JP5352811B2 - Information processing device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To shorten a time until a user becomes ready to use, by shortening the starting time of a storage device such as a disk array. <P>SOLUTION: A temporary storage means for keeping required data required in starting cache is prepared, so as to perform processing in starting the storage device. The processing using the temporary storage means is to write data to the corresponding position of the temporary storage means and also to store the position of the temporary storage means with the data changed therein in a table when there is a writing request to the storage device during the period until the storage device can be used. The processing is also to read the data from the corresponding position of the temporary storage means when there is a reading request to the storage device during the period until the storage device can be used, and also to write back the data with the writing request to the storage device from the temporary storage means in response to the information stored in the table after the storage device becomes usable. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&amp;INPIT

Description

The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus having a storage device, in particular, to a technique suitable storage device using a disk array.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in an information processing device that requires high reliability, a disk array to which a plurality of recording devices such as HDDs are connected is used as a storage device in order to maintain data redundancy. In an information processing apparatus having such a storage device, when the power is turned on, after initialization of devices including the CPU, information such as an OS and a device driver is read from the storage device to the RAM, The OS is ready for use.
However, since HDDs that are often used for storage devices have a drive unit inside, the time required for initialization is longer than that of other devices, and this may increase the startup time of the entire information processing device. It has become.

  Also, in order to drive the HDD, a large amount of electric power is required instantaneously. Therefore, in the case of a disk array composed of a plurality of HDDs, if the drive part is spun up at the same time, the power consumption temporarily increases, so it is necessary to use a large capacity power source for the spin up. . Therefore, in many disk arrays, in order to suppress temporary power consumption, the spin-up timing is shifted so as to reduce the capacity of the mounted power supply. However, since the HDDs are spun up sequentially, the time until all the HDDs are spun up and the disk array can be used as a storage device becomes longer, which further increases the startup time. .

  Further, many recent information processing apparatuses have a function of reducing power consumption by stopping power supply to the storage device when there are few requests for reading and writing to the storage device in order to reduce power consumption. This function is becoming an indispensable function in order to suppress the environmental load of the information processing apparatus. However, when a disk array is used as a storage device of an information processing apparatus, if power supply to the HDD is stopped, the disk array is stopped once until the disk array returns to a usable state from the information processing apparatus. It will be necessary to allow time for the HDD to spin up. Therefore, in such a case, it takes a long time until the user can use it, as in the case of startup.

  As a technique for solving this problem, Patent Document 1 discloses that a dynamic buffer is generated on a RAM, and when data cannot be recorded on the HDD, the data is temporarily stored in the dynamic buffer, so There is a disclosure about a technology that enables recording instantaneously at the time of turning on.

In order to solve the above problems, the information processing apparatus according to the present invention can store data that can be read and written, and can temporarily store data, and can cache necessary data when the OS starts. A non-volatile memory . Further , a cache area provided in a predetermined area of the non-volatile memory, in which information necessary for starting the OS is recorded, a position of data included in the predetermined area of the non-volatile memory and included in the cache area, and a cache And a table in which contents and positions of data not included in the area are recorded . Furthermore , if there is a write request to the storage device between the time when the storage device is activated and it becomes usable, if the write request is for an area cached in the nonvolatile memory, there is a write request. The cache location is recorded as update information in the table, the data is overwritten in the area where the write request was made in the cache, and the write request is written to the table instead of the area cached in the non-volatile memory. If it is determined that the update information for the area that has been recorded has already been recorded, only the data portion of the update information for the area for which the write request has been made is overwritten, and the write request is cached in the nonvolatile memory. Update information for the area requested to be written in the table If it is determined not to be, comprising a controller for recording in the table the position and data of a region where there is a write request as update information.

JP 2001-57024 A JP 2007-94939 A

However, in the technique described in Patent Document 1, when a sufficient area cannot be secured on the RAM when the power is turned on, data cannot be saved, and it is difficult to shorten the startup time. It becomes.
In the technique described in Patent Document 2, when data cached in a nonvolatile memory is read, it is necessary to confirm that there is no data written in the cache in the dynamic buffer. Cannot read. Therefore, if the data recorded in the dynamic buffer becomes large, it is difficult to read the cache of the non-volatile memory until all the data has been read, so that it is difficult to shorten the startup time.

  In the technique described in Patent Document 2, when the power is turned off before the HDD can be used, information to the HDD remains unrecorded in the dynamic buffer. For this reason, when the power is turned on again, time series data is newly recorded in the dynamic buffer, so if the power is turned on and off several times before the HDD can be used, the dynamic buffer becomes full. Cheap. In that case, it becomes impossible to write to the dynamic buffer, and as a result, a write wait occurs, making it difficult to shorten the startup time.

