Storing RAID configuration data within a BIOS image
AssigneeLSI Logic Corporation
InventorRajesh Prabhakaran
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A system, apparatus and method for storing and maintaining drive configuration data related to disk drives within a RAID. In one embodiment of the invention, configuration data is stored external to the disk drives within the RAID. A scan(s) is performed of the RAID disk drive configuration and/or configuration data on the disk drives. Mismatches or errors within the RAID disk drive configuration may be corrected using the configuration data stored external to the RAID disk drives.
Claims20
A method for providing redundancy of RAID configuration data, the method comprising:
- storing RAID configuration data, which is stored in software internally on a disk drive within a RAID, in a second location external to the disk drives;
- scanning the disk drives intermittently;
- identifying a configuration failure within the RAID;
- and
- repairing the configuration failure using the configuration data stored in the second location external to the disk drives.
A system for providing redundancy of RAID configuration data, the system comprising:
- a plurality of disk drives, coupled within a RAID, on which configuration data is stored;
- a memory device, located external to the disk drives, on which a redundant copy of at least a portion of the configuration data is stored;
- a scanning device, coupled to communicate with the RAID, that intermittently scans the disk drives to identify failures;
- and
- a configuration repair tool, coupled to communicate with the RAID and the memory device, that rebuilds a disk drive configuration using the redundant copy of at least a portion of the configuration data.
A computer program product embodied on a computer readable medium for providing redundancy of configuration data of disk drives within a RAID, the computer program product comprising computer instructions for:
- storing RAID configuration data, which is stored in software internally on a disk drive within a RAID, in a second location external to the disk drives;
- scanning the disk drives intermittently;
- identifying a configuration failure within the RAID;
- and
- repairing the configuration failure using the configuration data stored in the second location external to the disk drives.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.