Failure differentiation and recovery in distributed systems

• US 8,166,156 B2
• Filed: 11/30/2006
• Issued: 04/24/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 11/30/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: WSOU Investments, LLC (WSOU Holdings, LLC)
• Original Assignee: Nokia Corporation
• Inventors: Suni, Mikko T., Muller, Ulrich U., Frey, Jan
• Primary Examiner(s): Chan, Wing
• Assistant Examiner(s): MIAH, RAZU A
• Application Number:
  US11/606,093
• Publication Number:
  US 20080129464A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,972 Days
• Field of Search: 709/246, 709223-224, 370/401, 370/216, 370/230, 370/389
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/18 Automatic repetition systems, e.g. Van Duuren systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0631 using root cause analysis; using analysis of correlation between notifications, alarms or events based on decision criteria, e.g. hierarchy, tree or time analysis
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0663 Performing the actions predefined by failover planning, e.g. switching to standby network elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/22 Parsing or analysis of headers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/40 for recovering from a failure of a protocol instance or entity, e.g. service redundancy protocols, protocol state redundancy or protocol service redirection management of faults, events, alarms or notifications in data switching networks H04L41/06

Abstract

According to an embodiment, a method comprises receiving a data packet including an indication comprising a process state indication and a transmission state indication, comparing the indication with an expected indication, and determining if the data packet is valid or not based on a result of the comparison.

Claims

1. A method comprising

configuring at least one processor to perform functions comprising:

receiving at a receiving process a data packet including an indication comprising a process state indication indicative of a state of a sending process sending the data packet and a transmission state indication indicative of a state of a network connection between the sending process and the receiving process, wherein the indication is received in a header of the data packet;

determining if the data packet is the first data packet received since a process start of the receiving process receiving the data packet;

comparing the indication with an expected indication if it is not determined that the data packet is the first data packet received since the process start and skipping the comparison if it determined that the data packet is the first data packet received since the process start;

updating an expected process state indication to the process state indication when it is determined that the data packet is the first data packet received since the process start;

updating an expected transmission state indication to the transmission state indication when it is determined that the data packet is the first data packet received since the process start; and

if the data packet is not the first data packet received since the process start, determining if the data packet is valid or is not valid based on a result of the comparison.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the functions further comprise:

detecting a process failure of the sending process sending the data packet in case an expected process state indication does not match the process state indication received in the header of the data packet.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the functions further comprise:

detecting a transmission failure between the sending process sending the data packet and the receiving process receiving the data packet in case an expected transmission state indication does not match the transmission state indication received in the header of the data packet.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the functions further comprise:

updating an expected process state indication to the process state indication when the expected process state indication is older than the process state indication.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the functions further comprise:

discarding the data packet when an expected process state indication is younger than the process state indication.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the functions further comprise:

updating an expected process state indication to the process state indication and updating an expected transmission state indication to the transmission state indication when the expected process state indication is older than the process state indication.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the functions further comprise:

updating an expected transmission state indication to the transmission state indication when the process state indication equals an expected process state indication and the expected transmission state indication is older than the transmission state indication.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the functions further comprise:

discarding the data packet when the process state indication equals an expected process state indication and an expected transmission state indication is younger than the transmission state indication.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the functions further comprise:

including an indication in a data packet to be transmitted, the indication comprising at least one of a process state indication and a transmission state indication.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the functions further comprise:

charging the process state indication when a failure of an own process is detected.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the functions further comprise:

changing the transmission state indication when a transmission failure between a process to receive the data packet and an own process is detected.

12. A method comprising

configuring at least one processor to perform functions comprising:

including an indication in a data packet to be transmitted, the indication comprising a process state indication indicative of a state of a sending process sending the data packet and a transmission state indication indicative of a state of a network connection between the sending process and a receiving process to which the data packet is to be sent, where the indication is included in a header of the data packet;

wherein the indication is configured to be compared at the receiving process with an expected indication if the data packet is not the first data packet received since the process start and with the comparison being skipped if the data packet is the first data packet received since the process start, and wherein the indication is further configured, if the data packet is the first data packet received since the process start, to cause updating of an expected process state indication to the process state indication and an expected transmission state indication to the transmission state indication; and

transmitting the data packet.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the functions further comprise:

assigning the process state indication at a process start of the sending process sending the data packet.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the functions further comprise:

initializing the transmission state indication at a process start of the sending process sending the data packet to a predetermined value for all processes.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein the functions further comprise:

changing the process state indication when a failure of the sending process sending the data packet is detected.

16. The method of claim 12, wherein the functions further comprise:

changing the transmission state indication when a transmission failure between the sending process sending the data packet and the receiving process receiving the data packet is detected.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the process state indication is either increased strictly monotonic or decreased strictly monotonic when the failure of the sending process is detected.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the transmission state indication is either increased strictly monotonic or decreased strictly monotonic when the transmission failure between the sending process and the receiving process is detected.