  The present invention has been made in view of these problems, and an object of the present invention is to reduce the time until the user can use the storage device by reducing the startup time of the storage device.

In order to solve the above-described problems, an information processing apparatus according to the present invention can store data that can be read and written, and can temporarily store data, and can cache necessary data when the OS is started up. Non-volatile memory, a cache area provided in a predetermined area of the non-volatile memory and storing information necessary for starting the OS, and a position of data included in the cache area provided in the predetermined area of the non-volatile memory And a table in which the contents and position of data not included in the cache area are recorded, and when there is a write request to the storage device between the time when the storage device is activated and becomes usable, the write request is cached. If it corresponds to the location corresponding to the area, overwrite the corresponding location in the cache area with the data related to the write request and correspond to the table. And updates by overwriting the location, if a write request is a location that does not correspond to the cache area comprises a controller for additionally recording data and position according to the write request to the table.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to reduce the waiting time for reading and the waiting time for writing before a storage device such as a hard disk can be used. As a result, the startup time of the storage device and the information processing device including the storage device can be reduced. This shortens the time until the user becomes usable.

It is a block diagram which shows the structural example by one embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the example of a writing process by one embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the example of a reading process by one embodiment of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows the example of the non-volatile memory by one embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the example of a data update process to the disk array by one embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the example of a cache update process by one embodiment of this invention.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a configuration example of a computer as an example of an information processing apparatus in an example of an embodiment of the present invention (hereinafter referred to as this example).
The computer 1 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 2, an MCH (Memory Controller Hub) 3, and an ICH (I / O Controller Hub) 4. Further, a RAM (Random Access Memory) 6 and a video output unit 11 are connected to the MCH 3. Further, a ROM (Read Only Memory) 5, a controller 7, and a user operation input / output unit 12 are connected to the ICH 4. A disk array 8 including a plurality of HDDs (Hard Disk Drives) 80, 81, 82... And a nonvolatile memory 9 are connected to the controller 7. Here, the storage device 10 is constituted by the controller 7 and the parts connected thereto.
The disk array 8 is a storage unit that increases the redundancy by distributing and storing data in a plurality of HDDs and storing a parity code and the like. Writing to and reading from the disk array 8 are controlled by the controller 7.

  Next, a startup process when the computer 1 according to this example is turned on will be described.

  When the computer 1 is powered on, it reads a startup program from the ROM 5, initializes the components of the computer 1, such as the CPU 2, MCH 3, ICH 4, the video output unit 11, the user operation input / output unit 12, and the controller 7, Make the OS (Operating System) usable.

  The initialized controller 7 initializes the HDDs 80, 81, 82... Connected to the controller 7, and when all the HDDs are usable, these HDDs are logically used as one storage device (disk array 8). It becomes possible.

  After the initialization process by the boot program recorded in the ROM 5 is completed, the boot program reads the OS from the disk array 8 into the RAM 6 and tries to boot the OS. At this time, the OS cannot be read from the disk array 8 if the HDDs 80, 81, 82,... Are not ready for use as the disk array 8 before the initialization is completed.

  Therefore, in this example, data necessary for OS startup is cached in the nonvolatile memory 9, and when the OS cannot be read from the disk array 8, the controller 7 caches the data cached in the nonvolatile memory 9. Is read into the RAM 6. As a result, the OS can be activated even when the disk array 8 cannot be used.

  Further, when a write request to the disk array 8 is made when the disk array 8 cannot be used because the OS is starting up, the controller 7 writes to the nonvolatile memory 9 instead of writing to the disk array 8. Do. If there is a read request before the disk array 8 can be used, the controller 7 reads the nonvolatile memory 9.

  As described above, even if it takes time until the disk array becomes usable, it is possible to shorten the computer startup time by reading or writing data necessary for OS startup from the nonvolatile memory 9.

  Next, data writing / reading processing to / from the nonvolatile memory 9 will be described with reference to FIGS.

  FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an example of a write process when the controller 7 receives a write request from the activation program.

  First, when receiving a write request (step S201), the controller 7 determines whether the disk array 8 is usable (step S202). If the disk array 8 is usable as a result of the determination, the requested data is written to the disk array 8 (step S203), and the process is terminated.

  If it is determined in step S202 that the disk array 8 cannot be used because the OS is running or the like, the controller 7 determines whether the area requested for writing corresponds to the area cached in the nonvolatile memory 9 or not. Is determined (step S204). As a result of the determination, if the write request is for an area cached in the nonvolatile memory 9, the controller 7 records the cache position where the write request is made in the table as update information (step S205). Then, data is overwritten in the area of the nonvolatile memory 9 where the write request is made (step S206), and the write process is terminated.

