Abstract: Method and system are provided for storage capacity allocation. The method includes: providing a storage pool having multiple storage drive arrays; designating an initial available storage capacity in the storage pool; and allocating the remaining storage capacity in the storage pool to distributed spare space, wherein distributed spare space spreads portions of a spare drive across multiple storage drives in an array. The method also includes: monitoring an amount of available storage capacity as data is stored to the storage pool and determining when a threshold of a minimum available storage capacity is reached; and re-allocating one or more distributed spare drives from an array to available storage capacity when the threshold of the minimum available storage capacity is reached.

Abstract: Method and system are provided for storage capacity allocation. The method includes: providing a storage pool having multiple storage drive arrays; designating an initial available storage capacity in the storage pool; and allocating the remaining storage capacity in the storage pool to distributed spare space, wherein distributed spare space spreads portions of a spare drive across multiple storage drives in an array. The method also includes: monitoring an amount of available storage capacity as data is stored to the storage pool and determining when a threshold of a minimum available storage capacity is reached; and re-allocating one or more distributed spare drives from an array to available storage capacity when the threshold of the minimum available storage capacity is reached.

Abstract: Mechanisms are provided for cabling a set of enclosures. Using a set of cables that comprises eight physical layers (PHYs), the set of enclosures are coupled together such that: for a first enclosure and each intermediate enclosure in the set of enclosures, at least four PHYs of the eight PHYs terminate within a Serial Attached Small Computer System Interface (SCSI) (SAS) expander of the first enclosure and a SAS expander of each intermediate enclosure white passing through a remaining four PHYs of the eight PHYs without connecting to the respective SAS expander; and, for a last enclosure in the set of enclosures, all of the eight PHYs terminate in the SAS expander of the last enclosure.

Abstract: It is determined that a cache operation relating to the transfer of data between a cache memory and a data storage system is required. A state of a utilization model is received, the utilization model including requirements for utilization of resources of the data storage system over a time period, and the state indicating a cost of resource utilization associated with cache operations in the current time period. It is determined whether to perform the cache operation, based on the utilization requirements and the state of a utilization model. If the cache operation is not to be performed, and if the cache operation is a write operation, it is determined whether the cache memory is full. If so, the cache operation is managed according to an emergency cache management process; if not, the data associated with the cache operation is maintained in the cache memory.

Abstract: A fault-tolerant storage system includes a first strand comprising a first initiating device connected to a first expansion device of a first set of serially connected expansion devices, a second strand comprising a second initiating device connected to a first expansion device of a second set of serially connected expansion devices, and a plurality of zoning switches that each connect an expansion device in the first set of serially connected expansion devices to a corresponding expansion device in the second set of serially connected expansion devices. A computer program product and method executed by a computer corresponding to the above system are also disclosed herein.

Abstract: Operating a data storage system comprising a plurality of disk drives and a storage controller connected to the disk drives. A first subset and a second subset of the plurality of disk drives are operated as short stroked disk drives and non-short stroked disk drives, respectively. Priority storage spaces are defined including a high priority storage space, a moderate priority storage space, and a low priority storage space. Data is received including associated access rates for each portion of the data. One of the priority storage spaces is identified to store a portion of the data, based on the access rates for each portion of the data. Data accessed most frequently is stored in the high priority storage space, data accessed least frequently is stored in the low priority storage space, and the remaining data is stored in the moderate priority storage space.

Abstract: A storage drive array with available storage space for user data with storage capacity in the array allocated to distributed spare space. The distributed spare space spreads portions of a spare drive across multiple storage drives in the array. By monitoring the amount of spare space available in the array, a determination may be whether the amount of spare space falls below a threshold number of drives. If there is un-used space in the available storage space which is greater than one drive of space, a drive of space to spare space may be dynamically re-allocated in a distributed pattern across the drives of the array.

Abstract: An embodiment of the invention may include a method, computer program product and computer system for a cable removal system. The embodiment may include a computing device that determines whether a user is contacting a network cable. The network cable is physical connection between a first device and a second device. The first device includes at least one network port. The embodiment may include a computing device determining whether an information transmission across the network cable can be rerouted based on determining that the user is contacting the network cable. The embodiment may include a computing device rerouting information transmission based on determining that the information transmission across the network cable can be rerouted. The embodiment may include a computing device alerting the user that there is no information transmission across the network cable based on rerouting the information transmission.

Abstract: A method and system are provided for spare capacity usage for critical redundancy in storage arrays. The method may include monitoring a Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID) array to determine whether one or more redundancy units are at a critical level. A redundancy unit may be in a critical level when an additional drive failure will result in loss of data from the redundancy unit. The method may further include identifying available regions in the RAID array which are not allocated to user data in response to determining that a particular redundancy unit is critical. The method may further include determining an available region for the particular redundancy unit, where the available region is in a drive of the RAID array that does not contain data of the particular redundancy unit. The method may further include storing a critical stripe in the available region.

Abstract: Method and system are provided for storage capacity allocation. The method includes: providing a storage pool having multiple storage drive arrays; designating an initial available storage capacity in the storage pool; and allocating the remaining storage capacity in the storage pool to distributed spare space, wherein distributed spare space spreads portions of a spare drive across multiple storage drives in an array. The method also includes: monitoring an amount of available storage capacity as data is stored to the storage pool and determining when a threshold of a minimum available storage capacity is reached; and re-allocating one or more distributed spare drives from an array to available storage capacity when the threshold of the minimum available storage capacity is reached.

