METHOD, APPARATUS, AND COMPUTER PROGRAM PRODUCT FOR COORDINATING ERROR REPORTING AND RESET UTILIZING AN I/O ADAPTER THAT SUPPORTS VIRTUALIZATION

• US 20090089611A1
• Filed: 03/31/2008
• Published: 04/02/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 02/25/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Harvey Gene Kiel, Jaya Srikrishnan, Patrick Allen Buckland, Renato John Recio, Richard Louis Arndt
• Original Assignee: Harvey Gene Kiel, Jaya Srikrishnan, Patrick Allen Buckland, Renato John Recio, Richard Louis Arndt
• Inventors: Buckland, Patrick Allen, Kiel, Harvey Gene, Srikrishnan, Jaya, Recio, Renato John, Arndt, Richard Louis
• Granted Patent: US 8,086,903 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 714/5
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0712 in a virtual computing platform, e.g. logically partitioned systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0724 in a multiprocessor or a multi-core unit multiprocessors per se G06F15/80
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0745 in an input/output transactions management context input/output processing in general G06F13/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0793 Remedial or corrective actions recovery from an exception in an instruction pipeline G06F9/3861; by retry G06F11/1402; for recovering from a failure of a protocol instance or entity H04L69/40

Abstract

A method, apparatus, and computer program product are disclosed in a shared processor data processing system for coordinating error reporting for and resetting of a physical I/O adapter that supports virtualization. The physical I/O adapter is virtualized by generating virtual I/O adapters that each represent a portion of the physical I/O adapter. Each one of the virtual I/O adapters is assigned to a different one of client logical partitions. A determination is made regarding whether the physical I/O adapter may have experienced an error. If the physical I/O adapter has experienced an error, all of the client logical partitions are notified about the error and a recovery of the physical I/O adapter is coordinated among all of the client logical partitions by waiting for each client logical partition to acknowledge the error notification before the physical I/O adapter is reset.

Claims

1. A method in a shared processor data processing system for coordinating error reporting for and resetting of a physical I/O adapter that supports virtualization, said method comprising:

virtualizing said physical I/O adapter by generating a plurality of virtual I/O adapters that each represent a portion of said physical I/O adapter;

assigning each one of said virtual I/O adapters to a different one of a plurality of client logical partitions;

determining that said physical I/O adapter may have experienced an error; and

in response to determining that said physical I/O adapter has experienced an error, notifying all of said plurality of client logical partitions about said error and coordinating a recovery of said physical I/O adapter among all of said plurality of client logical partitions.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

waiting for an acknowledgment of a receipt of said notification from each one of said plurality of client partitions;

determining whether said acknowledgement has been received from all of said plurality of client logical partitions; and

resetting said physical I/O adapter only in response to determining that said acknowledgement has been received from all of said client logical partitions.

3. The method according to claim 2, further comprising:

notifying each one of said plurality of logical partitions of either a success or failure of said resetting of said physical I/O adapter.

4. The method according to claim 3, further comprising:

waiting, by each one of said plurality of client logical partitions, for a notification of success of said resetting before one of said plurality of client logical partitions reinitializes one of said virtual I/O adapters that is assigned to said one of said plurality of client logical partitions.

5. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

specifying a master partition that owns said physical I/O adapter;

assigning, by said master partition, each one of said virtual I/O adapters to a different one of said plurality of client logical partitions.

6. The method according to claim 5, further comprising:

determining, by one of said plurality of client logical partitions, whether said physical I/O adapter may have experienced an error; and

reporting, by said one of said plurality of client logical partitions, to said master partition that said physical I/O adapter may have experienced an error.

7. The method according to claim 6, further comprising:

determining, by said master partition, whether said physical I/O adapter experienced an error; and

in response to said master partition determining that said physical I/O adapter did experience an error, notifying, by said master partition, each one of said plurality of client logical partitions that said physical I/O adapter did experience an error.

