Computer system including a device with a plurality of identifiers

• US 20040230698A1
• Filed: 06/16/2004
• Published: 11/18/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 03/16/1992
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kiyoshi Honda, Minoru Yoshida, Naoto Matsunami, Takashi Oeda
• Original Assignee: Kiyoshi Honda, Minoru Yoshida, Naoto Matsunami, Takashi Oeda
• Inventors: Matsunami, Naoto, Oeda, Takashi, Yoshida, Minoru, Honda, Kiyoshi
• Granted Patent: US 7,016,961 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/245
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2003/0697 device management, e.g. handlers, drivers, I/O schedulers
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0601 Interfaces specially adapted for storage systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0605 by facilitating the interaction with a user or administrator
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0607 by facilitating the process of upgrading existing storage systems, e.g. for improving compatibility between host and storage device
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0626 Reducing size or complexity of storage systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0632 by initialisation or re-initialisation of storage systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0637 Permissions
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0644 Management of space entities, e.g. partitions, extents, pools
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0661 Format or protocol conversion arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0673 Single storage device
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0683 Plurality of storage devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0689 Disk arrays, e.g. RAID, JBOD

Abstract

A host computer is connected with a magnetic disk storage device by a SCSI bus. In the magnetic disk storage device, a plurality of partitions are set in a disk drive unit and have device identifiers (IDs) respectively allocated thereto as SCSI IDs=1, 2 and 3, which are supported by a disk controller. When the host computer has acquired the control, the SCSI bus through an arbitration and has selected, for example, the partition with the device identifier SCSI ID=1, the disk controller permits the host computer to access the partition in response to the selection. Since the partitions are different in attributes, properties etc., they seem to be magnetic disk storage device that are separate from one another when viewed from the host computer. Thus, the single magnetic disk storage device can be managed as a plurality of storage devices of different nature.

Claims

1. A computer system comprising:

a network file server controller to be coupled to a plurality of computers, said network file server controller receives an access request from said computers; and

a storage device coupled to said network file server controller, said storage device has a storage area configured with a plurality of disks for storing data in response to said access request and is allocated to a plurality of Internet Protocol (IP) addresses,

wherein said storage area is divided into a plurality of regions,

wherein said network file server controller has set therein relations so that a first IP address of said IP addresses is allocated to a first region of said regions and a second IP address of said IP addresses is allocated to a second region of said regions,

wherein said network file server controller responds to said received access request, which includes an IP address, based on said relations set therein regarding the allocated IP addresses and said regions, and

wherein said first IP address corresponds to a first operating system executed in a first computer of said plurality of computers and said second IP address corresponds to a second operating system executed in a second computer of said plurality of computers.

2. A computer system according to claim 1, wherein said first operating system is different from said second operating system.

3. A computer system according to claim 2, wherein said first operating system is an UNIX-type operating system and said second operating system is a Mainframe-type operating system.

4. A computer system according to claim 3, wherein one of said regions includes more than two disks of said plurality of disks.

5. A computer system according to claim 4, wherein one of said regions is configured as one of Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks (RAID) levels.

6. A computer system according to claim 5, wherein said network file server controller supports said allocated IP addresses so that said first and second computers can access said storage device by using each of said first and second IP addresses assigned for each of said first and second computers.