JP2007122263A - Information processor and method for controlling information processor - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent an HDD from becoming inaccessible after the restoration of a DC power source. <P>SOLUTION: A method for controlling an information processor is disclosed. The information processor is provided with: a first power unit 22 for supplying a power source to a main device 2; a plurality of HDDs(31a, 31b, and so on) connected to the main device 2; a second power unit 32 for supplying a power source to the HDDs; and a disk array controller (RAID controller) performing the reading/writing of data from/to the HDD and constructing a RAID. When a decrease in a DC voltage is detected by a voltage monitoring part 23c, the RAID controller 23 stores power source failure information X showing the decrease in the DC voltage into RAID configuration information α, and interrupts reading/writing from/to the HDD, and when detecting the restoration of the DC voltage, the RAID controller 23 releases the power source failure information X from the RADI configuration information α, and resumes reading from / writing to the HDD. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus, and more particularly, to an information processing apparatus including a disk array device that can prevent an HDD from being disabled after a DC power supply is restored even when a power supply device malfunctions.

  There is RAID (Redundant Arrays of Independent (Independent) Disks) as a technique for improving the reliability and speed of a recording / reproducing apparatus using a physical drive such as an HDD (Hard Disk Drive).

  In a conventional disk array device employing this RAID, for example, the power supply from the power supply device may stop while a write operation to the HDD is being performed, and a power failure may occur. May occur and cause system down.

In view of the above circumstances, Patent Literature 1 proposes a disk array device that can prevent a system failure due to a media error after a power failure recovery (see Patent Literature 1).
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2000-122913 (5th page, FIG. 1)

  However, when there is a plurality of HDDs in an expansion HDD device that is a separate housing (separate power source) from the RAID controller, if a power failure occurs in this expansion HDD device, the so-called RAID configuration information indicates that the HDD is out of order. Is stored. Therefore, the RAID controller determines that a failure has occurred in all the HDDs mounted on the extended HDD device, and becomes unable to respond.

  That is, if the power of the expansion HDD device is restored and all HDDs are originally accessible, user data can be recovered, but if the failure of the HDD is registered in the RAID configuration information, the user There was a problem that data could not be recovered.

  Therefore, the present invention has been made to solve the above-described problem. Although there is no problem with the extended HDD, when the power supply apparatus has a problem, the HDD cannot be accessed after the DC power supply is restored. It is an object of the present invention to provide an information processing apparatus including a disk array device that can prevent the occurrence of a problem and a control method thereof.

  To achieve the above object, an information processing apparatus according to the present invention includes a first power supply device that supplies power to a main device, a plurality of physical disks connected to the main device, and the plurality of physical disks. A second power supply that supplies power to the disk, and a disk array controller that reads / writes data from / to the plurality of physical disks and constructs a RAID from the plurality of physical disks The disk array controller includes a detection unit that detects a decrease in voltage of the second power supply device and a return of the reduced voltage, and a RAID that indicates a configuration content of the constructed RAID. Storage means for storing configuration information; and when the voltage drop is detected by the detection means, the storage means stores data as the RAID configuration information in advance. Control for storing voltage drop information indicating a voltage drop and interrupting reading / writing to the plurality of physical disks, and when the return of the voltage is detected by the detection means, the RAID configuration is stored in the storage means. And control means for canceling the voltage drop information from the information data and controlling to resume reading / writing to the plurality of physical disks.

  The information processing apparatus control method according to the present invention includes: a first power supply that supplies power to the main unit; a plurality of physical disks connected to the main unit; and the plurality of physical disks. A second power supply device that supplies power, reads / writes data from / to the plurality of physical disks, constructs a RAID from the plurality of physical disks, and constructs the constructed RAID A method of controlling an information processing apparatus having a disk array controller for storing RAID configuration information indicating contents, wherein the disk array controller detects the decrease in voltage as data of the RAID configuration information. When voltage drop information indicating the voltage drop is stored, reading / writing to the plurality of physical disks is interrupted, and the return of the voltage is detected The releasing the voltage drop information from the data in the RAID configuration information, it is characterized by resuming the read / write to the plurality of physical disks.

  It is possible to prevent the HDD from being disabled after the DC power supply is restored.

(First embodiment)
Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of an information processing apparatus 1 according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 1, the information processing apparatus 1 includes a main body device 2 and an extended HDD device 3 connected to the main body device 2.

  The main unit 2 includes a host CPU (Central Processing Unit) 21, a first power supply device 22, a RAID controller 23, and a RAM (Random Access Memory) 24, which are connected by a bus.

  The host CPU 21 controls the entire information processing apparatus 1 with a control program stored in a ROM (Read Only Memory) (not shown). The first power supply device 22 supplies DC power to each element of the main body device 2. The RAID controller 23 is connected to the extended HDD device 3 and controls RAID construction in HDDs in a disk array 31 to be described later. Details of this will be described later. The RAM 24 is an area for temporarily storing data, and is also used as a work area for disk array control.

