JP2533917B2 - Media mount processing method for storage device with automatic carrier - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Outline] An automatic transfer for issuing a I / O command to a storage device with an automatic transfer device such as a collective large-capacity device, loading a storage medium, and detecting its normality / abnormality Regarding the medium mount processing method for the storage device with a device, when there is an error in the insertion and mounting of the storage medium, the purpose is to enable the processing device to detect the event early, and the loading is completed from the I / O device. A time monitoring processing unit for performing time monitoring at an interval shorter than the maximum time required for loading a storage medium for an I / O command issued for the purpose of receiving a report, and an I / O device The status reading processing means for reading the status and the read status determine whether or not loading is in progress. If the loading process is not in progress, continue to monitor the time again by the logical means.
It is configured to include an abnormality detection processing unit that generates an abnormality.

[Industrial applications]

The present invention relates to a storage device with an automatic carrier device that issues an input / output command to a storage device with an automatic carrier device such as a collective mass storage device to load a storage medium and detect normality / abnormality thereof. The present invention relates to a medium mount processing method.

[Conventional technology]

 FIG. 4 shows an example of the conventional method.

In the mass storage system for collective storage (CMSS), a specified magnetic tape is selected from a hangar in which a large number of magnetic tapes are stored, and the transfer device transfers the magnetic tape to a magnetic tape unit for automatic loading. Have the ability to

Conventionally, the mounting process of the storage medium (magnetic tape) for this collective mass storage device has been performed as shown in FIG. FIG. 4 (a) shows the mount processing on the host processing device side, and FIG. 4 (b) shows the mount processing on the CMSS device side.

 Hereinafter, description will be given according to the steps shown in FIG.

The host processor sends the magnetic tape to be input / output to the transfer device by the cartridge move command.
Instruct to move from the hangar to the magnetic tape unit.

In response to this instruction, the transport device takes out the specified magnetic tape from the storage and inserts it into the magnetic tape unit.

The host processor issues a dummy I / O containing the VOL read I / O command, for example, when the magnetic tape is completely transported. This I / O command is not intended for actual I / O, but is issued for the purpose of receiving a report of the loading completion of the loaded magnetic tape. Since it takes time before the magnetic tape can be loaded and used on the magnetic tape unit, it is necessary to know the timing of its termination.
Issue O. By issuing this dummy I / O, the device enters the not-ready state, and when loading is completed and the device is ready, the not-ready to ready (NRTR) interrupt is raised and the loading completion report is issued. Is supposed to do.

~ When the magnetic tape unit detects that a magnetic tape cartridge has been loaded by the transport device, the loading process is performed so that the cartridge can be loaded from the entrance and read and written.

Check if the loading was done normally, and if so, perform the process.

If the loading is abnormal, determine whether the cause of the abnormality is slack in the tape. If the tape is not slack, control is passed to the processing.

If the cause of the abnormality is slack in the tape, in order to eliminate the situation, the tape is fed to the end,
After that, rewinding is performed. Then, until the slack in the tape is eliminated or until the specified number of retries is reached,
The process-process is repeated.

When loading is completed normally, when an error other than tape slack occurs, and when tape slack does not recover after a specified number of retries,
As a response to the dummy I / O, loading completion is reported by the not ready TO ready interrupt.

On the host processor side, after issuing a dummy I / O, it enters the WAIT state to wait for the report of Not Ready TO Ready.
In addition, error processing is performed when there is no report from the device side for longer than the maximum time required for loading.
The time is monitored for a time longer than the maximum time Tmax required for the loading.

If there is a Not Ready TO Ready report within the monitoring time, a VOL read I / O is issued to instruct to read the volume label (VOL) of the loaded magnetic tape. If there is no report of Not Ready TO Ready within the monitoring time, timeout error processing is performed.

In the magnetic tape unit, the magnetic tape is rewound to the VOL read I / O and the VOL is read.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention]

Conventionally, when a storage medium is mounted on a device unit of a storage device with an automatic carrier, as shown in FIG. 4, a dummy I / O is added to the device when the carrier completes transportation.
Is issued to set the device in the not-ready state, the device takes in the medium, loads it, and notifies the not-ready-to-ready report when the device is in the ready state.

