Method and apparatus for identification of features associated with computers

A method for monitoring a computer system having a plurality of hardware features and a hardware resources table containing predetermined information on the hardware resources of the computer system, comprising the operations of:

• (a) receiving a service request by a particular hardware feature of the computer system;
• (b) retrieving locations of at least one of presence information and status information for the particular hardware feature from the hardware resources table for the computer system, the location of the presence information including an access mechanism and a position within the access mechanism, and the location of the status information including an access mechanism and a position within the access mechanism;
• (c) obtaining at least one of presence information and status information for the particular hardware feature, the presence information being obtained using the retrieved location of the presence information, and the status information being obtained using the retrieved location of the status information;
• and
• (d) performing an appropriate action for the computer system based on the at least one of the presence information and the status information obtained.

A computer readable medium containing program instructions for monitoring a computer system having a plurality of hardware features and a hardware resources table containing predetermine information on the hardware resources of the computer system, said computer readable medium comprising:

• first computer readable code for receiving a service request by a particular hardware feature of the computer system;
• second computer readable code for retrieving a location of condition information for the particular hardware feature from the hardware resources table for the computer system, the location of the condition information including an access mechanism and a position within the access mechanism from which the condition information can be obtained;
• third computer readable code for obtaining the condition information for the particular hardware feature, the condition information being obtained using the retrieved location of the condition information;
• and
• fourth computer readable code for performing an appropriate action for the computer system based on the condition information obtained.

A disk storage monitoring system, comprising:

• a disk storage apparatus being monitored, said disk storage apparatus includes a plurality of hardware features that provide presence and status information on the respective hardware features within said disk storage apparatus;
• a system features table that stores predetermined feature information for the plurality of hardware features of said disk storage apparatus, the feature information for each of the hardware features includes feature data that defines characteristics of the associated hardware feature, and an access mechanism and a position within the access mechanism for retrieving the presence information for the associated hardware feature;
• and
• system management software for performing system monitoring of the hardware of said disk storage apparatus by retrieving the feature information on the respective hardware features from said system features table.

A computer system, said computer system comprising:

• a plurality of hardware features;
• a hardware resources table containing predetermined information on the hardware features;
• a processing unit for carrying out program instructions;
• memory for storing data;
• system monitoring unit, including at least
• means for receiving a service request by a particular hardware feature of the computer system;
• means for retrieving a location of condition information for the particular hardware feature from the hardware resources table for the computer system, the location of the condition information including an access mechanism and a position within the access mechanism from which the condition information can be obtained;
• means for obtaining the condition information for the particular hardware feature, the condition information being obtained using the retrieved location of the condition information;
• and
• means for performing an appropriate action for the computer system based on the condition information obtained.