TRANSMITTING OPERATOR MESSAGE COMMANDS TO A COUPLING FACILITY

• US 20130074099A1
• Filed: 11/14/2012
• Published: 03/21/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 06/10/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Elko, David A., Goss, Steven N., Shaw, Thomas C.
• Granted Patent: US 8,752,068 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 719/313
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45595 Network integration; Enabling network access in virtual machine instances
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45558 Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/54 Interprogram communication
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/546 Message passing systems or structures, e.g. queues

Abstract

A facility is provided to enable operator message commands from multiple, distinct sources to be provided to a coupling facility of a computing environment for processing. These commands are used, for instance, to perform actions on the coupling facility, and may be received from consoles coupled to the coupling facility, as well as logical partitions or other systems coupled thereto. Responsive to performing the commands, responses are returned to the initiators of the commands.

Claims

1. A method of facilitating processing of operator message commands in a computing environment, said method comprising:

executing a send message instruction by a processor image of the computing environment, the executing comprising;

selecting a subchannel for determining a path to a coupling facility coupled to the processor image; and

sending a send message command block to the coupling facility, the send message command block comprising a start operator message command block for a start operator message command, the start operator message command block including an operator message token uniquely associating an operator message command with a buffer of the coupling facility, the buffer including a plurality of fields to be populated based on executing the start operator message command, the plurality of fields including a timer field, an operator message request length field, an operator message response length field, an operator message command field, an operator message token field to include the operator message token and a response field; and

wherein the sending of the send message command block comprises sending the start operator message command to the coupling facility for processing at the coupling facility.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising storing by the processor image a response code in a message response block storage area in a main storage location identified by the send message instruction, the response code associated with processing the start operator message command, the response code indicating whether an operator message has been started.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the response code indicates an operator message has been started, and wherein the method further includes sending by the processor image to the coupling facility a read operator message command, the read operator message command to read a buffer to obtain a response to the operator message command.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the read operator message command comprises a message command block comprising a message header, the operator message token used to select the buffer to be read, and a command specifying the read operator message command.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

executing another send message instruction by the processor image of the computing environment, the executing comprising;

sending to the coupling facility another send message command block comprising the read operator message command and the operator message token identifying the buffer; and

storing by the processor image another response code and contents of the buffer, wherein the another response code indicates that a response is returned, wherein the another response code is stored in a message response block in a main storage location identified by a message operations block (MOB) of the send message instruction, wherein the contents of the buffer is stored in a message buffer in main storage identified by the MOB of the send message instruction.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising sending by the processor image to the coupling facility a delete operator message command, the delete operator message command to delete contents of the buffer.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the delete operator message command comprises a message command block comprising a message header, a command specifying the delete operator message command, and the operator message token used to select the buffer.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the send message command block comprises the message command block for the delete operator message command.