CONFIGURE STORAGE CLASS MEMORY COMMAND

• US 20120317388A1
• Filed: 06/10/2011
• Published: 12/13/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 06/10/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Driever, Peter D., Gainey, Charles W. Jr., Glassen, Steven G., Mathias, Thomas B., Oakes, Kenneth J., Sutton, Peter G., Szwed, Peter K., Tzortzatos, Elpida, Yudenfriend, Harry M.
• Granted Patent: US 9,116,634 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 711/170
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 12/0246 in block erasable memory, e.g. flash memory
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 12/0646 Configuration or reconfiguration
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 13/14 Handling requests for interconnection or transfer
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2212/214 Solid state disk
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2212/7202 Allocation control and policies
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0605 by facilitating the interaction with a user or administrator
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/061 Improving I/O performance
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0631 by allocating resources to storage systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0632 by initialisation or re-initialisation of storage systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0659 Command handling arrangements, e.g. command buffers, queues, command scheduling
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/067 Distributed or networked storage systems, e.g. storage area networks [SAN], network attached storage [NAS]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0688 Non-volatile semiconductor memory arrays
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/3004 to perform operations on memory
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/30076 to perform miscellaneous control operations, e.g. NOP

Abstract

An abstraction for storage class memory is provided that hides the details of the implementation of storage class memory from a program, and provides a standard channel programming interface for performing certain actions, such as controlling movement of data between main storage and storage class memory or managing storage class memory.

Claims

1. A computer program product for executing an instruction to execute a Configure Storage Class Memory command in a computing environment comprising main storage and storage class memory, said computer program product comprising:

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

obtaining by an input/output (I/O) subsystem a request block, the request block comprising a command code indicating the Configure Storage Class Memory command and a total size value to specify a requested number of increments of storage class memory to be allocated;

based on the command code, initiating a configuration process for configuring the storage class memory, the process configured to allocate the requested number of increments of storage class memory specified in the total size value, wherein the initiating comprises performing one or more validity checks;

continuing to perform the configuration process of the storage class memory responsive to the one or more validity checks being successful, wherein the one or more validity checks comprises determining that the total size requested does not exceed a number of storage class memory increments in an initialized state; and

storing in a response code field of a response block a response code indicating whether the configuration process has been initiated, the response block having a length code indicating a length of the response block and the response code field.

2. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the one or more validity checks further comprises determining whether a count of storage class memory increments already configured plus the total size requested exceeds a maximum configurable storage class memory increments limit, and wherein the configuration process continues responsive to not exceeding the maximum storage class memory increments.

3. The computer program product of claim 2, wherein the one or more validity checks further comprises a check of a length field of the request block;

a check of whether the Configure Storage Class Memory command is available to be executed;

a check that the request block has a valid format; and

a check that the I/O subsystem is able to perform the Configure Storage Class Memory command, and wherein the configuration process continues responsive to the one or more validity checks being successful.

4. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the initiating further comprises commencing an asynchronous process to perform the configuration of the storage class memory responsive to the one or more validity checks being successful, wherein configured storage class memory content is initialized to zero.

5. The computer program product of claim 4, wherein the method further comprises indicating completion of the asynchronous process in a notification response.

6. The computer program product of claim 5, wherein the notification response block includes a response code that indicates results of the attempt to execute the Configure Storage Class Memory command.

7. The computer program product of claim 6, wherein the notification response block is obtained via execution of a store event information command to obtain event information.

8. The computer program product of claim 5, wherein the request block is further configured to include an asynchronous completion correlator to be returned in the notification response block, the asynchronous completion correlator to be used to resume processing of the Configure Storage Class Memory command.

9. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the configuration process comprises:

adjusting one or more internal controls to make accessible the increments of storage class memory; and

setting a state of the increment of storage class memory to operational.

10. A computer system for executing an instruction to execute a Configure Storage Class Memory command in a computing environment comprising main storage and storage class memory, said computer system comprising:

a memory; and

a processor in communications with the memory, wherein the computer system is configured to perform a method, said method comprising;

obtaining by an input/output (I/O) subsystem a request block, the request block comprising a command code indicating the Configure Storage Class Memory command and a total size value to specify a requested number of increments of storage class memory to be allocated;

based on the command code, initiating a configuration process for configuring the storage class memory, the process configured to allocate the requested number of increments of storage class memory specified in the total size value, wherein the initiating comprises performing one or more validity checks;

continuing to perform the configuration process of the storage class memory responsive to the one or more validity checks being successful, wherein the one or more validity checks comprises determining that the total size requested does not exceed a number of storage class memory increments in an initialized state; and

storing in a response code field of a response block a response code indicating whether the configuration process has been initiated, the response block having a length code indicating a length of the response block and the response code field.

11. The computer system of claim 10, wherein the one or more validity checks further comprises determining whether a count of storage class memory increments already configured plus the total size requested exceeds a maximum configurable storage class memory increments limit, and wherein the configuration process continues responsive to not exceeding the maximum storage class memory increments.

12. The computer system of claim 11, wherein the one or more validity checks further comprises a check of a length field of the request block;

a check of whether the Configure Storage Class Memory command is available to be executed;

a check that the request block has a valid format; and

a check that the I/O subsystem is able to perform the Configure Storage Class Memory command, and wherein the configuration process continues responsive to the one or more validity checks being successful.

13. The computer system of claim 10, wherein the initiating further comprises commencing an asynchronous process to perform the configuration of the storage class memory responsive to the one or more validity checks being successful, wherein configured storage class memory content is initialized to zero.

14. The computer system of claim 13, wherein the method further comprises indicating completion of the asynchronous process in a notification response block.

15. The computer system of claim 14, wherein the notification response block includes a response code that indicates results of the attempt to execute the Configure Storage Class Memory command.

16. The computer system of claim 14, wherein the request block is further configured to include an asynchronous completion correlator to be returned in the notification response block, the asynchronous completion correlator to be used to resume processing of the Configure Storage Class Memory command.

17. The computer system of claim 10, wherein the configuration process comprises:

adjusting one or more internal controls to make accessible the increments of storage class memory; and

setting a state of the increment of storage class memory to operational.

18. A method of executing an instruction to execute a Configure Storage Class Memory command in a computing environment comprising main storage and storage class memory, said method comprising:

obtaining by an input/output (I/O) subsystem a request block, the request block comprising a command code indicating the Configure Storage Class Memory command and a total size value to specify a requested number of increments of storage class memory to be allocated;

based on the command code, initiating a configuration process for configuring the storage class memory, the process configured to allocate the requested number of increments of storage class memory specified in the total size value, wherein the initiating comprises performing one or more validity checks;

continuing to perform the configuration process of the storage class memory responsive to the one or more validity checks being successful, wherein the one or more validity checks comprises determining that the total size requested does not exceed a number of storage class memory increments in an initialized state; and

storing in a response code field of a response block a response code indicating whether the configuration process has been initiated, the response block having a length code indicating a length of the response block and the response code field.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the initiating further comprises commencing an asynchronous process to perform the configuration of the storage class memory responsive to the one or more validity checks being successful, wherein configured storage class memory content is initialized to zero.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein the configuration process comprises:

adjusting one or more internal controls to make accessible the increments of storage class memory; and

setting a state of the increment of storage class memory to operational.