Patent ID: 8483071

Claim:
A method for verifying the integrity of a communication link, the method comprising, detecting, during normal operation of a communication link, a condition indicative of a high failure rate (HFR) on the communication link; placing the communication link in an HFR state as a result of the condition, wherein placing the communication link in HFR state comprises suspending transmission of real I/Os over the communication link while the communication link is in HFR state; repeatedly transmitting test I/Os over the communication link while the communication link is in HFR state, wherein repeatedly transmitting test I/Os over the communication link comprises receiving a plurality of real I/Os for transmission over the communication link and, for each real I/O that is received, rejecting the real I/O and transmitting instead a test I/O over the communication link; and automatically exiting HFR state and resuming normal operation on the communication link once at least one of the following has occurred: a selected number of test I/Os have been successfully transmitted over the communication link, and a number of test I/Os have been successfully transmitted over the communication link for a selected amount of time.