Method and apparatus for adjusting performance of logical volume copy destination

• US 20040123180A1
• Filed: 08/29/2003
• Published: 06/24/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 12/20/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Inventors: Miyazaki, Satoshi, Soejima, Kenichi
• Granted Patent: US 7,047,360 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 714/5
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1084 Degraded mode, e.g. caused by single or multiple storage removals or disk failures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1096 Parity calculation or recalculation after configuration or reconfiguration of the system

Abstract

When data written into a volume (source volume) in a parity group in a storage apparatus is written into a volume (destination volume) in a parity group in a storage apparatus using a remote copy function, it is determined during the copy whether or not one or both of the following two specified conditions are satisfied for this set of volumes: (1) the performance of the destination volume after a failover is equal to or higher than the performance of the source volume before the failover; and (2) the performance of the destination volume is equal to or higher than the performance of the source volume during the copy. If the condition(s) is not satisfied, the storage apparatus in which the destination volume is defined is changed in configuration to satisfy the condition.

Claims

1. In a computer system comprising a plurality of storage apparatuses and a plurality of computers, said plurality of storage apparatuses including storage apparatuses in which a first logical volume and a second logical volume different from each other are defined, respectively, said plurality of computers including a first computer and a second computer, wherein:

a first condition is satisfied when said first computer is performing processing using said first logical volume, and when an association which represents that data written into said first logical volume is also written into said second logical volume is established between said first logical volume and said second logical volume; and

a second condition is satisfied when said association is dissolved and when said second computer performs processing using said second logical volume,

a method of adjusting the performance of said second logical volume comprising;

a performance adjustment timing detecting step responsive to a failure in satisfying a condition that the performance of said second logical volume in said fist condition or in said second condition is equal to or higher than the performance of said first logical volume in said first condition, for detecting a timing at which a performance adjustment is made to modify the configuration in said storage apparatus in which said second logical volume is defined, to satisfy said condition;

a performance value acquiring step responsive to the detected timing for acquiring a first performance value related to said first logical volume and a second performance value related to said second logical volume;

a performance degradation predicting step for comparing said acquired second performance value with said acquired first performance value to predict or determine whether or not said condition is established;

a configuration modification processing searching step, responsive to a failure in establishing said condition, for searching configuration modification processing which modifies the configuration in said storage apparatus in which said second logical volume is defined to establish said condition; and

a performance adjusting step for performing one or more of configuration modification processing in the result of the search conducted at said configuration modification processing searching step.

2. A method of adjusting the performance of said second logical volume according to claim 1, wherein:

said performance adjustment timing detecting step determines the timing for performing said performance adjustment upon detection of the occurrence of one of events including a modification in the configuration of said storage apparatus in which said first logical volume or said second logical volume is defined;

the lapse of a predetermined time after the preceding performance adjustment;

the arrival of a previously specified time;

a request made for a performance adjustment from an arbitrary computer in said computer system;

a transition from said first condition to said second condition; and

the arrival of a preset number of times of transfers of data written in said first logical volume to said storage apparatus in which said second logical volume is defined in order to write the same data into said second logical volume;

said performance value acquiring step acquires one or more values of an average number of processing requests per unit time, a total amount of requested data, a total use time, an average request processing time, and an average access time from said first computer at a certain time in the past or in said first condition for one or more of said first logical volume, said second logical volume, a logical volume which shares a resource with said first logical volume, and a logical volume which shares a resource with said second logical volume, and uses the sum of the acquired values or an average value of the acquired values, or one of the acquired values, or the sum of the acquired values as a key to reference a previously defined correspondence table showing a correspondence of the sum of the acquired values to the average request processing time to retrieve a value for use as said first performance value and said second performance value; and

said configuration modification processing searching step searches, for one or more of said second logical volume and said logical volume which shares a resource with said second logical volume, one or more of the configuration modification processing selected from a movement of the physical storage location of said logical volume, a change in a processing request priority to said logical volume, and a change in the capacity of a cache allocated to said logical volume.

