IP Library Granted Patent US 10,198,196
Granted Patent B2
US 10,198,196 · App. 14/672,921 · Granted Feb 5, 2019

Monitoring health condition of a hard disk

Inventors: Man Lv (Beijing, CN); Chris Zirui Liu (Beijing, CN); Colin Yong Zou (Beijing, CN)
Assignee: EMC IP Holding Company LLC
G06F3/0619G06F3/061G06F3/0655G06F3/0665G06F3/0688G06F3/0689G06F11/2221G06F11/30
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 10,198,196
App. No.
14/672,921
Filed
Mar 30, 2015
Granted
Feb 5, 2019
Kind
B2
Art Unit
2137
USPC
711/103
Abstract

Various embodiments of the present disclosure provide a method and apparatus for monitoring health condition of a hard disk by obtaining full-dimensional characteristics associated with the hard disk, wherein the full-dimension characteristics comprise at least two of: hard disk performance information, data integrity information, input/output I/O correctness information, and a hard disk Self-Monitoring Analysis and Reporting Technology S.M.A.R.T. report, and determining the health condition of the hard disk based on the full-dimension characteristics.

Claims (49)

1. A method for monitoring health condition of a hard disk in a storage system, the method comprising:

obtaining characteristics associated with a hard disk from a host bus adapter (HBA) configured to transport data between the hard disk and a bus, wherein the characteristics comprise at least two of:

hard disk performance information, data integrity information, input/output I/O correctness information, and a hard disk Self-Monitoring Analysis and Reporting Technology S.M.A.R.T. report, wherein the characteristics are obtained from the HBA to avoid obtaining the hard disk performance information affected by a higher layer of a software stack operating on the storage system;

wherein the I/O correctness information refers to correctness or error of an I/O path which is taken in the course of reading data from or writing data to the hard disk, wherein the I/O correctness information is enabled to be collected from the small computer system interface SCSI protocol layer and the HBA; and

determining a health condition of the hard disk based on the characteristics to avoid an erroneous assessment of the health condition of the hard disk based on the S.M.A.R.T report.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the hard disk performance information includes at least one of:

average I/O latency, I/O throughput, an average I/O size and a proportion of an I/O pattern, wherein the I/O pattern includes a sequential read/write pattern and a random read/write pattern.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the data integrity information is obtained from a Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID) corresponding to the hard disk, and the data integrity information obtained from an upper layer system of the RAID.

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the data integrity information includes information of data integrity verified by the RAID.

5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the I/O correctness information is obtained from at least one of an HBA drive program and a small computer system interface SCSI protocol layer corresponding to the hard disk, and wherein the I/O correctness information includes at least one of:

HBA hardware/firmware-related errors, link-related errors and hard disk medium-related errors.

6. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the hard disk S.M.A.R.T. report is obtained from the hard disk wherein the hard disk S.M.A.R.T. report is associated with the type of the hard disk.

7. The method according to claim 1 , wherein before obtaining the characteristics associated with the hard disk, the method comprising:

pre-collecting the characteristics periodically or according to a trigger by an event; and

storing the characteristics.

8. The method according to claim 7 , wherein determining the health condition of the hard disk based on the characteristics comprises at least one of:

determining the health condition of the hard disk periodically based on the characteristics; OR

determining the health condition of the hard disk based on the characteristics according the trigger by an event.

9. An apparatus for monitoring health condition of a hard disk in a storage system, comprising:

an analysis unit configured for obtaining characteristics associated with a hard disk from a host bus adapter (HBA) configured to transport data between the hard disk and a bus, wherein the characteristics comprise at least two of:

hard disk performance information, data integrity information, input/output I/O correctness information, and a hard disk Self-Monitoring Analysis and Reporting Technology S.M.A.R.T. report, wherein the characteristics are obtained from the HBA to avoid obtaining the hard disk performance information affected by a higher layer of a software stack operating on the storage system;

wherein the I/O correctness information refers to correctness or error of an I/O path which is taken in the course of reading data from or writing data to the hard disk, wherein the I/O correctness information is enabled to be collected from the small computer system interface SCSI protocol layer and the HBA; and

determining the health condition of the hard disk based on the characteristics to avoid an erroneous assessment of the health condition of the hard disk based on the S.M.A.R.T report.

