Network Appliance, Inc.

Netapp, Inc.

R Guy Lauterbach

John M Reed

Michael J Tuciarone

Allen Kilbourne

Steve Valin

Alan Rowe

Stephen H Strange

Brad A Reger

Mark W Insley

The present invention provides a system and method to quarantine in the storage operating system and configuration information in which the storage operating system is stored in a designated partition on a removable nonvolatile memory device, such as a compact flash or a personal computer (PC) card that is interfaced with a motherboard of a filer system server. By providing for separate partitions, a failure or error arising during an upgrade to the storage operating system will not corrupt the other partitions.

Method and system to quarantine system software and configuration

The present invention provides a system and method for diagnostics execution in which diagnostics code is stored in a designated partition on a removable nonvolatile memory device, such as a compact flash or a personal computer (PC) card that is interfaced with the motherboard of a file server system. The file server system firmware is programmed in such a manner that, upon receipt of a diagnostics command, a normal boot mechanism is interrupted, and a diagnostics boot is performed. The firmware is programmed to probe the removable nonvolatile memory device, and to load the diagnostics code contained thereon into main memory and to execute the diagnostics in response to an initiation by an operator's key sequence. In accordance with a further aspect of the invention, the data produced as a result of the diagnostics test sequence is captured and stored in a maintenance log in another partition on the compact flash that has been pre-assigned for that purpose. Such diagnostics log data can be readily retrieved at a later time. In addition, the diagnostics code may be updated without system downtime.

System and method for diagnostics execution and data capture in a storage system using nonvolatile memory

The present invention provides a system and method for diagnostics execution in which diagnostics code is stored in a designated partition on a removable nonvolatile memory device, such as a compact flash or a personal computer (PC) card that is interfaced with the motherboard of a file server system. The file server system firmware is programmed in such a manner that, upon receipt of a diagnostics command, a normal boot mechanism is interrupted, and a diagnostics boot is performed. The firmware is programmed to probe the removable nonvolatile memory device, and to load the diagnostics code contained thereon into main memory and to execute the diagnostics in response to an initiation by an operator's key sequence. Data produced as a result of the diagnostics test sequence is captured and stored in a maintenance log in another partition on the nonvolatile memory.

A suspended or stuck condition of a serial bus controller is released by applying an artificial clock signal to the stuck bus controller in place of the normally applied clock signal. The artificial clock signal causes the stuck controller to advance in a communication transaction which was in progress when the stuck condition occurred, until a data signal is supplied at a logical level which permits the initiation of another transaction in accordance with the serial communication protocol of the bus. The ability to release the stuck condition avoids losing important data and other information that would be lost if the stuck condition was released by performing a reset of the stuck controller or the component to which it is connected.

Method and apparatus to release a serial bus from a suspended state

A general-purpose personal computer is converted into a dedicated mass storage appliance, and a mass storage operating system for performing mass data storage functions is booted from a solid-state, nonvolatile memory card in response to BIOS boot probe signals. The memory card emulates a disk drive for booting purposes, so the BIOS need not be modified to incorporate chain booting. A relatively low latency intermediate memory reads and writes data from a primary expansion bus of the personal computer, and the intermediate memory is separately backed up with power to sustain the data upon a reduction in power, a reset signal, or the absence of a bus clock signal. The conversion may be accomplished by inserting a conversion card into a bus slot of a primary expansion bus of the personal computer.

Conversion card and method to convert a general purpose personal computer into a dedicated mass storage appliance

A system and method for fast ('warm') reboot of a file server is provided, which skips certain conventional boot processes when circumstances warrant, in order to reduce server downtime. In particular, time is saved by avoiding a full shutdown of the processor and memory, and by causing the firmware to refrain from a full clearance of the file server memory. Instead, the firmware accesses a retained copy of the storage operating system kernel from a reserved location in the file server memory so that an operative version of the kernel is reestablished at the appropriate address space in memory without requiring a time-consuming read of the kernel image from disk. In addition, other 'normal' (cold) reboot operations such as full memory tests, hardware checks and memory zeroing are avoided as appropriate&#x2014;saving further time in the overall reboot process, while still attaining the desired reinitialization of key applications and functions.

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Penn Valley, CA, United States of America

R Guy Lauterbach