3. In a computer system comprising a plurality of storage apparatuses and a plurality of computers, said plurality of storage apparatuses including storage apparatuses in which a first logical volume and a second logical volume different from each other are defined, respectively, said plurality of computers including a first computer and a second computer, wherein:

a first condition is satisfied when said first computer is performing processing using said first logical volume, and when an association which represents that data written into said first logical volume is also written into said second logical volume is established between said first logical volume and said second logical volume; and

a second condition is satisfied when said association is dissolved and when said second computer performs processing using said second logical volume,

a logical volume definition region searching method for searching a storage region in which said second logical volume is defined in a third condition in which said first logical volume is defined and said second logical volume is not defined, said method comprising;

a logical volume search request receiving step for receiving a request which specifies said first logical volume for searching said second logical volume;

a first performance value acquiring step for acquiring performance information related to said first logical volume as a first performance value;

a storage region list acquiring step for acquiring a list of storage regions in said computer system for defining said second logical volume therein;

a second performance value acquiring step for acquiring a performance value using performance information related to a storage region specified from said list as performance information when supposing that a logical volume is defined in said region;

a performance degradation predicting step for comparing said second performance value with said first performance value to predict whether or not a condition is established in which the performance of said second logical volume in said first condition or in said second condition is equal to or higher than the performance of said first logical volume in said first condition;

a configuration modification processing searching step for searching configuration modification processing which modifies the configuration in said storage apparatus in which said second logical volume is defined to establish said condition; and

a requested processing result returning step for returning the result of said logical volume search request.

4. A logical volume definition region search method according to claim 3, wherein:

each of said first performance value acquiring step and said second performance value acquiring step acquires one or more values of an average number of processing requests per unit time, a total amount of requested data per unit time, a total use time per unit time, an average request processing time, and an average access time from said first computer at a certain time in the past or in said third condition for one or more of said first logical volume, said second logical volume, a logical volume which shares a resource with said first logical volume, and a logical volume which shares a resource with said second logical volume, and uses the sum of the acquired values or an average value of the acquired values, or one of the acquired values, or the sum of the acquired values as a key to reference a previously defined correspondence table showing a correspondence of the sum of the acquired values to the average request processing time to retrieve a value for use as the first or second performance value; and

said configuration modification processing searching step performs, for one or more of said second logical volume and a logical volume which shares a resource with said second logical volume, one or more of the configuration modification processing selected from a movement of the physical storage location of said logical volume, a change in a processing request priority to said logical volume, and a change in the capacity of a cache allocated to said logical volume.

5. In a computer system comprising a plurality of storage apparatuses and a plurality of computers, said plurality of storage apparatuses including storage apparatuses in which a first logical volume and a second logical volume different from each other are defined, respectively, said plurality of computers including a first computer and a second computer, wherein:

a first condition is satisfied when said first computer is performing processing using said first logical volume, and when an association which represents that data written into said first logical volume is also written into said second logical volume is established between said first logical volume and said second logical volume; and

a second condition is satisfied when said association is dissolved and when said second computer performs processing using said second logical volume, a logical volume associating method for generating said association between said first logical volume and said second logical volume in a fourth condition in which said first logical volume and said second logical volume are defined, and said association has not been established between said first logical volume and said second logical volume, said method comprising;

a logical volume association request receiving step for receiving an association generation request together with said first logical volume and said second logical volume;

a first performance value acquiring step for acquiring performance information related to said first logical volume as a first performance value;

a second performance value acquiring step for acquiring performance information related to said second logical volume as a second performance volume;

a performance degradation predicting step for comparing said second performance value with said first performance value to predict whether or not a condition is established in which the performance of said second logical volume in said first state or said second state is equal to or higher than the performance of said first logical volume in said first state;

a configuration modification processing searching step for searching configuration modification processing which modifies the configuration in said storage apparatus in which said second logical volume is defined to satisfy said condition;

a performance adjusting step for changing the configuration in said storage apparatus in which said second logical volume is defined through said searched configuration modification processing;

a logical volume associating step for associating said first logical volume with said second logical volume; and

a requested processing result returning step for returning the result to said logical volume association request.

6. A logical volume associating method according to claim 5, wherein:

each of said first performance value acquiring step and said second performance value acquiring step acquires one or more values of an average number of processing requests per unit time, a total amount of requested data per unit time, a total use time, or an average request processing time, and an average access time from said first computer at a certain time in the past or in said fourth condition for one or more of said first logical volume, said second logical volume, a logical volume which shares a resource with said first logical volume, and a logical volume which shares a resource with said second logical volume, and uses the sum of the acquired values or an average value of the acquired values, or one of the acquired values, or the sum of the acquired values as a key to reference a previously defined correspondence table showing a correspondence of the sum of the acquired values to the average request processing time to retrieve a value for use as the first or second performance value; and

said configuration modification processing searching step performs, for one or more of said second logical volume and a logical volume which shares a resource with said second logical volume, one or more of the configuration modification processing selected from a movement of the physical storage location of said logical volume, a change in a processing request priority to said logical volume, and a change in the capacity of a cache allocated to said logical volume.

