Method and system for event notification

• US 7,921,199 B1
• Filed: 09/15/2003
• Issued: 04/05/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 09/15/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle America, Inc. (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Oracle America, Inc. (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Goff, Michael B., Shirriff, Kenneth W., Vul, Alexander G.
• Primary Examiner(s): Donaghue; Larry
• Assistant Examiner(s): Gillis; Brian J
• Application Number:
  US10/663,474
• Time in Patent Office: 2,759 Days
• Field of Search: 709/224, 709/223, 709/220, 715/736
• US Class Current: 709/224
• 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 11/3072 where the reporting involves data filtering, e.g. pattern matching, time or event triggered, adaptive or policy-based reporting
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/328 Computer systems status display G06F11/327 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3476 Data logging G06F11/14, G06F11/2205 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3495 for systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/86 Event-based monitoring

Abstract

A method and system for event notification is disclosed. In one implementation, the system includes at least one node, an event buffer, and a remote computing system. The node is configured to detect situations of interest on that node, and to generate events in response thereto. The node sends the events to the event buffer to be stored therein. The remote computing system is used to monitor the status of the node. The remote computing system obtains from a server a set of status information for the node, and displays the status information. The remote computing system then polls the event buffer for new events, and in response to detecting one or more new events, the remote computing system obtains from the server a set of updated status information for the node. The updated status information is then displayed to show the updated status of the node.

Claims

1. A system for event notification in a cluster of computing devices comprising a plurality of nodes, comprising:

a web browser, executing on a processor of one of the computing devices, operated by an administrator of the cluster, wherein the web browser is used by the administrator to view a web page displayed by the web browser, wherein the web page comprises status information for the cluster;

an event buffer comprising a subscriber configured to listen for events and to maintain a log file of received events that are received within a specified period of time;

an event monitor executing on the web browser and configured to periodically check the log file for events;

a plurality of event forwarding mechanisms, each on one of the plurality of nodes of the cluster, for subscribing to events, wherein each event forwarding mechanism is configured to forward a received event to other event forwarding mechanisms;

wherein when a change in the cluster occurs, the event buffer receives an event corresponding to the change from one of the plurality of event forwarding mechanisms;

wherein the event corresponding to the change is obtained from the event buffer and added to the log file, and

wherein when the event monitor receives the event corresponding to the change from the log file, the event monitor compares the event corresponding to the change to a list of events relevant to the web page currently displayed in the web browser and refreshes the web page when the event corresponding to the change is found on the list of events.

2. The system for event notification of claim 1, wherein the log file is pruned.

3. The system for event notification of claim 2, wherein the pruning is carried out at timed intervals.

4. The system for event notification of claim 3, wherein the pruning is carried out at said time intervals of between 2 and 120 seconds.

5. The system of claim 3, wherein event monitor polls the event buffer for received events more often than the event buffer prunes events.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the web page registers the list of events with the event monitor.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the web browser connects via a network to a web server on one of the plurality of nodes in the cluster.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the log file is accessible through the web server via HTTP accesses.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the event monitor is one selected from a group consisting of a Java applet and an ActiveX plugin.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the change in the cluster comprises one selected from a group consisting of a node is added to the cluster, a node in the cluster fails, a service failure in the cluster occurs, a configuration change in the cluster occurs, and a status change of hardware or software in the cluster occurs.

11. A cluster network for event notification, comprising:

a web browser, executing on a processor of one of the computing devices, operated by an administrator of a cluster, wherein the web browser is used by the administrator to view a web page displayed by the web browser, wherein the web page comprises status information for the cluster;

a plurality of event forwarding mechanisms, each on one of a plurality of nodes of the cluster for forwarding detected events to each other event forwarding mechanism on each other node;

an event buffer comprising a subscriber configured to listen for events and to maintain a log file of received events that are received within a specified period of time;

an event monitor executing on the web browser and configured to periodically check the log file for events;

wherein when a change in the cluster occurs, the event buffer receives an event corresponding to the change from one of the plurality of event forwarding mechanisms;

wherein the event corresponding to the change is obtained from the event buffer and added to the log file, and

wherein when the event monitor receives the event corresponding to the change from the log file, the event monitor compares the event corresponding to the change to a list of events relevant to the web page currently displayed in the web browser and refreshes the web page when the event corresponding to the change is found on the list of events.

12. The cluster network of claim 11, further comprising:

an event generation mechanism on each node to generate an event when something of interest occurs within said cluster.

13. The cluster network of claim 11, wherein the refreshed web page displays updated status information for the cluster network.

14. The cluster network of claim 13 wherein said web page registers the list of events with the event monitor.

15. The cluster network of claim 13 wherein said updated status information is displayed in a frame of the web page.

16. The cluster network of claim 11, wherein the event buffer is located on at least one of the plurality of nodes in the cluster.

17. The cluster network of claim 11, wherein the event monitor is a Java applet operating on a remote computing system that is not part of the cluster.

18. A machine-implemented method, comprising:

obtaining, from a server, status information pertaining to one or more components of a cluster system, wherein the status information is displayed on a web page of a web browser;

detecting a change in the one or more components of the cluster system;

forwarding an event generated in response to the detected change to each of the one or more components;

accessing an event buffer, wherein the event buffer comprises a subscriber configured to listen for events and is configured to maintain a log file of received events that are received within a specified period of time;

determining whether the log file comprises the generated event that requires the web page to be refreshed by comparing the generated event corresponding to the detected change to a list of events relevant to the web page currently displayed in the web browser; and

refreshing the web page when the generated event corresponding to the detected change is found on the list of events.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein when the web page is loaded, the list of events is registered as events that require the display of the web page to be refreshed.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the web page comprises Javascript code for causing the list of events to be registered.