Recovery of first failure data capture logs

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11036574-B2
Application number	US-201916263127-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 31, 2019
Priority date	Nov 14, 2016
Publication date	Jun 15, 2021
Grant date	Jun 15, 2021

Abstract

An approach for recovering event logs. The approach detects corruption in an event log. The approach determines whether a start pointer in a log buffer header is corrupt. Responsive to a determination that the start pointer is corrupt, the approach recovers the start pointer. The approach determines whether an end pointer in the log buffer header is corrupt. Responsive to a determination that the end pointer is corrupt, the approach recovers the end pointer. The approach determines whether an eye catcher in the log buffer header is corrupt. Responsive to a determination that the eye catcher is corrupt, the approach recovers the eye catcher. The approach presents one or more log entries to a management console.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
determining that a start pointer in a log buffer header of an event log is corrupt;
recovering the start pointer, wherein the start pointer references an initial entry in the event log;
determining that an end pointer in the log buffer header of the event log is corrupt;
recovering the end pointer, wherein the end pointer references a final entry in the event log; and
presenting recovered entries in the event log to a user, wherein the recovered entries are located between the start pointer and the end pointer.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein recovering the start pointer further comprises:
identifying the initial entry in the event log, wherein the initial entry is not corrupt; and
writing a non-corrupt start pointer, wherein the non-corrupt start pointer references the initial entry.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein recovering the end pointer further comprises:
identifying the final entry in the event log, wherein the final entry is not corrupt; and
writing a non-corrupt end pointer, wherein the non-corrupt end pointer references the final entry.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein presenting the recovered entries in the event log to the user further comprises:
identifying non-corrupt entries in the event log; and
presenting the non-corrupt entries to the user.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining whether an eye catcher in the log buffer header is corrupt; and
recovering the eye catcher.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein recovering the eye catcher further comprises:
verifying an entry in the event log; and
writing a non-corrupt eye catcher.

7. A computer program product comprising a computer readable storage media having stored thereon:
program instructions to determine that a start pointer in a log buffer header of an event log is corrupt;
program instructions to recover the start pointer, wherein the start pointer references an initial entry in the even log;
program instructions to determine that an end pointer in the log buffer header of the event log is corrupt;
program instructions to recover the end pointer, wherein the end pointer references a final entry in the event log; and
program instructions to present recovered entries in the event log to a user, wherein the recovered entries are located between the start pointer and the end pointer.

8. The computer program product of claim 7 , wherein the program instructions to recover the start pointer further comprise:
program instructions to identify the initial entry in the event log, wherein the initial entry is not corrupt; and
program instructions to write a non-corrupt start pointer, wherein the non-corrupt start pointer references the initial entry.

9. The computer program product of claim 7 , wherein the program instructions to recover the end pointer further comprises:
program instructions to identify the final entry in the event log, wherein the final entry is not corrupt; and
program instructions to write a non-corrupt end pointer, wherein the non-corrupt end pointer references the final entry.

10. The computer program product of claim 7 , wherein the program instructions to present the recovered entries in the event log to the user further comprises:
program instructions to identify non-corrupt entries in the event log; and
program instructions to present the non-corrupt entries to the user.

11. The computer program product of claim 7 , further comprising:
program instructions to determine whether an eye catcher in the log buffer header is corrupt; and
program instructions to recover the eye catcher.

12. The computer program product of claim 11 , wherein the program instructions to recover the eye catcher further comprise:
program instructions to verify an entry in the event log; and
program instructions to write a non-corrupt eye catcher.

13. A computer system comprising:
a processor set; and
a computer readable storage media;
wherein:
the processor set is structured, located, connected, and/or programmed to execute program instructions stored on the computer readable storage media; and
the program instructions include:
program instructions to determine that a start pointer in a log buffer header of an event log is corrupt;
program instructions to recover the start pointer, wherein the start pointer references an initial entry in the even log;
program instructions to determine that an end pointer in the log buffer header of the event log is corrupt;
program instructions to recover the end pointer, wherein the end pointer references a final entry in the event log; and
program instructions to present recovered entries in the event log to a user, wherein the recovered entries are located between the start pointer and the end pointer.

14. The computer system of claim 13 , wherein the program instructions to recover the start pointer further comprise:
program instructions to identify the initial entry in the event log, wherein the initial entry is not corrupt; and
program instructions to write a non-corrupt start pointer, wherein the non-corrupt start pointer references the initial entry.

15. The computer system of claim 13 , wherein the program instructions to recover the end pointer further comprises:
program instructions to identify the final entry in the event log, wherein the final entry is not corrupt; and
program instructions to write a non-corrupt end pointer, wherein the non-corrupt end pointer references the final entry.

16. The computer system of claim 13 , wherein the program instructions to present the recovered entries in the event log to the user further comprises:
program instructions to identify non-corrupt entries in the event log; and
program instructions to present the non-corrupt entries to the user.

17. The computer system of claim 13 , further comprising:
program instructions to determine whether an eye catcher in the log buffer header is corrupt; and
program instructions to recover the eye catcher.

18. The computer program product of claim 17 , wherein the program instructions to recover the eye catcher further comprise:
program instructions to verify an entry in the event log; and
program instructions to write a non-corrupt eye catcher.

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Agrrawal Ankur
• Bhat Karthik
• D'Mello Clarence
• Hullahalli Rajashekar Naveen Kumar
• Somasundaram Muruganandam
• Taubert Martin

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

• G06F11/0775

  Content or structure details of the error report, e.g. specific table structure, specific error fields · 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