Maintaining fabric device configuration through dynamic reconfiguration

• US 20020194407A1
• Filed: 04/25/2001
• Published: 12/19/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 04/25/2001
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Sun Microsystems Incorporated (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Sun Microsystems Incorporated (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Kim, Hyon T.
• Application Number:
  US09/842,531
• Publication Number:
  US 20020194407A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 710/104
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4411 Configuring for operating with peripheral devices; Loading of device drivers

Abstract

A fabric-attached device configuration for a host system may be managed in regard to fabric state changes for a host system connected to a fabric. An event may be received indicating a fabric state change for one or more host adapter ports. In response to the event, the host system'"'"'s fabric device configuration may be dynamically changed. Dynamically changing the host system'"'"'s fabric device configuration may include bringing online or taking offline one or more fabric devices for the one or more host adapter ports for the host system. In some embodiments, a configuration file may be stored specifying an action to be taken for various types of events. Upon receiving indicating a fabric state change, the configuration file may be accessed to determine the fabric device configuration action to be taken for the type of fabric state change indicated by the event.

Claims

1. A method for handling fabric state changes, comprising:

receiving an event indicating a fabric state change for one or more host adapter ports; and

dynamically changing the host system'"'"'s fabric device configuration in response to said receiving an event;

wherein said dynamically changing comprises bringing online or taking offline one or more fabric devices for the one or more host adapter ports for the host system.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising determining an event type for said event.

3. The method as recited in claim 2, wherein if the event type indicates that one of the fabric host adapter ports has lost connectivity to the fabric, said dynamically changing comprises taking offline one or more fabric devices configured through the host adapter port that lost connectivity to the fabric.

4. The method as recited in claim 3, wherein said taking offline one or more fabric devices configured through the host adapter port that lost connectivity to the fabric comprises:

reading a persistent repository that indicates which fabric devices are currently online for the host adapter port that lost connectivity to the fabric; and

taking offline the fabric devices indicated by the persistent repository for the host adapter port that lost connectivity to the fabric.

5. The method as recited in claim 3, wherein said taking offline comprises disabling an operating system node for each of the one or more fabric devices being taken offline, wherein each operating system node provides a communication mechanism to a corresponding fabric device.

6. The method as recited in claim 2, wherein if the event type indicates that one of the fabric host adapter ports has lost connectivity to the fabric, said dynamically changing comprises:

accessing a configuration file for the host adapter port that lost connectivity to the fabric to determine if fabric devices for that host adapter port are to be unconfigured if that host adapter port loses connectivity to the fabric; and

if the configuration file indicates that fabric devices are to be unconfigured upon lose of connectivity to the fabric, taking offline one or more fabric devices configured through the host adapter port that lost connectivity to the fabric.

7. The method as recited in claim 6, wherein taking offline one or more fabric devices configured through the host adapter port that lost connectivity to the fabric comprises:

reading a persistent repository that indicates which fabric devices are currently online for the host adapter port that lost connectivity to the fabric; and

taking offline the fabric devices indicated by the persistent repository for the host adapter port that lost connectivity to the fabric.

8. The method as recited in claim 6, wherein said taking offline comprises disabling an operating system node for each of the one or more fabric devices being taken offline, wherein each operating system node provides a communication mechanism to a corresponding fabric device.

9. The method as recited in claim 6, further comprising, prior to said receiving an event:

a host adapter driver for one of the one or more host adapter ports becoming inactive or detached; and

generating the event indicating that one of the one or more host adapter ports has lost connectivity to the fabric.

10. The method as recited in claim 6, wherein said accessing a configuration file for the host adapter port that lost connectivity to the fabric comprises reading a user-defined attribute in the configuration file, wherein the user-define attribute indicates whether or not fabric devices for that host adapter port are to be unconfigured if that host adapter port loses connectivity to the fabric

11. The method as recited in claim 2, wherein if the event type indicates that one of the fabric host adapter ports has acquired connectivity to the fabric, said dynamically changing comprises bringing online one or more fabric devices for the host adapter port that has acquired connectivity to the fabric.

