Abstract: A method and infrastructure are provided for monitoring and analyzing the storage media quality and the drive hardware performance of a media library. The media library comprises a plurality of removable storage media, a plurality of drive units for said storage media and means for moving said storage media to and from appropriate drive units. The media library is managed by a management system being connected to said media library. At least one reference medium of a known and proven quality to compare the performance of at least one of said storage media in a given drive unit with the performance of said reference medium in said given drive unit and/or to test the performance of at least one given drive unit of said media library when acting on said reference medium.

Abstract: A method to access a data in a RAID array comprising a plurality of data storage media, wherein information is written to said plurality of data storage media using a RAID configuration, wherein the method receives from a requester a command comprising a data access priority indicator. If a RAID rebuild is in progress, the method determines if the data access priority indicator is set. If the data access priority indicator is set, the method executes a command selected from the group consisting of writing information to the target logical block array range, and returning to the requestor information read from the target logical block array range.

Abstract: An apparatus and method to store data are disclosed. The method provides a data storage system comprising a fossilized data management apparatus interconnected with one or more data storage devices. The method provides to the fossilized data management apparatus information and meta data associated with that information, wherein the meta data comprises a format field, a context field, a retention field, a data management field, and a storage management field. The fossilized data management apparatus instructs the one or more data storage devices to write the information to the one or more data storage devices based upon the meta data format field.

Abstract: A method and system for automatically sharing a tape drive in a heterogeneous computing environment that includes a first computer and second computer. The first computer receives a message that includes a shared tape drive identifier, a source port identifier of the second computer, and a reservation status change for the tape drive. Based on the tape drive identifier, the first computer determines that the tape drive is connected to the first computer. The source port identifier is determined to not identify any host bus adapter installed in the first computer. In response to the first computer determining that the reservation status change indicates a reservation or a release of the tape drive for the second computer, the first computer sets the tape drive offline or online, respectively, in an application executing in the first computer.

Abstract: A method of de-duplicating duplicate data in a data storage system that includes identifying a plurality of portions of data, comparing each portion of the data to identify duplicate data and identifying a link associated with each duplicate data, determining whether a Hamming link-separation-distance between the identified link and all other existing links is greater than twice the Hamming radius of an error correction code in the data storage system, and then replacing the duplicate data with the identified link.

Abstract: A load balancing method and system for identifying an input/output (I/O) network path from a set off I/O network paths is provided by the invention. The set off I/O network paths connect a host system via a network to a storage subsystem. The host system comprises at least one host bus adapter (HBA) and the storage subsystem comprises at least one I/O device and the network comprises at least one network device. Each of the HBA, the I/O device and the network device comprise at least one I/O port. For each I/O port of each HBA, an HBA port limit is determined. Additionally the set of I/O network paths which connect the I/O port of each of the HBA via the I/O ports of the network device to the I/O port of the I/O device is identified. Then a fabric utilization limit is determined for each I/O network path and a HBA port utilization is determined for each I/O port of the at least one HBA. All network paths are discarded for which the HBA port utilization is greater than the HBA port limit.

Abstract: A method for deduplicating and managing data blocks within a file system includes adding a deduplication identifier to each pointer pointing to a data block to indicate whether the data block is deduplicated, detecting duplicate data blocks, determining whether one of the duplicate data blocks has been deduplicated, when detected, determining that one duplicate data block is a master copy when it is determined that one duplicate data block has been deduplicated, selecting one of the duplicate data blocks to be a master copy when it is determined that the duplicate data blocks have not been deduplicated, and setting the deduplication identifier of the selected duplicate data block to indicate deduplication, and determining that the other duplicate data block is a new duplicate data block and setting the deduplication identifier of the other duplicate data block to indicate deduplication and directing the respective pointer to the master copy.

Abstract: The present invention can include an automated method that optimizes the selection of a node in a distributed file system (DFS) to fulfill a client request. Such a method can begin when a client request is received by a master node of a distributed file system (DFS). The DFS can include a multitude of DFS nodes capable of accessing various resources. Two or more DFS nodes can be preselected to fulfill the client request. Each preselected DFS node can then participate in a voting process to dynamically determine the response DFS node that can optimally respond to the client request. The client request can be fulfilled by response DFS node, utilizing the DFS node best capable of servicing the client request.

Abstract: A method and system for client backup data management and storage using virtual tape libraries (VTLs). A VTL controller executing a software method receives metadata that distinguishes among a plurality of different versions of backup data. The VTL controller determines a latest version of the backup data. The VTL controller determines a migration set of zero or more versions of the backup data. The latest version and any version included in the migration set are included in the plurality of different versions. The VTL controller determines that a storage of the latest version in a first storage medium (e.g., magnetic disk) of the VTL is complete. The VTL controller migrates the migration set to a second storage medium (e.g., magnetic tape) of the VTL if the migration set includes at least one version of the backup data.

Abstract: This embodiment (a system) addresses and reduces the RAID build time by only rebuilding the used blocks and omitting the unused blocks. This starts after a disk drive from a RAID system is failed and replaced and storage controller starts the process of rebuilding the data on the new disk drive. Storage controller determines the logical volumes that must be rebuilt, send a message requesting only used blocks for these logical volumes from the volume manager and then uses this information and only rebuild the used blocks for the failed disk system.

