A fault-tolerant storage system includes a first strand comprising a first initiating device connected to a first expansion device of a first set of serially connected expansion devices, a second strand comprising a second initiating device connected to a first expansion device of a second set of serially connected expansion devices, and a plurality of zoning switches that each connect an expansion device in the first set of serially connected expansion devices to a corresponding expansion device in the second set of serially connected expansion devices. A computer program product and method executed by a computer corresponding to the above system are also disclosed herein.

A system for maintaining a two-site configuration for continuous availability over long distances may include a first computing site configured to execute a first instance associated with a priority workload, the first instance being designated as an active instance; a second computing site configured to execute a second instance of the priority workload, the second instance being designated as a standby instance; a software replication module configured to replicate a unit of work data associated with the priority workload from a first data object associated with the active instance to a second data object associated with the standby instance, and a hardware replication module configured to replicate an image from a first storage volume to a copy on a second storage volume, wherein the first storage volume is associated with the first computing site, and the second storage volume is associated with a third computing site.

A multi-channel control system includes at least a primary control microprocessor and a back-up control microprocessor operable to control a device. The primary control microprocessor and the back-up control microprocessor assert control over a controlled device according to a locally stored method of controlling a back-up microprocessor assumption of control of a device.

A multi-channel control system includes at least a primary control microprocessor and a back-up control microprocessor operable to control a device. The primary control microprocessor and the back-up control microprocessor assert control over a controlled device according to a locally stored method of controlling a back-up microprocessor assumption of control of a device.

A processing subsystem for providing diagnostic of a processing system is provided. The processing subsystem includes a real-time processing unit that receives a first input that includes data from one or more sensors and processes the first input to generate first output that controls an actuator. The processing subsystem also includes a power and safety management unit that receives a second input and processes the second input to generate second output for testing of the first output. A method and a system for providing diagnostic for a processing system are provided as well.

A cluster arbitration method and a multi-cluster cooperation system, including a first cluster group having one portion of a first cluster and one portion of a second cluster, a second cluster group having another portion of the first cluster and another portion of the second cluster, and an arbitration device having a preset arbitration mechanism. The first cluster group and the second cluster group are each respectively configured to determine respective preemption representatives when a fault has occurred in the first cluster group or the second cluster group. The respective preemption representatives of each of the first cluster group and the preemption representative of the second cluster group are configured to determine whether a fault has occurred in the respective cluster group, and, if no fault has occurred in the respective cluster group, attempt to preempt the arbitration device.

A virtualization manager receives a request to disconnect a virtual device associated with a virtual machine. The virtualization manager then determines a usage state of the virtual device in view of collected usage statistics for the virtual device. Responsive to determining that the determined usage state of the virtual device indicates that the virtual device is in use, the virtualization manager requests confirmation for disconnecting the virtual device from the virtual machine.

Techniques for enabling virtual machine (VM) recovery on non-shared storage in a single virtual infrastructure management server (VIMS) instance are provided. In one set of embodiments, a VIMS instance can receive an indication that a VM in a first cluster of the VIMS instance has failed, and can determine whether the VM's files were being replicated to a storage component of the VIMS instance at the time of the VM's failure. If the VM's files were being replicated at the time of the failure, the VIMS instance can search for and identify a cluster of the VIMS instance and a host system within the cluster that (1) are compatible with the VM, and (2) have access to the storage component. The VIMS instance can then cause the VM to be restarted on the identified host system of the identified cluster.

A method for configuring components in a computing system. A selected one of the components is designated as a primary component, the other components thereby automatically adopting a status of secondary component. The designation of the primary component is stored in a first memory that is accessible by at least one of the primary component, at least one secondary component, and the computing system. Upon occurrence of a predetermined computing system event, the first memory is read to determine the designation of the primary component. A configuration file from a second memory is automatically copied to a memory of at least one secondary component, thereby creating a new configuration file in the at least one secondary component.

A method includes determining to rebuild one or more encoded data slices (EDSs) of a plurality of sets of EDSs. When determined to rebuild the one or more EDSs, the method includes sending a lock request to a set of storage units (SUs) regarding the plurality of sets of EDSs. The method further includes determining whether at least a decode threshold number of favorable lock responses is received from the set of SUs. When the at least the decode threshold number is received, the method further includes recovering one or more sets of EDSs to rebuild the one or more EDSs to produce one or more rebuilt EDSs. For a rebuilt EDS, the method further includes determining whether a SU that is targeted to receive the rebuilt EDS is available to store the rebuilt EDS, and when the SU is available, sending the rebuilt EDS to the SU.