JPH09319692A - Computer system and device control method for the same - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To secure compatibility with a different machine type together with a sure data protecting function by easily enabling application to the different machine type of peripheral device or the main body of a system as well concerning a computer system adopting a duplex system for controlling the peripheral device through plural control routes. SOLUTION: When this system has the plural control routes for controlling the input/output of the peripheral device such as a hard disk device 3, for example, and is provided with a function for performing control while switching the control route at the time of fault generation, this system has a virtual device driver 11 for executing the input/output operation of the peripheral device 3 by operating a standard device driver 12 corresponding to the input/output instruction of the peripheral device from an OS 10, The virtual device driver 11 is a device driver registered inside a main body 1 of the system and has a function for detecting the fault in the operation of input/output to the peripheral device and a function for switching the control route.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a computer system having a device driver for controlling a peripheral device such as a hard disk drive and having a function of controlling by switching a plurality of control routes.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in computer systems such as personal computers and workstations, a control program called a device driver for controlling peripheral devices such as a hard disk device (HDD) is prepared. The device driver is mounted on a dedicated board (for example, a SCSI board for HDD) for each peripheral device or is registered as a system file of the system body and used under the control of an operating system (hereinafter referred to as OS). .

Here, especially in a workstation or the like,
Input / output paths (consisting of input / output ports and buses) for data storage devices such as HDDs to increase the reliability of data protection
Has been developed. In such a duplex system, a dedicated board on which a control board (control module for controlling input / output) corresponding to each input / output path is mounted is used. The dedicated board has a device driver ROM common to each control board.
It is implemented by a non-volatile memory such as.

The OS of the system main body normally executes an input / output operation of reading data from the HDD or writing data to the HDD via a predetermined input / output path and a control module. When a failure occurs in this normal control route (input / output route and control module), the other control route is switched to perform the input / output operation.

[0005]

As described above, a workstation or the like has a plurality of control routes, and when a failure occurs in one, the control route is switched to the other control route.
Performs I / O operations to peripheral devices such as HDD 2
A duplexing method is adopted. As a result, the data stored in the HDD or the like can be surely protected, and the reliability of the entire system can be improved. However, the duplex system requires a dedicated board on which a dedicated device driver having the functions of detecting the fault and switching the input / output path is mounted. Therefore, it has a special specification,
It is difficult to maintain compatibility, for example, it cannot be applied to system main bodies and HDDs of different models (OS).

An object of the present invention is to make it possible to easily apply to a system main body of a different model (OS) and peripheral devices in a system adopting a duplex system for controlling peripheral devices by a plurality of control routes. It is to ensure compatibility with the data protection function against failures.

[0007]

The present invention has a plurality of control routes for controlling input / output of peripheral devices such as a hard disk device, and has a function of switching the control routes when a failure occurs. Computer system. This system operates the standard device control means in response to an input / output instruction of a peripheral device issued from a central processing unit which is normally operated by the OS, and executes the input / output operation of the peripheral device via one control route. It has a main body side device control means. The main body side device control means is a device driver registered inside the system main body, and has a function of detecting a failure in input / output operation with respect to a peripheral device and a function of switching a control route.

With the system having such a configuration, the OS of the system main body recognizes the main body side device control means as, so to speak, a virtual device driver without being aware of the duplication method consisting of a plurality of control routes. When a failure occurs in the normal control route, the main body side device control means switches to the other control route and executes the input / output operation. Therefore, the input / output data between the system body and the peripheral device can be surely protected. Furthermore, the specifications of the peripheral device including the standard device control means can be changed, and the peripheral device of different models can be applied to the system main body without changing the specifications. In other words, it is not necessary to provide a dedicated device driver corresponding to the function of the main body side device control means on the control board corresponding to the peripheral device, so that the peripheral device of the duplex system is used for the system main body of different models. Can also be applied.

[0009]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a system configuration related to this embodiment, FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram of a system of this embodiment, and FIG. 3 is a flow chart for explaining the operation of this embodiment. (System Configuration) In the computer system of this embodiment, a workstation such as a UNIX machine is assumed as the system main body 1, and a hard disk device (HDD) 3 as a peripheral device and a duplication for performing input / output control of the HDD 3 It is assumed that a control board (SCSI board, etc.) 2 is used.

