JPH1069440A - Method and system for diagnosing interface - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve a reliability and a maintainability by sending different test data by a port of cable, judging an adequacy of the data after transfer, and judging which cable port data judged to be inadequate corresponds to. SOLUTION: When an interface test mode flag 16a is made significant, a selector 13a of the interface diagnostic device 2a selects data from a diagnostic data generation part 18a. The selected data after being set in a transmitting register 14a is sent to an information processor 1b through a driver 15a and an interface part 100. The information processor 1b receives the data at a receiving register 11b through a receiver 10b. This data is read out to DGP 3b through a buffer 12b. The transferred data and the source data generated by the diagnostic data generation part 18a are compared with each other to detect a failure of the interface between systems.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a diagnostic method and system, and more particularly, to a diagnostic method and system for an interface between information processing apparatuses.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, information processing systems employ a method of diagnosing devices constituting the system and detecting a failure before the system is incorporated to ensure high reliability.

As a method of diagnosing the interface between devices, for example, a method described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2-32445 is generally used. The method is as follows. The diagnostic data is transmitted from the diagnostic device to the diagnostic device via the interface. The diagnosed device sends the received diagnostic data back to the transfer source device. The device performing the diagnosis compares the returned data with the original data, and as a result, if the received data does not match, determines that there is a failure on the interface between the devices.

[0004]

In the above-mentioned conventional information processing system, it is desired that the amount of data transferred at one time is large in order to improve the performance thereof. Is becoming more complicated. For this reason, in addition to hardware failure failures, human failures such as incorrect connection of cables are increasing. In addition, the device-to-device interface diagnosis by the conventional method detects hardware failures such as cable disconnection and human faults such as incorrect connection of cables. There is a problem that it is not possible to determine whether or not the connection is established.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to detect a failure in an interface unit and at the same time to detect a connection state in the case of an erroneous connection, thereby enabling quick response to the failure, thereby improving reliability and maintainability. To provide an information processing system with high reliability.

[0006]

An interface diagnosis method according to the present invention is a method for diagnosing an interface between a plurality of information processing apparatuses connected by a plurality of detachable cables. Transmitting different test data for each port of the cable, receiving the test data by the device under diagnosis, judging the validity of the data after transfer, and when the result of the validity judgment is invalid. Determines which cable port the data is given to.

[0007] A first interface diagnostic system of the present invention includes a plurality of information processing devices including a memory device, a diagnostic processor, and an interface diagnostic device, and a service processor. A receiver for receiving data received from the information processing device via the first interface;
(B) a reception register for receiving and holding the reception data; (c) a buffer for storing the reception data from the reception register and outputting the data to the memory device and the diagnostic device; and (d) a buffer controlled by a diagnostic processor. (E) a data mode flag controlled by the diagnostic processor;
(F) a diagnostic data generator for generating test data according to the contents of the data mode flag; and (g) transmission data from a memory device and a diagnostic data generator for generating test data according to the contents of the interface unit test mode flag. A selection circuit for selecting one of the transmission data, (h) a transmission register for holding the transmission data from the selection circuit, and (i) the data via another interface to another information processing device. And a driver that sends out the data.

A second interface diagnostic system according to the present invention is the first interface diagnostic system, wherein the data mode flag is controlled by the diagnostic processor to control a cable connected to the information processing apparatus to be diagnosed. The content to transfer the transfer data which differs for each port is held.

A third interface diagnostic system according to the present invention is the first interface diagnostic system, wherein the service processor uses the first and second information processing devices based on information from each diagnostic processor of the plurality of information processing devices.
Diagnose interface health.

[0010]

Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the interface diagnostic device system of the present invention.
Referring to FIG. 3, the interface diagnostic system includes an information processing device 1a, an information processing device 1b, interface units 100 and 200 connecting the information processing devices 1a and 1b, and information processing devices 1a and 1b. And a service processor (SVP) 5 connected thereto.

The information processing apparatus 1a includes an interface diagnostic apparatus 2a for transferring data to the information processing apparatus 1b.
, A memory device 4a, and a diagnostic processor (DGP) 3a that performs diagnostic control of the information processing device 1a.

The information processing apparatus 1b includes an interface diagnostic apparatus 2b for transferring data to the information processing apparatus 1a.
, A memory device 4b, and a diagnostic processor (DGP) 3b that performs diagnostic control of the information processing device 1b.

Next, the interface diagnostic apparatus of FIG. 3 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the interface diagnostic device of FIG. Referring to FIG. 1, the interface diagnostic device 2a includes a receiver 10a that receives data transferred from the information processing device 1b via the interface unit 200, a reception register 11a that always sets the received transfer data, and stores the transfer data. A buffer 12a, an interface test mode flag 16a controlled by the DGP 3a,
3a, a diagnostic data generator 18a for generating test data according to the data mode flag 17a, and an output data of the memory device 4a and an output data of the diagnostic data generator 18b according to the interface test mode flag 16a. And a transmission register 14a for holding data to be transmitted to the information processing apparatus 1b, and a driver 15a for transmitting data to the information processing apparatus 1b via the interface unit 100.

