PCI Error Handling and Error Recovery Marketing White Paper

ManualsBrandsHP ManualsNetwork HardwareHP PCI Error Handling and Recovery

Table of contents

Executive Summary .............................................................................................................................. 2

Problem Statement ............................................................................................................................... 2

Historical Evolution of PCI/PCI-Express Error Recovery (ER) ....................................................................... 2

Why PCI/PCI-Express Error Recovery ..................................................................................................... 2

Types of Error Recovery........................................................................................................................ 5

How PCI / PCI-Express Error Recovery Works ......................................................................................... 6

Support of PCI/PCI-Express Error Handling and Error Recovery on HP-UX................................................... 8

Summary ............................................................................................................................................ 8

References .......................................................................................................................................... 8

Glossary............................................................................................................................................. 8

For more information.......................................................................................................................... 10

PCI / PCI EXPRESS Error Recovery White Paper

Summary of content (10 pages)

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PCI / PCI EXPRESS Error Recovery White Paper Table of contents Executive Summary .............................................................................................................................. 2 Problem Statement ............................................................................................................................... 2 Historical Evolution of PCI/PCI-Express Error Recovery (ER) .......................................................................
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Executive Summary In the context of software applications, Reliability, Availability, and Serviceability (RAS) mean failures in the underlying processes and hardware components must not cause any interruptions in the overall system operation. Service transactions are adversely impacted during system failure and performance is affected because of the service down time in the failed system.
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Figure 1: Without PCI Error Recovery 3
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Figure 2: With PCI Error Recovery PCI ER decreases the frequency of crashes, service calls, & repair rates for PCI errors by a factor of 20 to 25 times. Without PCI error recovery, the entry-level system I/O errors account for more than 20% of all errors in the system. Table 1 lists the time taken by the PCI/PCIe cards to recover from PCI errors with the error recovery feature.
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Table 1: PCI / PCIe Card Recovery with PCI Error Recovery Feature Event PCI / PCIx slot card recovery PCIe card recovery Time Taken In the range: 10 secs – 2.5 mins ~ 6 secs Refer to concurrent dump whitepaper (link provided below) for details on time taken for the system to recover from MCA due to PCI I/O errors, without error recovery functionality. http://docs.hp.com/en/V3crashDump1/11.31DumpWhitePaper.
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How PCI / PCI-Express Error Recovery Works When an I/O driver detects PCI bus parity errors, it reports the errors to Error Recovery Infrastructure and then to the core platform support module. Core PSM implements error recovery functionality using interfaces that are independent of the platform. This module verifies if the error is a device error or a bus error. If the error is a device error then the PSM ignores the error.
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drivers have suspended all activities for the devices in the error path. On Integrity platform system, during this phase the Health Checker Daemon is invoked to log and clear the errors. Release Phase: During this phase, the suspended I/O path is restored. It involves resuming the driver. If any I/O cards were left in a suspended state, the card will be replaced via a PCI OLR action. For more information about PCI OLR, see Interface Card OL* Support Guide, posted at the following location: http://docs.hp.
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Support of PCI/PCI-Express Error Handling and Error Recovery on HP-UX PCI error handling and error recovery are supported only with some HP-UX version, I/O products and servers. For more information, see the support matrix available at the following location: http://docs.hp.com/en/ha.html#PCI%20Error%20Handling under the subheading PCI Error Handling and Error Recovery Support Matrix There are several kernel tunables that can change the behavior of PCI error recovery operation.
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SoftFail mode Platform Support Module (PSM) The mode of operation of LBA, during which PCI errors does not cause an HPMC/MCA for PCI I/O errors during PIO read. The LBA/EBA set in soft fail mode will be able to detect the Error appropriately, handle them, and then finally recover from the error. A module that implements routines to support some specific features for a functionality.
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For more information www.hp.com/go/hpux11i © Copyright 2008 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. The information contained herein is subject to change without notice. The only warranties for HP products and services are set forth in the express warranty statements accompanying such products and services. Nothing herein should be construed as constituting an additional warranty. HP shall not be liable for technical or editorial errors or omissions contained herein. Linux is a U.S.