Isolation of input/output adapter error domains
AssigneeInternational Business Machines Corporation
InventorsRichard L. Arndt, Patrick A. Buckland, Gregory M. Nordstrom, Steven M. Thurber
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Method, apparatus and system for isolating input/output adapter error domains in a data processing system. Errors occurring in one input/output adapter are isolated from other input/output adapters of the data processing system by functionality in a host bridge that connects the input/output adapters to a system bus of the data processing system, thus permitting the use of low cost, industry standard switches and bridges external to the host bridge.
Claims8
A data processing system, comprising:
- a system bus;
- a host bridge connected to the system bus, wherein the host bridge includes a table having a plurality of entries;
- and
- a plurality of input/output units connected to the host bridge without a bridge chip located external of the host bridge for isolating errors in the plurality of input/output units from other components of the data processing system, wherein each input/output unit is identified by an identifier and each of the plurality of entries is capable of being assigned to a different input/output unit, wherein the host bridge includes functionality for isolating errors in the plurality of input/output units from other components of the data processing system using the identifier and the table to access an input/output unit State Array that indicates a state of an operation of the at least one of the plurality of input/output units.
An apparatus for isolating an error in one input/output unit of a data processing system from other components of the data processing system, comprising:
- a host bridge for connecting a plurality of input/output units to a system bus without a bridge chip located external of the host bridge for isolating errors in the plurality of input/output units from other components of the data processing system, wherein the host bridge includes a table having a plurality of entries, each of the plurality of entries capable of being assigned to a different input/output unit of the plurality of input/output units, and wherein each of the plurality of input/output units includes an identifier, the host bridge including functionality for isolating an error in one of the plurality of input/output units from other components of the data processing system by using the identifier and the table to access an input/output unit State Array that indicates a state of an operation of the first one of the plurality of input/output units.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.