8. The method according to claim 5, further comprising:

negotiating between said master partition and each one of said plurality of client logical partitions a maximum response time for each one of said plurality of client logical partitions to respond to messages from said master partition.

9. The method according to claim 8, further comprising:

waiting, by said master partition, for an acknowledgment of a receipt of said notification from each one of said plurality of client partitions;

determining, by said master partition, either whether said acknowledgement has been received from all of said plurality of client logical partitions or whether said maximum response time has expired; and

resetting, by said master partition, said physical I/O adapter only in response to determining that either said acknowledgement has been received from all of said client logical partitions or that said response time has expired.

10. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

entering, by said physical I/O adapter, a freeze state when said physical I/O adapter experiences an error.

11. An apparatus in a shared processor data processing system for coordinating error reporting for and resetting of a physical I/O adapter that supports virtualization, said apparatus comprising:

a master partition for virtualizing said physical I/O adapter by generating a plurality of virtual I/O adapters that each represent a portion of said physical I/O adapter;

each one of said virtual I/O adapters assigned to a different one of a plurality of client logical partitions;

said master partition determining that said physical I/O adapter may have experienced an error; and

in response to determining that said physical I/O adapter has experienced an error, said master partition notifying all of said plurality of client logical partitions about said error and coordinating a recovery of said physical I/O adapter among all of said plurality of client logical partitions.

12. The apparatus according to claim 11, further comprising:

said master partition waiting for an acknowledgment of a receipt of said notification from each one of said plurality of client partitions;

said master partition determining whether said acknowledgement has been received from all of said plurality of client logical partitions; and

said master partition resetting said physical I/O adapter only in response to determining that said acknowledgement has been received from all of said client logical partitions.

13. The apparatus according to claim 12, further comprising:

said master partition notifying each one of said plurality of logical partitions of either a success or failure of said resetting of said physical I/O adapter.

14. The apparatus according to claim 13, further comprising:

each one of said plurality of client logical partitions waiting for a notification of success of said resetting before one of said plurality of client logical partitions reinitializes one of said virtual I/O adapters that is assigned to said one of said plurality of client logical partitions.

15. The apparatus according to claim 11, further comprising:

said master partition owning said physical I/O adapter.

16. The apparatus according to claim 11, further comprising:

one of said plurality of client logical partitions determining whether said physical I/O adapter may have experienced an error; and

said one of said plurality of client logical partitions reporting to said master partition that said physical I/O adapter may have experienced an error.

17. The apparatus according to claim 16, further comprising:

said master partition determining whether said physical I/O adapter experienced an error; and

in response to said master partition determining that said physical I/O adapter did experience an error, said master partition notifying each one of said plurality of client logical partitions that said physical I/O adapter did experience an error.

18. The apparatus according to claim 11, further comprising:

said master partition and each one of said plurality of client logical partitions negotiating a maximum response time for each one of said plurality of client logical partitions to respond to messages from said master partition.

19. The apparatus according to claim 18, further comprising:

said master partition waiting for an acknowledgment of a receipt of said notification from each one of said plurality of client partitions;

said master partition determining either whether said acknowledgement has been received from all of said plurality of client logical partitions or whether said maximum response time has expired; and

said master partition resetting said physical I/O adapter only in response to determining that either said acknowledgement has been received from all of said client logical partitions or that said response time has expired.

20. A computer program product in a shared processor data processing system for coordinating error reporting for and resetting of a physical I/O adapter that supports virtualization, said product comprising:

instructions for virtualizing said physical I/O adapter by generating a plurality of virtual I/O adapters that each represent a portion of said physical I/O adapter;

instructions for assigning each one of said virtual I/O adapters to a different one of a plurality of client logical partitions;

instructions for determining that said physical I/O adapter may have experienced an error; and

in response to determining that said physical I/O adapter has experienced an error, instructions for notifying all of said plurality of client logical partitions about said error and coordinating a recovery of said physical I/O adapter among all of said plurality of client logical partitions.