Patent ID: 7716436

Claim:
A system to dynamically alter a long busy state timer in a remote mirror and copy environment, the system comprising: a host system to issue a write command; a primary storage controller configured to receive the write command and, in response, write data to a primary volume associated with the primary storage controller; a secondary storage controller configured to receive a copy of the data from the primary storage controller and mirror the data to a secondary volume associated with the secondary storage controller; the secondary storage controller further configured to send a busy signal to the primary storage controller in the event the secondary storage controller is unable to mirror the data to the secondary volume because it is in a busy state; the primary storage controller further configured to initiate a timer in the event it receives the busy signal, and notify the host system that the primary and secondary volumes are suspended in the event the busy condition does not end before the timer expires; and the host system further configured to dynamically alter the duration of the timer by sending a command to the primary storage controller.