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US 6,640,203 B2Granted
Process monitoring in a computer system
AssigneeSun Microsystems, Inc.
InventorsRoger S. Brown, Karen C. Roles, Simon G. Applebaum
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
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AssigneeSun Microsystems, Inc.
InventorsRoger S. Brown, Karen C. Roles, Simon G. Applebaum
Estimating the term…
The health of a process is monitored in a computer system by a process monitor. The monitored process (a configuration management system daemon (CMSD)) is not a child of the process monitor. The process monitor uniquely determines the identity of a monitored process and verifies the correct operation of the monitored process. In the absence of verification of the correct operation of the monitored process, the monitored process is caused to initiate. On successful initiation of the monitored process, the monitored process is uniquely identified to the system and is detached from the process monitor. Each monitored process is arranged to write, on initiation, its unique process identification information (PID) to a file, which file is then accessed by the process monitor to identify the process monitor. The process monitor can interrogate the operating system to verify correct operation of the CMSD. As an alternative, the process monitor could test whether the CMSD is functioning by making service requests to the CMSD.
A method of monitoring a process in a computer system using a process monitor, where the monitored process is not a child of the process monitor;
A method of restarting a process to be monitored in a computer system, the method comprising:
A computer system comprising a process to be monitored, the process to be monitored being configured, on successful initiation, uniquely to identify itself to the system, and a process monitor configured:
A computer program on a carrier medium, the computer program forming a process monitor including program code configured uniquely to determine the identity of a monitored process, to verify correct operation of the monitored process, and, in the event of being unable to verify correct operation of the monitored process, to cause the monitored process to restart, such that the monitored process is not a child of the process monitor, and wherein the monitored process, on successful restart, initially checks that it is operable and, if it is operable, indicates to the process monitor that it is operable, backgrounds itself, and uniquely identifies itself to the system.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.