10. The apparatus according to claim 9 , wherein the hard disk performance information includes at least one of:

average I/O latency, I/O throughput, an average I/O size and a proportion of an I/O pattern, wherein the I/O pattern includes a sequential read/write pattern and a random read/write pattern.

11. The apparatus according to claim 9 , wherein the data integrity information is obtained from a Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID) corresponding to the hard disk, and wherein the data integrity information is further obtained from an upper layer system of the RAID.

12. The apparatus according to claim 9 , wherein the data integrity information includes statistics results of data integrity verified by the RAID.

13. The apparatus according to claim 9 , wherein the I/O correctness information is obtained from at least one of a HBA drive program and a small computer system interface SCSI protocol layer corresponding to the hard disk, and wherein the I/O correctness information includes at least one of: HBA hardware/firmware-related errors, link-related errors and hard disk medium-related errors.

14. The apparatus according to claim 9 , wherein the hard disk S.M.A.R.T. report is obtained from the hard disk, and wherein the hard disk S.M.A.R.T. report is associated with the type of the hard disk.

15. The apparatus according to claim 9 , further configured for

pre-collecting the characteristics periodically or according to a trigger by an event; and

storing the characteristics.

16. The apparatus according to claim 15 , comprises at least one of determining the health condition of the hard disk periodically based on the characteristics; OR determining the health condition of the hard disk based on the characteristics according to the trigger by an event.

17. A computer program product for facilitating management of resources, the computer program product being tangibly stored on a non-transient computer-readable medium and comprising machine executable instructions which, when executed, causing the machine to perform a method for monitoring health condition of a hard disk in a storage system, comprising:

obtaining characteristics associated with a hard disk from a host bus adapter (HBA) configured to transport data between the hard disk and a bus, wherein the characteristics comprise at least two of:

hard disk performance information, data integrity information, input/output I/O correctness information, and a hard disk Self-Monitoring Analysis and Reporting Technology S.M.A.R.T. report, wherein the characteristics are obtained from the HBA to avoid obtaining the hard disk performance information affected by a higher layer of a software stack operating on the storage system, and

wherein the hard disk performance information is obtained from a host bus adapter (HBA) drive program corresponding to the hard disk, and wherein the hard disk performance information includes at least one of: average I/O latency, I/O throughput, an average I/O size and a proportion of an I/O pattern, wherein the I/O pattern includes a sequential read/write pattern and a random read/write pattern;

wherein I/O correctness information is obtained from at least one of the HBA drive program and a small computer system interface SCSI protocol layer corresponding to the hard disk, and wherein the I/O correctness information includes at least one of: HBA hardware/firmware-related errors, link-related errors and hard disk medium-related errors, wherein the I/O correctness information is enabled to be collected from the small computer system interface SCSI protocol layer and the HBA;

wherein the I/O correctness information refers to correctness or error of an I/O path which is taken in the course of reading data from or writing data to the hard disk;

wherein the hard disk S.M.A.R.T. report is obtained from the hard disk wherein the hard disk S.M.A.R.T. report is associated with the type of the hard disk; and

determining a health condition of the hard disk based on the characteristics to avoid an erroneous assessment of the health condition of the hard disk based on the S.M.A.R.T report.

18. The computer program product to claim 17 , wherein the data integrity information is obtained from a Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID) corresponding to the hard disk, and the data integrity information obtained from an upper layer system of the RAID.

19. The computer program product of claim 17 , wherein the machine executable instructions which, when executed, further causing the machine to perform a method for monitoring health condition of a hard disk:

wherein before obtaining the characteristics associated with the hard disk:

pre-collecting the characteristics periodically or according to a trigger by an event; and

storing the characteristics.

20. The computer program product of claim 19 , wherein determining the health condition of the hard disk based on the characteristics comprises at least one of:

determining the health condition of the hard disk periodically based on the characteristics; OR

determining the health condition of the hard disk based on the characteristics according the trigger by an event.