12. The method as recited in claim 11, wherein said bringing online one or more fabric devices for the host adapter port that has acquired connectivity to the fabric comprises:

reading a persistent repository that indicates which fabric devices were previously online for the host adapter port that has acquired connectivity to the fabric; and

bringing online the fabric devices indicated by the persistent repository for the host adapter port that has acquired connectivity to the fabric.

13. The method as recited in claim 11, wherein said bringing online comprises creating an operating system node for each of the one or more fabric devices being brought online, wherein each operating system node provides a communication mechanism to a corresponding fabric device.

14. The method as recited in claim 2, wherein if the event type indicates that one of the fabric host adapter ports has acquired connectivity to the fabric, said dynamically changing comprises:

accessing a configuration file for the host adapter port that has acquired connectivity to the fabric to determine if fabric devices for that host adapter port are to be configured if that host adapter port acquires connectivity to the fabric; and

if the configuration file indicates that fabric devices are to be configured upon that host adapter port'"'"'s connectivity to the fabric, bringing online one or more fabric devices for that host adapter port that has acquired connectivity to the fabric.

15. The method as recited in claim 14, wherein bringing online one or more fabric devices configured through the host adapter port that has acquired connectivity to the fabric comprises:

reading a persistent repository that indicates which fabric devices were previously online for the host adapter port that has acquired connectivity to the fabric; and

bringing online the fabric devices indicated by the persistent repository for the host adapter port that has acquired connectivity to the fabric.

16. The method as recited in claim 14, wherein said bringing online comprises creating an operating system node for each of the one or more fabric devices being brought online, wherein each operating system node provides a communication mechanism to a corresponding fabric device.

17. The method as recited in claim 14, further comprising, prior to said receiving an event:

a host adapter driver for one of the one or more host adapter ports becoming active or attached; and

generating the event indicating that one of the one or more host adapter ports has acquired connectivity to the fabric.

18. The method as recited in claim 14, wherein said accessing a configuration file for the host adapter port that has acquired connectivity to the fabric comprises reading a user-defined attribute in the configuration file, wherein the user-define attribute indicates whether or not fabric devices for that host adapter port are to be configured if that host adapter port acquires connectivity to the fabric.

19. The method as recited in claim 2, wherein if the event type indicates that a new fabric device has been connected to the fabric, said dynamically changing comprises bringing online the new fabric device for one of the one or more host adapter ports.

20. The method as recited in claim 19, wherein said bringing online comprises creating an operating system node for the new fabric device being brought online, wherein the operating system node provides a communication mechanism to the new fabric device.

21. The method as recited in claim 19, wherein said bringing online the new fabric device comprises updating a persistent repository to indicate that the new fabric device is online for the host adapter port.

22. The method as recited in claim 2, wherein if the event type indicates that a new fabric device has been connected to the fabric, said dynamically changing comprises:

accessing a configuration file for one of the one or more host adapter ports to determine if newly connected fabric devices for that host adapter port are to be dynamically configured; and

if the configuration file indicates newly connected fabric devices are to be dynamically configured, bringing online the new fabric device for that host adapter port.

23. The method as recited in claim 22, wherein said bringing online comprises creating an operating system node for the new fabric device being brought online, wherein the operating system node provides a communication mechanism to the new fabric device.

24. The method as recited in claim 22, wherein said bringing online the new fabric device comprises updating a persistent repository to indicate that the new fabric device is online for the host adapter port.

25. The method as recited in claim 22, further comprising, prior to said receiving an event:

connecting the fabric device to the fabric; and

a fabric driver generating the event indicating that the new fabric device has been connected to the fabric.

26. The method as recited in claim 22, wherein said accessing a configuration file comprises reading a user-defined attribute in the configuration file, wherein the user-define attribute indicates whether or not newly connected fabric devices for that host adapter port are to be dynamically configured upon detection.

27. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the one or more host adapter ports comprise Fibre Channel host adapter ports.

28. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the fabric comprises a Fibre Channel switched fabric comprising a plurality of Fibre Channel switches.

29. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the fabric is part of a storage area network (SAN), and wherein the fabric devices comprise storage devices.

30. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein said dynamically changing comprises verifying the one or more fabric devices before bringing the one or more fabric devices online, wherein said verifying comprises accessing a fabric name server to determine if the one or more fabric devices are currently connected to the fabric.

31. A host system, comprising:

one or more host adapter ports for coupling to a fabric;

a fabric event agent configured to;

receive an event indicating a fabric state change for one or more of the host adapter ports; and

dynamically change the host system'"'"'s fabric device configuration in response to said receiving an event;

wherein the fabric event agent is configured to dynamically change the host system'"'"'s fabric device configuration by bringing online or taking offline one or more fabric devices for the one or more host adapter ports for the host system.

32. The host system as recited in claim 31, wherein the fabric event agent is further configured to determine event type for said event.

33. The host system as recited in claim 32, wherein if the event type indicates that one of the fabric host adapter ports has lost connectivity to the fabric, the fabric event agent is further configured to dynamically change the host system'"'"'s fabric device configuration by taking offline one or more fabric devices configured through the host adapter port that lost connectivity to the fabric.

34. The host system as recited in claim 33, wherein said taking offline one or more fabric devices configured through the host adapter port that lost connectivity to the fabric comprises:

reading a persistent repository that indicates which fabric devices are currently online for the host adapter port that lost connectivity to the fabric; and

taking offline the fabric devices indicated by the persistent repository for the host adapter port that lost connectivity to the fabric.

35. The host system as recited in claim 33, wherein said taking offline comprises disabling an operating system node for each of the one or more fabric devices being taken offline, wherein each operating system node provides a communication mechanism to a corresponding fabric device.

36. The host system as recited in claim 32, wherein if the event type indicates that one of the fabric host adapter ports has lost connectivity to the fabric, the fabric event agent is further configured to dynamically change the host system'"'"'s fabric device configuration by:

accessing a configuration file for the host adapter port that lost connectivity to the fabric to determine if fabric devices for that host adapter port are to be unconfigured if that host adapter port loses connectivity to the fabric; and

if the configuration file indicates that fabric devices are to be unconfigured upon lose of connectivity to the fabric, taking offline one or more fabric devices configured through the host adapter port that lost connectivity to the fabric.

37. The host system as recited in claim 36, wherein taking offline one or more fabric devices configured through the host adapter port that lost connectivity to the fabric comprises:

reading a persistent repository that indicates which fabric devices are currently online for the host adapter port that lost connectivity to the fabric; and

taking offline the fabric devices indicated by the persistent repository for the host adapter port that lost connectivity to the fabric.

38. The host system as recited in claim 36, wherein said taking offline comprises disabling an operating system node for each of the one or more fabric devices being taken offline, wherein each operating system node provides a communication mechanism to a corresponding fabric device.

39. The host system as recited in claim 36, further comprising:

a host adapter driver for one of the one or more host adapter ports; and

a fabric driver configured to generate the event indicating that one of the one or more host adapter ports has lost connectivity to the fabric.

40. The host system as recited in claim 36, wherein said accessing a configuration file for the host adapter port that lost connectivity to the fabric comprises reading a user-defined attribute in the configuration file, wherein the user-define attribute indicates whether or not fabric devices for that host adapter port are to be unconfigured if that host adapter port loses connectivity to the fabric

41. The host system as recited in claim 32, wherein if the event type indicates that one of the fabric host adapter ports has acquired connectivity to the fabric, the fabric event agent is further configured to dynamically change the host system'"'"'s fabric device configuration by bringing online one or more fabric devices for the host adapter port that has acquired connectivity to the fabric.

42. The host system as recited in claim 41, wherein said bringing online one or more fabric devices for the host adapter port that has acquired connectivity to the fabric comprises:

reading a persistent repository that indicates which fabric devices were previously online for the host adapter port that has acquired connectivity to the fabric; and

bringing online the fabric devices indicated by the persistent repository for the host adapter port that has acquired connectivity to the fabric.

43. The host system as recited in claim 41, wherein said bringing online comprises creating an operating system node for each of the one or more fabric devices being brought online, wherein each operating system node provides a communication mechanism to a corresponding fabric device.

