36 High Availability Software for the Intel® NetStructureTM ZT 4901 Technical Product Specification
High Availability CompactPCI Device Drivers
5.2 Summary
The intent of the HA CompactPCI device driver model is to leverage the native device driver
infrastructure to supply a robust Hot Swap capability while limiting the non-proprietary device
driver modifications. In order for a device driver to function effectively in a Redundant Host
environment the driver should at a minimum implement the Hot Swap device driver infrastructure
detailed in the following appendices of this manual:
•Appendix C, “HSK Device Driver Interface for VxWorks* 5.4”
•Appendix D, “RH Device Driver Interface for Linux* 2.4”
The specific implementation details vary between the supported operating systems, so choose the
correct driver model for the operating system for which you are developing. To best leverage the
Redundant Host capabilities it is recommended that some level of synchronization be implemented
using the supplied device driver messaging infrastructure.
It is not necessary to implement all the supplied Redundant Host features for backplane device
drivers to function in a High Availability architecture. There are some device implementations that
require a device or bus segment to be reset when Host ownership changes. Using either the
PICMG* 2.12 Redundant Host API or the IPMI API system information extension documented in
the next chapter allows the bus segment to automatically reset the specified domain after the new
Host has inherited the bus segment. To use these functions, see the Redundant Host switchover and
slot information related APIs and the IPMI API for default Host activities.