POOL OF DEVICES PROVIDING OPERATING SYSTEM REDUNDANCY

• US 20110208922A1
• Filed: 02/22/2010
• Published: 08/25/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 02/22/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: SABA, Raul E., MARTINEZ, Lisa R., CORONADO, Juan A.
• Granted Patent: US 9,792,181 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 711/148
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1438 Restarting or rejuvenating
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1482 by means of middleware or OS functionality
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/20 using active fault-masking, e.g. by switching out faulty elements or by switching in spare elements

Abstract

Systems, methods, and computer program products for providing operating system (O/S) redundancy in a computing system are provided. One system includes a host computing device, a plurality of memory devices, and a sub-loader coupled between the host computing device and the plurality of memory devices. Each memory device stores a respective O/S and the sub-loader is configured such that the plurality of memory devices appear transparent to the host computing device. One method includes designating, a first logical unit device as a primary logical unit device and subsequently determining that the first logical unit device is unresponsive. The designation is removed from the first logical unit device and a second logical unit device is designated as a new primary logical unit device. One computer program product includes instructions for performing the above method.

Claims

1. A system providing operating system redundancy, comprising:

a host computing device;

a plurality of memory devices, each memory device storing a respective operating system; and

a sub-loader coupled between the host computing device the plurality of memory devices, wherein the sub-loader is configured to;

be visible to the host computing device such that the plurality of memory devices appear transparent to the host computing device,

designate a first logical unit device as a primary logical unit device,

determine that the first logical unit device is unresponsive,

remove the designation of primary logical unit device from the first logical unit device, and

designate the second logical unit device as a new primary logical unit device after removal of the primary logical unit device designation from the first logical unit device.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of memory devices are a same type of memory device.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein each of the plurality of memory devices are one of a serial advanced technology attachment (SATA) device, an enterprise device, and a solid-state device.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein two of the plurality of memory devices are different types of memory devices.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein a first memory device is a serial advanced technology attachment (SATA) device and a second memory device is an enterprise device.

6. The system of claim 4, wherein a first memory device is a serial advanced technology attachment (SATA) device and a second memory device is a solid-state device.

7. The system of claim 4, wherein a first memory device is an enterprise device and a second memory device is a solid-state device.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of memory devices comprises at least three memory devices storing a respective operating system.

9. A method for providing operating system redundancy in a computing system including a host computing device coupled to a first logical unit device including a first operating system and to a second logical unit device including a second operating system via a sub-loader, the first operating system and the second operating system a clone of one another, the method comprising:

designating, by the sub-loader, the first logical unit device as a primary logical unit device;

determining, by the sub-loader, that the first logical unit device is unresponsive;

removing, by the sub-loader, the designation of primary logical unit device from the first logical unit device; and

designating, by the sub-loader, the second logical unit device as a new primary logical unit device after removal of the primary logical unit device designation from the first logical unit device.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein removing the primary logical unit device designation from the first logical unit device and designating the second logical unit device as the new primary logical unit device is transparent to the host computing device.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein designating the first logical unit device as the primary logical unit device comprises designating the first logical unit device as the primary logical unit device based on a first type of memory device for the first logical unit device.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the first type of memory device is one of a serial advanced technology attachment (SATA) device, an enterprise device, and a solid-state device.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein designating the second logical unit device as the new primary logical unit device comprises designating the second logical unit device as the new primary logical unit device based on a second type of memory device for the second logical unit device.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the second type of memory device is one of a SATA device, an enterprise device, and a solid-state device.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the first type of memory device and the second type of memory device are different types of memory devices.

16. A computer program product for facilitating operating system redundancy, the computer program product comprising a computer-readable storage medium having computer-readable program code portions stored therein, the computer-readable program code portions comprising:

a first executable portion for designating a first logical unit device including a first operating system as a primary logical unit device;

a second executable portion for determining that the first logical unit device is unresponsive;

a third executable portion for removing the designation of primary logical unit device from the first logical unit device; and

a fourth executable portion for designating a second logical unit device including a second operating system that is a clone of the first operating system as a new primary logical unit device after removal of the primary logical unit device designation from the first logical unit device.

17. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein the first executable portion comprises an first executable sub-portion for designating the first logical unit device as the primary logical unit device based on a first type of memory device for the first logical unit device.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the first type of memory device is one of a serial advanced technology attachment (SATA) device, an enterprise device, and a solid-state device.

19. The computer program product of claim 18, wherein the fourth executable portion comprises a second executable sub-portion for designating the second logical unit device as the new primary logical unit device based on a second type of memory device for the second logical unit device, wherein the second type of memory device is one of a SATA device, an enterprise device, and a solid-state device.

20. The computer program product of claim 19, wherein the first type of memory device and the second type of memory device are different types of memory devices.