JP2007087084A - Backup system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a backup system, in which detailed failure information can be collected on a controller side. <P>SOLUTION: This backup system comprises a plurality of magnetic tape libraries 20-23 and a controller 10 controlling the plurality of magnetic tape libraries 20-23, and bucks up data of a computer system from the controller 10 to the magnetic tape libraries through an SCSI (small computer system interface) interface 1. In this system, the controller 10 is connected to the magnetic tape libraries 20-23 using an RS (recommended standard) 232C interface 2 that is a serial interface, and when failure occurrence is reported from any one of the magnetic tape libraries to the controller 10 through the SCSI interface 2, the controller 10 collects detailed failure information from the faulty magnetic tape library through the serial interface 10. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a backup system that can easily collect failure information from a plurality of magnetic tape libraries.

  In general, a computer system that handles various types of data stores the handled data in a storage device such as a magnetic disk device, and the data stored in the storage device is stored in a large-capacity backup system in preparation for a failure. ing.

  This backup system uses a magnetic tape library with a low cost per bit and a large capacity, and is composed of, for example, a plurality of magnetic tape libraries and a controller for controlling the magnetic tape library, and compresses the data of the computer system online. However, backup is performed, and when a failure occurs in the computer system, a recovery process for returning the backed up data to the system side is performed.

A SCSI interface is employed as an interface for exchanging data between the plurality of magnetic tape libraries and the controller of the backup system.
The following patent documents can be cited as documents describing techniques related to the backup system using the magnetic tape library.
JP 11-102262 A

  The above-described backup system according to the prior art is configured such that when a failure occurs, the magnetic tape library reports statistical information that a failure has occurred in the controller and reports the failure via the SCSI interface. There was a problem that could not be grasped. Especially in the case of a backup system that uses magnetic tape as the recording medium, even if the backup system is brought home, the magnetic tape containing customer data cannot be taken home, so determine whether the cause of the failure is the magnetic tape or the magnetic tape library. There was a problem that I could not.

  The SCSI interface is a standard for performing high-speed data transfer between the controller and the storage device, but since it is primarily intended for data transfer, there are few types of SCSI commands and the amount of data transfer per transmission is further reduced. It is limited to 1 MB or less and does not have a function for obtaining failure detailed information.

  An object of the present invention is to eliminate the above-mentioned problems caused by the prior art, and to provide a backup system capable of collecting detailed fault information on the controller side.

  In order to achieve the above object, the present invention comprises a plurality of magnetic tape libraries and a controller for controlling the plurality of magnetic tape libraries, and backs up computer system data from the controller to the magnetic tape library via a SCSI interface. In the system, the controller and the magnetic tape library are connected via a serial interface, and when the occurrence of a failure is notified from the magnetic tape library to the controller via the SCSI interface, the controller detects the failure from the magnetic tape library where the failure has occurred. Collecting detailed fault information via a serial interface is a first feature. In this backup system, the serial interface is an RS232C interface. The second said Rukoto.

  According to the backup system of the present invention, since the controller that has received the failure report via the SCSI interface collects failure detailed information with a large amount of data via the serial interface, the controller collects the failure detailed information via the network. It can be reported to a computer for maintenance.

Embodiments of a backup system according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the configuration of a backup system according to the present embodiment, and FIG. 2 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the backup system.
As shown in FIG. 1, the backup system according to the present embodiment includes a plurality of tape libraries 20 to 23 and a controller 10 that controls the plurality of tape libraries 20 to 23.

The controller 10 controls the SCSI controllers 12 and 13 that transfer data by connecting to the tape libraries 20 to 23, the serial controller 14 that is a feature of this embodiment, the SCSI controllers 12 and 13, and the serial controller 14. The serial controller 14 is connected to a plurality of tape libraries 20 to 23 via four or serial cables (specifically, RS232C interface 2). It is configured like this.
The backup system configured in this way is connected to a computer system (not shown), and backs up data according to instructions from the computer system.

  In order to connect four serial interface cables to a limited space of the serial controller 14 (slit hole (14 mm x 100 mm) of the PCI card), this device consolidates the four serial interface cables into one connector. A 4-cable serial cable 30 to be connected is used.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the backup system according to the present embodiment, when the controller 10 receives a failure occurrence notification from any of the tape libraries via the SCSI interface 1 (step 100), this failure occurrence is detected by the SCSI controller. 12 or 13 detects a failure (step 101), and the motherboard 11 that has received the failure report issues a failure trace information collection command using the serial controller 14 via a 4- or serial cable (RS232C interface 2) ( In step 102), the trace information is collected (step 103) from the tape library in which the failure has occurred.

  At this time, since the serial cable 30 (RS232C interface 2), which is a serial interface, is a general-purpose interface, the controller 10 can collect trace information collection commands and trace information from the tape library. The trace information is, for example, information such as magnetic tape operation mode / data error rate / magnetic tape error detection location (block) / magnetic tape number / number of times the magnetic tape is written. Since it requires a data capacity, it can be easily transferred via the serial cable 30.

  Next, the backup system according to the present embodiment determines the detection of the end code from the tape library, the detection of timeout due to no response for 5 seconds or more, or the detection that the data buffer is full (step 104). When this is detected, the above-described processing is ended.

  In the backup system according to the present embodiment, the controller 10 can collect the trace information of the failure described above, so that a maintenance person brings back the backup system including the controller 10, for example, the number of times the magnetic tape is used exceeds a predetermined value. In this case, it is possible to easily analyze and maintain the contents of the failure that prompts replacement of the magnetic tape.

  In addition, since the backup system to which the present invention is applied uses magnetic tape as a working medium, it is generally impossible to take back the customer's magnetic tape, so it is not possible to determine whether the failure occurs on the magnetic tape side or on the device side. However, in this embodiment, by storing the trace information in the controller 10, the failure analysis can be easily performed even when the device is taken home.

  In the above-described embodiment, the controller 10 can report the trace information to a maintenance computer or the like via the network, so that the maintenance staff can use the magnetic tape for the difference that the number of times the magnetic tape has been used exceeds a predetermined value. It is possible to easily analyze and maintain the contents of the failure, such as prompting the replacement of the tape, even in a remote place.

The figure which shows the structure of the backup system by one Embodiment of this invention. The flowchart for demonstrating operation | movement of this backup system.

Explanation of symbols

  20-23: Tape library, 1: SCSI interface, 2: RS230C interface, 10: Controller, 11: Motherboard, 12: Controller, 14: Serial controller, 30: 4 or serial cable.

Claims (2)

A backup system comprising a plurality of magnetic tape libraries and a controller for controlling the plurality of magnetic tape libraries, and for backing up computer system data from the controller to the magnetic tape library via a SCSI interface.
When the controller and the magnetic tape library are connected via a serial interface, and the occurrence of a failure is notified from the magnetic tape library to the controller via the SCSI interface, the controller connects the serial interface from the magnetic tape library in which the failure has occurred. A backup system characterized by collecting failure detailed information via   The backup system according to claim 1, wherein the serial interface is an RS232C interface.

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