JPH0290255A - Automatic recognition system for constitution of input/ output device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To omit a complex means for defining the constitution of I/O devices by automatically recognizing the constitution of the I/O devices at the time of raising a system. CONSTITUTION:A connection channel acquiring means 101 acquires the channel numbers of all channels connected to a computer, a maximum device number acquiring means 102 acquires the maximum device number to be the maximum number of I/O devices to be connected to respective channels and a device attribute acquiring means 103 executes a device attribute acquiring channel command 106 common with all the I/O devices through respective I/O passes and acquires the device names and device attributes of the connected I/O devices. A device constitution acquiring means 104 forms an I/O device constitution table based on the acquired device names, device attributes and I/O passes. Since the I/O devices connected to the computer are automatically recognized by software-like constitution, a complex means for defining the constitution of the I/O devices can be omitted.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a method for automatically recognizing the configuration of a plurality of input/output devices of different types connected to a computer via a channel in a computer system. .

[Conventional technology]

In a computer system equipped with a plurality of input/output devices of different types, an input/output device configuration table is used to manage and control each input/output device.

This input/output device configuration table includes device names, device attributes, and input/output paths (channel numbers, device numbers). Conventionally, the input/output device configuration was defined using special means during system construction, and input/output A device configuration table was created.

Note that a device name is an independent name given to identify each input/output device, and a device attribute is, for example, the number of cylinders in a magnetic disk device, the number of tracks per cylinder,
Information such as the recording density of the trunk, whether or not the media can be replaced, the number of tracks of the removable media in the magnetic tape device, etc.
This refers to information necessary to access an input/output device, such as information such as recording density. Further, an input/output path is specified by a channel number and a device number in that channel.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

As described above, in the conventional method, the input/output device configuration was defined at the time of system construction and the input/output device configuration table was created, which resulted in the following drawbacks.

(2) Special means for defining input/output device configuration (complicated because it has a function to define detailed information interactively with the operator) is required.

- Since the input/output device configuration generally differs for each computer system, it is necessary to define the input/output device configuration for each computer system.

■Even in the same computer system, the input/output device configuration must be redefined each time the device configuration is changed due to system scale expansion or the like.

The present invention has been proposed in view of the above points, and its purpose is to provide an input/output device configuration that can automatically recognize input/output devices connected to a computer using a simple software configuration. The purpose of this invention is to provide an automatic recognition method.

[Means to solve the problem]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a computer system that manages and controls a plurality of input/output devices according to an input/output device configuration table, and includes: connection channel acquisition means for acquiring channel numbers of all channels connected to a computer; The maximum device number acquisition means obtains the maximum device number, which is the maximum number of input/output devices that can be connected to each channel, and the device attribute acquisition channel command common to all input/output devices is executed on each input/output path. The apparatus includes a device attribute acquisition means for acquiring the device name and device attributes of the output device, and a device configuration acquisition means for creating an input/output device configuration table based on the acquired device name, device attributes, and input/output path.

[Effect]

In the automatic recognition method of the input/output device configuration of the present invention, the connection channel acquisition means acquires the channel numbers of all channels connected to the computer, and the maximum device number acquisition means acquires the maximum number of channels that can be connected to each channel. The device attribute acquisition means acquires the maximum device number, which is the number of output devices, and executes the device attribute acquisition channel command common to all input/output devices on each input/output path to obtain the device name and device attributes of the connected input/output devices. and creates an input/output device configuration table based on the device name, device attributes, and input/output path acquired by the device configuration acquisition means.

〔Example〕

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of an automatic recognition system for an input/output device configuration according to the present invention.

FIG. 1(a) shows an example of the connection between a computer and an input/output device, and the computer 100 has channels 20, 21,
22. ..., 2n (channel number 0.1゜2, ...
, n) are connected, and channels 20, 21° 22, . . .
, 2n have input/output devices 300 to 30mo, 3, respectively.
10-31m+, -, 3nO-3nm n (device numbers 0-m@, O-m+, -, O-ma) are connected.

On the other hand, FIG. 1(b) shows the configuration of the main parts of the present invention, which include connection channel acquisition means 101, maximum device number acquisition means 102, device attribute acquisition means 103, and device configuration acquisition means 104. It is composed of. In addition, 10
5 is a channel program, 106 is device attribute acquisition means 1
03 is a device attribute acquisition channel command common to all input/output devices regardless of the type of input/output device, and 107 is an input/output device configuration table finally created by the device configuration acquisition means 104.

