SYSTEM AND METHOD OF MONITORING A DISTRIBUTED FAULT TOLERANT COMPUTER SYSTEM

摘要

A system and method for monitoring a distributed fault tolerant computer system. A hardware counter mechanism (e.g. a countdown counter) is reset repeatedly by a software reset mechanism during normal operation, thereby preventing the counter mechanism from reaching a count indicative of the existence of a fault. A unit provides a signal to a bus indicative of the status (ON or OFF) of the unit. A management subsystem defines a configuration for the distributed fault tolerant computer system. The management subsystem is responsive to status signals on the bus and selectively reconfigures a stored representation in response to changing status signals on the bus.