Artifact-based software failure detection

• US 8,595,564 B2
• Filed: 11/01/2012
• Issued: 11/26/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 10/14/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Caffrey, James M.
• Primary Examiner(s): MCCARTHY, CHRISTOPHER S
• Application Number:
  US13/666,170
• Publication Number:
  US 20130061095A1
• Time in Patent Office: 390 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 714/47.2
• 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 11/0715 in a system implementing multitasking multitasking per se G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0751 Error or fault detection not based on redundancy power supply failures G06F1/30; network fault management H04L41/06
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/076 by exceeding a count or rate limit, e.g. word- or bit count limit

Abstract

A method detects soft failures as follows. A set of artifacts being generated by at least one process in a system is monitored. A number of artifacts being generated by the process is determined to be below a given threshold in response to the monitoring. The process is monitored in response to the determination. A current state of the process is determined in response to the analyzing. A notification is generated in response to the current state of the process including a set of abnormal behaviors.

Claims

1. A method for detecting soft failures, the method comprising:

monitoring a set of artifacts being generated by at least one process in a system;

determining, based on the monitoring, that a number of artifacts being generated by the process is below a given threshold, wherein the threshold is based on a predicted number of artifacts to be generated by the process;

analyzing, based on the determining, the process;

determining, based on the analyzing, a current state of the process; and

generating a notification based on the current state of the process comprising a set of abnormal behaviors.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

analyzing a set of historical data associated with artifact generation by the process; and

generating the given threshold based on analyzing the set of historical data.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of abnormal behaviors comprises:

a looping state;

a serialization deadlock state;

a lock contention state;

an event waiting state;

an input-output contention state; and

a non-dispatchable state.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of artifacts include at least one of:

messages to an operator;

accounting records;

global serialization requests;

trace records;

output to data sets; and

logs of errors detected.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the monitoring further comprises:

monitoring the set of artifacts being generated by the process for a given interval of time.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the given threshold is associated with the given interval of time.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the notification is displayed to a user, identifies the process, and provides a recommendation on how the user can preserve the system.

8. A method for detecting soft failures, the method comprising:

monitoring a set of artifacts being generated by at least one process in a system;

analyzing a set of historical data associated with artifact generation by the process; and

generating the given threshold based on analyzing the set of historical data;

determining, based on the monitoring, that a number of artifacts being generated by the process is below a given threshold, wherein the threshold is based on a predicted number of artifacts to be generated by the process;

analyzing, based on the determining, the process;

determining, based on the analyzing, a current state of the process; and

generating a notification based on the current state of the process comprising a set of abnormal behaviors.