On Demand, Non-Capacity Based Process, Apparatus and Computer Program to Determine Maintenance Fees for Disk Data Storage System

Abstract

In one aspect the invention provides a signal bearing medium tangibly embodying a program of machine-readable instructions that are executable by a digital processing apparatus to perform operations to determine a maintenance fee for a data storage system. The operations include monitoring at least one data storage device during operation of the data storage system to determine a duty cycle and determining a current value of the maintenance fee based at least in part on the determined duty cycle. In a further disk drive-based embodiment the operations may include, or be instead, determining a disk drive redundancy configuration of disk drives of a data storage system. The operations then compare the determined duty cycle to a threshold value and assert a redundancy configuration change signal based on the result of the comparison. For a RAID configuration embodiment having a RAID level, the asserting operation asserts a RAID level change signal based on the result of the comparison.

1 . A data recording medium tangibly storing a program of machine-readable instructions executable by a digital processing apparatus to perform operations to determine a maintenance fee for a data storage system, the operations comprising: 
 monitoring at least one data storage device during operation of the data storage system to determine a data storage device duty cycle; and    determining a current value of the maintenance fee based at least in part on the determined data storage device duty cycle.    
   
   
       2 . A data recording medium as in  claim 1 , where the data storage device is comprised of a disk drive, and where the monitoring operation further comprises recording over a sampling interval at least a number of read operations.  
   
   
       3 . A data recording medium as in  claim 1 , where the data storage device is comprised of a disk drive, and where the monitoring operation further comprises recording over a sampling interval at least a number of write operations.  
   
   
       4 . A data recording medium as in  claim 1 , where the data storage device is comprised of a disk drive, and where the monitoring operation further comprises recording over a sampling interval at least a number of seek operations.  
   
   
       5 . A data recording medium as in  claim 4 , where recording over a sampling interval further records a distance that a read/write head moves during a seek operation.  
   
   
       6 . A data recording medium as in  claim 1 , where the data storage device is comprised of a disk drive, where there are a plurality of disk drives operated in a RAID configuration having a RAID level, further comprising operations of: 
 comparing the determined duty cycle to a threshold value; and    asserting a RAID level change signal based on the result of the comparison.    
   
   
       7 . A data recording medium tangibly storing a program of machine-readable instructions executable by a digital processing apparatus to perform operations to determine a disk drive redundancy configuration of disk drives of a data storage system, the operations comprising: 
 monitoring said disk drives during operation of the data storage system to determine a duty cycle;    comparing the determined duty cycle to a threshold value; and    asserting a redundancy configuration change signal based on the result of the comparison.    
   
   
       8 . A data recording medium as in  claim 7 , where the disk drives are operated in a RAID configuration having a RAID level, and where asserting asserts a RAID level change signal based on the result of the comparison.  
   
   
       9 . A data recording medium as in  claim 7 , further comprising an operation of determining a current value of a data storage system maintenance fee based at least in part on the determined duty cycle.  
   
   
       10 . A data recording medium as in  claim 7 , where the monitoring operation further comprises recording over a sampling interval at least a number of read operations.  
   
   
       11 . A data recording medium as in  claim 7 , where the monitoring operation further comprises recording over a sampling interval at least a number of write operations.  
   
   
       12 . A data recording medium as in  claim 7 , where the monitoring operation further comprises recording over a sampling interval at least a number of seek operations.  
   
   
       13 . A data recording medium as in  claim 12 , where recording over a sampling interval further records a distance that a read/write head moves during a seek operation.  
   
   
       14 . A disk drive, comprising: 
 at least one rotating disk;    at least one moveable disk read/write head; and    a monitor coupled at least to the at least one read/write head for recording and reporting information to a maintenance fee determination function that is descriptive of a disk drive duty cycle over a sampling interval.    
   
   
       15 . A disk drive, comprising: 
 at least one rotating disk;    at least one moveable disk read/write head; and    a monitor coupled at least to the at least one read/write head for recording and reporting information to a RAID level determination function that is descriptive of a disk drive duty cycle over a sampling interval.    
   
   
       16 . A disk drive controller coupled to at least one disk drive, each disk drive comprising at least one rotating disk and at least one moveable disk read/write head; said disk drive controller comprising a monitor coupled at least to the at least one read/write head for recording and reporting information that is descriptive of a disk drive duty cycle over a sampling interval to a maintenance fee determination function.  
   