Abstract: A system of controlling tape drives within a tape drive library where a backup server utilizes client backup schedules and pending client restore requests to efficiently control the powering on and off of tape drives within a tape drive library.

Abstract: Data for deduplication is received. The received data is deduplicated if selected conditions corresponding to the deduplication are satisfied, wherein the selected conditions include a deduplication ratio, a data deduplication threshold, and a data quiescence measure. Deduplication of the received data is discontinued if the selected conditions corresponding to the deduplication are not satisfied.

Abstract: A system, method and computer program product for managing command ordering for a host-Disk-to-intermediate-Disk-to-Holographic (D2D2H) data storage system. Specifically, a command ordering detects a command from a host system. A hologram segment associated with the detected command is identified and a determination is made whether the hologram segment is an open hologram segment or a closed hologram segment. A determination is made whether the detected command is to be prioritized. If the detected command is prioritized, the detected command is added to a prioritized command queue. Moreover, if the detected command is not prioritized, the detected command is added to a normal command queue. The detected commands addressing the same hologram segment are then grouped. The execution of one or more grouped commands (prioritized or normal) is deferred for a predetermined period to allow for additional commands to be received for a same command group.

Abstract: A system, method and computer program product for managing command ordering and command execution for a host-Disk-to-intermediate-Disk-to-Holographic (D2D2H) data storage system. Specifically, a command ordering and execution (COE) utility selects the command group from a command queue. A determination is made whether the command group includes a write command for writing an entire hologram segment. Responsive to a determination that the command group does not include the write command for writing the entire hologram segment, the entire hologram segment is read to an intermediate system disk. Conflicting commands are then sorted from non-conflicting commands. Specifically, all conflicting write commands are executed before all conflicting read commands. After execution, the entire hologram segment of the intermediate system disk is closed and written in holographic medium.

Abstract: A method to access a data in a RAID array comprising a plurality of data storage media, wherein information is written to said plurality of data storage media using a RAID configuration, wherein the method receives from a requester a command comprising a data access priority indicator. If a RAID rebuild is in progress, the method determines if the data access priority indicator is set. If the data access priority indicator is set, the method executes a command selected from the group consisting of writing information to the target logical block array range, and returning to the requestor information read from the target logical block array range.

Abstract: In a method of and a system for deduplicating backed-up data backup clients create respective backup tables comprising a list of files and respective file types to be backed up. A backup server receives backup tables from the backup clients. The backup server merges the received backup tables to form a merged backup table. The backup server sorts the merged backup table according to file type from a file type yielding a best deduplication ratio to a file type yielding a worst deduplication ratio, thereby forming a sorted backup table. The backup server requests the files listed in the sorted backup table, in order, from the backup clients. The backup server deduplicates files received from the backup clients, in order, using deduplication parameters optimized according to file type. The method calculates an updated deduplication ratio for each deduplicated file type. Examples of deduplication parameters include chunking techniques and hashing techniques.

Abstract: A method of adaptively selecting an optimum data deduplication chunking method receives a request to deduplicate a file, wherein the file has a file type. The method searches a table of file types, wherein the table includes, for each file type, a chunking method, a deduplication ratio, and a depulication ratio threshold. The method selects a chunking method for the file according to the table. The method chunks the file using the selected chunking method. The method deduplicates the chunked file according to prior art deduplication methods. The method calculates a deduplication ratio for the file type and updates the table with the calculated deduplication ratio for the file type. If the calculated deduplication ratio for the file type is less than the deduplication ratio threshold for the file type, the method selects a new chunking method for the file type and updates the table of file types with the new chunking method for the file type.

Abstract: A grid application and storage system to enhance data access. The grid application and storage system comprises a plurality of grid application storage nodes with at least one storage system, said grid application storage nodes being remote to each other and connected via inter-connections; at least one application process distributed across said grid application storage nodes; and at least one grid node control process also distributed across said grid application storage nodes, said grid node control process managing grid application storage node operations. A plurality of client systems are connected to said grid application and storage system via a network for deploying said application process and accessing application data stored on said grid application storage nodes.

Abstract: The present invention provides a method and system for performing file recovery in a computer system coupled to a storage subsystem, wherein a data scrubbing process analyzes said storage subsystem for potential or existing storage errors. The method includes: receiving a report from said data scrubbing process describing said errors, including logical block addresses (LBAs) of storage locations containing errors; interacting with a file system created on logical unit numbers (LUN) provided by said storage subsystem in order to identify file information pertaining to the erroneous LBAs; moving the file pertaining to said erroneous LBAs to a different storage location; updating pointers to said file; in case of an unrecoverable, accessing a backup copy of said file from a backup location; if a predetermined degree of error severity is exceeded, creating an additional copy of said file; and updating the pointers to said file managed by the file system, respectively.

Abstract: A method and infrastructure are provided for monitoring and analyzing the storage media quality and the drive hardware performance of a media library. The media library comprises a plurality of removable storage media, a plurality of drive units for said storage media and means for moving said storage media to and from appropriate drive units. The media library is managed by a management system being connected to said media library. At least one reference medium of a known and proven quality to compare the performance of at least one of said storage media in a given drive unit with the performance of said reference medium in said given drive unit and/or to test the performance of at least one given drive unit of said media library when acting on said reference medium.