Intelligent disk array controller
First Claim
1. For use with a computer system having a fault tolerant, intelligent mass storage disk array subsystem having individual disk and disk array parameters and associated status information for the disk and disk array, a method for performing disk sector analysis for all drives within the disk array, the steps comprising:
- (a) initializing a current disk memory location based upon the disk array and disk drive status information and current disk parameters;
(b) determining whether the disk array is in the process of carrying out disk operations, and if carrying out such operations, suspending operation of the method of the present invention for a predetermined period of time and repeating this step (b) until disk operations are not being carried out;
(c) performing a read operation on the current disk memory location;
(d) checking the results of the read operation to determine if the read operation has failed and upon detection of a failure, indicating the disk media failure for the current disk memory location;
(e) incrementing to a successive disk memory location; and
(f) continuously performing steps (b) through (e) for all disk memory locations for all disks located within the disk array.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method for performing background disk sector analysis for drives, including drives dedicated to redundancy and/or fault recovery techniques, in an intelligent, microprocessor based disk array. The method directs the microprocessor to wait a specified time and test for disk activity. In the absence of disk activity, the disk controller is directed to generate a read request for a disk memory location within the array. A return code following the array is checked to determine if the read failed, indicating a disk drive media failure. The disk controller is then notified if a failure occurs. The processor again checks for disk array activity and in the absence of activity issues a read request for successive locations within the array, thereby reading all disk memory locations within the array.
165 Citations
9 Claims
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1. For use with a computer system having a fault tolerant, intelligent mass storage disk array subsystem having individual disk and disk array parameters and associated status information for the disk and disk array, a method for performing disk sector analysis for all drives within the disk array, the steps comprising:
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(a) initializing a current disk memory location based upon the disk array and disk drive status information and current disk parameters; (b) determining whether the disk array is in the process of carrying out disk operations, and if carrying out such operations, suspending operation of the method of the present invention for a predetermined period of time and repeating this step (b) until disk operations are not being carried out; (c) performing a read operation on the current disk memory location; (d) checking the results of the read operation to determine if the read operation has failed and upon detection of a failure, indicating the disk media failure for the current disk memory location; (e) incrementing to a successive disk memory location; and (f) continuously performing steps (b) through (e) for all disk memory locations for all disks located within the disk array. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4)
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5. For use with a computer system having a fault tolerant, intelligent mass storage disk array subsystem, a method for performing disk sector analysis for all drives within the disk array, the steps comprising:
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(a) determining disk and disk array parameters and current status information; (b) initializing a current disk memory location based upon the disk array and disk drive status information and current disk parameters; (c) determining whether the disk array is in the process of carrying out disk operations, and if carrying out such operations, suspending operation of the method of the present invention for a predetermined period of time and repeating these steps until disk operations are not being carried out; (d) generating a read request for the current disk memory location and queuing the read request for execution by the disk array controller; (e) checking the results of the read request to determine if the read request has failed and upon detection of a failure, indicating the disk media failure for the current disk memory location; (f) incrementing to a successive disk memory location; and (g) continuously performing steps (c) through (f) for all disk memory locations for all disks located within the disk array. - View Dependent Claims (6, 7, 8, 9)
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Specification