JPH11149461A - Communication method between functions in multi-system distributed system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To separate the mechanism of communication from a function to be executed in a computer by providing an inter-function communication control mechanism for referring to a soundness check table and specifying the computer of a communicating party and a network to be used and a soundness check mechanism for preparing the state of the soundness check table. SOLUTION: The inter-function communication control mechanism 21 starts an operation by a transmission request from the function A1 or a reception request from a communication function 23 and judges whether it is the transmission request or the reception request. When it is the transmission request, transmission request data from the function A1 are fetched, the soundness check table 26 which is a data base for specifying the communicating party is referred to and the computer for actually performing communication from the function specified as a transmission object is obtained. Further, through the communication function 23, required data are transmitted to the obtained communication object computer. Thus, the mechanism of the communication is separated from the function to be executed in the computer and maintainability is improved.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a multiplex distributed system in which the same function is executed by one or more computers and a large number of functions are executed by one or more computers in a distributed manner. The present invention relates to a method for communicating each function.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in computer systems having important industrial functions, it is general to employ a multiplex system having a use system and a standby system for the purpose of improving reliability and operating rate. It has been done. There is also a function distribution system in which a plurality of computers are connected via a network and communicated with each other for the purpose of improving the processing performance of the computer system, so that the functions to be performed by the computer system are distributed among the plurality of computers. As a communication method of a multiplexed distributed system combining these, for example, there is a communication method described in JP-A-1-112462, in which only a host computer has a dual system and a local computer has a working system and a standby system. It is not a multiplex system that includes There is no communication method between functions in a multiplexed distributed system in which the features of a multiplexed system and a distributed system are combined and a computer that executes each distributed function of the function distributed system is a multiplexed system.

[0003]

In a multiplexed distributed system, when a function being distributed communicates with another function, a computer to be communicated is specified at the time of transmission, or a plurality of computers are specified without specifying a computer to be communicated. , And the receiving side must select and receive the communication target computer. However, when the functions to be performed by the computer communicate with other functions, having the logic to specify the computer to be communicated with awareness of the system form complicates the development of the system,
In addition, the system cannot be flexibly coped with the enhancement of the system, and the portability becomes poor. In addition, there is a similar problem when a communication target computer is selected on the receiving side, and an unnecessary communication load increases due to communication with a computer that does not require reception.

An object of the present invention is to provide an inter-function communication method separated from functions to be performed by a computer.

[0005]

According to the present invention, there is provided a soundness check table indicating an operation mode of each computer performing a function and a communication state using a network connected to the computer. By providing an inter-function communication control mechanism that specifies the network to be used with the computer of the communication partner to be referred to, and a sanity check mechanism that creates the state of the sanity check table, the communication mechanism can be changed from the functions to be performed by the computer. It is characterized by being separated.

That is, by providing a soundness check table, a communication control mechanism, and a soundness check mechanism, a function to be executed by a computer can inform a communication control mechanism of a function to be communicated when communication with another function is required. The communication control mechanism refers to the soundness check table, specifies a computer to be used as a communication partner, and specifies a network to be used, so that one-to-one communication can be realized.

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows a system configuration diagram of a multiplex distributed system to which the present invention is applied. The multiplex distributed system includes a large number of functions implemented by a computer, such as function A1, function B2,.
1 that implements function 1 -Af11 and computer -As12, and computer that implements function B2 -Bf13 and computer -Bs1
4. Computer Zf15 and computer Z that perform function Z3
s16, and a number of computers, and these computers-Af1
, A computer-As12,..., A network 17 connecting the computers Zs16 to enable data communication between the computers, and a computer-Af11, a computer-A
s12,..., computer—comprises a soundness check table 26 which is a database for selecting a communication target computer when the above function communicates with another function via the network 17 in each computer of Zs16. Is done. The computer that implements the functions A1, B2,..., Z3, etc. is computer-Af11 for the purpose of improving reliability.
And Computer-As12, Computer-Bf13 and Computer-Bs
14. A multiplex system configuration in which the same function is performed by a plurality of computers, such as the computer-Zf15 and the computer-Zs16.