44. The host system as recited in claim 32, wherein if the event type indicates that one of the fabric host adapter ports has acquired connectivity to the fabric, the fabric event agent is further configured to dynamically change the host system'"'"'s fabric device configuration by:

accessing a configuration file for the host adapter port that has acquired connectivity to the fabric to determine if fabric devices for that host adapter port are to be configured if that host adapter port acquires connectivity to the fabric; and

if the configuration file indicates that fabric devices are to be configured upon that host adapter port'"'"'s connectivity to the fabric, bringing online one or more fabric devices for that host adapter port that has acquired connectivity to the fabric.

45. The host system as recited in claim 44, wherein bringing online one or more fabric devices configured through the host adapter port that has acquired connectivity to the fabric comprises:

reading a persistent repository that indicates which fabric devices were previously online for the host adapter port that has acquired connectivity to the fabric; and

bringing online the fabric devices indicated by the persistent repository for the host adapter port that has acquired connectivity to the fabric.

46. The host system as recited in claim 44, wherein said bringing online comprises creating an operating system node for each of the one or more fabric devices being brought online, wherein each operating system node provides a communication mechanism to a corresponding fabric device.

47. The host system as recited in claim 44, further comprising:

a host adapter driver for one of the one or more host adapter ports becoming active or attached prior to said receiving an event; and

a fabric driver generating the event indicating that one of the one or more host adapter ports has acquired connectivity to the fabric.

48. The host system as recited in claim 44, wherein said accessing a configuration file for the host adapter port that has acquired connectivity to the fabric comprises reading a user-defined attribute in the configuration file, wherein the user-define attribute indicates whether or not fabric devices for that host adapter port are to be configured if that host adapter port acquires connectivity to the fabric.

49. The host system as recited in claim 32, wherein if the event type indicates that a new fabric device has been connected to the fabric, the fabric event agent is further configured to dynamically change the host system'"'"'s fabric device configuration by bringing online the new fabric device for one of the one or more host adapter ports.

50. The host system as recited in claim 49, wherein said bringing online comprises creating an operating system node for the new fabric device being brought online, wherein the operating system node provides a communication mechanism to the new fabric device.

51. The host system as recited in claim 49, wherein said bringing online the new fabric device comprises updating a persistent repository to indicate that the new fabric device is online for the host adapter port.

52. The host system as recited in claim 32, wherein if the event type indicates that a new fabric device has been connected to the fabric, the fabric event agent is further configured to dynamically change the host system'"'"'s fabric device configuration by:

accessing a configuration file for one of the one or more host adapter ports to determine if newly connected fabric devices for that host adapter port are to be dynamically configured; and

if the configuration file indicates newly connected fabric devices are to be dynamically configured, bringing online the new fabric device for that host adapter port.

53. The host system as recited in claim 52, wherein said bringing online comprises creating an operating system node for the new fabric device being brought online, wherein the operating system node provides a communication mechanism to the new fabric device.

54. The host system as recited in claim 52, wherein said bringing online the new fabric device comprises updating a persistent repository to indicate that the new fabric device is online for the host adapter port.

55. The host system as recited in claim 52, further comprising:

a fabric driver generating the event indicating that the new fabric device has been connected to the fabric.

56. The host system as recited in claim 52, wherein said accessing a configuration file comprises reading a user-defined attribute in the configuration file, wherein the user-define attribute indicates whether or not newly connected fabric devices for that host adapter port are to be dynamically configured upon detection.

57. The host system as recited in claim 31, wherein the one or more host adapter ports comprise Fibre Channel host adapter ports.

58. The host system as recited in claim 31, wherein the fabric comprises a Fibre Channel switched fabric comprising a plurality of Fibre Channel switches.

59. The host system as recited in claim 31, wherein the fabric is part of a storage area network (SAN), and wherein the fabric devices comprise storage devices.

60. The host system as recited in claim 31, wherein the fabric event agent is further configured to dynamically change the host system'"'"'s fabric device configuration by verifying the one or more fabric devices before bringing the one or more fabric devices online, wherein said verifying comprises accessing a fabric name server to determine if the one or more fabric devices are currently connected to the fabric.

