JP2003330817A - Redundant bus connecting device and its redundancy method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a bus connecting device for switching a plurality of redundant bus connecting devices to be handles as the same hardware from the software side, and its redundancy method. <P>SOLUTION: The plurality of bus connecting devices 21 to 23 are made redundant by connection to a bus 91 of an information processor 90. The devices are provided with a switching control part 30 for switching input and output of each bus connecting device alternately and switching the connected to a bus 16 of each bus connecting device 21 to 23. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a technique for making a bus connecting device connected to a bus of an information processing apparatus such as a computer redundant.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, when a PCI bus connecting device connected to a so-called PCI bus is made redundant in a host computer, the redundancy is performed by a method disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-268092. There is.
In the example of the above publication, the P of the host computer
The case where two communication cards bus-connected to the CI bus are made redundant has been described. In this case, the redundancy is realized by setting the same MAC address, which is the physical address of each communication card. I am trying to do it.

According to the redundancy method of such a configuration, when a failure occurs in the first communication card in operation, the communication by the communication card is switched by switching to the second communication card in standby. It is possible to continue normally.

[0004]

However, in such a redundancy method, since all communication cards are set to the same MAC address, the operating system and device driver operating on the host computer are The access method to these communication cards from the side will be different. Therefore, when the first communication card in operation is switched to the second communication card in standby, the operating system and device driver need to recognize the switching of the communication card.

On the other hand, a general-purpose operating system or device driver cannot be used to recognize the switching of the communication card. Therefore, it is necessary to partially change the general-purpose operating system or device driver or develop a dedicated operating system or device driver. Therefore, it takes time to change or develop such an operating system or device driver, and the cost also increases. Further, when trying to apply to other systems, porting work of an operating system and device drivers is required, so that it can be applied only to practically limited systems.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problem, and when switching a plurality of redundant bus connection devices, a bus that can be handled as the same hardware from the software side. It is intended to provide a technology for making a connection device redundant.

[0007]

In order to achieve this object, a redundant bus connection device according to claim 1 of the present invention is connected to a bus of an information processing apparatus, and has a plurality of redundant bus connection devices. In addition, a switching control unit that alternately switches the input and output of each bus connection device and switches the connection of each bus connection device to the bus is provided.

When the redundant bus connection device has such a configuration, the switching control unit switches the connection to the bus, so that the hardware of the bus connection device to the bus is completely switched and the same bus connection device is used. The configuration will be retained. Therefore, for example, the software side of the information processing apparatus, such as the operating system and the device driver, does not recognize the switching of the bus connecting device, but does not recognize the switching of the bus connecting device as the bus connecting device before the switching. It can be accessed and used in the same way.

Therefore, the software such as an operating system and device driver operating on the information processing apparatus corrects general-purpose software or special-purpose software in order to recognize switching of redundant bus connection devices. There is no need to develop, and low-cost general-purpose software can be used as it is. Further, even when the redundant bus connection device is applied to another system, since the general-purpose software used in the other system can be used as it is, the redundant bus connection device can be used. The above-mentioned modification of general-purpose software and porting work of dedicated software are unnecessary, and a highly versatile redundant bus connection device can be obtained.

In the redundant bus connection device according to the second aspect, the bus of the information processing apparatus is a PCI bus. With such a configuration of the redundant bus connection device, the bus connection device connected to the PCI bus can be made redundant at low cost without changing software or developing dedicated software.

In the redundant bus connection device according to a third aspect of the present invention, the switching control unit includes a configuration control unit for switching the input / output of each bus connection device and a bus configuration control unit for switching the connection to the bus. There is. When the redundant bus connection device has such a configuration, the configuration control unit switches the input / output of each bus connection device at the time of switching each bus connection device, and the bus configuration control unit controls the bus of the bus connection device. By switching the connection, the bus connection device can be switched while maintaining the same hardware configuration.

A redundant bus connection device according to a fourth aspect of the present invention has a configuration in which a configuration information control unit for holding device information such as setting information of a configuration register is provided for each bus connection device. When the redundant bus connection device has such a configuration, the configuration information control unit always holds device information such as setting information of the configuration register of each bus connection device. Therefore, when the bus connection device is switched, the configuration information control unit sets the device information of the bus connection device before switching to the device information of the bus connection device after switching based on the device information held therein. As a result, the device information of the bus connection device after switching is set to be the same as the device information of the bus connection device before switching, and the completely same hardware is configured to operate the bus connection device. Can continue.