Assignments (12)
RELEASE OF SECURITY INTEREST IN PATENTS PREVIOUSLY RECORDED AT REEL/FRAME (053546/0001) Recorded Jun 23, 2022
From: THE BANK OF NEW YORK MELLON TRUST COMPANY, N.A., AS NOTES COLLATERAL AGENT
To: DELL MARKETING L.P. (ON BEHALF OF ITSELF AND AS SUCCESSOR-IN-INTEREST TO CREDANT TECHNOLOGIES, INC.); DELL INTERNATIONAL L.L.C.; DELL PRODUCTS L.P.; DELL USA L.P.; EMC CORPORATION; DELL MARKETING CORPORATION (SUCCESSOR-IN-INTEREST TO FORCE10 NETWORKS, INC. AND WYSE TECHNOLOGY L.L.C.); EMC IP HOLDING COMPANY LLC
Reel/Frame 071642/0001 →
RELEASE OF SECURITY INTEREST IN PATENTS PREVIOUSLY RECORDED AT REEL/FRAME (050724/0466) Recorded Jun 23, 2022
From: THE BANK OF NEW YORK MELLON TRUST COMPANY, N.A., AS NOTES COLLATERAL AGENT
To: DELL PRODUCTS L.P.; EMC CORPORATION; EMC IP HOLDING COMPANY LLC; DELL MARKETING CORPORATION (SUCCESSOR-IN-INTEREST TO WYSE TECHNOLOGY L.L.C.)
Reel/Frame 060753/0486 →
RELEASE OF SECURITY INTEREST IN PATENTS PREVIOUSLY RECORDED AT REEL/FRAME (045455/0001) Recorded May 20, 2022
From: THE BANK OF NEW YORK MELLON TRUST COMPANY, N.A., AS NOTES COLLATERAL AGENT
To: DELL MARKETING CORPORATION (SUCCESSOR-IN-INTEREST TO ASAP SOFTWARE EXPRESS, INC.); DELL MARKETING L.P. (ON BEHALF OF ITSELF AND AS SUCCESSOR-IN-INTEREST TO CREDANT TECHNOLOGIES, INC.); DELL USA L.P.; DELL INTERNATIONAL L.L.C.; DELL PRODUCTS L.P.; DELL MARKETING CORPORATION (SUCCESSOR-IN-INTEREST TO FORCE10 NETWORKS, INC. AND WYSE TECHNOLOGY L.L.C.); EMC CORPORATION (ON BEHALF OF ITSELF AND AS SUCCESSOR-IN-INTEREST TO MAGINATICS LLC); EMC IP HOLDING COMPANY LLC (ON BEHALF OF ITSELF AND AS SUCCESSOR-IN-INTEREST TO MOZY, INC.); SCALEIO LLC
Reel/Frame 061753/0001 →
RELEASE OF SECURITY INTEREST IN PATENTS PREVIOUSLY RECORDED AT REEL/FRAME (040136/0001) Recorded Apr 26, 2022
From: THE BANK OF NEW YORK MELLON TRUST COMPANY, N.A., AS NOTES COLLATERAL AGENT
To: DELL MARKETING CORPORATION (SUCCESSOR-IN-INTEREST TO ASAP SOFTWARE EXPRESS, INC.); DELL MARKETING L.P. (ON BEHALF OF ITSELF AND AS SUCCESSOR-IN-INTEREST TO CREDANT TECHNOLOGIES, INC.); DELL USA L.P.; DELL INTERNATIONAL L.L.C.; DELL PRODUCTS L.P.; DELL MARKETING CORPORATION (SUCCESSOR-IN-INTEREST TO FORCE10 NETWORKS, INC. AND WYSE TECHNOLOGY L.L.C.); EMC CORPORATION (ON BEHALF OF ITSELF AND AS SUCCESSOR-IN-INTEREST TO MAGINATICS LLC); EMC IP HOLDING COMPANY LLC (ON BEHALF OF ITSELF AND AS SUCCESSOR-IN-INTEREST TO MOZY, INC.); SCALEIO LLC
Reel/Frame 061324/0001 →
RELEASE OF SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Nov 3, 2021
From: CREDIT SUISSE AG, CAYMAN ISLANDS BRANCH
