Patent ID: 8135982

Claim:
A method for controlling a data system containing a server, a primary data storage device and a secondary data storage device, the method comprising: receiving a failure indication indicating that a data operation has failed in the secondary data storage device; suspending sending of data operations to the secondary data storage device from a primary data storage device; determining a failure policy set by a user; and initiating a first policy responsive to determining that the user has set the first policy, the first policy including: determining whether the failure indication indicates a failure of the primary data storage device; sending a status query to the secondary data storage device responsive to determining that the failure indication does not indicate a failure of the primary data storage device; determining whether a response to the status query has been received from the secondary data storage device; determining whether the response to the status query indicates a failure of the secondary data storage device responsive to determining that the response to the status query has been received from the secondary data storage device; and continuing processing tasks on the server and data operations on the primary data storage device responsive to determining that the response to the status query indicates a failure of the secondary data storage device.