JPH05216613A - System message controller - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To display a system message without restarting a system, and to display only the system message without mixing unnecessary instruction and the other operation instructions and further to display a system message with an optional form even when a system down is occurred by storing the system message with the exclusive hardware and displaying the message. CONSTITUTION:A system message is stored in a system message storage section 16 consisting of nonvolatile memories backed up by batteries, etc. The storage time is added to each system message. An operator operates a system message control instruction section 18 to display the system message on a system message display section 17, and prints it out at need.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a system message control device for promptly and surely notifying an operator of a system message for transmitting information on the operating state of a computer system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art When operating a computer system,
As the system becomes more complicated, it becomes necessary to surely grasp the operating state of each part of the system. A system message is issued at the time of occurrence of a failure or the like in order to convey information regarding the operation state of each unit. Such system messages are displayed to the operator in the following manner. FIG. 2 shows an explanatory diagram of a conventional system message output method. As shown in the figure, the system message 1 is output to, for example, the console printer 2, the console display 3, the system disk 4, or the like. The console printer 2 prints various information including the system message 1 as a print list 5. Further, when the system message 1 is displayed on the console display 3, the operator outputs the hard copy list 6 having the same contents as the screen as needed. The system disk 4 is composed of, for example, a magnetic disk device or the like, and the operator outputs the disk dump list 7 at a predetermined timing. It should be noted that various information other than the system message 1 is mixed in each of such lists.

[0003]

By the way, in the above-mentioned method, conventionally, in the case of analyzing a system message including its occurrence history, the following problems are caused in terms of operability, flexibility and speediness. was there. For example, in the method of outputting to the console printer 2 to obtain the print list 5, the print list 5 is printed with various kinds of information such as input of operation instructions and device response, and attention is paid only to system messages. In the case of analysis, there has been a problem that it is complicated because it needs to be extracted. Further, in the method of displaying the system message 1 using the console display 3, there is a limit to the amount of system messages that can be displayed on one screen, and the hard copy list 6 is similar to the case where the console printer 2 is used. There is a problem that unnecessary information such as operation instruction input is printed at the same time.

Further, when obtaining the disk dump list 7 from the system disk 4, it is possible to select only the necessary information and make the format easy to read.
However, for example, after a system failure occurs and the system goes down, there is a problem that the contents of the system disk 4 cannot be dumped until the system is restarted. In particular, the operator confirms the run / stop instruction of the machine, and the maintenance service person performs maintenance operations inside the device. On the other hand, the system message may be viewed by both the operator and the maintenance service person, and it is desirable that the system message is easier to view. The present invention has been made in view of the above points, efficiently saves a system message, and can immediately retrieve and display a necessary item when performing the analysis, operability, flexibility,
It is an object of the present invention to provide a system message control device excellent in promptness.

[0005]

A system message control apparatus of the present invention stores a system message storage unit composed of a non-volatile memory for receiving and accumulating a system message which conveys information about an operating state of a system, and the system message as described above. When storing in the system message storage unit, a clock unit for adding the storage time, a system message display unit for displaying the system message, and a display content of the system message displayed on the system message display unit are selectively controlled. A system message control instruction unit and a printer interface unit for printing the system message stored in the system message storage unit are provided.

[0006]

This device stores a system message in the system message storage unit which is composed of a non-volatile memory backed up by a battery or the like. The storage time is added to each system message. The operator can operate the system message control instruction section to display the system message on the system message display section at any time and print it out as necessary. In this way, by storing and displaying the system message by the dedicated hardware, even if the system goes down, the system message can be displayed without restarting the system.
Also, do not mix unnecessary commands and other operation instructions,
Only system messages can be displayed.

[0007]

The present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the embodiments shown in the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a system message control device of the present invention. Prior to the description of this figure, an example system using the device of the present invention will be described.
FIG. 3 shows a block diagram of a system configuration example which is a target of the embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, this system has a CPU unit 2
1 controls each part of the system via the system bus 22. A memory unit 23 and an IO control unit 25 are connected to the system bus 22. The IO controller 25 is connected to the magnetic disk device 2 via the IO bus 26.
7, a printer device 28, a terminal 29, etc. are connected. CPU of such a general computer system
In the section 21, the device according to the present invention is realized inside the console panel 10 and is connected to the CPU-console panel interface 20. When a failure or various information to be notified occurs in such a system, information regarding the operating state is sent to the system message control device in the console panel 10 as a system message.

Returning now to FIG. 1, the system message controller is provided in a console panel 10 which provides means for communication between an operator and the system, as shown in the description of the system configuration example of FIG. It was realized.
The console panel 10 has both a normal console panel function and a system message control function, and the console panel control unit 11 is configured to control the operation of the entire console panel. Console panel control unit 11
A normal display / operation unit 13, an interface control unit 14, a clock unit 15, a system message storage unit 16, a system message display unit 17, a system message control instruction unit 18, which are not related to system messages, via the internal bus 12. A printer interface 19 is connected.