To: ASAP SOFTWARE EXPRESS, INC.; AVENTAIL LLC; CREDANT TECHNOLOGIES, INC.; DELL USA L.P.; DELL INTERNATIONAL, L.L.C.; DELL MARKETING L.P.; DELL PRODUCTS L.P.; DELL SOFTWARE INC.; DELL SYSTEMS CORPORATION; EMC CORPORATION; EMC IP HOLDING COMPANY LLC; FORCE10 NETWORKS, INC.; MAGINATICS LLC; MOZY, INC.; SCALEIO LLC; WYSE TECHNOLOGY L.L.C.
Reel/Frame 058216/0001 →
SECURITY AGREEMENT Recorded Apr 22, 2020
From: CREDANT TECHNOLOGIES INC.; DELL INTERNATIONAL L.L.C.; DELL MARKETING L.P.; DELL PRODUCTS L.P.; DELL USA L.P.; EMC CORPORATION; FORCE10 NETWORKS, INC.; WYSE TECHNOLOGY L.L.C.; EMC IP HOLDING COMPANY LLC
To: THE BANK OF NEW YORK MELLON TRUST COMPANY, N.A.
Reel/Frame 053546/0001 →
PATENT SECURITY AGREEMENT (NOTES) Recorded Oct 15, 2019
From: DELL PRODUCTS L.P.; EMC CORPORATION; EMC IP HOLDING COMPANY LLC; WYSE TECHNOLOGY L.L.C.
To: THE BANK OF NEW YORK MELLON TRUST COMPANY, N.A., AS COLLATERAL AGENT
Reel/Frame 050724/0466 →
SECURITY AGREEMENT Recorded Mar 21, 2019
From: CREDANT TECHNOLOGIES, INC.; DELL INTERNATIONAL L.L.C.; DELL MARKETING L.P.; DELL PRODUCTS L.P.; DELL USA L.P.; EMC CORPORATION; FORCE10 NETWORKS, INC.; WYSE TECHNOLOGY L.L.C.; EMC IP HOLDING COMPANY LLC
To: THE BANK OF NEW YORK MELLON TRUST COMPANY, N.A.
Reel/Frame 049452/0223 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Sep 29, 2016
From: EMC CORPORATION
To: EMC IP HOLDING COMPANY LLC
Reel/Frame 040203/0001 →
SECURITY AGREEMENT Recorded Sep 21, 2016
From: ASAP SOFTWARE EXPRESS, INC.; AVENTAIL LLC; CREDANT TECHNOLOGIES, INC.; DELL USA L.P.; DELL INTERNATIONAL L.L.C.; DELL MARKETING L.P.; DELL PRODUCTS L.P.; DELL SOFTWARE INC.; DELL SYSTEMS CORPORATION; EMC CORPORATION; EMC IP HOLDING COMPANY LLC; FORCE10 NETWORKS, INC.; MAGINATICS LLC; MOZY, INC.; SCALEIO LLC; SPANNING CLOUD APPS LLC; WYSE TECHNOLOGY L.L.C.
To: THE BANK OF NEW YORK MELLON TRUST COMPANY, N.A., AS NOTES COLLATERAL AGENT
Reel/Frame 040136/0001 →
SECURITY AGREEMENT Recorded Sep 21, 2016
From: ASAP SOFTWARE EXPRESS, INC.; AVENTAIL LLC; CREDANT TECHNOLOGIES, INC.; DELL USA L.P.; DELL INTERNATIONAL L.L.C.; DELL MARKETING L.P.; DELL PRODUCTS L.P.; DELL SOFTWARE INC.; DELL SYSTEMS CORPORATION; EMC CORPORATION; EMC IP HOLDING COMPANY LLC; FORCE10 NETWORKS, INC.; MAGINATICS LLC; MOZY, INC.; SCALEIO LLC; SPANNING CLOUD APPS LLC; WYSE TECHNOLOGY L.L.C.
To: CREDIT SUISSE AG, CAYMAN ISLANDS BRANCH, AS COLLATERAL AGENT
Reel/Frame 040134/0001 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded May 8, 2015
From: LV, MAN; LIU, CHRIS ZIRUI; ZOU, COLIN YONG
To: EMC CORPORATION
Reel/Frame 035597/0058 →
Priority Claims (1)
CN 2014 1 0135820 · Mar 31, 2014 · national
Continuity (1)
Related Publication 20150277797A1 · Oct 1, 2015