Network including data integrity monitoring

A method for monitoring data integrity on a network, the method comprising:

• receiving a message over a link of the network by a network switch or a network node;
• determining if the message comprises error data;
• creating a report message in response to the message comprising error data comprising a count of an error data counter;
• transmitting the report message to a network data integrity manager function of a network switch or a network node to add the count to a total count of a corrupted data counter to determine whether the link has a fault;
• adding the count of the error data counter to the count of the corrupted data counter;
• comparing the count of the corrupted data counter to an error data threshold for the link;
• and
• determining that the link has a fault in response to the count of the corrupted data counter being greater than the error data threshold for the link.

A network comprising data integrity monitoring, the network comprising:

• a plurality of network switches, wherein the plurality of network switches are configurable to selectively interconnect two or more network nodes from a plurality of network nodes, wherein each network switch comprises:
• a network switch processor circuit;
• a switching function operable on the network switch processor circuit and configured to selectively connect to another network switch or a network node from the plurality of network nodes;
• and
• a network switch error data reporting function operable on the network switch processor circuit and configured to:
• read error data from a switch interface associated with a particular link of the network;
• create a network switch report message including the error data;
• and
• transmit the network switch report message to a network monitoring algorithm, wherein the network monitoring algorithm is configured to determine a data integrity of the particular link;
• and
• a network data integrity manager comprising:
• a processor circuit;
• a memory associated with the processor circuit, wherein the memory comprises computer-readable program instructions that, when executed by the processor circuit, cause the processor circuit to perform a set of functions comprising:
• receiving a report error message comprising a count from an error data counter associated with a certain link, wherein the count of the error data counter is increased in response to each message received over the particular link that includes error data;
• adding the count of the error data counter to a count of a corrupted data counter;
• comparing the count of the corrupted data counter to an error data threshold for the particular link;
• and
• determining that the particular link has a fault in response to the count of the corrupted data counter being greater than the error data threshold for the particular link.