System for detecting errors in a network

Details System for detecting errors in a network System for detecting errors in a network

1997-10-01

2001-03-27

Chin, Wellington (Department: 2664)

Multiplex communications

Fault recovery

C370S217000, C370S254000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06208616

ABSTRACT:

RELATED APPLICATIONS
The subject matter of U.S. Patent Application entitled “Method of Detecting Errors in a Network”, filed on Oct. 1, 1997, Application Ser. No. 08/940,302, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,052,733 is related to this application.
APPENDICES
Appendix A, which forms part of this disclosure, is a copy of the U.S. provisional patent application filed May 13, 1997, entitled “Means for Allowing Two or More Network Interface Controller Cards to Appear as One Card to an Operating System”” and assigned application Ser. No. 60/046,491. Page 1, line 7 of the provisional application has been changed from the original to positively recite that the entire provisional application, including the attached documents, forms part of this disclosure.
COPYRIGHT RIGHTS
A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent files or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to systems for detecting errors in a network environment. Specifically, this invention relates to a system for detecting faulty network interface cards within a computer system.
2. Related Art
Personal computers (PCs) have undergone evolutionary changes since the original models based on the Intel 8088 microprocessor, such as the International Business Machine Corporation (IBM) PC and other IBM-compatible machines. As the popularity of PCs have grown, so has the demand for more advanced features and increased capability, reliability and speed. Higher order microprocessors such as the Intel 20286, 30386, 40486, and more recently, the Pentium series have been developed. The speed of the fastest of these processors, the Pentium II series is 266 MHz as opposed to the 8 MHz clock speed for the 8088 microprocessor.
Faster bus architectures have been developed to support the higher processor speeds. Modem computer systems typically include one or more processors coupled through a system bus to main memory. The system bus also typically couples to a high bandwidth expansion bus, such as the Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus which operates at 33 MHz and is capable of transferring data at a rate of 133 MBps. High speed devices such as small computer systems interface (SCSI) adapters, network interface cards (NIC), video adapters, etc. can be coupled to a PCI bus. An older type low bandwidth bus such as the Industry Standard Architecture (ISA), also referred to as the AT bus, is generally coupled to the system bus as well. This bus operates at 6 MHz. To the ISA bus are attached various low speed devices such as keyboard, Basic Input/Output System (BIOS) and parallel and communications ports. These devices are known as legacy devices because they trace their lineage, their legacy, back to the initial PC architecture introduced by IBM in 1982.
With the enhanced processor and bus speeds the PC now is utilized to perform as a server, and to provide high speed data transfers between, for example, a network and a storage device. However, because modern PCs are not designed to provide very sophisticated levels of fault tolerance, systems and methods must be devised to protect users from hardware failures. This is particularly important in server computers. For example, there is currently no inexpensive and direct mechanism for allowing a PC using one or more arbitrary LAN protocols to contain several network interface cards that act in a fault tolerant manner so that if one fails, the other card automatically takes over responsibility for routing network server traffic. Thus, a need exists for a simple, inexpensive system that allows multiple network interface cards to reside within a standard personal computer and provide fault tolerant capabilities.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
One embodiment of the invention is a computer system, including a) a protocol stack; b) a first network interface card (NIC) and a second NIC in communication with the protocol stack; and c) a program module in communication with the protocol stack, the first NIC and the second NIC, wherein the program module includes instructions for routing data packets from the protocol stack to the second NIC if errors are detected at the first NIC.
Another embodiment of the invention is a computer system that includes: a) a protocol stack; b) a first network interface card (NIC) and a second NIC in communication with the protocol stack; c) first instructions for sending probe packets from the first NIC to the second NIC; and d) second instructions, responsive to the first instructions, for disabling the first NIC if the probe packets are not received.
Yet another embodiment of the invention is a programmed storage device for load balancing network traffic between a plurality of network interface cards. The programmed storage device includes instructions that when executed perform the method of: a) determining the address of a primary network interface card NIC) and a secondary NIC in a computer system; b) binding the primary NIC and secondary NIC into a group; and c) routing a portion of the data packets sent to the address of the primary NIC to the address of the secondary network interface card.
Still another embodiment of the invention is a server computer that includes: a) means for binding a first NIC and a second NIC together to form a group; b) means for analyzing the first NIC to determine if any errors have occurred; c) means for disabling the first NIC if errors are detected; and d) means for transferring control of the network traffic to the second NIC.


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