The interface diagnostic device 2b includes a receiver 10b for receiving data transferred from the information processing device 1a via the interface unit 100, a receiving register 11b for constantly setting the received transfer data,
A buffer 12b for storing transfer data, an interface unit test mode flag 16b set by the DGP 3b, a data mode flag 17b set by the DGP 3b, and a diagnostic data generator 18b for generating test data according to the data mode flag 17b. A selector 13b for selecting data from the output data of the memory device 4b and the output data of the diagnostic data generation unit 18b according to the interface unit test mode flag 16b, a transmission register 14b for holding data to be transmitted to the information processing device 1a, The interface unit 100 is connected to the device 1a.
And a driver 15b for sending out data via the driver 15b.

Each device in the information processing apparatus 1a can operate in a normal mode and a diagnostic mode, but switching between the normal mode and the diagnostic mode is controlled by the DGP 3a.

Normally, when no diagnosis is made, that is,
When operating as an interface device, the interface diagnostic device 2a receives the data transmitted from the information processing device 1b via the interface unit 200 in the reception register 11a, and then holds the data in the buffer 12a, and stores the data in the system. Transfer to the memory device 4a. When data is transmitted from the memory device 4a, the data is received by the transmission register 14a, and the information
Transfer to

The information processing device 1b is switched between the normal mode and the diagnostic mode under the control of the DGP 3b,
The same operation as is performed.

Next, the operation of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 2 shows the interface unit 10 of the present invention.
It is a detailed block diagram of 0,200. Referring to FIG. 2, the interface unit 100 includes connectors 101a, 102a, and 103 installed in the interface diagnostic device 2a.
a, 104a and connectors 101b, 102b, 103b, 104b installed in the interface diagnostic device 2b
, The cable 100A connected to the connector 101a and the connector 101b, the connector 102a and the connector 10
2b and the connector 103
a and the cable 100C connected to the connector 103b
And a cable 100D connected to the connector 104a and the connector 104b.

The interface unit 200 includes connectors 201a and 2a installed on the interface diagnostic device 2a.
02a, 203a, and 204a, and connectors 201b, 202b, and 20 installed in the interface diagnostic device 2b.
3b, 204b, connector 201a and connector 201
b and the connector 202a
And a cable 200B connected to the connector 202b;
Cable 200C connected to connector 203a and connector 203b, connector 204a and connector 204b
, And a cable 200D connected to the

Next, the case of diagnosing the interface unit 100 will be described. First, DGP3a and DG
P3b puts the interface diagnostic device 2a and the interface diagnostic device 2b in the diagnostic mode, respectively, and invalidates the data in the normal path. In the DGP 3a, the interface test mode flag 16a of the interface diagnostic device 2a is made valid. When the interface test mode flag 16a becomes valid, the selector 13a of the interface diagnostic device 2a selects the data from the diagnostic data generator 18a, and the selected data is set in the transmission register 14a and then transmitted through the driver 15a and the interface unit 100. To the information processing apparatus 1b. The information processing device 1b receives this data at the reception register 11b via the receiver 10b. This data is read out to the DGP 3b via the buffer 12b.

The transferred data and the information processing device 1a
If the original data generated by the diagnostic data generator 18a on the side is compared and collated, a fault in the interface between systems can be detected.

Here, the diagnostic data generator 18a will be described.

The data mode flag 17a is set from the DGP 3a in the diagnostic mode. The diagnostic data generator 18a generates data when the value of the data mode flag 17a is "1" and generates data when the value of the data mode flag 17a is "0". The data is generated so that the obtained data have mutually inverted values.

The interface unit 100 transfers 16-byte data, but is actually divided into four cables 100A, 100B, 100C, and 100D as shown in FIG. 2, and the 16-byte data is 4 bytes from the beginning. The cables are divided and transferred in the order of the cables 100A, 100B, 100C, and 100D.

In the diagnostic data generator 18a, the cable 1
The diagnostic data is generated such that the value transferred for each of 00A, 100B, 100C, and 100D changes.

In the diagnostic data generator 18a, when the data mode flag 17a is "1", 16-byte data (data A) "0FFFFFFF3FFFFFFFCFFFFFFF
FFFFFFFF "(hexadecimal notation), and when the data mode flag 17a is" 0 "(data B)," F00000000C0000000030000000 "
00000000 ”(in hexadecimal notation).
0, the interface diagnostic device 2b
If the value read from is not data A or data B, it can be detected that there is some failure in the interface unit 100.