Function A distributed to a plurality of computers
The functions 1, 2, B3,..., Z3, etc., perform the functions given as the whole system, and therefore operate in cooperation with each other. Therefore, the functions communicate with each other as in the function A1 and the function B2. However, for example, when communicating with the function B2, there are two computers, the computer-Bf13 and the computer-Bs14, that execute the function B2, and it is necessary to specify one of the computers as a communication target computer. FIG. 2 shows a processing configuration in which the communication mechanism is separated from the functions in the inter-function communication in which the functions communicate with each other so that the inter-function communication can be performed.

FIG. 2 shows an example of the computer-Af11. The processing in the computer-Af11 is performed by a function A1, a function A1, a request from the function A1, a function B2, a function Z3, etc. Inter-function communication control mechanism 21 for controlling inter-function communication with the function, soundness check table 26 referred to by inter-function communication control mechanism 21, and soundness check table 2
6, a communication function 23 that communicates with other computers via the network 17 in response to a request from the inter-function communication control mechanism 21 or the inter-function communication control mechanism 21, and these functions. It comprises a management control function 24 for managing. The processing configuration of the computer-As12 is the same as that of the computer-Af11.
And the computer-Zf15 differ only in the functions to be performed by the computer, and the other processing configuration is the same as that of the computer-Af11.

FIG. 3 shows the contents of the soundness check table 26. The identifiers indicate the functions such as the functions A1 and B2, the identifiers 32 indicate the computers such as the computer-Af11 and the computer-As12, and the identifiers of the computers. Operation mode 33,
Network identifier 3 used for communication with the computer
4, a communication status 36 between the network identifier 35 and the target computer via the network, a reception time 37 of a communication check message for checking the communication status 36, and the like are stored. Here, the operation mode 33 includes a normal mode, a standby mode, a test mode, and the like, and indicates an operation state of each of the multiple systems.

The operation of each unit in FIG. 2 will be described with reference to the flowcharts in FIGS. 4, 5 and 6.

The processing start factors of the function A1 include a start request for continuation processing from another function and an internally generated start request such as processing performed at a specified time, and data reception from another function. According to the flowchart of FIG. 4, when the function A1 is started, it is determined whether the processing start factor is a start request or a request by data reception from another function (box 41). Request for data from other functions (box 42). When receiving a data request from another function or receiving return data as a result of a data request from another function, it is determined to be received in the activation / reception determination (box 41).
Since there is data reception from another function, the received data is taken in via the inter-function communication control mechanism 21 (box 4).
3).

It is determined whether the received data is a data request from another function (box 44). If the received data is a data request, the data requested by the other function is collected, and the return data is edited (box 45). A return request is made to the request source function via the mechanism 21 (box 46). If it is not a data request in the determination in box 44, it corresponds to return data for the data request, and the received data is used as input data.
A process (box 47) according to the input data is performed, and an output process of the processing result (box 48) is performed. Further, it is determined whether or not another function requires continuation processing (box 49). If continuation processing is necessary, a request for activation of the function is made via the inter-function communication control mechanism 21 (box 50). As described above, since the function A1 only needs to communicate via the inter-function communication control mechanism 21, communication with other functions is performed only by specifying the function to be communicated.

Next, the operation of the inter-function communication control mechanism 21 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. The inter-function communication control mechanism 21 transmits a transmission request from the function A1 or the communication function 2
The operation is started in response to a reception request from the third device. First, when the operation starts, it is determined whether the request is a transmission request or a reception request (box 5).
1) If the request is a transmission request, the transmission request data from the function A1 is fetched (box 52). A computer for communication is obtained (box 53). Further communication function 2
Then, the necessary data is transmitted to the communication target computer obtained through the step 3 (box 54). If it is determined in box 51 that the request is a reception request, the reception data is fetched from the communication function 23 (box 55) and the reception data is sent to the function A1 (box 56). Here, the details of the procedure for obtaining a computer that actually performs communication (box 53) will be described. From the soundness check table shown in FIG. 3, a computer 32 that performs the function 31 that matches the destination function is obtained. For example, in the case of a transmission request with function B, the computers to be obtained are Bf and Bs. Further, referring to the obtained operation mode 33 of the computer, a computer that matches the operation mode of the own computer is determined as a communication target computer. When a network used for communication between computers is multiplexed, a network to be used is selected.