In the redundant bus connection device according to the present invention, each bus connection device re-initializes the device information such as the setting information of the configuration register by the operating system or the device driver operating on the information processing apparatus. The configuration is implemented. If the redundant bus connection device has such a configuration, the device information of each bus connection device is re-initialized by the initialization function provided in the software such as the operating system and device driver when the bus connection device is switched. It As a result, the bus connection device after switching normally operates, and the bus connection device can be continuously used. Therefore, the configuration information control unit is unnecessary, the configuration is simplified, and the cost is reduced. Can be reduced.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the redundant bus connection device, when the bus connection device is switched, device information such as setting information of a configuration register is transmitted from the bus connection device before switching to the bus connection device after switching. A device information copy control unit for copying is provided. With such a configuration of the redundant bus connection device, the device information copy control unit sets the device information of the bus connection device before the switching to the bus connection device after the switching when the bus connection device is switched. As a result, the device information of the bus connection device after switching is set to be the same as the device information of the bus connection device before switching, and the completely same hardware is configured to operate the bus connection device. Can continue.

According to another aspect of the redundant bus connection device of the present invention, the bus configuration control unit, the configuration information control unit or the device information copy control unit is at least a part of an address / data line which is not one-to-one connection with the bus. Is input. When the redundant bus connection device has such a configuration, with respect to the connection of the bus connection device to the bus, the address / address which is not one-to-one connection to the bus /
At least a part of the data line is connected to the bus via the bus configuration control unit, the configuration information control unit, or the device information copy control unit. Thereby, for example, the IDSEL signal line can be shared with the AD line, so that the number of pins of the bus can be reduced.

In order to achieve this object, a redundancy method for a redundant bus connection device according to claim 8 of the present invention makes a plurality of bus connection devices connected to a bus of an information processing device redundant with each other. A redundant bus connection device redundancy method in which the input / output of each bus connection device is alternately switched and the connection of each bus connection device to the bus is switched.

With the redundant bus connecting device having such a configuration, the connection to the bus is switched, so that the bus connecting device to be switched is completely connected to the bus connecting device. The same configuration will be retained for the bus as it is switched. Therefore, for example, the software side of the information processing apparatus, such as the operating system and the device driver, does not recognize the switching of the bus connecting device, but does not recognize the switching of the bus connecting device as the bus connecting device before the switching. It can be accessed and used in the same way.

Therefore, software such as an operating system and a device driver operating on the information processing apparatus corrects general-purpose software or special-purpose software in order to recognize switching of redundant bus connection devices. There is no need to develop, and low-cost general-purpose software can be used as it is. Further, even when the redundant bus connection device is applied to another system, since the general-purpose software used in the other system can be used as it is, the redundant bus connection device can be used. The above-mentioned modification of general-purpose software and porting work of dedicated software are unnecessary, and a highly versatile redundant bus connection device can be obtained.

According to a ninth aspect of the redundant bus connection device redundancy method, the configuration information control unit holds device information such as setting information of a configuration register for each bus connection device. When the redundant bus connecting device has such a structure as described above, the configuration information control unit always holds device information such as setting information of the configuration register of each bus connecting device. Therefore, when the bus connection device is switched, the device information of the bus connection device before switching is copied to the device information of the bus connection device after switching based on the device information held by the configuration information control unit. As a result, the device information of the bus connection device after switching is set to be the same as the device information of the bus connection device before switching, and the completely same hardware is configured to operate the bus connection device. Can continue.

According to a tenth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a redundant bus connecting device redundancy method, wherein device information such as setting information of a configuration register is set for each bus connecting device by an operating system or a device driver running on the information processing apparatus. It is configured to perform re-initialization. If the redundant bus connection device redundancy method is configured in this way, the device information of each bus connection device is changed by the initialization function provided in the software such as the operating system and the device driver when the bus connection device is switched. Reinitialized. As a result, the bus connection device after switching normally operates, and the bus connection device can be continuously used. Therefore, the configuration information control unit is unnecessary, the configuration is simplified, and the cost is reduced. Can be reduced.

