Storage system condition indicator and method

• US 7,818,531 B2
• Filed: 11/04/2005
• Issued: 10/19/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 11/05/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Storcentric DIP Lender LLC
• Original Assignee: Data Robotics Incorporated
• Inventors: Barrall, Geoffrey S.
• Primary Examiner(s): Shah; Sanjiv
• Assistant Examiner(s): DILLON, SAMUEL A
• Application Number:
  US11/267,960
• Publication Number:
  US 20060129875A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,810 Days
• Field of Search: 711/170, 714/48, 714/57
• US Class Current: 711/170
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1084 Degraded mode, e.g. caused by single or multiple storage removals or disk failures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1096 Parity calculation or recalculation after configuration or reconfiguration of the system
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1658 Data re-synchronization of a redundant component, or initial sync of replacement, additional or spare unit
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1662 the resynchronized component or unit being a persistent storage device re-synchronization of failed mirror storage G06F11/2082; rebuild or reconstruction of parity RAID storage G06F11/1008
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2069 Management of state, configuration or failover
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2087 with a common controller
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2094 Redundant storage or storage space G06F11/2056 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/325 by lamps or LED's
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2211/1004 Adaptive RAID, i.e. RAID system adapts to changing circumstances, e.g. RAID1 becomes RAID5 as disks fill up
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2211/1023 Different size disks, i.e. non uniform size of disks in RAID systems with parity
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2211/1028 Distributed, i.e. distributed RAID systems with parity
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0607 by facilitating the process of upgrading existing storage systems, e.g. for improving compatibility between host and storage device
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0644 Management of space entities, e.g. partitions, extents, pools
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0689 Disk arrays, e.g. RAID, JBOD
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 2220/415 Redundant array of inexpensive disks [RAID] systems
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 2220/65 wherein solid state memory is used for storing indexing information or metadata
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/11 by using information not detectable on the record carrier
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/329 on a disc [VTOC]

Abstract

A storage system condition indicator and method provides a visual display representing the operating condition of a set of storage devices. Various operating conditions may be defined based on available storage capacity and capacity to store data redundantly. One or more indicators may be used to represent the operating condition of the set of storage devices. The indicator(s) may be used to indicate whether additional storage capacity is recommended and, in a storage array, which slot in the array should be updated with additional storage capacity.

Claims

1. A method for indicating the condition of a storage system having an array of storage devices in which data may be stored using various data storage patterns, the array having a plurality of slots, each slot in the array being associated with an indicator, the method comprising:

in a storage manager operably coupled to the array of storage devices, determining, when all of the storage devices are functioning, whether additional storage capacity is recommended based on the amount of unused storage available in each of the array of storage devices and the data storage patterns in these storage devices; and

if such storage capacity is recommended, indicating which slot in the array should be populated with additional storage capacity by;

setting the indicator associated with a given slot to a first state, if the given slot should be populated with additional storage capacity because the storage system has reached a fail condition in which there is not enough storage space to maintain redundant data storage;

setting the indicator associated with the given slot to a second state, if the given slot should be populated with additional storage capacity because the storage system has enough storage space to maintain redundant data storage but is approaching the fail condition; and

setting the indicator associated with the given slot to a third state, if the given slot should not be populated with additional storage capacity because the storage system has enough storage space to maintain redundant data storage and is not approaching the fail condition,

wherein the indicators are used collectively to indicate the storage system condition.

2. A method according to claim 1, wherein each indicator is a multiple color light, and wherein each condition is associated with a different color.

3. A method according to claim 2, wherein the multiple color light is a three color light, and wherein:

the first state is red;

the second state is yellow; and

the third state is green.

4. A storage system comprising:

a number of storage devices in which data may be stored using various data storage patterns;

a plurality of storage device slots for receiving storage devices of various storage capacities including the number of storage devices, each slot being associated with an indicator; and

a storage manager operably coupled to the number of storage devices and to the plurality of storage device slot indicators, the storage manager;

determining, when all of the storage devices are functioning, whether additional storage capacity is recommended based on the amount of unused storage available in each of the number of storage devices and the data storage patterns in these storage devices, and

if such storage capacity is recommended, indicating which slot should be populated with additional storage capacity by;

setting the indicator associated with a given slot to a first state, if the given slot should be populated with additional storage capacity because the storage system has reached a fail condition in which there is not enough storage space to maintain redundant data storage;

setting the indicator associated with the given slot to a second state, if said the given should be populated with additional storage capacity because the storage system has enough storage space to maintain redundant data storage but is approaching the fail condition; and

setting the indicator associated with the given slot to a third state, if the given slot should not be populated with additional storage capacity because the storage system has enough storage space to maintain redundant data storage and is not approaching the fail condition,

wherein the indicators are used collectively to indicate the storage system condition.

5. A storage system according to claim 4, wherein each indicator is a multiple color light, and wherein each state is associated with a different color.

6. A storage system according to claim 5, wherein the multiple color light is a three color light, and wherein:

the first state is red;

the second state is yellow; and

the third state is green.