Network Appliance, Inc.

Netapp, Inc.

Other

Douglas W Coatney

Atul Goel

Scott D Gillette

Susan M Coatney

Wayne A Booth

Rebecca Kekelishvili

Rajesh Sundaram

Stephen H Strange

Radek Aster

Kalaivani Arumugham

Kyle Diggs Sterling

Sasidharan Krishnan

Todd Mills

Reyaz Ahmed

Minh Pham

Rajesh Ananthanarayanan

Varsha Ingle

Methods, non-transitory machine readable media, and computing devices that use extended physical region page (PRP) lists to improve storage device performance are disclosed. With this technology, a PRP list is generated that includes pointers retrieved from a scatter/gather list (SGL) for memory buffers representing data segments associated with a storage operation. The PRP list is extended to include a pointer to an allocated memory page configured to store metadata segments represented by other memory buffers referenced by other pointers in the SGL. A command request that includes the extended PRP list is submitted to a storage device for execution of the storage operation. With this technology, storage operations are advantageously enabled for non-volatile memory express (NVMe) solid-state drive (SSDs), for example, that do not support SGL transfers.

Methods for using extended physical region page lists to improve performance for solid-state drives and devices thereof

A method, non-transitory computer readable medium, and device that assists with proactive prediction of disk failure in a RAID group includes obtaining performance data for a plurality of storage drives. The obtained performance data is compared with a stored classification data to predict one or more storage drives of the plurality of storage drives failing within a time period. The data present in the one or more storage drives predicted to fail based on the comparison is copied on to one or more secondary storage drives. A notification including a list of the one or more storage drives predicted to fail is sent upon the copying the data on to the one or more secondary storage drives.

Methods for proactive prediction of disk failure in a RAID group and devices thereof

A method, non-transitory computer readable medium, and storage node computing device that identifies a subset of a plurality of sections of a shelf that is unowned based on a determined ownership status of a plurality of storage devices hosted by the shelf. Obtained section discriminant data is applied to one of a plurality of ordered storage node identifiers to identify one section of the subset of the sections. Ownership of one or more of the storage devices corresponding to the one section is obtained.

Methods for autonomous disk ownership assignment of nodes in a storage network with a multi-path configuration and devices thereof

A method, non-transitory computer readable medium, and device that assists with identifying failure of a storage disk includes obtaining performance data and a threshold value associated with each of the obtained performance data for a plurality of storage disks. Next, the obtained performance data is compared with the corresponding threshold value associated with each of the obtained performance data to determine for one or more initial failures in the plurality of storage disks. Next, one or more operational test cases are executed on each of the determined one or more initial failures in the plurality of storage disks to determine for one or more false positives in the determined one or more initial failures in the plurality of storage disks. A notification is sent based on the determination of the one or more false positives.

Methods for proactive prediction of disk failure in the disk maintenance pipeline and devices thereof

A computer storage system includes multiple disk trays, each disk tray holding two or more physical disks. The disks on a single tray are virtualized into a single logical disk. The single logical disk reports to the RAID (redundant array of inexpensive disks) subsystem, creating the impression that there is one large capacity disk. In one implementation, each disk in the tray is allocated to a different RAID group. By allocating the disks in a tray to different RAID groups, if the tray is removed, only a portion of several different RAID groups are removed. This arrangement permits a simple reconstruction of the RAID groups if a disk tray is removed from the system.

Creating logical disk drives for raid subsystems

A slice manager module, in the operating system of a storage server, manages the virtual slicing of a mass storage device. The slice manager module receives a notification that a mass storage device has been added to an array of mass storage devices coupled to the storage system. The slice manager module reads header information in the mass storage device to determine a format of the mass storage device. If the mass storage device has not been previously sliced, the slice manager module virtually slices the mass storage device into a plurality of slices, where virtually slicing the mass storage device includes specifying an offset in the mass storage device where each of the plurality of slices is located.

