METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR OPERATING SYSTEM EVENT NOTIFICATION MECHANISM USING FILE SYSTEM INTERFACE

• US 20090199051A1
• Filed: 01/31/2008
• Published: 08/06/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 01/31/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Pattnaik, Pratap, Burugula, Ramanjaneya Sarma, Dubey, Niteesh, Jann, Joefon
• Granted Patent: US 8,201,029 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 714/57
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3466 Performance evaluation by tracing or monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/86 Event-based monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/542 Event management; Broadcasting; Multicasting; Notifications

Abstract

A method and structure for notifying operating system events, includes standard filesystem interfaces provided for event consumers to use for one or more of registering for event notifications of a set of events, receiving an event notification when each event occurs, and getting details of events that have occurred.

Claims

1. An apparatus, comprising:

a central processing unit (CPU); and

a memory including instructions for an event notification mechanism in an operating system being executed by said CPU, said operating system event notification mechanism comprising one or more filesystem interface that is standard for said operating system, for event consumers to use for one or more of;

registering for an event notification;

receiving an event notification when a registered event occurs; and

getting details of an event that has occurred.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said operating system event notification mechanism comprises a file tree representation of a list of events available for said event notification.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, said operating system event notification mechanism further comprising a pseudo filesystem:

taking event requests from event consumers and forwarding said event requests to event producers;

receiving event occurrence information from the event producers; and

notifying one or more of the event consumers of said event occurrence information.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, said operating system event notification mechanism further comprising:

a registration function; and

a callback function to the pseudo filesystem from an event producer for said one or more event consumers to get notifications when an event occurs.

5. The apparatus of claim 2, said file tree representation comprising:

naming conventions to explicitly identify event producers and event instances; and

nodes in the tree to help an event consumer identify a file pathname of a specific event instance the event consumer is interested in monitoring.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, said naming conventions comprising:

identifying event producers by adding a “

.monFactory”

extension to a directory name; and

identifying event instances by adding a “

.mon”

extension to a filename.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, said filesystem interfaces comprising one or more of:

a first interface to obtain a handle to a monitor node corresponding to an event instance;

a second interface to indicate event triggering criteria specific to an event type;

a third interface to wait until an event occurs;

a fourth interface to read an event'"'"'s specific details after the event has occurred; and

a fifth interface to release the handle to the monitor node corresponding to the event instance.

8. The apparatus of claim 3, said pseudo filesystem comprising one or more of:

a facility to aggregate multiple event requests from multiple event consumers into one request to an event producer;

a mechanism to provide non-destructive reads to the event consumers; and

a mechanism to provide a stack trace of a program that caused an event to be triggered.

9. A method of notifying an operating system event, said method comprising:

providing a standard filesystem interface for an event consumer to use for one or more of;

registering for an event notification;

receiving an event notification when each event occurs; and

getting details of an event that has occurred.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising providing a file tree representation of a list of events available for event notifications.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising providing a pseudo filesystem for:

taking event requests from event consumers and forwarding said event requests to event producers;

receiving event occurrence information from the event producers; and

notifying one or more of the event consumers of said event occurrence information.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising providing:

a registration function; and

a callback function to the pseudo filesystem from an event producer for said one or more event consumers to get notifications when an event occurs.

13. The method of claim 10, said file tree representation comprising:

predetermined naming conventions to explicitly identify event producers and event instances; and

predetermined special nodes in the tree to help an event consumer identify a file pathname of a specific event instance the event consumer is interested in monitoring.

14. The method of claim 13, said naming conventions comprising:

identifying event producers by adding a predetermined extension to a directory name; and

identifying event instances by adding a predetermined extension to a filename.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein said predetermined directory name extension comprises “

.monFactory” and

said predetermined filename extension comprises “

.mon”

.

16. The method of claim 9, said filesystem interfaces comprising one or more of an:

an interface to obtain a handle to a monitor node corresponding to an event instance;

an interface to indicate event triggering criteria specific to an event type;

an interface to wait until an event occurs;

an interface to read an event'"'"'s specific details after the event has occurred; and

an interface to release the handle to the monitor node corresponding to the event instance.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein said:

interface to obtain a handle to a monitor node corresponding to an event instance comprises an open( ) interface;

interface to indicate event triggering criteria specific to an event type comprises a write ( ) interface;

interface to wait until an event occurs comprises a select ( ) interface;

interface to read an event'"'"'s specific details after the event has occurred comprises a read ( ) interface; and

interface to release a handle to the monitor node corresponding to an event instance comprises a close ( ) interface.

18. The method of claim 11, said pseudo filesystem comprising one or more of:

a facility to aggregate multiple event requests from multiple event consumers into one request to an event producer;

a mechanism to provide non-destructive reads to the event consumers; and

a mechanism to provide a stack trace of a program that caused an event to be triggered.

19. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

providing event notifications as at least one of an indication of a health of said operating system and an indication in a debugging procedure for said operating system or a program being executed by said operating system.

20. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

mounting said standard filesystem interface onto said operating system.

21. The method of claim 9, said standard filesystem interface derives from a Logical Filesystem (LFS) layer of said operating system.

22. A machine-readable medium tangibly embodying a program of machine-readable instructions executable by a digital processing apparatus to perform a method of notifying operating system events, said method comprising:

providing a standard filesystem interface for an event consumer to use for one or more of;

registering for an event notification;

receiving an event notification when each event occurs; and

getting details of an event that has occurred.

23. The machine-readable medium of claim 22, comprising one of:

a memory in a digital processing apparatus having an operating system, said memory storing said operating system in preparation for execution by said digital processing apparatus of said operating system, said operating system having incorporated therein said method;

a memory in said digital processing apparatus having said operating system, said memory storing said operating system as said digital processing apparatus is executing said operating system, said operating system having incorporated therein said method;

a memory in a computer on a network, said memory storing said method in order to download said method to another computer connected to said network; and

a computer program product comprising a memory device to be inserted onto a digital processing apparatus for uploading a contents of said memory device onto said digital processing apparatus, a contents of said memory device comprising said method.

24. A network, comprising:

a first computer operating an operating system including a method of notifying operating system events by providing standard filesystem interfaces for event consumers to use for one or more of;

registering for event notifications of a set of events;

receiving an event notification when each event occurs; and

getting details of events that have occurred; and

a second computer receiving said event notifications.

25. A service, comprising at least one of:

monitoring a health of an operating system of a computer;

debugging a problem of said computer; and

developing software solutions for said operating system or a program executed by said operating system,

wherein said monitoring, debugging, or developing comprises receiving event notifications of said operating system using a notification mechanism based on providing standard filesystem interfaces for event consumers to use for one or more of;

registering for event notifications of a set of events;

receiving an event notification when each event occurs; and

getting details of events that have occurred.