Method for SAN-based BOS install volume group

• US 20050083749A1
• Filed: 10/16/2003
• Published: 04/21/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 10/16/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Keohane, Susann Marie, McBrearty, Gerald Francis, Shieh, Johnny Meng-Han, Murillo, Jessica Kelley, Mullen, Shawn Patrick
• Granted Patent: US 7,499,988 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 365/222
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/61 Installation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4416 Network booting; Remote initial program loading [RIPL]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1097 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]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/34 involving the movement of software or configuration parameters network booting or remote initial program loading [RIPL] G06F9/4416

Abstract

A method and system for providing storage area network SAN level boot/installation services for appliances on a SAN. A generic maintenance “bootlv” is mirrored on at least one disk (or set of disks) that are located out on the SAN. The disk(s) are encoded with similar boot functions as a conventional boot CD. The disk(s) provides physical storage for a volume group that has the base install images and all of the optional Programming Product (OPP) images selected by the system administrator to be included in the install volume group. In one embodiment, a volume group made up of several disks is able to boot up and run from any one of the several disks since the bootlv is mirrored/copied on each of the disks.

Claims

1. In a storage area network (SAN) computer system having a volume group made up of one or more physical disks, a method for providing SAN boot devices, said method comprising:

storing a boot image from a boot device on at least one disk within said volume group;

subsequently booting the SAN system from the boot image stored on the at least one disk, wherein the SAN system'"'"'s boot operation is completed from within said logical volume.

2. The method of claim 1, said storing step further comprising:

copying boot install images from said first boot device to multiple disks within the volume group, whereby each disk of said multiple disks within said volume group may independently serve as a boot device for the SAN system and a boot process may be initiated from any one of the multiple disks in the volume group.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said storing step comprises:

selecting the at least one physical disk on which to copy the boot install images;

selecting particular boot install images to copy to said at least one physical disk, wherein less than all of said boot install images may be selected for copying.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said storing step further comprises:

building the boot image on a computer system associated with said SAN; and

uploading the boot image to said logical volume.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said subsequently booting step comprises switching a boot sequence from the first boot device that is external to said logical volume to the at least one disk.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein said switching step further comprises:

booting up the SAN system in maintenance mode;

generating a prompt for a system administrator to select a boot device from among a displayed list of available boot devices; and

automatically encoding the identification and routing information of the selected boot device in a BIOS (basic input/output system) path for accessing a boot device to complete a boot of the SAN system, wherein boot device selected is the at least one disk within the volume group.

7. The method of claim 5, said switching step further comprising:

monitoring for an occurrence of a predefined condition on said SAN system; and

initiating said switching when one of a plurality of said predefined condition occurs;

wherein said predefined conditions include;

(1) receiving an error signal from the first boot device when a boot up is desired;

(2) being unable to access said first boot device when a boot up is desired;

(3) encountering a failure on said SAN computer system that results in a shut down of said system; and

(4) system administrative directive to re-boot system from a selected one of said at least one disk.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

selecting a first one of said at least one physical disk as a first boot disk from which said boot process is to be completed; and

when a subsequent boot from the selected first boot disk fails and there are additional disks within the logical volume, automatically selecting a second boot disk to complete the boot process, wherein said automatic selecting selects a subsequent boot device based on a pre-established selection order for selecting SAN boot devices w hen one of the set of predefined conditions occur.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein said boot operation includes:

reading of the boot image at SAN speed, wherein further no boot images are pulled from across the network; and

installing images from the boot logical volume at said SAN speed.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein responsive to an occurrence of a corrupted boot logical volume (LV) on a primary boot disk, said method comprises:

pointing the system at the install volume group; and

initiating an boot installation process to import the install volume group and install the base operating system (BOS) image, which in turn installs the proper devices and optional OPP support desired.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein, when an administrator desires to install new optional programming parameters (OPPs), said method further comprises:

importing the install volume group;

mounting the file system hosted on said volume;

installing the OPP images;

updating a table of contents file for the file system;

dismounting the file system; and

exporting the volume group.