  The extended HDD device 3 is mainly composed of a disk array 31 and a second power supply device 32. The disk array 31 is composed of a plurality of physical drives HDD 31a, HDD 31b,..., And builds a RAID under the control of the RAID controller 23. RAID construction here refers to construction of a logical drive, as well as storage of data divided into striping units such as RAID 0, or the same data stored in a plurality of HDDs using mirroring as in RAID 1. In addition to writing control, data parity is generated at the time of writing as in RAID4 and RAID5, and the data and parity are distributed and recorded in the same block of a plurality of HDDs 31a, HDDs 31b,.

  The second power supply device 32 supplies DC power to each element in the extended HDD device 3. The HDD 31a, HDD 31b,... Can be attached to and detached from the expansion HDD device 3.

  Next, the function of the raid controller 23 will be described. Here, the RAID controller 23 is composed of a CPU, a ROM for storing firmware for disk array control executed by the CPU, various parameters, and the like, and includes a main control unit 23a, a storage unit 23b, and a voltage monitoring unit 23c. This prevents the HDD from becoming inaccessible after the DC power supply in the second power supply 32 is restored.

  Here, the main control unit 23 a controls the entire raid controller 23. The storage unit 23b stores data such as RAID configuration information α described later. The voltage monitoring unit 23c detects the decrease in the DC voltage of the second power supply device 32 and the recovery (recovery) of the decreased DC voltage.

  Next, the operation of the information processing apparatus 1 in the first embodiment of the present invention will be described.

  FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the operation of the information processing apparatus 1 according to the first embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 2, the present embodiment starts the subsequent processing by detecting the decrease in the DC voltage of the second power supply device 32 (step S10). That is, when the voltage monitoring unit 23c does not detect a decrease in the DC voltage of the second power supply device 32 (No in step S10), the processing described later is not performed until this is detected.

  On the other hand, when the voltage monitoring unit 23c detects a decrease in the DC voltage of the second power supply device 32 due to a failure of the second power supply device 32 or the like (Yes in step S10), the extended HDD device 3 is transferred to the RAID configuration information α. The decrease in the DC voltage of the second power supply device 32 is stored. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the RAID configuration information α. As illustrated in FIG. 3, the RAID configuration information α is stored in the storage unit 23 b in the RAID controller 23. In general, the RAID configuration information α stores the RAID configuration contents in the disk array 31, and is information indicating how many physical disks the RAID is configured and how the RAID level is configured. . In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 3, information indicating a decrease in the DC voltage of the second power supply device 32 is stored in the RAID configuration information α in addition to the information described above. In the example of FIG. 3, information indicating that a failure occurs in the second power supply device 32 (power failure information X) is stored.

  Next, the information processing apparatus 1 restricts access to the HDD of the extended HDD apparatus 3 (step S30). That is, when the voltage monitoring unit 23 c detects a decrease in the DC power supply voltage of the second power supply device 32, the main control unit 23 a interrupts the read / write control to the disk array 31.

  Next, the information processing apparatus 1 starts the subsequent processing when the DC voltage of the second power supply device 32 detects the return. That is, when the voltage monitoring unit 23c does not detect the return of the DC voltage of the second power supply device 32 (No in step S40), the subsequent processing is not performed until this is detected.

  On the other hand, when the voltage monitoring unit 23c detects the return of the DC voltage of the second power supply device 32 due to replacement or repair of the second power supply device 32 (Yes in step S40), the expansion in the RAID configuration information α is performed. The DC voltage drop recording of the HDD device 3 is canceled (step S50). That is, the main control unit 23a deletes (or deletes) the power failure information X in the RAID configuration information α, or rewrites the power failure information X itself with information indicating that the second power supply 32 has returned. I do.

  Next, the information processing apparatus 1 resumes access to the HDD of the extended HDD apparatus 3 (step S60). That is, when the voltage monitoring unit 23 c detects the return of the DC power supply voltage of the second power supply device 32, the main control unit 23 a resumes the read / write control to the disk array 31.

  By performing the above processing, it is possible to prevent the HDD from becoming inaccessible after the DC power supply is restored when the power supply apparatus has a problem, although the extended HDD has no problem.

(Second Embodiment)
The second embodiment according to the present invention will be described below. FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the operation of the information processing apparatus 1 according to the second embodiment of the present invention. In the flowchart of FIG. 4, the same parts as those in the flowchart of the first embodiment of FIG. 2 are denoted by the same symbols, and the description thereof is omitted. In the present embodiment, the difference from the first embodiment is that step S31 for temporarily storing data that has not been stored in the HDD into the RAM 24 is added between step S30 and step S40. It is a point. In addition, step S51 is added between step S50 and step S60, in which the data stored in the RAM 24 is written to the HDD in the expansion HDD device 3.

