SAN Vulnerability Assessment Tool

• US 20150074468A1
• Filed: 10/29/2013
• Published: 03/12/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 09/11/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dell Products LP (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Dell Products LP (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Inventors: Jacoby, Robert B., Rozmovits, Bernard Abraham
• Granted Patent: US 9,317,349 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 714/47.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/008 Reliability or availability analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3485 for I/O devices

Abstract

The invention pertains to a method and information handling system (IHS) for assessing storage device vulnerability to data unavailability or data loss. An embodiment of the method of the present invention begins by obtaining data regarding static and dynamic factors of the at least one storage device. Next, based on the obtained data, a risk score is calculated for the at least one storage device. Finally, using the obtained data, the risk score is presented to a user. In another example embodiment, a risk score indicator is associated with the at least one storage device based upon the calculated risk score.

Claims

1. A method for assessing storage device vulnerability to data unavailability or data loss, the method comprising:

obtaining data for at least one storage device, the data including static and dynamic factors;

calculating a risk score for the at least one storage device based on the obtained data; and

presenting the risk score to a user.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the obtained data includes device configuration information and the obtained data comprises data of at least one of:

Redundant Array of Independent Disk (RAID) data;

live disk reliability data;

disk array firmware version information; and

disk drive firmware version information.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the RAID data comprises at least one of:

RAID type;

a number of RAID sets;

a number of disks per RAID set;

a total number of disks;

a number of spare disks;

storage device size;

storage device speed; and

storage device class.

4. The method of claim 2 wherein the live disk reliability data comprises at least one of:

storage device class;

storage device size;

storage device speed;

storage device model; and

storage device usage.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the storage device class comprises at least one of:

Serial Attached Small Computer System Interface (SAS);

Serial Advance Technology Attachment (SATA);

Parallel Advance Technology Attachment (PATA); and

Solid State Drive (SSD).

6. The method of claim 4 wherein the storage device usage comprises at least one of:

usage amount;

usage type;

amount of power on hours;

amount of sequential usage;

amount of random access usage;

a number of reads;

a number of writes;

a grown defect list;

a read error rate;

a size of one or more reads; and

a size of one or more writes.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

associating a high, medium, or low risk score indicator with the at least one storage device based upon the calculated risk score.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

associating a high-plus, high, high-minus, medium-plus, medium, medium-minus, low-plus, low, or low-minus risk score indicator with the at least one storage device based upon the calculated risk score.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

obtaining diagnostic logfile data based upon one or more hardware or software characteristics of the at least one storage device; and

modifying the calculated risk score of the at least one storage device using the obtained diagnostic logfile data.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the storage device comprises two or more storage devices and the method for each of the two or more storage devices:

obtains respective data for each storage device including static and dynamic factors;

calculates a risk score for each storage device based on the respective obtained data; and

presents the risk score for each storage device to a user.

11. An information handling system (IHS) comprising:

a data module configured to obtain data for at least one storage device, the data including static and dynamic factors;

a computing module communicatively coupled to the data module and configured to calculate a risk score for the at least one storage device based on the obtained data; and

a display module configured to present the risk score to a user.

12. The IHS of claim 11 wherein the obtained data includes device configuration information and the obtained data comprises data of at least one of:

Redundant Array of Independent Disk (RAID) data;

live disk reliability data;

disk array firmware version information; and

disk drive firmware version information.

13. The IHS of claim 12 wherein the RAID data comprises at least one of:

RAID type;

a number of RAID sets;

a number of disks per RAID set;

a total number of disks;

a number of spare disks;

storage device size;

storage device speed; and

storage device class.

14. The IHS of claim 12 wherein the live disk reliability data comprises at least one of:

storage device class;

storage device size;

storage device speed;

storage device model; and

storage device usage.

15. The IHS of claim 14 wherein the storage device class comprises at least one of:

Serial Attached Small Computer System Interface (SAS);

Serial Advance Technology Attachment (SATA);

Parallel Advance Technology Attachment (PATA); and

Solid State Drive (SSD).

16. The IHS of claim 14 wherein the storage device usage comprises at least one of:

usage amount;

usage type;

amount of power on hours;

amount of sequential usage;

amount of random access usage;

a number of reads;

a number of writes;

a grown defect list;

a read error rate;

a size of one or more reads; and

a size of one or more writes.

17. The IHS of claim 11 wherein the computing module is further configured to:

associate a high, medium, or low risk score indicator with the at least one storage device based upon the calculated risk score.

18. The IHS of claim 11 wherein:

the data module is further configured to obtain diagnostic logfile data based upon one or more hardware or software characteristics of the at least one storage device; and

the computing module is further configured to modify the calculated risk score of the at least one storage device using the obtained diagnostic logfile data.

19. The IHS of claim 11 wherein:

the at least one storage device comprises two or more storage devices; and

for each of the two or more storage devices;

the data module is further configured to obtain respective data for each storage device, the data including static and dynamic factors;

the computing module is further configured to calculate a risk score for each storage device based on the respective obtained data; and

the display module is further configured to present the risk score for each storage device to a user.

20. A non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon a sequence of instructions which, when loaded and executed by a processor coupled to an apparatus, causes the apparatus to:

obtain data for at least one storage device, the data including static and dynamic factors;

calculate a risk score for the at least one storage device based on the obtained data; and

present the risk score to a user.