Hitachi, Ltd.

Katsuhiro Uchiumi

Hiroshi Kuwabara

Naoki Futawatari

Itaru Isobe

Keishi Tamura

Yoshinori Okami

Yoshinori Igarashi

Koichi Hori

Yoshio Mitsuoka

Shinichi Nakayama

Tatsuo Namba

Toru Harima

Yuki Maeda

Ryuske Ito

Yoshinori Ohira

Atsushi Ishikawa

Ryusuke Ito

Koji Iwamitsu

Takao Mashima

Yutaro Kawaguchi

Yutaka Takata

Hiroshi Ogasawara

Yoshihito Nakagawa

Youichi Gotoh

Takeshi Ido

The storage control device of this invention allocates the physical storage area in RAID groups to virtual volumes in units of chunks including multiple pages. To the virtual volume, in accordance with write accesses from the host, the physical storage area in the pool is allocated. A RAID groupin the pool includes multiple chunks. Each chunkincludes multiple pages. To the virtual volume, the physical storage area is allocated in units of chunks. From the allocated chunks, the pagesrequired for writing write data are used.

Allocation of storage areas to a virtual volume

A storage system includes a virtual volume, a plurality of RAID groups, a pool unit for managing a plurality of first real storage areas and a controller. If a write command related to the virtual volume is issued from a higher-level device, the controller selects a prescribed second real storage area from among respective second real storage areas included in a prescribed first real storage area, and associates this prescribed second real storage area with a prescribed area inside the virtual volume corresponding to the write command, and which associates one virtual volume with one first real storage area. A migration destination determination unit selects a migration-targeted second real storage area from among the respective second real storage areas associated with the virtual volume, and selects a migration-destination first real storage area, which is to become the migration destination of data stored in the migration-targeted second real storage area.

Storage controller and virtual volume control method

A storage control device includes a controller managing a plurality of first storage areas provided with a plurality of storage devices and a plurality of second storage areas in a particular first storage area of the plurality of first storage areas. Each of the plurality of first storage areas having a first fixed area size and each of the second plurality of storage areas having a second fixed area size which is smaller than the first fixed area size. The controller is adapted to allocate the particular first storage area to the virtual volume so that data of the write command are written to a particular second storage area of the plurality of second storage areas when a write command to a virtual volume of a plurality of virtual volumes is received.

Allocation and release of storage areas to virtual volumes

Mapping tables are for stipulating information for primarily identifying computers, information for identifying a group of the computers and a logical unit number permitting access from the host computer inside storage subsystem, in accordance with arbitrary operation method by a user, and for giving them to host computer. The invention uses management table inside the storage subsystem and allocates logical units inside the storage subsystem to a host computer group arbitrarily grouped by a user in accordance with the desired form of operation of the user, can decide access approval/rejection to the logical unit inside the storage subsystem in the group unit and at the same time, can provide the security function capable of setting interface of connection in the group unit under single port of storage subsystem without changing existing processing, limitation and other functions of computer.

Security for logical unit in storage subsystem

The present invention unitarily manages the configuration change of a storage system so as to know the latest configuration, and evaluates the reliability in advance when the configuration is changed so that the generation of a failure is suppressed. When the hostis connected to the switch, the attribute information of HBA 1A and the attribute information of the switchare stored in the connection information storage unitC by FDMI (Fabric Device Management Interface) (S, S). Each attribute information is associated with each other and is managed as combination information. The storage deviceacquires the combination information from the switch(S, S), and requests the management deviceto judge the reliability of this combination (S). The management devicejudges the combination of the HBA and the switch (S), and notifies this judgment result to the storage device(S). When the configuration of the storage system is changed, the reliability of the configuration can be confirmed before starting operation with the configuration after change, and therefore the generation of a failure can be decreased.

Managing storage system configuration information

A control apparatus of a storage unit having a first and a second communication ports for conducting communication with a computer, a first and a second processors that control respectively the first and the second communication ports, first and second storage devices that store respectively a first and a second queues for storing commands sent from the computer respectively to the first and the second communication ports, and a first nonvolatile memory that the first processor accesses, the first and the second processors executing the commands stored respectively in the first and the second queues to thereby control the communications with the computer, comprising a unit causing the second processor to implement execution of the command stored in the first queue; and a unit changing data stored in the first memory while the second processor is being caused to implement execution of the command stored in the first queue.

Control apparatus of storage unit, and method of controlling the control apparatus of storage unit

A disk-array device includes an information managing database for acquiring link information among a server device, a switch device, and a storage device via the switch device so as to manage the link information in a combined manner, and a collection/analysis unit for retrieving and collecting desired combined information of the link information from the information managing database so as to analyze the desired combined information.

Disk-array device having storage-device recognition and identification of a storage area network link environment

The invention relates to exchanging micro programs in a storage device, automatically, without halting operation. In one embodiment, the path adapters of a host computer are connected to the input/output ports of respective clusters of a storage device, by respective connection paths. Path switching software is provided in the host computer, as well as database indicating connection destinations of the connection path. In the storage device, the input/output ports are connected to a group of a plurality of hard disk drive devices. An internal management device, and a database indicating the connection destination of each input/output port, are provided in the storage device. The management server device is connected to a host computer and a storage device, via a LAN, and a program exchanging program and micro programs to be used in exchange are provided in this management server device. Instructions for invoking the program are issued from the computer.

System and a method for blocking off processors when communication paths between adapters and a cache memory are determined to be secure

A plurality of key information items with a fixed constitution are stored in a shared memory of a first storage control system. Each key information item corresponds with each of the types of a second storage control system and includes, in a predetermined location in the key information, an information element that indicates the location of a particular information item among the plurality of information items in the control system information. A microprocessor in a Fiber Channel Adapter of the first storage control system determines whether to form a logical path with the second storage control system on the basis of the key information and the control system information that is received from the second storage control system.

Storage control system

The present invention allows a reserved state that prevails for an LDEV as a result of a host undergoing a system shutdown or the like to be confirmed and cancelled easily. The serverreserves the LDEVand uses same exclusively. When the serverundergoes a system shutdown due to a fault or similar (S), the LDEVthen remains reserved (S). The serveris therefore unable to access the LDEV. The system administrator reads exclusive control informationin the memoryvia the management terminal, and is thus able to display the reserved states of respective LDEVs on a terminal screen and confirm these states. The user then issues an instruction to cancel a reserved state from the management terminal(S). The disk array devicereceives the cancellation instruction, and then cancels the reserved state by partially rewriting the exclusive control information

Disk array device and reservation cancellation control method for disk array device

A first storage controller has a multilayer memory hierarchy constructed by LDEV (logical device) connected from LUN, and VDEV (virtual device) connected to the lower order of the LDEV. At least one of the VDEVs is constructed by mapping the memory resources arranged in external storage controllers. The functions of a stripe, RAID, etc. can be added in the mapping. Various kinds of functions (remote copy, variable volume function, etc.) applicable to the normal internal volume can be also used in a virtual internal volume by using the external memory resource as the virtual internal memory resource so that the degree of freedom of utilization is raised.

Virtualization system for virtualizing disks drives of a disk array system

A disk-array device includes an information managing database for acquiring link information among a server device, a switch device, and a storage device via the switch device so as to manage the link information in a combined manner, and a collection analysis unit for retrieving and collecting desired combined information of the link information from the information managing database so as to analyze the desired combined information.

Growing community of inventors

Fujisawa, Japan

Katsuhiro Uchiumi