Verification of serialization of storage frames within an address space via multi-threaded programs

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9606732-B2
Application number	US-201414289036-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 28, 2014
Priority date	May 28, 2014
Publication date	Mar 28, 2017
Grant date	Mar 28, 2017

Abstract

A method, system, and computer program product to verify serialization of storage frames within an address space via multi-threaded programs is described. The method includes dynamically scaling a number of units of work based on a number of available processors, each of the units of work configured to execute actions, and dynamically scaling an amount and page size of virtual storage accessed by each of the units of work based on a total available memory. The method also includes obtaining, at each of the units of work, different types of storage pages and accessing storage pages corresponding with the respective different types of virtual storage pages associated with the different frame sizes and attributes and performing a respective action, and verifying, for each of the units of work performing the respective action, a state and data content of the storage pages.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of verifying serialization of storage frames within an address space in a computing system via multi-threaded programs, the method comprising:
dynamically scaling a number of units of work based on a number of available processors, each of the units of work configured to execute actions;
dynamically scaling an amount and page size of virtual storage accessed by each of the units of work based on a total available memory;
obtaining, at each of the units of work, different types of storage pages in the virtual storage associated with different frame sizes and attributes of real storage;
accessing, using each of the units of work, storage pages corresponding with the respective different types of virtual storage pages associated with the different frame sizes and attributes and performing a respective action; and
verifying, for each of the units of work performing the respective action, a state and data content of the storage pages based on the respective action.

2. The method according to claim 1 , the dynamically scaling the number of units of work includes assigning each of the units of work to a respective one of the number of available processors.

3. The method according to claim 1 , the dynamically scaling the amount and page sizes of virtual storage includes determining the total available memory as a sum of total amount of real storage, total amount of direct access storage device (DASD) auxiliary storage, and total amount of storage class memory (Flash) auxiliary storage.

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the obtaining the different types of storage pages includes obtaining at least one of a private, common, or shared virtual storage page of the different frame sizes and attributes including at least one of a 4 kilobytes (KB) disabled reference (dref), a 4 KB pageable storage frame, a 1 megabyte (MB) fixed storage frame, a 1 MB pageable storage frame, and a 2 gigabyte (GB) fixed storage frame.

5. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising obtaining a diagnostic dump when the verifying the state of the storage pages indicates an error for one of the units of work.

6. The method according to claim 5 , further comprising halting the one of the units of work.

7. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising iteratively performing the accessing the storage pages, the performing the respective action, and the verifying the state and the data content, wherein each of the units of work is implemented once for each iteration.

8. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising detecting anomalies in serializing storage frames by an operating system of the computing system based on a test monitor.

9. A system to verify serialization of storage frames within an address space in a computing system via multi-threaded programs, the system comprising:
a memory device configured to store instructions for units of work and a verification program; and
two or more processors configured to execute the instructions to dynamically scale the number of units of work based on a number of the two or more processors, each of the units of work configured to execute actions and dynamically scale an amount and page size of virtual storage accessed by each of the units of work based on a total available memory, wherein
each of the units of work is configured to obtain different types of storage pages in the virtual storage associated with different frame sizes and attributes of real storage, and to access the storage pages corresponding with the respective different types of virtual storage pages associated with the different frame sizes and attributes and perform a respective action, and
the two or more processors verify, for each of the units of work performing the respective action, a state and data content of the storage pages based on the respective action.

10. The system according to claim 9 , wherein the two or more processors dynamically scale the number of units of work based on assigning each of the units of work to a respective one of the two or more processors.

11. The system according to claim 9 , wherein the two or more processors dynamically scale the amount and page sizes of the virtual storage based on determining the total available memory as a sum of total amount of real storage, total amount of direct access storage device (DASD) auxiliary storage, and total amount of storage class memory (Flash) auxiliary storage.

12. The system according to claim 9 , wherein each of the units of work obtains at least one of a private, common, or shared virtual storage page of the different frame sizes and attributes including at least one of a 4 kilobytes (KB) disabled reference (dref), a 4 KB pageable storage frame, a 1 megabyte (MB) fixed storage frame, a 1 MB pageable storage frame, and a 2 gigabyte (GB) fixed storage frame.

13. The system according to claim 9 , wherein the two or more processors are further configured to obtain a diagnostic dump and halt one of the units of work when the state of the storage pages indicates an error for the one of the units of work.

14. The system according to claim 9 , wherein the units of work iteratively access the storage pages and perform the respective action.

15. The system according to claim 9 , further comprising a test monitor configured to detect anomalies in serializing storage frames by an operating system of the computing system.

16. A computer program product storing instructions which, when processed by a processor, cause the processor to implement a method of verifying serialization of storage frames within an address space in a computing system via multi-threaded programs, the method comprising:
dynamically scaling a number of units of work based on a number of available processors, each of the units of work configured to execute actions;
dynamically scaling an amount and page size of virtual storage accessed by each of the units of work based on a total available memory;
obtaining, at each of the units of work, different types of storage pages in the virtual storage associated with different frame sizes and attributes of real storage;
accessing, using each of the units of work, storage pages corresponding with the respective different types of virtual storage pages associated with the different frame sizes and attributes and performing a respective action; and
verifying, for each of the units of work performing the respective action, a state and data content of the storage pages based on the respective action.

17. The computer program product according to claim 16 , wherein the method further comprises obtaining a diagnostic dump when the verifying the state of the storage pages indicates an error for one of the units of work.

18. The computer program product according to claim 17 , wherein the method further comprises halting the one of the units of work.

19. The computer program product according to claim 16 , wherein the method further comprises iteratively performing the accessing the storage pages, the performing the respective action, and the verifying the state and the data content, wherein each of the units of work is implemented once for each iteration.

20. The computer program product according to claim 16 , wherein the method further comprises detecting anomalies in serializing storage frames by an operating system of the computing system based on a test monitor.

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Foster Alfred F
• Mari Charles E
• Miller Jr Robert
• Morgenstern Harris M
• Rankin Thomas F
• Tzortzatos Elpida

Classifications

• G06F11/073 Primary

  in a memory management context, e.g. virtual memory or cache management (memory management G06F12/00; testing of static memory units G11C29/00) · CPC title

• G06F11/0778

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

• G06F3/0631

  by allocating resources to storage systems · CPC title

• G06F3/0673

  Single storage device · CPC title

• G06F3/0607 Primary

  by facilitating the process of upgrading existing storage systems, e.g. for improving compatibility between host and storage device · CPC title