Validation of storage arrays based on information stored in global metadata

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016019003-A1
Application number	US-201514869844-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Sep 29, 2015
Priority date	Oct 18, 2012
Publication date	Jan 21, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

A director node of a plurality of nodes determines a plurality of data arrays, where the plurality of data arrays have been discovered at boot time. The director node determines global metadata information, based on reading boot sectors of at least one of the plurality of data arrays discovered at boot time. A determination is made from the global metadata information as to how many data arrays had been previously configured. In response to determining that the plurality of data arrays discovered at boot time is not equal in number to the previously configured data arrays, the director node determines that all configured data arrays have not been discovered.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method, comprising:
maintaining, via a processor, a current set of three global metadata arrays, wherein a boot sector in each of the three global metadata arrays stores pointer records pointing to the current set of the three global metadata arrays, wherein each of the three global metadata arrays stores global metadata information including a number of previously configured data arrays; determining, by a director node, based on reading boot sectors of at least one of a plurality of data arrays discovered at boot time, the global metadata information that stores the number of previously configured data arrays; and in response to determining that the plurality of data arrays discovered by the director node at the boot time is not equal in number to the number of previously configured data arrays, determining that all configured data arrays have not been discovered.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein boot sectors of other data arrays besides the global metadata arrays do not store pointer records pointing to the current set of global metadata arrays.

3 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the three metadata arrays comprise a primary, a secondary, and a tertiary data array.

4 . The method of claim 3 , wherein the wherein the director node synchronizes the global metadata information among the primary, the secondary, and the tertiary data arrays.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein an error is transmitted if all configured data arrays have not been discovered.

6 . A system in communication with a plurality of nodes, the system comprising:
a memory; and a processor coupled to the memory, wherein the processor performs operations, the operations comprising: maintaining a current set of three global metadata arrays, wherein a boot sector in each of the three global metadata arrays stores pointer records pointing to the current set of the three global metadata arrays, wherein each of the three global metadata arrays stores global metadata information including a number of previously configured data arrays; determining, based on reading boot sectors of at least one of a plurality of data arrays discovered at boot time, the global metadata information that stores the number of previously configured data arrays; and in response to determining that the plurality of data arrays discovered at the boot time is not equal in number to the number of previously configured data arrays, determining that all configured data arrays have not been discovered.

7 . The system of claim 6 , wherein boot sectors of other data arrays besides the global metadata arrays do not store pointer records pointing to the current set of global metadata arrays.

8 . The system of claim 7 , wherein the three metadata arrays comprise a primary, a secondary, and a tertiary data array.

9 . The system of claim 8 , wherein the wherein the operations further comprise synchronizing the global metadata information among the primary, the secondary, and the tertiary data arrays.

10 . The system of claim 6 , wherein an error is transmitted if all configured data arrays have not been discovered.

11 . A computer program product, the computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code embodied therewith, the computer readable program code configured to perform operations, the operations comprising:
maintaining, via a processor, a current set of three global metadata arrays, wherein a boot sector in each of the three global metadata arrays stores pointer records pointing to the current set of the three global metadata arrays, wherein each of the three global metadata arrays stores global metadata information including a number of previously configured data arrays; determining, by a director node, based on reading boot sectors of at least one of a plurality of data arrays discovered at boot time, the global metadata information that stores the number of previously configured data arrays; and in response to determining that the plurality of data arrays discovered by the director node at the boot time is not equal in number to the number of previously configured data arrays, determining that all configured data arrays have not been discovered.

12 . The computer program product of claim 11 , wherein boot sectors of other data arrays besides the global metadata arrays do not store pointer records pointing to the current set of global metadata arrays.

13 . The computer program product of claim 12 , wherein the three metadata arrays comprise a primary, a secondary, and a tertiary data array.

14 . The computer program product of claim 13 , wherein the wherein the director node synchronizes the global metadata information among the primary, the secondary, and the tertiary data arrays.

15 . The computer program product of claim 11 , wherein an error is transmitted if all configured data arrays have not been discovered.

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Grusy Ellen J
• Lovrien Kurt A
• Nielsen Karl A
• Sheppard Jacob L

Classifications

• G06F3/0619

  in relation to data integrity, e.g. data losses, bit errors · CPC title

• G06F3/0632 Primary

  by initialisation or re-initialisation of storage systems · CPC title

• G06F3/0689

  Disk arrays, e.g. RAID, JBOD · CPC title

• G06F3/067

  Distributed or networked storage systems, e.g. storage area networks [SAN], network attached storage [NAS] · CPC title