Managing system drive integrity in data storage systems

A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising executable code stored thereon for building a code entity, the non-transitory computer readable medium comprising executable code for:

• arranging, in a data storage system, a first set of storage devices dedicated as system management drives configured to store data storage system configuration information and a second set of storage devices dedicated as user drives configured to store user data, wherein the system management drives are arranged in a redundant array of independent drives (RAID) configuration according to data storage system RAID configuration logic, wherein the system management drives are data storage system slot location independent;
• creating a plurality of storage drive data structures configured to store data associated with the first set of system management drives, wherein each storage drive data structure includes a data structure initialization string, a unique storage system identifier, a plurality of unique system management drive identifiers associated with each respective system management drive, and a board replacement flag;
• storing respective data structures on each of the plurality of corresponding system management drive;
• initiating a data storage system reboot procedure;
• verifying the consistency of the set of contents of the plurality of storage drive data structures, wherein verifying is performed before initiating RAID configuration logic;
• reading, via an instruction initiated by a data storage system, a set of contents of one or more of the data structures stored on one or more of the plurality of system management drive;
• and
• determining a drive type for one or more system drives based on the set of contents.

A system for identifying a storage drive type in a data storage system, the system comprising a storage processor and memory configured to:

• arrange, in a data storage system, a first set of storage devices dedicated as system management drives configured to store data storage system configuration information and a second set of storage devices dedicated as user drives configured to store user data, wherein the system management drives are arranged in a redundant array of independent drives (RAID) configuration according to data storage system RAID configuration logic, wherein the system management drives are data storage system slot location independent;
• create a plurality of storage drive data structures configured to store data associated with the first set of system management drives, wherein each storage drive data structure includes a data structure initialization string, a unique storage system identifier, a plurality of unique system management drives identifiers associated with each respective system management drives, and a board replacement flag;
• store respective data structures on each of the plurality of corresponding system management drives;
• initiate a data storage system reboot procedure;
• verify the consistency of the set of contents of the plurality of storage drive data structures, wherein verifying is performed before initiating RAID configuration logic;
• read, via an instruction initiated by a data storage system, a set of contents of one or more of the data structures stored on one or more of the plurality of system management drives;
• and
• determine a drive type for one or more system drives based on the set of contents.