I am the only one who practices magic: I practice magic in the city

Chapter 413 Take Care of Yourself (5423)

Single byte flip in FPGA chip?

Bai Yuheng's head buzzed.

The basis of semiconductors is binary 0 and 1. Through the state of semiconductors, countless combinations of 0 and 1 are created, and these binary data are used to represent everything.

Each 0 or 1 is a byte.

Under certain extreme conditions, such as high or low temperature or voltage fluctuations, a single byte may flip from 0 to 1 or from 1 to 0.

At this time, if the flip occurs in the data storage unit, it may cause erroneous data to be returned; if it occurs in the control unit, it may cause a logical error.

Therefore, modern chips have built-in error detection and correction as well as parity checking functions to automatically detect flipped bytes and make corrections.

FPGA chips are no exception.

FPGA chips are often used to accelerate specific computing tasks, such as data encryption, compression, network traffic management, etc. In the search field, FPGA can be used to accelerate search algorithms, especially when it comes to large-scale indexing and keyword matching.

At the same time, FPGA can also be used in storage controllers to improve storage access speed and efficiency. A large number of FPGA chips are used in Qianxun's IDC.

"This is impossible!" Bai Yuheng's body shook violently again and again, and he even forgot his previous cautiousness.

“We have previously checked the consistency of FPGA registers and cache data and found no erroneous data! The return result of the instruction chain is also completely normal!

"Really? Wait a minute, let me ask about the specific situation of Telomere." Sun Jing's fingers clattered on the keyboard for a while, and soon Telomere's terminal sent back a more detailed analysis of the cause of the failure.

"So that's it!"

Sun Jing suddenly realized what was going on and turned to Bai Yuheng and said, "Brother Bai, the flipped byte is 11010110 (0xD6). I don't know why it flipped to 11010111 (0xD7), and 0xD7 corresponds to 'whitelist non-censorship'. Because the corresponding byte has content, the system did not report an error and returned a normal result."

! ! ! ! ! !
"Is it that simple?" Bai Yuheng's facial muscles twitched, and he could hardly believe his ears.

It was just a single-byte flip of the chip cache. Hundreds of super technical geniuses and thousands of top technicians at Qianxun spent a month trying to find this problem?

Moreover, if only one FPGA chip had a single-byte reversal problem, it would not cause the overall "content management" of the Qianxun server to fail. Qianxun uses more than 7 Virtex- FPGA chips!

"It's not that simple, actually." Sun Jing pushed up his glasses and pointed at the laptop screen. "It's clear now that the FPGA chip that initially failed should be located in the core scheduling node of the system, such as the review control server, the rights management server, and the main cache server, which caused the global review logic to be overwritten or bypassed."

"Originally, this failure should have been discovered within a few seconds, and the system would have automatically transferred the task to the backup node."

"But by coincidence, the fault occurred at the moment when the rules were distributed. The window period was extremely short. It may be that the reversal just occurred, and a few milliseconds later it just happened to catch up with the automatic distribution of the system's rules."

"You see, the rule distribution time in the system log also supports this speculation."

“Since the distribution logic is instantaneous and has no fault-tolerance checks, errors are replicated on a large scale and diffused to all child nodes within the time window through batch distribution.”

"In theory, if it is a normal byte flip, it will most likely point to a blank memory area, causing a data miss error. In that case, although it will also cause the 'content management' to fail, it will be easy to detect the problem."

"But the flipped address happened to point to the whitelisted non-censored content area. The data link did not encounter any error return and was executed smoothly. As a result, after the Qianxun 'content management' module failed, no error was found."

"As you know, when the system distributes and calls rules, it usually assumes that the data is correct unless the fault-tolerance check logic is triggered. But since this running logic is error-free from the computer's perspective, the fault-tolerance check will naturally not be triggered."

"A single-byte flip is not a very serious error, nor is it a very difficult error to find, but the prerequisite is that there is a data error. If there is no data error, it is almost impossible to find the flipped byte among trillions of bytes using only conventional inspection methods."

"Telome also gave its own guess on the cause of this single byte flip through the Orange Big Model API. Ten minutes before the Qianxun server had its first problem in May, the sun had an M-level flare. Although the intensity was not high, it is possible that the neutrons from the flare hit the corresponding byte, causing the byte flip."

