Method for monitoring server sub-system health
View Patent ↗A server self health monitor (SHM) system monitors the health of the server it resides on. The health of a server is determined by the health of all of a server's sub-systems and deployed applications. The SHM may make health check inquiries to server sub-systems periodically or based on external trigger events. The sub-systems perform self health checks on themselves and provide sub-system health information to requesting entities such as the SHM. Sub-systems self health updates may be based on internal events such as counters or changes in status or based on external entity requests. Corrective action may be performed upon sub-systems by the SHM depending on their health status or the health status of the server. Corrective action may also be performed by a sub-system upon itself.
1. A method of monitoring the health of a server comprising:
registering a sub-system of the server with a server health monitor;
monitoring the sub-system by the server health monitor;
receiving a health update from the sub-system to the server health monitor wherein the health update provides information regarding the health of the sub-system;
determining health of the server by the server health monitor based at least in part upon the health update received from monitoring the sub-system;
performing a corrective action upon the sub-system, wherein the corrective action is based on the health of the sub-system; and
wherein a parameter specifies the maximum number of times the server can be restarted within a period of time specified by another parameter.
2. The method as claimed in claim 1 further comprising:
configuring the sub-system to be monitored by the server; and
transmitting information to the server health monitor indicating the sub-system is to be monitored by the server health monitor.
3. The method as claimed in claim 2 wherein said configuring the sub-system includes configuring a MBean residing in the sub-system.
4. The method as claimed in claim 1 wherein said monitoring the sub-system includes:
detecting a triggering event; and
performing a health status update on the sub-system by the sub-system, the sub-system determining a health information for the sub-system as a result of the health status update; and
processing the health information.
5. The method as claimed in claim 4 wherein the triggering event is a change in the status of the sub-system.
6. The method as claimed in claim 4 wherein the triggering event is an event occurring external to the sub-system, and the occurrence of the event is communicated to the sub-system.
7. The method as claimed in claim 4 wherein said monitoring the sub-system further comprises:
providing sub-system health information to an entity, the entity having requested the sub-system's health information from the sub-system.
8. The method as claimed in claim 2 further comprising:
performing shutdown of the sub-system, and the sub-system unregistering from being monitored by the server health monitor.
9. The method of claim 1 , wherein a node manager enables an administrator to start and kill servers remotely.
10. The method of claim 1 , wherein a health update indicates that the sub-system is at one of multiple pre-defined health levels.
11. The method of claim 10 , wherein health levels correspond to conditions, the conditions including good, failed, and between good and failed.
12. The method of claim 10 , wherein the sub-system is set to the critical level if a minimum number of transactions have timed out.
13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the health update is triggered periodically by a counter.
14. The method of claim 1 , wherein the server health monitor determines that the server has failed if any critical sub-system has failed.
15. The method of claim 1 , wherein the server health monitor determines that a sub-system has failed if the sub-system fails to respond.
16. The method of claim 1 , wherein the server health monitor can shut down a failed sub-system.
17. The method of claim 1 , wherein the server health monitor can shut down the server if a critical sub-system failed.
18. The method of claim 1 , wherein all communication between a node manager and an administrative server is encrypted.
19. The method of claim 1 , wherein the sub-system performs a health check upon itself and provides sub-system health information to requesting entities.
20. The method of claim 1 , wherein the sub-system health updates are triggered by external entity requests, internal events such as counters, or changes in status.