Read optical power link service for link health diagnostics

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9077448-B2
Application number	US-201213592550-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 23, 2012
Priority date	Aug 23, 2012
Publication date	Jul 7, 2015
Grant date	Jul 7, 2015

Abstract

A method is provided for monitoring a state of an optical link in a Fiber Channel infrastructure and includes sending an Extended Link Service (ELS) request to read an optical power of the optical link, and diagnosing a degradation of the optical link, based on a response to the ELS request.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of monitoring a state of an optical link in a Fibre Channel infrastructure, the method comprising:
sending an Extended Link Service (ELS) request to read an optical power of the optical link;
diagnosing a degradation of the optical link, based on a response to the ELS request;
determining whether the optical power of the optical link is a cause of an occurring link error;
if no link errors are occurring, determining whether the optical power of the optical link is outside of a threshold range including a low optical power level threshold and a high optical power level threshold; and
renegotiating a lower link speed for the optical link, in response to the optical power of the optical link being outside of the threshold range.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the low optical power level threshold is set to a predetermined lowest power level that allows the optical link to remain operational at a selected link speed and the high optical power level is set to a predetermined highest power level that allows the optical link to remain operational at the selected link speed.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising indicating a degraded state, if the optical power of the optical link is outside of the threshold range.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising determining whether the optical power of the optical link has been decreasing or increasing, if the step of diagnosing indicates a link error.

5. The method of claim 4 , further comprising taking a service action not on the optical link, if a determination is made that the optical power of the optical link has not been decreasing or increasing.

6. The method of claim 4 , further comprising performing a proactive action indicating optical power degradation, if a determination is made that the optical power of the optical link has been decreasing or increasing.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein performing a proactive action comprises a step selected from the group consisting of issuing a proactive service message, generating a link incident message, and displaying optical power reading history.

8. A system for detecting an optical link error in a Fibre Channel infrastructure or a Fibre Channel over Ethernet infrastructure including:
a plurality of optical links; and
a controller in communication with the plurality of optical links configured to:
send an Extended Link Service (ELS) request to read an optical power of an optical link of the plurality of optical links;
diagnose a degradation of the optical link, based on a response to the ELS request;
determine whether the optical power of the optical link is a cause of an occurring link error;
if no link errors are occurring, determine whether the optical power of the optical link is outside of a threshold range including a low optical power level threshold and a high optical power level threshold; and
renegotiate a lower link speed for the optical link, in response to the optical power of the optical link being outside of the threshold range.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the controller is further configured to indicate a degraded state, if the optical power of the optical link is outside of the threshold range.

10. The system of claim 8 , wherein the controller is further configured to determine whether the optical power of the optical link has been decreasing or increasing, if a diagnosis indicates a link error.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein the controller is further configured to take a service action not on the optical link, if a determination is made that the optical power of the optical link has not been decreasing or increasing.

12. The system of claim 10 , wherein the controller is further configured to perform a proactive action indicating optical power degradation, if a determination is made that the optical power of the optical link has been decreasing or increasing.

13. A non-transitory physical computer-readable storage medium comprising a computer program product for monitoring a state of an optical link in a Fibre Channel infrastructure, the non-transitory physical computer-readable storage medium including instructions for:
sending an Extended Link Service (ELS) request to read an optical power of the optical link;
diagnosing a degradation of the optical link, based on a response to the ELS request;
determining whether the optical power of the optical link is a cause of an occurring link error;
if no link errors are occurring, determining whether the optical power of the optical link is outside of a threshold range including a low optical power level threshold and a high optical power level threshold; and
renegotiating a lower link speed for the optical link, in response to the optical power of the optical link being outside of the threshold range.

14. The non-transitory physical computer-readable storage medium of claim 13 , further comprising instructions for indicating a degraded state, if the optical power of the optical link is outside of the threshold range.

15. The non-transitory physical computer-readable storage medium of claim 13 , further comprising instructions for determining whether the optical power of the optical link has been decreasing or increasing, if the step of diagnosing indicates a link error.

16. The non-transitory physical computer-readable storage medium of claim 15 , further comprising instructions for taking a service action not on the optical link, if a determination is made that the optical power of the optical link has not been decreasing or increasing.

17. The non-transitory physical computer-readable storage medium of claim 15 , further comprising instructions for performing a proactive action indicating optical power degradation, if a determination is made that the optical power of the optical link has been decreasing or increasing.

Assignees

• Hathorn Roger G
• Higgs Raymond Michael
• Kuch George Peter
• Ricci Louis William
• IBM

Inventors

• Hathorn Roger G
• Higgs Raymond Michael
• Kuch George Peter
• Ricci Louis William

Classifications

• H04B10/0795

  Performance monitoring; Measurement of transmission parameters · CPC title

• H04B10/0775 Primary

  Performance monitoring and measurement of transmission parameters · CPC title

• H04L43/0805

  by checking availability · CPC title

• G01M11/30

  Testing of optical devices, constituted by fibre optics or optical waveguides · CPC title

• H04B10/07955

  Monitoring or measuring power · CPC title