In the redundant bus connection device redundancy method according to the eleventh aspect, when switching the bus connection device, the device information copy control unit configures the bus connection device before the switching to the bus connection device after the switching. The device information such as the setting information of the operation register is copied. When the redundant bus connecting device has such a configuration, the device information copy control unit copies the device information of the bus connecting device before switching to the bus connecting device after switching when the bus connecting device is switched. To do. As a result, the device information of the bus connection device after switching is set to be the same as the device information of the bus connection device before switching, and the completely same hardware is configured to operate the bus connection device. Can continue.

In this way, according to the present invention, the switching control unit completely switches the hardware of the bus connection device for the bus and maintains the same configuration for the bus. For example, even if software such as the operating system or device driver does not recognize the switching of the bus connecting device, the switched bus connecting device can be accessed and used in exactly the same way as the bus connecting device before switching. can do. Therefore, low-cost general-purpose software can be used as it is as software, such as an operating system and device driver, which operates on the information processing apparatus.

Further, according to the redundant bus connection device of the present invention, when the bus connection device has a large number of identical PCI devices for each communication port such as a PCI bus connection 4-port communication card. Even so, the reliability, which conventionally decreases with the increase in the number of devices, can be used without the intervention of software, so that the reliability is improved.

In the case of the above-mentioned 4-port communication card connected to the PCI bus, a failure of one PCI device (that is, a communication port) makes all PCI devices unusable during maintenance in the conventional redundancy. According to the present invention, since maintenance can be performed without software intervention, even if a failure occurs in one PCI device, all the other PCI devices continue to operate, so maintenance is possible. Since the communication card may be carried out at the time of regular maintenance, the maintainability is improved.

[0025]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. First, a first embodiment in which the redundant bus connection device according to the present invention is applied to a PCI bus communication card will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a PCI bus communication card 10 of this embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 1, the PCI bus communication card 10 has two communication ports 11 and 12, and
For the PCI bus 91 provided in the host computer 90 as an information processing device, the PCI bus bridge 13
It is configured to be connected to the bus via.

The PCI bus communication card 10 is composed of two input / output control units 14 and 15 connected to the communication ports 11 and 12, respectively, and a device redundant to the input / output control units 14 and 15. Three communication control units 2
1, 22, 23 and these three communication control units 21, 2,
And a switching control unit 30 for switching between 2 and 23.

The input / output control unit 14 is the switching control unit 3
In accordance with an instruction from the configuration control unit 33 of 0, the output of either the communication control unit 21 or 22 is set to the communication port 1
1 and outputs the input from the communication port 11 to either the communication control unit 21 or 22. In addition, the input / output control unit 15 outputs the output of either the communication control unit 22 or 23 to the communication port 12 according to the instruction from the configuration control unit 33 of the switching control unit 30, and the communication port 12 outputs the output. The input is output to either the communication control unit 22 or 23.

The communication control units 21, 22, and 23 are respectively connected to the internal PCI bus 16 in the PCI communication card 10. The internal PCI bus 16 is provided to connect the communication control units 21 to 23, which are a plurality of PCI devices, and via the PCI bus bridge 13, the PCI of the host computer 90, which is an upper bus.
It is connected to the bus 91.

The communication control unit 21 is connected to the input / output control unit 14, and the communication control unit 23 is connected to the input / output control unit 15. On the other hand, the communication control unit 22 is connected to both the input / output control units 14 and 15. Further, each of the communication control units 21 to 23 is provided with a configuration register that performs initial setting for the PCI bus according to the PCI bus specifications. Further, each of the communication control units 21 to 23, when detecting a failure in itself, reports to the configuration control unit 33 (described later) of the switching control unit 30.

According to the PCI bus specification, some signal lines are connected to the PCI bus bridge 13 serving as a host in a one-to-one connection (so-called point-to-point connection) as shown in FIG. However, the interrupt pin (INTA
For # to INTD #), since an open drain driver is used, it is possible to connect to the bus. Generally, when there are a plurality of PCI devices, they are often connected to the bus.

Then, 1 on the internal PCI bus 16
Of the signal lines connected to one-to-one, initialization /
Device select signal (IDSEL signal), request signal (REQ # signal) and grant signal (GNT #
Signals) are connected to a bus configuration controller 31 (described later) of the switching controller 30. Here, the REQ # signal is a signal indicating a request for acquiring a PCI bus from the PCI device, and the GNT # signal is a PCI device from the PCI host to the PCI device.
This is a signal indicating that the bus has been acquired.

