Periodic rotational vibration check for storage devices to compensate for varying loads

• US 8,271,140 B2
• Filed: 08/25/2006
• Issued: 09/18/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 08/25/2006
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Cagno, Brian James, Green, Kenton Coleman, Jones, Carl Evan, O'Connell, Michael Desmond
• Primary Examiner(s): Cottingham, John
• Assistant Examiner(s): GARLAND, STEVEN R
• Application Number:
  US11/467,417
• Publication Number:
  US 20080071393A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,216 Days
• Field of Search: 700/280, 702/56, 702/184
• US Class Current: 700/280
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 13/0205 not using a model or a simulator of the controlled system
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/36 Monitoring, i.e. supervising the progress of recording or reproducing for digital recording G11B20/00 and s.gr.; for monitoring, testing or measuring of TV recorders of the type covered by H04N5/76 and subgroups, see H04N17/06

Abstract

A periodic rotational vibration check for storage devices to compensate for varying loads is disclosed. A variable representing rotational vibration status is maintained in a rotational vibration log. The variable is processed to determine whether a storage device exhibits a rotational vibration issue. Workload analysis is performed to identify a change to the workloads run on physically separate hardware to resolve the rotational vibration issue and thus eliminate the need for more expensive hardware.

Claims

1. A method for operating storage devices, comprising:

operating a storage device in a storage system by a customer of said storage device at the customer'"'"'s site;

monitoring rotational vibration of said storage device during said operation by said customer of said storage device in a storage system, said monitoring including logging in a rotational vibration log, rotational vibration information concerning rotational vibration of said storage device monitored during said operation by said customer of said storage device in a storage system;

accessing said rotational vibration log associated with said storage device in a storage system;

analyzing the rotational vibration log; and

reducing rotational vibration of said storage device during said operation by said customer of said storage device to resolve a rotational vibration problem indicated by the rotational vibration log;

in response to said analyzing, issuing to a service vendor a service request indicating a rotational vibration problem associated with said storage device in a storage system;

granting said service vendor rights to access the rotational vibration log to resolve rotational vibration problems associated with the storage device;

accessing by the service vendor the rotational vibration log in response to receipt of the service request; and

analyzing by the service vendor the rotational vibration log to determine whether the rotational vibration log indicates a rotational vibration issue for the storage system associated with the rotational vibration log and contacting the customer of the storage system by the service vendor;

wherein said reducing includes reconfiguring the operation of the storage system to reduce the rotational vibration of said storage device;

wherein the reconfiguring comprises reassigning workloads within an array of storage devices in the storage system to spread activity of the storage device to reduce rotational vibration;

wherein the logging further comprises storing information associated with rotational vibration problems created by external vibration sources and wherein said reducing includes reconfiguring the operation of an external vibration source to reduce the rotational vibration of said storage device;

wherein the storing information associated with rotational vibration problems created by external vibration sources further comprises storing information associated with at least one selected from the group consisting of a host cooling system for the storage system, devices external to the storage device and building vibrations;

wherein said analyzing the rotational vibration log to resolve a rotational vibration problem indicated by the rotational vibration log includes applying analytics to information in the rotational vibration log to identify rotational vibration of the storage device caused by fan speed of the host cooling system; and

wherein said reconfiguring the operation of an external vibration source includes changing fan speed of the host cooling system to remove a frequency component causing the rotational vibration in the storage device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the accessing the rotational vibration log further comprises periodically accessing the information to anticipate problems with the storage device.

3. A method for operating storage devices, comprising:

operating a storage device in a storage system by a customer of said storage device at the customer'"'"'s site;

monitoring rotational vibration of said storage device during said operation by said customer of said storage device in a storage system, said monitoring including logging in a rotational vibration log, rotational vibration information concerning rotational vibration of said storage device monitored during said operation by said customer of said storage device in a storage system;

accessing said rotational vibration log associated with said storage device in a storage system;

analyzing the rotational vibration log; and

reducing rotational vibration of said storage device during said operation by said customer of said storage device to resolve a rotational vibration problem indicated by the rotational vibration log;

wherein said reducing includes reconfiguring the operation of the storage system to reduce the rotational vibration of said storage device; and

wherein the reconfiguring comprises reassigning workloads within an array of storage devices in the storage system to spread activity of the storage device to reduce rotational vibration.

4. The method of claim 3 further comprising issuing a service request to a service vendor to indicate that the rotational vibration problem needs further analysis when reconfiguring the operation of the storage system fails to reduce rotational vibration.

