Storage unit and circuit for shaping communication signal

• US 20080301365A1
• Filed: 07/29/2008
• Published: 12/04/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 05/22/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hiromi Matsushige, Hiroshi Suzuki, Masato Ogawa, Tomokazu Yokoyama, Yasuhiro Sakakibara
• Inventors: SUZUKI, Hiroshi, YOKOYAMA, Tomokazu, MATSUSHIGE, Hiromi, SAKAKIBARA, Yasuhiro, OGAWA, Masato
• Granted Patent: US 7,685,362 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 711/113
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/061 Improving I/O performance
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0658 Controller construction arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0689 Disk arrays, e.g. RAID, JBOD

Abstract

The present invention relates to a storage unit comprising: a channel control portion for receiving a data input/output request; a cache memory for storing data; a disk control portion for performing input/output processing on data in accordance with the data input/output request; and a plurality of disk drives for storing data, wherein at least two of the disk drives input data to and output it from the disk control portion at different communication speeds. Further, the storage unit has a plurality of communication paths provided to connect at least one of the disk drives in such a manner as to constitute a loop defined by the FC-AL fiber channel standards, so that the communication speeds can be set differently for these different communication paths.

Claims

1. A disk array system comprising:

a controller receiving data from a host computer via an external network and controlling read/write of data;

a plurality of communication paths coupled to the controller and being used to relay data sent by control of the controller via a Fibre Channel (FC) interface,

wherein said communication paths are different from said external network;

two or more first disk drives coupled to a first communication path of the communication paths and receiving/transferring data via the FC interface on said first communication path,

wherein said first communication path conducts receiving/transferring of data at a first communication speed; and

two or more second disk drives coupled to a second communication path of the communication paths and receiving/transferring data via the FC interface on said second communication path,

wherein said second communication path conducts receiving/transferring of data at a second communication speed,

wherein the first communication speed is different from the second communication speed.

2. The disk array system according to claim 1, wherein each of the communication paths is used to relay data in a manner as to constitute a loop defined by the FC interface.

3. The disk array system according to claim 1, wherein each of the communication paths is used to relay data according to the FC loop topology.

4. The disk array system according to claim 1, wherein the first communication speed is a 4 Gbps and the second communication speed is a 2 Gbps.

5. The disk array system according to claim 1, wherein the disk array system detects the first communication speed of the first communication path.

6. The disk array system according to claim 1, wherein the first communication speed is 4 Gbps, and

wherein the disk array system detects that the first communication speed is the 4 Gbps.

7. The disk array system according to claim 1, wherein the second communication speed is 2 Gbps, and

wherein the disk array system detects that the second communication speed is the 2 Gbps.

8. The disk array system according to claim 1, wherein the first communication speed is 4 Gbps and the second communication speed is 2 Gbps, and

wherein the disk array system detects that the first communication speed is the 4 Gbps and that the second communication speed is the 2 Gbps.

9. The disk array system according to claim 1, wherein the disk array system detects the first communication speed, and

wherein the controller transfers data to the two or more first disk drives coupled to the first communication path based on the detected first communication speed.

10. The disk array system according to claim 1, wherein the disk array system detects that the first communication speed is 4 Gbps, and

wherein the controller transfers data to the two or more first disk drives coupled to the first communication path based on the 4 Gbps.

11. The disk array system according to claim 1, wherein the disk array system detects that the second communication speed is 2 Gbps, and

wherein the controller transfers data to the two or more second disk drives coupled to the second communication path based on the 2 Gbps.

12. The disk array system according to claim 1, wherein the disk array system detects that the first communication speed is 4 Gbps and that the second communication speed is 2 Gbps, and

wherein the controller transfers data to the two or more first disk drives coupled to the first communication path based on the 4 Gbps and transfers data to the two or more second disk drives coupled to the second communication path based on the 2 Gbps.

30. The disk array system according to claim 1, further comprising:

at least one third disk drive not mixed with the two or more first drives but coupled to the first communication path.

13. A disk array system comprising:

a controller receiving data from a host computer via an external network and controlling read/write of data;

a plurality of communication paths coupled to the controller,

wherein said communication paths are different from said external network;

two or more first disk drives coupled to a first communication path of the communication paths and transferring data via a Fibre Channel (FC) interface on said first communication path,

wherein said first communication path conducts transferring of data at a first transfer rate; and

two or more second disk drives coupled to a second communication path of the communication paths and transferring data via the FC interface on said second communication path,

wherein said second communication path conducts transferring of data at a second transfer rate,

wherein the first transfer rate is different from the second transfer rate.