The switching control unit 30 includes a bus configuration control unit 31, a configuration information control unit 32, and a configuration control unit 33.
It consists of and.

The bus configuration control unit 31 uses the PCI bus 1
6 is connected to the bus signal line from the PCI bus bridge 13 which makes a one-to-one connection.
3 to access each of the communication control units 21 to 23, which are PCI devices, the IDSEL signal, REQ # signal, and G that are signal lines unique to each PCI device.
The connection relationship between the NT # signal and the PCI device is changed according to the instruction from the configuration control unit 33.

The configuration information control unit 32 is a PCI
PCI bus bridge 1 for one-to-one connection on the bus 16
The bus signal lines from No. 3 are connected in the same manner as the bus configuration control unit 31, and the signal lines of the PCI bus 16 which are not one-to-one connection on the PCI bus 16 are also connected. Further, the configuration information control unit 32 is a PCI device connected to the PCI bus 16 and each of the communication control units 21 to 23.
The configuration access to each of the communication control units 21 to 23, and holds the setting information of the configuration register of each of the communication control units 21 to 23 according to the instruction from the configuration control unit 33. The communication control units 21 to 23 are set.

The configuration control unit 33 includes the communication control units 21 to 21.
Based on the failure report from 23, an instruction to change the bus configuration of the bus configuration control unit 31 is output, an instruction to switch the input / output of the input / output control units 14 and 15 is output, and the configuration information control unit 32 is further output. An instruction to set any of the configuration register information of the communication control units 21 to 23 is output.

Next, the PC bus communication card 1 of this embodiment
The normal operation of 0 and the switching operation will be described below.

First, the normal operation will be described. P
In the CI bus communication card 10, the two communication ports 11 and 12 are made redundant by including the three communication control units 21 to 23. Then, in a normal state, the communication control units 21 and 23 respectively set the communication ports 11 and 1
The communication control unit 22 is in the standby state while operating in association with the second.

Here, when accessing the configuration registers of the respective communication control units 21 to 23 from the PCI bus 16, unlike the normal access method, the configuration registers are accessed by the configuration cycle. Has become.

This configuration cycle includes type 0 and type 1, as shown in FIG.
Type 1 differs from type 0 in that it includes a bus number and a device number. Then, for example, when accessing the configuration register of the communication control unit 21, on the PCI bus 91, the type 1
Configuration cycle is executed, and a type 0 configuration cycle is executed on the PCI bus 16.

At this time, in the PCI bus bridge 13, P
When the bus number of the CI bus 16 is set in the configuration register and the bus number of the type 1 configuration cycle executed on the PCI bus 91 matches the bus number of the PCI bus 16, the PC
A type 0 configuration cycle is performed on the I-bus 16.

At this time, there is no information indicating which PCI device is accessed in the type 0 configuration cycle information, and which PCI device is accessed is executed on the PCI bus 91. The device number of the type 1 configuration cycle is shown. Therefore, the PCI bus bridge 13 asserts the IDSEL signal, which is one-to-one connected to the PCI device corresponding to this device number, in accordance with the device number of this type 1 configuration cycle, and configures the type 0 configuration. Indicates which PCI device the cycle is an access to.

Then, in addition to the IDSEL signal described above, the bus configuration control unit 31 uses the REQ # signal and GNT used for bus arbitration, which is a signal that makes a one-to-one connection between the PCI device and the PCI bus 16. # Signal connection configuration,
The control is performed according to the instruction from the configuration control unit 33.

In this way, the communication control units 21 to 23, which are PCI devices, are made redundant. Then, assuming that the communication control units 21 and 23 are operating, the communication control unit 22
Becomes a state in which it is apparently disconnected from the PCI bus 16 as a standby state. Therefore, the bus configuration control unit 31
The IDSEL signal, the REQ # signal, and the GNT # signal from 1) are not connected to the upper PCI bus bridge 13.

As a result, the IDSEL signal, the REQ # signal, and the GNT # signal for the communication control units 21 and 23, which are two PCI devices, respectively, more specifically,
IDSEL1 signal, IDSEL2 signal, REQ # 1 signal, REQ # 2 signal, GNT # 1 signal and GNT # 2
When the signals are connected, each of these signals
It is connected to the bus configuration control unit 31 via the I bus bridge 13.

