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1. installed on one hardware unit Under control of the mul tiple OS controller 11 a main OS 8 and a sub OS 9 are installed Under control of the sub OS 9 a test maintenance program 10 is installed The main OS 8 and the sub OS 9 may control the peripheral devices 6 1 and or 6 2 and the cards 7 1 and or 7 2 as necessary For example DAL DARMA Dependable Autonomous Hard Real Time Man agement Abstraction Layer described in the pamphlet Ex Manager Dec 1999 Information Device Operation Division of Hitachi Ltd may be used as the multiple OS controller 11 Windows NT may be used for example as the main OS 8 installed under control of the multiple OS controller 11 and Ex Kernel may be used as the sub OS 9 Windows NT is a product and trademark of Microsoft Corporation of Redmond Wash Next a hardware diagnosing method in the embodiment will be described with reference to FIG 2 Normally the peripheral devices 6 1 and or 6 2 or the cards 7 1 and or 7 2 operate under control of the main OS 8 When the main OS 8 detects a failure in the peripheral devices 6 1 and or 6 2 or the I O cards 7 1 and or 7 2 during operation in step S10 processing in the steps begin ning with step 520 are executed In this embodiment the failed peripheral devices 6 1 and or 6 2 or I O cards 7 1 and or 7 2 is repaired or replaced and then safely put under the control of the main OS 8 again without stopping the operatio2. it possible to perform non stop operation It should be further understood by those skilled in the art that although the foregoing description has been made on embodiments of the invention the invention is not limited thereto and various changes and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention and the scope of the appended claims What is claimed is 1 Acomputer apparatus comprising a Central Processing Unit CPU and a memory connected to said CPU including a first Oper ating System OS a second OS and an OS controller being executed by said CPU wherein said OS controller is operated to switch between said first OS and said second OS and to control said first US 7 000 153 B2 5 OS and said second OS so that said second OS is executed without interrupting operation of said first OS wherein a hardware component may be repaired replaced or added with power on in said computer apparatus and wherein the repaired replaced or added hardware com ponent is disconnected from said first OS and after an operation of the repaired replaced or added hardware component is checked by said second OS with said first OS performing usual processing control of the hard ware component is transferred to said first OS 2 A method of diagnosing a hardware component repaired replaced or added with power on in a computer apparatus in which a first Operating System OS and a second OS are installe
3. on wherein with the first OS performing usual processing the second OS uses a test program to check an operation of the repaired replaced or added hardware component This method ensures increased reliability even at a hard ware component repair replacement or addition time and at the same time makes non stop operation possible Other objects features and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description of the embodiments of the invention taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG 1 is a block diagram showing the system configu ration of a computer apparatus in one embodiment of the present invention FIG 2 is a flowchart showing the processing of a hard ware diagnostic method using the computer apparatus in one embodiment of the present invention DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS With reference to FIGS 1 and 2 the configuration and the operation of a computer apparatus in one embodiment of the present invention will be described FIG 1 is a block diagram showing the system configu ration of a computer apparatus in one embodiment of the present invention and FIG 2 is a flowchart showing the processing of a hardware diagnosing method using the computer apparatus in one embodiment of the present inven tion First with reference to FIG 1 the hardware configuration and software configuration of the computer apparatus in the em
4. status of said another PCI card or another peripheral device having been inserted is checked and wherein when said operating status is normal control of said another PCI card or another peripheral device having been inserted is transferred from said second OS to said first OS 4 The computer apparatus according to claim 3 wherein said first OS is a main OS and said second OS is a sub OS installing a test maintenance program 5 The computer apparatus according to claim 3 wherein under control by said second OS when said operating status checked is not normal said another PCI card or another peripheral device having been inserted is disconnected from control by said second OS
