Detecting unresponsiveness of a process

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10061631-B2
Application number	US-201615176656-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 8, 2016
Priority date	Jun 25, 2015
Publication date	Aug 28, 2018
Grant date	Aug 28, 2018

Abstract

Embodiments of the present disclosure disclose a method for detecting unresponsiveness of a process, wherein for each target process in a plurality of target processes, creating and activating a timer on a system kernel side, so as to time the target process; and when timing of the corresponding timer exceeds a predetermined time threshold, determining the target process to be unresponsive, and performing a predetermined associated action.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for detecting unresponsiveness of a process, the method comprising:
for each target process in a plurality of target processes, creating and activating a timer on a system kernel side to time the target process; and
when timing of the timer exceeds a predetermined time threshold, determining the target process to be unresponsive, and performing a predetermined associated action;
wherein the predetermined time threshold and the predetermined associated action are set in response to a setting command from the target process.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the target process is a user space process.

3. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising: in response to receiving a heartbeat message from the target process, resetting the timer to retime the target process.

4. The method according to claim 3 , wherein the timer records a flag indicating receipt of a predetermined character from the target process.

5. The method according to claim 4 , wherein in response to receiving a heartbeat message from the target process, resetting the timer to retime the target process comprises:
obtaining a character written by the target process from the heartbeat message; and
in response to determining that the character is the predetermined character, setting the flag indicating receipt of the predetermined character from the target process.

6. The method according to claim 5 , further comprising:
in response to receiving a close message from the target process, performing a corresponding operation based on the flag indicating receipt of the predetermined character from the target process.

7. The method according to claim 6 , wherein in response to receiving a close message from the target process, performing a corresponding operation based on the flag indicating receipt of the predetermined character from the target process comprises:
stopping the timer when the flag indicating receipt of the predetermined character from the target process; and
keeping the timer running when the flag is not indicating receipt of the predetermined character from the target process.

8. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:
creating a real-time kernel thread on the system kernel side to periodically transmit a heartbeat message to a hardware watchdog; and
when a fatal problem occurs, stopping transmission of the heartbeat message to the hardware watchdog, wherein the hardware watchdog resets the system.

9. An apparatus for detecting unresponsiveness of a process, the apparatus comprising computer-executable logic operating in a memory, wherein the computer-executable program logic is configured to enable execution across one or more processors:
for each target process in a plurality of target processes, create and activate a timer on a system kernel side to time the target process; and
when timing of the timer exceeds a predetermined time threshold, determine the target process to be unresponsive, and perform a predetermined associated action;
wherein the predetermined time threshold and the predetermined associated action are set in response to a setting command from the target process.

10. The apparatus according to claim 9 , wherein the target process is a user space process.

11. The apparatus according to claim 9 , further comprising:
a heartbeat response module configured to, in response to receiving a heartbeat message from the target process, reset the timer to retime the target process.

12. The apparatus according to claim 11 , wherein the timer records a flag indicating receipt of a predetermined character from the target process.

13. The apparatus according to claim 12 , further configured to:
obtain a character written by the target process from the heartbeat message; and
in response to determining that the character is the predetermined character, set the flag indicating receipt of the predetermined character from the target process.

14. The apparatus according to claim 13 , further comprising:
in response to receiving a close message from the target process, perform a corresponding operation based on the flag indicating receipt of the predetermined character from the target process.

15. The apparatus according to claim 14 , further configured to:
stop the corresponding timer when the flag indicating receipt of the predetermined character from the target process; and
keep the corresponding timer running when the flag is not indicating receipt of the predetermined character from the target process.

16. The apparatus according to claim 9 , further configured to:
create a real-time kernel thread on the system kernel side to periodically transmit a heartbeat message to a hardware watchdog; and
when a fatal problem occurs, stop transmission of the heartbeat message to the hardware watchdog, wherein the hardware watchdog resets the system.

17. A computer program product for detecting process unresponsiveness, the computer program product being tangibly stored on a non-transitory computer readable medium and including computer executable instructions that, when being executed, cause the computer to
for each target process in a plurality of target processes, creating and activating a timer on a system kernel side to time the target process; and
when timing of the timer exceeds a predetermined time threshold, determining the target process to be unresponsive, and performing a predetermined associated action;
wherein the predetermined time threshold and the predetermined associated action are set in response to a setting command from the target process.

Assignees

• Emc Corp
• Emc Ip Holding Co Llc

Inventors

• Zhang Xufeng
• Yang Oliver Yong

Classifications

• G06F11/0793

  Remedial or corrective actions (recovery from an exception in an instruction pipeline G06F9/3861; by retry G06F11/1402; for recovering from a failure of a protocol instance or entity H04L69/40) · CPC title

• G06F11/0706

  the processing taking place on a specific hardware platform or in a specific software environment · CPC title

• G06F11/0772

  Means for error signaling, e.g. using interrupts, exception flags, dedicated error registers · CPC title

• G06F11/0757 Primary

  by exceeding a time limit, i.e. time-out, e.g. watchdogs · CPC title

• G06F11/0721

  within a central processing unit [CPU] · CPC title