SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR TRACKING AND MANAGING NON-VOLATILE MEMORY WEAR

• US 20130179624A1
• Filed: 01/09/2012
• Published: 07/11/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 01/09/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dell Products LP (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Dell Products LP (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Inventors: Lambert, Timothy M., Rahardjo, Johan
• Granted Patent: US 9,146,855 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 711/103
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 12/0246 in block erasable memory, e.g. flash memory
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2212/7211 Wear leveling

Abstract

Systems and methods are disclosed that may be implemented to manage operation and tracking memory wear of flash devices, such as relatively large mixed use embedded NAND flash devices or other non-volatile memory (NVM) devices employed in information handling systems such as servers. The disclosed systems and methods may advantageously be implemented to perform tasks such as tracking and/or predicting actual wear for NVM devices, and optionally controlling write operations to a NVM device. The disclosed systems and methods may also be optionally implemented to generate wear alerts based on tracked or predicted wear of such NVM devices.

Claims

1. An information handling system, comprising:

at least one non-volatile memory (NVM) device; and

at least one out-of-band processing device coupled to the NVM device and programmed to receive and intercept access attempts to the NVM device from one or more applications executing inside or outside the out-of-band processing device, the access attempts comprising at least one or more of read attempts, write attempts, erase attempts, or a combination thereof;

where the at least one out-of-band processing device is programmed to respond to the received access attempts in an out-of-band manner by tracking the number of access attempts as a function of cumulative operation time of the flash device.

2. The information handling system of claim 1, further comprising at least one in-band processing device coupled to the out-of-band processing device, the in-band processing device being programmed to execute an in-band operating system and one or more applications;

where the out-of-band processing device is programmed to execute an out-of-band operating system and one or more applications;

where the at least one out-of-band processing device is programmed to receive and intercept access attempts to the NVM device from the in-band operating system, out-of-band operating system and from the one or more applications executing on the in-band and out-of-band processing devices;

where the at least one out-of-band processing device is programmed to track and log the number of received access attempts as function of cumulative operation time of the NVM device from each of the in-band operating system, out-of-band operating system, and each of the one or more applications executing on the in-band and out-of-band processing devices.

3. The information handling system of claim 1, where the out-of-band processing device is programmed to provide access tracking information to a local user of the information handling system, the access tracking information comprising the number of access attempts to the NVM device as a function of cumulative operation time of the NVM device.

4. The information handling system of claim 1, where the out-of-band processing device is programmed to communicate with a remote user over a coupled network;

and where the out-of-band processing device is configured to provide access tracking information to the remote user over the network, the access tracking information comprising the number of access attempts to the NVM device as a function of cumulative operation time of the NVM device.

5. The information handling system of claim 1, where the out-of-band processing device is programmed to compare a cumulative tracked number of access attempts for a given cumulative operation time of the NVM device to a pre-defined wear level threshold of access attempts at the same given cumulative operation time of the NVM device;

and to generate an alert to a user of the information handling system when the cumulative tracked number of access attempts exceeds the pre-defined wear level threshold of access attempts at the same given cumulative operation time of the NVM device.

6. The information handling system of claim 1, where the out-of-band processing device is programmed to generate a graphical representation of the tracked number of access attempts for a given cumulative operation time of the NVM device for presentation to a local user using a coupled display device or to a remote user across a coupled network.

7. The information handling system of claim 1, where the out-of-band processing device is programmed to extrapolate the rate of a number of future access attempts to the NVM device as a function of cumulative operation time of the NVM device based at least in part on the historical rate of actual tracked number of access attempts as a function of actual cumulative operation time of the NVM device.

8. The information handling system of claim 1, where the out-of-band processing device is programmed to selectively block one or more of the attempted access attempts to the NVM device based on at least one of current cumulative tracked number of access attempts to the NVM device at the current cumulative operation time of the NVM device, a user command received by the out-of-band processing device from a remote user across a coupled network, a user command received via a local input device by the out-of-band processing device from a local user of the information handling system, a pre-defined priority policy for different types of access attempts, or a combination thereof.

9. The information handling system of claim 1, where the NVM device and out-of-band processing device are embedded in a motherboard of the information handling system;

where the information handling system further comprises a replaceable and removable storage device coupled to the out-of-band processing device; and

where the out-of-band processing device is programmed to selectively redirect at least a portion of the write attempts to the replaceable and removable storage device based on at least one of current cumulative tracked number of access attempts to the NVM device at the current cumulative operation time of the NVM device, a user command received by the out-of-band processing device from a remote user across a coupled network, a user command received via a local input device by the out-of-band processing device from a local user of the information handling system, a pre-defined priority policy for different types of access attempts, or a combination thereof.

