SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR IDENTIFYING PHYSICAL LOCATION OF ETHERNET-CONNECTED MEDIA DRIVES IN A MEDIA LIBRARY ASSEMBLY
A system and method for identifying a physical location of an Ethernet-connected media drive in a media library assembly includes connecting a first drive bay that receives the media drive to a hardware identification board; connecting the hardware identification board to an Ethernet switch with an Ethernet cable; transmitting a signal including a hardware identification of the first drive bay from the hardware identification board to the Ethernet switch via the Ethernet cable; and generating a routing table including the hardware identification of the first drive bay at the Ethernet switch. The method can include providing the routing table to a library controller of the media library assembly. The method can include the library controller issuing a logical communication address that is based on the hardware identification of the first drive bay. The step of transmitting a signal can include setting a configuration of a plurality of switches within the hardware identification board based on the hardware identification of the first drive bay. The signal can be a 4-bit signal.
1 . A method for identifying a physical location of one of a plurality of Ethernet-connected media drives in a media library assembly, the method comprising the steps of:
connecting a first drive bay that receives a media drive to a hardware identification board;
wiring the hardware identification board to identify a hardware identification of the first drive bay;
connecting the hardware identification board to an Ethernet switch with an Ethernet cable;
transmitting a signal from the hardware identification board to the Ethernet switch via the Ethernet cable, the signal including the hardware identification of the first drive bay; and
generating a routing table at the Ethernet switch, the routing table including the hardware identification of the first drive bay.
2 . The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of providing the routing table to a library controller of the media library assembly using an Ethernet connection.
3 . The method of claim 2 further comprising the step of issuing a logical communication address to the first drive bay with the library controller, the logical communication address being based on the hardware identification of the first drive bay.
4 . The method of claim 3 wherein the step of issuing includes storing the logical communication address in the routing table.
5 . The method of claim 1 wherein the step of wiring includes controlling a configuration of a plurality of switches within the hardware identification board based on the hardware identification of the first drive bay.
6 . The method of claim 5 wherein the step of transmitting includes transmitting the signal via four lines in the Ethernet cable.
7 . The method of claim 6 wherein the signal is a 4-bit signal.
8 . The method of claim 1 wherein the step of connecting a first drive bay includes connecting a plurality of drive bays to a plurality of corresponding hardware identification boards.
9 . The method of claim 8 wherein the step of connecting the hardware identification board includes connecting a plurality of hardware identification boards to the Ethernet switch, wherein each connection between each the hardware identification board and the Ethernet switch includes a corresponding Ethernet cable.
10 . The method of claim 9 wherein the step of connecting the hardware identification board includes connecting 16 hardware identification boards to the Ethernet switch with 16 Ethernet cables.
11 . The method of claim 1 wherein the step of connecting the hardware identification board includes the Ethernet switch having 64 digital inputs.
12 . The method of claim 1 wherein the step of wiring includes hardwiring the hardware identification board in a unique configuration that is permanently associated with the hardware identification of the first drive bay.
13 . A media library assembly that utilizes the method of claim 1 .
14 . A media library assembly comprising:
a plurality of drive bays, each drive bay being adapted to receive a corresponding media drive;
an Ethernet switch; and
a plurality of hardware identification boards that each is connected to one of the plurality of drive bays, each hardware identification board being uniquely configured based on a hardware identification of the corresponding drive bay, the hardware identification boards each transmitting a signal to the Ethernet switch via a Ethernet cable, each signal including the hardware identification of the corresponding drive bay.
15 . The media library assembly of claim 14 wherein the Ethernet switch generates a routing table that is based at least partially on the signals received from the plurality of hardware identification boards.
16 . The media library assembly of claim 15 further comprising a library controller that receives the routing table from the Ethernet switch.
17 . The media library assembly of claim 16 wherein the library controller is configured to issue a logical communication address for each of the media drives.
18 . The media library assembly of claim 17 wherein the library controller stores the logical communication addresses for each media drive in the routing table.
19 . The media library assembly of claim 14 wherein the hardware identification boards each includes a plurality of switches that are set based on the hardware identification of the corresponding drive bay, wherein a configuration of the switches identifies the physical location of the corresponding drive bay.
20 . A method for identifying the physical location of one of a plurality of Ethernet-connected media drives that includes utilizing the media library assembly of claim 14 .
21 . A method for identifying a physical location of one of a plurality of Ethernet-connected media drives in a media library assembly, the method comprising the steps of:
connecting 16 drive bays to 16 corresponding hardware identification boards, each drive bay being adapted to receive a corresponding media drive;
connecting the 16 hardware identification boards to an Ethernet switch, wherein each connection between each the 16 hardware identification boards and the Ethernet switch includes a corresponding Ethernet cable;
transmitting a signal from each of the hardware identification boards to the Ethernet switch via the corresponding Ethernet cable, the signals including hardware identifications of each of the drive bays;
generating a routing table at the Ethernet switch, the routing table including the hardware identifications of each of the drive bays;
transmitting the routing table to a library controller of the media library assembly;
issuing a logical communication address for each of the drive bays with the library controller, each of the logical communication addresses being based on the hardware identification of the corresponding drive bay; and
storing the logical communication addresses in the routing table.
22 . The method of claim 21 wherein the step of transmitting a signal includes setting a configuration of a plurality of switches within each hardware identification board based on the hardware identification of the corresponding drive bay.
23 . The method of claim 21 wherein each signal is a 4-bit signal.