Patent ID: 6038681
Filing Date: 2000-03-14
Classification: G06F

Abstract:
A multi-array disk apparatus comprising:array controllers and logical drives, each of said logical drives corresponding to one of said array controllers;said logical drives comprising a first logical drive and a second logical drive;said array controllers comprising a first array controller and a second array controller;each of said logical drives comprising a respective logical disks, including a respective first logical disk and a respective second logical disk;for each said logical disk of one of said logical drives, a corresponding protocol controller in said corresponding one of said array controllers, said corresponding protocol controller being connected to said logical disk by a respective bus;all of said protocol controllers having an identical first ID;all of said logical disks having an identical second ID;a first interface unit connected between said respective bus of said second logical disk of said first logical drive and said respective bus of said first logical disk of said second logical drive;a second interface unit connected between said respective bus of said first logical disk of said first logical drive and said respective bus of said second logical disk of said second logical drive;said first and said second interface units being connected to said first and said second array controllers;said first array controller, in response to a fault detection relating to said second array controller, activating said first and said second interface units; andsaid first and said second interface units, when activated by said first array controller:connecting together said respective buses,monitoring messages on said buses, andchanging message ID information for selected ones of said messages relating to said logical disks of said second logical drive.