Wayne A Booth

US Patent:

7484117, Jan 27, 2009

Filed:

Aug 19, 2005

Appl. No.:

11/207254

Inventors:

Wayne A. Booth - San Jose CA, US
Douglas W. Coatney - Cupertino CA, US

Assignee:

Network Appliance, Inc. - Sunnyvale CA

International Classification:

G06F 11/00

US Classification:

714 8, 714 7, 398 2, 398 3, 398 17

Abstract:

A drive shelf includes an embedded switching hub (ESH) that monitors Fibre Channel Arbitrated Loop (FC-AL) traffic, including loop initialization requests (LIRs), coming from drives attached to the ESH. When a number of LIRs issued by a single drive within a certain amount of time exceeds a threshold, the drive is bypassed. One threshold (a “burst” threshold) measures the number of LIRs issued within a short period of time. If the number exceeds a threshold that would prevent other data from circulating through the loop, the drive is bypassed. A second threshold (a long-term threshold) measures the number of LIRs issued within a longer period of time. If the drive issues a number of LIRs at a slower rate than the burst threshold, but still above the long-term threshold, the drive is bypassed.

US Patent:

7890810, Feb 15, 2011

Filed:

Feb 26, 2008

Appl. No.:

12/037818

Inventors:

Douglas W. Coatney - San Jose CA, US
Wayne A. Booth - Cupertino CA, US

Assignee:

Network Appliance, Inc. - Sunnyvale CA

International Classification:

G06F 11/00

US Classification:

714 41

Abstract:

A method and system for injecting a deterministic fault into storage shelves in a storage subsystem. The method comprises injecting a known fault condition on demand into a hardware component in a storage shelf to cause a failure of the storage shelf. The hardware component incorporates a circuit that is configurable to select between a normal operating condition and a faulty condition of the hardware component. The method further comprises verifying that a reported failure is consistent with the known fault condition.

US Patent:

7917665, Mar 29, 2011

Filed:

Apr 25, 2008

Appl. No.:

12/110138

Inventors:

Wayne Booth - San Jose CA, US
Melvin McGee - Gilroy CA, US

Assignee:

NetApp, Inc. - Sunnyvale CA

International Classification:

G06F 13/00

US Classification:

710 15, 710 14, 710 16, 710 17, 710 18, 710 19, 714 43, 714 47, 714 49

Abstract:

Method and system is provided where PHY state change (PHY CHANGE) notifications from one or more PHYs in a storage infrastructure are monitored as a potential error condition. The rate of PHY CHANGE notifications is monitored to determine if the rate of PHY CHANGE notifications may cause a loss of service or degrade I/O performance. An excessive rate of PHY CHANGE notification that may cause a loss of service is detected by comparing a current PHY CHANGE count with burst threshold value. The current PHY CHANGE count is also compared to an operational threshold value to detect if the rate of PHY CHANGE notification may result in degradation of overall I/O performance. If the PHY CHANGE count for a PHY equals or exceeds the burst threshold value or the operational threshold value, then the PHY is disabled.

US Patent:

7921336, Apr 5, 2011

Filed:

Feb 27, 2008

Appl. No.:

12/038413

Inventors:

Wayne Booth - San Jose CA, US
Feng Wang - Sunnyvale CA, US

Assignee:

NetApp, Inc. - Sunnyvale CA

International Classification:

G06F 11/00

US Classification:

714 48

Abstract:

A system and method are provided for avoiding categorization of non-error events as actual error events. This is accomplished by categorizing potential error events as actual error events or non-error events based on a proximity to a physical layer signal state change. By this feature, the result of the categorization may be used to more effectively avoid categorizing non-error events and accompanying noise, etc. , as actual error events. To this end, in various embodiments, more accurate error counting is afforded to preclude inadvertent disabling, etc. of a mass storage device or associated link that would otherwise result from a flawed error count.

