Command to trigger diagnostic port activation

Inventors: Pasquale A. Catalano (Wallkill, NY); Michael James Becht (Poughkeepsie, NY); Christopher J Colonna (Ossining, NY); Stephen Robert Guendert (Murfreesboro, TN)

Assignee: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION

G06F11/079 G06F11/0709

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Quick Facts

Patent No.: US 12699618
App. No.: 18/456,606
Granted: Aug 4, 2026
Kind: B2

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Abstract

A receiving network device obtains a command built to enable a control program to trigger activation of diagnostics on one or more ports of one or more network devices. The command includes an indication of the one or more ports on which diagnostics is to be activated. The receiving network device initiates triggering activation of diagnostics on the one or more ports indicated by the command, and provides diagnostic status resulting from the activation of diagnostics on the one or more ports.

Claims (32)

1 . A computer program product for facilitating processing within a computing environment, the computer program product comprising:

one or more computer readable storage media and program instructions collectively stored on the one or more computer readable storage media, the program instructions collectively stored comprising:

program instructions to obtain, by a receiving network device, a command built to enable an operating system to trigger activation of diagnostics on one or more ports of one or more network devices of a storage area network, the command being an architected command defined based on a selected architecture and including an indication of the one or more ports on which diagnostics is to be activated, the one or more ports for which diagnostics are to be activated being indicated by the operating system, and wherein the command includes a command structure, the command structure used by the operating system to specify one or more diagnostic tests to be executed on the one or more ports to test how the one or more ports are functioning, the command structure including a diagnostic setting field that includes a mask of bits used to specify the one or more diagnostic tests to be run on the one or more ports indicated in the command to test how the one or more ports are functioning;

program instructions to initiate triggering, by the receiving network device, the activation of diagnostics on the one or more ports indicated by the command, wherein based on the initiate triggering, one or more settings in one or more configurations of the one or more ports are set to diagnostic mode and the one or more diagnostic tests specified in the command are run on the one or more ports indicated in the command to test how the one or more ports are functioning; and

program instructions to provide, by the receiving network device, diagnostic status resulting from the activation of diagnostics on the one or more ports, the diagnostic status to be inserted in one or more diagnostic status fields of the command and returned to the operating system.

2 . The computer program product of claim 1 , wherein the program instructions collectively stored further include program instructions to run, based on initiating triggering the activation of diagnostics, port diagnostic testing on at least one port of the receiving network device, wherein the one or more ports include the at least one port.

3 . The computer program product of claim 2 , wherein the port diagnostic testing includes running at least one diagnostic test of the one or more diagnostic tests indicated by the command to determine whether the at least one port is functioning as expected in terms of performance including speed.

4 . The computer program product of claim 1 , wherein the program instructions to initiate triggering the activation of diagnostics on the one or more ports includes program instructions to forward at least an indication of the command to one or more network devices coupled to the receiving network device to trigger port diagnostic testing on at least one port of the one or more network devices, wherein the one or more ports include the at least one port of the one or more network devices.

5 . The computer program product of claim 4 , wherein the program instructions collectively stored further include program instructions to run, based on triggering the port diagnostic testing on the at least one port of the one or more network devices, at least one diagnostic test of the one or more diagnostic tests indicated by the command.

6 . The computer program product of claim 1 , wherein the command is a control unit port command constructed based on a defined format, the defined format including a command code, a command indication and a description of the command.

7 . The computer program product of claim 1 , wherein the command uses the command structure built to be used with the command, the command structure provided to the receiving network device and including the diagnostic setting field indicating the one or more diagnostic tests to be performed on the one or more ports.

8 . The computer program product of claim 1 , wherein the program instructions collectively stored further comprise program instructions to return the one or more ports to a non-diagnostic mode.

9 . The computer program product of claim 8 , wherein the program instructions to return the one or more ports to the non-diagnostic mode include program instructions to obtain, based on another instance of the command, an indication to return the one or more ports to the non-diagnostic mode.

