Device expected state monitoring and remediation

• US 10,108,479 B2
• Filed: 10/07/2015
• Issued: 10/23/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 10/07/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Unisys Corporation
• Original Assignee: Unisys Corporation
• Inventors: Malnati, James R
• Primary Examiner(s): Duncan, Marc
• Application Number:
  US14/877,304
• Publication Number:
  US 20170102953A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,112 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0727 in a storage system, e.g. in a DASD or network based storage system drivers for digital recording or reproducing units G06F3/06; circuits for error detection or correction within digital recording or reproducing units G11B20/18; for distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS], H04L67/1097
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0793 Remedial or corrective actions recovery from an exception in an instruction pipeline G06F9/3861; by retry G06F11/1402; for recovering from a failure of a protocol instance or entity H04L69/40
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3034 where the computing system component is a storage system, e.g. DASD based or network based digital input from or digital output to record carriers G06F3/06; digital recording or reproducing G11B20/18; for distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS], H04L67/1097
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3055 Monitoring arrangements for monitoring the status of the computing system or of the computing system component, e.g. monitoring if the computing system is on, off, available, not available error or fault processing without redundancy G06F11/0703; error detection or correction by redundancy in data representation G06F11/08; error detection or correction by redundancy in operation G06F11/14; error detection or correction by redundancy in hardware G06F11/16
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/06 Digital input from, or digital output to, record carriers , e.g. RAID, emulated record carriers or networked record carriers

Abstract

A system and method for monitoring and correcting device operating states during steady-state operations may be automated. The operating states for devices operating in a steady-state environment may be monitored. Any operating device that is set to operate in an unexpected operating state may be automatically changed to its expected operating state. The operator may then be warned of any incorrect state assignment through a console message that cannot be ignored by the operator.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

monitoring, by a processor, an operating state for each of a plurality of data storage devices;

identifying, by the processor, one or more of the plurality of data storage devices for which the operating state is different than an expected operating state for each of the plurality of data storage devices;

correcting, by the processor, the operating state for each of the one or more of the plurality of data storage devices for which the operating state is different than the expected operating state;

wherein the correcting comprises setting the operating state to the expected operating state for a corrected data storage device;

receiving, by the processor, a request from an operator to change the operating state for the one or more of the plurality of data storage devices;

notifying, by the processor, the operator that the operating state requested is incorrect for the one or more of the plurality of data storage devices for which the operating state is different than the expected operating state, wherein the notification is configured such that the operator must acknowledge the notification before the operating state is changed; and

in which the operating state for each of the plurality of data storage devices comprises one of an Up state, a Down state, a Reserved state, or a Suspended state, wherein any of the plurality of data storage devices in the Reserved state operates only when a disaster recovery event occurs.

2. The method of claim 1, in which the processor is operating in a steady-state environment.

3. The method of claim 1, in which the step of correcting comprises changing the operating state to the expected operating state for each of the one or more of the plurality of data storage devices for which the operating state is different than the expected operating state.

4. A computer program product, comprising:

a non-transitory computer readable medium comprising code to perform the steps of;

monitoring, by a processor, an operating state for each of a plurality of data storage devices;

identifying, by the processor, one or more of the plurality of data storage devices for which the operating state is different than an expected operating state for each of the plurality of data storage devices;

correcting, by the processor, the operating state for each of the one or more of the plurality of data storage devices for which the operating state is different than the expected operating state;

wherein the correcting comprises setting the operating state to the expected operating state for a corrected data storage device;

receiving, by the processor, a request from an operator to change the operating state for the one or more of the plurality of data storage devices;

notifying, by the processor, the operator that the operating state requested is incorrect for the one or more of the plurality of data storage devices for which the operating state is different than the expected operating state, wherein the notification is configured such that the operator must acknowledge the notification before the operating state is changed; and

in which the operating state for each of the plurality of data storage devices comprises one of an Up state, a Down state, a Reserved state, or a Suspended state, wherein any of the plurality of data storage devices in the reserved state operates only when a disaster recovery event occurs.

5. The computer program product of claim 4, in which the processor is operating in a steady-state environment.

6. The computer program product of claim 4, in which the step of correcting comprises changing the operating state to the expected operating state for each of the one or more of the plurality of data storage devices for which the operating state is different than the expected operating state.

7. An apparatus, comprising:

a memory; and

a processor coupled to the memory, the processor configured to execute the steps of;

monitoring an operating state for each of a plurality of data storage devices;

identifying one or more of the plurality of data storage devices for which the operating state is different than an expected operating state for each of the plurality of data storage devices;

correcting the operating state for each of the one or more of the plurality of data storage devices for which the operating state is different than the expected operating state;

wherein the correcting comprises setting the operating state to the expected operating state for a corrected data storage device;

receiving a request from an operator to change the operating state for the one or more of the plurality of data storage devices;

notifying the operator that the operating state requested is incorrect for each of the one or more of the plurality of data storage devices for which the operating state is different than the expected operating state, wherein the notification is configured such that the operator must acknowledge the notification before the operating state is changed; and

in which the operating state for each of the plurality of data storage devices comprises one of an Up state, a Down state, a Reserved state, or a Suspended state, wherein any of the plurality of data storage devices in the reserved state operates only when a disaster recovery event occurs.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, in which the processor is operating in a steady-state environment.

9. The apparatus of claim 7, in which the step of correcting comprises changing the operating state to the expected operating state for each of the one or more of the plurality of data storage devices for which the operating state is different than the expected operating state.