Patent ID: 8194547

Claim:
A method for use in configuring flow control settings, comprising: at power-on/reset of a computer system, programming credit settings for credit types of input/output interconnect ports in the computer system at a low value, wherein the low value is a value of 1, wherein the credit settings are for switches and controllers, wherein each switch initially advertises that CREDITS_ALLOCATED value for the switch is the low value; as the computer system boots, detecting a system type of the computer system containing the input/output interconnect ports, wherein the system type is detected from within a set of system types comprising a first system type comprising an I/O module and a second system type comprising a cache card in place of the I/O module; as the computer system boots, reprogramming the credit settings in accordance with the system type and in accordance with the type of each input/output interconnect port and the credit types, wherein the reprogramming of the credit settings comprises raising a credit setting for a first transaction and lowering a credit setting for a second transaction; reprogramming the credit settings in accordance with a balance of memory limitations corresponding to the credit settings; and avoiding reprogramming other credit settings for other input/output interconnect ports in the system.