14. The disk array system according to claim 13, wherein the disk array system automatically detects the first transfer rate.

15. The disk array system according to claim 13, wherein the disk array system detects the first transfer rate by using a signal sent from the controller.

16. The disk array system according to claim 13, wherein the disk array system automatically detects the first transfer rate by using a signal transferred from at least one of the two or more first disk drives coupled to the first communication path.

17. The disk array system according to claim 13, wherein the disk array system automatically detects that the first transfer rate is 4 Gbps by using a signal sent from the controller.

18. The disk array system according to claim 13, wherein the disk array system detects that the first transfer rate is 4 Gbps by using a signal transferred from at least one of the two or more first disk drives coupled to the first communication path.

19. The disk array system according to claim 13, wherein the disk array system detects that the first transfer rate is 4 Gbps based on a signal transferred from the controller or at least one of the two or more first disk drives coupled to the first communication path.

20. The disk array system according to claim 13, wherein the disk array system automatically detects the first transfer rate and detects the second transfer rate.

31. The disk array system according to claim 13, further comprising:

at least one third disk drive not mixed with the two or more first drives but coupled to the first communication path.

21. A disk array system comprising:

a controller receiving data from a host computer via an external network and controlling read/write of data;

a plurality of communication paths coupled to the controller, each of the communication paths operating according to the Fibre Channel (FC) loop topology,

wherein said communication paths are different from said external network;

one two or more first disk drives coupled to a first communication path of the communication paths and receiving/transferring data sent from the controller according to the FC protocol on said first communication path,

wherein said first communication path conducts receiving/transferring of data at a first communication speed; and

one two or more second disk drives coupled to a second communication path of the communication paths and receiving/transferring data sent from the controller according to the FC protocol on said second communication path,

wherein said second communication path conducts receiving/transferring of data at a second communication speed, and

wherein the first communication speed is different from the second communication speed.

22. The disk array system according to claim 21, wherein the disk array system automatically detects the first communication speed.

23. The disk array system according to claim 21, wherein the disk array system automatically detects the first communication speed and detects the second communication speed.

24. The disk array system according to claim 21, wherein the first communication speed is a 4 Gbps and the second communication speed is a 2 Gbps.

32. The disk array system according to claim 21, further comprising:

at least one third disk drive not mixed with the two or more first drives but coupled to the first communication path.

25. A storage system comprising:

a channel adapter which receives an I/O request via an external network from a host computer;

a cache memory which stores data of said I/O request;

a disk adapter which performs I/0 processing on data in accordance with said I/O request; and

a plurality of disk drives for storing data,

wherein said plurality of disk drives have first disk drives coupled to a first path and second disk drives coupled to a second path,

wherein said first and second paths are different from said external network,

wherein said disk adapter communicates with said first disk drives via said first path according to the Fibre Channel (FC) standard,

wherein said first path conducts communication of data at a first communication speed,

wherein said disk adapter communicates with said second disk drives via said second path according to the FC interface,

wherein said second path conducts communication of data at a second communication speed, and

wherein the first communication speed of said first disk drives on said first path is different from the second communication speed of said second disk drives on said second path.

26. A storage system according to claim 25, wherein said first path and second path constitute a loop.

27. A storage system according to claim 25, wherein said first communication speed is 4 Gbps and said second communication speed is 2 Gbps.

28. A storage unit comprising:

a disk control portion for performing input/output processing on data in accordance with data input/output request via an external network from the host computer later;

a first group of disk drives for storing data by inputting and outputting data with a first communication speed on a first path according to the Fibre Channel (FC) protocol; and

a second group of disk drives for storing data by inputting and outputting data with a second communication speed on a second path according to the FC protocol,

wherein said first and second paths are different from said external network, wherein the disk control portion inputs data from and outputs data to the first group of disk drives with the first communication speed and inputs data from and outputs data to the second group of disk drives with the second communication speed, and

wherein the first communication speed is different from the second communication speed.

29. A storage unit according to claim 28, wherein the first communication speed is 4 Gbps and the second communication speed is 2 Gbps.

33. The storage unit according to claim 28, further comprising:

at least one third disk drive not mixed with the two or more first drives but coupled to the first communication path.