"Qianxun's IDC should also have a shielding design, but you know, this thing doesn't have a 100% shielding rate, and high-energy particles can occasionally penetrate the protective layer."

"As for why Qianxun's 'content management' returned to normal after more than a month, there is no corresponding information in the logs, and the erroneous process has been overwritten. The reason for the original recovery is no longer traceable. What can be confirmed at present is that this outage, which lasted for more than a month, is still a continuation of the failure in May."

Sun Jing pushed up his glasses and looked at the report sent back by Telomere with shining eyes: "It can be said that the failure of Qianxun's 'content management' module is not an ordinary technical failure, but the result of a series of low-probability events coincidentally superimposed."

"From the instantaneous occurrence of a single-bit flip in the core FPGA node, to the extreme triggering of the rule distribution window, to the accidental pointing of the flipped byte to the 'whitelist non-review' area, and finally to the fact that it was covered up by normal logs with no errors. These factors combined allowed this error to lurk like a ghost for a whole month."

Bai Yuheng looked at the densely packed fault reports on Sun Jing's computer screen with mixed emotions on his face.

Was it just such a failure that caused Qianxun, a company with a market value of hundreds of billions of Da Zhou coins, to collapse overnight?

It was just such a failure that not only caused me to lose my job, but also almost cost me my life?

"Now that we have found the cause of the problem, the rest is easy to handle." Sun Jing tapped the keyboard a few times, "It's nothing more than flipping the corresponding bytes or changing the mapping address, then forcing the cache to refresh, and finally redistributing it..."

Sun Jing pressed Enter lightly, and then began to test whether the "content management" module of the mirror server had returned to normal.

The familiar Qianxun search page once again showed the familiar "No results found".

"It's done!"

Sun Jing snapped his fingers and chuckled.
-

IDC No. 5.

"Mr. Qin, Mr. Zhang, it's a mirror server itself, and it's just a virtual link to the network. There's no need to do port detection, right?" A young man wearing a short-sleeved plaid shirt and looking like a programmer checked every port with a frown on his face.

Seeing CTO Qin Zhixing, who was wearing a suit and Prada black-framed glasses, and Zhang Xiangzheng, who was also wearing a short-sleeved shirt, coming over, the programmer complained to the two CEOs with a reluctant look on his face.

What are you doing?
Now there is no connection to the network itself, it is just a virtual network connection in the sandbox system. What is the point of port detection?

Yes, this is what our operating regulations require. But let’s not talk about the fact that the mirror server that is currently assigned is not connected to the external network at all. Even if it is now connected to the external network, who will really work according to the operating regulations?
Can we achieve the labor efficiency ratio you set by following the rules completely?

When you set this efficiency ratio, you didn't expect us to really follow the regulations. You just wanted to find someone to take the blame if something went wrong, but now you have installed it.

Zhang Xiangzheng looked at Qin Zhixing, who patted the programmer on the shoulder and said, "Specifications are the bottom line, not an option. Even in the sandbox, we must ensure that there are no omissions in every link. Safety accidents often start with the word 'carelessness'."

The programmer almost threw the keyboard.

This crappy company is no longer viable!
Zhang Xiangzheng and Qin Zhixing looked at each other and shook their heads tacitly.

The people below had such poor awareness and such a low level of vision that they thought they were really here to help Chihiro solve the problem.

720 has poached a lot of people from Qianxun, and has also asked these people for detailed information about Qianxun's specific problem, so they are not completely ignorant of this issue.

Chihiro is the Changzhou Military Academy in the industry. Even Ahri and Penguin dare not say that they are better than Chihiro in technical ability. How can a problem that Chihiro can't solve in a month be solved by a mob of five people who are unfamiliar with the place?

Boss Qiu always says that the person he looks down upon the most is Chihiro, but actually he is just envious!

You don't even have to think about it!
It is estimated that the five teams will spend a month here, and things will remain the same. In the end, the higher-ups will have to designate one team to clean up Qianxun's mess.

Who will be designated at that time?

Of course, it is the one that makes me feel most at ease.

Therefore, the focus this time is not to find a way to fix Qianxun’s vulnerability, but to perform in a way that will reassure the higher-ups!