5. HE CONTROL YES THE REPAIRED OR REPLACED PERIPHERAL DEVICE OR I O CARD IS DISCONNECTED FROM THE SUB S100 OS AND IS PUT UNDER MAIN OS CONTROL THE REPAIRED OR REPLACED PERIPHERAL DEVICE OR I O CARD IS USED IN NORMAL S110 OPERATION UNDER MAIN OS CONTROL US 7 000 153 B2 1 COMPUTER APPARATUS AND METHOD OF DIAGNOSING THE COMPUTER APPARATUS AND REPLACING REPAIRING OR ADDING HARDWARE DURING NON STOP OPERATION OF THE COMPUTER APPARATUS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a computer apparatus and a method of diagnosing and more particularly to a computer apparatus in which a hardware component may be replaced repaired or added with power on and a method of diagnos ing that uses the computer apparatus As described in PCI Hot Plug Specification Revision 1 0 Oct 6 1997 Copyright c 1997 PCI Special Interest Group a PCI card connected to the PCI bus on a today s computer apparatus may be removed repaired replaced and then connected again for continued PCI card operation even during OS operation without turning off the computer power hereinafter called hot swapping Recently a computer especially a server is required to perform non stop operation 24 hours a day 365 days a year Therefore hot swapping described above makes it possible to repair or replace a hardware component such as a PCI card with the OS running and then to put the component into operation again under cont
6. a United States Patent Inagawa et al US007000153B2 US 7 000 153 B2 Feb 14 2006 10 Patent No 45 Date of Patent 54 COMPUTER APPARATUS AND METHOD OF DIAGNOSING THE COMPUTER APPARATUS AND REPLACING REPAIRING OR ADDING HARDWARE DURING NON STOP OPERATION OF THE COMPUTER APPARATUS 75 Inventors Takashi Inagawa Owariasahi JP Yasuo Hirata Nisshin JP Teiji Karasaki Isehara JP Shinji Kimura Sagamihara JP 73 Assignee Hitachi Ltd Tokyo JP Notice Subject to any disclaimer the term of this patent is extended or adjusted under 35 U S C 154 b by 309 days 21 Appl No 10 160 085 22 Filed Jun 4 2002 65 Prior Publication Data US 2002 0184563 A1 Dec 5 2002 30 Foreign Application Priority Data Jun 5 2001 6 2001 170117 51 Int Cl GO6F 11 00 2006 01 52 8 714 44 710 302 718 106 58 Field of Classification Search 714 11 714 12 13 44 710 302 718 105 106 See application file for complete search history 56 References Cited U S PATENT DOCUMENTS 6 212 585 B1 4 2001 Chrabaszcz 710 302 6 247 080 6 2001 Wallach et al 710 302 6 487 623 11 2002 Emerson et al 710 302 11 HARDWARE CORE MEMORY POWER SUPPLY PERIPHERAL DEVICE VO BUS CONTROL CIRCUIT CONTROL CIRCUIT TEST MAINTENANCE PROGRAM MULTIPLE OS CONTROLLER 6 691 146 2 2004 Armstrong et a
7. bodiment will be described In FIG 1 the part above the dotted line in the center of the figure indicates the hardware configuration and the part below the dotted line indicates the software configuration First the hardware will be described The computer apparatus comprises a hardware core 1 a periperal device control circuit 2 and an I O bus control circuit 3 The hardware core 1 comprises a CPU a memory a power supply and so on When the hardware core 1 fails the computer apparatus cannot perform operation The periph eral device control circuit 2 controls peripheral devices 6 1 and or 6 2 The I O bus control circuit 3 controls I O cards 7 1 and or 7 2 Peripheral device connection switches 4 1 and or 4 2 are provided between the peripheral devices 6 1 and or 6 2 and the peripheral device control circuit 2 to allow the peripheral devices 6 1 and or 6 2 to be hot swapped or hot plugged Note that depending upon the interface US 7 000 153 B2 3 between the peripheral devices 6 1 and or 6 2 and the peripheral device control circuit 2 the peripheral device connection switches 4 1 and or 4 2 are not always needed T O bus connection switches 5 1 and or 5 2 are provided in an I O bus such as a PCI bus connecting the I O cards 7 1 and or 7 2 to the I O bus control circuit 3 and support hot swapping Next the software configuration will be described A multiple OS controller 11 enables a plurality of OSs to be
8. ced or added hardware component and then passes the control of the hardware component to the main OS 5 Claims 2 Drawing Sheets ti HARDWARE 1 SOFTWARE US 7 000 153 B2 Sheet 1 of 2 Feb 14 2006 U S Patent we we ee eee eee Old 6 2 YSATIOULNOO SO SIdILINN SO NIYIN WvdDOud 531 WesHdldad GHVO 4 G L ov LINDYID TOH LNOO WesHdldad LINDYID TOHLNOO snd 9143 ATddNS HAMOd Ndd J409 SYVMGYVH 1 SOIARG WdaHdldad LL U S Patent Feb 14 2006 Sheet 2 of 2 US 7 000 153 B2 PERIPHERAL DEVICE OR VO CARD FAILED DURING MAIN OS OPERATION 510 THE MAIN OS DISCONNECTS THE FAILED PERIPHERAL DEVICE OR I O CARD FROM THE CONTROL 520 THE FAILED PERIPHERAL DEVICE OR I O CARD IS ELECTRICALLY DISCONNECTED FROM THE COMPUTER THE FAILED PERIPHERAL DEVICE OR I O CARD IS REMOVED FROM THE COMPUTER AND REPAIRED OR REPLACED PERIPHERAL DEVICE OR I O CARD IS INSTALLED ON THE COMPUTER THE REPAIRED OR REPLACED PERIPHERAL DEVICE OR I O CARD IS ELECTRICALLY CONNECTED TO THE COMPUTER THE SUB OS CONTROLS THE REPAIRED OR REPLACED PERIPHERAL DEVICE OR I O CARD THE SUB OS USES THE TEST MAINTENANCE PROGRAM TO CHECK THE OPERATION OF THE REPAIRED OR REPLACED PERIPHERAL DEVICE OR I O CARD 80 THE SUB OS DISCONNECTS THE FAILED PERIPHERAL DEVICE OR CARD FROM T
