Systems for agile error determination and reporting and methods thereof

• US 8,539,285 B2
• Filed: 06/22/2010
• Issued: 09/17/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 06/22/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Daily, Thomas H., Khandelwal, Nikhil, Lehmann, Stefan, Ogroski, Jason A., Padilla, Ricardo S., Shotwell, Kerri R., Terris, Benjamin S., Wallace, Steve P., Welp, Richard A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Lottich, Joshua P
• Application Number:
  US12/821,085
• Publication Number:
  US 20110314339A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,183 Days
• Field of Search: 714/26, 714/38.1, 714/48
• US Class Current: 714/48
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0781 Error filtering or prioritizing based on a policy defined by the user or on a policy defined by a hardware/software module, e.g. according to a severity level

Abstract

According to one embodiment, a method for handling errors includes detecting that an error has occurred in a machine in a system, determining an error ID associated with the error, determining that the error should be reported to a host system for further analysis based on the error ID, determining that one or more actions should be taken by the system based on the error ID, and sending information corresponding to the error to the host system after it is determined that the error should be reported to the host system. In another embodiment, a system includes a processor and logic for performing the method. According to another embodiment, a computer program product includes a computer readable storage medium having computer readable code embodied therewith for performing the method. Other methods, systems, and computer program products are also described according to more embodiments.

Claims

1. A method for handling errors, comprising:

detecting that an error has occurred in a machine in a system;

determining an error ID associated with the error;

determining whether or not the error should be reported to a host system for further analysis based on the error ID;

determining that one or more actions should be taken by the system based on the error ID; and

sending information corresponding to the error to the host system after it is determined that the error should be reported to the host system.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein determining that one or more actions should be taken by the system comprises;

locating the error ID in an action table; and

proceeding according to one or more actions listed in the action table which correspond with the error ID,

wherein the action table includes a plurality of error IDs associated with either no command, one command, or multiple commands for the system to perform in response to the error being detected.

3. The method as recited in claim 2, wherein determining that one or more actions should be taken by the system based on the error ID further comprises collecting additional information corresponding to the error from the machine on which the error occurred and sending the additional information to the host system.

4. The method as recited in claim 2, wherein one of the commands includes collecting log data from the machine on which the error occurred and sending the log data to the host system.

5. The method as recited in claim 2, wherein one of the commands includes:

executing a command which caused the error;

gathering output caused by the execution of the command; and

sending the gathered output to the host system.

6. The method as recited in claim 2, further comprising updating the action table whenever one of the following events occurs;

changes to the system, periodic review of the action table, code load upgrade, and manual intervention to the action table.

7. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein determining the error ID associated with the error comprises looking up the error ID from a register of the machine on which the error occurred.

8. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein determining that the error should be reported to the host system comprises not sending the error to the host system if it has already been sent during a preceding time period, and

wherein determining that one or more actions should be taken by the system comprises:

locating the error ID in an action table;

proceeding according to the action listed in the action table which corresponds with the error ID, the action table comprising a plurality of error IDs associated with either no command, one command, or multiple commands for the system to perform in response to the error being detected; and

collecting additional information corresponding to the error and sending the additional information to the host system.

9. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein, determining that the error should be reported to the host system comprises locating the error ID in an error determination table specific to machines in the system and proceeding according to the error determination table, wherein the error determination table includes a plurality of error IDs associated with either a command to send information corresponding, to the error to the host system or a command not to send information corresponding to the error to the host system, wherein the plurality of error IDs are based on an error code set.

10. A system for handling errors, comprising:

a hardware processor;

logic for detecting that an error occurred in a machine in a system;

logic for determining an error ID associated with the error by looking up the error ID from a register of the machine on which the error occurred;

logic for determining whether or not the error is a type that is reported to a host system for further analysis based on the error ID;

logic for determining that additional actions should be taken by the system based on the error ID; and

logic for sending information corresponding to the error to the host system after it is determined that the error is the type that is reported to the host system.

11. The system as recited in claim 10, wherein the logic for determining that the error is the type that is reported to the host system comprises:

logic for locating the error ID in an error determination table specific to machines in the system; and

logic for proceeding according, to the error determination table,

wherein the error determination table includes a plurality of error IDs associated with either a command to send the error to the host system or a command not to send the error to the host system,

wherein the plurality of error IDs are based on an error code set.

12. The system as recited in claim 10, wherein the logic for determining that additional actions should be taken by the system comprises:

logic for locating the error ID in an action table; and

logic for proceeding according to one or more actions listed in the action table which correspond with the error ID, wherein the action table includes a plurality of error IDs associated with either no command, one command, or multiple commands for the system to perform in response to the error being detected.

13. The system as recited in claim 12, wherein one of the commands includes collecting log data from the machine on which the error occurred and sending the log data to the host system.

14. The system as recited in claim 12, wherein one of the commands includes:

executing a command which caused the error;

gathering output caused by the execution of the command; and

sending the gathered output to the host system.

15. The system as recited in claim 12, further comprising logic for updating the action table whenever one of the following events occurs:

changes to the system, periodic review of the action table, code load upgrade, and manual intervention to the action table.

16. The system as recited in claim 10, wherein the logic for determining the error ID associated with the error comprises looking up the error ID from a register of the machine on which the error occurred.

17. The system as recited in claim 10, wherein the logic for determining that the error is the type that is reported to the host system comprises logic for not sending information corresponding to the error to the host system if it has already been sent during a preceding time period.

18. A computer program product for handling errors, the computer program product comprising:

a non-transitory computer readable storage medium having, computer readable program code embodied therewith, the computer readable program code comprising;

computer readable program code configured to detect that an error occurred in a machine in a system;

computer readable program code configured to determine an error ID associated with the error, wherein each error ID is based on an error code set;

computer readable program code configured to determine that whether or not the error should be reported to a host system for further analysis based on the error ID,

comprising;

computer readable program code configured to locate a command associated with the error ID in an error determination table which includes a plurality of error IDs each associated with either a command to send information corresponding to the error to the host system or a command not to send information corresponding to the error to the host system;

computer readable program code configured to follow the command associated with the error ID in the error determination table;

computer readable program code configured to determine that one or more actions should be taken based on the error ID, comprising;

computer readable program code configured to locate the error ID in an action table including a plurality of error IDs associated with either no command, one command, or multiple commands to perform in response to the error being detected;

computer readable program code configured to perform the command associated with the error ID, wherein the commands include at least one of;

computer readable program code configured to execute a command which caused the error, gather output caused by the execution of the command, and send the gathered output to the host system; and

computer readable program code configured to collect log data, and send the log data to the host system; and

computer readable program code configured to send information corresponding to the error to the host system after it is determined that the error should be reported to the host system.

19. The computer program product as recited in claim 18, further comprising computer readable program code configured to update the action table whenever one of the following events occurs:

chances to the system, periodic review of the action table, code load upgrade, and manual intervention to the action table.

20. The computer program product as recited in claim 19, wherein the computer readable program code configured to determine the error ID associated with the error comprises looking up the error ID from a register of a machine on which the error occurred.