The normal display / operation section 13 not related to the system message is a section provided with a display lamp and operation switches necessary for a normal console panel, which is not related to the storage / display of the system message. The interface control unit 14 includes the computer system and the CPU-console panel interface 2 shown in FIG.
0 through which the CPU section 21 is connected.
It is configured to accept system messages from. The clock unit 15 is a circuit that is operated by the battery 15A and is configured to measure the current time even when the power supply of the device is cut off. When the system message is accepted, the clock section 15 outputs information about the current time. The system message storage unit 16 is the battery 1
It is composed of, for example, a semiconductor memory backed up by 6A. Here, many system messages input from the interface control unit 14 are displayed in the clock unit 15 described above.
It is stored together with the current time input from, that is, its storage time. The system message display unit 17 includes a display that displays the system message and the storage time stored in the system message storage unit 16 in a preset format. The system message control instruction section 18 is provided with operation keys for designating the display method and display format of the system message displayed on the system message display section 17. The specific content will be described later with reference to FIG. Printer interface 19
Is a circuit for data transfer for causing the printer 30 to print the contents of the system message stored in the system message storage unit 16.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory view of a display example of the above system message. The system message is input to the console panel 10 at any time via the CPU-console panel interface 20 shown in FIG. 3, and is stored in the system message storage unit 16 of FIG. That is, the system message storage unit 16 integrally stores the system message 32 and the storage time 33. Figure 1
The system message 32 and the storage time 33 are displayed in a predetermined format on the display 17A (also shown in FIG. 4) of the system message display unit 17 shown in FIG. The system message control device of the present invention having the above configuration operates as follows.

First, when information about an operating state such as a failure is input to the CPU section 21 from each section of the computer system as described with reference to FIG. 3, a system message according to the content is generated and is displayed on the console panel 10. input. This system message is input via the interface face control unit 14 in FIG. 1, and is stored in the system message storage unit 16 together with the storage time generated by the clock unit 15. It should be noted that the system message storage unit 16 has a certain capacity, and should a system message exceeding that capacity be input, for example, a part of the system messages accumulated in the past will be transferred via the interface control unit 14. Then, it is sent back to the CPU section 21 to execute the system message control method according to the conventional method.

The input system message is stored in the system message storage unit 16 and is printed out to the printer 30 shown in FIG. 1 when necessary. Here, the system message storage unit 16 is the battery 16A.
Since it is backed up by the system, even if the system goes down after receiving a system message, the contents are retained, and by operating only the console panel 10 without restarting the system. The accumulated system messages can be displayed. The system message stored in the system message storage unit 16 is displayed in the following manner by the system message control instruction unit 18 shown in FIGS. 1 and 4, for example.

In FIG. 4, the system message control instruction section 18 includes a display mode switch 17B, a scroll up button 17C and a scroll down button 17.
D and a printout button 17E are provided. FIG. 5 shows an explanatory diagram of a function example of the system message control instruction unit 18. The display mode switch 17B is a switch for switching between the automatic mode and the manual mode. In the auto mode, the latest system message received from the CPU unit 21 is automatically displayed on the system message display unit 17. Further, in the manual mode, the operation of the following buttons for manually displaying the system messages stored in the system message storage unit 16 is enabled. The buttons for this manual operation are the scroll up button 17C, the scroll down button 17D, and the printout button 1.
It corresponds to 7E.

The scroll-up button 17C is enabled in the manual mode, and the system message display unit 1 is rewound by pushing the system message stored in the system message storage unit 16 forward each time the button is pressed.
7 is a button for instructing to display. The scroll-down button 17D is a button that is valid in the manual mode and instructs to display the system message accumulated in the system message storage unit 16 on the system message display unit 17 by post-feeding each time it is pressed down. .. The printout button 17E is
The system messages stored in the system message storage unit 16 that are valid in the manual mode are displayed in the printer 3
It is a button for instructing to print 0.

By operating the system message control instruction unit 18 as described above, the system message storage unit 16
The system message and the storage time stored therein can be displayed in the system message display unit 17 in an arbitrary format without being mixed with any other operation instruction. Further, similar contents are selected as necessary and output to the printer 30. Therefore, according to the system message control device of the present invention, the contents displayed on the system message display unit 17 and the contents printed on the printer 30 are all checked for the operating state of the system,
Only the minimum necessary information for inspection is provided, and the analysis work becomes easy. The present invention is not limited to the above embodiments. The method and format for storing the system message in the system message storage unit 16, or the system message display unit 1 by the system message control instruction unit 18
The display method etc. on 7 may be changed to an arbitrary format as necessary.

[0016]

As described above, the system message control apparatus of the present invention automatically receives and stores the system messages for transmitting the information regarding the operating state of the system, and automatically stores the storage time for analyzing the operating history. The system message is stored in a system message storage unit that consists of a non-volatile memory that does not lose its contents even when the power is turned off, so that system messages can be displayed quickly and reliably as needed. You can In addition, since the system message storage unit, the clock unit, the system message display unit, the system message control instruction unit, and the like are configured by hardware to perform preset display control, even when a system down occurs, for example. In the case of the embodiment, the system message can be displayed only by turning on the power of the console panel in which the system message control device is incorporated without restarting the entire system.

Further, by outputting a system message to a device independent of a device used for command instructions and system response, and controlling storage, display and printing independently, information other than the system message can be displayed. Not only is it possible to display system messages in an arbitrary format, it is possible to provide excellent human interface work support, and system message analysis work becomes extremely easy. This eliminates the need for expensive I / O devices for system messages.
It is possible to provide a system message control device excellent in operability, flexibility, speediness, and economy.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a system message control device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of a conventional system message output method.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a system configuration example including the device of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a display example of a system message.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a function example of a system message control instruction unit.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 console panel 11 console panel control unit 14 interface control unit 15 clock unit 16 system message storage unit 17 system message display unit 18 system message control instruction unit 20 CPU-console panel interface

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A system message storage unit comprising a non-volatile memory that receives and stores a system message that conveys information related to the operating state of the system, and a storage time when the system message is stored in the system message storage unit. A clock unit for adding a system message, a system message display unit for displaying the system message, a system message control instruction unit for selectively controlling display contents of the system message on the system message display unit, and a system message storage unit. A system message control apparatus comprising: a printer interface unit for printing a stored system message.