  If it is determined in step S204 that the area requested for writing is not an area cached in the nonvolatile memory 9, the controller 7 updates the area requested for writing in the table of the nonvolatile memory 9. It is determined whether information has already been recorded (step S207). As a result of the determination, when it is determined that there is already update information for the corresponding area in the table, the update information includes the position and data of the area where the write request is made. Therefore, the controller 7 overwrites only the data portion in the update information of the corresponding area (step S208) and ends the writing process.

  If it is determined in step S207 that update information for the area requested to be written is not recorded in the table of the nonvolatile memory 9, the controller 7 uses the position and data of the area requested to be written as update information. The data is recorded in the table (step S209), and the writing process is terminated.

  FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a read process when the controller 7 receives a read request from the activation program.

  First, when receiving a read request (step S301), the controller 7 determines whether the disk array 8 is usable (step S302). If the disk array 8 is usable as a result of the determination, the requested data is read from the disk array 8 (step S303), and the process is terminated.

  If it is determined in step S302 that the disk array 8 is not yet usable, the controller 7 determines whether the area requested to be read corresponds to an area cached in the nonvolatile memory 9 (step S304). As a result of the determination, if the read request is for an area cached in the nonvolatile memory 9, the controller 7 reads the data requested to be read (step S305) and ends the process.

  If it is determined in step S304 that the area requested to be read is not an area cached in the nonvolatile memory 9, the controller 7 updates the area requested to be read in the table of the nonvolatile memory 9. It is determined whether information has already been recorded (step S306). As a result of the determination, when it is determined that there is already update information for the corresponding area in the table, the data in the update information is read (step S307), and the process ends.

  If it is determined in step S306 that the update information for the area requested to be read is not recorded in the table of the nonvolatile memory 9, the controller 7 responds to the read request until the disk array 8 becomes usable. Since the corresponding data cannot be acquired, it is waiting for reading. Therefore, for this read request, the address at which the read request is made is recorded in the cache addition table (step S308), and the process returns to step S302. The cache addition table caches the recorded area in the nonvolatile memory 9 so as not to wait for reading when the disk array 8 becomes usable after the disk array 8 becomes usable. It is a table for.

  FIG. 4 shows a data configuration example of the nonvolatile memory 9. A state immediately after the nonvolatile memory 9 is turned on is shown as a nonvolatile memory 91. The non-volatile memory 91 is provided with two areas, and one area is a cache 200 that records data necessary for OS startup and device driver data. The other area is a table 210 for recording update information.

  If a read request from the OS or device driver is made when the disk array 8 is not usable, the controller 7 reads the cache 200 from the nonvolatile memory 9 if necessary data is recorded in the cache 200. As a result, even if the disk array 8 is not usable, the controller 7 reads data from the cache 200, so that the startup time can be shortened.

  If there is a write request while the disk array 8 is not usable, the controller 7 writes to the nonvolatile memory 9. When this write request is a write request to the cache 200 of the non-volatile memory 9, the position of the area where the write request has been made is written in the table 210 as update information, and at the same time, the data is written to the corresponding area 220 of the cache 200. Write. The state of the nonvolatile memory in which writing has been completed is shown in the nonvolatile memory 92 in FIG.

  When there is a write request to the cache 200, the data is directly written to the cache 200, and when there is a subsequent read request to the area of the cache 200, the cache 200 can be directly read. Note that there is a possibility that a plurality of pieces of update information for the cache 200 exist because the position of the area requested to be written is written in the table 210 each time the writing process is performed. However, the update information in this case includes only the position of the area where the write request is made, and only one piece of updated data is registered in the cache 200. Therefore, when reading, the table 210 is not referred to and data is read from the cache 200, so that the processing time can be shortened.

  If the write request is a write request to a location other than the cache 200 of the nonvolatile memory 9, the position and data of the area where the write request is made are written in the table 210 as update information 221. At this time, if the update information for the position of the area where the write request has been made is already in the table 210, only the data portion of the corresponding update information is updated. The state of the nonvolatile memory 9 that has been written is shown in the nonvolatile memory 93 of FIG.

  In this example, when the update information for the position of the area requested to be written is already in the table 210, new update information is not written in the table 210, and only the data portion of the existing update information is updated. As a result, even when there are two or more pieces of update information for the same region, it is possible to avoid having multiple pieces of data in the update information and register only one piece of update information for the same region. As a result, the processing time can be shortened and the table area can be used effectively.

  Further, when the read request is a read request to a non-volatile memory 9 other than the cache 200 and the position and data of the requested area are recorded in the table 210 as the update information 221, the update is performed. Data is read from information 221. Here, when there is no data of the corresponding area in the update information of the table 210, the position of the area is recorded in the table 210 as a cache addition table.

