Automatically triggered snapshot data dump for storage unit with embedded system

• US 20060168471A1
• Filed: 01/25/2005
• Published: 07/27/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 01/25/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Tandberg Storage ASA
• Original Assignee: Tandberg Storage ASA
• Inventors: Schulstad, Geir Olav
• Granted Patent: US 7,418,635 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 714/6
• 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 11/0778 Dumping, i.e. gathering error/state information after a fault for later diagnosis
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1456 Hardware arrangements for backup
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1466 to make the backup process non-disruptive
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/84 Using snapshots, i.e. a logical point-in-time copy of the data

Abstract

In a system and method for failure analysis of a hardware system having an embedded specialized application computer as a firmware stored in a firmware memory and which controls and is part of the hardware system, with a snapshot dump system associated with the hardware system, detecting for an error. Upon detection of the error, a snapshot dump is initiated from memory locations providing information about conditions occurring during the error. The dumped information is stored in a memory associated with the dump system.

Claims

1. A data backup removable media drive system for backing up data of a host computer to which the drive is connected, comprising:

read/write hardware for reading and writing data from and to a removable storage media;

an embedded application computer comprising a firmware memory which stores firmware, and a data memory which stores data; and

a snapshot dump system comprising at least one error trigger detector which detects an error, a snapshot dump initiator responsive to the trigger detector, and a non-volatile snapshot dump memory receiving information from memory locations stored at a time at which said error is detected.

2. A drive of claim 1 wherein the read/write hardware is for reading and writing with respect to a data tape.

3. A drive of claim 1 wherein the error trigger detector comprises at least one of a hard error trigger detector, a firmware trap trigger detector, a soft error trigger detector, a degraded media fault error trigger detector, and a host system error trigger detector.

4. A drive of claim 1 wherein the snapshot dump initiator initiates a dump from at least one of at least one hardware register map contents, CPU data RAM, at least one event management log, at least one media management log, request sense, and media statistics memory locations.

5. A drive of claim 1 wherein the snapshot dump memory stores information in memory locations both before and after when the error is detected.

6. A drive of claim 1 wherein the snapshot dump memory comprises an available memory in the drive.

7. A drive of claim 6 wherein the available memory comprises a flash memory.

8. A drive of claim 1 wherein said snapshot dump memory comprises employing the media as a permanent storage.

9. A drive of claim 1 wherein the dump memory is not provided in a drive of the drive system but rather employs a portion of a memory in the host computer.

10. A hardware system, comprising:

a hardware portion and an embedded application computer for controlling said hardware portion comprising a firmware memory which stores a firmware, and a data memory which stores data; and

a snapshot dump system comprising at least one error trigger detector which detects an error, a snapshot dump initiator responsive to the trigger detector, and a non-volatile snapshot dump memory receiving information from memory locations stored at a time at which said error is detected.

11. A data backup removable data tape drive system for backing up data of a host computer to which the drive is connected, comprising:

read/write hardware for reading and writing data from and to a removable data tape;

an embedded application computer comprising a firmware memory which stores a firmware, and a data memory which stores data; and

a snapshot dump system comprising at least one error trigger detector which detects an error, a snapshot dump initiator responsive to the trigger detector, and a non-volatile snapshot dump memory receiving information from memory locations stored at a time at which said error is detected and which includes information occurring before the time of the error.

12. A method for failure analysis of a data backup drive having a data storage media for backing up data of a host computer where the drive has an embedded specialized system application as a firmware stored in a firmware memory, comprising the steps of:

with a snapshot dump system associated with the drive, detecting for an error;

upon detection of said error with the snapshot dump system, initiating a snapshot dump from memory locations of the drive providing information about conditions occurring just prior to and during the detection of said error, and

storing said dumped information in a dump memory.

13. A method of claim 12 wherein the memory comprises a non-volatile memory associated with the drive.

14. A method of claim 12 wherein the dump memory is contained in the media.

15. A method of claim 12 wherein the error which triggers the snapshot dump comprises at least one of a hard error, a firmware trap error, a soft error, a degraded media error, and a host system error.

16. A method of claim 12 wherein the snapshot dump dumps information contained in at least one of hardware register map contents, CPU data RAM, at least one event management log, at least one medium management log, request sense, and media statistics memory locations.

17. A method of claim 12 wherein the media is removable and comprises a data tape and the drive comprises a tape drive.

18. A method of claim 12 wherein when a failure occurs, the drive is removed from a vicinity of the host computer and is analyzed using the information containing in the snapshot dump memory at a location remote from the host computer in order to implement an appropriate action to cure the error which occurred.

19. A method for failure analysis of a hardware system having an embedded application computer specialized system as a firmware stored in a firmware memory, which controls and is part of the hardware system, comprising the steps of;

with a snapshot dump system associated with the hardware system, detecting for an error;

upon detection of said error, initiating a snapshot dump from memory locations providing information about conditions occurring prior to and during the error; and

storing said dumped information in a memory associated with the dump system.

20. A method for failure analysis of a data backup tape drive having a removable data tape for backing up data of a host computer and where the drive has an embedded specialized application computer as a firmware stored in a firmware memory of the drive, comprising the steps of:

with the snapshot dump system associated with the drive, detecting for an error;

upon detection of said error, initiating a snapshot dump from memory locations of the drive providing information about conditions occurring prior to and during the error; and

storing said dumped information in a non-volatile memory of at least one of the tape drive and the data tape.