Then, the bus configuration controller 31 receives the input IDSEL1 signal, REQ # 1 signal and GNT # 1.
The signal is configured to be connected to the communication control unit 21, and the input IDSEL2 signal, REQ # 2 signal, and GNT # 2 signal are configured to be connected to the communication control unit 23. The communication control unit 22 in the standby state
The SEL signal, REQ # signal and GNT # signal are not connected.

Therefore, from the viewpoint of software operating on the host computer 90 as an information processing apparatus, specifically, the operating system and device drivers, only the communication control units 21 and 23 appear to be PCI devices. You will see it.

Here, the config information control unit 32 sets P
The configuration cycle for the communication control units 21 to 23 executed on the CI bus 16 is monitored, and the communication control unit 21 is monitored by the configuration cycle.
Holds the setting values set in the configuration registers 23 to 23. Then, the configuration information control unit 3
2 indicates the set value of the configuration register held by the configuration control unit 33 according to the instruction.
The communication control units 21 to 23 are set.

At this time, the configuration register is set by setting the address space used by its own PCI device in a normal PCI bus transaction,
This address space and the like are performed so as not to overlap for each PCI device. Therefore, the setting of the configuration register is unique to each of the communication control units 21 to 23.

Next, the switching operation of the communication control unit in the PCI bus communication card 10 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. In FIG. 4, when the communication control units 21 and 23 are operating, as indicated by reference numeral A1,
When a failure occurs in one of the communication control units, for example, the communication control unit 21, the communication control unit 21 reports the occurrence of the failure to the configuration control unit 33, as indicated by symbol A2. In response to this,
The configuration control unit 33 waits for the communication control unit 21 in which a failure has occurred with respect to the bus configuration control unit 31, the configuration information control unit 32, and the input / output control unit 14, as indicated by symbols A3, A4, and A5, respectively. And outputs an instruction to switch to the communication control unit 22.

As a result, the bus configuration control unit 31 receives the IDSEL1 signal, REQ # 1 signal, and GNT # connected to the communication control unit 21 based on the instruction from the configuration control unit 33, as indicated by the symbol A6. One signal is separated and connected to the communication control unit 22. In addition, the configuration information control unit 32, as indicated by reference numeral A7, the configuration control unit 33.
The setting value of the configuration register of the communication control unit 21 which is held is set in the configuration register of the communication control unit 22 based on the instruction from the. Further, the input / output control unit 14 controls the communication control unit 21 to control the input destination from the communication port 11 and the output source to the communication port based on the instruction from the configuration control unit 33, as indicated by reference numeral A8. Change to section 22.

As a result, even if any one of the communication control units 21 to 23, which is a redundant PCI device, fails during operation, the device number of the PCI device determined by the physical configuration. (That is, the connection configuration of the IDSEL signal) and the setting of the address space that is recognized by the software access (that is, the configuration
Register setting value), etc., communication control unit 2 in which a failure has occurred
By completely matching with the new communication control unit 22 that can be switched to 1, the software such as the operating system and the device driver operating in the host computer 90 can be used to switch to the alternative communication control unit 22 without being aware of anything. Switching can be done. This completes the switching operation of the communication control unit.

FIG. 5 shows a second embodiment in which the redundant bus connection device according to the present invention is applied to a PCI bus communication card. In FIG. 5, the PCI bus communication card 4
Since 0 has almost the same configuration as the PCI bus communication card 10 shown in FIG. 1, the same components are designated by the same reference numerals and the description thereof will be omitted.

The PCI bus communication card 40 is different from the PCI bus communication card 10 shown in FIG. 1 in that the switching control unit 30 does not include the configuration information control unit 32. In this case, when the communication control units 21 and 23 are operating and the communication control unit 22 is in the standby state, the configuration control unit 33 of the switching control unit 30 causes a failure in the communication control unit 21 to cause the communication control. When receiving a report from the section 21 that a failure has occurred, the operation is as follows. That is, the configuration control unit 33 notifies the bus configuration control unit 31 and the input / output control unit 14 of the communication control unit 21 in which the failure has occurred based on the report from the communication control unit 21 indicating that the failure has occurred.
The instruction for switching to the communication control unit 22 in the standby state is output.

