Patent ID: 8812443

Claim:
An apparatus for collecting dump data, the apparatus comprising: a computer readable medium storing machine-readable instructions; a processor executing the machine-readable instructions, the machine-readable instructions comprising: a communication module receiving an on demand data (ODD) dump request from a host to transfer dump data from a storage controller memory of a storage controller distinct from the host, wherein the storage controller comprises at least two components and the ODD dump request comprises a component priority for each component; a scan loop management module pausing at least one scan loop performed by the storage controller on the storage controller memory in response to receiving the ODD dump request; a dump data transfer module allocating free buffer space within an ODD dump buffer space for each component according to the component priority by determining a component buffer space minimum and a component buffer space maximum for each component, wherein the component buffer space minimum comprises previously allocated buffer space and the component buffer space maximum is less than all free buffer space, transferring the dump data from the storage controller memory to the ODD dump buffer space according to the component priority, and upon transferring the dump data for a first component, dynamically allocating free buffer space from the first component with a higher priority to a second component with a lower priority; the scan loop management module further unpausing the at least one scan loop in response to the transfer of the dump data to the ODD dump buffer space; and a dump data offload module offloading the dump data from the ODD dump buffer space to a data storage device distinct from the host and the storage controller.