Patent Application
20070294476
The present invention may be better understood, and its numerous objects, features and advantages made apparent to those skilled in the art by referencing the accompanying drawings. The use of the same reference number throughout the several figures designates a like or similar element.
In accordance with the present invention, a system and method is disclosed for previewing a disk drive's disk data format (DDF) metadata before performing “import” or “clear” operations to make it available on a receiving system comprising a redundant array of independent disks (RAID) array. In different embodiments of the invention, a preview method is implemented such that the DDF metadata of one or more disk drives comprising a foreign configuration can be examined prior to performing “import” or “clear” methods on the disk.
For purposes of this disclosure, an information handling system may include any instrumentality or aggregate of instrumentalities operable to compute, classify, process, transmit, receive, retrieve, originate, switch, store, display, manifest, detect, record, reproduce, handle, or utilize any form of information, intelligence, or data for business, scientific, control, or other purposes. For example, an information handling system may be a personal computer, a network storage device, or any other suitable device and may vary in size, shape, performance, functionality, and price. The information handling system may include random access memory (RAM), one or more processing resources such as a central processing unit (CPU) or hardware or software control logic, ROM, and/or other types of nonvolatile memory. Additional components of the information handling system may include one or more disk drives, one or more network ports for communicating with external devices as well as various input and output (I/O) devices, such as a keyboard, a mouse, and a video display. The information handling system may also include one or more buses operable to transmit communications between the various hardware components.
In this same embodiment of the invention, disk ‘J’ 230 comprising RAID array ‘Y’ 216 fails and requires replacement. To replace it, hot spare disk ‘E’ 214 is physically removed from RAID array ‘X’ 202 and transferred to RAID array ‘Y’ 216. As hot spare disk ‘E’ 214 is coupled to RAID array ‘Y’ 216, it is recognized by RAID array controller ‘Y’ 218 as a foreign configuration, thereby signifying that it requires importing if its contents are to be made available as part of RAID array ‘Y’ 216, or clearing if it is to be made available as free storage capacity. In one embodiment of the invention, RAID configuration previewer 220 is implemented to preview DDF metadata comprising hot spare disk ‘E’ 214 such that it is determined whether any data it contains is intended to be “imported” and made available as data resources comprising RAID array ‘Y’ 216, or “cleared” and made available as free storage capacity. It will be apparent to those of skill in the art that the contents of hot spare disk ‘E’ 214 are currently not viewable without implementation of RAID configuration previewer 220.
In one embodiment of the invention, RAID configuration previewer 320 is implemented to preview DDF metadata comprising migrated disks ‘D’ 312 and ‘E’ 314 such that it is determined that the data they contain is intended to be “imported” and made available as data resources comprising RAID array ‘Y’ 316. In another embodiment of the invention, RAID configuration previewer 320 is implemented to preview DDF metadata comprising migrated disks ‘D’ 312 and ‘E’ 314 such that it is determined that the data they contain is no longer required and that the disks are available to be “cleared” and made available as free storage capacity on RAID array ‘Y’ 316. It will be apparent to those of skill in the art that the contents of hot spare disk ‘E’ 214 are currently not viewable without implementation of RAID configuration previewer 220.
If a foreign configuration object is detected in step 406, foreign configuration methods are implemented in step 408 to include “import” method in step 410, preview method in step 412, and “clear” method in step 414. One or more predetermined methods (i.e., steps 410, 412, 414) are then implemented in step 416 with each detected foreign configuration, or “cancelled” if “import” 410 or “clear” 414 methods are declined. For example, the DDF metadata of a detected disk is examined by implementation of preview method in step 412 to identify a plurality of foreign configuration objects. Each object is then either “imported” by implementation of “import” method in step 410 or “cleared” by implementation of “clear” method in step 414. The process continues in Step 416 until all identified foreign configuration objects have either been “imported” and made available as part of a RAID array or “cleared” such that their related disk capacity is made available for creation of a new RAID array.
Once all foreign configuration objects have either been “imported”, r “cleared”, or deferred for later action by a “cancel” operation in step 416, it is determined in step 418 whether to continue to check for the presence of foreign configuration objects. If it is determined in step 418 to continue checking, then the process continues beginning with step 404, otherwise the foreign configuration preview system enters a dormant mode in step 420 to wait for an external trigger to begin the process once again. If a foreign configuration object is not detected in step 406, then it is determined in step 418 whether to continue to check for the presence of foreign configuration objects. If it is determined in step 418 to continue checking, then the process continues beginning with step 404, otherwise the foreign configuration preview system enters a dormant mode in step 420 to wait for an external trigger to begin the process once again.
Skilled practitioners in the art will recognize that many other embodiments and variations of the present invention are possible. In addition, each of the referenced components in this embodiment of the invention may be comprised of a plurality of components, each interacting with the other in a distributed environment. Furthermore, other embodiments of the invention may expand on the referenced embodiment to extend the scale and reach of the system's implementation.