The system body 1 is a central processing unit (CP).
U) Operating system (O) that determines the behavior of
S) A device driver (standard device driver 1) related to the present embodiment as a device driver for controlling various peripheral devices under the control of 10.
2 referred to as a virtual device driver) 11. The virtual device driver 11 is a control program that is registered in a system file when the system is activated and is incorporated in the system body 1 that is activated in response to access from the OS 10.

The virtual device driver 11 is the OS 10
And standard device driver 1 mounted on the control board 2
2 and communicates input / output commands from the OS 10 to the standard device driver 12. Further, the virtual device driver 11 has a function of recognizing an abnormality in the input / output operation and detecting a failure in the control route by an error signal transmitted from the standard device driver 12. The error signal includes signals corresponding to various errors such as a read error corresponding to the read access to the HDD 3. When the virtual device driver 11 detects a failure in the control route, it has a function of instructing the standard device driver 12 to switch the control route and executing another input / output operation.

The control board 2 has control boards 13A and 13B (hereinafter referred to as boards A and B) corresponding to the plurality of input / output paths 14A and 14B of the HDD 3 mounted therein, and the standard device driver described above. 1
Controlled by 2 to perform input / output operation. The standard device driver 12 is a control program stored in, for example, a non-volatile memory such as a ROM, and communicates with the virtual device driver 11 to board A or board B.
The input / output control of the HDD 3 is executed via one of the two.

The input / output paths 14A and 14B are components including an interface bus for transferring input / output data (read data and write data) of the HDD 3 and an input / output port. In this embodiment, the input / output path 14A and the board A are defined as one control route, and the input / output path 14B and the board B are defined as the other control route.

The control board 2 of the present embodiment has a plurality of control routes according to the duplication method, and is otherwise the same as the control board for controlling the HDD by a single control route. (System Operation) The operation of this embodiment will be described below with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

First, in this embodiment, the system body 1
In addition, it is assumed that the virtual device driver 11 is incorporated. Normally, the virtual device driver 11 is registered in the system file in the same manner as the device driver for each peripheral device (step S).
1).

The OS 10 accesses the virtual device driver 11 when an access request to the HDD 3 is generated by the application program set in the system body 1 (step S2). The virtual device driver 11 transmits the input / output command from the OS 10 to the standard device driver 12 mounted on the control board.

The standard device driver 12 controls the input / output operation with respect to the HDD 3 via the board A and the input / output path 14A which are normally one control route (step S5). That is, in the case of read access, HD
The data stored in D3 is read and the system main unit 1
Transfer to. In the case of write access, the data transferred from the system body 1 is written in the disk of the HDD 3.

Here, the standard device driver 12 is
When an error such as a read error is detected when the HDD 3 is accessed, the error signal is communicated to the virtual device driver 11. Virtual device driver 1
1 has information for judging in advance according to the type of error signal, and detects that a failure has occurred in the control route (board A or input / output path 14A) based on this judgment (YES in step S4). Upon detection of this failure, the virtual device driver 11 communicates to the standard device driver 12 to switch to the other control route and continue the input / output operation.

The standard device driver 12 controls the re-input / output operation for the HDD 3 via the other control route, the board B and the input / output path 14B (step S6). Even when the input / output operation is performed again by the other control route, when an error is detected, the virtual device driver 11 determines that a failure other than the control route has occurred, and notifies the OS 10 of a normal error (step). YES in S7, S8). However, the virtual device driver 11 of the present embodiment is not indispensable for the function of error processing for failures other than the control route.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, in the duplex system in which the input / output operation of the HDD 3 is controlled by a plurality of control routes, the virtual device driver 11 incorporated in the system body 1 causes a failure of the control route. The detection and the switching process of the control route accompanying it are executed. Therefore, in the case of a computer having the virtual device driver 11 like this embodiment in advance, by using the control boards A and B corresponding to the duplex system and the control board having the standard device driver 12 mounted, Peripheral devices of the duplex system can be accessed. That is, it is possible to use a dual peripheral device having an excellent data protection function without using a special-purpose special board.