10 . The computer program product of claim 1 , wherein the program instructions to obtain, by the receiving network device, the command include program instructions to obtain the command from a device executing the operating system and having a local port used in transmitting the command, and wherein, based on the transmitting the command, the local port is placed in a different operating mode from an operating mode at transmission of the command.

11 . A computer system for facilitating processing within a computing environment, the computer system comprising:

a memory; and

at least one device coupled to the memory, wherein the computer system is configured to perform a method, the method comprising:

obtaining, by a receiving network device, a command built to enable an operating system to trigger activation of diagnostics on one or more ports of one or more network devices of a storage area network, the command being an architected command defined based on a selected architecture and including an indication of the one or more ports on which diagnostics is to be activated, the one or more ports for which diagnostics are to be activated being indicated by the operating system, and wherein the command includes a command structure, the command structure used by the operating system to specify one or more diagnostic tests to be executed on the one or more ports to test how the one or more ports are functioning the command structure including a diagnostic setting field that includes a mask of bits used to specify the one or more diagnostic tests to be run on the one or more ports indicated in the command to test how the one or more ports are functioning;

initiating triggering, by the receiving network device, the activation of diagnostics on the one or more ports indicated by the command, wherein based on the initiating triggering one or more settings in one or more configurations of the one or more ports are set to diagnostic mode and the one or more diagnostic tests specified in the command are run on the one or more ports indicated in the command to test how the one or more ports are functioning; and

providing, by the receiving network device, diagnostic status resulting from the activation of diagnostics on the one or more ports, the diagnostic status to be inserted in one or more diagnostic status fields of the command and returned to the operating system.

12 . The computer system of claim 11 , wherein the method further comprises running, based on the initiating triggering the activation of diagnostics, port diagnostic testing on at least one port of the receiving network device, wherein the one or more ports include the at least one port.

13 . The computer system of claim 11 , wherein the initiating triggering the activation of diagnostics on the one or more ports includes forwarding at least an indication of the command to one or more network devices coupled to the receiving network device to trigger port diagnostic testing on at least one port of the one or more network devices, wherein the one or more ports include the at least one port of the one or more network devices.

14 . The computer system of claim 11 , wherein the command uses the command structure built to be used with the command, the command structure provided to the receiving network device and including the diagnostic setting field indicating the one or more diagnostic tests to be performed on the one or more ports.

15 . The computer system of claim 11 , wherein the obtaining, by the receiving network device, the command includes obtaining the command from a device executing the operating system and having a local port used in transmitting the command, and wherein, based on the transmitting the command, the local port is placed in a different operating mode from an operating mode at transmission of the command.

16 . A computer-implemented method of facilitating processing within a computing environment, the computer-implemented method comprising:

initiating triggering, by the receiving network device, the activation of diagnostics on the one or more ports indicated by the command, wherein based on the initiating triggering, one or more settings in one or more configurations of the one or more ports are set to diagnostic mode and the one or more diagnostic tests specified in the command are run on the one or more ports indicated in the command to test how the one or more ports are functioning; and

17 . The computer-implemented method of claim 16 , further comprising running, based on the initiating triggering the activation of diagnostics, port diagnostic testing on at least one port of the receiving network device, wherein the one or more ports include the at least one port.

18 . The computer-implemented method of claim 16 , wherein the initiating triggering the activation of diagnostics on the one or more ports includes forwarding at least an indication of the command to one or more network devices coupled to the receiving network device to trigger port diagnostic testing on at least one port of the one or more network devices, wherein the one or more ports include the at least one port of the one or more network devices.

19 . The computer-implemented method of claim 16 , wherein the command uses the command structure built to be used with the command, the command structure provided to the receiving network device and including the diagnostic setting field indicating the one or more diagnostic tests to be performed on the one or more ports.

20 . The computer-implemented method of claim 16 , wherein the obtaining, by the receiving network device, the command includes obtaining the command from a device executing the operating system and having a local port used in transmitting the command, and wherein, based on the transmitting the command, the local port is placed in a different operating mode from an operating mode at transmission of the command.