International Business Machines Corporation

Thomas R Sand

Gregory Michael Nordstrom

Timothy Roy Block

Jesse Paul Arroyo

Chetan Mehta

Ellen Marie Bauman

Harald Pross

Daniel Ernest Hurlimann

Fernando Pizzano

Christopher John Engel

Victor Anthony Garibay

Charles Scott Graham

David R Engebretsen

Travis James Pizel

Kaveh Naderi

Shawn Michael Lambeth

Daniel Frank Moertl

Kenneth Michael Valk

Bruce Leroy Beukema

Paul Edward Movall

William Alan Thompson

Richard Charles Booth

Timothy J Schimke

Curtis Shannon Eide

Richard B Booth

Mark Edward Fisher

Kenneth Micheal Valk

Naresh Nayar

William Joseph Armstrong

Venkatesh Sainath

Ronald Edward Fuhs

Kenneth Charles Vossen

Michael Joseph Corrigan

Troy David Armstrong

Jinu Joy Thomas

Jeffrey Jay Scheel

Kris Marie Kendall

William Joseph Armstrong, Jr

Erik Tkal

Paul John Johnsen

Christoper J Engel

Vlctor A Garibay

A method, system and computer program product are provided for detecting state and sparing of optical Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCI-Express or PCIE) cable channels attached to an IO drawer. System firmware is provided for implementing health check functions and state detection and sparing functions. One or more optical cables are connected between a host bridge and an PCIE enclosure, each optical cable includes one or more spare optical channels. An identified failed optical channel is rerouted to the spare optical channel.

Detecting and sparing of optical PCIE cable channel attached IO drawer

Apparatuses, methods, program products, and systems are presented for guided cable management. An apparatus includes a cable module that detects a first end of a cable installed at a port of a first node, a first port module that determines whether the cable that is installed at the port is an expected cable for the port based on a cable mapping table, and a first indicator module that triggers a visual indicator at the port to visually confirm that the cable is the expected cable for the port. The apparatus includes a second port module that determines a port of a second node where a second end of the cable is expected to be installed and a second indicator module that triggers a visual indicator at the port to visually indicate that the second end of the cable is expected to be installed in the port.

Guided cable management

A computer-implemented method determines that a link operation associated with a first link, among the set of interface links in a computing system, has resulted in a first set of signal lanes, included in the first link, becoming unused. The method further includes determining a link configuration and selecting, based on the link configuration, a second link from among the interface links, and determining a second set of signal lanes, from among the unused signal lanes included in the first link, to include in the second link. The signal lanes to include in the second link are based on an attribute associated with the second link. The method further includes dynamically reconfiguring the signal lanes included in the second to set to be included in the lanes in the second link. Some computing systems include a lane routing device connected to signal lanes of links among the interface links.

Dynamic re-allocation of signal lanes

The embodiments relate to dynamically re-allocating lanes of a computer bus. A computer system having a processor in communication with a module is booted. Allocation of lanes among adapters in communication with connectors of the computer bus is controlled at boot-time and, in response to detection of an additional adapter received after boot-time, an additional allocation of lanes to the additional adapter is dynamically controlled. The additional allocation includes allocating unallocated lanes to the additional adapter, and re-allocating at least one lane from the initial allocation in response to the unallocated lanes being insufficient.

Dynamic re-allocation of computer bus lanes

A system and method dynamically allocate address translation tables for direct memory access windows by donating logical memory blocks to allocate to the address translation tables. A dynamic address translation table allocation module dynamically changes the allocation of memory to the address translation tables without a platform or partition reboot. A portion of the dynamic address translation table allocation module may reside in the hypervisor and in the partition and communicate to dynamically allocate memory to the address translation tables. The dynamic address translation table allocation module in the partition may donate logical memory blocks to the hypervisor to increase the allocation of memory to the address translation tables.

Dynamic address translation table allocation

The embodiments relate to dynamically allocating lanes of a computer bus. A computer system is configured with a plurality of connectors in communication with a module, with each connector configured to receive a respective adapter. The module detects a presence of each primary and backup adapter present, and controls an initial allocation of lanes to each detected primary adapter for maximizing adapter functionality. After the initial allocation and in response to detecting a failure of at least one primary adapter, the module dynamically switches lanes from the failed adapter to at least one of the one or more remaining primary adapters and the backup adapter.

Switching allocation of computer bus lanes

A method, system and computer program product are provided for detecting and configuring an external input/output (IO) enclosure in a computer system. A PCIE Host Bridge (PHB) in a system unit is connected to a plurality of PCIE add-in card slots. One or more cables are connected between the PHB and the external enclosure. System firmware including detecting and configuring functions uses sideband structure for detecting a PCIE cable card and configuring the external input/output (IO) enclosure.

Detecting and configuring of external IO enclosure

A method, system and computer program product are provided for implementing health check for optical cable attached Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIE) enclosures in a computer system. System firmware is provided for implementing health check functions. One or more optical cables are connected between a host bridge and a PCIE enclosure. A PCIE link to the PCIE enclosure is reset responsive to a predefined event. After a set delay, a PCIE link health check is performed verifying PCIE link width and speed.

Implementing health check for optical cable attached PCIE enclosure

A method, system and computer program product are provided for detecting state and sparing of optical Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCI-Express or PCIE) cable channels attached to an IO drawer. System firmware is provided for implementing health check functions and state detection and sparing functions. One or more optical cables are connected between a host bridge and a PCIE enclosure, each optical cable includes one or more spare optical channels. An identified failed optical channel is rerouted to the spare optical channel.

A method and apparatus are provided for implementing system to system communication in a switchless non-InfiniBand (IB) compliant environment. IB architected multicast facilities are used to communicate between HCAs in a loop or string topology. Multiple HCAs in the network subscribe to a predetermined multicast address. Multicast messages sent by one HCA destined to the pre-determined multicast address are received by other HCAs in the network. Intermediate TCA hardware, per IB architected multicast support, forward the multicast messages on via hardware facilities, which do not require invocation of software facilities thereby providing performance efficiencies. The messages flow until picked up by an HCA on the network. Architected higher level IB connections, such as IB supported Reliable Connections (RCs) are established using the multicast message flow, eliminating the need for an IB Subnet Manager (SM).

Implementing system to system communication in a switchless non-IB compliant environment using InfiniBand multicast facilities

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Rochester, MN, United States of America

Thomas R Sand