Patent ID: 7757123
Filing Date: 2010-07-13
Classification: G06F

Abstract:
1. A method for use in managing faults, comprising: detecting a problem in a data storage system, wherein the data storage system comprises a first enclosure having a pair of front end controllers and a pair of storage processors, a second enclosure having a plurality of disk drives, the second enclosure connected to the first enclosure, and a third enclosure having a pair of link controller cards, the third enclosure connected to the second enclosure; identifying possible field replaceable units (FRUs) of the data storage system that may be at fault for the problem, wherein the possible FRUs are present in at least one of the first, second, and third enclosures; if only one FRU may be at fault, issuing a definitive alert identifying the FRU; if multiple FRUs may be at fault, executing fault isolation; if fault isolation isolates the problem to only one FRU, issuing a definitive alert naming the FRU; if fault isolation does not isolate the problem to only one FRU, issuing an ambiguous alert identifying multiple FRUs; and directing the user to execute a troubleshooting tree, which execution includes a manual FRU replacement by the user.