Method for providing a configurable primary mirror

• US 20030014599A1
• Filed: 07/05/2001
• Published: 01/16/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 07/05/2001
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: McBrearty, Gerald Francis, Shieh, Johnny Meng-Han, Mullen, Shawn Patrick
• Application Number:
  US09/899,452
• Publication Number:
  US 20030014599A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 711/148
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2069 Management of state, configuration or failover
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/061 Improving I/O performance
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0635 by changing the path, e.g. traffic rerouting, path reconfiguration
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/065 Replication mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0689 Disk arrays, e.g. RAID, JBOD
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5061 Partitioning or combining of resources

Abstract

There is disclosed an improved method for increasing performance in multiprocessing parallel computing systems, comprising plural processor resource groups sharing a storage subsystem, by reducing contention during read attempts through assigning each processor resource group a primary mirror. Mirrors may be designated as primary by the administrator during system configuration. Thereafter read requests originating in a given processor resource group are first attempted on the primary mirror previously associated with that processor resource group. If that mirror is unavailable, another mirror is chosen via a default mirror selection process.

Claims

1. A method for increasing performance in a multiprocessor concurrent computing system having a plurality of processor resource groups sharing a storage subsystem with mirrored logical volumes, comprising:

designating a primary mirror for each processor resource group at system configuration;

during run time, attempting read requests originating in a given processor resource group first on said primary mirror designated for that processor resource group; and

executing said read request on another mirror only if said primary mirror is unavailable, said another mirror being chosen in accord with a default mirror selection process.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein said multiprocessor concurrent computing system is a cluster computing system.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein said multiprocessor concurrent computing system is a NUMA system.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein said designating step comprises:

storing a specific mirror identification number in logical volume manager kernel memory for each processor resource group.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein said attempting step includes:

determining whether said primary mirror is active or stale; and

when said primary mirror is active, setting a device to read therefrom.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein said executing step includes:

when said primary mirror is stale, setting a device to read from a randomly chosen other mirror.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein said designating step comprises:

storing a specific mirror identification number in logical volume manager kernel memory for a selected processor resource group

8. Apparatus for increasing performance in a multiprocessor concurrent computing system having a plurality of processor resource groups sharing a storage subsystem with mirrored logical volumes, comprising:

means for designating a primary mirror for each processor resource group at system configuration;

means active during run time, for attempting read requests originating in a given processor resource group first on said primary mirror designated for that processor resource group; and

means executing said read request on another mirror only if said primary mirror is unavailable, said another mirror being chosen in accord with a default mirror selection process.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 wherein said multiprocessor concurrent computing system is a cluster computing system.

10. The apparatus of claim 9 wherein said multiprocessor concurrent computing system is a NUMA system.

11. The method of claim 8 wherein said means for designating comprises:

means for storing a specific mirror identification number in logical volume manager kernel memory for each processor resource group.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein said means for attempting includes:

means for determining whether said primary mirror is active or stale; and

means, when said primary mirror is active, for setting a device to read therefrom.

13. The apparatus of claim 12 wherein said means for executing includes:

means, when said primary mirror is stale, for setting a device to read from a randomly chosen other mirror.

14. The apparatus of claim 8 wherein said means for designating comprises:

means for storing a specific mirror identification number in logical volume manager kernel memory for a selected processor resource group.

16. A computer readable medium according to claim 15 wherein said multiprocessor concurrent computing system is a cluster computing system.

17. A computer readable medium according to claim 15 wherein said multiprocessor concurrent computing system is a NUMA system.

18. A computer readable medium according to claim 15 wherein said means for designating comprises:

means for storing a specific mirror identification number in logical volume manager kernel memory for each processor resource group.

19. A computer readable medium according to claim 18 wherein said means for attempting includes:

means for determining whether said primary mirror is active or stale; and

means, when said primary mirror is active, for setting a device to read therefrom.

20. A computer readable medium according to claim 19 wherein said means for executing includes:

means, when said primary mirror is stale, for setting a device to read from a randomly chosen other mirror.

21. A computer readable medium according to claim 15 wherein said means for designating comprises:

means for storing a specific memory identification number in logical volume manager kernel memory for a selected processor resource group.

15. A computer readable medium for increasing performance in a multiprocessor concurrent computing system having a plurality of processor resource groups sharing a storage subsystem with mirrored logical volumes, comprising:

means for designating a primary mirror for each processor resource group at system configuration;

means active during run time, for attempting read requests originating in a given processor resource group first on said primary mirror designated for that processor resource group; and

means executing said read request on another mirror only if said primary mirror is unavailable, said another mirror being chosen in accord with a default mirror selection process.