US Patent:

7945702, May 17, 2011

Filed:

Nov 2, 2005

Appl. No.:

11/264874

Inventors:

Keith Son - Dublin CA, US
Richard I. Ely - San Jose CA, US
Wayne Booth - San Jose CA, US
Brad Reger - Dublin CA, US

Assignee:

NetApp, Inc. - Sunnyvale CA

International Classification:

G06F 3/00
G06F 13/00

US Classification:

710 3, 71 33

Abstract:

The present invention is a method and a system for dynamic mapping of a fiber channel loop ID in an ALPA loop. Based on reserved address information for the fiber channel system and a number of select ID bits for a slot ID, a dynamic drive mapping table is created. A unique address may be assigned to each drive and each controller in the ALPA loop. The created drive mapping table may be stored on logic decoding circuitry of an adaptor card coupled to each disk drive in the ALPA loop. When fiber channel loop ID signals are sent from a backplane, the fiber channel loop ID signals are translated into seven bits within an ALPA address range based on the dynamic drive mapping table. The converted signals may be sent to the disk drive coupled the adaptor card at boot up time.

US Patent:

8090881, Jan 3, 2012

Filed:

Mar 29, 2011

Appl. No.:

13/075065

Inventors:

Wayne Booth - San Jose CA, US
Melvin McGee - Gilroy CA, US

Assignee:

Netapp, Inc. - Sunnyvale CA

International Classification:

G06F 13/00

US Classification:

710 15, 710 14, 710 16, 710 17, 710 18, 710 19, 714 43, 714 49, 714 47

Abstract:

Method and system is provided where PHY state change (PHY CHANGE) notifications from one or more PHYs in a storage infrastructure are monitored as a potential error condition. The rate of PHY CHANGE notifications is monitored to determine if the rate of PHY CHANGE notifications may cause a loss of service or degrade I/O performance. An excessive rate of PHY CHANGE notification that may cause a loss of service is detected by comparing a current PHY CHANGE count with a burst threshold value. The current PHY CHANGE count is also compared to an operational threshold value to detect if the rate of PHY CHANGE notification may result in degradation of overall I/O performance. If the PHY CHANGE count for a PHY equals or exceeds the burst threshold value or the operational threshold value, then the PHY is disabled.

US Patent:

8156382, Apr 10, 2012

Filed:

Apr 29, 2008

Appl. No.:

12/111842

Inventors:

Wayne Booth - Mountain View CA, US
Melvin McGee - San Jose CA, US

Assignee:

NetApp, Inc. - Sunnyvale CA

International Classification:

G06F 11/00

US Classification:

714 472, 714 42, 714 471

Abstract:

A system and method are provided for counting storage-related error events using a sliding window. This is accomplished by counting error events that occur within a sliding window of time and triggering a reaction based on such count. By this feature, the error events are counted with additional accuracy so that a reaction will be appropriately triggered. To this end, in various embodiments, more accurate error counting is afforded to avoid a situation, such as in fixed sampling window frameworks, where an appropriate reaction is not triggered due to a failure to count an appropriate number error events in close proximity.

US Patent:

8219794, Jul 10, 2012

Filed:

Nov 3, 2009

Appl. No.:

12/611863

Inventors:

Feng Wang - Sunnyvale CA, US
Wayne Booth - San Jose CA, US

Assignee:

Network Appliance, Inc. - Sunnyvale CA

International Classification:

G06F 9/00
G06F 15/177
G06F 3/00
G06F 12/00
G06F 9/44
G06F 9/445

US Classification:

713 2, 713 1, 709222, 710 8, 711114, 717170, 717176

Abstract:

A storage system includes a storage server and a storage subsystem having an I/O module coupled to disks. The storage subsystem receives new firmware from the storage server for an I/O module in the storage subsystem. The storage subsystem stores state data for the I/O module. The storage subsystem reboots a CPU for the I/O module to load the new firmware and determines after reboot that the reboot was for loading the new firmware based on the stored state data. The storage subsystem initializes the I/O module to use the new firmware. The initialization of the I/O module is based on the stored state data, does not reset I/O routing hardware on the I/O module, and is independent of the I/O module processing a request to access data stored on disks coupled to the I/O module.