61. A computer readable medium having stored thereon data representing program instructions, wherein the program instructions are executable by one or more processors to implement:

receiving an event indicating a fabric state change for one or more host adapter ports; and

dynamically changing the host system'"'"'s fabric device configuration in response to said receiving an event;

wherein said dynamically changing comprises bringing online or taking offline one or more fabric devices for the one or more host adapter ports for the host system.

62. The computer readable medium as recited in claim 61, wherein the program instructions are further executable to implement determining an event type for said event.

63. The computer readable medium as recited in claim 62, wherein if the event type indicates that one of the fabric host adapter ports has lost connectivity to the fabric, said dynamically changing comprises taking offline one or more fabric devices configured through the host adapter port that lost connectivity to the fabric.

64. The computer readable medium as recited in claim 63, wherein said taking offline one or more fabric devices configured through the host adapter port that lost connectivity to the fabric comprises:

reading a persistent repository that indicates which fabric devices are currently online for the host adapter port that lost connectivity to the fabric; and

taking offline the fabric devices indicated by the persistent repository for the host adapter port that lost connectivity to the fabric.

65. The computer readable medium as recited in claim 63, wherein said taking offline comprises disabling an operating system node for each of the one or more fabric devices being taken offline, wherein each operating system node provides a communication mechanism to a corresponding fabric device.

66. The computer readable medium as recited in claim 62, wherein if the event type indicates that one of the fabric host adapter ports has lost connectivity to the fabric, said dynamically changing comprises:

accessing a configuration file for the host adapter port that lost connectivity to the fabric to determine if fabric devices for that host adapter port are to be unconfigured if that host adapter port loses connectivity to the fabric; and

if the configuration file indicates that fabric devices are to be unconfigured upon lose of connectivity to the fabric, taking offline one or more fabric devices configured through the host adapter port that lost connectivity to the fabric.

67. The computer readable medium as recited in claim 66, wherein taking offline one or more fabric devices configured through the host adapter port that lost connectivity to the fabric comprises:

reading a persistent repository that indicates which fabric devices are currently online for the host adapter port that lost connectivity to the fabric; and

taking offline the fabric devices indicated by the persistent repository for the host adapter port that lost connectivity to the fabric.

68. The computer readable medium as recited in claim 66, wherein said taking offline comprises disabling an operating system node for each of the one or more fabric devices being taken offline, wherein each operating system node provides a communication mechanism to a corresponding fabric device.

69. The computer readable medium as recited in claim 66, wherein the program instructions are further executable to implement, prior to said receiving an event:

a host adapter driver for one of the one or more host adapter ports becoming inactive or detached; and

generating the event indicating that one of the one or more host adapter ports has lost connectivity to the fabric.

70. The computer readable medium as recited in claim 66, wherein said accessing a configuration file for the host adapter port that lost connectivity to the fabric comprises reading a user-defined attribute in the configuration file, wherein the user-define attribute indicates whether or not fabric devices for that host adapter port are to be unconfigured if that host adapter port loses connectivity to the fabric

71. The computer readable medium as recited in claim 62, wherein if the event type indicates that one of the fabric host adapter ports has acquired connectivity to the fabric, said dynamically changing comprises bringing online one or more fabric devices for the host adapter port that has acquired connectivity to the fabric.

72. The computer readable medium as recited in claim 71, wherein said bringing online one or more fabric devices for the host adapter port that has acquired connectivity to the fabric comprises:

reading a persistent repository that indicates which fabric devices were previously online for the host adapter port that has acquired connectivity to the fabric; and

bringing online the fabric devices indicated by the persistent repository for the host adapter port that has acquired connectivity to the fabric.

73. The computer readable medium as recited in claim 71, wherein said bringing online comprises creating an operating system node for each of the one or more fabric devices being brought online, wherein each operating system node provides a communication mechanism to a corresponding fabric device.

