JPH0273434A - Method for reading data out of auxiliary memory - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To increase the overall processing speed in the title method by transferring the information on an auxiliary memory to a hard control area of an extension memory after the start of a computer and storing the information on the hard control area before the stop of the computer. CONSTITUTION:A CPU 1 includes an extension memory 2 and a service processor 3, and the processor 3 controls an auxiliary memory 4. The memory 2 is divided into a hard control area and a general access area. The information on the memory 4 is transferred to a hard control area of the memory 2 after the start of a computer. The CPU 1 has an access to the hard control area of the memory 2 to perform the due process based on the information stored in the memory 4 during the operation of the computer. Then the information on the hard control area of the device 2 is stored in the memory 4 before the stop of the computer. Thus the CPU 1 can read the data stored in the memory 4 at a high speed. In addition, the processor 3 can carry out other processes. As a result, the overall processing speed is increased in a method for reading data out of the memory 4.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Summary] The present invention relates to a method for reading data from an auxiliary storage device, and particularly relates to a computer equipped with a central processing unit, an expanded storage device, a service processor, and an auxiliary storage device managed by the service processor. Regarding the data reading method from the auxiliary storage device in which the central processing unit of the service processor reads information stored in the auxiliary storage device, the central processing unit rapidly takes in data stored in the auxiliary storage device of the service processor and performs processing based on this data. The central processing unit of a computer is equipped with a central processing unit, an extended storage device, a service processor, and an auxiliary storage device managed by the service processor. A method for reading data from an auxiliary storage device that reads information stored in an auxiliary storage device includes a mechanism for dividing the extended storage device into a hard control area and a general access area, and the information in the auxiliary storage device is transferred to the hard control area of the auxiliary storage device after the computer is started. When the computer is in operation, the central processing unit accesses this extended storage hard control area and executes processing based on the information stored in the auxiliary storage, and before the computer stops, the central processing unit information is stored in the auxiliary storage device.

(Industrial Application Field) The present invention relates to a method for reading data from an auxiliary storage device, and in particular, the present invention relates to a method for reading data from an auxiliary storage device. The present invention relates to a method for reading data from an auxiliary storage device in which a central processing unit of a computer reads information stored in the auxiliary storage device.

In general, in a general-purpose computer system, in addition to the computer main unit, there is control of the main unit hardware necessary for operating the computer system, provision of a means of conversation with the operating system, monitoring of the operating status of the system,
For diagnosis, some devices have a service processor, which is a subsystem of a computer independent of the main device.

(Prior Art) There is an apparatus shown in FIG. 7 that includes the above-mentioned service processor. In the figure, 10 is the main memory (M
11 is a storage unit control unit (MCU), 12 is an extended storage unit (ESU), 13.14 is two central processing units (CPUs) connected to the storage control unit, 15 is a channel processing unit (CHP). ), 16 is a service processor (sv
p) is shown. and service processor (SVP)
) is connected to a magnetic disk 17 as an auxiliary storage device, and an operating system and an operating system are installed on this magnetic disk 17.
It is designed to store information such as diagnostic systems.

By the way, when diagnosing, for example, a main unit in a computer having such a service processor, the following method is used. That is, as shown in FIG. 8, when the central processing unit 13 issues, for example, a diagnostic instruction (Diagnose instruction) while the computer is in operation (STI), the service processor 16 executes this diagnostic processing (ST2).
~5T5). That is, the central processing unit automatically stops, and the service processor 16 first analyzes and processes the processing request from the central processing unit (ST2), reads a data file from the magnetic disk 17 (ST3), and stores this file on the main storage device. Stores the file contents to the address destination of the second operand (Sr4), and stores the result of instruction execution in PSW (Pr
program 5tatus Word), the series of processing is completed, and the central processing unit 13 is started.

