Storage Management Module Data Reporting for Error Analysis
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current storage operating systems face challenges in efficiently modifying disk servicing parameters, analyzing disk errors, and determining error localization, leading to unnecessary storage device failures and inefficient error analysis.
Innovation Solution
A method and apparatus that utilize a storage management module to collect and report storage device data in a structured format, allowing for automatic analysis of errors and dynamic modification of servicing parameters, while considering error localization to prevent premature device failure.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If servicing parameters are modified by changing code instructions in the storage operating system, then the servicing parameters can be customized, but modifying the parameters requires developing and installing a new storage operating system version, which is complex and disruptive
Solution Approach 1:
The patent separates servicing parameters from the storage operating system code by creating an external parameters file that the storage management module reads and applies. This segmentation allows parameters to be modified independently without changing the core operating system, eliminating the need to develop and install new OS versions while maintaining full customization capability.
2Productivity
If disk data is collected and sent on a predetermined regular schedule, then overall storage system performance analysis can be provided, but the data does not contain relevant disk error information collected at the time a disk error occurred
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements preliminary action by collecting and storing disk data in real-time as events occur, rather than waiting for scheduled collection intervals. The storage management module continuously monitors disk events and immediately captures relevant data, ensuring that when an error occurs, the data is already collected and preserved for immediate analysis, eliminating the information loss that occurs with scheduled collection.
3Ease of operation
If the storage operating system counts each error as a separate error without determining whether errors are localized, then error counting is simple, but storage devices may be unnecessarily failed due to localized physical defects
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by analyzing the spatial distribution and characteristics of errors to determine whether they are localized to a specific physical area of the storage device. Instead of uniformly treating all errors the same way, the system evaluates the local pattern of errors and applies different failure criteria based on whether errors are concentrated in one area or distributed across the device, improving failure accuracy while maintaining operational simplicity.
4Ease of manufacture
If storage device data is sent in a file with data randomly interspersed, then data collection is straightforward, but analyzing problems requires searching through the entire file manually or creating specialized programming scripts
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the storage device data into distinct, organized sections within the data file, with each section containing specific types of information (disk identifiers, error data, performance metrics, etc.). This segmentation allows the report analysis program to efficiently locate and process only the relevant sections needed for analysis, eliminating the need to search through the entire file manually or create complex scripts, thus reducing analysis time while maintaining data collection simplicity.
Data Source
AI summary
A method for providing data regarding a storage system comprising storage devices is described herein. A storage management module of an operating system of the storage system may be used for servicing (e.g., monitoring or testing) storage devices according to servicing parameters. For each serviced storage device, a reporting module of the storage management module may collect storage device and storage system data upon the occurrence of predetermined events (e.g., when a storage device exhibits an error and monitoring begins, when monitoring ends, and when testing of the storage device ends). The collected data may be saved to a report file in a predetermined format and received by a program configured to automatically extract the data according to the predetermined format for use in storage device and storage system analysis and to determine modified servicing parameters used by the storage management module to service storage devices.