However, if the media transported by the transport device stops at the entrance of the device and the device cannot confirm that the media has been loaded, the Not Ready TO Ready report will not be issued permanently, so it is necessary for loading. There was a problem that the detection of this abnormal event was delayed because the maximum time Tmax was waited. On the other hand, if the Tmax monitoring time is shortened, even if the tape slack is recovered by the tape feeding and tape rewinding, the conventional method causes an error. The problem arises that

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to solve the above-mentioned problems, and to make it possible for a processor to detect an event early when there is an abnormality in the insertion and mounting of a storage medium.

[Means for solving the problem]

 FIG. 1 is an explanatory view of the principle of the present invention.

In FIG. 1, 10 is a processing device including a CPU and memory, 11 is a medium movement instructing unit for instructing the movement of the storage medium from the storage for mounting the storage medium, and 12 is a report of Not Ready TO Ready. Dummy I / O issuing unit that issues I / O commands for the purpose of monitoring, 13 is a time monitoring processing unit that monitors the reports from the device side, and 14 issuing I / O commands that read the state of the device when the monitoring time has elapsed. The state reading processing unit, 15 represents an abnormality detection processing unit that detects an abnormality occurrence based on the read state information.

Further, 20 is a storage device with an automatic transport device, 21 is a transport device for transporting storage media, 22 is a hangar for storing a large number of storage media, 23 is a storage medium to be mounted, and 24 is an input / output to / from the storage medium. An input / output device 25 performs a loading unit for loading the input storage medium, and a reference number 26 indicates a status reporting unit for reporting the status of the device in response to a request from the processing device side.

The time monitoring processing unit 13 according to the present invention performs time monitoring at a time interval shorter than the maximum time required for loading the storage medium 23 in which the input / output device 24 is loaded by the carrier device 21, and the storage device with an automatic carrier device is provided. Wait for the Not Ready TO Ready report or the monitoring time from the 20 side to indicate the completion of loading.

If there is a report of Not Ready TO Ready before the monitoring time elapses, it will be regarded as loading end as before,
Move to the next process such as reading the volume label.

When there is no report of Not Ready TO Ready within the monitoring time and a timeout occurs, the status reading processing unit 14 is activated, and the status reading processing unit 14 issues an input / output command for reading the status of the input / output device 24. This allows the status reporting section
When the device status is reported from 26, the abnormality detection processing unit 15 determines whether the input / output device 24 or the storage medium is being loaded.

If loading is not in progress, it is recognized that an error has occurred, and error processing is performed by outputting a message to the operator. If loading is in progress, control is returned to the time monitoring processing unit 13 and the same processing is repeated.

[Action]

 The present invention differs from the conventional method in the following points.

(A) The monitoring time by the time monitoring processing unit 13 is not longer than the maximum time required for loading, but is shorter.

(B) When the monitoring time has elapsed, the device status is read from the processing device side.

(C) The read state is checked, and if loading is not performed, it is recognized that an abnormal event has occurred, and if loading is performed, time monitoring is repeated again.

As a result, even if the recording medium stops at the loading slot and the loading process is not started, the abnormal event can be detected in a short time. In addition, since the time monitoring is repeated during loading, if the failure is recovered by the retry on the device side, such as when slackening of the tape occurs, it is processed normally without anomaly. be able to.

〔Example〕

FIG. 2 shows an example of a system to which the present invention is applied, and FIG. 3 shows a processing flow according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The present invention is applied to a system having a collective mass storage device (CMSS) as shown in FIG. 2, for example.

In FIG. 2, 10 is a host processor, 30 is an operator console, 31 is a CMSS input / output request unit such as a utility program for accessing CMSS, and 32 is a C
Allocation unit for MSS device allocation, 33 is a CMSS management table having management information such as CMSS storage media, and 34 is a CMS
A CMSS control unit that controls devices such as mounting / dismounting on S, a mount processing unit 35, and an input / output control unit 36 that performs input / output activation and processing for input / output interrupts.

