EXCEPTION CONDITION DETERMINATION AT A CONTROL UNIT IN AN I/O PROCESSING SYSTEM

• US 20090210584A1
• Filed: 02/14/2008
• Published: 08/20/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 02/14/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Kalos, Matthew J., Huang, Catherine C., Flanagan, John R., Ricci, Louis W., Carlson, Scott M., Hathorn, Roger G., Sittmann, Gustav E., Njoku, Ugochukwu C., Casper, Daniel F., Gainey, Charles W.
• Granted Patent: US 7,917,813 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 710/36
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0745 in an input/output transactions management context input/output processing in general G06F13/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0772 Means for error signaling, e.g. using interrupts, exception flags, dedicated error registers

Abstract

A computer program product, apparatus, and method for providing exception condition feedback at a control unit to a channel subsystem in an I/O processing system are provided. The computer program product includes a tangible storage medium readable by a processing circuit and storing instructions for execution by the processing circuit for performing a method. The method includes receiving a command message at the control unit from the channel subsystem, and detecting an exception condition in response to unsuccessful execution of at least one command in the command message. The method further includes identifying a termination reason code associated with the exception condition, writing the termination reason code to a response message, and sending the response message to the channel subsystem.

Claims

1. A computer program product for providing exception condition feedback at a control unit to a channel subsystem in an input/output (I/O) processing system, the computer program product comprising:

a tangible storage medium readable by a processing circuit and storing instructions for execution by the processing circuit for performing a method comprising;

receiving a command message at the control unit from the channel subsystem;

detecting an exception condition in response to unsuccessful execution of at least one command in the command message;

identifying a termination reason code associated with the exception condition;

writing the termination reason code to a response message; and

sending the response message to the channel subsystem.

2. The computer program product of claim 1 wherein the termination reason code identifies one or more of:

invalidity of the command message, an invalid cyclic redundancy check (CRC), incorrect length of the command message, a transport command area header error, a device control word (DCW) specification error, a transfer direction specification error, a transport count specification error, and two active I/O operations to a common device address.

3. The computer program product of claim 1 wherein the exception condition feedback further includes a reason code qualifier providing encoded meaning corresponding to the termination reason code.

4. The computer program product of claim 3 wherein the reason code qualifier includes information on one or more of:

a length mismatch of the command message, a longitudinal redundancy check (LRC) error, and a field specification error in the command message.

5. The computer program product of claim 4 wherein the field specification error is one of:

a format field specification error, a reserved field specification error, a service action code field specification error, a flags field command chaining specification error, a control data count field specification error, a direction specification error, and a count specification error.

6. The computer program product of claim 1 wherein the response message includes a status section and an extended status section, the extended status section including the termination reason code.

7. The computer program product of claim 6 wherein the status section includes one or more flags capable of declaring one of:

a device level exception, a link reject, a resetting event, a device requested program check, and a device requested program check with a possible interface control check.

8. The computer program product of claim 6 wherein the extended status section is configurable to support a plurality of type codes.

9. The computer program product of claim 1 wherein the command message is a transport command information unit including a transport command header, a transport command area header, a transport command area, and a transport command area trailer.

10. The computer program product of claim 9 wherein the method further comprises:

performing one or more checks on the transport command header, the transport command area header, the transport command area, and the transport command area trailer to detect the exception condition at the control unit.

11. An apparatus for providing exception condition feedback in an input/output (I/O) processing system, the apparatus comprising:

a control unit in communication with a channel subsystem, the control unit performing a method comprising;

receiving a command message at the control unit from the channel subsystem;

detecting an exception condition in response to unsuccessful execution of at least one command in the command message;

identifying a termination reason code associated with the exception condition;

writing the termination reason code to a response message; and

sending the response message to the channel subsystem.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein the termination reason code identifies one or more of:

invalidity of the command message, an invalid cyclic redundancy check (CRC), incorrect length of the command message, a transport command area header error, a device control word (DCW) specification error, a transfer direction specification error, a transport count specification error, and two active I/O operations to a common device address.

13. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein the exception condition feedback further includes a reason code qualifier providing encoded meaning corresponding to the termination reason code.

14. The apparatus of claim 13 wherein the reason code qualifier includes information on one or more of:

a length mismatch of the command message, a longitudinal redundancy check (LRC) error, and a field specification error in the command message.

15. The apparatus of claim 14 wherein the field specification error is one of:

a format field specification error, a reserved field specification error, a service action code field specification error, a flags field command chaining specification error, a control data count field specification error, a direction specification error, and a count specification error.

16. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein the response message includes a status section and an extended status section, the extended status section including the termination reason code.

17. The apparatus of claim 16 wherein the status section includes one or more flags capable of declaring one of:

a device level exception, a link reject, a resetting event, a device requested program check, and a device requested program check with a possible interface control check.

18. The apparatus of claim 16 wherein the extended status section is configurable to support a plurality of type codes.

19. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein the command message is a transport command information unit including a transport command header, a transport command area header, a transport command area, and a transport command area trailer.

20. The apparatus of claim 19 wherein the control unit performing the method further comprises:

performing one or more checks on the transport command header, the transport command area header, the transport command area, and the transport command area trailer to detect the exception condition at the control unit.

21. A method for providing exception condition feedback at a control unit to a channel subsystem in an input/output (I/O) processing system, the method comprising:

receiving a command message at the control unit from the channel subsystem;

detecting an exception condition in response to unsuccessful execution of at least one command in the command message;

identifying a termination reason code associated with the exception condition;

writing the termination reason code to a response message; and

sending the response message to the channel subsystem.

22. The method of claim 21 wherein the termination reason code identifies one or more of:

invalidity of the command message, an invalid cyclic redundancy check (CRC), incorrect length of the command message, a transport command area header error, a device control word (DCW) specification error, a transfer direction specification error, a transport count specification error, and two active I/O operations to a common device address, and further wherein the exception condition feedback further includes a reason code qualifier including information on one or more of;

a length mismatch of the command message, a longitudinal redundancy check (LRC) error, and a field specification error in the command message.

23. The method of claim 21 wherein the response message includes a status section and an extended status section, the status section including one or more flags capable of declaring one of:

a device level exception, a link reject, a resetting event, a device requested program check, and a device requested program check with a possible interface control check, and the extended status section including the termination reason code.

24. The method of claim 21 wherein the command message is a transport command information unit including a transport command header, a transport command area header, a transport command area, and a transport command area trailer.

25. The method of claim 24 further comprising:

performing one or more checks on the transport command header, the transport command area header, the transport command area, and the transport command area trailer to detect the exception condition at the control unit.