The flowchart in FIG. 5 shows a data update process to the disk array.
After the disk array 8 becomes usable, the controller 7 writes back the write request temporarily recorded in the nonvolatile memory 9 to the disk array 8.
Hereinafter, referring to FIG. 5, the controller 7 first determines whether the disk array 8 is usable (step S501). Here, when it is not usable, it waits until it becomes usable.

When usable, the controller 7 reads one update information from the table (step S502), and determines whether the read update information is update information for the cache of the nonvolatile memory 9 (step S503).
If the update information is update information for the cache in step S503, the data at the corresponding position in the cache is read (step S504), and the read data is written to the disk array 8 (step S506).

  If the update information is not update information for the cache in step S503, the update information includes not only the position of the area where the write request is made but also the data. Therefore, the data is read (step S505) and written to the disk array 8 (step S506).

  The update information written in the disk array 8 is deleted from the table (step S507), and it is determined whether there is still update information (step S508). If there is still update information, the process returns to step S502. If it is determined in step S508 that there is no update information, the process ends and all the update information is written back to the disk array 8.

By performing this process, the write request temporarily recorded in the nonvolatile memory 9 can be written back to the disk array 8.
Even if the power is cut off during the start-up and the write request is not written back to the disk array 8, the temporary write request is recorded in the nonvolatile memory 9, so that the update information is lost. However, when the power is turned on again and the disk array 8 becomes usable, it can be written back.

Next, an example of cache update processing that is executed when the cache addition table is read in step S308 of the flowchart of FIG. 3 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.
First, it is determined whether there is a write in the cache addition table (step S601). If there is no writing, the processing here ends.
If there is a write in the cache addition table, one record is read from the cache addition table (step S602), and data is read from the corresponding part of the disk array 8 (step S603). The data read from the disk array 8 is registered in the cache (step S604). Then, one piece of the registered data is deleted from the cache addition table (step S605), the process returns to step S601, and the processing so far is repeated until the processing of all cases is completed.

  By performing the writing process in this way, it is possible to continue the processing without waiting for writing even for a write request generated before the disk array 8 becomes usable. If the read process according to this example is a read request to a cached area or an area where a write request as update information is recorded in the table, the read request until the disk array 8 becomes usable is used. Since it does not wait for reading, the startup time can be shortened.

  In the above-described embodiment, the disk array is applied to a configuration in which a plurality of hard disk drive devices are connected. However, a substantially similar disk array is configured by a storage device using other storage media. It may be applied to anything. Instead of a disk array using a plurality of storage means, a storage means constituted by a storage means such as a single hard disk drive device may be used.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Computer apparatus, 2 ... CPU (central control unit), 3 ... MCH (memory control hub), 4 ... ICH (input / output controller hub), 5 ... ROM, 6 ... RAM, 7 ... Controller, 8 ... Disk array, DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Memory | storage device, 11 ... Video output part, 12 ... User operation input / output part, 80, 81, 82 ... HDD (hard disk drive device)

Claims (5)

A storage device capable of reading and writing data;
A non-volatile memory capable of temporarily storing the data and capable of caching necessary data when starting the OS;
A cache area provided in a predetermined area of the nonvolatile memory, in which information necessary for starting the OS is recorded;
A table provided in a predetermined area of the non-volatile memory, in which data positions included in the cache area, and contents and positions of data not included in the cache area are recorded;
If there is a write request to the storage device before the storage device is activated and usable, the write request is for an area cached in the nonvolatile memory. The cache location where the request was made is recorded in the table as update information, the data is overwritten in the area where the write request is made in the cache, and the area where the write request is cached in the nonvolatile memory Instead, if it is determined that update information for the area requested to be written is already recorded in the table, only the data portion of the update information for the area requested to be written is overwritten. And not the area where the write request is cached in the non-volatile memory. When the update information for the region where the a writing request in the table is determined not to be recorded, comprising a controller for recording in the table the position and data of the a writing request area as the update information Information processing device.   The controller, when a write request to the storage device before the storage device becomes usable is a write request to a location not stored in the nonvolatile memory, the data and the position are The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the information processing apparatus is stored in a table.   The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the controller performs a detection process for detecting that the storage device is usable.   If there is a write request or a read request before the storage device is usable, the controller determines whether the requested area is cached in the nonvolatile memory, and the storage device 3. An area for which a write request or a read request to an area that has not been cached in the nonvolatile memory is newly cached from the storage device to the nonvolatile memory after the memory becomes usable. The information processing apparatus described.   The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the storage device is a storage device that stores data in a distributed manner in a disk array having a plurality of storage media.

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