Method of collecting and storing storage network performance information, computer system, and program

• US 20060085166A1
• Filed: 11/30/2004
• Published: 04/20/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 10/05/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Inventors: Ohata, Hideo, Takeda, Kei, Ochi, Hiroyuki
• Granted Patent: US 7,143,008 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 702/186
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3409 for performance assessment
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3495 for systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/88 Monitoring involving counting
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0653 Monitoring storage devices or systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/067 Distributed or networked storage systems, e.g. storage area networks [SAN], network attached storage [NAS]

Abstract

To provide a method of collecting and storing storage network performance information that allows tracking of the cause of application performance deterioration. It is automatically judged whether or not performance information collected, to be stored, from components of a storage network including a host server and a storage system has a possibility of ever being used in a search for the cause of application performance deterioration, and the degree of importance of performance information is determined based on the result of the judgment. The preservation period of performance information that is high in degree of importance is set long, while a short preservation period is set to performance information of low degree of importance. After the preservation period set to the respective performance information expires, the corresponding performance information is deleted.

Claims

1. A storage network performance information collecting and storing method for collecting and storing performance information on resources of a storage network having a network device that is placed between a computer and a storage system for transmission and reception of input/output data, comprising:

a performance information collecting step of collecting and storing performance information from collection subject components that are chosen in advance out of resources consisting of the storage network, the storage system, and the computer;

a performance dependence relation information collecting step of collecting and storing information on a performance dependence relation between the collection subject components;

an application performance deterioration period detecting step of collecting and storing a performance deterioration period of an application executed in the computer;

a dependence-relation-during-performance-deterioration detecting step of detecting collection subject components that have been in a performance dependence relation with the application whose performance has been deteriorated during the detected application performance deterioration period;

a preservation period setting step of setting a second preservation period longer than a normal preservation period is set for performance information of the collection subject components detected in the dependence-relation-during-performance-deterioration detecting step and setting the normal preservation period for performance information of other resources than the detected components; and

a deleting step of deleting performance information that has passed one of the normal preservation period and the second preservation period.

2. The storage network performance information collecting and storing method according to claim 1, wherein the dependence-relation-during-performance-deterioration detecting step comprises setting, based on the performance dependence relation between collection subject components, collection subject components on a path that is reached by tracing the dependence relation from the application whose performance has deteriorated toward the downstream side of the storage network to which the application applies a performance load during the performance deterioration period, as collection subject components that have been in a performance dependence relation with the application.

3. The storage network performance information collecting and storing method according to claim 1, wherein the dependence-relation-during-performance-deterioration detecting step comprises:

detecting, based on the performance dependence relation between collection subject components, collection subject components on a path that is reached by tracing the dependence relation from the application whose performance has deteriorated toward the downstream side of the storage network to which the application applies a performance load during the performance deterioration period; and

setting collection subject components on a path that is reached by tracing the dependence relation from the detected collection subject components toward the upstream side to which a performance load is applied, as collection subject components that have been in a performance dependence relation with the application.

4. The storage network performance information collecting and storing method according to claim 1, wherein the dependence-relation-during-performance-deterioration detecting step comprises:

detecting, based on the performance dependence relation between collection subject components, collection subject components on a path that is reached by tracing the dependence relation from the application whose performance has deteriorated toward the downstream side of the storage network to which the application applies a performance load during the performance deterioration period; and

setting collection subject components on a path that is reached by tracing the dependence relation from the detected collection subject components toward the downstream side to which a performance load is applied, as collection subject components that have been in a performance dependence relation with the application.

5. The storage network performance information collecting and storing method according to claim 1, wherein the dependence-relation-during-performance-deterioration detecting step comprises:

detecting, based on the performance dependence relation between collection subject components, collection subject components on a path that is reached by tracing the dependence relation from the application whose performance has deteriorated toward the downstream side of the storage network to which the application applies a performance load during the performance deterioration period; and

setting collection subject components on a path that is reached by tracing the dependence relation from the detected collection subject components toward the downstream side and the upstream side to which a performance load is applied, as collection subject components that have been in a performance dependence relation with the application.

6. A program for collecting and storing performance information on resources of a storage network having a network device that is placed between a computer and a storage system for communication of input/output data, the program controlling a computer to execute:

the processing of collecting and storing performance information from collection subject components that are chosen in advance out of resources consisting of the storage network, the storage system, and the computer;

the processing of collecting and storing information on a performance dependence relation between the collection subject components;

the processing of collecting and storing a performance deterioration period of an application executed in the computer;

a dependence-relation-during-performance-deterioration detecting processing of detecting collection subject components that have been in a performance dependence relation with the application whose performance has been deteriorated during the detected application performance deterioration period;

a preservation period setting processing of setting a second preservation period longer than a normal preservation period for performance information of the collection subject components detected by the dependence-relation-during-performance-deterioration detecting processing and setting the normal preservation period for performance information of other resources than the detected components; and

deleting performance information that has passed one of the normal preservation period and the second preservation period.