(Problem to be Solved by the Invention) By the way, in the conventional method described above, since the processing speed of the service processor that executes the diagnosis is generally slower than the computer that is the main body, such a diagnosis is While the instructions are being executed, the computer main body is in a stopped state, and there is a problem in that computer processing is temporarily stopped and processing from a terminal device connected to the computer main body is delayed.

In order to avoid such problems, even if an asynchronous method that does not stop the central processing unit is adopted, the service processor will not be able to execute other processes during the diagnostic process and will be affected.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to enable a central processing unit to rapidly import data stored in an auxiliary storage device of a service processor and execute processing based on this data.

[Means to solve the problem]

In the present invention, means for solving the above problems are as follows:
As shown in FIG. 1, the central processing unit of a computer includes a central processing unit 1, an extended storage device 2, a service processor 3, and an auxiliary storage device 4 managed by this service processor. A method for reading data from an auxiliary storage device that reads stored information includes a mechanism that divides the extended storage device into a hard control area and a general access area, and the information in the auxiliary storage device is transferred to the hard control area of the expanded storage device after the computer is started. (STI), and when the computer is in operation, the central processing unit accesses this extended storage and executes processing based on the information stored in the auxiliary storage (ST2), and before the computer is stopped, the central processing unit accesses the extended storage. This is to store device information in the auxiliary storage device (ST3).

[Effect]

According to the present invention, the data stored in the auxiliary storage device of the service processor is transferred to the extended storage device after the computer is started, and the central processing unit executes the conventional service processor based on the data stored in the expanded storage device. The previously used process can be executed at high speed.

〔Example〕

Embodiments of a method for reading data from an auxiliary storage device according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

2 to 6 show an embodiment of a method for reading data from an auxiliary storage device according to the present invention. In this embodiment, the computer to which the method of reading data from the auxiliary storage device is applied is the same as the conventional computer shown in FIG.

In this embodiment, the expanded storage device is provided with two types of area definition registers that divide the storage area of the expanded storage device into a hard control area and a general access area, as shown in FIG.

This area definition register is ABR1 (Address base reg) that defines the entire storage area of the extended storage device.
1) ALR1 (Addres 11m1t reg
1) and ABR2 (Addr
es base reg 2 )ALR2(Addre
s 11m1t reg 2).

In this embodiment, a firmware area is provided in a specific area (for example, the last part) of the main memory, and the instructions of the central processing unit can be emulated by this firmware.

In this firmware operation mode, the entire area defined by ABRI and ALR1 of the extended storage device can be accessed, and in the membrane operation mode, only the general access area defined by ABR2 and ALR2 can be accessed. There is. This is done by controlling the access to the extended storage means by outputting normal and address exceptions using the address check means shown in FIG. This address check means controls access to the extended storage device by comparing the value of the register selected by the selection circuit 30 and the access address to the extended storage device by the address comparison circuit 31 according to the operation mode of the central processing unit. It is.

In addition, in this embodiment, the hardware control area of the extended storage device has a pointer area at the beginning, as shown in FIG. 2, and this pointer area stores the start address, file length, and valid information of each file. A data area for storing each file is provided next to this pointer area.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be explained. In the following, description will be given in the following order: (1) when the system power is turned on, (2) when the diagnostic command is executed, and (2) when the system power is turned off.

■When powering on the system (FIG. 4) First, the service processor turns on the power to each device in the system (STII). Then, each device is initialized (ST 12). Among these, the expanded storage device first clears all storage areas of the expanded storage device (ST13), and initializes the division register that determines where the storage area is divided into a general access area and a hardware control area (ST14). A pointer area is secured in the hardware control area (ST15).

Then, the contents of each file in the auxiliary storage device of the service processor and the contents of each file in the expanded storage device are transferred to the hardware control area of the expanded storage device (ST16), and addresses, valid information, etc. are written in the pointer area of each file. Set.

This is done for all files until the end (ST18
). This means that the system file of data related to the diagnostic function in the auxiliary storage of the service processor is stored in the expanded storage.

