Detecting unresponsiveness of a process

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016378587-A1
Application number	US-201615176656-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jun 8, 2016
Priority date	Jun 25, 2015
Publication date	Dec 29, 2016
Grant date	—

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.

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

3 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the predetermined time threshold and the predetermined associated action are set in response to a setting command from the target process.

4 . 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.

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

6 . The method according to claim 5 , 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.

7 . The method according to claim 6 , 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.

8 . The method according to claim 7 , 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.

9 . 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.

10 . 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.

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

12 . The apparatus according to claim 10 , wherein the predetermined time threshold and the predetermined associated action are set in response to a setting command from the target process.

13 . The apparatus according to claim 10 , 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.

14 . The apparatus according to claim 13 , wherein the timer records a flag indicating receipt of a predetermined character from the target process.

15 . The apparatus according to claim 14 , 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.

16 . The apparatus according to claim 15 , 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.

17 . The apparatus according to claim 16 , 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.

18 . The apparatus according to claim 10 , 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.

19 . A computer program product for detecting process unresponsiveness, the computer program product being tangibly stored on a non-transient 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.

Assignees

• Emc Corp

Inventors

• Zhang Xufeng
• Yang Oliver Yong

Classifications

• G06F11/0757 Primary

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

• G06F11/0706

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

• G06F11/079

  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

• G06F11/0772

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

• 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