10. The information handling system of claim 1, where the NVM device and out-of-band processing device are embedded on a motherboard of the information handling system;

where the information handling system further comprises a replaceable and removable storage device coupled to the out-of-band processing device; and

where the out-of-band processing device is programmed to selectively relocate data from the embedded NVM device to the replaceable and removable storage device in response to a user command received by the out-of-band processing device from a remote user across a coupled network, a user command received via a local input device by the out-of-band processing device from a local user of the information handling system, or a combination thereof.

11. A method of operating an information handling system having one or more applications executing thereon, comprising:

providing at least one non-volatile memory (NVM) device coupled to at least one out-of-band processing device with one or more of the applications executing inside or outside the out-of-band processing device;

using the at least one out-of-band processing device to receive and intercept access attempts to the NVM device from one or more applications executing inside or outside the processing device, the access attempts comprising at least one or of read attempts, write attempts, erase attempts, or a combination thereof; and

using the at least one out-of-band processing device track the number of access attempts as a function of cumulative operation time of the NVM device.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

providing at least one in-band processing device coupled to the out-of-band processing device;

executing an in-band operating system and one or more applications on the in-band processing device;

executing an out-of-band operating system and one or more applications on the out-of-band processing device;

using the out-of-band processing device to receive and intercept access attempts to the NVM device from the in-band operating system, out-of-band operating system and from the one or more applications executing on the in-band and out-of-band processing devices; and

using the out-of-band processing device to track and log the number of received access attempts as function of cumulative operation time of the NVM device from each of the in-band operating system, out-of-band operating system, and each of the one or more applications executing on the in-band and out-of-band processing devices.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising using the out-of-band processing device to provide access tracking information to a local user of the information handling system, the access tracking information comprising the number of access attempts to the NVM device as a function of cumulative operation time of the NVM device.

14. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

providing a network coupled to the information handling system; and

using the out-of-band processing device to provide access tracking information to the remote user over the network, the access tracking information comprising the number of access attempts to the NVM device as a function of cumulative operation time of the NVM device.

15. The method of claim 11, further comprising using the out-of-band processor to:

compare a cumulative tracked number of access attempts for a given cumulative operation time of the NVM device to a pre-defined wear level threshold of access attempts at the same given cumulative operation time of the NVM device; and

generate an alert to a user of the information handling system when the cumulative tracked number of access attempts exceeds the pre-defined wear level threshold of access attempts at the same given cumulative operation time of the NVM device.

16. The method of claim 11, further comprising using the out-of-band processor to:

generate a graphical representation of the tracked number of access attempts for a given cumulative operation time of the NVM device; and

presenting the generated graphical representation to a local user on a coupled display device or to a remote user across a coupled network.

17. The method of claim 11, further comprising using the out-of-band processor to extrapolate the rate of a number of future access attempts to the NVM device as a function of cumulative operation time of the NVM device based at least in part on the historical rate of actual tracked number of access attempts as a function of actual cumulative operation time of the NVM device.

18. The method of claim 11, further comprising using the out-of-band processor to selectively block one or more of the attempted access attempts to the NVM device based on at least one of current cumulative tracked number of access attempts to the NVM device at the current cumulative operation time of the NVM device, a user command received by the out-of-band processing device from a remote user across a coupled network, a user command received via a local input device by the out-of-band processing device from a local user of the information handling system, a pre-defined priority policy for different types of access attempts, or a combination thereof.

19. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

providing the NVM device and out-of-band processing device as components embedded in a motherboard of the information handling system;

providing a replaceable and removable storage device coupled to the out-of-band processing device; and

using the out-of-band processing device to selectively redirect at least a portion of the write attempts to the replaceable and removable storage device based on at least one of current cumulative tracked number of access attempts to the NVM device at the current cumulative operation time of the NVM device, a user command received by the out-of-band processing device from a remote user across a coupled network, a user command received via a local input device by the out-of-band processing device from a local user of the information handling system, a pre-defined priority policy for different types of access attempts, or a combination thereof.

20. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

providing the NVM device and out-of-band processing device as components embedded in a motherboard of the information handling system;

providing a replaceable and removable storage device coupled to the out-of-band processing device; and

using the out-of-band processing device to selectively relocate data from the embedded NVM device to the replaceable and removable storage device in response to a user command received by the out-of-band processing device from a remote user across a coupled network, a user command received via a local input device by the out-of-band processing device from a local user of the information handling system, or a combination thereof.