In other words, in the system of the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2, the OS 10 of the system main body 1 is configured to access the virtual device 20 on which the virtual device driver 11 is mounted, which is, so to speak, standard. The HDD 3 can be used without concern for the lower layers below the device driver 12.
Can be used. In short, I / O commands and I / O data for accessing the HDD 3 are apparently O
This is a system for exchanging between S10 and the virtual device driver 11. Therefore, even if the standard control board 2 including the standard device driver 12 and the HDD 3 are changed to different models, the same function can be realized. Since the system main body 1 can access the peripheral device without preparing a dedicated board for controlling the peripheral device of the duplex system, it is easy to ensure compatibility.

[0022]

As described above in detail, according to the present invention, a failure detection function and a control route are switched in a computer system adopting a dual system for controlling a peripheral device such as a hard disk device by a plurality of control routes. With the configuration in which the device driver having the function is incorporated into the system main body, the peripheral device can be surely controlled even when the model of the duplex type peripheral device and the control board is changed. In other words, since it can be easily applied to system main bodies of different models (OS), it is possible to secure compatibility with different models as well as a data protection function against a failure.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a system configuration related to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram of a system related to the present embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the embodiment.

[Explanation of Codes] 1 ... System main body 2 ... Control board (standard device control means) 3 ... Hard disk device (peripheral device) 10 ... Operating system (OS) 11 ... Virtual device driver (main body side device control means) 12 ... Standard Device driver 13A, 13B ... Control board (control module) 14A, 14B ... Input / output path 20 ... Virtual device

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A computer system comprising a system main body having a central processing unit and a peripheral device, and a standard for controlling input / output of the peripheral device via one of a plurality of control routes according to an instruction from the system main body. Device control means, provided inside the system body, operates the standard device control means in response to an input / output command of the peripheral device issued from the central processing unit, and operates the standard device control means. The main body side having a function of executing switching of the control route when a failure of input / output operation with respect to the peripheral device is detected based on information of the above, and executing the input / output command via the standard device control means. A computer system comprising a device control means. 2. The main body side device control means is a first control program registered inside a system main body, and the plurality of control routes are composed of a plurality of input / output routes and corresponding control modules. The standard device control means comprises a second control program for controlling the peripheral device via one of the plurality of control routes, and the first control program and the second control program can communicate with each other. It is a structure, The claim 1 characterized by the above-mentioned.
Computer system as described. 3. A computer system having a device driver for controlling a data storage device, which is a peripheral device, under the control of an operating system of the system main body, and a plurality of input / outputs connected to the data storage device. A control module board that mounts a plurality of control modules corresponding to each of the paths, selects one of the control modules, and mounts a standard device driver that controls the input / output of the data storage device; A control program registered inside the main body, which communicates with the standard device driver in response to an input / output command from the operating system, and through a predetermined input / output path and a control module to the data storage device. To perform input / output operation by the standard device control means. Based on the broadcast to execute the switching of the output path and the control module when a fault is detected in the input and output operations with respect to the data storage device, the virtual device of the data storage device to the operating system
A computer system comprising: a device control unit that functions as a driver. 4. The device control means is registered in a file managed by the operating system, and is accessed by the operating system when an access request to the data storage device is made by an application program of the system body. 4. The computer system according to claim 3, wherein the computer system is a specific control program that is activated by the following. 5. A device control method applied to a computer system for controlling a peripheral device by a device driver under the control of the operating system of the system body, wherein the peripheral device is in accordance with an input / output command from the operating system. Registering a virtual device driver including a control program for executing the I / O operation of the virtual device driver in a file managed by the operating system, and the virtual device driver in response to an access request from the system body to the peripheral device. And a standard device driver for controlling input / output of the peripheral device by selecting one of the control modules corresponding to each of the plurality of input / output paths connected to the peripheral device. A standard device driver controlling input / output of the peripheral device by communication from the virtual device driver; and the virtual device driver inputs / outputs to / from the peripheral device based on information from the standard device driver. When a failure in operation is detected, the step of switching the input / output path and the control module to continue the input / output operation of the peripheral device is performed.