Electrical computers and digital data processing systems: input/ – Input/output data processing – Peripheral configuration
Reexamination Certificate
2001-06-15
2004-12-07
Gaffin, Jeffrey (Department: 2182)
Electrical computers and digital data processing systems: input/
Input/output data processing
Peripheral configuration
C710S010000, C710S015000, C710S016000, C710S017000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06829657
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates generally to a method and/or architecture for supporting general enclosure wiring when associating devices on a loop generally, and more particularly, a method and/or architecture for supporting general enclosure wiring when associating SCSI enclosure service (SES) data with physical devices on a fibre channel loop.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
In a fibre channel (FC) environment with soft addressing, correlation of the physical tray/slot location of a drive to a device discovered on the loop can be difficult. The difficulties can occur for redundant array of inexpensive disks (RAID) algorithms that can result in data integrity issues. For example, if a particular drive fails, a controller turns on a fault LED to indicate to the user which drive has failed. Turning on the correct LED is critical, since the fault LED indicates which drive to replace. To turn on the fault LED in the external drive enclosure (i.e. tray), SCSI enclosure service (SES) commands are used. Thus, a correct mapping to the SES drive slot and the fibre channel device is required.
In a development of an algorithm for correct mapping of devices, specific knowledge of the internal wiring of a particular drive may not be required. This may be beneficial as it may allow multiple drive trays from multiple vendors to be accommodated. However, utilizing broad assumptions in the development of the algorithm for correct mapping of devices may not support all types of internal wiring. Consequently, a system and method of supporting general enclosure wiring when associating data with physical devices is required.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, the present invention directed to a system and method for supporting general enclosure wiring when associating data with physical devices. In one embodiment of the invention, a method and system of the present invention may be capable of supporting general enclosure wiring when associating SES data with physical devices on a fibre channel loop with soft addresses.
The present invention concerns an apparatus comprising one or more enclosures and a controller. The one or more enclosures may include one or more drives. The controller may be configured to correctly map correlating addresses to the one or more drives.
It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory only and are not restrictive of the invention claimed. The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of the specification, illustrate an embodiment of the invention and together with the general description, serve to explain the principles of the invention.
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Lynn James A.
Mereddy Pramodh K.
Chen Alan
Gaffin Jeffrey
LSI Logic Corporation
Suiter - West PC LLO
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