Computer program product used for exchange and transfer of data having a siga vector and utilizing a queued direct input-output device

• US 6,347,341 B1
• Filed: 02/22/1999
• Issued: 02/12/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 02/22/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Oakes, Kenneth J., Ratcliff, Bruce H., Glassen, Steven G., Stagg, Arthur J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Dinh, Dung C.
• Assistant Examiner(s): SALAD, ABDULLAHI ELMI
• Application Number:
  US09/255,640
• Time in Patent Office: 1,086 Days
• Field of Search: 709/250, 709/223, 709/219, 709/226, 709/217, 710/5, 710/7, 710/54, 710/58
• US Class Current: 709/250
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1097 for distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/16 Implementation or adaptation of Internet protocol [IP], of transmission control protocol [TCP] or of user datagram protocol [UDP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/161 Implementation details of TCP/IP or UDP/IP stack architecture; Specification of modified or new header fields
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]

Abstract

A computer program product and storage device used for exchange and transfer of data in a network computing system having a main storage capable of connecting to at least one application server and an interface element with at least one adapter capable of establishing processing communication with at least one application user(s). The program device comprises a a computer program storage device readable by a digital processing apparatus and a program means comprising the steps of: receiving incoming data using said adapter; setting up one or more queues in main storage without causing interrupts in any running programs; updating status of said network computing system to reflect said new data; processing data in said main storage by interrogating multiple existing queues in said main storage simultaneously; and determining from interrogating said queues appropriate application server to which said data has to be forwarded to; designating at least one set of queues in said queuing mechanism as input queues and another as output queues; issuing a signal adapter instruction to provide initiative to check content of any or all queues in said queuing mechanism; specifying initiate-output or initiate-input appropriately by means of said signal adapter instruction to cause associated adapter to asynchronously process said output or input queues; and causing synchronization by means of said signal adapter instruction by signaling said associated data queues to update all entries in order to render them current. The program product runs in the same environment and performs similar tasks.

Claims

1. In a network computing system having a main storage capable of connecting to at least one application server and an interface element with at least one adapter capable of establishing processing communication with at least one application user(s), a computer program device comprising:

a computer program storage device readable by a digital processing apparatus;

a program means on the program storage device and including instructions executable by said digital processing apparatus for ensuring that all queues in a queuing mechanism residing on said program storage device remain active and that any data in said queues is being timely processed, comprising the steps of;

receiving incoming data using said adapter;

setting up one or more queues in main storage without causing interrupts in any running programs;

updating status of said network computing system to reflect said new data;

processing data in said main storage by interrogating multiple existing queues in said main storage simultaneously;

determining from interrogating said queues appropriate application server to which said data has to be forwarded to;

designating at least one set of queues in said queuing mechanism as input queues and another as output queues;

issuing a signal adapter instruction to provide initiative to check content of any or all queues in said queuing mechanism;

specifying initiate-output or initiate-input appropriately by means of said signal adapter instruction to cause associated adapter to asynchronously process said output or input queues; and

causing synchronization by means of said signal adapter instruction by signaling said associated data queues to update all entries in order to render them current.

3. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein said Interface Element further comprises of a Connector Interface Element and a Network Interface Element.

4. The computer program product of claim 3, wherein said Connector Interface Element is in processing communication with said main storage via a Self-Timed Interface or an STI bus.

5. The computer program product of claim 3, wherein said Connector Interface Element comprises a plurality of processors.

6. The computer program product of claim 5, wherein one of said plurality of processors is used for redundancy purposes.

7. The computer program product of claim 3, wherein said main storage can be in processing communication with a plurality of network elements and servers.

8. The computer program product of claim 7, wherein said plurality of networks comprise at least a web-servers.

9. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein said web-server is a TCP/IP oriented server.

10. The computer program product of claim 3, wherein said Connector and said Network Interface Elements are in processing communication with one another via a Peripheral Controller Interface bus or a PCI bus.

11. The computer program product of claim 3, wherein said Network Interface Element further comprises an I/O device adapters, at least one more processor and a local storage area.

12. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein said Network Interface Element is capable of connecting to one or more individual application users.

2. In a network computing system having a main storage capable of connecting to at least one application server and an interface element with at least one adapter capable of establishing processing communication with at least one application user(s), a computer program product for use with a computer system, a main storage in processing communication with an interface element having adapters for storing a queuing mechanism storing data, comprising:

a data storage device including a computer usable medium having computer readable program means for ensuring proper and timely processing of data, the computer usable code means having;

computer readable code means for dedicating at least one set of queues of said queuing mechanism as input queues and another set as output queues;

computer readable code means for receiving incoming data using said adapter;

computer readable code means for setting up one or more queues in main storage without causing interrupts in any running programs;

computer readable code means for updating status of said network computing system to reflect said new data;

computer readable code means for processing data in said main storage by interrogating multiple existing queues in said main storage simultaneously;

computer readable code means for determining from interrogating said queues appropriate application server to which said data has to be forwarded to.

13. The computer program product of claim 2, wherein said Interface Element performs only a few special functions that replace multitudes of channel functions normally performed by said computing network environment.

14. The computer program product of claim 2, wherein said Interface Element performs special functions that replace many functions normally performed by one or more control units.