Patent ID: 7472332

Claim:
A method in a data processing system for providing end-to-end data integrity checks, the method comprising: performing a read/write operation, wherein the read/write operation comprises generating an initial checksum for data in the read/write operation and associating the initial checksum with the data, wherein the association exists through a plurality of layers of a software and attached storage subsystems in the data processing system; sending the initial checksum with the data through the plurality of layers of the software and attached storage subsystems in a read/write path; responsive to receiving the initial checksum and data at each layer in the plurality of layers of the software and attached storage subsystems in the read/write path, performing an integrity check in the plurality of layers of the software and attached storage subsystems of the data, wherein the integrity check comprises generating a comparison checksum and determining whether the comparison checksum matches the initial checksum at each layer in the plurality of layers of the software and attached storage subsystems; if the initial checksum and the comparison checksum do not match, failing the read/write operation; responsive to failing the read/write operation, performing the integrity check in additional levels of the software to detect a layer of the software at which the integrity check failed; and generating return code by the layer of the software at which the integrity check failed, wherein the return code includes data related to a failure of the integrity check.