Alcatel Lucent

Toby James Koktan

Andre Poulin

William Ross McEachern

Michel Rochon

Robert Morton

Larry Friesen

James Wisener

David Stortz

David Motz

Saida Benlarbi

David Henry Graham

Embodiments of the invention are directed to monitoring resources of a network processor to detect a condition of exhaustion in one or more of the resources over a predetermined time interval and to provide an indication of the condition. Some embodiments periodically sample various resources of a network processor and from the samples calculate utilization of the network processor's memory bus and core processor, and determine if an interworking FIFO packet queue error has occurred. Such information may help network operators and/or support engineers to quickly zero in on the root cause and take corrective actions for network failures which previously could have been attributed to many different causes and that would have required significant time and effort to troubleshoot.

Monitoring resource congestion in a network processor

Various exemplary embodiments relate to a method and related network node including one or more of the following: determining that a first search value is associated with a first range field; determining a first bitmap associated with the first search value, wherein the first bitmap indicates at least one range encompassing the first search value; generating a search key based on the first bitmap; and accessing the ternary content addressable memory based on the search key.

Method and system for using range bitmaps in TCAM access

Embodiments of the invention are directed to a TCAM for longest prefix matching in a routing system. The TCAM comprises a plurality of records of which a portion are configured into one or more address clusters each such cluster corresponding to a respective IP address prefix length and another portion of which are configured into a free cluster not corresponding to any IP address prefix length.

Dynamic allocation of records to clusters in a ternary content addressable memory

The invention is directed to monitoring execution of software threads, particularly by detecting a lockup or stall in execution of a software thread and initiating a remedial action in response. Advantageously, some embodiments of the invention automatically detect a lockup or stall in execution of a software thread by periodically sampling information corresponding to the thread, and, in accordance with a determination made using the information, initiate an attempt to recover from such a condition in execution without the need for manual intervention.

Monitoring software thread execution

Information error recovery apparatus and methods are disclosed. Responsive to an error detected in information retrieved from an information store for use by a processor in a software execution flow, the software execution flow of the processor is suspended. Use of the information store by the processor is also disabled. The software execution flow of the processor is allowed to resume using information from a further information store in which the retrieved information is also stored. This allows recovery from errors without resetting the processor. The information store may be reloaded from the further information store and re-enabled for use by the processor. The information store and the further information store are a cache and a main memory, respectively, in one embodiment.

Information error recovery apparatus and methods

Apparatus and methods for autonomously identifying and mitigating soft-errors affecting integrated circuit memory storage devices are provided. A soft-error mitigation process is invoked upon finding that an integrated circuit memory device is affected by a parity error. In a staged approach, unused memory regions of the integrated circuit memory device are reinitialized; if a redundant deployment prevails, the subsystem corresponding to the affected integrated circuit memory device is reset; memory regions having copies of contents thereof stored at remote locations are rewritten with obtained copies of the contents; and memory regions storing contents which are generated at run-time are reinitialized. Directed parity error scans are employed at each stage. If the parity error persists, one of the apparatus, and the subsystem corresponding to the affected silicon memory device is reset during a maintenance window. Advantages are derived from a run-time soft-error mitigation process which increases availability, and reduces maintenance overheads and the need for hardware replacement.

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Nepean, Canada

Toby James Koktan