Method and system for handling errors in a distributed computer system

• US 6,918,059 B1
• Filed: 04/27/2000
• Issued: 07/12/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 04/28/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Salesforce.com, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Universal Music Group (Vivendi SE)
• Inventors: Williams, Peter, Galuten, Albhy
• Primary Examiner(s): Beausoliel, Robert
• Assistant Examiner(s): CHU, GABRIEL L
• Application Number:
  US09/559,849
• Time in Patent Office: 1,902 Days
• Field of Search: 714/2, 714/4, 714/25, 714/26, 714/31, 714/37, 714/38, 714/48, 714/57
• US Class Current: 714/31
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0715 in a system implementing multitasking multitasking per se G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0748 in a remote unit communicating with a single-box computer node experiencing an error/fault remote testing G06F11/2294
• 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
• 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: H04L 41/0604 using filtering, e.g. reduction of information by using priority, element types, position or time
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0811 by checking connectivity

Abstract

A method and system for tracking and processing errors in a distributed computer system. As an application encounters an error, a centralized system intercepts and assumes the processing of that error event. The central error processing may be used with a distributed network connecting the applications running on various user computers. Upon receipt of an error message from an application, the system creates an informative error package, propagates appropriate error alert to relevant subsystems, and attempts to resolve the error. The error may be resolved in various ways. For example, the system may select and dispatch appropriate help information to the user; or the system may locate an alternative resource to substitute for the failed resource. The system may prioritize errors when there is more than one error still unresolved at any given time. In addition, the system may filter errors that require different levels of response and the system may direct errors to resources capable of assisting in resolving the error.

Claims

1. A method for processing an error occurring in a system element operating in a computer system having a central-resource, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving an error message at the central-resource from the system element indicating the occurrence of an error associated with the system element;

determining whether a connection exists between the system element and the central-resource;

transmitting the error message from the system element to the central resource when the connection exists; and

when the connection does not exist, queuing the error message for later transmission to the central resource;

referencing an error-resource having a plurality of assistance options;

selecting an assistance option from the plurality of assistance options in accordance with the error message;

filtering the error message for an error type;

providing the assistance option to the system element through a routine server in accordance with the error type.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of selecting and dispatching appropriate help information to a user.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of directing the error events to resources capable of assisting in resolving the error.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

receiving a help query from one of the plurality of system elements;

providing help information in response to the help query; and

dynamically updating the help information.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the providing step further comprises the step of dispatching help information to the system element associated with the error, where the dispatching step is performed substantially immediately after the receiving step.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising the step of dynamically updating the help information.

7. The method of claim 5, further comprising the step of investigating the error by soliciting additional information about the occurrence of the error from the system element associated with the error.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of determining a preferred assistance option based on previous assistance options provided in response to an error;

and wherein the selecting step includes selecting the preferred assistance option.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the error-resource comprises a database containing information regarding resolution of errors and bypassing of errors.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of determining the priority of the error relative to any outstanding errors.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of generating an information-package in response to the receiving step;

wherein the information-package comprises an error-identification, and at least one of a system identification, an application identification, a time stamp, a location, a priority, and an internal state.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of propagating an error alert to one or more components of the computer system that may be affected by the occurrence of the error.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of locating an alternative resource to substitute for a failed resource associated with the error.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the assistance includes help information, the method further comprising the step of dynamically updating the help information.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of investigating the error by soliciting additional information about the occurrence of the error from the system element associated with the error.

16. A system for tracking and processing errors that occur in a distributed computer system, wherein the system comprises:

a resource server for processing the errors;

a database of information accessible to the resource server and useful in resolving and bypassing said errors;

a routing server for contemporaneously directing messages and responses to the errors to and from components of the distributed computer system; and

a filter for sorting said errors of different error types and directing the messages and the response to the errors through the routing server to different components of the distributed computer system in accordance with the error type.

17. A method for tracking and resolving errors, comprising the steps of:

identifying the processing of at least two errors by at least one system element;

intercepting the processing of the errors;

generating at least two error messages related to each of the errors;

filtering, by an error type, the error messages by determining at least one response category for each of the errors;

generating a response for each of the error messages based at least in part on the response category; and

dispatching, through a routing server, at least one response to a system element processing the error related to the response, in accordance with the error type.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the filtering step further comprises determining the errors that require assistance of another system element.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein the filtering step further comprises determining the errors that require assistance of an external element.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein the filtering step further comprises determining the errors that require a physical change to a distributed computer system.

21. The method of claim 17, wherein the filtering step further comprises determining the errors that require user intervention.

22. The method of claim 17, wherein the filtering step further comprises determining the errors that are resolved automatically.

23. A method for tracking and resolving errors, comprising the steps of:

receiving, at a central resource, at least two error messages, related to at least two errors occurring on at least one of a plurality of system elements;

filtering, by an error type, the error messages by determining at least one category of response for each of the errors;

generating, by the central resource, an error pack based on the error message, containing at least one assistance option; and

transmitting the error pack to the system element that generated the error message, through a routing server in accordance with the error type.

24. The method for tracking and resolving errors, according to claim 23, further comprising the steps of:

determining at least one priority level for each of the errors;

prioritizing the error messages based on the priority level; and

dispatching at least one response to the system element processing the error in an order based on the priority level.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the prioritizing step further comprises identifying the error that is the most significant threat to the system element.