When the network is selected as follows, the network used can be divided so that the communication between the test modes does not affect the communication between the normal modes. In the case of communication between the normal modes, the network f is used by referring to the communication state 36 of the network f if the communication is possible and the network s is used if the communication is not possible. If communication is not possible with both the network f and the network s, communication with the computer is impossible. In the case of communication between test modes, referring to the communication state 36 of the network s, if communication is possible, the network s is used, and if communication is not possible, communication with the computer is disabled.

With the above-described mechanism of the inter-function communication control mechanism 21, a computer to be communicated and a network used for communication can be selected, and one-to-one communication between the computers becomes possible.

Finally, the operation of the soundness check mechanism 22 for creating information of the soundness check table 26 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. Soundness check mechanism 2
The processing request 2 includes a reception request from the communication function 23 when a soundness check message is received from another computer and a transmission request for soundness check message transmission at intervals. If there is a processing request from the health check mechanism 22, it is first determined whether the request is a transmission request or a reception request (box 61). If the request is a reception request, reception data of a soundness check message is acquired from the communication function 23 (box 66). The contents of the soundness check table 26 are updated with the contents of the received data (box 67). More specifically, the information includes the operation of the received data transmission source computer and the operation mode. Further, the reception time in the soundness check table 26 is updated (box 68).

On the other hand, if the request is a transmission request, the execution work and the operation mode of the computer are set, the data of the soundness check message is edited (box 62), and the soundness check message is transmitted via the communication function 23 (box 62). Box 63). Further, the reception time in the soundness check table 26 is compared with the current time, and if it is open for a prescribed time or longer, it is determined that communication is not possible, and the communication impossible is written in the soundness check table 26 (box 64). Finally, the transmission time is updated to the next transmission time (box 65).

The operation mode 33 of the computer can be efficiently created on the soundness check table 26 together with the communication state 36 between the computers via the network by the mechanism of the soundness check mechanism 22 described above.

[0020]

According to the present invention, communication between functions can be performed across computers without being aware that the system is a multiplex distributed system and without being aware of network multiplexing. As a result, the development efficiency of the functions of the computer system is improved, and the maintainability and portability to changes in the system configuration are also improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram showing an example of a multiplex distributed system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a processing configuration diagram for implementing the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the configuration of a soundness check table provided in the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure of a function.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a processing procedure of an inter-function communication control mechanism.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a processing procedure of a soundness check mechanism.

[Explanation of symbols]

1-3: function, 11-16: computer, 17-19: network, 21: inter-function communication control mechanism, 22: soundness check mechanism, 23: communication function, 24: management control function, 2
6 ... Soundness check table.

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A function distribution system having a function distribution function by performing communication between a plurality of computers, a plurality of functions realized by using the computers, and a network connecting the plurality of computers and the plurality of functions. In the inter-function communication method, a soundness check table which is a database indicating a computer used for the function unit is provided, and when the function communicates with another function, the soundness check table is referred to and a computer of a communication partner is referred to. A communication method between mechanisms in a multiplexed distributed system, comprising an inter-function communication control mechanism for specifying the communication and performing one-to-one communication. 2. The inter-function communication method according to claim 1, wherein when the network is a multiplexed network including a plurality of networks, a soundness having a database indicating a network used for each computer of the communication partner. An inter-function communication method in a multi-system distributed system, comprising an inter-function communication control mechanism for referring to a check table to identify and communicate with a network to be used. 3. The inter-function communication method according to claim 2, wherein communication for checking the soundness between said computers is performed for each network, and a result of the soundness check is stored in said soundness check table. An inter-function communication method in a multi-distributed system characterized by updating the contents of a sex check table. 4. The inter-function communication method according to claim 1, wherein an operation mode of the own computer is added to the message of the soundness check and transmitted, and the received operation mode is stored in the soundness check table. An inter-function communication method in a multiplexed distributed system, wherein a computer of an operation mode corresponding to the operation mode of the own computer is selected when specifying the computer of the communication partner. 5. The communication method according to claim 2, wherein the CPU which is in use by the own CPU is used for a communication integrity check message.
Adds an identifier that identifies B (Data Base) and communicates with the CPU
A method for inter-function communication in a multiplex distributed system, wherein a check is made to determine whether a DB is in use with a database. 6. The inter-function communication method according to claim 2, wherein a network used for inter-computer communication between computers operating online and inter-computer communication between computers operating offline is separated. A communication method between functions in a multiplex distributed system.