At the same time, the configuration controller 33 causes the PCI
An interrupt is issued to the PCI bus 91 via the bus bridge 13, and software such as an operating system and device driver operating on the host computer 90 is caused to execute re-initialization of the PCI device on the PCI bus 16. Give instructions. As a result, the software such as the operating system and the device driver executes the re-initialization of the communication control units 21 to 23. Since this re-initialization function is provided in software such as the operating system and device driver, it is not necessary to change these software.

By thus reinitializing the communication control units 21 to 23, the configuration information control unit 32
Is unnecessary. In this case, since the configuration information control unit 32 is unnecessary, the configuration can be simplified and the cost can be reduced. However, the communication control unit 23, which is a PCI device operating normally without any failure, is possible. Will also be re-initialized.

FIG. 6 shows a third embodiment in which the redundant bus connection device according to the present invention is applied to a PCI bus communication card. In FIG. 6, the PCI bus communication card 5
Since 0 has almost the same configuration as the PCI bus communication card 10 shown in FIG. 1, the same components are designated by the same reference numerals and the description thereof will be omitted.

The PCI bus communication card 50 is different from the PCI bus communication card 10 shown in FIG. 1 in that the bus configuration control unit 31 and the configuration information control unit 32 of the switching control unit 30.
However, the PCI bus 16 has a different configuration in that a part of the address / data line (AD [31:00]) that is not a one-to-one connection is input to the PCI bus 16. This is the Type 0 configuration shown in Figure 3.
Paying attention to the fact that bits 31 to 11 of the AD line are not used in the cycle, in order to reduce the number of pins of the PCI bus bridge 13, etc., the IDSEL signal is not used as an unused AD line as a PCI bus design. It was shared with.

Therefore, the bus configuration control unit 31 is
REQ # signal and GNT # from the I-bus bridge 13
In addition to inputting a signal, an AD signal which is a bus connection signal of the PCI bus 16 and which is shared with the IDSEL signal is input. Similarly, the configuration information control unit 32 also inputs the REQ # signal and the GNT # signal from the PCI bus bridge 13, and at the same time, the PCI bus 16
An AD signal which is a bus connection signal and is shared with the IDSEL signal is input. This gives P
The CI bus communication card 50 operates similarly to the PCI bus communication card 10 shown in FIG.

FIG. 7 shows a fourth embodiment in which the redundant bus connection device according to the present invention is applied to a PCI bus communication card. In FIG. 7, a PCI bus communication card 6
Since 0 has almost the same configuration as the PCI bus communication card 10 shown in FIG. 1, the same components are designated by the same reference numerals and the description thereof will be omitted.

Compared to the PCI bus communication card 10 shown in FIG. 1, the PCI bus communication card 60 has a communication control unit as a device information copy control unit instead of the configuration information control unit 32 in the switching control unit 30. The configuration is different in that the information copy control unit 61 is provided. When the communication control unit information copy control unit 61 receives an instruction from the configuration control unit 33 to switch the communication control unit 21 in which a failure has occurred to the communication control unit 22 in the standby state, the configuration control unit 31 Register setting value,
Copy to the configuration register of the communication control unit 22.

As a result, the configuration register of the communication control unit 22 is set to be the same as the configuration register of the communication control unit 21. Therefore, the PCI bus communication card 60 operates similarly to the PCI bus communication card 10 shown in FIG.

In the above-described embodiment, the case where the communication control unit 21 in the PCI bus communication cards 10, 40, 50, 60 fails and the communication control unit 22 is switched to the standby state has been described. Not limited to this, the same operation is performed when the communication control unit in which a failure has occurred among the communication control units 21 to 23 is switched to the communication control unit in the standby state.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, the PCI bus communication cards 10 and 4 provided with the two communication ports 11 and 12 and the three redundant communication control units 21 to 23.
Although 0, 50, and 60 have been described, the present invention is not limited to this, and the present invention is applied to a PCI bus communication card having one or three or more communication ports and two or more redundant communication control units. It is clear that it can be applied.

Further, in the above-described embodiments, the case where the PCI bus communication card which is a PCI device is used as the bus connection device has been described. It is obvious that the present invention can be applied to the bus connection device described above.

[0066]

As described above, according to the present invention, conventionally, even if the communication control unit as the PCI device is made redundant, the physical configuration such as the device number as the PCI device is different. If the software such as the operating system and the device driver is not created in consideration of the redundancy, the PCI that has been made redundant by the difference and the difference caused by the difference in the setting of the software such as the address space of the configuration register. It is not possible to switch devices. Therefore, software such as a general-purpose operating system and device driver cannot be used because software such as a special operating system and device driver is required.