7. In a computer system comprising a plurality of storage apparatuses and a plurality of computers, said plurality of storage apparatuses including storage apparatuses in which a first logical volume and a second logical volume different from each other are defined, respectively, said plurality of computers including a first computer and a second computer, wherein:

a first condition is satisfied when said first computer is performing processing using said first logical volume, and when an association which represents that data written into said first logical volume is also written into said second logical volume is established between said first logical volume and said second logical volume; and

a second condition is satisfied when said association is dissolved and when said second computer performs processing using said second logical volume, an apparatus for adjusting the performance of said second logical volume comprising;

performance adjustment timing detecting means responsive to a failure in satisfying a condition that the performance of said second logical volume in said fist condition or in said second condition is equal to or higher than the performance of said first logical volume in said first condition for detecting a timing at which a performance adjustment is made to modify the configuration in said storage apparatus in which said second logical volume is defined unless to satisfy said condition;

first performance value acquiring means for acquiring performance information related to said first logical volume as a first performance value;

second performance value acquiring means for acquiring performance information related to said second logical volume as a second performance value;

performance degradation predicting means for comparing said acquired second performance value with said acquired first performance value to predict or determine whether or not said condition is established;

configuration modification processing searching means operable for said second logical volume which is predicted or determined that said condition is not established for searching configuration modification processing which modifies the configuration in said storage apparatus in which said second logical volume is defined to establish said condition; and

performance adjusting means for performing one or more of configuration modification processing in the result of the search when the result of the search conducted by said configuration modification processing searching means is not empty.

8. An apparatus for adjusting the performance of said second logical volume according to claim 7, wherein:

said performance adjustment timing detecting means determines the timing for performing said performance adjustment upon detection of the occurrence of one of events including a modification in the configuration of the storage apparatus in which said first logical volume or said second logical volume is defined;

the lapse of a predetermined time after the preceding performance adjustment;

the arrival of a previously specified time;

a request made for a performance adjustment from an arbitrary computer in said computer system;

a transition from said first condition to said second condition; and

a transfer of data written in said first logical volume to said storage apparatus in which said second logical volume is defined in order to write the same data into said second logical volume;

each of said first performance value acquiring means and said second performance value acquiring means acquires one or more values of an average number of processing requests per unit time, a total amount of requested data per unit time, a total use time per unit time, an average request processing time, and an average access time from said first computer at a certain time in the past or in said first condition for one or more of said first logical volume, said second logical volume, a logical volume which shares a resource with said first logical volume, and a logical volume which shares a resource with said second logical volume, and uses the sum of the acquired values or an average value of the acquired values, or one of the acquired values, or the sum of the acquired values as a key to reference a previously defined correspondence table showing a correspondence of the sum of the acquired values to the average request processing time to retrieve a value for use as the first or second performance value; and

said configuration modification processing searching means searches, for one or more of said second logical volume and said logical volume which shares a resource with said second logical volume, one or more of the configuration modification processing selected from a movement of the physical storage location of said logical volume, a change in a processing request priority to said logical volume, and a change in the capacity of a cache allocated to said logical volume.

9. In a computer system comprising a plurality of storage apparatuses and a plurality of computers, said plurality of storage apparatuses including storage apparatuses in which a first logical volume and a second logical volume different from each other are defined, respectively, said plurality of computers including a first computer and a second computer, wherein:

a first condition is satisfied when said first computer is performing processing using said first logical volume, and when an association which represents that data written into said first logical volume is also written into said second logical volume is established between said first logical volume and said second logical volume; and

a second condition is satisfied when said association is dissolved and when said second computer performs processing using said second logical volume,

a logical volume definition region searching apparatus for searching a storage region in which said second logical volume is defined in a third condition in which said first logical volume is defined and said second logical volume is not defined, said apparatus comprising;

logical volume search request receiving means for receiving a request which specifies said first logical volume for searching said second logical volume;

