Server restart management via stability time

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9596157-B2
Application number	US-201414501077-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 30, 2014
Priority date	Jan 23, 2013
Publication date	Mar 14, 2017
Grant date	Mar 14, 2017

Abstract

A computer-implemented method for monitoring server stability based on a stability time specification of a server includes specifying a stability time for the server, wherein the stability time is defined as a time between a starting state of the server and a stability point of the server. The server activity is monitored by an availability manager to determine an availability status of the server. Responsive to the server activity progressing to the stability point within the stability time, an embodiment determines that the server is stable. Responsive to the server activity failing to progress to the stability point within the stability time, an embodiment determines that the server is unreliable.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:
specifying, by a processing device, a stability time for a server, the stability time defining a time between a starting state of the server and a stability point of the server, the stability time being used to determine availability characteristics of the server to assist in meeting a recovery time objective, the stability point of the server includes when an operating system of the server has reached a point considered stable so that the server can process work;
monitoring, by an availability manager, server activity to determine an availability status of the server;
determining that the server is stable in response to the server activity progressing to the stability point within the stability time; and
determining that the server is unreliable in response to the server activity failing to progress to the stability point within the stability time.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the server is marked as unreliable in response to the server being restarted prior to progressing to the stability point.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the availability manager prevents the server from restarting until the stability time has expired to prevent thrashing.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising an agent of the server, the agent evaluating and reporting the server activity to the availability manager.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the stability time is specified during server configuration and is based on a determination of server functionality over a historical period of time.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the availability status of the server is selected from a group comprising an available state, an exposed state, a critical state, a not available state, and an unreliable state.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 6 , wherein the exposed state is defined as a time between an operating state of the server to the stability point of the server.

8. A computer program product, comprising:
a non-transitory computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code stored thereon that, when executed by a processing device, causes the by the processing device to perform operations comprising:
specifying a stability time for a server, the stability time defining a time between a starting state of the server and a stability point of the server, the stability time being used to determine availability characteristics of the server to assist in meeting a recovery time objective, the stability point of the server includes when an operating system of the server has reached a point considered stable so that the server can process work;
monitoring, by an availability manager of the processing device, server activity to determine an availability status of the server;
determining that the server is stable in response to the server activity progressing to the stability point within the stability time; and
determining that the server is unreliable in response to the server activity failing to progress to the stability point within the stability time.

9. The computer program product of claim 8 , wherein the server is marked as unreliable in response to the server being restarted prior to progressing to the stability point.

10. The computer program product of claim 8 , wherein the availability manager prevents the server from restarting until the stability time has expired to prevent thrashing.

11. The computer program product of claim 8 , further comprising an agent of the server, the agent evaluating and reporting the server activity to the availability manager.

12. The computer program product of claim 8 , wherein the stability time is specified during server configuration and is based on a determination of server functionality over a historical period of time.

13. The computer program product of claim 8 , wherein the availability status of the server is selected from a group comprising an available state, an exposed state, a critical state, a not available state, and an unreliable state.

14. The computer program product of claim 13 , wherein the exposed state is defined as a time between an operating state of the server to the stability point of the server.

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Abrams Robert M
• Matsakis Nicholas C
• Nieves Daniel
• Sofia Anthony T

Classifications

• G06F11/0793 Primary

  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

• G06F11/3031

  where the computing system component is a motherboard or an expansion card · CPC title

• H04L29/08099

  Electricity · mapped topic

• G06F11/3409

  for performance assessment · CPC title

• G06F2201/815

  Virtual · CPC title