System and method for rebuilding a storage disk

• US 20060236149A1
• Filed: 04/14/2005
• Published: 10/19/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 04/14/2005
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Dell Products LP (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Dell Products LP (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Inventors: Cherian, Jacob, Nguyen, Nam
• Application Number:
  US11/106,401
• Publication Number:
  US 20060236149A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 714/6
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1088 Reconstruction on already foreseen single or plurality of spare disks
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1092 Rebuilding, e.g. when physically replacing a failing disk

Abstract

A system and method for rebuilding a storage drive utilizes a rebuild management module within a RAID controller to conduct a substantially sequential rebuild operation on a rebuild disk. When the rebuild management module receives host I/O requests during a rebuild operation, these requests are facilitated using other disks. After the substantially sequential rebuild is complete, the rebuild management module updates the rebuild disk based upon the host I/O requests received during the sequential rebuild operation.

Claims

1. An information handling system comprising:

a redundant array of independent disks (RAID) controller operable to communicate with a host and a plurality of storage disks;

the RAID controller further comprising a rebuild management module operable to;

initiate a rebuild operation on a rebuild disk utilizing a substantially sequential rebuild operation;

receive at least one host I/O request from the host; and

direct the at least one host I/O request to a disk within the plurality of storage disks other than the rebuild disk.

2. The information handling system of claim 1 wherein the disk other than the rebuild disk comprises a temp disk and the rebuild management module operable to, after completion of the substantially sequential rebuild operation, update the rebuild disk to reflect the host I/O requests directed to the temp disk.

3. The information handling system of claim 1 further comprising the rebuild management module operable to:

develop a listing of the logical block addresses (LBAs) required to rebuild the rebuild disk;

select the first LBA to rebuild;

obtain rebuild data for the selected LBA from a source disk;

remove the selected LBA from the listing;

write the rebuild data to the selected LBA on the rebuild disk; and

select the next sequential LBA to rebuild.

4. The information handling system of claim 1 further comprising the rebuild management module operable to determine that the selected LBA is the maximum LBA in the listing and determine the rebuild to be complete.

5. The information handling system of claim 1 wherein the host comprises a server having processor and memory and operable to run a plurality with applications.

6. The information handling system of claim 4 further comprising the server and the RAID controller connected by a Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) connection.

7. The information handling system of claim 4 further comprising the server and the RAID controller connected by a Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe) connection.

8. The information handling system of claim 1 further comprising the rebuild management module incorporated within firmware of the RAID controller.

9. The information handling system of claim 1 wherein the plurality of storage disks comprises:

at least one temp disk;

at least one source disk; and

the rebuild disk.

10. A method comprising:

providing a redundant array of independent disks (RAID) controller operable to communicate with a host and a plurality of storage disks;

initiating a rebuild operation on a rebuild disk utilizing a substantially sequential rebuild operation on the rebuild disk;

receiving at least one host I/O request from the host; and

directing the at least one host I/O request to a temp disk within the plurality of storage disks.

11. The method of claim 10 further comprising providing a rebuild management module within the RAID controller for managing the rebuild process and the host I/O request.

12. The method of claim 10 further comprising, after completion of the substantially sequential rebuild operation, updating the rebuild disk to reflect any host I/O requests directed to the temp disk.

13. The method of claim 10 further comprising:

developing a listing of the logical block addresses (LBAs) to rebuild on the rebuild disk;

selecting the first LBA to rebuild;

obtaining rebuild data for the selected LBA from a source disk;

removing the selected LBA from the listing;

writing the rebuild data to the selected LBA on the rebuild disk; and

selecting the next sequential LBA to rebuild.

14. The method of claim 10 further comprising:

developing a listing of the logical block addresses (LBAs) to rebuild on the rebuild disk;

selecting the first LBA to rebuild;

obtaining rebuild data for the selected LBA from a source disk;

removing the selected LBA from the listing;

writing the rebuild data to the selected LBA on the rebuild disk;

selecting the next sequential LBA from the listing to rebuild and repeating the rebuild steps for the selected next sequential LBA;

determining that the last sequential LBA has been rebuilt; and

updating the rebuild disk to reflect any host I/O requests directed to the temp disk during the rebuild of the rebuild disk.

15. An information handling system comprising:

A host;

a plurality of storage disks comprising at least one source disk, at least one temp disk and a rebuild disk;

a redundant array of independent disks (RAID) controller in communication with the host and the plurality of storage disks;

the RAID controller further comprising a rebuild management module operable to;

initiate a rebuild operation on the rebuild disk utilizing a substantially sequential rebuild operation on the rebuild disk;

receive at least one host I/O request from the host; and

direct the at least one host I/O request to the temp disk.

16. The information handling system of claim 15 further comprising the rebuild management module operable to, after completion of the substantially sequential rebuild operation, updating the rebuild disk to reflect the host I/O requests directed to the temp disk.

17. The information handling system of claim 15 further comprising the rebuild management module operable to:

develop a listing of the logical block addresses (LBAs) to rebuild on the rebuild disk;

select the first LBA to rebuild;

obtain rebuild data for the selected LBA from a source disk;

remove the selected LBA from the listing;

write the rebuild data to the selected LBA on the rebuild disk; and

select the next sequential LBA to rebuild.

18. The information handling system of claim 15 wherein the host comprises a server having a processor and memory and operable to run a plurality with applications.

19. The information handling system of claim 15 further comprising the rebuild management module operable to:

develop a listing of the logical block addresses (LBAs) to rebuild on the rebuild disk;

select the first LBA to rebuild;

obtain rebuild data from a source disk for the selected LBA;

remove the selected LBA from the listing;

write the rebuild data to the selected LBA on the rebuild disk; and

select the next sequential LBA to rebuild.

20. The information handling system of claim 15 further comprising the rebuild management module incorporated within firmware of the RAID controller.