Reference numeral 40 denotes a collective mass storage device (CMSS), in which CMC is a CMSS controller, THU is a magnetic tape automatic operation unit that conveys a magnetic tape cartridge, MTU is a magnetic tape unit, and CELL is a magnetic tape cartridge. Is a hangar for storing.

The CMSS input / output request unit 31 notifies the CMSS control unit 34 in advance when performing a process such as dump / load using the CMSS 40.
Require mounting of magnetic tape on the magnetic tape unit MTU. The mount processing unit 35 in the CMSS control unit 34 responds to the mount request via the input / output control unit 36 and stores the storage cell CELL.
The magnetic tape is instructed to be conveyed from the device, and the volume label is read. After this mount processing is completed, the CMSS I / O request unit 31 outputs the I / O execution request (EXC
P) to access the magnetic tape via the input / output control unit 36.

Although the present invention relates to the mount processing unit 35 in the CMSS control unit 34 in this example, the present invention is not limited to the collective mass storage device that handles magnetic tape cartridges, and for example, a large number of optical disks can be stored in a storage box, The present invention can be similarly applied to another storage device with an automatic carrier having a mechanism for automatically mounting the device to shorten the detection time of an abnormal event related to timeout.

FIG. 3 shows the processing of the mount processing unit 35 shown in FIG.
The process flow on the MSS device side is shown.

The process on the CMSS device side shown in FIG. 3B is exactly the same as the process by the conventional method described in FIG.

The processing and processing shown in Fig. 3 (a) are the same as the conventional ones, but in the processing, while waiting for the report of Not Ready TO Ready, the maximum time Tmax required for loading is not Tmax / n (however, n Is greater than 1) and waits for the monitoring time to elapse. If there is a report of Not Ready TO Ready within the monitoring time, VOL read I / O is issued and the processing of reading the volume label is performed.

If the time of Tmax / n elapses before the not ready TO ready report is sent, the process sends the MTU status alignment command and inputs the status of the magnetic tape unit MTU. Depending on the status information, the magnetic tape unit is currently
Whether or not the MTU is being loaded is determined by the process. If it is not being loaded, the mount process is terminated and the error process is performed. If loading is in progress, control is returned to the process, and the process or processes are repeated until a predetermined number of times or a total monitoring time reaches a predetermined time.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, at least the maximum time required for loading can be detected in a short time depending on the monitoring time that can be arbitrarily set to detect an abnormal event. You will be able to do it in.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining the principle of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an example of a system to which the present invention is applied, FIG. 3 is a processing flow according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 4 is an example of a conventional system. In the figure, 10 is a processor, 11 is a medium movement instructing unit, and 12 is a dummy I / O.
Issuing unit, 13 is a time monitoring processing unit, 14 is a status reading processing unit, 1
5 is an abnormality detection processing unit, 20 is a storage device with an automatic carrier, 21
Is a carrier device, 22 is a hangar, 23 is a storage medium, 24 is an input / output device,
Reference numeral 25 is a loading section, and 26 is a status reporting section.

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. An input / output device (24) for inputting and outputting to and from a mounted storage medium, a storage (22) for storing a plurality of storage media, and a transport for transporting the storage media from the storage to the input / output device. In a medium mount processing method for loading a storage medium to a storage device (20) with an automatic carrier equipped with a device (21), an input issued for the purpose of receiving a loading completion report from the input / output device. Time monitoring processing means (13) for time monitoring at a time interval shorter than the maximum time required for loading a storage medium in response to an output command, and status reading processing for reading the status of the input / output device when the monitoring time elapses. The means (14) and the read state determine whether or not the loading is in progress. If the loading is in progress, the time monitoring processing means again monitors the time. Subsequently, if not during loading, the medium mounting processing method of an automatic transport device with a storage device characterized by comprising an abnormality detection processing means for the abnormality (15).