On the other hand, according to the redundant bus connection device of the present invention, the same hardware configuration is adopted even after the switching of the redundant bus connection devices such as PCI devices. Since the software is not aware of the switching of the above, it is possible to realize the redundant configuration of the bus connection device without modifying the software such as the operating system or the device driver or developing the dedicated software.

In particular, in the case of a PCI device such as a multi-port communication card such as a 4-port communication card, a large number of the same PCI devices exist, and the reliability of the present invention, which decreases as the number of devices increases, can be improved. With the redundant configuration according to, it can be easily improved without software intervention. Further, in a PCI card such as a 4-port communication card, even if so-called online maintenance is possible, conventionally, due to a failure of one PCI device, all PCI devices, that is, all communication ports cannot be used during maintenance. Will end up.

On the other hand, by applying the redundant configuration according to the present invention, even if a failure occurs in one PCI device, all the communication ports continue to operate without change, and therefore the replacement of the PCI card is not possible. It should be done at the time of regular maintenance. Therefore, high availability is obtained and maintainability is improved.

Furthermore, since software such as a dedicated operating system and device driver is not required, even if the redundant bus connection device is applied to another system, software change and porting work become unnecessary, Redundancy of bus connection devices such as PCI devices can be easily realized.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a first embodiment of a PCI bus communication card as a redundant bus connection device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a signal list of the PCI bus communication card of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a configuration cycle in the PCI bus communication card of FIG.

4 is a flowchart showing a switching operation of a communication control unit as a PCI device in the PCI bus communication card of FIG.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a second embodiment of a PCI bus communication card as a redundant bus connection device according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a PCI bus communication card as a redundant bus connection device according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a PCI bus communication card as a redundant bus connection device according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

10, 40, 50, 60 PCI bus connection card 11, 12 Communication port 13 Internal PCI bus 14, 15 Input / output control unit 21, 22, 23 Communication control unit (bus connection device) 30 Switching control unit 31 Bus configuration control unit 32 Configuration information control unit 33 Configuration control unit 61 Communication control unit Information copy control unit (device information copy control unit) 90 Host computer (information processing device) 91 PCI bus

Claims (11)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of bus connection devices which are connected to a bus of an information processing apparatus and which are made redundant with each other, and input / output of each bus connection device is alternately switched,
A redundant bus connection device comprising a switching control unit for switching the connection of each bus connection device to the bus. 2. The redundant bus connection device according to claim 1, wherein the bus of the information processing device is a PCI bus. 3. The switching control unit comprises a configuration control unit for switching the input and output of each bus connection device, and a bus configuration control unit for switching the connection to the bus. The redundant bus connection device described. 4. The redundancy according to claim 1, further comprising a config information control unit for holding device information such as setting information of a configuration register for each bus connection device. Bus connection device. 5. The bus connection device is re-initialized with device information such as setting information of a configuration register by an operating system or a device driver running on the information processing apparatus. The redundant bus connection device according to any one of 1 to 3. 6. A device information copy control unit for copying device information such as setting information of a configuration register from a bus connecting device before switching to a bus connecting device after switching when the bus connecting device is switched. The redundant bus connection device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that: 7. The bus configuration control unit, the configuration information control unit or the device information copy control unit inputs at least a part of an address / data line which is not a one-to-one connection to a bus. The redundant bus connection device according to claim 1. 8. A redundant bus connection device redundancy method for mutually redundantizing a plurality of bus connection devices connected to a bus of an information processing apparatus, wherein input / output of each bus connection device is alternately switched,
A redundant bus connecting device redundancy method, characterized in that the connection of each bus connecting device to the bus is switched. 9. The redundancy of a redundant bus connection device according to claim 8, wherein the configuration information control unit holds device information such as setting information of a configuration register for each bus connection device. Method. 10. The device information such as the setting information of the configuration register is reinitialized for each bus connection device by an operating system or a device driver running on the information processing apparatus. Redundancy method of redundant bus connection device described. 11. When switching a bus connection device, a device information copy control unit copies device information such as setting information of a configuration register from a bus connection device before switching to a bus connection device after switching. 9. The redundancy method for a redundant bus connection device according to claim 8.