Sun Microsystems, Inc.

David Labuda

John E Watkins

William C Van Loo

Gary L Owens

A boot device, a local or remote install media, and a local or remote storage device are provided to a computer system. The boot device comprises an install media locator and starter module. The local or remote install media comprises an install set up and control module and an install module. The local or remote storage device comprises a defaulted or a customized collection of installation files. The defaulted/customized collection of install files comprise a classification rules file, a number of pre-install class class script files, a number of install class parameter files, and a number of post-install class script files. Together, these elements cooperate to automatically install software products on the computer system, and configure the operating environment of the computer system.

Automated software installation and operating environment configuration

An I/O cache is provided to a computer system comprising a main memory and a number of DVMA/DMA I/O devices for caching I/O data between the main memory and the DVMA/DMA I/O devices. The I/O cache selectively caches the I/O data in accordance to the device class types of the DVMA/DMA devices. The I/O cache comprises an I/O cache data array, an I/O cache address tag array, an I/O cache mapper, and I/O cache control logic. The I/O cache data array comprises a number I/O cache lines, each having a number of I/O cache blocks, for storing I/O data between the main memory and the DVMA/DMA devices. The I/O cache tag comprises a number of corresponding I/O cache address tag entries, each having a number of I/O cache address tags and associated control information, for storing address and control information for the I/O data stored in the I/O cache lines. The I/O cache mapper maps the dynamically or statically allocated I/O buffers in main memory of each DVMA/DMA device having a cacheable device class type to a set of dynamically or statically assigned unique I/O cache buffers in the I/O cache data array, thereby ensuring that no two DVMA/DMA devices with cacheable I/O data will share the same I/O cache block. The I/O control logic controls accesses, indexes and updates to the I/O cache mapper, the I/O cache tag and data arrays.

Input/output cache with mapped pages allocated for caching direct

An I/O write back cache memory and a data coherency method is provided to a computer system having a cache and a main memory. The data coherency method includes partitioning the main memory into memory segments, dynamically assigning and reassigning the ownership of the memory segments either to the cache memory or the I/O write back cache memory. The ownership of the memory segments controls the accessibility and cacheability of the memory segments for read and write cycles performed by the CPU and I/O devices. During reassignment, various data management actions are taken to ensure data coherency. As a result, the I/O devices can perform read and write cycles addressed against the cache and main memory in a manner that increases system performance with minimal increase in hardware and complexity cost.

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David Labuda