   
       17 . A disk drive controller coupled to at least one disk drive, each disk drive comprising at least one rotating disk and at least one moveable disk read/write head; said disk drive controller comprising a monitor coupled at least to the at least one read/write head for recording and reporting information that is descriptive of a disk drive duty cycle over a sampling interval to a RAID level determination function.  
   
   
       18 . A maintenance provider system operable for establishing a value for a maintenance fee to be charged for operating a disk drive data storage system, said maintenance provider system comprising an interface for coupling to a monitor that monitors operation of the disk drive data storage system to determine usage of disk drives; and further comprising a processor responsive to information received from the monitor via the interface to determine a disk drive utilization factor and, based at least in part on the determined utilization factor, a current value for the maintenance fee.  
   
   
       19 . A maintenance provider system as in  claim 18 , where the information comprises at least a number of disk drive read operations.  
   
   
       20 . A maintenance provider system as in  claim 18 , where the information comprises at least a number of disk drive write operations.  
   
   
       21 . A maintenance provider system as in  claim 18 , where the information comprises at least a number of disk drive seek operations.  
   
   
       22 . A maintenance provider system as in  claim 21 , where the information further comprises a distance that a read/write head moves during a seek operation.  
   
   
       23 . A maintenance provider system as in  claim 18 , where the disk drive data storage system comprises a plurality of disk drives operated in a RAID configuration having a RAID level, where said processor is further responsive to the information for comparing a determined disk drive duty cycle to a threshold value, and to assert a RAID level change signal based on the result of the comparison.  
   
   
       24 . A disk drive-based data storage system comprising: means for monitoring said disk drives during operation of the data storage system to determine usage information for the disk drives, the usage information comprising at least one of a number of write operations per unit time, a number of read operations per unit time, and a number of seek operations per unit time; and interface means for coupling to means for determining a maintenance fee for the data storage system, said interface means reporting said usage information to said determining means.  
   
   
       25 . A disk drive-based data storage system as in  claim 24 , where the usage information further comprises a distance that a read/write head moves during a seek operation.  
   
   
       26 . A disk drive-based data storage system as in  claim 24 , where there are a plurality of disk drives operated in a RAID configuration having a RAID level, further comprising means for comparing the usage information to a threshold value and means for asserting a RAID level change signal based on the result of the comparison.  
   
   
       27 . A method to determine a maintenance fee for a data storage system, comprising: 
 monitoring at least one data storage device during operation of the data storage system to determine a data storage device duty cycle; and    determining a value of the maintenance fee based at least in part on the determined data storage device duty cycle.    
   
   
       28 . A method as in  claim 27 , where the data storage device is comprised of a disk drive, and where monitoring further comprises recording over a sampling interval at least a number of read operations.  
   
   
       29 . A method as in  claim 27 , where the data storage device is comprised of a disk drive, and where monitoring further comprises recording over a sampling interval at least a number of write operations.  
   
   
       30 . A method as in  claim 27 , where the data storage device is comprised of a disk drive, and where monitoring further comprises recording over a sampling interval at least a number of seek operations.  
   
   
       31 . A method as in  claim 30 , where recording over a sampling interval further records a distance that a read/write head moves during a seek operation.  
   
   
       32 . A method as in  claim 27 , where the data storage device is comprised of a disk drive, where there are a plurality of disk drives operated in a RAID configuration having a RAID level, further comprising comparing the determined duty cycle to a threshold value and setting a RAID level change signal based on the result of the comparison.  
   
   
       33 . A method as in  claim 27 , where determining the value of the maintenance fee is performed at a location remote from the data storage system, further comprising reporting a result of the monitoring to the location through a data communications network.  
   
   
       34 . A method as in  claim 27 , where determining the value of the maintenance fee is performed at a location remote from the data storage system, further comprising reporting a result of the monitoring to the location at least in part through the Internet.  
   
   
       35 . A method as in  claim 27 , where determining the value of the maintenance fee is performed at a location remote from the data storage system, further comprising conveying a result of the monitoring to the location.  
   
   
       36 . A method as in  claim 27 , where monitoring occurs at a plurality of locations in the data storage system, further comprising collecting monitoring results from the plurality of locations, and forwarding the collected monitoring results to another location remote from the data storage system where the value is determined.  
   
   
       37 . A method as in  claim 36 , where forwarding uses at least in part a TCP/IP communications protocol.  
   
   
       38 . A method as in  claim 36 , where forwarding uses at least in part a wireless communications protocol.