Method and apparatus for polling and selecting any paired device in any drawer

Claim 3

A device adapter as defined in claim 1, wherein the mirror pairing maintained by the device adapter includes a primary disk drive device from a first drawer and a paired disk drive device from a second drawer different from the first drawer.

Claim 4

A device adapter as defined in claim 2, wherein all the primary disk drive devices are members of an identical drawer and all the paired disk drive devices are members of an identical drawer.

Claim 5

A computer system including: a central processor unit; a plurality of disk drive devices each having an I/O controller that manages a flow of data into and out of the corresponding disk drive device; a disk drive subsystem control unit that receives data read and write requests from users connected to the central processor unit; a device adapter that provides an interface between the disk drive devices and the disk drive subsystem control unit; a device adapter controller that receives requests for disk drive device status information from the disk drive subsystem control unit and receives interrupt signals from the disk drive devices that require servicing from the disk drive subsystem control unit; plurality of device electronic switch elements that provide an interface between the device adapter controller and the disk drive device I/O controllers; a device address table containing data that represents a physical address for each disk drive device; and a polling information table containing data that represents the disk drive device status information for the disk drive devices listed in the device address table; wherein the device adapter controller receives the disk drive device status information from the disk drive devices and dynamically changes the device address table and polling information table data for a disk drive device in response to disk drive device status information that indicates the disk drive device has failed; wherein the device adapter maintains the device address table and polling information table according to an arrangement of the disk drive devices into a drawer of devices that includes disk drive devices connected to predetermined ones of the device electronic switch elements; and wherein the device adapter maintains the device address table and polling information table according to a mirror pairing of disk drive devices in which write data received from the disk drive subsystem control unit is recorded into a mirror primary disk drive device and is recorded into a mirror paired disk drive device.

Claim 6

A computer system including: a central processor unit; a plurality of disk drive devices each having an I/O controller that manages a flow of data into and out of the corresponding disk drive device; a disk drive subsystem control unit that receives data read and write requests from users connected to the central processor unit; a device adapter that provides an interface between the disk drive devices and the disk drive subsystem control unit; a device adapter controller that receives requests for disk drive device status information from the disk drive subsystem control unit and receives interrupt signals from the disk drive devices that require servicing from the disk drive subsystem control unit; plurality of device electronic switch elements that provide an interface between the device adapter controller and the disk drive device I/O controllers; a device address table containing data that represents a physical address for each disk drive device; and a polling information table containing data that represents the disk drive device status information for the disk drive devices listed in the device address table; wherein the device adapter controller receives the disk drive device status information from the disk drive devices and dynamically changes the device address table and polling information table data for a disk drive device in response to disk drive device status information that indicates the disk drive device has failed; wherein the device adapter maintains the device address table and polling information table according to an arrangement of the disk drive devices into a drawer of devices that includes disk drive devices connected to predetermined ones of the device electronic switch elements; and wherein the device adapter maintains the device address table and polling information table according to a mirror pairing of disk drive devices in which write data received from the disk drive subsystem control unit is recorded into a mirror primary disk drive device and is recorded into a mirror paired disk drive device.

Claim 7

A computer system as defined in claim 4, wherein the mirror pairing maintained by the device adapter includes a primary disk drive device from a first drawer and a paired disk drive device from a second drawer different from the first drawer.

Claim 8

A computer system as defined in claim 5, wherein all the primary disk drive devices are members of an identical drawer and all the paired disk drive devices are members of an identical drawer.

Claim 11

A method as defined in claim 7, wherein the step of dynamically changing includes ignoring interrupt signals received from any one of the disk drive devices that has failed.

Claim 12

A method as defined in claim 7, wherein the step of receiving requests includes the steps of receiving write data from the disk drive subsystem control unit into a buffer memory; and recording the write data into a disk drive device designated a primary device and into a disk drive device designated a mirror paired device.

Claim 13

A method as defined in claim 7, wherein the step of dynamically changing includes the step of maintaining the device address table and polling information table according to an arrangement of the disk drive devices into a drawer of devices that includes disk drive devices connected to predetermined device electronic switch elements that provide an interface between the device adapter and the disk drive device I/O controllers.

Claim 16

A method as defined in claim 10, wherein the step of dynamically changing further includes maintaining a mirror pairing in which a primary disk drive device is selected from a first drawer and a paired disk drive device is selected from a second drawer different from the first drawer.

Claim 17

A method as defined in claim 12, wherein all the primary disk drive devices are members of an identical drawer and all the paired disk drive devices are members of an identical drawer.