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Automatic monitoring method for managed server healthRelated Patent Categories: Error Detection/correction And Fault Detection/recovery, Data Processing System Error Or Fault Handling, Reliability And Availability, Fault Recovery, By Masking Or Reconfiguration, Of NetworkAutomatic monitoring method for managed server health description/claimsThe Patent Description & Claims data below is from USPTO Patent Application 20070088972, Automatic monitoring method for managed server health. Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims
CLAIM OF PRIORITY [0001] This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/339,469, entitled "METHOD FOR AUTOMATIC MONITORING OF MANAGED SERVER HEALTH," by Rahul Srivastava, et al., filed Jan. 9, 2003, which claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/359,009, entitled "ECS NODE MANAGER FOR ENSURING HIGH AVAILABILITY SERVER AND APPLICATION," by Rahul Srivastava, et al., filed Feb. 22, 2002, which applications are incorporated herein by reference. CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS [0002] The present application is related to the following United States Patents and Patent Applications, which patents/applications are assigned to the owner of the present invention, and which patents/applications are incorporated by reference herein in their entirety: [0003] U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/338,981, entitled "METHOD FOR EVENT TRIGGERED MONITORING OF MANAGED SERVER HEALTH," filed on Jan. 9, 2003, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,152,185, issued Dec. 19, 2006, which claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/359,009, entitled "ECS NODE MANAGER FOR ENSURING HIGH AVAILABILITY SERVER AND APPLICATION," filed on Feb. 22, 2002; [0004] U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/339,144, entitled "SYSTEM FOR MONITORING MANAGED SERVER HEALTH," filed on Jan. 9, 2003, currently pending, which claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/359,009, entitled "ECS NODE MANAGER FOR ENSURING HIGH AVAILABILITY SERVER AND APPLICATION," filed on Feb. 22, 2002; [0005] U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/340,496, entitled "METHOD FOR INITIATING A SUB-SYSTEM HEALTH CHECK," filed on Jan. 10, 2003, currently pending, which claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/359,010, entitled "SERVER SELF-HEALTH MONITOR," filed on Feb. 22, 2002; [0006] U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/340,227, entitled "METHOD FOR MONITORING A SUB-SYSTEM HEALTH," filed on Jan. 10, 2003, currently pending, which claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/359,010, entitled "SERVER SELF-HEALTH MONITOR," filed on Feb. 22, 2002; and [0007] U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/340,002, entitled "SYSTEM FOR MONITORING A SUBSYSTEM HEALTH," filed on Jan. 10, 2003, currently pending, which claims priority to U. S. Provisional Patent Application No, 60/359,010, entitled "SERVER SELF-HEALTH MONITOR," filed on Feb. 22, 2002. COPYRIGHT NOTICE [0008] A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever. FIELD OF THE INVENTION [0009] The present invention relates generally to managing a network of servers, and more particularly to monitoring the health of a network of servers. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0010] As computer and computer systems have evolved over the years, the processes they implement have evolved in their complexity. One approach to implementing computer processes to solve more complex problems is to assign a number of computers to handle different parts of a process. Each part or task may be handled by different computers, computer objects, applications, or servers, hereafter referred to collectively as servers. These servers make up a distributed network. Within the network, different servers may handle functions such as management, data base maintenance, accessibility, server boot-up, shut-down, and so forth. [0011] Servers within a distributed network perform transactions with other servers and use resources within the system. As the servers require the use of other servers and resources, the operability and reliability of the servers become more important. If a server fails while performing a task, it may affect other servers and resources that were tied up in transactions with the server at the time of its failure. Whether a server has failed completely or the server's condition has degraded is important information to a network. Thus, it is important to know the status of a server in order to maintain the health of the server and the network in which it operates. A maintenance system should be able to require a server to provide health information and be able to maintain or correct servers not operating properly. [0012] What is needed is a system for monitoring and inquiring into the health of a server and for taking corrective action if deemed appropriate. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION [0013] In one embodiment of the present invention, a Node Manager (NM) monitors the status of multiple servers. The NM detects server failures, periodically monitors server health status, and performs server maintenance. When the NM detects a server failure, it determines whether or not the server is restartable. If the server is restartable, the NM checks to see if any other conditions exist that limit the server from being restarted. If no other conditions exist, the server is restarted. If the failed server is not restartable or other conditions exist preventing the server from being restarted, the failed server is not restarted. [0014] In another embodiment of the present invention, the NM periodically monitors the health of a server whether or not the NM detects a server failure. This process begins when the NM makes a health query to a server. Then, the NM waits for a server response containing the server's health information. If the server replies that it is healthy, the NM continues to monitor the server. If the server's reply indicates the server's health is degenerate or the server does not reply at all, the NM presumes the server has failed. The NM may wait a specified period of time before deciding the server has failed to respond to a query. Once a server is deemed failed, the NM then determines whether to terminate the server. [0015] The NM may be controlled by parameters located within the NM or Administration Server (AS). The parameters may be burned into system software or modified at runtime. In another embodiment, the NM may be controlled by an external administrative agent. An administrative agent may control the NM by interfacing with the AS. For increased security, the NM and AS may authenticate each other and encode their communications between each other. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS [0016] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of several nodes having servers in a self health monitoring system in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. [0017] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the operation of the automatic monitoring system of a Node Manager in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. Continue reading about Automatic monitoring method for managed server health... Full patent description for Automatic monitoring method for managed server health Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims Click on the above for other options relating to this Automatic monitoring method for managed server health patent application. ###  How KEYWORD MONITOR works... a FREE service from FreshPatents1. Sign up (takes 30 seconds). 2. Fill in the keywords to be monitored. 3. Each week you receive an email with patent applications related to your keywords. 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