Building block removal from partitions

• US 20030131154A1
• Filed: 01/09/2002
• Published: 07/10/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 01/09/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intellectual Discovery Co., Ltd.
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Downer, Wayne A., Shah, Mehul M., Gilbert, Bruce M., Lovett, Thomas D.
• Granted Patent: US 6,934,835 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 710/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5061 Partitioning or combining of resources

Abstract

Removing building blocks from partitions to which they have been bound is disclosed. A building block of a platform is removed from a partition of the platform by first halting activity by the partition on the building block. A first partition identifier of the building block indicates the partition of the building block. The building block joined the partition in a masterless manner. The resources of the building block are withdrawn from the partition, and the building block is deauthorized from the platform.

Claims

1. A method for removing a building block of a platform from a partition of the platform comprising:

halting activity by the partition on the building block, the partition indicated by a first partition identifier of the building block, the building block having joined the partition in a masterless manner;

withdrawing resources of the building block from the partition; and

,

deauthorizing the building block from the partition.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein halting the activity by the partition on the building block comprises halting usage of memory of the building block by the partition.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein halting the activity by the partition on the building block comprises halting input/output (I/O) activity on the building block.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein halting the activity by the partition on the building block comprises halting process or tasks running on the building block.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein deauthorizing the building block from the partition comprises turning off a commit indicator of the building block.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the masterless manner uses the first partition identifier, a first physical port identifier indicating a physical location of the building block in the platform, and a first logical port identifier indicating a logical location of the building block in the partition identified by the first partition identifier, and second partition identifiers, second physical port identifiers, and second logical port identifiers of other building blocks of the platform.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the masterless manner comprises:

waiting for the other building blocks for a length of time based on whether the other building blocks are resetting or rebooting themselves; and

,

receiving from the other building blocks the second physical port identifiers and the second partition identifiers.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the masterless manner comprises:

waiting for the subset of the other building blocks for a length of time based on whether the subset of the other building blocks are reinitializing hardware and software of the subset of the other building blocks; and

,

receiving from the subset of the other building blocks the second logical port identifiers.

9. The method of claim 1, further initially comprising joining the partition in the masterless manner.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the one of the plurality of building blocks is removed from the one of the plurality of partitions by at least withdrawing resources of the one of the plurality of building blocks from the one of the plurality of partitions.

10. A system comprising:

a platform;

a plurality of building blocks of the platform, each building block having a physical port identifier indicating a physical location in the platform, a partition identifier, and a logical port identifier indicating a logical location in a partition identified by the partition identifier; and

,

a plurality of partitions of the platform, the partition identifier of each of the plurality of building blocks indicating one of the plurality of partitions to which the building block is bound in a masterless manner using the physical port identifiers, the logical port identifiers, and the partition identifiers of the plurality of building blocks,

where one of the plurality of building blocks is removed from the one of the plurality of partitions indicated by the partition identifier of the one of the plurality of building blocks to which the one of the plurality of building blocks has been bound.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the one of the plurality of building blocks is removed from the one of the plurality of partitions by at least halting activity by the one of the plurality of partitions on the one of the plurality of building blocks.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein the one of the plurality of building blocks is removed from the one of the plurality of partitions by at least deauthorizing the building block from the partition.

14. The system of claim 10, wherein each building block further has a protect indicator indicating whether the building block is currently write protected.

15. The system of claim 10, wherein each building block further has a commit indicator indicating whether the building block is currently bound to the one of the plurality of partitions indicated by the partition identifier of the building block.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the commit indicator of the one of the plurality of building blocks removed from the one of the plurality of partitions is turned off upon removal of the one of the plurality of building blocks from the one of the plurality of partitions.

17. The system of claim 10, wherein each building block further has a status indicator indicating a current status of the building block.

18. An article comprising:

a computer-readable medium; and

,

means in the medium for removing a building block of a platform from a partition of the platform indicated by a first partition identifier of the building block and to which the building block has joined in a masterless manner by using the first partition identifier, a first physical port identifier indicating a physical location of the building block in the platform, and a first logical port identifier indicating a logical location of the building block in the partition identified by the first partition identifier, and second partition identifiers, second physical port identifiers, and second logical port identifiers of other building blocks of the platform.

19. The article of claim 18, wherein the means removes the building block of the platform from the partition of the platform by at least halting activity by the one of the plurality of partitions on the one of the plurality of building blocks.

20. The article of claim 18, wherein the means removes the building block of the platform from the partition of the platform by at least withdrawing resources of the one of the plurality of building blocks from the one of the plurality of partitions.

21. The article of claim 18, wherein the means removes the building block of the platform from the partition of the platform by at least deauthorizing the building block from the partition.

22. The article of claim 18, wherein the medium is one of a modulated carrier signal and a recordable data storage medium.