12. A storage area network (SAN) data processing system, comprising:

SAN fabric connection;

an input/output (I/O) device;

a logical volume comprised of one or more physical storage devices that are accessible on the SAN via the SAN fabric connection; and

means for providing a copy of a boot device on at least one of the storage devices in said logical volume, wherein said copy enables a boot of said SAN system from within the logical volume at SAN speed.

means for booting said SAN system by installing images from the boot logical volume at said SAN speed.

13. The SAN system of claim 12, wherein each storage device has a unique ID, said SAN system further comprising:

a BIOS;

a mechanism for powering said SAN system on and off, wherein a boot is initiated by said BIOS from a boot image stored on said at least one storage device whenever the SAN system is turned on from an off state.

14. The SAN system of claim 12, further comprising:

program code for copying boot install images from said first boot device to multiple storage devices within the volume group, whereby each storage device of said multiple storage devices within said volume group may independently serve as a boot device for the SAN system and a boot process may be initiated from any one of the multiple storage devices in the volume group; and

program code for updating a table that provides a list of all boot devices accessible to said SAN system, including each storage device to which a the boot install image is copied.

15. The SAN system of claim 12, further comprising program code for:

selecting the at least one physical storage device on which to copy the boot install images;

selecting particular boot install images to copy to said at least one physical storage device, wherein less than all of said boot install images may be selected for copying.

16. The SAN system of claim 12, further comprising program code for:

booting up the SAN system in maintenance mode;

generating a prompt for a system administrator to select a boot device from among a displayed list of available boot devices;

switching a boot sequence from the first boot device that is external to said logical volume to the at least one disk; and

automatically encoding the identification and routing information of the selected boot device in a BIOS (basic input/output system) path for accessing a boot device to complete a boot of the SAN system, wherein boot device selected is the at least one disk within the volume group.

17. The SAN system of claim 16, further comprising program code for:

monitoring for an occurrence of a predefined condition on said SAN system; and

initiating said switching when one of a plurality of said predefined condition occurs;

wherein said predefined conditions include;

(1) receiving an error signal from the first boot device when a boot up is desired;

(2) being unable to access said first boot device when a boot up is desired;

(3) encountering a failure on said SAN computer system that results in a shut down of said system; and

(4) system administrative directive to re-boot system from a selected one of said at least one disk.

18. The SAN system of claim 12, further comprising program code for:

enabling selection of a first one of said at least one physical disk as a first boot disk from which said boot process is to be completed; and

when a subsequent boot from the selected first boot disk fails and there are additional disks within the logical volume, automatically selecting a second boot disk to complete the boot process, wherein said automatic selecting selects a subsequent boot device based on a pre-established selection order for selecting SAN boot devices w hen one of the set of predefined conditions occur.

19. The SAN system of claim 12, wherein responsive to an occurrence of a corrupted boot logical volume (LV) on a primary boot disk, said system further comprises program code for:

pointing the system at the install volume group; and

initiating an boot installation process to import the install volume group and install the base operating system (BOS) image, which in turn installs the proper devices and optional OPP support desired.

20. The SAN system of claim 12, wherein when an administrator desires to install new optional programming parameters (OPPs), said system further comprises program code for:

importing the install volume group;

mounting the file system hosted on said volume;

installing the OPP images;

updating a table of contents file for the file system;

dismounting the file system; and

exporting the volume group.

21. A computer program product, comprising:

a computer readable medium; and

program code on said medium that enables a system administrator to access a boot device and copy boot install images from the boot device to a physical disk on a SAN which a logical volume is provided, wherein said physical disk serves as a boot device for said logical volume during subsequent boot.

22. The computer program product of claim 21, further comprising:

program code for displaying a graphical user interface (GUI), wherein said GUI displays a list of available boot install devices and enables a system administrator to manually select which device among the list of available boot install devices to utilize as a boot install device, and wherein further said GUI enables a system administrator to set up a physical volume to receive a copy of said boot image.

23. The computer program product of claim 21, further comprising program code for selecting a default boot device from among available boot devices, wherein a boot device within the logical volume is selected and a path to said default device is automatically encoded in the BIOS path.