Patent ID: 7734842

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for resolving a direct memory access (DMA) write page fault for a page that is dedicated to an Input/Output (I/O) adapter, said page dedicated to remain available for use by said I/O adapter, said computer-implemented method comprising: attempting, by said I/O adapter, to write DMA data to said page; responsive to said I/O adapter attempting to write DMA data to said page, identifying a particular entry in an address validation and translation table that is associated with said page, wherein each entry in the address validation and translation table includes an address field in which is stored an address and a control field in which is stored a current control setting; reading the current control setting that is associated with said page from said particular entry, in response to reading the current control setting, processing said attempt to write DMA data to said page according to said current control setting; and responsive to a DMA write fault occurring while processing said attempt: writing said DMA data to only a subset of all data locations included in a substitute page, wherein said subset of data locations includes fewer than all data locations included in said substitute page, and further wherein said substitute page and said page include the same number of data locations; and setting a flag in a flag location that corresponds to each one of said subset of data locations, wherein the flag indicates that DMA write data is present in each one of said subset of data locations.