International Business Machines Corporation

James E Smith

Kaveh Naderi

Jesse Paul Arroyo

Christopher John Engel

Daniel Mark Dreps

Nanju Na

John Alexander Koski

Mike Conrad Duron

Mark David McLaughlin

James Francis Crossland

Joseph James Cahill

Don G East

A method, system and computer program product are provided for implementing cable failover in multiple cable Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIE) IO interconnections to an external IO enclosure. System firmware is provided for implementing health check functions for the PCIE IO interconnections to identify a faulted low byte cable. A cable failover mechanism recovers a PCI link to the external IO enclosure. A multiplexer logic is provided between the PCIE host bridge (PHB) and the cable connected to the IO enclosure to perform a full lane reversal of the PCIE lanes.

Implementing cable failover in multiple cable PCI Express IO interconnections

Implementing cable failover in multiple cable PCI express IO interconnections

Method for repairing a communication link failure. In certain embodiments, the method generally includes communicating with another apparatus using an initial number of channels of a plurality of channels of a communication link; selectively coupling a plurality of communication lanes with the plurality of channels of the communication link, wherein, during an initial state, a first lane of the plurality of lanes is coupled with a first channel of the plurality of channels, and wherein the plurality of channels comprises a spare channel; determining whether at least one channel of the plurality of channels is experiencing a failure; and controlling at least one of the multiplexers such that the failed channel is replaced by another channel of the plurality of channels by using the spare channel.

Dynamic link repair from lane failure with minimal link-down time while sparing fault channels

Computer program product and apparatus for repairing a communication link failure. In certain embodiments, the apparatus generally includes a controller configured to initialize the communication link for communication with another apparatus using an initial number of channels of a plurality of channels. The apparatus may also include a plurality of multiplexers configured to selectively couple a plurality of communication lanes with the plurality of channels of the communication link. In certain embodiments, during an initial state, a first lane of the plurality of lanes may be coupled with a first channel of the plurality of channels, and the plurality of channels may include a spare channel. The controller may determine whether at least one channel of the plurality of channels is experiencing a failure and control at least one of the multiplexers such that the failed channel is replaced by another channel of the plurality of channels by using the spare channel.

Dynamic link repair from lane failure with minimal link down-time while sparing fault channels

Embodiments of the present disclosure provide an apparatus for synchronizing a common reference clock over optics. For example, a reference clock from a host device may be frequency adjusted based on a pass-band of an optical link, decoded, and converted into an optical signal, and transferred to a controller of a target device via one or more optical cables. The controller may be used to recover the reference clock using the optical signal, which may be used as a common-reference clock for communications between the host and target devices.

Clock forwarding over optics

A method, system, and computer usable program product for a self-tuning I/O device are provided in the illustrative embodiments. A change is detected in an adapter communicating with the I/O device, the I/O device being a consolidator configured to communicate with the adapter in a data network. A type of the adapter is determined. Values for each parameter in a set of parameters corresponding to the type of the adapter are determined. The values of a first subset of the parameters are applied to the consolidator, applying the values of the first subset causing the consolidator to be configured to operate in a preferred configuration with the adapter.

Self-tuning input output device

The present invention provides a method and system for generating a position error signal from a signal produced by a read element detecting a track comprising two harmonically unrelated patterns positioned parallel to each other on a magnetic media. The apparatus of the present invention produces a delayed signal from the read signal produced by the read element. The read signal is multiplied with the delayed signal to form a product signal. The product signal is integrated to produce a position error signal, wherein changes in the position error signal that are proportional to changes in position of the read element over the two patterns positioned parallel to each other on the magnetic media.

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Georgetown, TX, United States of America

James E Smith