Length-of-the-curve stress metric for improved characterization of computer system reliability

• US 7,483,816 B2
• Filed: 04/16/2007
• Issued: 01/27/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 04/16/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle America, Inc. (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Sun Microsystems Incorporated (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Gross, Kenny C., Whisnant, Keith A., Coskun, Ayse K.
• Primary Examiner(s): Cosimano; Edward R
• Application Number:
  US11/787,533
• Publication Number:
  US 20080255785A1
• Time in Patent Office: 652 Days
• Field of Search: 340/500, 340/540, 340/635, 340/679, 340/680, 340/870.01, 340/870.05, 340/870.07, 340/870.16, 340/870.17, 374/100, 374/101, 374/102, 374/103, 374/107, 702/1, 702/33, 702/34, 702/127, 702/130, 702/132, 702/179, 702/182, 702/183, 702/184, 702/185, 702/186, 702/187, 702/188, 702/189
• US Class Current: 702/182
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/008 Reliability or availability analysis

Abstract

Embodiments of the present invention provide a system that characterizes the reliability of a computer system. The system first collects samples of a performance parameter from the computer system. Next, the system computes the length of a line between the samples, wherein the line includes a component which is proportionate to a difference between values of the samples and a component which is proportionate to a time interval between the samples. The system then adds the computed length to a cumulative length variable which can be used to characterize the reliability of the computer system.

Claims

1. A method for characterizing the reliability of a computer system, comprising:

collecting samples of a performance parameter from the computer system;

computing a length of a line between the samples, wherein the line includes a component which is proportionate to a difference between values of the samples and a component which is proportionate to a time interval between the samples; and

adding the computed length to a cumulative length variable which can be used to characterize the reliability of the computer system.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein computing the length of the line between samples involves computing √

{square root over (|S₁₋

S₂|²+t²)}, where S₁ and S₂ are the magnitudes of the samples and t is the magnitude of the time intervals between the samples.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein collecting the samples involves collecting the samples at a predetermined time interval.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the performance parameter is a physical parameter, which includes at least one of:

a temperature;

a relative humidity;

a cumulative or differential vibration;

a fan speed;

an acoustic signal;

a current;

a voltage;

a time-domain reflectometry (TDR) reading;

or another physical property that indicates an aspect of performance of the system.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the performance parameter is a software metric, which includes at least one of:

a system throughput;

a transaction latency;

a queue length;

a load on a central processing unit;

a load on a memory;

a load on a cache;

I/O traffic;

a bus saturation metric;

FIFO overflow statistics;

or another software metric that indicates an aspect of performance of the system.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises analyzing the cumulative length variable to determine a likelihood of a failure in the computer system.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises adjusting the computed length according to a function of the magnitude of the samples of the computer system performance parameter.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein adjusting the computed length involves multiplying the computed length by a weight factor, wherein the weight factor is W=e^0.1(S1.01−

373)+1, where S₁ and S₂ are the magnitudes of the samples and S=(S₁+S₂)/2.

9. An apparatus for characterizing the reliability of a computer system, comprising:

a collection mechanism configured to collect samples of a performance parameter from the computer system;

a computation mechanism configured to compute a length of a line between the samples, wherein the line includes a component which is proportionate to a difference between values of the samples and a component which is proportionate to a time interval between the samples; and

an adding mechanism configured to add the computed length to a cumulative length variable which can be used to characterize the reliability of the computer system.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein when computing the length of the line between samples, the computation mechanism is configured to compute √

{square root over (|S₁−

S₂|²+t²)}, where S₁ and S₂ are the magnitudes of the samples and t is the magnitude of the time intervals between the samples.

11. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein when collecting the samples, the collection mechanism is configured to collect the samples at a predetermined time interval.

12. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the performance parameter is a physical parameter, which includes at least one of:

a temperature;

a relative humidity;

a cumulative or differential vibration;

a fan speed;

an acoustic signal;

a current;

a voltage;

a time-domain reflectometry (TDR) reading;

or another physical property that indicates an aspect of performance of the system.

13. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the performance parameter is a software metric, which includes at least one of:

a system throughput;

a transaction latency;

a queue length;

a load on a central processing unit;

a load on a memory;

a load on a cache;

I/O traffic;

a bus saturation metric;

FIFO overflow statistics;

or another software metric that indicates an aspect of performance of the system.

14. The apparatus of claim 9, further comprising an analyzing mechanism configured to analyze the cumulative length variable to determine a likelihood of a failure in the computer system.

15. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the computation mechanism is configured to adjust the computed length according to a function of the magnitude of the samples of the computer system performance parameter.

16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein when adjusting the computed length, the computation mechanism is configured to multiply the computed length by a weight factor, wherein the weight factor is W=e^0.1(S1.01−

373)+1, where S₁ and S₂ are the magnitudes of the samples and S=(S₁+S₂)/2.

17. A computer system that characterizes reliability, comprising:

a processor;

a memory coupled to the processor, wherein the memory is configured to store instructions and data for the processor;

a collection mechanism configured to collect samples of a performance parameter from the computer system;

a computation mechanism configured to compute a length of a line between the samples, wherein the line includes a component which is proportionate to a difference between values of the samples and a component which is proportionate to a time interval between the samples; and

an adding mechanism configured to add the computed length to a cumulative length variable which can be used to characterize the reliability of the computer system.

18. The computer system of claim 17, wherein when computing the length between samples, the computation mechanism is configured to compute √

{square root over (|S₁−

S₂|²+t²)}, where S₁ and S₂ are the magnitudes of the samples and t is the magnitude of the time intervals between the samples.

19. The computer system of claim 17, wherein the computation mechanism is configured to adjust the computed length according to a function of the magnitude of the samples of the computer system performance parameter.

20. The computer system of claim 19, wherein when adjusting the computed length, the computation mechanism is configured to multiply the computed length by a weight factor, wherein the weight factor is W=e^0.1(S1.01−

373)+1, where S₁ and S₂ are the magnitudes of the samples and S=(S₁+S₂)/2.