Hereinafter, the functions and operations of the above-mentioned parts will be explained along the flowchart of FIG. 2, and the operation of the entire embodiment will be explained.

When the system starts operating (step Sl), the channels 20, 21, 22 . ..., 2n channel numbers 0, 1, 2 . ..., n is obtained (step S
2). For example, based on the operation check information (information stored in the storage area) performed when a channel is connected, the focus corresponding to the channel number of the connected channel is turned on (- 1) Data is obtained.

Next, the maximum device number acquisition means 102 selects the computer 1.
Channels 20, 21..., 2 connected to 00
The maximum number of individually connectable input/output devices of n, that is, the maximum device number m* + ITl+ + . . . 1m9 is obtained (step 53) 0. For example, information regarding the maximum number of devices possessed by the firmware of the channel is read. The maximum device number is obtained by Since the channel number and maximum device number have been obtained, all input/output paths have been recognized. FIG. 4 shows an example of the representation format of an input/output path, and one input/output path is specified by a set of a channel number and a device number (O to maximum device number).

Next, the device attribute acquisition means 103 acquires the device name and device attribute of the input/output device connected to each output bus (step S4), that is, the device number is set between 0 and the maximum device number for each channel. By setting and specifying an input/output path and executing the device attribute acquisition channel command 106 on that input/output path, for example, you can read the information held by the firmware of the input/output device, specify the device name, and access the device. Get the required device attributes.

Therefore, in the device configuration acquisition means 104, the connection channel acquisition means 101. Maximum device number acquisition means 102. An input/output device configuration table 107 is created based on the information obtained by the device attribute acquisition means 103 (step S5), and the same process is repeated for all input/output paths (step S6).

FIG. 5 shows the logical structure of the input/output device configuration table 107, in which the device name, device attributes, and input/output path are specified for each input/output device. Note that the input/output path is 2.
If there are more than one, all of them are stored. For example, the input/output devices 310 to 31m1 in FIG.
The same input/output path exists.

Once the processing of all input/output paths has been completed, recognition of the input/output device configuration has been completed, and the job is started (step S7). After the job starts, access to the input/output devices is It will be controlled based on the device configuration table 107.

Furthermore, since the input/output device configuration is always recognized at the start of system operation, if the system scale increases and the number of connected input/output devices increases, the system startup time may become longer. However, in that case, a means for storing the created input/output device configuration table 107 on an external storage medium and a means for specifying the system startup method are newly provided, and the system startup method is specified by the means for specifying the system startup method. Only when the input/output device configuration is recognized, steps S2 to S6 in FIG. 2 are performed, and the input/output device configuration table 107 created at that time is stored in the external storage medium. What is necessary is to read out the input/output device configuration table 107 that has already been stored.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, in the automatic recognition method of the input/output device configuration of the present invention, the input/output device configuration can be automatically recognized at the time of system startup. This eliminates the need for complicated means and the burden on the operator.

■Can be commonly applied to computer systems with different input/output device configurations.

■Even if the device configuration is changed due to system scale expansion, etc., the device configuration can be recognized in the same way as usual.

There are other effects.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of the automatic recognition system for input/output device configuration of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a flowchart of the operation of the embodiment, Fig. 3 is an explanatory diagram of connection channel acquisition means, and Fig. 4 is A diagram showing an example of an input/output path representation format and FIG. 5 are a logical configuration diagram of an input/output device configuration table. In the figure, 100...Computer 101...Connection channel acquisition means 102...Maximum device number acquisition means 103...Device attribute acquisition means 104...Device configuration acquisition means 105...Channel program 106...・Device attribute acquisition channel command 107...
・I/O device configuration table 20-2n...Channel 300-3nms...I/O device

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claim] In a computer system that manages and controls a plurality of input/output devices according to an input/output device configuration table, there is provided a connection channel acquisition means for acquiring channel numbers of all channels connected to a computer, and connectable to each channel. The maximum device number acquisition means obtains the maximum device number that is the maximum number of input/output devices, and the device attribute acquisition channel command common to all input/output devices is executed on each input/output path to obtain the device name of the connected input/output device. an input/output device configuration characterized by comprising: device attribute acquisition means for acquiring device attributes; and device configuration acquisition means for creating an input/output device configuration table based on the acquired device name, device attributes, and input/output path. automatic recognition method.