JP2000305720A - Method for automatically resorting array disk and system therefor - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To decrease the occurrence frequency of disk failure itself, and to avoid the danger of data lost. SOLUTION: In this automatic restoring method, the state of a disk at the time of system activation is recorded in an error statistical information file 2 in a server having an array disk as a recording system, and the state of the disk is statistically analyzed from the file by a disk error statistical information control mechanism 11, and array disks are automatically rearranged by using a normal disk before any disk failure occurs by an array disk restoring mechanism 12. Also, the state of the disk, the state of the array disk, and the necessity of a preliminary disk or the like are communicated through a GUI to remote managing terminal on a network by a failure informing mechanism 31.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a method and system for automatically restoring an array disk in a server.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A system for distributing and storing data on a plurality of disks is called a disk array. Even if a failure occurs in one disk, the information can be restored because the information is stored in the other disk to which the parity is written, resulting in a recording system with very high dispersibility. By the way, in the PC server, in order to avoid data loss due to a disk failure, data loss due to an individual disk failure is prevented by mounting the above-described array disk as a recording system. However, the concept of an array disk is to prevent data loss after a failure has occurred in each disk constituting the array disk. If a failure occurs in a plurality of disks, the data is lost.

[0003]

As described above, in the conventional PC server, data loss due to a single disk failure can be prevented by implementing an array disk system in order to avoid data loss due to a disk failure. Was. However, the array disk has a function that data is not lost even if one disk fails, and if a failure occurs on the second disk, the data is lost. When such a situation occurs, normal operation of each terminal connected to the PC server on which the array disk is mounted is not guaranteed through the network, and therefore, the original characteristics of the array disk cannot be utilized and the terminal is very reliable. It was poor in sex.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and records the disk status during system operation in a file, statistically analyzes the disk status from the file, and causes a disk failure. By incorporating a mechanism to automatically reassign array disks using normal disks beforehand, the frequency of occurrence of disk failures can be reduced and the risk of data loss can be greatly reduced. It is an object of the present invention to provide an automatic recovery method and device.

[0005]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an automatic recovery method for an array disk in a network system having an array disk in a server. By monitoring the error information, accumulating the error information in a disk error statistical information file, and statistically analyzing the accumulated error information to determine whether or not to perform predictive replacement before a failure occurs, and perform predictive replacement. When it is determined that the disk array should be used, the array disk is rearranged using a spare normal disk. The automatic recovery method for an array disk according to claim 2 is the same as the method according to claim 1, wherein the network is notified via a graphic user interface about the predicted replacement of the disk and the start and end of reassignment of the array disk. The status of the array disk is externally recognized via a remote terminal connected to the network.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided an automatic recovery system for an array disk, in a network system having an array disk in a server, periodically monitoring the status of the disks constituting the array disk and acquiring error information thereof. A disk error statistical information control mechanism that accumulates in a disk error statistical information file, analyzes the number of errors for each error factor by referring to the disk error statistical information file, and predicts a disk failure; and An array disk recovery mechanism for recognizing the occurrence state of the disk error by referring to the disk disk, and rearranging the array disk using a spare normal disk before a disk failure occurs based on the instruction of the disk error statistical information control means, Output by the disk error statistical information control means. Disk failure predicted to be, and relates reclassified start and end of the array disk that is output by the array disk recovery means, and having a fault notification mechanism for notifying on a network via a graphical user interface.

With the above-described configuration, the disk status during system operation is recorded in the error statistical information file, and the error statistical information control means statistically analyzes the disk status from the file, and the array disk recovery means By incorporating a mechanism that automatically rearranges array disks using a normal disk before a disk failure occurs, the possibility of data loss is minimized by minimizing the frequency of disk failures. This makes it possible to construct a PC server on which an array disk with higher reliability is mounted.

[0008]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, 1 is an array disk
Is a PC server main body having a recording system, and is connected to a remote management PC 3 via a communication line 20. Reference numeral 10 denotes an input / output bus, and the array disk 100 is connected to the PC server main body 1 via the input / output bus. The PC server body 1 includes a disk error statistical information control mechanism 11 and an array disk recovery mechanism 12. The remote management PC 3 includes a failure notification mechanism 31 and has a GUI
Device 4 is connected. Reference numeral 2 denotes an external storage device in which a disk error statistical information file is stored (hereinafter, simply referred to as a disk error statistical information file 2). The PC server includes a PC server main body 1, a disk error statistical information file 2, and an array disk 100.

There are two types of disk errors: errors that can be used immediately due to a fatal problem, and errors that are intermittent and have no problem for immediate use. A fatal error should be recognized as a failure early after the occurrence of the error and should be dealt with, but an intermittent error can be determined as a failure in view of the frequency of error occurrence during a certain period. The disk error statistical information file 2 is a useful function for the latter purpose of monitoring the life of the disk.

The disk error statistical information control mechanism 11
The status of each disk constituting the array disk is periodically monitored, and the result is reported to the disk error statistical information file 2.
To accumulate. Then, it has software logic for analyzing the number of errors for each error factor from the accumulated data and predicting a disk failure. Array disk recovery mechanism 12
Has software logic for recognizing the occurrence status of an intermittent error from the disk error statistical information file 2 and rearranging an array disk using a normal disk before a failure occurs.
In cooperation with this, data loss due to disk failure is prevented, and system operability is greatly improved.