Abstract: Disclosed are methods and systems of managing a plurality of storage devices having a lifetime of a finite number of operations. An average number of storage devices reaching said lifetime of a finite number of operations per first unit time is calculated. For each one of the plurality of storage devices an estimated date when a finite number of operations will be reached is calculated. For each date, a variable related to the number of storage devices reaching said finite number of operations within a predetermined period of said date is set. For one or more variables having a value larger than average number of storage devices reaching said lifetime of a finite number of operations per first unit time, an action is carried out to reduce the number of storage devices reaching said lifetime per first unit of time.

Abstract: Disclosed are methods and systems of managing a plurality of storage devices having a lifetime of a finite number of operations. An average number of storage devices reaching said lifetime of a finite number of operations per first unit time is calculated. For each one of the plurality of storage devices an estimated date when a finite number of operations will be reached is calculated. For each date, a variable related to the number of storage devices reaching said finite number of operations within a predetermined period of said date is set. For one or more variables having a value larger than a value calculated using the date and said average number of storage devices reaching said lifetime within the predetermined period of said first unit of time, an action is carried out to reduce the number of storage devices reaching said lifetime per first unit of time.

Abstract: A code assistance feature provides a user with a set of suggested program code insertions at a given point in the program code being edited. For example, in response to a user command, the feature identifies syntactically correct possible insertions derived from a search for insertions of a compatible type. The feature identifies members in the set of possible code insertions that can be expanded via a field dereference or subroutine call to provide further possible code insertions for selection by the user.

Abstract: Embodiments of the present invention disclose a method, computer program product, and system for managing a RAID array of data storage devices. The declustered RAID array is configured to tolerate a predetermined number of failing data storage devices. The declustered RAID array of data storage devices is split into a plurality of regions, each of the plurality of regions is divided into a plurality of sets, and each of the sets of the plurality of sets utilizes a different combination of the data storage devices. The declustered RAID array provisions a plurality of LUNs from respective sets of each of the plurality of regions, and in response to a failure of one or more of the plurality of data storage devices, up to the predetermined number of failing data storage devices, the RAID array rebuilds at least one copy of each of the plurality of virtual LUNs.

Abstract: A method of performing a data write on a storage device comprises instructing a device driver for the device to perform a write to the storage device, registering the device driver as a transaction participant with a transaction co-ordinator, executing a flashcopy of the storage device, performing the write on the storage device, and performing a two-phase commit between device driver and transaction co-ordinator. Preferably, the method comprises receiving an instruction to perform a rollback, and reversing the data write according to the flashcopy. In a further refinement, a method of scheduling a flashcopy of a storage device comprises receiving an instruction to perform a flashcopy, ascertaining the current transaction in relation to the device, registering the device driver for the device as a transaction participant in the current transaction with a transaction co-ordinator, receiving a transaction complete indication from the co-ordinator, and executing the flashcopy for the device.

Abstract: A method of performing a data write on a storage device comprises instructing a device driver for the device to perform a write to the storage device, registering the device driver as a transaction participant with a transaction co-ordinator, executing a flashcopy of the storage device, performing the write on the storage device, and performing a two-phase commit between device driver and transaction co-ordinator. Preferably, the method comprises receiving an instruction to perform a rollback, and reversing the data write according to the flashcopy. In a further refinement, a method of scheduling a flashcopy of a storage device comprises receiving an instruction to perform a flashcopy, ascertaining the current transaction in relation to the device, registering the device driver for the device as a transaction participant in the current transaction with a transaction co-ordinator, receiving a transaction complete indication from the co-ordinator, and executing the flashcopy for the device.

Abstract: Methods, apparatus and computer programs have been provided for mitigating a problem of non-optimal recovery from storage device failures. A method involves determining a required write performance for rebuilding data of a failed device, based at least partly on the potential read performance of storage devices in a data rebuild; and allocating a virtual storage area within available storage, which allocation of virtual storage is based at least partly on the required write performance. Data is rebuilt by writing to the allocated virtual storage area, and data recovery is completed by migrating this rebuilt data to at least one data storage device such as a spare physical storage device within the array.

Abstract: Disclosed are methods and systems of managing a plurality of storage devices having a lifetime of a finite number of operations. An average number of storage devices reaching said lifetime of a finite number of operations per first unit time is calculated. For each one of the plurality of storage devices an estimated date when a finite number of operations will be reached is calculated. For each date, a variable related to the number of storage devices reaching said finite number of operations within a predetermined period of said date is set. For one or more variables having a value larger than a value calculated using the date and said average number of storage devices reaching said lifetime within the predetermined period of said first unit of time, an action is carried out to reduce the number of storage devices reaching said lifetime per first unit of time.

Abstract: Technology for producing and/or reproducing a lock and/or matching key in which a user enters a personally selected alphanumeric input, such as a password or passphrase, or other personally memorable data, to an input processor. The alphanumeric input is converted by a deterministic transformation function, such as a hashing function, to an alphanumeric output which corresponds to a key cutting code. A manufacturing apparatus makes a lock and key corresponding to this code. When the same personally selected alphanumeric input is entered by the user, the deterministic transformation function outputs the same key cutting code which is used to make a duplicate key. The duplicate key may be made by a 3D printer and the deterministic transformation function may be part of a network-provided service. In this way, key reproduction can be accomplished without storing a key cutting code.

Abstract: This invention relates to a system, method, and computer program product for managing a plurality of devices with associated lock mechanisms. According to one embodiment, a method is provided comprising: detecting, by one or more computer processors, a status of a device corresponding to a lock mechanism; recommending, by one or more computer processors, a service action on the device requiring performance by an operator; and providing, by one or more computer processors, a printable key pattern for printing a key that allows the operator to lock and unlock the lock mechanism in order to perform the service action.