first performance value acquiring means for acquiring performance information related to said first logical volume as a first performance value;

storage region list acquiring means for acquiring a list of storage regions in said computer system for defining said second logical volume therein;

second performance value acquiring means for acquiring a performance value using performance information related to a storage region specified from said list as performance information when supposing that a logical volume is defined in said region;

performance degradation predicting means for comparing said second performance value with said first performance value to predict whether or not a condition is established in which the performance of said second logical volume in said first condition or in said second condition is equal to or higher than the performance of said first logical volume in said first condition;

configuration modification processing searching means for searching configuration modification processing which modifies the configuration in said storage apparatus in which said second logical volume is defined to establish said condition; and

requested processing result returning means for returning the result of said logical volume search request.

10. A logical volume definition region search apparatus according to claim 9, wherein:

each of said first performance value acquiring means and said second performance value acquiring means acquires one or more values of an average number of processing requests per unit time, a total amount of requested data per unit time, a total use time per unit time, an average request processing time, and an average access time from said first computer at a certain time in the past or in said third condition for one or more of said first logical volume, said second logical volume, a logical volume which shares a resource with said first logical volume, and a logical volume which shares a resource with said second logical volume, and uses the sum of the acquired values or an average value of the acquired values, or one of the acquired values, or the sum of the acquired values as a key to reference a previously defined correspondence table showing a correspondence of the sum of the acquired values to the average request processing time to retrieve a value for use as the first or second performance value, and

said configuration modification processing searching means searches, for one or more of said second logical volume and said logical volume which shares a resource with said second logical volume, one or more of the configuration modification processing selected from a movement of the physical storage location of said logical volume, a change in a processing request priority to said logical volume, and a change in the capacity of a cache allocated to said logical volume.

11. In a computer system comprising a plurality of storage apparatuses and a plurality of computers, said plurality of storage apparatuses including storage apparatuses in which a first logical volume and a second logical volume different from each other are defined, respectively, said plurality of computers including a first computer and a second computer, wherein:

a first condition is satisfied when said first computer is performing processing using said first logical volume, and when an association which represents that data written into said first logical volume is also written into said second logical volume is established between said first logical volume and said second logical volume; and

a second condition is satisfied when said association is dissolved and when said second computer performs processing using said second logical volume,

a logical volume associating apparatus for generating said association between said first logical volume and said second logical volume in a fourth condition in which said first logical volume and said second logical volume are defined, and said association has not been established between said first logical volume and said second logical volume, said apparatus comprising;

logical volume association request receiving means for receiving an association generation request together with said first logical volume and said second logical volume;

first performance value acquiring means for acquiring performance information related to said first logical volume as a first performance value;

second performance value acquiring means for acquiring performance information related to said second logical volume as a second performance volume;

performance degradation predicting means for comparing said second performance value with said first performance value to predict whether or not a condition is established in which the performance of said second logical volume in said first state or said second state is equal to or higher than the performance of said first logical volume in said first state;

configuration modification processing searching means for searching configuration modification processing which modifies the configuration in said storage apparatus in which said second logical volume is defined to satisfy said condition;

performance adjusting means for changing the configuration in said storage apparatus in which said second logical volume is defined through said searched configuration modification processing;

logical volume associating means for associating said first logical volume with said second logical volume; and

requested processing result returning means for returning the result to said logical volume association request.

12. A logical volume associating apparatus according to claim 11, wherein:

each of said first performance value acquiring means and said second performance value acquiring means acquires one or more values of an average number of processing requests per unit time, a total amount of requested data per unit time, a total use time per unit time, an average request processing time, and an average access time from said first computer at a certain time in the past or in said fourth condition for one or more of said first logical volume, said second logical volume, a logical volume which shares a resource with said first logical volume, and a logical volume which shares a resource with said second logical volume, and uses the sum of the acquired values or an average value of the acquired values, or one of the acquired values, or the sum of the acquired values as a key to reference a previously defined correspondence table showing a correspondence of the sum of the acquired values to the average request processing time to retrieve a value for use as the first or second performance value; and

said configuration modification processing searching means searches, for one or more of said second logical volume and said logical volume which shares a resource with said second logical volume, one or more of the configuration modification processing selected from a movement of the physical storage location of said logical volume, a change in a processing request priority to said logical volume, and a change in the capacity of a cache allocated to said logical volume.