Systems and methods for gathering debug information

• US 7,818,627 B2
• Filed: 09/23/2005
• Issued: 10/19/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 09/23/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Avago Technologies General IP PTE Limited (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: LSI Corporation (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Thangaraj, Senthil M., Chatterjee, Paresh
• Primary Examiner(s): Lohn; Joshua A
• Application Number:
  US11/234,700
• Publication Number:
  US 20070074082A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,852 Days
• Field of Search: 714/42
• US Class Current: 714/42
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3636 by tracing the execution of the program

Abstract

System and methods are disclosed for gathering debug information of a storage system of a computer system without requiring additional external hardware directly connected to the controller of the storage system.

Claims

1. A method for gathering debug information from a storage system comprising a RAID controller and a plurality of storage devices controlled by said RAID controller, the method comprising:

responsive to receiving a debug command, processing the debug command by performing the steps comprising;

generating a proprietary RAID controller command that is supported by said RAID controller based upon the debug command; and

sending the proprietary RAID controller command to said RAID controller, the proprietary RAID controller command modifying firmware code of said plurality of storage devices; and

responsive to receiving data from said RAID controller about a result of said proprietary RAID controller command, displaying the data to a user.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of generating the proprietary RAID controller command based upon the debug command comprises identifying a proprietary command associated with the debug command, wherein the proprietary command is associated with the controller.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the proprietary command is in an IOCTL format.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of:

determining if the debug command is supported by the RAID controller.

5. The method of claim 4 further comprising the step of:

responsive to a determination that the debug command is not supported by the RAID controller, requesting input of a different debug command.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the data comprises status data associated with the proprietary RAID controller command.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the status data is associated with a READ operation.

8. A computer system for gathering debug information from a storage system comprising a RAID controller and a plurality of storage devices controlled by said RAID controller, said system comprising:

an issuing module, coupled to receive a debug command, the issuing module generating a proprietary RAID controller command associated with the debug command and issuing the proprietary RAID controller command;

a receiving module, coupled to receive data from the storage system, the receiving module displaying the data to a user;

a device driver, coupled to receive the proprietary RAID controller command, the device driver dispatching the proprietary RAID controller command to the storage system; and

wherein said RAID controller is coupled to receive the proprietary RAID controller command, the RAID controller executing the proprietary RAID controller command by communicating with at least one storage device of said plurality of storage devices within the storage system, wherein the execution of the proprietary RAID controller command at least in part includes gathering debug information from the storage system and modifying firmware code of said at least one storage device of said plurality of storage devices.

9. The computer system of claim 8 wherein generating the proprietary RAID controller command based upon the debug command is performed by identifying a proprietary command associated with the debug command, wherein the proprietary command is associated with the RAID controller.

10. The computer system of claim 8 wherein the issuing module determines if the debug command is supported by the RAID controller.

11. The computer system of claim 8 wherein:

responsive to a determination that the proprietary RAID controller command is not supported by the RAID controller, the issuing module requests input of a different debug command.

12. The computer system of claim 8 wherein the data comprises status data associated with the proprietary RAID controller command.

13. The computer system of claim 12 wherein the status data is associated with a READ operation.

14. A computer program product comprising computer-executable instructions embodied in a computer-readable medium, the computer program for performing the method comprising:

responsive to receiving a debug command, processing the debug command by performing the steps comprising;

generating a proprietary RAID controller command that is supported by a RAID controller of said storage system based upon the debug command; and

sending the proprietary RAID controller command to said RAID controller of the storage system, the proprietary RAID controller command modifying firmware code of at least one of a plurality of storage devices of said storage system that is controlled by said RAID controller; and

,

responsive to receiving data from the RAID controller of the storage system about a result of said proprietary RAID controller command, displaying the data to a user.

15. The computer program product of claim 14 wherein the step of generating the proprietary RAID controller command based upon the debug command comprises identifying a proprietary command associated with the debug command, wherein the proprietary command is associated with the RAID controller.

16. The computer program product of claim 15 wherein the proprietary command is in an IOCTL format.

17. The computer program product of claim 14 further comprising the step of:

determining if the debug command is supported by the proprietary RAID controller.

18. The computer program product of claim 17 further comprising the step of:

responsive to a determination that the debug command is not supported by the RAID controller, requesting input of a different debug command.

19. The computer program product of claim 14 wherein the data comprises status data associated with the proprietary RAID controller command.

20. The computer program product of claim 19 wherein the status data is associated with a READ operation.