The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Sep. 07, 1999
Filed:
Jul. 02, 1997
Shah Mohammad Islam, Cary, NC (US);
Andrew Boyce McNeill, Jr, Apex, NC (US);
Bharatkumar Jayantilal Oza, Apex, NC (US);
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY (US);
Abstract
Because correct configuration data is essential to the operation of any RAID system, and because multiple copies of the configuration data are kept, not only in the RAID controller itself, but also in each disk drive unit in the configuration, it is imperative that the various copies of the configuration data do not become 'out of synchronization', which means that one or more copies of the configuration data are different from one or more other copies of the configuration data. To maintain synchronization of all copies of the configuration data, the current invention compares the configuration data stored in the RAID controller's NVRAM to that of the current system, and records any new, non-responding, repositioned or unidentified storage devices in a change list. The identities and the attachment points of any storage devices in the change list are then displayed to the user, and various options for correcting the lack of synchronization are provided by enabling one or more function keys that may be selected by the user. One such function key, an 'accept change' key, causes the configuration data to be modified by changing the current operational state of any non-responding storage device. A 'configuration adjustment' key, when selected by the user, causes the configuration data to be modified to reflect any changes in the attachments points of any repositioned storage devices. An 'import configuration' key causes the configuration data to be changed to correspond to that of an unidentified storage device. And a 'retry' key gives the user an opportunity to rearrange the system and then re-compares the configuration data in the controller to the current system configuration.