I/O Hub CRC Control Element for End-to-End Error Checking
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing PCIe communication protocols face inefficiencies in end-to-end data protection, particularly due to the distance of error checking from the application and limited support for protocols like FICON® Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) in available adapters.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) control element (CCE) within the I/O hub of a computing environment to accumulate and check CRC values during I/O operations, facilitating error checking closer to the application without performance or CPU utilization penalties.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If error checking is performed at the adapter level using existing solutions, then data protection is provided, but the checking is further from the application and performance penalties occur
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an I/O hub as an intermediary component between the adapter and the application. The I/O hub includes a CRC control element that performs error checking closer to the application, eliminating the need for software-based checking while providing better data protection without performance penalties. The hub acts as a mediator that offloads the error checking function from both the adapter and the software layer.
2Reliability
If software is used for generation and checking of error values, then checking is closest to the application, but performance and CPU utilization penalties are imposed
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the software-based error checking mechanism with a hardware-based CRC control element integrated into the I/O hub. This hardware implementation performs the same error checking function that would otherwise require CPU execution, thereby eliminating the performance and CPU utilization penalties while maintaining end-to-end data protection capabilities.
3Adaptability or versatility
If existing adapters are used for error checking, then some checking functionality is provided, but support for all checking protocols such as FICON CRC is not available
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a universal CRC control element in the I/O hub that can handle multiple error checking protocols including FICON CRC and other standards. This multi-functional design allows the same hardware component to provide error checking for different protocols, eliminating the limitation of existing adapters that only support specific protocols while maintaining comprehensive error checking capability.
Data Source
AI summary
Error checking in a computing environment at an input/output (I/O) level is facilitated by associating a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) control element (CCE) with an input/output (I/O) operation based on a command to perform the I/O operation of the computing environment. The CRC control element is used in accumulating during performance of the I/O operation an accumulated CRC value for the I/O operation to facilitate error checking of the I/O operation. By way of example, the associating and the accumulating of the accumulated CRC value may be performed within an I/O hub of the computing environment, and where data of the I/O operation is transferred in data fragments, the CRC control element is updated for each data fragment during the accumulating of the CRC context for the I/O operation.