Query-based spares management technique
First Claim
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1. A method for managing storage devices in a computer system, comprising:
- maintaining a pool of a plurality of spare storage devices;
receiving a command to add a storage device from the pool to a RAID group of storage devices, wherein the RAID group is within a volume;
evaluating a topology of underlying physical storage devices of a configuration tree of the volume, wherein the topology is evaluated by an object of the configuration tree;
determining, based on the evaluation of the configuration tree topology, one or more attributes that are desired to a configuration of the RAID group;
forming, based on the attributes that are desired, one or more attribute-based query requests;
providing a count of each spare storage device from the pool that satisfies each attribute-based query request;
selecting one or more best storage devices from the count; and
allocating the one or more best storage devices to the RAID group of storage devices.
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Abstract
A query-based spares management technique enables a storage operating system of a storage system to select disks to be added to one or more RAID groups of a volume. The spares management technique includes an attributes-based disk selection procedure that is performed by the storage operating system in response to an operator-initiated request to add disks to the volume or in response to a demand-driven request resulting from a requirement imposed by the system to add disks to the volume. The disks that are added to the RAID groups of the volume are retrieved from one or more spare pools of disks maintained by the storage system.
111 Citations
85 Claims
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1. A method for managing storage devices in a computer system, comprising:
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maintaining a pool of a plurality of spare storage devices; receiving a command to add a storage device from the pool to a RAID group of storage devices, wherein the RAID group is within a volume; evaluating a topology of underlying physical storage devices of a configuration tree of the volume, wherein the topology is evaluated by an object of the configuration tree; determining, based on the evaluation of the configuration tree topology, one or more attributes that are desired to a configuration of the RAID group; forming, based on the attributes that are desired, one or more attribute-based query requests; providing a count of each spare storage device from the pool that satisfies each attribute-based query request; selecting one or more best storage devices from the count; and allocating the one or more best storage devices to the RAID group of storage devices. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85)
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24. A computer system, comprising:
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a pool of a plurality of spare storage devices; a command configured to add a storage device to a RAID group; a selection process configured to evaluate a topology of underlying physical storage devices of a configuration tree of a volume; the computer system configured to determine desired attributes of a selected number of spare storage devices in the pool of the plurality of spare storage devices, the computer system further configured to assess the desired attributes of the selected number of spare storage devices based on the evaluation of the configuration tree topology; the computer system further configured to form, based on the desired attributes, one or more attribute-based query requests; a software process configured to determine, based on the evaluation of the configuration tree topology, that a particular spare storage device from the pool of the plurality of spare storage devices is a best storage device to add to the RAID group; the software process further configured to select the best storage device in response to the software process determining the best storage device; and the software process further configured to add the best storage device to the RAID group. - View Dependent Claims (25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46)
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47. A computer readable medium containing executable program instructions executed by a processor, comprising:
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program instructions that maintain a pool of a plurality of spare storage devices; program instructions that receive a command to add a storage device from the pool to a RAID group, wherein the RAID group is within a volume; program instructions that evaluate a topology of underlying physical storage devices of a configuration tree of the volume, wherein the topology is evaluated by an object of the configuration tree; program instructions that determine, based on the evaluation of the configuration tree topology, one or more attributes that are desired to a configuration of the RAID group; program instructions that form, based on the attributes that are desired, one or more attribute-based query requests; program instructions that provide a count of one or more of each spare storage device from the pool that satisfies one or more of each attribute-based query request; program instructions that select one or more best storage devices; and program instructions that allocate the one or more best storage devices to the RAID group. - View Dependent Claims (48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77)
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Specification