Self-Diagnosis in Distributed Systems

This paper deals with computer system diagnosis that is performed by a system itself, rather than by an outside mechanism. The devices performing the diagnosis and the devices communicating diagnostic information are included in the system model and may be potentially faulty. This paper differs from previous work in several ways. A more general diagnostic model is used that permits analysis of a larger class of systems, and the diagnostic goals are more closely matched to realistic self-diagnosis problems. In addition, there are differences in assumptions regarding test invalidation and effects of faults on communication that produce greater self-diagnosibility while accurately modeling faulty system behavior.