Error detection/correction and fault detection/recovery – Pulse or data error handling – Error/fault detection technique
Reexamination Certificate
1998-07-31
2001-03-13
Moise, Emmanuel L. (Department: 2133)
Error detection/correction and fault detection/recovery
Pulse or data error handling
Error/fault detection technique
C714S055000, C706S045000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06202190
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The invention relates to a process for determining the startup time of a data processing system. This data processing system can be of any size, micro, mini or large-scale. It is constituted by the main and peripheral hardware. For purposes of simplification, the term “hardware” is used herein in place of main and peripheral units or equipment. The invention is more particularly adapted to data processing systems equipped with an operating system whose startup occurs sequentially. The invention applies to both single-processor and multiprocessor systems. It applies particularly to multi-node multiprocessor systems wherein the nodes are equipped with an operating system whose startup, or at some least some phases of the startup, occurs sequentially. It applies particularly to a system with a redundant architecture based on high availability of the data.
Corollary subjects of the invention are a data processing system for implementing the process and a recording medium for storing the software that is the subject of the invention.
PRIOR ART
A data processing system does not generally operate in uninterrupted fashion. It is subject to intentional and unintentional halts. The unintentional halts are mainly due to failures. When the system is restarted, it is said to start up. More precisely, when the system completely restarts from zero, it is said to cold start. The system can also restart from an intermediate position, called a warm start, in order to ensure a faster restart while losing a minimum of the work already accomplished. The invention applies to both types of restarts defined above. In the description below, a cold start will be used as an illustration. At the startup, the system undergoes an initialization. It completely recreates the operating environment. Powering up during a cold start consists of applying an instruction received by the processor in the form of an interrupt, which interrupt is most often called a RESET. It uses an interrupt vector or code sequence which is located at a certain address in main memory. At this address, there is generally a branch instruction to the startup sequence, called a bootstrap program.
The problem is the startup time of the system after the power up which can be long. From the power up through the final phase in which an invitation message authorizes the utilization of the system, a series of successive phases takes place, including:
the phase of tests known by the name of POST (Power On Self Test), performed in the main hardware. The tests comprise the testing of the operation of the processor, the testing of the various controllers (keyboard, etc.), and the testing of the prime bytes of the RAM memory. During this phase, there is a lot of memory access. This time is a function of both the quantity of memory and the size of the memory;
the hardware recognition phase and the creation of a hardware tree;
the formatting of this tree into a format which can be interpreted by the kernel of the system; and
the phase for starting up the kernel and starting up the process sequencer, which consists of executing the initialization file. The execution can be the initialization of the peripheral drivers, the telecommunication protocol layer (OSI, TCP-IP, etc.), or the disk group driver. During this phase, the driver provides the operating system with status information, that is, indications of the hardware type and particularly, of its capacities. The driver also provides a series of routines known as driver functions. The predefined drivers are installed in the kernel of the operating system.
These accesses to the various hardware units have a duration which depends on the hardware type and on the quantity of hardware of this type. A number of factors affect the initialization time of the driver, such as:
the time for loading the so-called “intelligent” code resident in the peripheral hardware;
the time for positioning the read heads; and
the time for synchronizing certain network cards with the network.
Moreover, a peripheral unit can be connected to other peripherals known as sub-peripherals. These peripherals require a certain amount of time for detecting the presence of these sub-peripherals.
During the cold start, the master processor serializes each task and reviews each peripheral unit one by one. Each type of hardware has a more or less substantial workload and sometimes, depending on its quantity, or even its size in some cases, has the consequence of slowing the startup time of the system.
The startup time of a system lasts for a time which is more or less long as a function of the hardware configuration of the system. The term configuration means the layout of the data processing system, that is, its hardware composition. This startup time has an impact that is not without consequences on the availability ratio of the system. This is especially true for a system with a redundant architecture, whose availability ratio is inversely proportional to the startup time. This time must therefore be as short as possible.
At the present time, there are no fast means for determining the startup time of a system and above all, no general method which makes it possible to determine the startup time of a system. The only way is to perform measurements manually in the laboratory. This type of measurement is costly in terms of time.
Moreover, a data processing system is intended to offer services to its users, and the quality of these services will be more appreciated if their performance is better. In the present case, performance refers to the startup time of the system.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
A first object of the invention is to provide a method, which is both general and automatic, for determining the startup time of a data processing system.
A second object is the capability to evaluate the impact of a potential modification of the hardware constituting the system.
A third desired object is the fast execution of the process for determining the startup time of the system.
A fourth desired object is the ease of use of the process for determining the startup time of the system.
And a fifth object sought is to reduce the cost.
To this end, the subject of the invention is a process for determining the startup time of a data processing system, said data processing system being constituted by various types of hardware, characterized in that it is comprised of measuring the startup time of the system for configurations j and of determining parameters relative to the maximum quantity of the various hardware types from measurements performed on the system, so as to be able to deduce, by calculation and from a formula containing the parameters, the startup time T
q
relative to any configuration q of the data processing system.
The result is a data processing system for implementing the process of the invention.
Another subject of the invention is a recording medium such as a CD-ROM for storing the software.
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Bull S.A.
Kondracki Edward J.
Miles & Stockbridge P.C.
Moise Emmanuel L.
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