InfiniBand Network Architecture

Physical Layer Error Handling

General

Errors associated with the Physical Layer fall into two categories:

• Minor errors do not significantly impact the Physical Layer or the Physical Layer to Link Layer interface. These errors are marked (by setting the state of the RcvControl signal = Error) and are forwarded to the Link Layer. If minor errors occur simultaneously on multiple lanes, they are treated as a single minor error.

• Major errors result in the Physical Layer automatically transitioning to the Recovery state to attempt link retraining.

There are two basic sources of errors:

• Bit errors on the link. These errors fall into three categories:

  - Code violations.

  - CRD violations.

  - A correctly encoded symbol that converts into a valid 8-bit character ...