Analysis of mutually exclusive conflicts among redundant devices

• US 7,607,043 B2
• Filed: 01/04/2006
• Issued: 10/20/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 01/04/2006
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Larson, David A., Groseclose, Michael R. Jr., Crawford, Timothy J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Baderman; Scott T
• Assistant Examiner(s): Ko; Chae
• Application Number:
  US11/324,849
• Publication Number:
  US 20070174663A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,385 Days
• Field of Search: 714/5, 714/6, 714/7, 714/22, 714/48, 714/25, 714/26, 714/14
• US Class Current: 714/22
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0709 in a distributed system consisting of a plurality of standalone computer nodes, e.g. clusters, client-server systems
• 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 11/16 Error detection or correction of the data by redundancy in hardware
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2015 Redundant power supplies power supply failure G06F1/30

Abstract

A system for analyzing mutually exclusive conflicts among a plurality of redundant devices in a computer system includes a data management module operable on the computer system. The data management module parses through status data generated by the plurality of redundant devices to identify an error condition in one of the plurality of redundant devices, generate metadata describing the error condition, and take action to resolve the error condition. A method of analyzing mutually exclusive conflicts among redundant devices in a computer system includes collecting status data from the redundant devices, identifying an error condition, generating metadata describing the condition, analyzing the metadata to determine a lowest-level or least impacting redundant device that is the root cause of the condition, and taking an action to resolve the condition.

Claims

1. A system for analyzing mutually exclusive conflicts among a plurality of redundant power devices arranged in a hierarchical structure in a computer systems, wherein the plurality of redundant power devices includes a plurality of power controller cards at a first hierarchical level, linked to a plurality of power supplies at a second hierarchical level, where each power supply includes a plurality of batteries at a third hierarchical level, the system comprising:

a data management module operable on the computer system, wherein the data management module

parses through status data generated by the plurality of redundant power devices to identify an error condition in one of the plurality of redundant devices,

generates metadata describing the error condition, and

takes action to resolve the error condition

wherein the status data comprises an indication that one of said plurality of batteries is bad, when in fact the plurality of redundant power devices does not include a bad battery.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the metadata further includes information which identifies a lowest-level device among the plurality of redundant devices.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the data management module further comprises a logic control entity operating alternatively as software, hardware or a combination of software and hardware on the computer system.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the data management module further comprises a device driver routine.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the device driver routine is implemented in the computer system as hardware using Very High Speed Integrated Circuit (VHSIC) Hardware Description Language (VHDL).

6. The system of claim 4, wherein the device driver routine is implemented as software operable under a multitasking operating system.

18. The system of claim 1, wherein the status data further comprises an indication of a “

can'"'"'t happen”

condition.

7. A method of analyzing mutually exclusive conflicts among redundant power devices arranged in a hierarchical structure in a computer system, wherein the plurality of redundant power devices includes a plurality of power controller cards at a first hierarchical level, linked to a plurality of power supplies at a second hierarchical level, where each power supply includes a plurality of batteries at a third hierarchical level, the method comprising:

collecting status data from the redundant power devices;

identifying an error condition;

generating metadata describing the error condition;

analyzing the metadata to determine a redundant device responsible for the error condition; and

taking an action to resolve the error condition

wherein the status data comprises an indication that one of said plurality of batteries is bad, when in fact the plurality of redundant power devices does not include a bad battery.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the metadata further includes information which identifies a lowest-level device among the redundant devices.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein collecting status data is performed by a data management module adapted to be operable on the computer system.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the data management module is implemented as a logic control entity operating alternatively as software, hardware or a combination of software and hardware on the computer system.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the data management module further comprises a device driver routine.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the device driver routine is implemented in the computer system as hardware using Very High Speed Integrated Circuit (VHSIC) Hardware Description Language (VHDL).

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the device driver routine is implemented as software adapted to operate under a multitasking operating system.

19. The method of claim 7, wherein the status data further comprises an indication of a “

can'"'"'t happen”

condition.

14. A computer readable medium storing a computer program product for analyzing mutually exclusive conflicts among a plurality of redundant power devices arranged in a hierarchical structure, wherein the plurality of redundant power devices includes a plurality of power controller cards at a first hierarchical level, linked to a plurality of power supplies at a second hierarchical level, where each power supply includes a plurality of batteries at a third hierarchical level, comprising:

computer readable program code which collects status data from the redundant power devices;

computer readable program code which identifies an error condition;

computer

readable program code which generates metadata describing the error condition;

computer readable program code which analyzes the metadata to determine a device among the plurality of redundant devices responsible for the error condition; and

computer readable program code which takes an action against the device to resolve the error condition

wherein the status data comprises an indication that one of said plurality of batteries is bad, when in fact the plurality of redundant power devices does not include a bad battery.

15. The computer readable medium of claim 14, wherein the metadata further includes information which identifies a lowest-level device among the plurality of redundant devices.

16. The computer readable medium of claim 14, wherein the computer program code which collects status data is implemented as a portion of a device driver routine.

17. The computer readable medium of claim 14, wherein the device driver routine is adapted to operate under a multitasking operating system.

20. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein the status data further comprises an indication of a “

can'"'"'t happen”

condition.