Using deterministic logical unit numbers to dynamically map data volumes

• US 10,013,218 B2
• Filed: 01/22/2014
• Issued: 07/03/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 11/12/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Goodman, Daniel I., Harel, Ran, Li-On, Oren S., Matosevich, Rivka M., Nissan-Messing, Orit, Siles, Yossi, Weissbrem, Eliyahu
• Primary Examiner(s): Rutz, Jared I
• Assistant Examiner(s): Wu, Stephanie
• Application Number:
  US14/160,841
• Publication Number:
  US 20150134902A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,623 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0604 Improving or facilitating administration, e.g. storage management
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0605 by facilitating the interaction with a user or administrator
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0611 in relation to response time
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0632 by initialisation or re-initialisation of storage systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0638 Organizing or formatting or addressing of data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0665 at area level, e.g. provisioning of virtual or logical volumes
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/067 Distributed or networked storage systems, e.g. storage area networks [SAN], network attached storage [NAS]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0689 Disk arrays, e.g. RAID, JBOD

Abstract

Methods, apparatus and computer program products implement embodiments of the present invention that include storing one or more data volumes to a small computer system interface storage device, and receiving a request to map a given data volume to a host computer. One or more attributes of the given data volume are identified, and using the identified one or more attributes, a unique logical unit number (LUN) for the given data volume is generated. The given data volume is mapped to the host computer via the unique LUN. In some embodiments, the generated LUN includes one of the one or more attributes. In additional embodiments, the generated LUN includes a result of a hash function using the one or more attributes. In storage virtualization environments, the data volume may include secondary logical units, and mapping the given data volume to the host may include binding the SLU to the host.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

storing a first multiple of data volumes on a storage device, each of the first multiple of data volumes having a respective logical unit number (LUN) internally generated using attributes of each respective first multiple of data volumes including each one of at least a creation date of a given data volume, a size of the given data volume, an identifier assigned externally by an administrator for the given data volume, and an internally generated unique volume identifier;

wherein each one of the attributes are used as an input to a hash function used to internally generate the LUN;

defining, in a memory, a data structure comprising a second multiple of entries, the second multiple being greater than the first multiple;

associating, by a processor, each of the data volumes of the storage device with a unique entry in the data structure so as to generate respective unique entries for the data volumes;

receiving a request to store a value to one or more of the respective unique entries in the data structure; and

storing the value to the one or more respective unique entries, thereby performing a mapping operation between a host computer networked to the storage system and the one or more of the data volumes associated with the one or more respective unique entries.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein receiving the request comprises receiving the request from the host computer.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the data structure comprises a bitmap comprising server bits, and wherein each of the respective unique entries comprises a bit in the bitmap.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein the request comprises a host bitmap comprising host bits, and wherein each of the host bits has a corresponding server bit.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein a given server bit indicates a mapping status of the data volume associated with the given server bit.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein the value comprises a mapped value, and comprising upon defining the bitmap, storing an unmapped value to each of the server bits, thereby initializing the server bitmap to indicate that none of the data volumes are mapped to the host computer.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein storing the value to the one or more respective unique entries comprises performing an exclusive disjunction operation on the host bitmap and the server bitmap, thereby generating an updated server bitmap.

8. A storage system, comprising:

a storage device configured to store a first multiple of data volumes, each of the first multiple of data volumes having a respective logical unit number (LUN) internally generated using attributes of each respective first multiple of data volumes including each one of at least a creation date of a given data volume, a size of the given data volume, an identifier assigned externally by an administrator for the given data volume, and an internally generated unique volume identifier;

wherein each one of the attributes are used as an input to a hash function used to internally generate the LUN;

a memory; and

a processor configured;

to define, in the memory, a data structure comprising a second multiple of entries, the second multiple being greater than the first multiple,

to associate each of the data volumes of the storage device with a unique entry in the data structure so as to generate respective unique entries for the data volumes,

to receive a request to store a value to one or more of the respective unique entries in the data structure, and

to store the value to the one or more respective unique entries, thereby performing a mapping operation between a host computer networked to the storage system and the one or more of the data volumes associated with the one or more respective unique entries.

9. The storage system according to claim 8, wherein the processor is configured to receive the request in response to the host computer conveying the request to the storage system.

10. The storage system according to claim 8, wherein the data structure comprises a bitmap comprising server bits, and wherein each of the respective unique entries comprises a bit in the bitmap.

11. The storage system according to claim 10, wherein the request comprises a host bitmap comprising host bits, and wherein each of the host bits has a corresponding server bit.

12. The storage system according to claim 11, wherein a given server bit indicates a mapping status of the data volume associated with the given server bit.

13. The storage system according to claim 12, wherein the value comprises a mapped value, and wherein upon defining the bitmap, the processor is configured to store an unmapped value to each of the server bits, thereby initializing the server bitmap to indicate that none of the data volumes are mapped to the host computer.

14. The storage system according to claim 13 wherein the processor is configured to store the value to the one or more respective unique entries by performing an exclusive disjunction operation on the host bitmap and the server bitmap, thereby generating an updated server bitmap.

15. A computer program product, the computer program product comprising:

a non-transitory computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code embodied therewith, the computer readable program code comprising;

computer readable program code configured to store a first multiple of data volumes on a storage device, each of the first multiple of data volumes having a respective logical unit number (LUN) internally generated using attributes of each respective first multiple of data volumes including each one of at least a creation date of a given data volume, a size of the given data volume, an identifier assigned externally by an administrator for the given data volume, and an internally generated unique volume identifier;

wherein each one of the attributes are used as an input to a hash function used to internally generate the LUN;

computer readable program code configured to define, in a memory, a data structure comprising a second multiple of entries, the second multiple being greater than the first multiple;

computer readable program code configured to associate each of the data volumes of the storage device with a unique entry in the data structure so as to generate respective unique entries for the data volumes;

computer readable program code configured to receive a request to store a value to one or more of the respective unique entries in the data structure; and

computer readable program code configured to store the value to the one or more respective unique entries, thereby performing a mapping operation between a host computer networked to the storage system and the one or more of the data volumes associated with the one or more respective unique entries.

16. The computer program product according to claim 15, wherein the data structure comprises a bitmap comprising server bits, and wherein each of the respective unique entries comprises a bit in the bitmap.

17. The computer program product according to claim 16, wherein the request comprises a host bitmap comprising host bits, and wherein each of the host bits has a corresponding server bit.

18. The computer program product according to claim 17, wherein a given server bit indicates a mapping status of the data volume associated with the given server bit.

19. The computer program product according to claim 18, wherein the value comprises a mapped value, and comprising computer readable program code configured, upon defining the bitmap, to store an unmapped value to each of the server bits, thereby initializing the server bitmap to indicate that none of the data volumes are mapped to the host computer.

20. The computer program product according to claim 19, wherein the computer readable program code is configured to store the value to the one or more respective unique entries by performing an exclusive disjunction operation on the host bitmap and the server bitmap, thereby generating an updated server bitmap.