CONNECTING DEVICE OF STORAGE DEVICE AND COMPUTER SYSTEM INCLUDING THE SAME CONNECTING DEVICE

• US 20080222356A1
• Filed: 05/12/2008
• Published: 09/11/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 12/09/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kenji Muraoka, Yasutomo Yamamoto, Yasuyuki Mimatsu
• Original Assignee: Kenji Muraoka, Yasutomo Yamamoto, Yasuyuki Mimatsu
• Inventors: Muraoka, Kenji, Mimatsu, Yasuyuki, Yamamoto, Yasutomo
• Granted Patent: US 7,984,227 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 711/114
• 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 3/0659 Command handling arrangements, e.g. command buffers, queues, command scheduling
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0664 at device level, e.g. emulation of a storage device or system
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0665 at area level, e.g. provisioning of virtual or logical volumes
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/067 Distributed or networked storage systems, e.g. storage area networks [SAN], network attached storage [NAS]

Abstract

In an environment in which plural external storage devices having different function control interfaces are intermixed, when a function of a storage device is controlled from a computer, a common interface for controlling the function of the storage device is provided. A device that provides the common interface manages an interrelationship between a storage area recognized by a host computer and a storage area provided by the storage device and associates a storage area which becomes a target of a function control instruction with the storage device that provides the storage area. A type of the storage device that provides the storage area which becomes the target of the function control instruction is identified and function control is ordered through a function control interface unique to the device.

Claims

1. A switch device comprising:

a first interface to be coupled to a host computer via network;

a plurality of virtual volumes to be provided for the host computer;

a second interface to be coupled to a plurality of storage systems including data volumes for storing data; and

a processor coupled to the first interface and the second interface,

wherein the processor receives, through the first interface, a first instruction controlling a function of one of said plurality of storage systems from the host computer to a virtual function volume for controlling function and without storing data,

wherein said first instruction including a virtual volume identifier identifying a virtual volume from the host computer, identifies at least one of data volumes corresponding to the virtual volume specified by the virtual volume identifier, and sends, through the second interface, at least one of a second instruction to at least one of the data volumes being included in at least one of either of a first storage system or a second storage system,

wherein said function is a snapshot function or mirror function,

wherein said host computer sends said first instruction as an Input/Output (I/O) command to said virtual function volume, and

wherein the second instruction is based on a protocol for a storage system which is a destination of the second instruction.

2. A switch device according to claim 1, wherein each of the storage system executes control for a data volume included therein based on a different protocol,

wherein when a plurality of data volumes correspond to the virtual volume and each of the data volumes is included in a different storage system, the processor sends the at least one second instruction to each of the storage systems, and

wherein the at least one second instruction sent to each storage system corresponds to the protocol of the storage system.

3. A switch device according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of the first instructions are based on a common protocol among a plurality of said host computers and the memory holds information of a relationship between each storage systems and the common protocol, and

wherein the processor converts the first instruction into the second instruction based on the information of the relationship held by the memory.

4. A switch device according to claim 1, wherein the second interface is configured to have a plurality of ports to be coupled to the plurality of storage systems.

12. A switch according to claim 1, wherein the switch converts the first instruction into the second instruction to be recognized by the storage system.

13. A switch according to claim 1, wherein the switch selects a second instruction to be recognized by the storage system.

15. The switch device according to claim 1, wherein said first instruction is one of initialization, suspension, re-synchronization, cancellation, and state acquisition for controlling a mirror function.

5. A switch device comprising:

a host network interface to be coupled to host computers via a network;

a storage network interface to be coupled to a first storage system which controls based on a first protocol and which has a first data volume storing data from a host computer and a second storage system which controls based on a second protocol and which has a second data volume storing data from a host computer, said first storage system has a different function compared to functions of said second storage system;

a processor coupled to the host network interface and the storage network interface; and

a first virtual volume corresponding to at least one of the first data volumes and a second virtual volume corresponding to at least one of the second data volumes, the first virtual volume and the second virtual volume to be provided for at least one of the host computers,

wherein when a virtual volume specified by a virtual volume identifier in the instruction is the first virtual volume corresponding to the first data volume, the processor sends to the first storage system, through the storage network interface, first control information related to the first data volume according to the first protocol for the first storage system for controlling a function of the first storage system,

wherein when a virtual volume specified by the virtual volume identifier in the instruction is the second virtual volume corresponding to the second data volume, the processor sends to the second storage system through the storage network interface, second control information related to the second data volume according to the second protocol for the second storage system for controlling a function of the second storage system,

wherein each of said function of said first storage system and said functions of said second storage system is an intelligent function, and

wherein if the processor sends said first control information and/or the second control information, the processor uses a virtual function volume for controlling function and without storing data.

6. A switch device according to claim 5, wherein a plurality of the instructions from the host computer is based on a common protocol among the host computer and the switch device, the processor converts, corresponding to a destination of the first/second control information, the instruction into either the first control information or the second control information corresponding to a destination for the first/second control information.

7. A switch device according to claim 5, further comprising:

a third virtual volume corresponding to the first data volume and the second data volume, the third virtual volume to be provided for a host computer,

wherein when an instruction includes a virtual volume identifier specified by the third virtual volume identifier, the processor creates the first control information and the second control information, sends the first control information to the first storage system, and sends the second control information to the second storage system.

8. A switch device according to claim 7, wherein the processor receives first result information according to the first control information from the first storage system and second result information according to the second control information from the second storage system, the first control information and the second control information are related to the instruction related to the third virtual volume, and

wherein the processor, when the first result information indicates a failure of execution according to the first control information and the second result information indicates a success of execution according to the second control information, sends to the second storage system another instruction to cancel the execution if not successful.

9. A switch device according to claim 5, wherein the storage network interface is configured to have a first port to be coupled to the first storage system and a second port to be coupled to the second storage system.

10. A switch device according to claim 9, wherein the first port is a fibre channel port and the second port is a Local Area Network (LAN) port.

11. A switch device according to claim 5, wherein the switch device is a virtualization device.

14. A switch device according to claim 6, wherein the processor selects either the first control information or the second control information based on a protocol for a storage system.

16. The switch device according to claim 5, wherein said intelligent function is a snapshot function or mirror function.

17. The switch device according to claim 16, wherein said instruction is one of initialization, suspension, re-synchronization, cancellation, and state acquisition for controlling a mirror function.

18. The switch device according to claim 5, wherein said intelligent function is not an ordinary disk array function.