Apparatus, system, and method for automatically verifying access to a mulitipathed target at boot time

• US 20070143583A1
• Filed: 12/15/2005
• Published: 06/21/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 12/15/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Cors, Josep, Vojnovich, Theodore, Dunham, Scott
• Granted Patent: US 8,001,267 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 713/1
• 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 11/0751 Error or fault detection not based on redundancy power supply failures G06F1/30; network fault management H04L41/06
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2007 using redundant communication media
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/201 between storage system components
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2056 by mirroring
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2089 Redundant storage control functionality
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0605 by facilitating the interaction with a user or administrator
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0632 by initialisation or re-initialisation of storage systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0635 by changing the path, e.g. traffic rerouting, path reconfiguration
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/067 Distributed or networked storage systems, e.g. storage area networks [SAN], network attached storage [NAS]
• 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 69/40 for recovering from a failure of a protocol instance or entity, e.g. service redundancy protocols, protocol state redundancy or protocol service redirection management of faults, events, alarms or notifications in data switching networks H04L41/06

Abstract

An apparatus, system, and method are disclosed for automatically verifying access to a multipathed target at boot time. The apparatus is provided with a logic unit containing a plurality of modules configured to functionally execute the necessary steps of identifying a plurality of paths to a target device, automatically selecting one of the plurality of paths to the target device, and verifying access on at least one path to the target device. Beneficially, the disclosed embodiments of the apparatus, system, and method reduce false errors during the boot cycle, improve reliability of the multipathed network, simplify traffic load balancing, and provide for topology mapping for troubleshooting and network metrics. The disclosed embodiments provide a means for verifying multipathed targets automatically, without requiring user assistance, intervention, or interaction.

Claims

1. An apparatus to automatically verify access to a multipathed target at boot time, the apparatus comprising:

an identification module configured to identify a plurality of paths to a target device;

a selection module configured to automatically select one of the plurality of paths to the target device; and

a verification module configured to verify access on at least one path to the target device.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, further configured to verify access to the target device through an internet SCSI (“

iSCSI”

) communication port.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the identification module further comprises a receive module configured to receive a data structure containing identification information from a remote configuration manager.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the identification information further comprises at least one of an Internet Protocol (“

IP”

) address, a communication port identifier, an iSCSI name, a login identifier, and a password for the target device.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the identification module further comprises a wizard module configured to identify and automatically generate a data structure containing identification information for a plurality of targets.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the identification module is further configured to identify target paths independently of the operation status of a computing device.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a storage module configured to store a data structure containing identification information in a nonvolatile storage location.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the selection module further comprises a retrieving module configured to retrieve a data structure containing identification information from a nonvolatile storage location in response to initiation of a boot process.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the retrieving module is further configured to retrieve a data structure containing iSCSI target identification information from a nonvolatile storage location in response to starting an iSCSI initiator process.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the selection module is further configured to select a new target for verification in response to a failed attempt to connect to a previous target.

11. A system to automatically verify access to a multipathed target at boot time, the system comprising:

a remote configuration manager configured to automatically generate a data structure containing identification information for a plurality of data communication paths between a computing device and one or more target devices;

a computing device configured to identify a plurality of paths to a target device, automatically select one of the plurality of paths to the target device, and verify access on at least one path to the target device; and

a target device in multipathed data communication with the computing device.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the computing deviceis further configured to verify access to the target device through an internet SCSI (“

iSCSI”

) communication link.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the remote configuration manager further comprises a configuration wizard configured to identify and automatically generate a data structure containing identification information for a plurality of target devices.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the remote configuration manager is further configured to identify and automatically generate a data structure containing identification information for a plurality of data communication paths between a computing device and a plurality of communication ports on a target device.

15. The system of claim 11, wherein the remote configuration manager is further configured to identify and automatically generate a data structure containing identification information for a plurality of data communication paths between a computing device and a plurality target devices, wherein the target devices are configured to mirror data.

16. The system of claim 11, wherein the remote configuration manager is further configured to communicate the data structure containing identification information on an out of band communication link for storage in a nonvolatile storage location on the computing device.

17. The system of claim 11, wherein the computing device is further configured to automatically select a new target device for verification in response to a failed attempt to connect to a previous target device.

18. The system of claim 11, wherein at least two paths between the computing device and the target device are verified during the boot process of the computing device in preparation for data communication load balancing on at least two paths.

19. The system of claim 11, wherein the remote configuration manager is further configured to generate a mapping of multiple paths between the computing device and one or more target devices, and automatically generate a set of data structures containing the mapping information.

20. A signal bearing medium tangibly embodying a program of machine-readable instructions executable by a digital processing apparatus to perform an operation to automatically verify access to a multipathed target at boot time, the operation comprising:

identifying a plurality of paths to a target device;

automatically selecting one of the plurality of paths to the target device; and

verifying access on at least one path to the target device.

21. The signal bearing medium of claim 20, further configured to verify access to the target device during an internet SCSI (“

iSCSI”

) driver initialization portion of a boot operation.

22. The signal bearing medium of claim 21, wherein the instructions further comprise an operation to use a configuration wizard on a remote configuration manager to identify and automatically generate a data structure containing identification information for a plurality of targets.

23. The signal bearing medium of claim 22, wherein the instructions further comprise an operation to receive a data structure containing identification information from a remote configuration manager and store the data structure in a nonvolatile storage location.

24. The signal bearing medium of claim 23, wherein the identification information further comprises at least one of an Internet Protocol (“

IP”

) address, a communication port identifier, a iSCSI name, a login identifier, and a password for the target device.

25. The signal bearing medium of claim 24, wherein the identification operation further comprises a retrieval operation configured to retrieve a data structure containing identification information from the nonvolatile storage location in response to initiation of a boot process.

26. The signal bearing medium of claim 25, wherein the verification operation further comprises a timeout operation configured to abandon an attempt to connect to the target device subsequent to the passing of a predetermined timeout period.

27. The signal bearing medium of claim 26, wherein the verification operation further comprises a retry operation configured to retry an attempt to connect to the target device a predetermined number of times before declaring a failure to connect.

28. The signal bearing medium of claim 27, wherein the instructions further comprise an operation to automatically select a new path to the target device for verification in response to a failed attempt to connect to a previous path.

29. The signal bearing medium of claim 28, wherein the instructions further comprise an operation to produce an error message in response to the verification operation failing to connect to the target device.

30. A method for automatically verifying access to a multipathed target at boot time, the method comprising:

identifying a plurality of paths from a computing device to a target device while the computing device is operational;

automatically selecting one of the plurality of paths to the target device when the computing device is rebooted; and

verifying access on at least one path to the target device.

31. The method of claim 30, wherein verifying further comprises automatically verifying access to a peripheral internet SCSI (“

iSCSI”

) target device on at least one of a plurality of iSCSI paths.

32. A method for providing a service for automatically verifying access to a multipathed target at boot time to a customer, the method comprising:

remotely identifying a plurality of paths between a client computing device and a target device;

automatically selecting one or more of the plurality of paths to verify;

verifying one or more of the selected paths; and

returning the status of the selected paths to the client computing device during the boot process of the client computing device.

33. The method of claim 32, wherein verifying further comprises automatically verifying access to a peripheral internet SCSI (“

iSCSI”

) target device on at least one of a plurality of iSCSI paths.

34. The method of claim 32, wherein remotely identifying a plurality of paths between a client computing device and a target device is performed while the client computing device is operational, wherein the paths identified are verified in response to rebooting the client computing device.

35. The method of claim 32, wherein the method further comprises automatically selecting a new path to the target device for verification in response to a failed attempt to connect to a previous path.