DISK ARRAY CONTROL DEVICE AND STORAGE DEVICE

• US 20100106905A1
• Filed: 06/16/2009
• Published: 04/29/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 10/29/2008
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation)
• Inventors: Yano, Junji, Kurashige, Takehiko
• Application Number:
  US12/485,686
• Publication Number:
  US 20100106905A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 711/114
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0605 by facilitating the interaction with a user or administrator
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0659 Command handling arrangements, e.g. command buffers, queues, command scheduling
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0689 Disk arrays, e.g. RAID, JBOD

Abstract

According to one embodiment, a disk array control device manages a plurality of drives as a single logical drive. The disk array control device includes a first register configured to store a to-he-accessed drive number which is designated by a host, and a control module. The control module is configured to receive a command from the host, determine whether the received command is a predetermined command which is used for maintenance of each of the drives, and execute, in a case where the received command is the predetermined command, a pass-through process of sending the received command to the drive which is designated by the to-be-accessed drive number in the first register.

Claims

1. A disk array control device which manages a plurality of drives as a single logical drive, comprising:

a first register configured to store a to-be-accessed drive number which is designated by a host; and

a control module configured to determine whether a command received from the host is a predetermined command which is used for maintenance of each of the drives, and execute, in a case where the received command is the predetermined command, a pass-through process of sending the received command to the drive which is designated by the to-be-accessed drive number in the first register.

2. The disk array control device according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined command is a DOWNLOAD MICROCODE command which enables the host to vary a microcode of a drive.

3. The disk array control device according to claim 2, wherein each of the drives stores a log page structure, and

in a case where the command received from the host is a SMART command which designates write of log data to a first predetermined vender-specific log address belonging to a log address range which is allocated to the log page structure, the control module writes data from the host to the first register, thereby to set the to-be-accessed drive number in the first register.

4. The disk array control device according to claim 3, further comprising a second register configured to store a to-be-accessed log address which is designated by the host,

wherein in a case where the command received from the host is a SMART command which designates read or write of log data to a second predetermined log address in the log address range which is allocated to the log page structure, the control module sends the SMART command, which designates read or write of log data to the to-be-accessed log address of the second register, to the drive which is designated by the to-be-accessed drive number in the first register.

5. The disk array control device according to claim 1, further comprising a register configured to store an operation mode which is designated by the host,

wherein in a case where the operation mode is a pass-through mode for sending all kinds of commands from the host to the drive that is designated by the to-be-accessed drive number in the first register, the control module sends each of the commands, which are received from the host, to the drive which is designated by the to-be-accessed drive number in the first register.

6. A storage device comprising:

a housing;

a plurality of drives provided in the housing; and

a disk array control device provided in the housing, configured to manage the plurality of drives as a single logical drive, the disk array control device including a first register configured to store a to-be-accessed drive number which is designated by a host, and a control module configured to determine whether a command received from the host is a predetermined command which is used for maintenance of each of the drives, and execute, in a case where the received command is the predetermined command, a pass-through process of sending the received command to the drive which is designated by the to-be-accessed drive number in the first register.

7. The storage device according to claim 6, wherein the predetermined command is a DOWNLOAD MICROCODE command which is used by the host in order to vary a microcode of the drive.

8. The storage device according to claim 7, wherein each of the drives stores a log page structure, and

in a case where the command received from the host is a SMART command which designates write of log data to a first predetermined log address in a log address range which is allocated to the log page structure, the control module writes data from the host to the first register, thereby to set the to-be-accessed drive number in the first register.

9. The storage device according to claim 6, wherein each of the drives is a semiconductor disk drive including a nonvolatile memory and a controller which controls access to the nonvolatile memory in accordance with a command from the disk array control device.

10. An information processing apparatus comprising:

an information processing apparatus main body; and

a storage device which is provided in the information processing apparatus main body and includes a housing, a plurality of drives provided in the housing, and a disk array control device which is provided in the housing and manages the plurality of drives as a single logical drive, the disk array control device including a first register which stores a to-be-accessed drive number which is designated by the information processing apparatus main body, and a control module which determines whether a command received from the information processing apparatus main body is a predetermined command which is used for maintenance of each of the drives, and executes, in a case where the received command is the predetermined command, a pass-through process of sending the received command to the drive which is designated by the to-be-accessed drive number in the first register.