For example, the result of the diagnosis with the data mode flag 17a set to "1" is not data A but "07FFFFFF3FFFFFFFCFFFFFFF
If the value is FFFFFFFF "(hexadecimal notation), it can be determined that there is a failure on the interface unit 100, particularly on the path including the cable 100A and the connectors 101a and 101b.

Further, since the transfer data differs for each cable, a connection error of the cable can be found. For example, as a result of executing the cable diagnosis with the value of the data mode flag 17a being “0”, the result is “30000000C00000000F00000000” instead of the data B.
00000000 "(hexadecimal notation), cable 100A and cable 100C
Turns out to be connected.

The data A and the data B are examples, and are data having bit-inverted values. The data length is the transfer amount of the interface unit 100, and is not limited to this as long as the data is unique to each cable. .

In the above-described cable diagnosis processing, the interface unit 200 can be diagnosed by exchanging all the information processing apparatuses 1a and 1b. The interface unit 200 is also the interface unit 10
As in the case of 0, 16-byte data is
0A, 200B, 200C, and 200D are transferred in 4-byte units.

Switching to the diagnostic mode and setting and resetting of the interface unit test mode flag and the data mode flag can be instructed by software, and the diagnosis is executed by the instruction of the software program.

The above-mentioned interface units 100 and 200
Is coded in a software program, and when this program is executed on SVP5, SVP
5, instructions are given to the DGPs 3a and 3b in accordance with the program, and the DGPs 3a and 3b give appropriate instructions to the interface diagnostic devices 2a and 2b. DGP3
The data read to a and 3b can also be read by software. The data generated by the diagnostic data generators 18a and 18b in accordance with the data mode flags 17a and 17b is checked in advance, and this data and the DGP3
The data read out to a and 3b are compared and collated on a software program to notify normal / abnormal. If the data before transfer and the data after transfer are output on an SVP screen or the like, a faulty cable or a cable connected alternately can be clearly detected.

As described above, the present invention has a function of diagnosing an interface unit between devices and detecting a failure, and at the same time, having a function of detecting an erroneous connection state of a cable, thereby improving system maintainability and reliability. Can be realized.

[0034]

As described above, according to the present invention, the effect of improving the reliability and maintainability of the information processing system can be obtained. The reason is that, in the diagnosis of the interface between devices, if there is an erroneous connection at the same time as the conventional failure detection, the connection state can be detected, so that if there is an erroneous mounting, it is possible to quickly deal with it. Because. Also, by performing this diagnosis before the system starts operating, erroneous mounting can be prevented.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an interface diagnostic device of FIG. 3;

FIG. 2 is a detailed block diagram of an interface unit of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the interface diagnostic system of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1a, 1b Information processing device 2a, 2b Interface diagnostic device 3a, 3b Diagnostic processor (DGP) 4a, 4b Memory device 5 Service processor (SVP) 10a, 10b Receiver 11a, 11b Receive register 12a, 12b Buffer 13a, 13b Selector 14a, 14b Transmission register 15a, 15b Driver 16a, 16b Interface test mode flag 17a, 17b Data mode flag 18a, 18b Diagnostic data generator 100, 200 Interface

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A method of diagnosing an interface between a plurality of information processing apparatuses connected by a plurality of detachable cables, wherein different test data is transmitted from a diagnosis side apparatus to a diagnosis side apparatus for each port of the cable. The test target device receives the test data, determines the validity of the data after the transfer, and if the result of the validity determination is invalid, the data given to any cable port An interface diagnosis method, comprising: determining whether there is a connection; and detecting an erroneous connection state. 2. An interface diagnostic system comprising: a plurality of information processing devices including a memory device, a diagnostic processor, and an interface diagnostic device; and a service processor, wherein the interface diagnostic device is: (B) a reception register for receiving and holding the reception data, and (c) storing the reception data from the reception register, the memory device and the diagnosis. A buffer for outputting to the device; (d) an interface unit test mode flag controlled by the diagnostic processor; (e) a data mode flag controlled by the diagnostic processor; and (f) a test in accordance with the contents of the data mode flag. A diagnostic data generator for generating data, A) a selection circuit that selects one of transmission data from a memory device and transmission data from the diagnostic data generation unit in accordance with the content of the interface unit test mode flag; and (h) the transmission from the selection circuit. A transmission register for holding data; (i)
A driver for sending the data to another information processing device via a second interface. 3. The data mode flag holds, under the control of the diagnostic processor, a content indicating that different transfer data is transferred for each port of a cable connected to the information processing apparatus to be diagnosed. The interface diagnostic system according to claim 2, wherein 4. The interface diagnosis according to claim 2, wherein said service processor diagnoses the normality of said first and second interfaces based on information from a diagnosis processor of each of said plurality of information processing devices. system.