Detection and automatic transfer of standalone system dumps

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10002040-B2
Application number	US-201614987055-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 4, 2016
Priority date	Jan 4, 2016
Publication date	Jun 19, 2018
Grant date	Jun 19, 2018

Abstract

Technical solutions are described for transferring standalone dump data of a system to a diagnosis system. An example method includes detecting a creation of a multi-volume standalone dump dataset. The method also includes, in response to detecting the creation, creating an entry in a list of standalone dump datasets, the entry corresponding to the multi-volume standalone dump dataset created. The method also includes detecting a change in data stored in the multi-volume standalone dump dataset; and in response to detecting the change, updating the corresponding entry in the list of standalone dump datasets, and generating a sequential standalone dump based on the multi-volume standalone dump dataset. The method also includes alerting the diagnosis system of the sequential standalone dump. The method also includes transferring the sequential standalone dump for access by the diagnosis system.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer implemented method for transferring standalone dump data of a system to a diagnosis system, the method comprising:
capturing the standalone dump data in response to a system-error, the standalone dump data comprising a plurality of datasets that are stored across a plurality of storage volumes;
detecting creation of each dataset from the standalone dump data in a corresponding storage volume from the plurality of storage volumes;
in response to detecting the creation, creating a corresponding entry in a list of standalone dump datasets, each entry indicating a status of an operation performed on the corresponding dataset;
detecting a change in data stored in the each dataset from the plurality of datasets; and
in response to detecting a completion of capture of the plurality of datasets:
updating the corresponding entries from the list of standalone dump datasets to indicate that the datasets have been captured;

generating a sequential standalone dump based on the plurality of datasets captured concurrently, wherein generating the sequential standalone dump comprises copying data from the datasets in a sequential dataset according to a sequence in which the data is stored in the dataset, and formatting the sequential dataset in a predetermined format; and
alerting the diagnosis system of the sequential standalone dump; and
transferring the sequential standalone dump for access by the diagnosis system.

2. The computer implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising deleting the datasets in response to generating the sequential standalone dump, wherein other standalone dump data is stored in the storage volumes after being cleared.

3. The computer implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising deleting the corresponding entries from the list of standalone dump datasets in response to the datasets being deleted.

4. The computer implemented method of claim 1 , wherein each entry in the list of standalone dump datasets comprises a name, a size, a list of volumes, a creation time, and a header of the corresponding dataset.

5. The computer implemented method of claim 1 , wherein detecting a change in the data stored in a dataset comprises:
periodically accessing a predetermined location of the dataset; and
comparing data stored at the predetermined location with a cached copy of data stored at the predetermined location.

6. The computer implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining a number of available entries in the list of standalone dump datasets, wherein an available entry indicates that the dataset corresponding to the available entry is free to store standalone dump data; and
in response to the number of available entries being below a predetermined threshold value, triggering creation of an additional dataset.

7. A system for transferring standalone dump data to a diagnosis system, the system comprising:
a memory; and
a processor configured to:
detect a creation of a dataset from a plurality of datasets of a standalone dump data, the plurality of datasets are stored in corresponding storage volumes from a plurality of storage volumes, the dataset being captured in response to a system-error;
in response to detecting the creation, create an entry in a list of standalone dump datasets, the entry corresponding to the dataset created, the entry indicative of a status of an operation performed on the dataset;
detect a change in data stored in the dataset; and
in response to detecting completion of capturing the dataset:
update the corresponding entry in the list of standalone dump datasets to indicate that the dataset has been captured;
generate a sequential standalone dump based on the dataset, wherein generating the sequential standalone dump comprises copying data from the datasets in a sequential dataset according to a sequence in which the data is stored in the dataset, and formatting the sequential dataset in a predetermined format; and
alert the diagnosis system of the sequential standalone dump; and

transfer the sequential standalone dump for access by the diagnosis system.

8. The system of claim 7 , wherein the processor is further configured to delete the standalone dump data stored in the dataset in response to generating the sequential standalone dump, wherein other standalone dump data is stored in the dataset subsequently.

9. The system of claim 7 , wherein the processor is further configured to delete the entry in the list of standalone dump datasets in response to the standalone dump data from the dataset being deleted.

10. The system of claim 7 , wherein the entry in the list of standalone dump datasets comprises a name, a size, a list of volumes, a creation time, and a header of the standalone dump dataset that is stored in the dataset.

11. The system of claim 7 , wherein detection of a change in the data stored in the dataset comprises:
periodically accessing a predetermined location of the dataset; and
comparing data stored at the predetermined location with a cached copy of data stored at the predetermined location.

12. The system of claim 7 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
transfer a subset of the sequential dataset for diagnosis; and
in response to receiving a request for additional data, transfer the entire sequential dataset for the diagnosis.

13. The system of claim 7 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
determine a number of available entries in the list of standalone dump datasets, wherein an available entry indicates that the dataset corresponding to the available entry is free to store standalone dump data; and
in response to the number of available entries being below a predetermined threshold value, trigger creation of an additional dataset.

14. A computer program product for transferring standalone dump data to a diagnosis system, the computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium, the computer readable storage medium comprising computer executable instructions, wherein the computer readable storage medium comprises instructions to:
detect creation of a dataset from a plurality of datasets of a standalone dump data, the plurality of datasets are stored in corresponding storage volumes from a plurality of storage volumes, the dataset being captured in response to a system-error;
in response to detecting the creation, create an entry in a list of standalone dump datasets, the entry corresponding to the dataset created, the entry indicative of a status of an operation performed on the dataset;
detect a change in data stored in the dataset; and
in response to detecting completion of capturing the dataset:
update the corresponding entry in the list of standalone dump datasets to indicate that the dataset has been captured;
generate a sequential standalone dump based on the dataset, wherein generating the sequential standalone dump comprises copying data from the datasets in a sequential dataset according to a sequence in which the data is stored in the dataset, and formatting the sequential dataset in a predetermined format; and
alert the diagnosis system of the sequential standalone dump; and
transfer the sequential standalone dump for access by the diagnosis system.

15. The computer program product of claim 14 , wherein the computer readable storage medium further comprises instructions to clear the standalone dump data stored in the dataset in response to generating the sequential standalone dump, wherein other standalone dump data is stored in the dataset subsequently.

16. The computer program product of

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Abrams Robert M
• Jones Nicholas R

Classifications

• G06F11/0784 Primary

  Routing of error reports, e.g. with a specific transmission path or data flow · CPC title

• G06F11/0778

  Dumping, i.e. gathering error/state information after a fault for later diagnosis · CPC title

• G06F11/0751

  Error or fault detection not based on redundancy (power supply failures G06F1/30; network fault management H04L41/06) · CPC title

• G06F11/0709

  in a distributed system consisting of a plurality of standalone computer nodes, e.g. clusters, client-server systems · CPC title

• G06F11/079 Primary

  Root cause analysis, i.e. error or fault diagnosis (in a hardware test environment G06F11/22; in a software test environment G06F11/36) · CPC title