Event notification in storage networks

• US 20040049572A1
• Filed: 09/06/2002
• Published: 03/11/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 09/06/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Inventors: Yamamoto, Masayuki, Taguchi, Yuichi
• Granted Patent: US 7,260,628 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0727 in a storage system, e.g. in a DASD or network based storage system drivers for digital recording or reproducing units G06F3/06; circuits for error detection or correction within digital recording or reproducing units G11B20/18; for distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS], H04L67/1097
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/10 File systems; File servers

Abstract

A heterogeneous network includes network related hardware and software products from a plurality of vendors. The network includes a storage system configured to store data, a server configured to process requests, a switch coupling the storage system and the server for data communication, and a network manager including an event dictionary to interpret an event message received from a device experiencing failure.

Claims

1. A heterogeneous network including hardware and software products from a plurality of vendors, the network comprising:

a storage system configured to store data;

a server configured to process requests;

a switch coupling the storage system and the server for data communication; and

a network manager including an event dictionary to interpret an event message received from a device experiencing failure.

2. The network of claim 1, wherein the network is a storage area network.

3. The network of claim 1, further comprising:

a messaging network coupled to the heterogeneous network.

4. The network of claim 1, wherein the event dictionary includes an error code list and an error component list corresponding to the error code list.

5. The network of claim 4, wherein the event message includes an error code, wherein the network manager looks up the error code in the event dictionary to identify the component experiencing the failure.

6. The network of claim 1, wherein the network manager includes a plurality of event dictionaries for multiple vendors.

7. The network of claim 1, further comprising:

a topology table including information about a topology of I/O communication in the network, wherein the network manager access the topology table to determine an effect of the failure.

8. A storage area network (SAN), comprising:

a network manager including an event dictionary to interpret an event message received from a device experiencing failure, the device being provided within the SAN.

9. The SAN of claim 8, wherein the SAN includes network products from a plurality of vendors with different event message rules.

10. A management server configured to manage a storage area network (SAN) the management server comprising:

a network manager including an event dictionary to interpret an event message received from a device experiencing failure, the device being provided within the SAN.

11. The management server of claim 10, wherein the SAN uses network products from a plurality of vendors with different event message rules, the plurality of vendors using error codes that are vendor specific.

12. A storage area network (SAN), comprising:

a plurality of application servers configured to handle data requests;

a management server configured to handle management functions of the SAN and including a SAN manager, the SAN manager including a Trap dictionary to interpret an error code included in a Trap message from a device experiencing failure, the device having a plurality of components, where one of the plurality of components is experiencing problem;

a plurality of storage subsystems configured to store data; and

a plurality of switches configured to transfer data between the application servers and the storage subsystems, wherein the SAN is a heterogeneous network including network products from a plurality of vendors with different rules for error codes.

13. The SAN of claim 12, where in the SAN manager includes a plurality of Trap dictionaries for different vendors.

14. The network of claim 12, further comprising:

a messaging network coupled to the SAN.

15. The SAN of claim 12, wherein the Trap dictionary includes an error code list and an error component list corresponding to the error code list.

16. The SAN of claim 15, wherein the error code identifies the one component within the device experiencing the problem, wherein the Trap dictionary is looked up to identify the one component.

17. The SAN of claim 12, wherein the management server further comprising:

a topology table including information about a topology of I/O communication in the network, so that the SAN manager can access the topology table to determine an effect of the failure.

18. A method of managing a storage network, comprising:

providing a plurality of network products manufactured from a plurality of vendors;

receiving an event message from a device including a plurality of components, wherein one of the components is experiencing failure, the event message including an error code identifying the one component experiencing the failure;

accessing an event dictionary to interpret the error code in the event message, the event dictionary including an error code list and a corresponding error component list; and

determining an identity of the component experiencing the failure using the error code list in the event dictionary.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

accessing a topology table to determine an effect of the component failure.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

providing an event notification to a network administrator, the event notification including information about the component experiencing the failure and an effect of the failure.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the event notification includes a topology view that graphically illustrates a topology of the storage network and an event summary that provides information on the component that is experiencing the failure and an effect of that failure.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the event notification further includes a data path effected by the component failure.

23. A network manager provided within a management server of a storage area network, the network manager comprising:

code for accessing a look-up table to interpret an event message received from a device within the storage area network to identify a component within the device that is experiencing failure and determine an effect of the failure.

24. An event notification method performed by a storage area network (SAN) manager running on a first server, wherein the first server is coupled to at least a second server, a switch, and a storage subsystem via a network, the method comprising:

receiving from the second server information on an I/O path between the second server and logical volumes that the second server accesses;

receiving configuration information from the switch and the storage subsystem;

generating topology information on the SAN by using the information from the second server and the configuration information;

receiving from the switch or the storage subsystem an event message if a failure occurs at the switch or the storage subsystem; and

determining which logical volume the second server cannot access due to the failure using the topology information and the event message.

25. The event notification method of claim 24, further comprising;

interpreting the event message by using an event dictionary of the manager.

26. The event notification method of claim 25, wherein the event dictionary includes an error code list for the switch and the storage subsystem and an error component list corresponding to the error code list.