ACCESSING REMOVABLE STORAGE MANAGEMENT SERVICES TO OBTAIN REPLACEMENT INSTRUCTIONS INDICATING WHETHER TO REPLACE REMOVABLE STORAGE

• US 20090044047A1
• Filed: 08/10/2007
• Published: 02/12/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 08/10/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Wada, Shinobu, Christensen, Eric Rolf, Bates, Allen Keith, Winarski, Daniel James
• Granted Patent: US 7,870,427 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 714/7
• 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 11/073 in a memory management context, e.g. virtual memory or cache management memory management G06F12/00; testing of static memory units G11C29/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0748 in a remote unit communicating with a single-box computer node experiencing an error/fault remote testing G06F11/2294
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/076 by exceeding a count or rate limit, e.g. word- or bit count limit
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1076 Parity data used in redundant arrays of independent storages, e.g. in RAID systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/108 Parity data distribution in semiconductor storages, e.g. in SSD

Abstract

Provided are a method, system, and article of manufacture for accessing removable storage management services to obtain replacement instructions indicating whether to replace removable storage. Replacement information indicating whether to replace at least one of a plurality of managed removable storages is obtained by interfacing with a service computer over a network. Read/write error information for the at least one removable storage is gathered and transmitted to the service computer. Replacement instructions indicating whether to replace the at least one removable storage are received from the service computer.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

managing a plurality of removable storages;

interfacing with a service computer over a network to obtain replacement information indicating whether to replace at least one of the removable storages;

gathering read/write error information for the at least one removable storage;

transmitting the gathered read/write error information to the service computer; and

receiving from the service computer replacement instructions indicating whether to replace the at least one removable storage.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

communicating with at least one storage drive, wherein the removable storages are adapted to be coupled to the at least one storage drive, and wherein gathering the read/write error information comprises sending requests to the at least one storage drive coupled to the at least one removable storage to access the read/write error information from the coupled removable storage.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one removable storage comprises a removable storage media cartridge including a non-volatile memory device storing read/write error information, further comprising:

initiating wireless communication with the removable storage media cartridges to access the read/write error information from the non-volatile memory device in the removable storage media cartridges.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting a request to the service computer for the removable storage replacement information for the at least one removable storage;

receiving queries from the service computer for read/write error information from the at least one removable storage for which replacement information was requested in response to the request for replacement information.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the removable storage manager manages a plurality of at least one storage drive and wherein the at least one removable storage comprises a plurality of removable storages capable of being coupled to the at least one storage drive, and wherein the read/write error information is obtained for the removable storages managed by the removable storage manager.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the read/write error information comprises at least one of total bytes read, total bytes written, total recoverable read errors, stop write rates, a total number of rewrites for total data set writes, and wherein the service computer uses the read/write error information to determine whether to instruct to replace the at least one removable storage.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a bill from the service computer for the replacement information indicating the at least one removable storage having read/write error rates that exceed the at least one read/write error threshold.

8. A system in communication with a service computer over a network and a plurality of removable storages, comprising:

a processor; and

a computer readable medium including code executed by the processor to cause operations, the operations comprising;

managing access to the removable storages;

interfacing with the service computer over the network to obtain replacement information indicating whether to replace at least one of the removable storages;

gathering read/write error information for the at least one removable storage;

transmitting the gathered read/write error information to the service computer; and

receiving from the service computer replacement instructions indicating whether to replace the at least one removable storage.

9. The system of claim 8, further in communication with at least one storage drive, wherein the removable storages are adapted to be coupled to the at least one storage drive, and wherein gathering the read/write error information comprises sending requests to the at least one storage drive coupled to the at least one removable storage to access the read/write error information from the coupled removable storage.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the at least one removable storage comprises a removable storage media cartridge including a non-volatile memory device storing read/write error information, wherein the operations further comprise:

initiating wireless communication with the removable storage media cartridges to access the read/write error information from the non-volatile memory device in the removable storage media cartridges.

11. The system of claim 8, wherein the operations further comprise:

transmitting a request to the service computer for the removable storage replacement information for at least one removable storage; and

receiving queries from the service computer for read/write error information from the at least one removable storage for which replacement information was requested in response to the request for replacement information.

12. The system of claim 8, wherein the operations further comprise:

interfacing with at least one storage drive, wherein the at least one removable storage comprises a plurality of removable storages capable of being coupled to the at least one storage drive, and wherein the read/write error information is obtained for the removable storages managed by the removable storage manager.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the read/write error information comprises at least one of total bytes read, total bytes written, total recoverable read errors, stop write rates, a total number of rewrites for total data set writes, and wherein the service computer uses the read/write error information to determine whether to instruct to replace the at least one removable storage.

14. The system of claim 8, wherein the operations further comprise:

receiving a bill from the service computer for the replacement information indicating the at least one removable storage having read/write error rates that exceed the at least one read/write error threshold.

15. An article of manufacture including code to communicate with a service computer over a network, to communicate a plurality of removable storages, and cause operations to be performed, the operations comprising:

managing access to the removable storages;

interfacing with the service computer over the network to obtain replacement information indicating whether to replace at least one of the removable storages;

gathering read/write error information for the at least one removable storage;

transmitting the gathered read/write error information to the service computer; and

receiving from the service computer replacement instructions indicating whether to replace the at least one removable storage.

16. The article of manufacture of claim 15, wherein the operations further comprise:

communicating with at least one storage drive, wherein the removable storages are adapted to be coupled to the at least one storage drive, and wherein gathering the read/write error information comprises sending requests to the at least one storage drive coupled to the at least one removable storage to access the read/write error information from the coupled removable storage.

17. The article of manufacture of claim 15, wherein the at least one removable storage comprises a removable storage media cartridge including a non-volatile memory device storing read/write error information, and wherein the operations further comprise:

initiating wireless communication with the removable storage media cartridges to access the read/write error information from the non-volatile memory device in the removable storage media cartridges.

18. The article of manufacture of claim 15, wherein the operations further comprise:

transmitting a request to a service computer for removable storage replacement information for at least one removable storage;

receiving queries from the service computer for read/write error information from the at least one removable storage for which replacement information was requested in response to the request for replacement information.

19. The article of manufacture of claim 15, wherein the code is further in communication with at least one storage drive and wherein the operations further comprise:

interfacing with the at least one storage drive, wherein the at least one removable storage comprises a plurality of removable storages capable of being coupled to the at least one storage drive, and wherein the read/write error information is obtained for the removable storages managed by the removable storage manager.

20. The article of manufacture of claim 19, wherein the read/write error information comprises at least one of total bytes read, total bytes written, total recoverable read errors, stop write rates, a total number of rewrites for total data set writes, and wherein the service computer uses the read/write error information to determine whether to instruct to replace the at least one removable storage.

21. The article of manufacture of claim 15, wherein the operations further comprise:

receiving a bill from the service computer for the replacement information indicating the at least one removable storage having read/write error rates that exceed the at least one read/write error threshold.