Dumping using limited system address space

• US 20040039971A1
• Filed: 08/26/2002
• Published: 02/26/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 08/26/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Bakke, Brian E.
• Granted Patent: US 7,519,779 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 714/56
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0745 in an input/output transactions management context input/output processing in general G06F13/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/079 Root cause analysis, i.e. error or fault diagnosis in a hardware test environment G06F11/22; in a software test environment G06F11/36
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/349 for interfaces, buses

Abstract

Method and apparatus for reading the internal address space of an adapter in a system during a dump are described. The adapter includes a control port and a data port used as channels for exchanging control messages and dump data between the adapter and the system. The system starts the dump by sending to the data port a specification of a block of the adapter'"'"'s internal address space. In response, the adapter sends dump data portions to a system buffer via the data port.

Claims

1. A method of reading internal address space of an adapter having a data port at an address, comprising:

sending to the data port a first address token specifying a first block of the internal address space of the adapter to be read, wherein the first block comprises a plurality of data portions;

putting, by the adapter, a first data portion of the first block in the data port; and

reading the first data portion from the data port.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

putting, by the adapter, in the data port a second data portion of the first block;

reading the second data portion from the data port; and

sequentially putting, by the adapter, consecutive data portions of the first block on the data port and then reading from the data port.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

sending to the data port a second address token specifying a second block of the internal address space of the adapter to be read if the first block does not cover the entire internal address space of the adapter;

putting, by the adapter, in the data port a third data portion of the second block; and

reading the third data portion from the data port.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

putting, by the adapter, in the data port a fourth data portion of the second block;

reading the fourth data portion from the data port; and

sequentially putting, by the adapter, consecutive data portions of the second block on the data port and then reading from the data port.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the second block is contiguous to the first block.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the first address token specifies a start address and an end address of the first block.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the first address token specifies a start address and an end address of the first block.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein sending to the data port the first address token comprises sending to a control port in the adapter a token valid message indicating that the first address token is valid at the data port.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein putting, by the adapter, in the data port the first data portion comprises putting, by the adapter, in the control port a dump data valid message indicating that the first data portion is valid at the data port.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein reading the first data portion from the data port comprises sending to the control port a dump data receipt message indicating that reading of the first data portion from the data port has been performed.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the sending, putting and reading are performed to carry out a dump of the internal address space of the adapter.

12. A system, comprising an adapter including a data port, wherein:

the system is configured to send to the data port a first address token specifying a first block of the internal address space of the adapter to be read;

the adapter is configured to put in the data port a first data portion of the first block; and

the system is further configured to read the first data portion from the data port.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein:

the adapter is further configured to put in the data port a second data portion of the first block;

the system is further configured to read the second data portion from the data port; and

the adapter and the system are further configured to, respectively, put in the data port and read from the data port one dump data portion after another until the first block has been read.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein:

the system is further configured to send to the data port a second address token specifying a second block of the internal address space of the adapter to be read if the first block does not cover the entire internal address space of the adapter;

the adapter is further configured to put in the data port a third data portion of the second block; and

the system is further configured to read the third data portion from the data port.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein:

the adapter is further configured to put in the data port a fourth data portion of the second block;

the system is further configured to read the fourth data portion from the data port; and

the adapter and the system are further configured to, respectively, put in the data port and read from the data port one dump data portion after another until the second block has been read.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein the second block is contiguous to the first block.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the first address token specifies a start address and an end address of the first block.

18. The system of claim 12, wherein the first address token specifies a start address and an end address of the first block.

19. The system of claim 12, wherein the system is further configured to send to a control port in the adapter a token valid message indicating that the first address token is valid at the data port in addition to the system sending the first address token to the data port.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the adapter is further configured to put in the control port a dump data valid message indicating that the first data portion is valid at the data port in addition to the adapter putting the first data portion in the data port.

21. The system of claim 20, the system is further configured to send to the control port a dump data receipt message indicating that reading of the first data portion from the data port has been performed in addition to the system reading the first data portion from the data port.

22. The system of claim 12, further configured to carry out a dump of the internal address space of the adapter.

23. A method of performing a dump of internal address space of an adapter having a control port and a data port, comprising:

sending to the data port an address token specifying a block of the internal address space of the adapter to be read, wherein the block comprises a plurality of data portions;

sending to the control port a token valid message indicating that the address token is valid in the data port;

putting, by the adapter, in the data port a first data portion of the block in response to the token valid message present at the control port;

putting, by the adapter, in the control port a first dump data valid message indicating that the first data portion is valid at the data port in addition to the adapter putting the first data portion in the data port; and

reading the first data portion from the data port in response to the first dump data valid message present in the control port.

24. The method of claim 23, further comprising:

sending to the control port a dump data receipt message indicating that reading of the first data portion from the data port has been performed;

putting, by the adapter, in the data port a second data portion of the block in response to the dump data receipt message present at the control port;

putting, by the adapter, in the control port a second dump data valid message indicating that the second data portion is valid at the data port in addition to the adapter putting the second data portion in the data port; and

reading the second data portion from the data port in response to the second dump data valid message present in the control port; and

sequentially putting, by the adapter, consecutive data portions of the first block on the data port and then reading from the data port until the block has been read.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the block covers entirely the internal address space of the adapter.

26. A system, comprising:

a processing unit;

an I/O adapter comprising internal memory defining at least one block comprising a plurality of contiguous memory areas wherein each block is identified by an address token and wherein the I/O adapter has (i) an associated control port for sending control signal between the processing unit and the I/O adapter and (ii) data port for sending address information from the processing unit and dump data from the I/O adapter to the processing unit; and

a memory defining system address space having the control port and the data port mapped therein;

wherein, upon failure of the I/O adapter;

the processing unit is configured to write, into the data port, the address token of the at least one block; and

the I/O adapter is configured to read the address token from the data port and successively place each of the plurality of contiguous memory areas on the data port.

27. The system of claim 26, wherein the processing unit is configured to successively read, from the data port, the plurality of contiguous memory areas placed on the data port by the I/O adapter.

28. The system of claim 27, wherein the processing unit and I/O adapter are configured to perform handshakes between each successive exchange of each of the plurality of the contiguous memory areas.