System using programmable processor for selectively enabling...

Details System using programmable processor for selectively enabling... System using programmable processor for selectively enabling...

1997-10-01

2002-12-24

Beausoleil, Robert (Department: 2781)

Electrical computers and digital data processing systems: input/

Intrasystem connection

Bus access regulation

C710S108000, C710S120000, C713S340000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06499073

ABSTRACT:

PRIORITY CLAIM
The benefit under 35 U.S.C. §119(e) of the following U.S. provisional application(s) is hereby claimed:
Application
Title
No.
Filing Date
“Hardware and Software Architecture for
60/047,016
May 13, 1997
Inter-Connecting an Environmental
Management System with a Remote
Interface”
“Self Management Protocol for a Fly-
60/046,416
May 13, 1997
By-Wire Service Processor”
“Hot Plug Software Architecture for Off
60/046,311
May 13, 1997
the Shelf Operating Systems”
“Computer System Hardware Infra-
60/046,398
May 13, 1997
structure for Hot Plugging Single and
Multi-Function PCI Cards Without
Embedded Bridges”
“Computer System Hardware Infra-
60/046,312
May 13, 1997
structure for Hot Plugging Multi-Function
PCI Cards With Embedded Bridges”
APPENDICES
Appendix A, which forms a part of this disclosure, is a list of commonly owned copending U.S. patent applications. Each one of the applications listed in Appendix A is hereby incorporated herein in its entirety by reference thereto.
Appendix B, which forms part of this disclosure, is a copy of the U.S. provisional patent application filed May 13, 1997, entitled “HOT PLUG SOFTWARE ARCHITECTURE FOR OFF THE SHELF OPERATING SYSTEMS” and assigned Application No. 60/046311. 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.
Appendix C, which forms part of this disclosure, is a copy of the U.S. provisional patent application filed May 13, 1997, entitled “COMPUTER SYSTEM HARDWARE INFRASTRUCTURE FOR HOT PLUGGING SINGLE AND MULTI-FUNCTION PCI CARDS WITHOUT EMBEDDED BRIDGES” and assigned application Ser. No. 60/046,398. 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.
Appendix D, which forms part of this disclosure, is a copy of the U.S. provisional patent application filed May 13, 1997, entitled “COMPUTER SYSTEM HARDWARE INFRASTRUCTURE FOR HOT PLUGGING MULTI-FUNCTION PCI CARDS WITH EMBEDDED BRIDGES” and assigned application Ser. No. 60/046,312. 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
The field of the invention relates to I/O adapters in computer systems. More particularly, the field of invention relates to the hot add and swap of adapters on a computer system.
2. Description of the Related Technology
As enterprise-class servers, which are central computers in a network that manage common data, become more powerful and more capable, they are also becoming ever more sophisticated and complex. For many companies, these changes lead to concerns over server reliability and manageability, particularly in light of the increasingly critical role of server-based applications. While in the past many systems administrators were comfortable with all of the various components that made up a standards-based network server, today's generation of servers can appear as an incomprehensible, unmanageable black box. Without visibility into the underlying behavior of the system, the administrator must “fly blind.” Too often, the only indicators the network manager has on the relative health of a particular server is whether or not it is running.
It is well-acknowledged that there is a lack of reliability and availability of most standards-based servers. Server downtime, resulting either from hardware or software faults or from regular maintenance, continues to be a significant problem. By one estimate, the cost of downtime in mission critical environments has risen to an annual total of $4.0 billion for U.S. businesses, with the average downtime event resulting in a $140 thousand loss in the retail industry and a $450 thousand loss in the securities industry. It has been reported that companies lose as much as $250 thousand in employee productivity for every 1% of computer downtime. With emerging Internet, intranet and collaborative applications taking on more essential business roles every day, the cost of network server downtime will continue to spiral upward.
A significant component of cost is hiring administration personnel. These costs decline dramatically when computer systems can be managed using a common set of tools, and where they don't require immediate attention when a failure occurs. Where a computer system can continue to operate even when components fail, and defer repair until a later time, administration costs become more manageable and predictable.
While hardware fault tolerance is an important element of an overall high availability architecture, it is only one piece of the puzzle. Studies show that a significant percentage of network server downtime is caused by transient faults in the I/O subsystem. These faults may be due, for example, to the device driver, the device firmware, or hardware which does not properly handle concurrent errors, and often causes servers to crash or hang. The result is hours of downtime per failure, while a system administrator discovers the failure, takes some action, and manually reboots the server. In many cases, data volumes on hard disk drives become corrupt and must be repaired when the volume is mounted. A dismount-and-mount cycle may result from the lack of “hot pluggability” or “hot plug” in current standards-based servers. Hot plug refers to the addition and swapping of peripheral adapters to an operational computer system. Diagnosing intermittent errors can be a frustrating and time-consuming process. For a system to deliver consistently high availability, it must be resilient to these types of faults.
Existing systems also do not have an interface to control the changing or addition of an adapter. Since any user on a network could be using a particular adapter on the server, system administrators need a software application that will control the flow of communications to an adapter before, during, and after a hot plug operation on an adapter.
Current operating systems do not by themselves provide the support users need to hot add and swap an adapter. System users need software that will freeze and resume the communications of their adapters in a controlled fashion. The software needs to support the hot add of various peripheral adapters such as mass storage and network adapters. Additionally, the software should support adapters that are designed for various bus systems such as Peripheral Component Interconnect, CardBus, Microchannel, Industrial Standard Architecture (ISA), and Extended ISA (EISA). System users also need software to support the hot add and swap of canisters and multi-function adapter cards, which are plug-in cards having more than one adapter.
In a typical PC-based server, upon the failure of an adapter, which is a printed circuit board containing microchips, the server must be powered down, the new adapter and adapter driver installed, the server powered back up and the operating system reconfigured.
However, various entities have tried to implement the hot plug of these adapters to a fault tolerant computer system. One significant difficulty in designing a hot plug system is protecting the circuitry contained on the adapter from being short-circuited when an adapter is added to a powered system. Typically, an adapter contains edge connectors which are located on one side of the printed circuit board. These edge connectors allow power to transfer from the system bus

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