Method for providing deferred maintenance on storage subsystems

A computer-based method for deferring maintenance on storage systems, said computer-based method comprising:

• a. creating a plurality of disk arrays from a set of disks;
• b. designating a subset of disks in said set of disks to serve as a spare pool, wherein an equal portion of each disk in said subset of disks is dedicated for spare storage;
• c. detecting a faulty array containing a faulty disk within said plurality of disk arrays;
• d. migrating data in said faulty array to said subset of disks serving as said spare pool, wherein said migration is across said equal portions of each disk in said subset of disks serving as said spare pool;
• e. reconfiguring said faulty array to bypass said faulty disk;
• f. migrating data from said subset of disks serving as said spare pool to said reconfigured array in (e);
• g. monitoring and identifying when an overall spare capacity in said subset of disks serving as said spare pool falls below a threshold, and
• wherein when overall spare capacity falls below said threshold, a service visit is scheduled to replace all failed drives.

An article of manufacture comprising a computer user medium having computer readable program code embodied therein which implements a method for deferring maintenance in a storage system comprising a plurality of storage subsystems, each containing a disk array formed from a set of disks, with each disk array being configured to have one or more spare partitions in addition to a one or more data partitions, said medium comprising:

• a. computer readable program code detecting at least one faulty array containing a faulty disk within said plurality of storage subsystems;
• b. computer readable program code migrating data in said faulty array containing said faulty disk to one or more spare partitions in at least one array in a different storage subsystem;
• c. computer readable program code reconfiguring said faulty array to form a new array without said faulty disk;
• d. computer readable program code migrating data from said one or more spare partitions in said at least one array in a different storage subsystem to said reconfigured new array in (c) without said faulty disk;
• e. computer readable program code monitoring and identifying when overall spare capacity in said spare partitions across said plurality of storage subsystems falls below a predetermined threshold;
• and
• f. when said predetermined threshold is exceeded, computer readable program code aiding in schedules a service visit for replacement of failed disks.