5. A system, comprising:

a data storage system having a data storage device at a customer'"'"'s site;

a processor; and

memory, coupled to the processor, the memory comprising a computer usable medium embodying at least one program of instructions to perform operations, the operations comprising;

operating the storage device in the storage system by the customer of the storage device at the customer'"'"'s site;

monitoring rotational vibration of said storage device during said operation by said customer of said storage device in a storage system, said monitoring including logging in a rotational vibration log, rotational vibration information concerning rotational vibration of said storage device monitored during said operation by said customer of said storage device in the storage system;

accessing said rotational vibration log associated with said storage device in the storage system;

analyzing the rotational vibration log; and

reducing rotational vibration of said storage device during said operation by said customer of said storage device to resolve a rotational vibration problem indicated by the rotational vibration log;

wherein said reducing includes reconfiguring the operation of the storage system to reduce the rotational vibration of said storage device; and

wherein the storage system has an array of data storage devices and wherein the reconfiguring comprises reassigning workloads within the array of storage devices in the storage system to spread activity of the storage device to reduce rotational vibration.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the logging further comprises storing information associated with rotational vibration problems created by external vibration sources and wherein said reducing includes reconfiguring the operation of an external vibration source to reduce the rotational vibration of said storage device.

7. The system of claim 6 further comprising a host cooling system having a fan, wherein said analyzing includes applying analytics to information in the rotational vibration log to identify rotational vibration of the storage device caused by fan speed of the host cooling system and wherein said reconfiguring includes changing fan speed of the host cooling system to remove a frequency component causing the rotational vibration in the storage device.

8. The system of claim 6, wherein the storing information associated with rotational vibration problems created by external vibration sources further comprises storing information associated with at least one selected from the group consisting of a host cooling system for the storage system, devices external to the storage device and building vibrations.

9. The system of claim 5 wherein the accessing the rotational vibration log is initiated upon receipt of a service request received by a service provider, indicating a rotational vibration problem associated with the storage device in the storage system.

10. The system of claim 5, wherein the accessing the rotational vibration log further comprises periodically accessing the information to anticipate problems with the storage device.

11. The system of claim 5, wherein the analyzing the rotational vibration log further comprises determining whether the rotational vibration log indicates a rotational vibration issue for the storage system associated with the rotational vibration log and wherein the operations further include contacting the customer of the storage system to resolve the rotational vibration issue.

12. The system of claim 5 wherein the operations further comprise issuing a service request to a service vendor to indicate that the rotational vibration problem needs further analysis when reconfiguring the operations of the storage system fails to reduce rotational vibration.

13. A non-transitory computer program product for use with a data storage system having a data storage device at a customer'"'"'s site, said program product comprising a computer readable storage medium storing computer readable program code that, when executed on a processor of a computer, causes the computer to perform operations, said operations comprising:

operating the storage device in the storage system by the customer of the storage device at the customer'"'"'s site;

monitoring rotational vibration of said storage device during said operation by said customer of said storage device in a storage system, said monitoring including logging in a rotational vibration log, rotational vibration information concerning rotational vibration of said storage device monitored during said operation by said customer of said storage device in the storage system;

accessing said rotational vibration log associated with said storage device in the storage system;

analyzing the rotational vibration log; and

reducing rotational vibration of said storage device during said operation by said customer of said storage device to resolve a rotational vibration problem indicated by the rotational vibration log;

wherein said reducing includes reconfiguring the operation of the storage system to reduce the rotational vibration of said storage device; and

wherein the storage system has an array of data storage devices and wherein the reconfiguring comprises reassigning workloads within the array of storage devices in the storage system to spread activity of the storage device to reduce rotational vibration.

14. The program product of claim 13, wherein the logging further comprises storing information associated with rotational vibration problems created by external vibration sources and wherein said reducing includes reconfiguring the operation of an external vibration source to reduce the rotational vibration of said storage device.

15. The program product of claim 14 wherein the storage system has a host cooling system having a fan, wherein said analyzing includes applying analytics to information in the rotational vibration log to identify rotational vibration of the storage device caused by fan speed of the host cooling system and wherein said reconfiguring includes changing fan speed of the host cooling system to remove a frequency component causing rotational vibration in the storage device.

16. The program product of claim 14, wherein the storing information associated with rotational vibration problems created by external vibration sources further comprises storing information associated with at least one selected from the group consisting of a host cooling system for the storage system, devices external to the storage device and building vibrations.

17. The program product of claim 13 wherein the accessing the rotational vibration log is based upon receipt of a service request received by a service provider indicating a rotational vibration problem associated with storage device in a storage system.

18. The program product of claim 13, wherein the accessing the rotational vibration log further comprises periodically accessing the information to anticipate problems with the storage device.

19. The program product of claim 13, wherein the analyzing the rotational vibration log further comprises determining whether the rotational vibration log indicates a rotational vibration issue for the storage system associated with the rotational vibration log and wherein the operations further include contacting the customer of the storage system to resolve the rotational vibration issue.

20. The program product of claim 13 further comprising issuing a service request to a service vendor to indicate that the rotational vibration problem needs further analysis when reconfiguring the operation of the storage system fails to reduce rotational vibration.