Message-recovery file log locating and monitoring

• US 8,977,595 B1
• Filed: 01/07/2009
• Issued: 03/10/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 01/07/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: T-Mobile Innovations LLC (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Original Assignee: Sprint Communications Company LP (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Inventors: Leonard, Mark D.
• Primary Examiner(s): Alam, Hosain
• Assistant Examiner(s): HARPER, ELIYAH STONE
• Application Number:
  US12/349,558
• Time in Patent Office: 2,253 Days
• Field of Search: 707/999.001, 707/999.002, 707/736, 707/184, 707/604, 707/999.101, 707/999.102
• US Class Current: 707/640
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/14 Error detection or correction of the data by redundancy in operation G06F11/16 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1471 involving logging of persistent data for recovery
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1482 by means of middleware or OS functionality
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/202 where processing functionality is redundant redundant communication control functionality G06F11/2005, redundant storage control functionality G06F11/2089
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3409 for performance assessment
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/81 Threshold

Abstract

A method, system, and medium are provided for monitoring the data volume in a file log associated with a program (e.g., a queue manager) in a failover computing environment. A failover computing environment includes pairs of programs capable of performing the same functions. One program in the pair is the primary program and the other is the backup program. Only one of the two programs is active at any given time. Embodiments of the present invention may identify the file directory for each program installed on a computing device. The location of each file log may be determined by accessing a core-configuration file in the file directory associated with the program. The program only has access to the core-configuration file when the program is active. Once the file log is located, the file usage may be ascertained and compared with a threshold usage.

Claims

1. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media having computer-executable instructions embodied thereon for performing a method of discovering a directory location for a file log associated with a queue manager, the method comprising:

identifying a primary queue manager and a backup queue manager, which are installed on a first computing device and a second computing device, respectively, as a failover cluster, wherein the primary queue manager and the backup queue manager are part of a messaging-middleware application configured to transfer information between two or more applications;

identifying a first file directory associated with the primary queue manager and a second file directory associated with the backup queue manager;

mounting a core-configuration file to the first file directory to grant the primary queue manager access to the core-configuration file such that the backup queue manager lacks access to the core-configuration file, wherein the core-configuration file comprises information to configure the primary queue manager and the backup queue manager for operation when the core-configuration file is associated with the primary queue manager or the backup queue manager;

determining a directory location for a file log by parsing the core-configuration file, wherein the file log is used by one of the queue managers to store backup copies of persistent messages, thereby allowing the persistent messages to be recovered;

determining a file usage for the file log by accessing the file log through the directory location determined from the core-configuration file;

communicating an alarm when the file usage is greater than a threshold file usage; and

dismounting the core-configuration file from the first file directory and mounting the core-configuration file to the second file directory when the primary queue manager experiences a failure such that the backup queue manager has access to the core-configuration file and the primary queue manager lacks access to the core-configuration file.

2. The media of claim 1, wherein the queue managers and the file directories are identified by accessing a top-level-queue-manager-configuration file that includes a list of queue managers installed on the computing device and file-directory information for each of the queue managers.

3. The media of claim 1, wherein the method further includes repeating the steps of, identifying the primary queue manager and the backup queue manager, identifying the first file directory associated with the primary queue manager and the second file directory associated with the backup queue manager, mounting the core-configuration file to the first file directory, and determining the directory location for the file log by parsing the core-configuration file, wherein the repeating is performed for each of a plurality of queue managers and a plurality of file directories contained in a top-level-queue-manager-configuration file that includes a list of queue managers installed on the first computing device and file-directory information for each of the queue managers.

4. The media of claim 1, wherein the method further includes repeating the method of claim 1 before each monitoring cycle is performed by a monitoring agent.

5. The media of claim 1, wherein the method of claim 1 is performed by a monitoring agent that monitors functions of queue managers installed on the computing device.

6. The media of claim 1, wherein the file usage is determined by navigating to the directory location and automatically executing a df-k command on the file log, wherein the df-k command provides the file usage.

