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:
Jul. 01, 2003
Filed:
Oct. 20, 1999
Dan Hepner, Saratoga, CA (US);
Eric Tausheck, Citrus Heights, CA (US);
Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P., Houston, TX (US);
Abstract
Disclosed is a method for preventing ghost writes in a multi-computer system. A first computer in the multi-computer system issues one or more write requests to a storage device, each write request normally being effectuated after being pending for a time. The method generally comprises the steps of detecting a condition indicative of a failure associated with the first computer and preventing the effectuation of write requests issued by the first computer to the storage device and pending at the time of the detected condition. In one embodiment, the condition indicative of a failure associated with the first computer comprises at least one of the group consisting of a reduction in the number of known operating computers in the multi-computer system, and a state change of a volume group associated with the computer on the storage device from inaccessible to accessible and a reduction in the number of known operating computers in the multi-computer system. In another embodiment, the failure is a communication failure associated with one or more write requests to a storage device connected along a plurality of redundant communications channels. In another embodiment, the preventing step comprises at least one action from the group consisting of issuing a fiber channel target reset on a fiber channel connected to the storage device, issuing a fiber channel remote logout on a fiber channel connected to the storage device, issuing a fiber channel remote logout and a requiring logout from multiple fiber channels on a fiber channel connected to the storage device, and issuing a bus device reset on a bus connected to the storage device. Also disclosed are computer software, embedded on a computer readable medium, comprising instructions for implementing the methods; and apparatus to implement the method.