Verifying a communication bus connection to a peripheral device

• US 10,324,888 B2
• Filed: 09/22/2016
• Issued: 06/18/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 09/22/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Lenovo Enterprise Solutions (Singapore) Pte., Ltd. (Lenovo Group Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Lenovo Enterprise Solutions (Singapore) Pte., Ltd. (Lenovo Group Ltd.)
• Inventors: Remis, Luke, Andresen, Mark E., Velez, Wilson
• Primary Examiner(s): Nam, Hyun
• Application Number:
  US15/272,649
• Publication Number:
  US 20180081849A1
• Time in Patent Office: 999 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 12/0684 with feedback, e.g. presence or absence of unit detected by addressing, overflow detection
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 13/4022 using switching circuits, e.g. switching matrix, connection or expansion network G06F13/4009 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 13/4282 on a serial bus, e.g. I2C bus, SPI bus on daisy chain buses G06F13/4247
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2213/0026 PCI express

Abstract

An apparatus, system, method, and program product for verifying a communication bus connection to a peripheral device are disclosed. The apparatus includes a data module that receives, over a communication bus, an identifier for a location where a peripheral device is installed. The peripheral device is communicatively coupled to an information handling device using the communication bus. The apparatus includes a verification module that compares the identifier received over the communication bus to a predefined identifier associated with the communication bus. The apparatus includes a notification module that sends a notification in response to the identifier received over the communication bus not matching the predefined identifier associated with the communication bus.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

a data module that receives, over a communication bus cable, an identifier for a location of a slot of a backplane where a peripheral device is installed, the peripheral device communicatively and directly coupled to an information handling device using the communication bus cable;

a verification module that compares the identifier received over the communication bus cable to a predefined location identifier assigned to the communication bus cable according to a predefined cable configuration for the backplane; and

a notification module that sends a notification in response to the identifier received over the communication bus cable not matching the predefined identifier assigned to the communication bus cable.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising an identifier module that assigns an identifier to each install location for a peripheral device, the identifier corresponding to an intended connection to a communication bus of the information handling device.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the identifier for the install location is predefined based on a peripheral device installation configuration for the information handing device.

4. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the peripheral device is installed in a drive bay of a backplane, and the identifier comprises a bay identifier and a corresponding slot identifier of the drive bay, and wherein the identifier module writes the identifier for each install location to one or more registers corresponding to each install location through a storage management processor (“

SEP”

) of the backplane.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the backplane comprises a plurality of install locations for a plurality of peripheral devices, each installed peripheral device communicatively coupleable to the information handling device over separate communication buses.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a reference module that dynamically, at system startup, generates a mapping of a received identifier for an install location to a communication bus that the identifier was received on for each installed peripheral device.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the mapping comprises an advanced configuration and power interface (“

ACPI”

) table, and wherein the reference module provides the ACPI table to an operating system of the information handling device.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the communication bus cable comprises a management bus cable and the data module reads the identifier over the management bus cable.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the notification comprises an indication that the communication bus cable is communicatively coupled to an incorrect peripheral device.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the communication bus cable comprises a peripheral component interconnect express (“

PCIe”

) cable.

11. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the peripheral device comprises a non-volatile memory express (“

NVMe”

) storage device.

12. A method comprising:

receiving, over a communication bus cable, an identifier for a location of a slot of a backplane where a peripheral device is installed, the peripheral device communicatively and directly coupled to an information handling device using the communication bus cable;

comparing the identifier received over the communication bus cable to a predefined location identifier assigned to the communication bus cable according to a predefined cable configuration for the backplane; and

sending a notification in response to the identifier received over the communication bus cable not matching the predefined identifier assigned to the communication bus cable.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising assigning an identifier to each install location for a peripheral device, the identifier corresponding to an intended connection to a communication bus of the information handling device.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the peripheral device is installed in a drive bay of a backplane, and the identifier comprises a bay identifier and a corresponding slot identifier of the drive bay, and wherein the identifier module writes the identifier for each install location to one or more registers corresponding to each install location through a storage management processor (“

SEP”

) of the backplane.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the backplane comprises a plurality of install locations for a plurality of peripheral devices, each installed peripheral device communicatively coupleable to the information handling device over separate communication buses.

16. The method of claim 12, further comprising dynamically, at system startup, generating a mapping of a received identifier for an install location to a communication bus that the identifier was received on for each installed peripheral device.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the mapping comprises an advanced configuration and power interface (“

ACPI”

) table, and wherein the ACPI table is provided to an operating system of the information handling device.

18. The method of claim 12, wherein the communication bus cable comprises a management bus cable and the identifier is read over the management bus cable.

19. The method of claim 12, wherein the notification comprises an indication that the communication bus cable is communicatively coupled to an incorrect peripheral device.

20. A program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable storage medium that stores code executable by a processor, the executable code comprising code to perform:

receiving, over a communication bus cable, an identifier for a location of a slot of a backplane where a peripheral device is installed, the peripheral device communicatively and directly coupled to an information handling device using the communication bus cable;

comparing the identifier received over the communication bus cable to a predefined location identifier assigned to the communication bus cable according to a predefined cable configuration for the backplane; and

sending a notification in response to the identifier received over the communication bus cable not matching the predefined identifier assigned to the communication bus cable.