Storage system condition indicator and method

• US 8,156,303 B2
• Filed: 10/18/2010
• Issued: 04/10/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 11/05/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Storcentric DIP Lender LLC
• Original Assignee: Drobot Incorporated
• Inventors: Barrall, Geoffrey S.
• Primary Examiner(s): Choe, Yong
• Assistant Examiner(s): DILLON, SAMUEL A
• Application Number:
  US12/906,848
• Publication Number:
  US 20110035565A1
• Time in Patent Office: 540 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 a storage manager in communication with a number of storage devices, the method comprising:

determining a storage system condition, by the storage manager, including determining whether additional storage capacity is recommended based on the amount of unused storage available in each of a number of functioning storage devices and the data storage patterns in these storage devices; and

indicating the storage system condition, by the storage manager, including indicating whether the storage system has sufficient storage capacity within the functioning storage devices to provide redundant storage to newly-stored data and, when additional storage capacity is recommended, indicating how storage capacity should be added to the storage system, wherein a first indication state is used to indicate that storage capacity should be added by adding a new storage device and wherein a second indication state is used to indicate that storage capacity should be added by replacing an existing storage device with a larger-capacity storage device.

2. A method according to claim 1, wherein the storage system includes a plurality of storage slots in communication with the storage manager, each slot configured to receive a storage device, and wherein the storage manager indicates (1) that a new storage device should be added to the system when the storage system has at least one empty slot, and (2) that an existing storage device should be replaced with a larger-capacity storage device when the storage system does not have at least one empty slot.

3. A method according to claim 2, wherein the storage manager indicates a status for each slot including, when additional storage capacity is recommended, indicating the recommended slot to be populated with additional storage capacity, such that an overall storage system condition is indicated collectively by such indications.

4. A method according to claim 3, wherein each slot is associated with at least one indicator capable of representing a first state in which the slot is the recommended slot and the storage system has reached a predetermined failure condition, a second state in which the slot is the recommended slot and the storage system is approaching the failure condition but still has sufficient storage capacity to maintain redundant storage, and at least one third state indicating that the slot is not the recommended slot.

5. A method according to claim 4, wherein each slot is associated with a three-color light, wherein the first and second states are represented by first and second light colors.

6. A method according to claim 5, wherein the at least one third state is represented by:

a third light color, if the slot is populated with a storage device; and

a light off state, if the slot is not populated with a storage device.

7. A method according to claim 4, wherein each slot is associated with at least one light for illuminating a front panel to indicate the status for the slot.

8. A method according to claim 1, further comprising:

performing, by the storage manager, a re-layout process in which at least some of the data stored in the functioning storage devices is reconfigured; and

indicating, by the storage manager, that the re-layout process is in progress.

9. A method according to claim 8, wherein the storage manager performs the re-layout process for at least one of (1) increasing the amount of available storage space in the storage system;

and (2) upon detecting that additional storage capacity has been added, providing redundancy for data using the additional storage capacity.

10. A method according to claim 8, wherein indicating the fact of the transition comprises flashing a light between at least two states.

11. A storage system comprising:

a number of storage devices; and

a storage manager in communication with the number of storage devices, the storage manager being configured to;

determine a storage system condition, including determining whether additional storage capacity is recommended based on the amount of unused storage available in each of the functioning storage devices and the data storage patterns in these storage devices; and

indicate the storage system condition, including indicating whether the storage system has sufficient storage capacity within the functioning storage devices to provide redundant storage to newly-stored data and, when additional storage capacity is recommended, indicating how storage capacity should be added to the storage system, wherein a first indication state is used to indicate that storage capacity should be added whether by adding a new storage device and wherein a second indication state is used to indicate that storage capacity should be added by replacing an existing storage device with a larger-capacity storage device.

12. A system according to claim 11, further comprising a plurality of storage slots in communication with the storage manager, each slot configured to receive one of the number of storage devices, wherein the storage manager is configured to indicate (1) that a new storage device should be added to the system when the storage system has at least one empty slot, and (2) that an existing storage device should be replaced with a larger-capacity storage device when the storage system does not have at least one empty slot.

13. A system according to claim 12, wherein the storage manager is configured to indicate a status for each slot including, when additional storage capacity is recommended, indicating the recommended slot to be populated with additional storage capacity, such that an overall storage system condition is indicated collectively by such indications.

14. A system according to claim 13, wherein each slot is associated with at least one indicator capable of representing a first state in which the slot is the recommended slot and the storage system has reached a predetermined failure condition, a second state in which the slot is the recommended slot and the storage system is approaching the failure condition but still has sufficient storage capacity to maintain redundant storage, and at least one third state indicating that the slot is not the recommended slot.

15. A system according to claim 14, wherein each storage device slot is associated with a three-color light, wherein the first and second states are represented by first and second light colors.

16. A system according to claim 15, wherein the at least one third state is represented by:

a third light color, if the slot is populated with a storage device; and

a light off state, if the slot is not populated with a storage device.

17. A system according to claim 14, further comprising a front panel, wherein each slot is associated with at least one light for illuminating the front panel to indicate the status for the slot.

18. A system according to claim 11, wherein the storage manager is further configured to:

perform a re-layout process in which at least some of the data stored in the functioning storage devices is reconfigured; and

indicate that the re-layout process is in progress.

19. A system according to claim 18, wherein the storage manager is configured to perform the re-layout process for at least one of (1) increasing the amount of available storage space in the storage system;

and (2) upon detecting that additional storage capacity has been added, providing redundancy for data using the additional storage capacity.

20. A system according to claim 18, wherein indicating the fact of the transition comprises flashing a light between at least two states.