9. d and controlled under an OS con troller comprising the steps of performing usual processing with said first OS and checking an operation of said repaired replaced or added hardware component with a test program used by said second OS without interrupting said processing with said first OS and transferring control of said repaired replaced or added hardware component to said first OS after said repaired replaced or added hardware component has been checked under control of said OS controller 3 A computer apparatus comprising a processor a memory comprising a first Operating System OS a second OS and an OS controller said OS controller being operated to switch between said first OS and said 10 15 20 25 30 6 second OS and to control said first OS and said second OS so that said second OS is executed without inter rupting operation of said first OS an Input output I O bus controller a Peripheral Component Interconnect PCI card adapted for hot swapping a peripheral device adapted for hot swapping and an I O bus for connecting said I O controller and said PCI card wherein under control by said first OS when a failure of said PCI card or peripheral device is detected said PCI card or said peripheral device in failure is disconnected from control by said first OS wherein under control by said second OS when insertion of another PCI card or peripheral device is detected an operating
10. d then to pass the control of the inserted PC card to the main OS In this embodiment because the test maintenance pro gram is used to check the operation of a repaired or added hardware component after it is installed on the computer as described above the hardware component is passed reliably to the main OS Thus the so called the hot swapping or hot plugging operation may be executed under guarantee of the test maintenance program The main OS may use the hardware that is guaranteed to operate properly and there fore ensures increased reliability In addition the main OS capable of continuing usual processing may perform non stop operation From a security point of view the main OS is responsible for managing critical processing or important data while the sub OS is responsible only for computer apparatus mainte nance operations such as the execution of the test mainte nance program The task steps may be divided as follows the security manager executes steps S10 and S20 the computer repair and maintenance engineer executes steps 530 590 and the security manager executes step 5100 and S110 again This eliminates the need for the repair and maintenance engineer to directly operate the main OS with human errors taken into consideration and therefore increases system reliability The method according to the present invention increases security at the time of hardware repair replacement or addition and at the same time makes
11. l 718 100 2002 0087611 A1 7 2002 Tanaka etal 709 1 2002 0108074 A1 8 2002 Shimooka et al 714 25 2002 0133743 A1 9 2002 Oldfield et al 714 11 2002 0184576 12 2002 Arndt et al 714 48 FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS 2001236237 8 2001 200282816 3 2002 OTHER PUBLICATIONS JP JP System Commander User Manual V Communications Inc Oct 1996 Entire PCI Hot Plug Specification Revision 1 0 Oct 6 1997 Copyright c 1997 PCI Special Interest Group pp 1 38 DAL Darma Dependable Autonomous Hard Real Time Management Abstraction Layer pamphlet Dec 1999 Hitachi Ltd cited by examiner Primary Examiner Robert Beausoliel Assistant Examiner Christopher McCarthy 74 Attorney Agent or Firm Mattingly Stanger Malur amp Brundidge P C 57 ABSTRACT A computer apparatus and a method of diagnosing are provided that increase reliability and make non stop opera tion possible even at a hardware repair replacement or addition time The computer apparatus which comprises a main OS and a sub OS may have a peripheral device or an card repaired replaced or added with power on The repaired replaced or added hardware component is discon nected from the main OS With the main OS performing usual processing the sub OS uses a test maintenance pro gram to check the operation of the repaired repla
