Method and apparatus for just in time RAID spare drive pool management
First Claim
1. A method for spare disk drive management in a storage system, the storage system comprising a first set of disk drives in a power-on state, a second set of disk drives in a power-off state, the method comprising:
- detecting failure of a disk drive belonging to the first set of disk drives;
analyzing location and connectivity to the first set of drives for disk drives in the second set of disk drives, the analysis based on the location and connectivity as applied to one or more spare selection criteria; and
selecting a spare disk drive from the second set of disk drives based on the analysis of the location and connectivity as applied to the one or more spare selection criteria, wherein the selected spare disk drive is determined based on its location and connectivity to the first set of drives as applied to the one or more spare selection criteria;
powering-on the selected spare disk drive; and
replacing the failed disk drive with the selected spare disk drive,wherein selecting a spare disk drive further comprises;
checking bandwidth loads on the first set of disk drives, the bandwidth loads being one spare selection criterion;
checking power loads on the first set of disk drives, the power loads being one spare selection criterion;
checking environmental conditions on the first and second set of disk drives, environment condition being one spare selection criterion; and
determining one spare disk drive from the second set of disk driver that satisfies at least one spare selection criterion.
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Abstract
Spare disk drive management in a storage system. The storage system comprises disk drives and spare disk drives. Spare disk drives are initially kept in power-off state. The storage system detects the failure of a disk drive and selects a spare disk drive to replace the failed disk drive. The spare disk drive is selected on the basis of spare selection criteria. The selected spare disk drive is powered-on and replaces the failed disk drive. Data on the failed disk drive can be reconstructed on the spare disk drive by using RAID parity techniques.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method for spare disk drive management in a storage system, the storage system comprising a first set of disk drives in a power-on state, a second set of disk drives in a power-off state, the method comprising:
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detecting failure of a disk drive belonging to the first set of disk drives; analyzing location and connectivity to the first set of drives for disk drives in the second set of disk drives, the analysis based on the location and connectivity as applied to one or more spare selection criteria; and selecting a spare disk drive from the second set of disk drives based on the analysis of the location and connectivity as applied to the one or more spare selection criteria, wherein the selected spare disk drive is determined based on its location and connectivity to the first set of drives as applied to the one or more spare selection criteria; powering-on the selected spare disk drive; and replacing the failed disk drive with the selected spare disk drive, wherein selecting a spare disk drive further comprises; checking bandwidth loads on the first set of disk drives, the bandwidth loads being one spare selection criterion; checking power loads on the first set of disk drives, the power loads being one spare selection criterion; checking environmental conditions on the first and second set of disk drives, environment condition being one spare selection criterion; and determining one spare disk drive from the second set of disk driver that satisfies at least one spare selection criterion. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. An apparatus for spare disk drive management in a storage system, the storage system comprising a first set of disk drives in power-on state, a second set of spare disk drives in power-off state, the apparatus comprising:
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a hardware driver, the hardware driver detecting the failure of a disk drive from the first set of disk drives; a disk manager, the disk manager selecting a spare disk drive from the second set of disk drives to replace the failed disk drive based on spare selection criteria; at least one power controller, the power controller switching off the failed disk drive and switching on the selected spare disk drive, wherein the selection criteria comprise; bandwidth loads on the first set of disk drives; power loads on the first set of disk drives; and environmental conditions on the first set of disk drives. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. An apparatus for spare disk drive management in a storage system, the storage system comprising a first set of disk drives in power-on state, a second set of spare disk drives in power-off state, the apparatus comprising:
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a. a hardware driver, the hardware driver detecting the failure of a disk drive from the first set of disk drives; b. a disk manager, the disk manager selecting a spare disk drive just in time from the second set of disk drives to replace the failed disk drive based on spare selection criteria;
the spare selection criteria comprising;i. bandwidth loads on the first set of disk drives; ii. power loads on the first set of disk drives; and iii. environmental conditions on the first set of disk drives; c. at least one power controller, the power controller switching off the failed disk drive and switching on the selected spare disk drive; d. at least one temperature sensor, the temperature sensor sending the temperature of the disk drives to the disk manager; and e. at least one vibration sensor, the vibration sensor sending the vibrations in the vicinity of the disk drives to the disk manager.
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20. A computer program product for use with a computer, the computer program product comprising a computer usable medium having a computer readable program code embodied therein for spare disk drive management in a storage system, the storage system comprising a first set of disk drives in power-on state and a second set of disk drives in power-off state, the computer program product performing the steps of:
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detecting failure of a disk drive belonging to the first set of disk drives; selecting a spare disk drive from the second set of disk drives based on spare selection criteria; powering-on the selected spare disk drive; and replacing the failed disk drive with the selected spare disk drive, wherein selecting a spare disk driver further comprises performing the steps of; checking bandwidth loads on the first set of disk drives, the bandwidth loads being one spare selection criterion; checking power loads on the first set of disk drives, the power loads being one spare selection criterion; checking environmental conditions on the first and second set of disk drives, environment condition being one spare selection criterion; and determining one spare disk drive from the second set of disk driver that satisfies at least one spare selection criterion.
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Specification