Of course, if a blind cat collides with a dead mouse and really stumbles upon a solution, that would be even better. If not, and Penguin or Ali solves the problem after more than ten days, it doesn’t matter. It takes them so long to solve it that they can’t get a very high score. At that time, impression points will still be the most important.

They are all being watched through the cameras.

This is also the "essence" that Qiu Hongyi thought he had found after two meetings with the 720 management.

When passing by a camera, Qin Zhixing even adjusted his tie.

And Zhang Xiangzheng's expression couldn't help but become a little more majestic.

Just at this moment, both of their cell phones rang at the same time.

"It has been confirmed that Ysou has completed the fault repair of the A03 mirror server. The review team has confirmed its technical effectiveness through the backup A06 mirror server. The competition part of this bidding is over. The technical demonstration meeting will be held in half an hour at..."

Tan Zhixing and Zhang Xiangzheng stood there in a daze.

Y search completed the fault repair?

We haven't even started yet and they've already finished?

Really? In such a short time, the port scan is not yet completed!

They definitely didn't scan the port! ——"Two hours and forty-five minutes, a little slower than I expected. It seems that the 'telomere' module needs more training data and parameter adjustment."

Fang Yu looked at the countdown on his phone and saw that there were still 15 minutes left until three hours.

"Fortunately, I left some room for myself when I said it just now, so I didn't get embarrassed."

Fang Yu stood up, raised his eyebrows, clasped his fists, and smiled: "My apologies, bosses. Thank you for letting me take over."

Almost everyone was speechless in an instant due to the pressure that Fang Yu unintentionally exuded.

Chen Wei touched his chin with a twinkling look in his eyes.

Mahua Teng's face was as gloomy as water, and he looked a little panicked.

Ma Yun lowered his head and looked at his phone, and it was unknown who he was communicating with or what he was talking about.

There was silence in the monitoring room of Qianxun Yu County Data Center.

Although the technical review has not yet given its final review opinion, everyone knows that the competition is over.

This kind of result, which allows you to obtain real evidence and raise formal doubts with just one try, is impossible to fake.

Unless verification is not allowed.

Sure enough, within three minutes, the leader of the technical review team stood up and announced that the operation of the "content management" module of the Qianxun A03 server had passed a series of automated test scripts or simulation verification of actual data flows, and the business logic was clear, and it could be preliminarily determined that the existing fault problems had been eliminated.

According to the existing process determined in advance, the A03 mirror server will undergo a five-day internal test. At the same time, any other bidding companies are welcome to conduct repeated verification of the repair status and raise reasonable questions within five days.

Is this the five-day public notice period? After the five-day public notice period, if there is no reasonable doubt, will Y Sou be declared the winner?

Question it! Of course you have to question it!

Erma and Qiu Hongyi have made up their minds that no matter whether it is useful or not, they must question it.

The question is, questioning what?
This fault is very hidden, but surprisingly easy to fix. Even a kid who has just learned programming can do it.

The simpler things are, the harder it is to question.

It is difficult to question but we must question it. We have been in the Internet industry for so many years, spent so much money, and employed so many people, isn’t it just for today?

The two Ma looked at each other and found a rare tacit understanding.

Even if Youzi Technology eventually acquires Qianxun, we must make them pay a higher price, slow down their development, and give us more time!

Five days, five days, we must find a good solution.

"I have doubts!"

A familiar voice suddenly came from behind Erma.

There is no need to look back, just by listening to the voice you can tell it is the old troll Qiu Hongyi.

The two Mas made plans, but Qiu Hongyi just did what he said.

Everyone at the scene turned their eyes to Qiu Hongyi.

Qiu Hongyi's forehead was shiny, and she scratched her messy hair. "Let me make it clear that this is just a reasonable guess, and I have no evidence. But YSearch was able to accurately locate the cause of the fault in such a short time, and even specifically locate the fault point and solve the problem. This is beyond my understanding of the current development of Internet technology."

"Mr. Fang just said that they use AI technology, called the 'telomere' model or module to handle faults. It sounds very high-sounding, but I come from a technical background and I am more concerned about the rationality of the technology. Whether it is handled by AI or by humans, finding the corresponding fault requires a careful and complex reasoning process."