7. The program according to claim 6, wherein the dependence-relation-during-performance-deterioration detecting processing comprises setting, based on the performance dependence relation between collection subject components, collection subject components on a path that is reached by tracing the dependence relation from the application whose performance has deteriorated toward the downstream side of the storage network to which the application applies a performance load during the performance deterioration period, as collection subject components that have been in a performance dependence relation with the application.

8. The program according to claim 6, wherein the dependence-relation-during-performance-deterioration detecting processing comprises:

detecting, based on the performance dependence relation between collection [subject components, collection subject components on a path that is reached by tracing the dependence relation from the application whose performance has deteriorated toward the downstream side of the storage network to which the application applies a performance load during the performance deterioration period; and

setting collection subject components on a path that is reached by tracing the dependence relation from the detected collection subject components toward the upstream side to which a performance load is applied, as collection subject components that have been in a performance dependence relation with the application.

9. The program according to claim 6, wherein the dependence-relation-during-performance-deterioration detecting processing comprises:

detecting, based on the performance dependence relation between collection subject components, collection subject components on a path that is reached by tracing the dependence relation from the application whose performance has deteriorated toward the downstream side of the storage network to which the application applies a performance load during the performance deterioration period; and

setting collection subject components on a path that is reached by tracing the dependence relation from the detected collection subject components toward the downstream side to which a performance load is applied, as collection subject components that have been in a performance dependence relation with the application.

10. The program according to claim 6, wherein the dependence-relation-during-performance-deterioration detecting processing comprises:

detecting, based on the performance dependence relation between collection subject components, collection subject components on a path that is reached by tracing the dependence relation from the application whose performance has deteriorated toward the downstream side of the storage network to which the application applies a performance load during the performance deterioration period; and

setting collection subject components on a path that is reached by tracing the dependence relation from the detected collection subject components toward the downstream side and the upstream side to which a performance load is applied, as collection subject components that have been in a performance dependence relation with the application.

11. A computer system comprising:

a computer which executes an application;

a storage network which includes a network device placed between the computer and a storage system for transmission and reception of input/output data;

a performance information collecting module which collects performance information from collection subject components that are chosen in advance out of resources consisting of the storage network, the storage system, and the computer, and which stores the collected performance information in a storage area set in advance;

a performance dependence relation information collecting module which collects information on a performance dependence relation between the collection subject components based on the configuration of the storage network, and which stores the collected information on the performance dependence relation;

a deterioration detecting module which detects performance deterioration of the application and which stores a period of performance deterioration of the application;

a dependence-relation-during-performance-deterioration detecting module which detects collection subject components that have been in a performance dependence relation with the application whose performance has been deteriorated during the application performance deterioration period;

a preservation period setting module which sets a second preservation period longer than a normal preservation period for performance information of the collection subject components detected by the dependence-relation-during-performance-deterioration detecting module, and which sets the normal preservation period for performance information of other resources than the detected components; and

a deleting module which detects performance information that has passed one of the normal preservation period and the second preservation period to delete the performance information from the storage area.

12. The computer system according to claim 11, wherein in the dependence-relation-during-performance-deterioration detecting module, the performance dependence relation between collection subject components is used to set collection subject components on a path that is reached by tracing the dependence relation from the application whose performance has deteriorated toward the downstream side of the storage network to which the application applies a performance load during the performance deterioration period, as collection subject components that have been in a performance dependence relation with the application.

13. The computer system according to claim 11, wherein in the dependence-relation-during-performance-deterioration detecting module, the performance dependence relation between collection subject components is used to detect collection subject components on a path that is reached by tracing the dependence relation from the application whose performance has deteriorated toward the downstream side of the storage network to which the application applies a performance load during the performance deterioration period, and collection subject components on a path that is reached by tracing the dependence relation from the detected collection subject components toward the upstream side to which a performance load is applied are set as collection subject components that have been in a performance dependence relation with the application.

14. The computer system according to claim 11, wherein in the dependence-relation-during-performance-deterioration detecting module, the performance dependence relation between collection subject components is used to detect collection subject components on a path that is reached by tracing the dependence relation from the application whose performance has deteriorated toward the downstream side of the storage network to which the application applies a performance load during the performance deterioration period, and collection subject components on a path that is reached by tracing the dependence relation from the detected collection subject components toward the downstream side to which a performance load is applied are set as collection subject components that have been in a performance dependence relation with the application.

15. The computer system according to claim 11, wherein in the dependence-relation-during-performance-deterioration detecting module, the performance dependence relation between collection subject components is used to detect collection subject components on a path that is reached by tracing the dependence relation from the application whose performance has deteriorated toward the downstream side of the storage network to which the application applies a performance load during the performance deterioration period, and collection subject components on a path that is reached by tracing the dependence relation from the detected collection subject components toward the downstream side and the upstream side to which a performance load is applied are set as collection subject components that have been in a performance dependence relation with the application.