PERIPHERAL COMPONENT INTERCONNECT EXPRESS (PCIe) PING IN A SWITCH-BASED ENVIRONMENT

摘要

A sideband PCI Express (PCIe) packet initiator in a distributed PCIe switch fabric verifies a PCIe connection between a host device and a PCIe endpoint device without having to power on the host device. The packet initiator assembles a PCIe test packet that acts as a ping for testing reachability of the endpoint device, from the perspective of the host device. The test packet may also verify configurations and settings of the path to the endpoint device. The distributed switch fabric is configured to compare completion data with expected results to verify the PCIe connection, without having to boot the host device.

主权项

1. A method to verify connections of a distributed switch comprising a plurality of switch modules, each switch module of the plurality having at least one port for establishing connections according to a predefined interface, the method comprising:
receiving an indication to verify a connection from a host device to an endpoint device, wherein the host device is connected to an upstream port of a first switch module of the plurality of switch modules, and the endpoint device is connected to a downstream port of the distributed switch; transmitting a test packet from the upstream port of the first switch module to the downstream port of the distributed switch without powering on the host device; receiving a response packet from the downstream port, wherein the response packet comprises completion data resulting from processing the test packet; and responsive to determining the completion data matches an expected value associated with the test packet, determining the connection has been established between the host device connected to the upstream port and the endpoint device connected to the downstream port of the distributed switch.