Data Storage Controller Recovery with Independent Security Monitoring
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing data storage devices face challenges in handling failures or crashes, leading to loss of in-progress operations and data integrity due to the lack of deterministic mechanisms for verifying command execution and requiring external resets that disrupt ongoing operations.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a security subsystem within the data storage device to monitor and recover from exceptions independently, ensuring resilience and fault tolerance by maintaining a separate power domain and utilizing a device recovery manager to handle exceptions without host intervention.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a power reset or device restart is used to recover from a fatal error, then the device operations can begin from a fresh state, but this requires external input and leads to loss of outstanding commands from the host
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by maintaining a deterministic mechanism that tracks and verifies command execution status before a crash occurs. The host can identify which commands were successfully executed and which were in-progress, allowing it to reconstruct the command queue state after recovery without losing outstanding commands.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements feedback by providing deterministic verification of command execution status. The storage device returns explicit status information to the host about whether commands were successfully executed or not, enabling the host to maintain an accurate view of the command queue state and resume operations seamlessly after recovery.
2Reliability
If a power reset or device restart is used to recover from a fatal error, then the device operations can begin from a fresh state, but this leads to loss of in-progress operations and data in system static memory
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by maintaining deterministic tracking of command execution status and data integrity information before a crash occurs. This allows the host to identify in-progress operations and preserve their state information, enabling recovery without losing in-progress operations or data in system static memory.
3Reliability
If a power reset or device restart is used to recover from a fatal error, then the device operations can begin from a fresh state, but the integrity of in-progress operations cannot be guaranteed
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements feedback by providing deterministic verification of command execution status and data integrity. The storage device returns explicit status information to the host about whether commands were successfully executed or not, enabling the host to verify the integrity of in-progress operations and ensure safe resumption of operations after recovery.
Data Source
AI summary
A data storage device includes interfaces for coupling the data storage device to a host system and a server system. The data storage device also includes a device memory for storing or providing data. The data storage device also includes a controller comprising a storage subsystem and a security subsystem. The storage subsystem is configured to receive a host command, receive a probe request for an exception state, generate and transmit, to the security subsystem, a report for the exception state. In response to receiving an update from the security subsystem, the storage subsystem restarts at least a portion of the controller. The security subsystem is configured to monitor and transmit a probe request to the storage subsystem, transmit the report to the server system, receive the update from the server system, and transmit the update to the storage subsystem. Methods and systems are also disclosed.