International Business Machines Corporation

Oracle International Corporation

Storage Technology Corporation

Steven Christopher Fraioli

Michael Richard Crater

Christopher James West

David Glenn Hostetter

Craig A Buhlman

Adam W Mehlberg

Jim Lloyd Mechalke, Jr

Systems and methods for automatic detection of misconnected cables are described herein. In one or more embodiments, a test circuit sends a signal through a first pin of a first connector that is coupled to a first cable of a plurality of cables. The test circuit monitors a second pin of a second connector that is coupled to a second cable of the plurality of cables to determine whether the signal is detected on the second pin of the second connector. Responsive to determining that the signal is not detected on the second pin, an alert signal is generated to indicate that at least one cable of the plurality of cables is misconnected.

Systems and methods for automatic detection of misconnected cables

A method and system are provided for improving efficiency of storing and accessing data blocks for systems that are limited to small size, host accessible data blocks, such as having a maximum size of 512 bytes, by allowing larger size subsystem data blocks to be created from the smaller size logical data blocks. A host command is analyzed to determine whether the host accessible logical data block aligns with the larger subsystem block. If so, the larger block(s) is(are) sent to the host. If the command does not align, the larger block is processed into a plurality of segments so that the addressed data block(s) can be aligned, and any error correction coding verified. The present invention allows a subsystem to store and manage efficiently sized blocks of data while still supporting a host's need to access smaller, single architecturally defined addressable blocks. The present invention is particularly suited for use with storage architectures arranged to compress data and add CRC redundancy codes, such as a shared virtual array (SVA) architecture.

Method and system of reformatting data blocks for storage as larger size data blocks

A system incorporating the invention stores data on communicating disk drives in such a manner as to enable recovery of the data in the event a failure of one of the disk drives. The system includes a first disk drive and a second disk drive, both for storing compressed data records in compressed track formats. Each compressed data record includes a CRC value. A cache stores compressed tracks of data records that are read from the first disk drive and a CRC value is calculated for each stored track of compressed data records. That CRC value is appended to the compressed track. A switch is coupled between the cache, a host processor and the second disk drive for dispatching and receiving tracks of compressed data records between the first disk drive and the second disk drive. The switch includes computational circuitry for calculating a CRC value for each track of compressed data records received from the cache and for determining a match or non-match state with the CRC value appended to each track of compressed data records. In such manner, a system which is primarily adapted to handle records with appended CRC values is adapted to handle tracks of compressed data records with appended CRC values so as to assure data integrity.

Method and apparatus for enabling transfer of compressed data record

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Arvada, CO, United States of America

Steven Christopher Fraioli