[0011] Failure reporting mechanism 3 in remote management PC 3
Reference numeral 1 denotes a function for notifying an administrator via a built-in GUI about a disk failure notice determined by the disk error statistical information control mechanism 11 provided in the PC server main body 1 and a start and end of array disk reassignment by the array disk recovery mechanism 12. With software logic that provides As the failure notification mechanism 31, for example, “E” of the ESMPRO product
SMPRO / AlertManager "corresponds to this.
GU by ESMPRO / AlertManager
From the remote management PC 3 on the network, the status of each disk, the status of the array disk, the necessity of replenishing spare disks, and the like can be recognized via the I device 4.

FIG. 2 is a diagram cited for explaining the operation of the embodiment of the present invention, and is a diagram showing a flow of the operation of the embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 1 in a flowchart. FIG. 3-
FIG. 5 is also a diagram cited for explaining the operation of the embodiment of the present invention, and is a diagram conceptually showing the operation of each step in FIG. 2 on a PC server or a network. In the figure, blocks denoted by the same reference numerals as those in FIG. 1 are the same as those in FIG. Hereinafter, FIG. 1 will be described with reference to FIGS.
1 will be described in detail.

First, the disk error statistical information control mechanism 11 in the PC server body 1 periodically monitors the state of the disk and acquires error information (step S21). Then, the disk error statistical information control mechanism 11 accumulates the obtained disk error information in the disk error statistical information file 2 (step S22). The array disk recovery mechanism 12 determines whether or not to perform predictive replacement based on the obtained disk error information (step S23).
Here, if it is determined that the predicted replacement is required, the array disk is automatically reconfigured using the spare normal disk (step S24). Here, since the array disk is rearranged using a normal disk before the occurrence of a disk failure, the possibility of data loss when a disk failure occurs can be greatly reduced.

The failure reporting mechanism 31 provides a disk failure notice,
A function is provided for notifying the administrator via the GUI device 4 of the start and end of array disk reassignment (step S25). From the GUI, the status of the disk, the status of the array disk, and the necessity of replenishing spare disks can be recognized from the remote management PC 3 on the network.

In FIG. 2, the operation on the PC server in steps S21 and S22 is shown in FIG.
4 shows the operation on the PC server in FIG.
The operation on the 25 networks is summarized in FIG. As is clear from FIGS. 3 to 5, according to the present invention, the state of the disk when the system is operating is recorded in the disk error statistical information file 2, and the disk error statistical information control mechanism 11 reads the disk state from the file. Statistically analyze the state of the disk array, incorporate a mechanism for automatically rearranging the array disks using a normal disk before a disk failure occurs by the array disk recovery mechanism 12, and to the outside by the failure notification mechanism 31. It informs the status of the array disk. This minimizes the possibility of data loss by minimizing the frequency of disk failures, and
By reporting via the GUI, a PC server in which an array disk with higher reliability is mounted can be constructed, and timely status management of the array disk can be realized.

In the embodiment of the present invention, only a PC server on which an array disk is mounted has been described as an example.
The present invention is applicable not only to servers but also to all network systems having an array disk as a recording system.

[0017]

As described above, according to the present invention, in a network system having an array disk in a server, the status of the disks constituting the array disk is monitored.
By acquiring the error information, the error information is accumulated in the disk error statistical information file, and by statistically analyzing the accumulated error information, it is determined whether the predicted replacement should be performed before the occurrence of the failure, and it is determined that the predicted replacement should be performed. When the array disk is rearranged by using a spare normal disk, the array disk is rearranged with a normal disk before a disk failure occurs, so that it is possible to prevent data loss in advance. it can. Also, by notifying the network of the predicted replacement of the disk and the start and end of the rearrangement of the array disk to the network via the graphic user interface, and making the state of the array disk externally recognized through the remote management PC connected to the network. In addition, thorough management of array disk status can be expected, and timely response can be expected.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the operation of the embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a diagram cited for explaining the operation of the embodiment of the present invention, and is a diagram conceptually showing operations on steps S21 and S22 on the network in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a diagram cited for describing an operation of the embodiment of the present invention, and is a diagram conceptually showing operations on steps S23 and S24 on the network in FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a diagram cited for explaining the operation of the embodiment of the present invention, and is a diagram conceptually showing the operation on the network in step S25 in FIG. 2;

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... PC server main body 2 ... Disk error statistical information file 3 ... Remote management PC 4 ... GUI device 10 ... I / O bus 11 ... Disk error statistical information control mechanism (external storage device) 12 ... Array disk recovery mechanism 31 ... Failure notification mechanism 20 communication line 100 array disk

Claims (3)

[Claims] In a network system having an array disk in a server, the status of the disks constituting the array disk is monitored, and the error information is obtained to accumulate it in a disk error statistical information file.
By statistically analyzing the accumulated error information, it is determined whether or not to perform predictive replacement before a failure occurs, and when it is determined to perform predictive replacement, the array disk is rearranged using a spare normal disk. An automatic recovery method for an array disk. 2. Notifying the network via a graphic user interface about the predicted replacement of the disk and the start and end of the rearrangement of the array disk, and sending the status of the array disk to the outside via a remote terminal connected to the network. 2. The automatic recovery method for an array disk according to claim 1, wherein the method is performed. 3. In a network system having an array disk in a server, the status of disks constituting the array disk is periodically monitored, error information is obtained and stored in a disk error statistical information file, A disk error statistical information control mechanism for predicting a disk failure by analyzing the number of errors for each error factor by referring to the statistical information file, and grasping a disk error occurrence state by referring to the error statistical information file An array disk recovery mechanism for rearranging an array disk using a spare normal disk before a disk failure occurs based on an instruction of the disk error statistical information control means; and a disk output by the disk error statistical information control means. Failure prediction and array disk recovery A failure notification mechanism for notifying the start and end of rearrangement of array disks output by the means on a network via a graphic user interface.