■During diagnostic command execution processing (Figure 5) When the central processing unit executes the file access diagnostic (Diagnose) command of the service processor currently operating in the normal mode (Sr21), the central processing unit enters the firmware operating mode. Analyze the diagnostic instruction code (
ST22), reads the pointer area of the hard control area on the extended storage device (Sr23), and if the file is valid (Sr
24) Obtain the necessary value, for example, the start address of file A (Sr25), and read the contents of file A on the extended storage device onto the memory (Sr26). Then, a return command is executed (Sr27), and the central processing unit is returned to the general mode, and the next command is executed (Sr31). If the required file is not valid, the central processing unit stops and causes the service processor to perform the specified processing as before (Sr.
28) When the processing is completed, the service processor starts the central processing unit, and the central processing unit executes the instruction following the diagnostic instruction (ST29), and then executes the return instruction to return to the normal mode. As a result, if the file is valid, the central processing unit is in a state where it has accessed the system file stored in the auxiliary storage of the service processor.

■When powering off the system (Figure 6) Before turning off the system power after completing the specified processing,
Refer to the pointer area of each file in the hard control area of the extended storage device (Sr11), and if it is valid (Sr4
2) Read the contents of each stored file in the area indicated by the pointer area <4, store it in the system file of the auxiliary storage device of the service processor (Sr43), and execute this process for all files (ST44). After that, power is cut off for each device in the system, and the series of processes ends.

Therefore, according to this embodiment, the system files stored in the auxiliary storage device of the service processor are temporarily stored in the extended storage device, and the central processing unit can directly access the system files stored in the expanded storage device. Because of this, the process can be performed faster than when executed by a service processor, and since the central processing unit is not stopped, various processes will not be stalled. The processing can be executed, and the overall processing speed can be increased.

In the above embodiments, the data accessed by the central processing unit is exemplified as relating to diagnostic commands, but the data accessed is of course not limited to this and may be of any type.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, according to the present invention, in the method for reading data from an auxiliary storage device, information in the auxiliary storage device is transferred to the extended storage device after the computer is started, and the central processing unit accesses this extended storage device during computer operation. The central processing unit executes processing based on the information stored in the auxiliary storage device and stores the information in the extended storage device in the auxiliary storage device before stopping the computer. When reading data stored in a computer, the reading process can be executed at high speed, the central processing unit does not stop for a long time, and the service processor can perform other processes, so the overall processing speed is reduced. This has the effect of increasing the speed of processing.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the principle of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the contents of an area of an extended storage device according to an embodiment of the invention, FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the configuration of an address check means according to an embodiment, and FIG. 4, 5, and 6 are flowcharts showing the operation of the embodiment, FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a system to which the present invention is applied, and FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing conventional processing. 1...Central processing unit 2...Extended storage device 3...Service processor 4...Auxiliary storage device Inner door of the present invention, logic Z Figure CPU operation turf, 7 handless Jr., 7 hand IQ Figure Nnuko T-Electric-Oki, two-person time response-ft, Nittokiri Koharuhi's Figure 6 system, Kodo k-I9'1 Figure 7

Claims (1)

[Claims] A central processing unit (1), an expanded storage device (2), a service processor (3), and this service processor (3).
In a method for reading data from an auxiliary storage device in which a central processing unit (1) of a computer having an auxiliary storage device (4) managed by a computer reads information stored in the auxiliary storage device (4), the extended storage device is It is divided into a control area and a general access area, and after the computer starts up, the information in the auxiliary storage device (4) is transferred to the hard control area of the extended storage device (2) (ST1), and when the computer is in operation, it is transferred to the central processing unit (1). accesses the hardware control area of this extended storage device (2) and executes processing based on the information stored in the auxiliary storage device (4) (ST2), and before stopping the computer, the extended storage device ( A method for reading data from an auxiliary storage device, characterized in that the information in the hardware control area of 2) is stored in the auxiliary storage device (4) (ST3).