12. n of the main OS 8 In the description below it is assumed that an I O card 1 7 1 has failed The description also applies when an I O card 2 7 2 or peripheral device 6 1 or 6 2 fails For example when a failure is detected in the I O card 1 7 1 the main OS 8 disconnects the failed I O card 1 7 1 from the control in step 520 Next in step S30 the failed I O card 1 7 1 is electrically disconnected from the I O bus control circuit 3 by an I O bus connection switch 5 1 The I O bus connection switch 5 1 may be switched off for example by the main OS 8 by a repairman of the failed part or by removing the failed I O card Next in step S40 the repairman removes the I O card 1 7 1 from the computer for repairing it The repaired I O card 1 7 1 is installed in the slot from where it was removed Next in step S50 the repaired I O card 1 7 1 is electrically connected to the I O bus control circuit 3 by the operation of the I O bus connection switch 5 1 Next in step S60 the sub OS 9 controls the repaired I O card 1 7 1 That is this embodiment is characterized in that the sub OS 9 controls the repaired I O card 1 7 1 This allows the main OS 8 to continue normal operation making non stop operation possible Next in step 570 the sub OS 9 uses the test maintenance program 10 to check the operation of the repaired I O card 1 7 1 Next in step S80 the sub OS 9 checks if the operation of the I O card 1 7 1 for
13. rol of the OS again However when a hardware component such as a PCI card is repaired or replaced with the OS running and then is put into operation again under control of the OS there is no way to check if the repaired or replaced PCI card operates properly or if the card is mounted correctly Whether or not the repair or replacement has been done successfully is not known until control is passed back to the OS and the component starts operation under control of the OS For a server that is required to perform non stop operation it is dangerous to put a repaired or replaced PCI card under OS control while worrying whether it operates properly Similarly a PCI card or a peripheral device may be added even during non stop operation hereinafter called hot plugging However after addition it is dangerous to put the added PCI card or peripheral device under OS control without checking the operation To avoid such a danger a PCI card is repaired replaced or added with the power off Then after the hardware component is repaired replaced or added the OS environ ment containing a test program for checking the hardware is started and after confirming that the hardware operation is normal with the use of the test program the power is turned off or the system is re booted to start the main OS and to bring the system back into normal operation The problem with this method is that the non stop operation cannot be performed because thi
14. s method requires the main OS to stop operation while the hardware component 15 repaired replaced or added and while the test maintenance program checks the hardware operation SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a computer apparatus and a method of diagnosing that ensure high reliability and non stop operation even when a hard ware component is repaired replaced or added To achieve the above object the present invention pro vides a computer apparatus in which a first OS and a second OS may be installed and in which a hardware component 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 2 may be repaired replaced or added with power on wherein the repaired replaced or added hardware component is disconnected from the first OS and after an operation of the repaired replaced or added hardware component is checked by the second OS with the first OS performing usual processing a control of the hardware component is passed to the first OS This configuration ensures increased reliability even at a hardware component repair replacement or addition time and at the same time makes non stop operation possible In addition to achieve the above object the present invention provides a method of diagnosing that uses a computer apparatus in which a first OS and a second OS may be installed and in which a hardware component may be repaired replaced or added with power
15. which the test maintenance program 10 was executed is normal If the operation is not normal 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 4 control is passed to step S90 if the operation is normal control is passed to step S100 If the operation of the I O card 1 7 1 is not normal the sub OS 9 disconnects the abnormal I O card 1 7 1 from the control in step 590 and repeats the operations following step 530 to repair the I O card 1 7 1 again On the other hand if the operation of the I O card 1 7 1 is normal the sub OS 9 removes the repaired I O card 1 7 1 from the control in step S100 and passes the control of the card 1 7 1 to the main OS 8 Next in step S110 the main OS 8 puts the repaired I O card 1 7 1 in normal operation Through the sequence of operations described above the failed I O card 1 7 1 is repaired without having to interrupt the operation of the main OS In the above description the method is used to repair or replace a failed peripheral devices 6 1 and or 6 2 or I O cards 7 1 and or 7 2 The processing steps following step 550 may also be used to add a peripheral devices 6 1 and or 6 2 or an I O cards 7 1 and or 7 2 without having to interrupt the processing of the main OS For a PC card used on a notebook PC when a new PC card is inserted into the PC card slot it is also possible to check the operation of the inserted PC card with the use of the sub OS an
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