International Business Machines Corporation

Lenovo (singapore) Pte. Ltd.

Western Digital Technologies, Inc.

Jaimeson Saley

David R Engebretsen

Stephen A Knight

Gary Ross Ricard

Adam Charles Lange-Pearson

Bruce Wile

Brett J Reese

Jonathan Louis Kaus

David Lee Hermsmeier

Ali Khalili

Benjamin R Garbers

Nicholas Waara

Alexis Dani

A method for determining a utilization-based fee for storing data includes determining a number of write operations for writing a quantity of data to a solid state drive (SSD) and determining an amount of a fee based on the number of write operations for writing the quantity of data to the SSD. A lifetime of the SSD can be determined based on, for example, the number of blocks in the SSD and the maximum number of write operations per block. A utilization factor for a particular workload can be determined by dividing the number of write operations in the workload by the lifetime. The value of the utilization factor can then be used to determine the amount of the fee. A bill based on the amount of the fee can be generated and transmitted.

Data storage device, method and system, and control of data storage device based on writing operations and lifetime

A data storage device includes a number of blocks in multiple dies and a controller configured to perform operations. A method of controlling the data storage device includes: translating logical addresses to physical addresses; activating one or more dies; writing data to one or more blocks; determining the number of write operations performed on the storage device; facilitating determination of a lifetime of the storage device based on a number of blocks, a particular number of write operations, and a maximum number of write operations per block; providing the number of write operations that have been performed to a host to facilitate determination of an amount of a fee, where providing the number of write operations facilitates tracking a percentage of the lifetime of the storage device.

An apparatus and method routes data over network links based on a temperature of the network links. When the temperature of a link meets a first threshold a routing mechanism re-routes a portion of the network traffic over a lower temperature link to reduce the likelihood that the link will exceed a second threshold that necessitates that the link be throttled back or disabled. Re-routing data to cooler links allows the system to maintain the lowest possible temperature of the network links to gain optimal performance of the system. In the disclosed example, the network links include interconnect cable connections and backplane connections. A temperature of the network links is determined by monitoring a region of an integrated circuit near a line driver driving the network link.

Temperature sensitive routing of data in a computer system

A method, processor, and computer system for handling interrupts within a hierarchical register structure. The method includes receiving at a root-level register an indication of an interrupt occurring at a lower level register in the register structure, using a system interrupt handler to invoke an error handler assigned to a set of registers of the structure that includes the lower level register, and using the invoked error handler to handle the interrupt and return to the system interrupt handler.

Handling system interrupts with long-running recovery actions

A distributed network switch includes multiple switch modules connected by one or more physical cables. One switch module may determine which connector port of a remote switch module is connected by physical cable based on information received from the remote switch module, including link identifiers, and further based on a physical topology predetermined about the type of remote switch module.

Constructing and verifying switch fabric cabling schemes

Handling system interrupts with long running recovery actions

When testing or validating a hardware system, a script file representing a portion of the firmware may be used to test the system instead of using the firmware code itself. For example, the script file may be plurality of register commands that perform the same initialization sequence as the firmware. Before connecting the hardware system to firmware drivers, the script file may be used to debug the initialization sequence. Instead of generating this script file manually, a firmware testing tool may be used. While executing the firmware, the tool may record the different register access commands performed during the initialization process. The script file is then generated programmatically using these recorded commands without requiring input from the system designer. The generated script file may then be tested on the hardware system to determine whether the command sequence in the script file forces the hardware system into the desired state.

Firmware generated register file for use in hardware validation

A distributed switch may include a plurality of special-purpose processors that control the different functions of the switch. To enable some special services, however, the distributed switch may need one of these processors to perform the role of a master. When a processor is powered on, the processor may publish a corresponding unique ID. Before electing the master, the special-purpose processors may use a discovery process to identify the network topology of the switch and evaluate the published IDs to determine which processor should be the master. If all the processors nominate the same master processor, then that processor is elected as the master and may finish configuring the distributed switch to enable the special services.

Selecting a master processor from an ambiguous peer group

Techniques are disclosed to reduce crossover between traffic from switch elements of different switch domains in a distributed switch. Addition of a first switch element to the distributed switch is detected. The distributed switch includes multiple switch elements at least subsequent to the addition, and each switch element has a switch element identifier and a fabric identifier. The respective fabric identifiers of the first switch element and of a second switch element are retrieved. The second switch element is communicably connected to the first switch element via a link, and the link is configured to allow only command traffic to be transmitted via the link. Upon a determination that the fabric identifier of the first switch element does not match the fabric identifier of the second switch element, then no command is issued specifying to reconfigure the link to allow at least one additional traffic type, different from command traffic.

Growing community of inventors

Rochester, MN, United States of America

Jaimeson Saley