Auto-configuration of RAID systems

• US 7,702,948 B1
• Filed: 07/13/2004
• Issued: 04/20/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 07/13/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: PMC-Sierra Incorporated (Microchip Technology Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Adaptec Incorporated (Steel Partners Holdings LP)
• Inventors: Knight, Clinton D., Kalman, Dean
• Primary Examiner(s): Beausoliel; Robert
• Assistant Examiner(s): Mehrmanesh; Elmira
• Application Number:
  US10/889,006
• Time in Patent Office: 2,107 Days
• Field of Search: 714/5, 714/6, 714/7, 714/8, 711/170
• US Class Current: 714/5.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0605 by facilitating the interaction with a user or administrator
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0632 by initialisation or re-initialisation of storage systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0689 Disk arrays, e.g. RAID, JBOD

Abstract

A computer-implemented method of automatically configuring a platform of storage devices includes querying components of the platform to gather information about the capability of the platform, locating one or more storage devices within the platform, automatically determining one or more RAID levels that are supported by the platform, and automatically configuring one or more storage devices within the platform as a RAID system having a particular RAID level, where the particular RAID level is selected based on the capability of the platform.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method of automatically configuring a platform of storage devices, the method comprising:

querying components of the platform to gather information about the capability of the platform;

identifying two or more storage devices within the platform that are capable of being configured as a RAID system;

automatically determining one or more RAID levels that are supported by the two or more identified storage devices; and

automatically configuring the two or more identified storage devices as the RAID system having a particular RAID level including;

identifying a highest RAID level common to all of the two or more storage devices from the one or more determined RAID levels; and

setting the particular RAID level to the highest RAID level.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising automatically determining whether the platform is a software-based storage platform or a hardware-based storage platform.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising automatically determining whether the platform includes an external storage device.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein querying components of the platform includes determining whether a RAID controller exists within the platform.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising automatically configuring a software-based RAID system if a RAID controller does not exist in the platform and configuring a hardware-based RAID system if a RAID controller does exist in the platform.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

automatically configuring the RAID system as a RAID level 1 RAID system if two storage devices are identified as capable of being configured as the RAID system.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

automatically configuring the RAID system as a RAID level 5 RAID system if three storage devices are identified as capable of being configured as the RAID system.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

automatically configuring the RAID system as a RAID level 5 RAID system with a hot spare storage device if more than three storage devices are identified as capable of being configured as the RAID system.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

automatically grouping together two or more identified storage devices as a virtual storage device if more than three storage devices are identified as capable of being configured as the RAID system.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a user input defining a user-defined RAID level; and

overriding the RAID level set based on the highest RAID level with the user-defined RAID level.

11. A system comprising:

a processor;

a computer-readable medium operatively coupled to the processor and including instructions, which, when executed by the processor, causes the processor to perform operations comprising;

querying components of a platform to gather information about the capability of the platform;

identifying two or more storage devices within the platform that are capable of being configured as a RAID system;

automatically determining one or more RAID levels that are supported by the two or more identified storage devices; and

automatically configuring the two or more identified storage devices as the RAID system having a particular RAID level including;

identifying a highest RAID level common to all of the two or more storage devices from the one or more determined RAID levels; and

setting the particular RAID level to the highest RAID level.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the computer-readable medium includes further instructions, which, when executed by the processor, causes the processor to further perform operations comprising:

automatically determining whether the platform is a software-based storage platform or a hardware-based storage platform.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the computer-readable medium includes further instructions, which, when executed by the processor, causes the processor to further perform operations comprising:

automatically determining whether the platform includes an external storage device.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein querying components of the platform includes determining whether a RAID controller exists within the platform.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the computer-readable medium includes further instructions, which, when executed by the processor, causes the processor to further perform operations comprising:

automatically configuring a software-based RAID system if a RAID controller does not exist in the platform and configuring a hardware-based RAID system if a RAID controller does exist in the platform.

16. The system of claim 11, wherein the computer-readable medium includes further instructions, which, when executed by the processor, causes the processor to further perform operations comprising:

automatically configuring the RAID system as a RAID level 1 RAID system if two storage devices are identified as capable of being configured as the RAID system.

17. The system of claim 11, wherein the computer-readable medium includes further instructions, which, when executed by the processor, causes the processor to further perform operations comprising:

automatically configuring the RAID system as a RAID level 5 RAID system if three storage devices are identified as capable of being configured as the RAID system.

18. The system of claim 11, wherein the computer-readable medium includes further instructions, which, when executed by the processor, causes the processor to further perform operations comprising:

automatically configuring the RAID system as a RAID level 5 RAID system with a hot spare storage device if more than three storage devices are identified as capable of being configured as the RAID system.

19. The system of claim 11, wherein the computer-readable medium includes further instructions, which, when executed by the processor, causes the processor to further perform operations comprising:

automatically grouping together two or more identified storage devices as a virtual storage device if more than three storage devices are identified as capable of being configured as the RAID system.

20. The system of claim 11, wherein the computer-readable medium includes further instructions, which, when executed by the processor, causes the processor to further perform operations comprising:

receiving a user input defining a user-defined RAID level; and

overriding the RAID level set based on the highest RAID level with the user-defined RAID level.

21. A computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon, which, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to perform operations comprising:

querying components of a platform to gather information about the capability of the platform;

identifying two or more storage devices within the platform that are capable of being configured as a RAID system;

automatically determining one or more RAID levels that are supported by the two or more identified storage devices; and

automatically configuring the two or more identified storage devices as the RAID system having a particular RAID level including;

identifying a highest RAID level common to all of the two or more storage devices from the one or more determined RAID levels; and

setting the particular RAID level to the highest RAID level.

22. The computer-readable medium of claim 21, includes further instructions, which, when executed by the processor, causes the processor to further perform operations comprising:

receiving a user input defining a user-defined RAID level; and

overriding the RAID level set based on the highest RAID level with the user-defined RAID level.