74. The computer readable medium as recited in claim 62, wherein if the event type indicates that one of the fabric host adapter ports has acquired connectivity to the fabric, said dynamically changing comprises:

accessing a configuration file for the host adapter port that has acquired connectivity to the fabric to determine if fabric devices for that host adapter port are to be configured if that host adapter port acquires connectivity to the fabric; and

if the configuration file indicates that fabric devices are to be configured upon that host adapter port'"'"'s connectivity to the fabric, bringing online one or more fabric devices for that host adapter port that has acquired connectivity to the fabric.

75. The computer readable medium as recited in claim 74, wherein bringing online one or more fabric devices configured through the host adapter port that has acquired connectivity to the fabric comprises:

reading a persistent repository that indicates which fabric devices were previously online for the host adapter port that has acquired connectivity to the fabric; and

bringing online the fabric devices indicated by the persistent repository for the host adapter port that has acquired connectivity to the fabric.

76. The computer readable medium as recited in claim 74, wherein said bringing online comprises creating an operating system node for each of the one or more fabric devices being brought online, wherein each operating system node provides a communication mechanism to a corresponding fabric device.

77. The computer readable medium as recited in claim 74, wherein the program instructions are further executable to implement, prior to said receiving an event:

a host adapter driver for one of the one or more host adapter ports becoming active or attached; and

generating the event indicating that one of the one or more host adapter ports has acquired connectivity to the fabric.

78. The computer readable medium as recited in claim 74, wherein said accessing a configuration file for the host adapter port that has acquired connectivity to the fabric comprises reading a user-defined attribute in the configuration file, wherein the user-define attribute indicates whether or not fabric devices for that host adapter port are to be configured if that host adapter port acquires connectivity to the fabric.

79. The computer readable medium as recited in claim 62, wherein if the event type indicates that a new fabric device has been connected to the fabric, said dynamically changing comprises bringing online the new fabric device for one of the one or more host adapter ports.

80. The computer readable medium as recited in claim 79, wherein said bringing online comprises creating an operating system node for the new fabric device being brought online, wherein the operating system node provides a communication mechanism to the new fabric device.

81. The computer readable medium as recited in claim 79, wherein said bringing online the new fabric device comprises updating a persistent repository to indicate that the new fabric device is online for the host adapter port.

82. The computer readable medium as recited in claim 62, wherein if the event type indicates that a new fabric device has been connected to the fabric, said dynamically changing comprises:

accessing a configuration file for one of the one or more host adapter ports to determine if newly connected fabric devices for that host adapter port are to be dynamically configured; and

if the configuration file indicates newly connected fabric devices are to be dynamically configured, bringing online the new fabric device for that host adapter port.

83. The computer readable medium as recited in claim 82, wherein said bringing online comprises creating an operating system node for the new fabric device being brought online, wherein the operating system node provides a communication mechanism to the new fabric device.

84. The computer readable medium as recited in claim 82, wherein said bringing online the new fabric device comprises updating a persistent repository to indicate that the new fabric device is online for the host adapter port.

85. The computer readable medium as recited in claim 82, wherein the program instructions are further executable to implement, prior to said receiving an event:

connecting the fabric device to the fabric; and

a fabric driver generating the event indicating that the new fabric device has been connected to the fabric.

86. The computer readable medium as recited in claim 82, wherein said accessing a configuration file comprises reading a user-defined attribute in the configuration file, wherein the user-define attribute indicates whether or not newly connected fabric devices for that host adapter port are to be dynamically configured upon detection.

87. The computer readable medium as recited in claim 61, wherein the one or more host adapter ports comprise Fibre Channel host adapter ports.

88. The computer readable medium as recited in claim 61, wherein the fabric comprises a Fibre Channel switched fabric comprising a plurality of Fibre Channel switches.

89. The computer readable medium as recited in claim 61, wherein the fabric is part of a storage area network (SAN), and wherein the fabric devices comprise storage devices.

90. The computer readable medium as recited in claim 61, wherein said dynamically changing comprises verifying the one or more fabric devices before bringing the one or more fabric devices online, wherein said verifying comprises accessing a fabric name server to determine if the one or more fabric devices are currently connected to the fabric.