Cables are well known and are used to connect multiple components such as server nodes in a server system. The cables are often identical, and the number of cables can vary. For example, in some server systems, there may be as few as 3 identical cables or as many as 12 identical cables, depending on the server system configuration.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a conventional cable system 50. The cable system 50 includes a cable 52, a paddle card 60 coupled to one end of the cable 52, and a paddle card 62 coupled to the other end of the cable 52. The cable 52 includes a bundle of N wires 64. Connection pins 66 are coupled to one end of the wires 64, and connection pins 68 are coupled to the other end of the wires 64. Gaskets 70 and 72 are coupled to the paddle cards 60 and 62, respectively. The paddle cards 60 and 62 are plugged into respective server system nodes 80 and 82 of a server system.
A problem with the conventional cable system 50 is that if the paddle cards 60 and 62 are not properly connected or “seated” when plugged into the server system nodes 80 and 82, the overall server system may not be fully functional. Accordingly, for a fully functional server system, proper care must be taken to ensure that the paddle cards 60 and 62 are seated properly.
Another problem with the conventional cable system 50 is that the thickness of the gaskets 64 and 66 may vary sufficiently such that the paddle cards 60 and 62 may feel as though are properly seated when they are, in fact, not seated properly.
Determining if the paddle cards 60 and 62 are seated properly is difficult, because the server system may still work even if the paddle cards 60 and 62 are not seated properly. In this case, the server system would have degraded performance. This of course would be problematic, especially if the degraded performance goes unnoticed.
Cyclical redundancy check (CRC) errors may indicate degraded performance. However, trouble shooting a server system to isolate one or more cables as the root cause of the degraded performance may be time consuming. For example, a high number of CRC errors may indicate a possible problem with the cable 52 or the paddle card 60 and 62, but one would not be able to determine if the problem is simply caused by an improper seating of the paddle cards 60 and 62. Furthermore, if one or more of the paddle cards 60 and 62 are not seated properly, the improper seating may not cause enough errors for the server system to issue any warning. Yet, the degraded performance may still exist.
Accordingly, what is needed is a system and method for assuring that cables for server systems are seated properly. The system and method should be simple, cost effective, and capable of being easily adapted to existing technology. The present invention addresses such a need.