Method and apparatus for slicing mass storage devices

A system and method for logging and storing failure analysis information on disk drive so that the information is readily and reliably available to vendor customer service and other interested parties is provided. The information, in an illustrative embodiment, is stored on a nonvolatile (flash) random access memory (RAM), found generally in most types of disk drives for storage of updateable disk drive firmware. A known location of limited size is defined in the flash RAM, to form a scratchpad. This scratchpad is a blank area of known addresses, formed during the original firmware download onto the memory, and which is itself free of firmware code. This scratchpad is sufficient in size to write a series of failure codes in a non-erasable list as failures/errors (and user/administrator attempts to unfail the disk) are logged. The log of failures always travels with the drive, and can be read by the vendor to determine the general nature of the most recent failure(s) and whether these failures represent a problematic history for the drive.

System and method for logging disk failure analysis in disk nonvolatile memory

A method for operating a computer data storage system is described. A recoverable error in a data storage device in recognized in response to receiving a command for a write operation. It is determined whether the data storage system is in a degraded state. The write operation encountering the recoverable error is reassigned to a space on a spare data storage device if the data storage system is not in a degraded state. The write operation is stored to reassign to a spare data storage device at a future time if the data storage system is in a degraded state.

System and method for reducing unrecoverable media errors

A method and system for injecting a deterministic fault into storage shelves in a storage subsystem. The method comprises injecting a known fault condition on demand into a hardware component in a storage shelf to cause a failure of the storage shelf. The hardware component incorporates a circuit that is configurable to select between a normal operating condition and a faulty condition of the hardware component. The method further comprises verifying that a reported failure is consistent with the known fault condition.

Method and apparatus for deterministic fault injection of storage shelves in a storage subsystem

A field-upgradeable database that is separable from system software contains information about mass storage devices that may be present in a storage array. When an uninitialized device is detected in the array, the field-upgradeable database is consulted to discover which non-standard functions the device supports, and one of the non-standard functions is activated. Software and systems using the field-upgradeable database in a storage server configuration are also described and claimed.

Method and apparatus for dynamically qualifying mass storage devices

A data storage system has a network adapter to receive an I/O request. A status signal is generated in response to the I/O request, the status signal indicating a failure of a storage media to which the I/O request was directed. An operating system determines, in response to the status signal, if the storage media is in a degraded mode. If the storage media is in a degraded mode, the operating system stores the I/O operation in a log for execution at a later date. If the storage media is not in a degraded mode, the operating system reassigns the I/O request to a spare storage media. The operating system places an appropriate entry of a faulty media onto a defect list that maps to a spares pool to aid reassignment of subsequent I/O requests.

A method and an apparatus to aggressively detect media errors on storage devices with negligible performance impact have been disclosed. In one embodiment, the method includes computing a first data rate at or above which a scrub on a set of storage devices can be completed within a predetermined period of time, and running the scrub on the storage devices at a second data rate without interfering with the storage devices servicing client requests to access the storage devices, the second data rate being at or above the first data rate.

Method and an apparatus for aggressively detecting media errors on storage devices with negligible performance impact

A drive shelf includes an embedded switching hub (ESH) that monitors Fibre Channel Arbitrated Loop (FC-AL) traffic, including loop initialization requests (LIRs), coming from drives attached to the ESH. When a number of LIRs issued by a single drive within a certain amount of time exceeds a threshold, the drive is bypassed. One threshold (a 'burst' threshold) measures the number of LIRs issued within a short period of time. If the number exceeds a threshold that would prevent other data from circulating through the loop, the drive is bypassed. A second threshold (a long-term threshold) measures the number of LIRs issued within a longer period of time. If the drive issues a number of LIRs at a slower rate than the burst threshold, but still above the long-term threshold, the drive is bypassed.

Method and apparatus for detecting and remedying excessive loop initialization

A system and method for reducing unrecoverable errors in a disk drive by undertaking an aggressive reassignment of slow-reading or currently recoverable-but-erroneous sectors to the spares pool is provided. A recovered error is treated by the system operating system as a fatal error and thereby the sectors involved are reassigned to the spares pool immediately. Reassignment is recommended by a reassignment utility at the disk interface level, which passes a status up to the RAID subsystem by which reassignment is performed. In order to prevent a double-disk panic, the RAID subsystem is instructed to ignore reassignment recommendations of this type (e.g. reassignment of recoverable errors) if the RAID group is currently operating in a degraded state. However, if the RAID group is undegraded, then immediate assignment of the sectors encountering the recoverable error is undertaken.

Growing community of inventors

Cupertino, CA, United States of America

Douglas W Coatney