  By performing the above processing, it is possible to prevent the HDD from becoming inaccessible after the DC power supply is restored when the power supply apparatus has a problem, although the extended HDD has no problem.

In addition, data reliability is improved.

(Third embodiment)
Hereinafter, a third embodiment according to the present invention will be described. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the configuration of the information processing apparatus according to the third embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the operation of the information processing apparatus in the fourth embodiment of the present invention. In the configuration diagram of FIG. 5, the same parts as those in the configuration diagram of the first embodiment (and the second embodiment) of FIG. Further, in the flowchart of FIG. 6, the same parts as those in the flowchart of the second embodiment of FIG. 4 are denoted by the same symbols, and the description thereof is omitted.

  In the configuration diagram of FIG. 5 in the present embodiment, a different part from the configuration diagram of FIG. 1 is that a physical disk (HDD 25) is provided in the main unit 2 in addition to the expansion HDD device 3. 6 is different from the flowchart in FIG. 4 in that step S31 in FIG. 4 is changed to step S32 in which data that has not been stored in the HDD is temporarily stored in the HDD 25. is there. Further, step S51 is changed to step S52 in which the data stored in the HDD 25 is written to the HDD in the expansion HDD device 3.

  By performing the above processing, it is possible to prevent the HDD from becoming inaccessible after the DC power supply is restored when the power supply apparatus has a problem, although the extended HDD has no problem.

In addition, data reliability is improved.

The figure which shows the structure of the information processing apparatus 1 which concerns on the 1st Embodiment of this invention. The flowchart which shows information processing apparatus 1 operation | movement in the 1st Embodiment of this invention. The figure which showed RAID structure information (alpha). The flowchart which shows information processing apparatus 1 operation | movement in the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. The figure which shows the structure of the information processing apparatus which concerns on the 3rd Embodiment of this invention. The flowchart which shows operation | movement of the information processing apparatus in the 4th Embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

1 Information processing device 2 Main device 21 Host CPU
22 1st power supply device 23 RAID controller 23a Main control part 23b Storage part 23c Voltage monitoring part 24 RAM
25 HDD
3 Extended HDD device 31 Disk array 31a, 31b HDD
32 Second power supply α RAID configuration information

Claims (6)

A first power supply for supplying power to the main unit;
A plurality of physical disks connected to the main unit;
A second power supply for supplying power to the plurality of physical disks;
A disk array controller that reads / writes data from / to the plurality of physical disks and constructs a RAID for the plurality of physical disks,
The disk array controller
Detecting means for detecting a decrease in voltage of the second power supply device and restoration of the reduced voltage;
Storage means for storing RAID configuration information indicating the configuration content of the constructed RAID;
When the voltage drop is detected by the detection means, voltage drop information indicating the voltage drop is stored in the storage means as data of the RAID configuration information, and reading / writing to the plurality of physical disks is performed. When the control to interrupt and the return of the voltage is detected by the detection means, the storage device releases the voltage drop information from the data of the RAID configuration information, and resumes reading / writing to the plurality of physical disks Control means for performing control, and
An information processing apparatus comprising: A RAM is provided in the main unit,
The control means stores the data to be written to the plurality of physical disks in the RAM when performing the suspension control, and stores the data stored in the RAM when performing the restart control. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control for restarting is performed after storing the physical disk in the physical disk. The main unit is provided with another physical disk,
The control means stores data to be written to the plurality of physical disks in the other physical disk when performing the suspension control, and is stored in the other physical disk when performing the restart control. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the data is stored in the plurality of physical disks, and the restarting control is performed. A first power supply for supplying power to the main unit;
A plurality of physical disks connected to the main unit;
A second power supply for supplying power to the plurality of physical disks;
A disk that reads / writes data from / to the plurality of physical disks, constructs a RAID for the plurality of physical disks, and stores RAID configuration information indicating the contents of the constructed RAID An information processing apparatus control method having an array controller,
When the disk array controller detects the voltage drop, the disk array controller stores voltage drop information indicating the voltage drop as data of the RAID configuration information, and interrupts reading / writing to the plurality of physical disks. When the restoration of the voltage is detected, the voltage drop information is canceled from the data of the RAID configuration information, and reading / writing to the plurality of physical disks is resumed.
A method for controlling an information processing apparatus. A RAM is provided in the main unit,
The disk array controller stores data to be written to the plurality of physical disks in the RAM when performing the interruption, and stores the data stored in the RAM when the resumption is performed. 5. The method of controlling an information processing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the restarting is performed after storing the information in the storage device. The main unit is provided with another physical disk,
The disk array controller stores data to be written to the plurality of physical disks in the other physical disk when the interruption is performed, and the data stored in the other physical disk when the restart is performed. The information processing apparatus control method according to claim 4, wherein the resumption is performed after storing the data in the plurality of physical disks.

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