Communication system with diagnostic capabilities

• US 8,756,453 B2
• Filed: 11/15/2011
• Issued: 06/17/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 11/15/2011
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Griffith, Douglas James, Jaehde, Astrid Angela, Manning, Robert Scott
• Primary Examiner(s): Manoskey, Joseph D
• Application Number:
  US13/296,388
• Publication Number:
  US 20130124911A1
• Time in Patent Office: 945 Days
• Field of Search: 714/4.1, 714/4.11, 714/4.2, 714/4.3, 714/25, 714/42, 714/47.1
• US Class Current: 714/4.11
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3041 where the computing system component is an input/output interface interconnection of, or transfer of information or other signals between, memories, input/output devices or central processing units G06F13/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3409 for performance assessment
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/81 Threshold
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/243 at the transmitter, using a loop-back
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/04 Processing captured monitoring data, e.g. for logfile generation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/10 Active monitoring, e.g. heartbeat, ping or trace-route
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/026 Details of "hello" or keep-alive messages
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/28 using route fault recovery

Abstract

A first component, executing in a first data processing system, receives, over a data communication network using a first adapter, a first diagnostic heartbeat packet from a second adapter in a second data processing system. The first heartbeat packet comprises a header, a set of heartbeat parameters, and a set of diagnostic attributes. The first component determines, based on a set of values corresponding to the set of diagnostic attributes, that a soft network error condition exists in the data communication network. The soft network error condition is a network error condition that adversely affects the transmission of packets having certain properties in the data communication network. The first component stores the set of values in a state information record associated with the first component and re-routes data traffic from one link to a different link between the first and the second data processing systems.

Claims

1. A method for resolving a network error in a distributed communication system, the method comprising:

a first component, executing using a processor and a memory in a first data processing system, receiving, over a data communication network and using a first adapter in the first data processing system, a first diagnostic heartbeat packet from a second adapter in a second data processing system, wherein the first heartbeat packet is a packet comprising a header, a set of heartbeat parameters, and a set of diagnostic attributes;

the first component determining, based on a set of values corresponding to the set of diagnostic attributes in the first diagnostic heartbeat packet, that a soft network error condition exists in the data communication network, wherein the soft network error condition is a network error condition that adversely affects transmission of packets having certain properties in the data communication network;

the first component storing the set of values in a state information record associated with the first component; and

the first component re-routing data traffic from a link between the first data processing system and the second data processing system to a different link between the first data processing system and the second data processing system.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

the first component deriving, using the set of values, a performance metric associated with a combination of the first adapter and the second adapter, the performance metric being indicative of the soft network error; and

the first component storing, in the state information record, the performance metric.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

the first component further storing the set of values and the performance metric in a historical record of the state information record.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

the first component sending a portion of the state information record to a second component executing in the first data processing system, the second component utilizing a peer-to-peer communications service provided by the first component.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

the first component receiving a request for the portion of the state information, wherein the sending the portion is responsive to the request for the portion.

6. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

the first component receiving a performance demand from the second component, wherein the re-routing is responsive to the performance demand and the soft network error condition.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the re-routing of the data traffic includes pre-emptive re-routing of a synchronization message between the first data processing system and the second data processing system, the first and the second data processing systems operating in a common distributed domain in the data communication network.

8. A computer program product for resolving a network error in a distributed communication system, the computer program product comprising:

one or more computer-readable hardware storage devices;

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more storage devices, to receive over a data communication network and using a first adapter in a first data processing system, a first diagnostic heartbeat packet from a second adapter in a second data processing system, wherein the first heartbeat packet is a packet comprising a header, a set of heartbeat parameters, and a set of diagnostic attributes;

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more storage devices, to determine, based on a set of values corresponding to the set of diagnostic attributes in the first diagnostic heartbeat packet, that a soft network error condition exists in the data communication network, wherein the soft network error condition is a network error condition that adversely affects transmission of packets having certain properties in the data communication network;

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more storage devices, to store the set of values in a state information record associated with a first component in the first data processing system; and

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more storage devices, to re-route data traffic from a link between the first data processing system and the second data processing system to a different link between the first data processing system and the second data processing system.

9. The computer program product of claim 8, further comprising:

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more storage devices, to derive, using the set of values, a performance metric associated with a combination of the first adapter and the second adapter, the performance metric being indicative of the soft network error; and

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more storage devices, to store, in the state information record, the performance metric.

10. The computer program product of claim 9, further comprising:

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more storage devices, to store the set of values and the performance metric in a historical record of the state information record.

11. The computer program product of claim 9, further comprising:

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more storage devices, to send a portion of the state information record to a second component executing in the first data processing system, the second component utilizing a peer-to-peer communications service provided by the first component.

12. The computer program product of claim 11, further comprising:

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more storage devices, to receive a request for the portion of the state information, wherein the sending the portion is responsive to the request for the portion.

13. The computer program product of claim 11, further comprising:

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more storage devices, to receive a performance demand from the second component, wherein the program instructions to re-route the data traffic reroute the data traffic in response to the performance demand and the soft network error condition.

14. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein the program instructions to re-route the data traffic pre-emptively re-route a synchronization message between the first data processing system and the second data processing system, the first and the second data processing systems operating in a common distributed domain in the data communication network.

15. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein the program instructions are stored in at least one of the one or more computer-readable tangible storage devices in a data processing system, and wherein the program instructions are transferred over a network from a remote data processing system.

16. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein the program instructions are stored in at least one of the one or more computer-readable tangible storage devices in a server data processing system, and wherein the program instructions are downloaded over a network to a remote data processing system for use in a computer-readable tangible storage device associated with the remote data processing system.

17. A computer system for resolving a network error in a distributed communication system, the computer system comprising:

one or more hardware processors, one or more computer-readable memories and one or more computer-readable hardware storage devices;

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more storage devices for execution by at least one of the one or more processors via at least one of the one or more memories, to receive, over a data communication network and using a first adapter in a first data processing system, a first diagnostic heartbeat packet from a second adapter in a second data processing system, wherein the first heartbeat packet is a packet comprising a header, a set of heartbeat parameters, and a set of diagnostic attributes;

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more storage devices for execution by at least one of the one or more processors via at least one of the one or more memories, to determine, based on a set of values corresponding to the set of diagnostic attributes in the first diagnostic heartbeat packet, that a soft network error condition exists in the data communication network, wherein the soft network error condition is a network error condition that adversely affects transmission of packets having certain properties in the data communication network;

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more storage devices for execution by at least one of the one or more processors via at least one of the one or more memories, to store the set of values in a state information record associated with a first component in the first data processing system; and

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more storage devices for execution by at least one of the one or more processors via at least one of the one or more memories, to re-route data traffic from a link between the first data processing system and the second data processing system to a different link between the first data processing system and the second data processing system.

18. The computer program product of claim 17, further comprising:

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more storage devices for execution by at least one of the one or more processors via at least one of the one or more memories, to derive, using the set of values, a performance metric associated with the a combination of the first adapter and the second adapter, the performance metric being indicative of the soft network error; and

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more storage devices, to store, in the state information record, the performance metric.