Patent ID: 7818387

Claim:
An apparatus for a modular computer system, comprising: a combined switch and service processor module configured to couple to an information processing module, wherein the combined switch and service processor module includes: a switch portion; a service processor portion; a data interface configured to communicate with an external management entity via a network; and a fault management unit configured to receive fault messages generated by the switch portion and by the service processor portion, including respective fault messages generated by the switch portion and the service processor portion that relate to a same fault of the information processing module, and wherein the fault management unit is further configured to perform processing on a received fault message to determine whether to forward the received message to the external management entity via the data interface, wherein the fault management unit is configured to not forward fault messages that relate to the same fault for which the fault management unit has already forwarded a fault message to the external management entity; wherein the apparatus is further configured to detect that the information processing module is outputting erroneous data relating to the same fault, and, in response thereto, to disable further communication of erroneous data by the information processing module.