Efficient scrubbing of mirrored memory

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2018232163-A1
Application number	US-201715432972-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Feb 15, 2017
Priority date	Feb 15, 2017
Publication date	Aug 16, 2018
Grant date	—

Abstract

A method comprising of allocating a main memory partition and a mirrored memory partition, a mirrored copy of the main memory partition, of a mirrored memory system for scrubbing. The method also comprises of dividing the main memory partition into a first main portion and a second main portion and dividing the mirrored memory partition into a first mirrored portion and a second mirrored portion. The method determines a full scrub cycle that only scrubs a portion of the main memory channel and a portion of the mirrored memory partition, the full scrub cycle including scrubbing a main scrub portion, one of the first and the second main portions, and a mirrored scrub portion, one of the first and the second mirrored portions. The method initiates the full scrub cycle which includes a combination of memory portions, equivalent to a memory address range of the main memory partition.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A computer-implemented method of scrubbing a computer memory of a computing device in a mirrored memory system, the computer-implemented method comprising:
allocating a main memory partition of a mirrored memory system and a mirrored memory partition of the mirrored memory system for scrubbing, the mirrored memory partition being a mirrored copy of the main memory partition, dividing the main memory partition into a first main memory portion and a second main memory portion; dividing the mirrored memory partition into a first mirrored memory portion and a second mirrored memory portion; determining a full scrub cycle that only scrubs a portion of the main memory partition and a portion of the mirrored memory partition, the full scrub cycle including scrubbing a main memory scrub portion and a mirrored memory scrub portion, the main memory scrub portion being one of the first and the second main memory portions and the mirrored memory scrub portion being one of the first and the second mirrored memory portions; and initiating the full scrub cycle; wherein: the full scrub cycle includes a combination of memory portions, the combination being equivalent to a memory address range of the main memory partition.

2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining the main memory scrub portion of the main memory partition and the mirrored memory scrub portion of the mirrored memory partition scrubbed during performance of a most recent scrubbing of the computer memory of the computing device; determining an expiration of a predetermined period of time since completion of the most recent scrubbing of the computer memory of the computing device; and initiating a consecutive scrubbing of the computer memory of the computing device, wherein the main memory scrub portion of the main memory partition and the mirrored memory scrub portion of the mirrored memory partition that are scrubbed is alternated from the main memory scrub portion of the main memory partition and the mirrored memory scrub portion of the mirrored memory partition scrubbed during the most recent previous scrubbing of the memory of the computing device.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the main memory scrub portion of the main memory partition includes one half of the computer memory of the main memory partition and the mirrored memory scrub portion of the mirrored memory partition includes one half of the computer memory of the mirrored memory partition, wherein content of the main memory scrub portion of the main memory partition, and content of the mirrored memory partition of the mirrored memory partition, are distinct.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein allocating the main memory partition and the mirrored memory partition is performed on a network connected to a remote computing device.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the main memory scrub portion of the main memory partition and the mirrored memory scrub portion of the mirrored memory partition include non-consecutive portions of respective memory partitions.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the memory address range of the computing device includes more than two partitions of memory, and the combination of at least one portion of all partitions of memory is equivalent to one complete partition of memory, and each of the more than two partitions of memory is a duplicate.

7 . The method of claim 6 , wherein the computing device includes a redundant array of independent disks (RAID).

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the computer memory of the computing device utilizes the mirrored memory system, wherein the mirrored memory system includes the main memory partition and the mirrored memory partition that in combination defines the memory address range of the computing device, and wherein the mirrored memory partition is a copy of the main memory partition.

9 . A computer program product for scrubbing a computer memory of a computing device in a mirrored memory system, the computer program product comprising:
one or more computer-readable storage media, and program instructions stored on the one or more computer-readable storage media, executable by one or more processors, the stored program instructions comprising:
program instructions to allocate a main memory partition of a mirrored memory system and a mirrored memory partition of the mirrored memory system for scrubbing, the mirrored memory partition being a mirrored copy of the main memory partition,
program instructions to divide the main memory partition into a first main memory portion and a second main memory portion;
program instructions to divide the mirrored memory partition into a first mirrored memory portion and a second mirrored memory portion;
program instructions to determine a full scrub cycle that only scrubs a portion of the main memory partition and a portion of the mirrored memory partition, the full scrub cycle including scrubbing a main memory scrub portion and a mirrored memory scrub portion, the main memory scrub portion being one of the first and the second main memory portions and the mirrored memory scrub portion being one of the first and the second mirrored memory portions; and
program instructions to initiate the full scrub cycle;
wherein:
the full scrub cycle includes a combination of memory portions, the combination being equivalent to a memory address range of the main memory partition.

10 . The computer program product of claim 9 , the stored program instructions further comprising:
program instructions to determine the main memory scrub portion of the main memory partition and the mirrored memory scrub portion of the mirrored memory partition scrubbed during performance of a most recent scrubbing of the computer memory of the computing device; program instructions to determine an expiration of a predetermined period of time since completion of the most recent scrubbing of the computer memory of the computing device; and program instructions to initiate a consecutive scrubbing of the computer memory of the computing device, wherein the main memory scrub portion of the main memory partition and the mirrored memory scrub portion of the mirrored memory partition that are scrubbed is alternated from the main memory scrub portion of the main memory partition and the mirrored memory scrub portion of the mirrored memory partition scrubbed during the most recent previous scrubbing of the memory of the computing device.

11 . The computer program product of claim 9 , wherein the main memory scrub portion of the main memory partition includes one half of the computer memory of the main memory partition and the mirrored memory scrub portion of the mirrored memory partition includes one half of the computer memory of the mirrored memory partition, wherein content of the main memory scrub portion of the main memory partition, and content of the mirrored memory partition of the mirrored memory partition, are distinct.

12 . The computer program product of claim 9 , wherein allocating the main memory partition and the mirrored memory partition is performed on a network connected to a remote computing device.

13 . The computer program product of claim 9 , wherein the main memory scrub portion of the main memory partition and the mirrored memory scrub portion of the mirrored memory partition include non-consecutive portions of respective memory partitions.

14 . The computer program product of claim 9 , wherein the memory address range of the computing device includes more than two partitions of memory, and the combination of at least one portion of all partitions of memory is

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Chinnakkonda Vidyapoornachary Diyanesh B
• Gollub Marc A
• Raghavendra Preetham H

Classifications

• G06F3/065

  Replication mechanisms · CPC title

• G06F11/1048

  using arrangements adapted for a specific error detection or correction feature · CPC title

• G06F3/067

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

• G06F3/0644

  Management of space entities, e.g. partitions, extents, pools · CPC title

• G06F3/0619 Primary

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