19. The method of claim 13, wherein the process state indication is assigned by a central instance.

20. The method of claim 13, wherein the process state indication is assigned by the sending process.

21. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing a program of instructions which, when executed by a processor, configure an apparatus to perform actions comprising:

receiving at a receiving process a data packet including an indication comprising a process state indication indicative of a state of a sending process sending the data packet and a transmission state indication indicative of a state of a network connection between the sending process and the receiving process, wherein the indication is received in a header of the data packet;

determining if the data packet is the first data packet received since a process start of the receiving process receiving the data packet;

comparing the indication with an expected indication if it is determined that the data packet is not the first data packet received since the process start and skipping the comparison if it is determined that the data packet is the first data packet received since the process start;

updating an expected process state indication to the process state indication and updating an expected transmission state indication to the transmission state indication when it is determined that the data packet is the first data packet received since the process start; and

if the data packet is not the first data packet received since the process start, determining if the data packet is valid or is not valid based on a result of the comparison.

23. The non-transitory computer readable medium according to claim 21, wherein the program is loadable into an internal memory of the processing device.

22. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing a program of instructions which, when executed by a processor, configure an apparatus to perform actions comprising:

including an indication in a data packet to be transmitted, the indication comprising a process state indication indicative of a state of a sending process sending the data packet and a transmission state indication indicative of a state of a network connection between the sending process and a receiving process to which the data packet is to be sent, where the indication is included in a header of the data packet, where the indication is configured to be compared at the receiving process with an expected indication in order to detect whether the data packet including the indication is valid or is not valid if the data packet is not the first data packet received since the process start and with the comparison being skipped if the data packet is the first data packet received since the process start, and wherein the indication is further configured, if the data packet is the first data packet received since the process start, to cause updating of an expected process state indication to the process state indication and an expected transmission state indication to the transmission state indication; and

transmitting the data packet.

24. A semiconductor chip comprising:

a receiving circuit configured to receive at a receiving process a data packet including an indication comprising a process state indication indicative of a state of a sending process sending the data packet and a transmission state indication indicative of a state of a network connection between the sending process and the receiving process, wherein the indication is configured to be received in a header of the data packet, wherein the receiving circuit is further configured to update an expected process state indication to the process state indication when it is determined that the data packet is the first data packet received since the process start and to update an expected transmission state indication to the transmission state indication when it is determined that the data packet is the first data packet received since the process start;

a comparing circuit configured to compare the indication with an expected indication if it is determined that the data packet is not the first data packet received since the process start and to skip the comparison if it determined that the data packet is the first data packet received since the process start; and

a determining circuit configured to determine if the data packet is valid or is not valid based on a result of the comparison by the comparing circuit.

25. A semiconductor chip comprising:

an including circuit configured to include an indication in a data packet to be transmitted, the indication comprising process state indication indicative of a state of a sending process sending the data packet and a transmission state indication indicative of a state of a network connection between the sending process and a receiving process to which the data packet is to be sent, the indication configured to be included in a header of the data packet, wherein the indication is configured to be compared at the receiving process with an expected indication in order to detect whether the data packet including the indication is valid or is not valid if it is determined that the data packet is not the first data packet received since the process start and with the comparison being skipped if the receiving process determines that the data packet is the first data packet received since the process start, and wherein the indication is further configured, if the data packet is the first data packet received since the process start, to cause updating of an expected process state indication to the process state indication and an expected transmission state indication to the transmission state indication; and

a transmitting circuit configured to transmit the data packet.

26. A device comprising:

a computer including a processor and a memory;

receiving means for controlling the processor to direct receiving at a receiving process a data packet including an indication comprising a process state indication indicative of a state of a sending process sending the data packet and a transmission state indication indicative of a state of a network connection between the sending process and the receiving process, wherein the indication is configured to be received in a header of the data packet, wherein the processor is further controlled to update an expected process state indication to the process state indication when it is determined that the data packet is the first data packet received since the process start and to update an expected transmission state indication to the transmission state indication when it is determined that the data packet is the first data packet received since the process start;

comparing means for controlling the processor to compare the indication with an expected indication if it is determined that the data packet is not the first data packet received since the process start and to skip the comparison if it determined that the data packet is the first data packet received since the process start; and

determining means for controlling the processor to determine if the data packet is valid or is not valid based on a result of the comparison by the comparing means.