7. The media of claim 1, wherein the core-configuration file is a QM.INI file that is stored in the data store.

8. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media having computer-executable instructions embodied thereon for performing a method of determining a file usage level of a file log used by a program installed on a computing device, the method comprising:

identifying a file directory associated with a primary program that is one of a plurality of programs installed on the computing device, wherein the primary program is part of a failover cluster that includes at least one pair of programs that are capable of performing the same functions, wherein the primary queue manager and the backup queue manager are part of a messaging-middleware application configured to transfer information between two or more applications, wherein the at least one pair of programs includes the primary program installed on the computing device and a backup program installed on a different computing device, wherein the backup program is activated when the primary program is deactivated, and wherein the at least one pair of programs utilize the file log for backup storage;

determining a directory location for the file log by parsing a core-configuration file associated with the primary program, wherein the core-configuration file comprises information to configure the primary queue manager and the backup queue manager for operation when the core-configuration file is mounted to the primary queue manager or the backup queue manager, and wherein the directory location is in a data store that is maintained separately from the computing device and the different computing device;

determining a file usage for the file log by accessing the file log through the directory location determined from the core-configuration file; and

storing the file usage for the file log,

wherein the core-configuration file is mounted to the file directory associated with the primary program when the primary program is active such that the backup program lacks access to the core-configuration file and when the primary program experiences a failure, dismounting the core-configuration file from the file directory associated with the primary program and mounting the core-configuration file to a second file directory associated with the backup program such that the backup program has access to the core-configuration file and the primary program lacks access to the core-configuration file.

9. The media of claim 8, wherein the file directory is identified by accessing a top-level-configuration file that includes a list of file directories associated with programs installed on the computing device.

10. The media of claim 8, wherein the method further includes identifying each program installed on the computing device by accessing a top-level-configuration file that includes a list of programs installed on the computing device and repeating the method of claim 8 for said each program.

11. The media of claim 10, wherein the method further includes:

generating an alarm when the file usage is above a threshold file usage; and

communicating the alarm to a designated responder.

12. The media of claim 8, wherein the plurality of programs are queue managers that manage queues in a messaging-middleware program.

13. The media of claim 8, wherein the file log is physically located in the data store.

14. The media of claim 13, wherein the file log is accessed through the directory location that is mounted to the file directory associated with the primary program when the primary program is active.

15. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media having computer-executable instructions embodied thereon for performing a method of identifying a directory location for a file log associated with a queue manager, the method comprising:

identifying a first file directory for a primary queue manager installed on a first computing device and a second file directory for a backup queue manager installed on a second computing device, wherein the queue managers are part of a failover cluster that includes at least one pair of queue managers capable of performing the same functions, wherein the primary queue manager and the backup queue manager are part of a messaging-middleware application configured to transfer information between two or more applications, wherein the at least one pair of queue managers includes the primary queue manager and the backup queue manager, and wherein the at least one pair of queue managers requires access to a core-configuration file located in a data store to operate;

mounting the core-configuration file to the first file directory to grant the primary queue manager access to the core-configuration file such that the backup queue manager lacks access to the core-configuration file and to grant the primary queue manager access to the file log, wherein the core-configuration file comprises information to configure the primary queue manager and the backup queue manager for operation when the core-configuration file is mounted to the primary queue manager or the backup queue manager;

determining the directory location for the file log by parsing the core-configuration file, wherein the file log is used by a queue manager to store backup copies of persistent messages, thereby allowing the persistent messages to be recovered;

determining a file usage for the file log by accessing the file log through the directory location;

generating an alarm when the file usage is greater than a threshold amount;

dismounting the core-configuration file from the first file directory and mounting the core-configuration file to the second file directory when the primary queue manager experiences a failure such that the backup queue manager has access to the file directory and the primary queue manager lacks access to the core-configuration file.

16. The media of claim 15, wherein the file log is located in the data store.

17. The media of claim 16, wherein the file log is accessed in the data store through the directory location by the primary queue manager when the core-configuration file is mounted to the first file directory and by the backup queue manager when the core-configuration file is mounted to the second file directory.

18. The media of claim 17, wherein the threshold amount is a percentage of memory allocated to the file log.

19. The media of claim 18, wherein the percentage is about 50%.