wherein an error status register, for circuitry in which a first error is detected, is operable separately to log the first error.

14. The computer system of claim 12, wherein the plurality of field replaceable units comprise further circuitry for reporting errors in the respective field replaceable unit to the system controller.

15. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the diagnostic engine is a software component of the service controller.

16. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the reconfiguration engine comprises a power on and self test utility.

17. The computer system of claim 1, further comprising a predictive fault analyzer.

18. A method of managing errors in a computer system comprising a plurality of field replaceable units, the method comprising:

a system controller monitoring system errors in the plurality of field replaceable units;

a diagnostic engine identifying a suspected faulty field replaceable unit of the plurality of field replaceable units;

the diagnostic engine storing component health status information on the suspected faulty field replaceable unit; and

a reconfiguration engine deconfiguring the suspected faulty field replaceable unit.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising the diagnostic engine analyzing hardware generated information to distinguish between a first error and a non-first error.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein the component health status information comprises an indication that the suspected field replaceable unit is faulty and an indication of a diagnostic reason the suspected field replaceable unit was found faulty.

21. The method of claim 18, wherein the component health status information is stored in a dynamic portion of a field replaceable unit identity (FRUID) memory in the suspected field replaceable unit concerned.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the FRUID memory is an electrically erasable programmable read only memory.

23. The computer system of claim 20, wherein the reconfiguration engine is further operable to read the component health status information stored on the suspected faulty field replaceable unit and deconfigure the suspected faulty field replaceable unit in response to the stored component health status information.

24. The method of claim 18, further comprising the diagnostic engine identifying a list of suspected faulty field replaceable units.

25. The method of claim 18, further comprising the diagnostic engine causing component health status information concerning each suspected faulty field replaceable unit to be stored in the suspected faulty field replaceable unit concerned.

26. The method of claim 18, wherein the diagnostic engine is responsive to previously stored suspected fault information stored in a field replaceable unit of the plurality of field replaceable units in determining whether the field replaceable unit is faulty.

27. The method of claim 18, further comprising the reconfiguration engine configuring a redundant hardware field replaceable unit in place of a deconfigured suspected faulty field replaceable unit.

28. The method of claim 18, further comprising the reconfiguration engine migrating a domain to another segment in order to isolate a faulty switch, wherein a plurality of processor domain segments are interconnected by one or more switches.

29. The method of claim 18, further comprising logging, in an error status register in the circuitry, errors detected in circuitry in the field replaceable units.

30. The method of claim 29, further comprising separately logging a first error in the error status register.

31. The method of claim 30, further comprising additional circuitry in the plurality of field replaceable units reporting logged errors to the system controller.

32. The method of claim 18, wherein the diagnostic engine is a software component of a service controller.

33. The method of claim 18, wherein the reconfiguration engine comprises a power on self test utility.

34. A program product on a computer-readable storage medium, the program product comprising instructions operable to cause a computer system that includes a plurality of field replaceable units:

to monitor hardware system errors;

to identify a suspected faulty field replaceable unit; and

to store component health status information on the suspected faulty field replaceable unit;

wherein the suspected faulty field replaceable unit is operable to be deconfigured from the computer system in response to the stored component health status information.

35. A computer system comprising:

a plurality of field replaceable units;

means for monitoring system errors;

means responsive to a detected system error to identify a suspected faulty field replaceable unit;

means operable to store component health status information on the suspected faulty field replaceable unit; and

means for deconfiguring the faulty field replaceable unit from the computer system in response to the stored component health status information.