Active failure detection
US5983371A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Jul 11, 1997 |
| Grant date | Nov 9, 1999 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Jul 11, 2017 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG06F11/1633
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
Failures in a fault-tolerant computer system which includes two or more input/output processors connected to a data communication system are detected by monitoring data communication. The computer system is able to detect failures associated with a primary input/output processor, as well as with a standby input/output processors, and is also able to discriminate between failures of the input/output processors and communication failures in the data communication network itself. In addition to using heartbeat-like transmissions, various other categories of data communication are also used to detect failures. The system is able to detect failures when the input/output processors are on a common network segment, allowing the processors to monitor identical data traffic, as well as when the processors are on different segments where, as a result of filtering behavior of network elements such as active hubs, the processors may not be able to monitor identical data traffic.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.