27. A device comprising:

a computer including a processor and a memory;

including means for controlling the processor to include an indication in a data packet to be transmitted, the indication comprising a process state indication indicative of a state of a sending process sending the data packet and a transmission state indication indicative of a state of a network connection between the sending process and a receiving process to which the packet is to be sent, the indication configured to be included in a header of the data packet, wherein the indication is configured to be compared at the receiving process with an expected indication in order to detect whether the data packet including the indication is valid or is not valid if the data packet is the not first data packet received since the process start and with the comparison being skipped if it is determined that the data packet is the first data packet received since the process start, and wherein the indication is further configured, if the data packet is the first data packet received since the process start, to cause updating of an expected process state indication to the process state indication and an expected transmission state indication to the transmission state indication; and

transmitting means for transmitting the data packet.

28. An apparatus, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory including computer program code, where the memory and computer program code are configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatus at least to,

receive at a receiving process a data packet including an indication comprising a process state indication indicative of a state of a sending process sending the data packet and a transmission state indication indicative of a state of a network connection between the sending process and the receiving process, wherein the indication is received in a header of the data packet;

determine if the data packet is the first data packet received since the process start;

update an expected process state indication to the process state indication when it is determined that the data packet is the first data packet received since the process start and to update an expected transmission state indication to the transmission state indication when it is determined that the data packet is the first data packet received since the process start;

compare the indication with an expected indication if it is determined that the data packet is not the first data packet received since the process start and skip the comparison if it determined that the data packet is the first data packet received since the process start; and

determine if the data packet is valid or is not valid based on a result of the comparison.

29. The apparatus of claim 28, where the apparatus is further configured to:

detect a process failure of the sending process sending the data packet in case an expected process state indication does not match the process state indication received in the header of the data packet.

30. The apparatus of claim 28, where the apparatus is further configured to:

detect a transmission failure between the sending process sending the data packet and the receiving process receiving the data packet in case an expected transmission state indication does not match the transmission state indication received in the header of the data packet.

31. The apparatus of claim 28, where the apparatus is further configured to:

update an expected process state indication to the process state indication when the expected process state indication is older than the process state indication.

32. The apparatus of claim 28, where the apparatus is further configured to:

discard the data packet when an expected process state indication is younger than the process state indication.

33. The apparatus of claim 28, where the apparatus is further configured to:

update an expected process state indication to the process state indication and update an expected transmission state indication to the transmission state indication when the expected process state indication is older than the process state indication.

34. The apparatus of claim 28, where the apparatus is further configured to:

update an expected transmission state indication to the transmission state indication when the process state indication equals an expected process state indication and the expected transmission state indication is older than the transmission state indication.

35. The apparatus of claim 28, where the apparatus is further configured to:

discard the data packet when the process state indication equals an expected process state indication and an expected transmission state indication is younger than the transmission state indication.

36. The apparatus of claim 28, where the apparatus is further configured to:

include an indication in a data packet to be transmitted, the indication comprising at least one of a process state indication and a transmission state indication.

37. The apparatus of claim 36, where the apparatus is further configured to:

change the process state indication when a failure of an own process is detected.

38. The apparatus of claim 36, where the apparatus is further configured to:

change the transmission state indication when a transmission failure between a process to receive the data packet and an own process is detected.

39. An apparatus, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory including computer program code, where the memory and computer program code are configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatus at least to, include an indication in a data packet to be transmitted, the indication comprising a process state indication indicative of a state of a sending process sending the data packet and a transmission state indication indicative of a state of a network connection between the sending process and a receiving process to which the data packet is to be sent, where the indication is included in a header of the data packet, where the indication is configured to be compared at the receiving process with an expected indication in order to detect whether the data packet including the indication is valid or is not valid if the data packet is not the first data packet received since the process start and with the comparison being skipped if the data packet is the first data packet received since the process start, and wherein the indication is further configured, if the data packet is the first data packet received since the process start, to cause updating of an expected process state indication to the process state indication and an expected transmission state indication to the transmission state indication; and

transmit the data packet.

40. The apparatus of claim 39, where the apparatus is further configured to:

assign the process state indication at a process start of the sending process sending the data packet.

41. The apparatus of claim 39, where the apparatus is further configured to:

initialize the transmission state indication to a predetermined value for all processes at a process start of the sending process sending the data packet.

42. The apparatus of claim 39, where the apparatus is further configured to:

change the process state indication when a failure of the sending process sending the data packet is detected.

43. The apparatus of claim 39, where the apparatus is further configured to:

change the transmission state indication when a transmission failure between the sending process sending the data packet and the receiving process receiving the data packet is detected.

44. The apparatus of claim 42, where the process state indication is either increased strictly monotonic or decreased strictly monotonic when the failure of the sending process is detected.

45. The apparatus of claim 43, where the transmission state indication is either increased strictly monotonic or decreased strictly monotonic when the transmission failure between the sending process and the receiving process is detected.

46. The apparatus of claim 40, where the process state indication is assigned by one of a central instance or the sending process.