Patent · US Expired

Method and apparatus for recovering from failure of a mirrored boot device

US6785838B2 · kind B2 · utility

10Cited by
5References
59Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateFeb 13, 2001
Grant dateAug 31, 2004
Priority date
Expiry dateSep 6, 2022

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG06F11/2082
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A system and method are provided for recovering from the failure of a mirrored boot device (e.g., disk drive). One method is implemented for a computer system that mirrors two (or more) boot devices. If one of the devices fails, a set of compensating activities is performed, which may include removing the failed device from the list of devices from which the system may boot, deleting mirror state data from the device and removing the failed device from the mirroring scheme. After the failed device is repaired or replaced, a set of reintegrating activities is performed, which may include including the device in the mirroring scheme, restoring mirror state data to the device and adding the device to the list of boot devices. Even if the system includes only two mirrored boot devices and one of them fails, it can continue operation and can reboot successfully without using stale data.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.