Processing main cause errors and sympathetic errors in devices in a system

• US 9,026,852 B2
• Filed: 11/01/2013
• Issued: 05/05/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 10/17/2012
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Padilla, Ricardo S., Sorenson, Todd C., Valverde, David V., He, Wang Ping
• Primary Examiner(s): Baderman, Scott
• Assistant Examiner(s): KUDIRKA, JOSEPH R
• Application Number:
  US14/070,400
• Publication Number:
  US 20140108853A1
• Time in Patent Office: 550 Days
• Field of Search: 714/26, 714/37, 714/38.1, 714/38.14, 714/47.1
• US Class Current: 714/26
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0706 the processing taking place on a specific hardware platform or in a specific software environment
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/079 Root cause analysis, i.e. error or fault diagnosis in a hardware test environment G06F11/22; in a software test environment G06F11/36
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0793 Remedial or corrective actions recovery from an exception in an instruction pipeline G06F9/3861; by retry G06F11/1402; for recovering from a failure of a protocol instance or entity H04L69/40
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/16 Error detection or correction of the data by redundancy in hardware

Abstract

Provided are a computer program product, system, and method for processing main cause errors and sympathetic errors in devices in a system. Error data for the devices in the system are analyzed to determine a main cause error for one of the devices that cause at least one sympathetic error in the system. A main cause event object for the determined main cause error and at least one sympathetic event object for the determined at least one sympathetic error resulting from the main cause error are generated. A determination is made from the at least one sympathetic event object of at least one sympathetic event action to perform. The determined at least one sympathetic event action is performed to recover from the at least one sympathetic error represented by the at least one sympathetic event object providing the at least one sympathetic event action.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

analyzing error data for devices in a system to determine a detected main cause error for one of the devices that cases at least one sympathetic error in the system;

generating a first main cause event object for the main cause error;

generating at least one sympathetic event object for the determined at least one sympathetic error resulting from the main cause error, wherein the at least one sympathetic event object indicates a sympathetic event action to perform for the sympathetic error represented by the sympathetic event object;

determining from the at least one sympathetic event object at least one sympathetic event

action to perform for the at least one sympathetic error;

performing the determined at least one sympathetic event action to recover from the at least one sympathetic error represented by the at least one sympathetic event object providing the at least one sympathetic event action, wherein the first main cause and sympathetic event objects are generated for the detected main cause error at the device in order to perform recovery operations to address the detected main cause error;

transmitting information indicating the main cause error to a remote system having devices;

generating, by the remote system, a second main cause event object for the transmitted main cause error, the second main cause event object comprising a remote main cause error; and

analyzing, by the remote system, error data for the devices at the remote system to determine whether there is at least one sympathetic error at the devices in the remote system resulting from the remote main cause error.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

using the first main cause event object to determine whether the main cause error represented by the first main cause event object is active, wherein the determining and the performing of the at least one sympathetic event action are performed in response to determining that the main cause error is active.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the using the first main cause event object to determine whether the main cause error is active comprises determining from the first main cause event object for the main cause error an active function pointer;

and

executing the active function pointer to check state information in the system or at least one of the devices in the system to determine whether the main cause error is active.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

indicating the main cause error as active in persistent information in the system; and

generating sympathetic event objects for sympathetic errors resulting from the main cause error indicated in the persistent information as active.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating at least one sympathetic event object for the determined at least one sympathetic error at the devices in the remote system indicating a sympathetic event action;

determining, at the remote system, at least one sympathetic event action to perform for the at least one sympathetic error in the remote system resulting from the remote main cause error; and

performing the determined at least one sympathetic event action at the remote system.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

receiving, by the remote system, indication that the remote main cause error is inactive; and

indicating, by the remote system, the remote main cause event error as inactive.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the first main cause event object indicates at least one sympathetic event object for at least one sympathetic error at the device causing the main cause error.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the first main cause event object indicates at least one sympathetic event object for at least one sympathetic error for at

least one device that does not cause the main cause error.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein at least one device that does not cause the main cause error having the at least one sympathetic error comprises at least one of a redundant partner device providing redundancy for the device having the main cause error and a device comprising a child device to the device having the main cause error.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one sympathetic event actions comprise either a cancel of the at least one sympathetic event object or performing operations in the system to recover from the at least one sympathetic error represented by the at least one sympathetic event object.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the operations performed in the system for the at least one sympathetic event action comprises at least one of setting system flags, resetting system flags, and calling a sympathetic event handler function.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

indicating the first main cause event object as inactive in response to determining that system and device state information indicate that the main cause error represented by the first main cause event object is not present.