Data processing: measuring – calibrating – or testing – Measurement system – History logging or time stamping
Reexamination Certificate
2003-02-07
2004-11-16
Barlow, John (Department: 2863)
Data processing: measuring, calibrating, or testing
Measurement system
History logging or time stamping
C719S318000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06820040
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to a method of managing a personal log of events containing events recorded by an operating activity being executed on a perimeter of computer resources configured on a multiple-cell computer platform.
More precisely, the method relates to multiple-cell computer platforms having a plurality of distinct computer resource perimeters that can be activated on the platform in succession or simultaneously.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
At present, one of the directions in which hardware and/or computer systems are progressing lies in maximizing the flexibility of configurable computer resources to the benefit of a user having considerably smaller computer resources available locally.
In present configurable or reconfigurable computer systems, as shown in
FIG. 1
, use is made of a multiple-cell platform PF of computer resources. The multiple-cell platform PF comprises a plurality of calculation cells C
kj
each comprising at least one central processor unit and local working memories, including a non-volatile random access memory (NVRAM). The working memories in each of the cells are suitable in particular for containing an event log in which there are recorded events that have taken place during the operation of the cell or of a group of cells. By way of example, these events can be hardware incidents or alarms that occur during operation of the cell, or they can be events that are recorded by an operating system as it executes on said cell. Such an event log is also referred to as a system event log (SEL).
In configurable or reconfigurable systems of the kind shown in
FIG. 1
, there are resources which are common to all of the cells of the platform. These common resources include mass memories, and in particular system hard disks and data hard disks. Data disks contain applications software (commonly referred to as “applications”) comprising computer programs to be executed and/or data to be processed. Each disk system has an operating system suitable for managing the hardware resources of a cell or of a group of cells. In particular, each operating system is suitable for managing the event log of the cell or the group of cells on which it is executed. By way of example, in
FIG. 1
, the common resources comprise a data disk DD
1
containing an application L
1
, a system disk DS
1
containing an operating system OS
1
, a data disk DD
2
containing an application L
2
, and a system disk DS
2
containing an operating system OS
2
.
In the context of configurable or reconfigurable systems, the term “operating activity” applies to all of the software means needed to implement a function that a user of the system seeks to achieve. Examples of such functions include, for example: drawing up pay sheets and generating lists of customers to be contacted. An activity thus includes at least one operating system suitable for managing the hardware resources of the platform. The function desired by the user is generally not performed by the operating system alone, and an operating activity commonly includes, in addition, one or more applications for execution on the operating system to perform the function(s) desired by the user. In this case, an activity A
1
comprises the application L
1
and the operating system OS
1
.
To maximize flexibility in such systems, common resources are connected to the platform PF via addressable interconnection means MI implementing a storage area network (SAN) architecture. The interconnection means MI are designed to give access to the common resources from any one of the cells or from any group of cells configured on the platform PF. Thus, a data disk may be accessed from a cell C
kj
in a given configuration of the platform PF, and subsequently by a cell C
kj+1
in the context of a different configuration of the platform. Such interconnection means MI are therefore suitable for enabling all of the cells of the platform to access the common resources without that requiring any kind of rewiring operation.
Finally, configurable or reconfigurable computer systems also comprise a management tool MT enabling a user to group computer hardware resources together as “perimeters” of computer resources P
i
for executing operating activities A
i
. Each perimeter P
i
is made up of a group of cells C
kj
and a fraction of the common resources such as a data disk and at least one system disk. In such systems it is possible to define a plurality of perimeters P
i
. For example, in
FIG. 1
, two perimeters P
1
and P
2
have been configured, both of which are configured to execute activity A
1
. The perimeter P
1
as outlined in dotted lines comprises a first group of cells, the data disk DD
1
and the system disk DS
1
. The perimeter P
2
, as outlined in dot-dashed lines, comprises a second group of cells different from the first group of cells, the data disks DD
1
, and the system disk DS
1
.
When two perimeters such as the perimeters P
1
and P
2
in
FIG. 1
share common hardware resources, such as the same system disk, in this case DS
1
, they must be configured in succession on the same platform. Otherwise, they can be configured simultaneously on the platform PF.
Such systems correspond to systems or machines that are commonly referred to as “partition machines”. Normally they make it possible to install and execute different operating activities A
i
simultaneously or successively in different perimeters of the platform. Nevertheless, such systems are not capable at present of allowing a user to restart the same activity in a perimeter other than the perimeter in which it was executed initially. Thus, for example, if the user seeks to restart activity A
1
, not in perimeter P
1
, but in perimeter P
2
, then the data recorded in the event log by the activity A
1
while being executed on the perimeter P
1
is lost. The event log of perimeter P
1
is recorded in working memories that are local to the perimeter P
1
and it is not accessible from perimeter P
2
. This loss of information on transfer of an activity from an original perimeter to a destination perimeter can lead to the activity functioning wrongly when it is executed on the new perimeter.
OBJECTS AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The invention seeks to remedy that drawback by proposing a method of managing a perimeter event log that is capable of allowing the same operating activity to be restarted on a perimeter other than the perimeter on which it was executed initially.
The invention thus provides a method as defined above for managing a personal event log containing events recorded by an operating activity, the method comprising:
while an activity is saving an event, a step of recording the event in a common event log together with an identifier of the activity that is saving the event; and
prior to an activity consulting its personal event log, a step of reconstructing the personal event log from the common event log, said reconstruction step including an operation of selecting from the common event log only those events which are associated with the identifier of the activity in order to include those events in the personal event log reconstructed for said activity.
In the above-described method, regardless of the perimeter on which an activity is restarted, the events recorded by said activity in the log during earlier execution on another perimeter are not lost. The events recorded by the activity are recorded in association with an identifier of said activity in a common event log which is accessible from all of the configured or configurable perimeters on the platform. Thus, even if the activity is restarted subsequently on another perimeter different from the perimeter on which it was being executed beforehand, it still has access to the common event log. In addition, since the events it recorded in the common event log are associated with its own identifier, it is possible to select and return to said activity only those events which concern it, i.e. only those events which it has itself recorded. As a result, with respect to an event registered by or f
Barlow John
Bull S.A.
Kondracki Edward J.
Miles & Stockbridge P.C.
Pretlow Demetrius
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