System and method for managing virtual storage

• US 20020019908A1
• Filed: 06/01/2001
• Published: 02/14/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 06/02/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP (Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Company)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Martin, Andrew St., Wrenn, Richard F., Thiel, David W., Reuter, James M.
• Granted Patent: US 6,745,207 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 711/112
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 12/08 in hierarchically structured memory systems, e.g. virtual memory systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0605 by facilitating the interaction with a user or administrator
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0631 by allocating resources to storage systems
• 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 9/5016 the resource being the memory
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99953 Recoverability

Abstract

Preferred embodiments of the present invention provide a system and method for the management of virtual storage. The system and method include an object-oriented computer hardware/software model that can be presented, for example, via a management interface (e.g., via graphical user interfaces, command line interfaces, application programming interfaces, etc.). In some preferred embodiments, the model separates physical storage management from virtual disks presented to hosts and management can be automated such that the user (e.g., customer, manager and/or administrator) specifies goals rather than means-enhancing ease of use while maintaining flexible deployment of storage resources.

Claims

1. A computer system for managing virtual storage, comprising:

a host to be presented with virtual storage;

a virtual disk having a block-store independent of physical storage that can be presented to the host;

a host agent to provide mapping to the virtual disk from the host;

a derived unit to add storage protocol to the virtual disk;

a presented unit to associate the virtual disk with the host;

a storage pool hierarchy to encapsulate physical storage within a representative name space that is independent of physical storage;

a storage controller to provide physical storage to the storage pool;

whereby a user can flexibly present the virtual disk to the host and change physical storage components without affecting virtual components via a management interface.

2. The system of claim 1, further including a management interface having a graphical user interface, a command-line interface or an application program interface.

3. The system of claim 1, further including a management console providing an interface for a storage administrator.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the virtual storage is provided by a storage area network.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the virtual disk includes at least one virtual disk replica.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the storage pool hierarchy is arranged into different categories based on user needs.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the categories are based on physical location.

8. The system of claim 6, wherein each sub-pool in the hierarchy references zero or more data containers and each data container used for virtual storage is referenced by only one sub-pool.

9. The system of claim 5, wherein the virtual disk replica includes an attribute that references one sub-pool, whereby changing the sub-pool or data containers under the sub-pool can cause virtual disk replica storage to migrate.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the virtual disk includes an attribute that references one sub-pool, whereby changing the sub-pool or data containers under the sub-pool can cause virtual disk storage to migrate.

11. A method in a computer system for facilitating management of virtual storage in a storage area network through separation of physical storage from virtual disks presented to hosts whereby a user can change physical storage components without affecting virtual components via a management interface, comprising:

receiving via a computer interface a storage pool designation to encapsulate physical storage within a representative name space that is independent of physical storage; and

presenting a virtual disk, based on an attribute that references a sub-pool, to one or more hosts.

12. The method of claim 11, further including providing the storage pool designation via a management station having a computer interface.

13. The method of claim 12, further including providing the computer interface via a graphical user interface, a command-line interface or an application program interface.

14. The system of claim 11, further including providing the virtual disk with at least one virtual disk replica that includes said attribute that references a sub-pool.

16. The method of claim 15, further including providing the user protocol selection and the user host selection via a management console having a computer interface.

17. The method of claim 15, further including providing the computer interface via a graphical user interface, a command-line interface or an application program interface.

18. The method of claim 15, further including the virtual disk having at least one virtual disk replica.

15. A method in a computer system for facilitating management of virtual storage in a storage area network whereby a user can flexibly present a virtual disk to a host, comprising:

connecting a host to a storage area network via a host agent capable of mapping to physical storage locations;

creating a virtual disk having a block-store independent of physical storage that can be presented to the host;

adding storage protocol to the virtual disk using a derived unit in response to a user protocol selection; and

associating the virtual disk with a host using a presented unit referencing the host agent in response to a user host selection.