“As far as I know, there is no AI model that can do this.”

“So I think Y-search is shooting the arrow first and then drawing the target.”

"To put it more clearly, Ysou already knew the cause of the Qianxun server failure. If I were to go a step further, I think we cannot rule out the possibility that the Qianxun server failure was caused by Ysou!"

"After all, it's all just a coincidence. Ysou just came out and Qianxun had its first failure. And Ysou is also the company that benefited the most from Qianxun's two failures. From the perspective of the beneficiary, Ysou is also the most suspicious."

"Therefore, I do not agree with the results of this competition. At the same time, I demand that Yi'an Prefecture, Dongguan, Taifu Temple and the patrol authorities jointly investigate the role of Ysou and Youzi Technology in the Qianxun failure incident and give an explanation to all Internet users."

Qiu Hongyi spoke quietly and in a mild tone, but as soon as she said this, almost everyone at the scene, including Fang Yu, was shocked.

Others: Lao Qiu is awesome, he is worthy of being a professional troll with twenty years of experience.

Fang Yu: Can this guy predict the future?
Er Ma looked at Qiu Hongyi with admiration.

Can you say that? This is pure slander without any evidence, and it is such a serious accusation. Do you want to fight with Youzi Technology to the death?

It seems that this guy is not targeting anyone in particular, but rather - "Don't get me wrong, everyone here, I will kill whoever I catch."

But... this is indeed an offensive direction.

Just can't be as stupid as Lao Qiu, you have to work behind the scenes...

"Ahem." Qu Lingshi coughed twice to break the silence. "It is our responsibility to ensure the stable and rapid development of the Internet ecosystem of the Great Zhou Dynasty. We need to further investigate and understand President Qiu's doubts. At the beginning of this bidding, we set the principle of fair and just bidding. If there are other bidding units that want to raise questions on site, they can raise them together, or submit written questions to the emergency command team during the five-day public announcement period."

Ma Yun's eyes flickered, and he was considering whether to interject and fan the flames when he heard Chen Wei's steady voice beside him: "Didi has no objection to the result of the technical competition."

!!!

The two Ma turned their eyes to Chen Wei.

They are very familiar with Chen Wei.

Chen Wei was originally from Ali. After founding Didi, he received support and investment from Penguin. After the subsidy war a year ago, SuDi and Didi merged, and Ali became a shareholder of Didi.

But what’s interesting is that neither Ali nor Penguin actually have much influence on Didi.

Essentially, Didi and they are actually taking different paths.

Chen Wei didn't raise any questions?
what's the situation?
What are you doing here? To bid for me?

Ma Yun, who originally wanted to open his mouth to join in the conversation, closed his mouth again.

Something is not right, let's wait and see.

Qiu Hongyi glared at Chen Wei.

You treacherous villain! Didn’t you say that Didi was determined to acquire Qianxun’s map business?
Could it be that they did some PY transaction in private?

"Hehe." Fang Yu chuckled, took two steps, and came to Qiu Hongyi.

What does this kid want to do? Does he really want to hit someone?

Qiu Hongyi stretched her neck with an indifferent expression. She glanced at the emergency exit from the corner of her eye, but found that Fang Yu did not make any other movements. He just lowered his head and said in a very low voice:
"You're right, it was me who did it."

! ! ! ! ! !
Qiu Hongyi's face changed drastically, her body shook violently, and she almost fell to the ground.

What he just said was complete nonsense. This kind of failure could not possibly be caused by an external attack.

Did he really do it? Is this true?

He just admitted it like that? Aren't you afraid that I will tell others about it?
Didn’t Chihiro notice anything at all?

If it is true, how did Yuzu Technology do it?
No, these are not important. Now that he has admitted it, I will expose him now!

Qiu Hongyi was about to open her mouth to scold when she heard Fang Yu's voice again.

"Hudson, Robespierre, Dingxin, Qiming, Lion City, plus a public 'Balance Point', Mr. Qiu better be careful next time you move funds. If these trusts are 'hit', you may really not even have money to rent a house."

! ! ! ! ! !
Qiu Hongyi looked up suddenly, but saw Fang Yu smiling with a hint of contempt on his lips.

"Boss Qiu, take care of yourself."

(End of this chapter)