DEVICE FOR MANAGING ELECTRONIC DEVICES CONSTITUTING STORAGE SYSTEM

• US 20090292932A1
• Filed: 07/24/2008
• Published: 11/26/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 05/23/2008
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Inventors: GEMBA, Ryu, OYAMA, Kazuhiro
• Application Number:
  US12/179,128
• Publication Number:
  US 20090292932A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 713/310
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3221 of disk drive devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3268 Power saving in hard disk drive
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0625 Power saving in storage systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0635 by changing the path, e.g. traffic rerouting, path reconfiguration
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0689 Disk arrays, e.g. RAID, JBOD
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 10/00 Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/50 in wire-line communication networks, e.g. low power modes or reduced link rate

Abstract

A management device that manages a plurality of electronic devices constituting a storage system specifies a power effect unit, through which a path that cannot be closed does not pass, from among a plurality of power effect units present in the storage system (units whose power states are switched independently), and causes the power state of the power effect unit to be transitioned to a power savings state by closing the path passing through the power effect unit. The power effect units are units, the power states of which are switched independently, and are the electronic devices themselves or a part thereof.

Claims

1. A management device that manages a plurality of electronic devices constituting a storage system,

the plurality of electronic devices including one or more storage devices, one or more upper-level devices, and one or more switch devices,

the one or more storage devices having:

one or more logical storage units; and

a plurality of storage ports which are a plurality of communication ports,

the one or more upper-level devices having a plurality of upper-level ports which are a plurality of communication ports,

the one or more switch devices having a plurality of switch ports which are a plurality of communication ports;

the plurality of switch ports including a switch port of a first type connected to the upper-level ports and a switch port of a second type connected to the storage ports,

the storage system having one or more multipaths formed therein, the multipaths being constituted by a plurality of paths linked to the same logical storage unit, and the respective paths passing through the upper-level ports, the switch port of a first type, the switch port of a second type, and the storage ports,

the respective electronic devices having one or more power effect units which are units, power states of which are switched independently;

the power effect units of the electronic devices being related to communication ports of the electronic devices and being the electronic devices themselves or a part of the electronic devices,

the management device comprising;

a specification part that specifies a first power effect unit, the power state of which is an ON state from among the plurality of power effect units in the storage system;

a path management part that transmits a path closure instruction, which is an instruction to close a first path passing through the first power effect unit, to the power effect unit having the upper-level port through which the first path passes, or to the upper-level device having the power effect unit; and

a power management part that transmits a switching instruction to switch the power state of the first power effect unit to the power savings state to the first power effect unit or the electronic device having the first power effect unit, wherein

all of the respective first paths which pass through the first power effect unit are constituent elements of either multipath.

2. The management device according to claim 1, wherein

the first power effect unit is any power effect unit among a plurality of power effect units of a first type, the power effect units of a first type being the switch devices or a part of the switch devices;

the specification part has a selection sub-part that selects a power effect unit candidate to be transitioned to a power savings state, and a judgment sub-part that judges whether it is possible to close all of the first paths passing through the selected candidate;

the first power effect unit is the candidate in cases where an affirmative judgment result is obtained;

the judgment sub-part judges that it is possible to close the first paths passing through the selected candidate in cases where an aggregated information amount per unit of time does not exceed a threshold value associated with the power effect unit, through which a second path of the multipath including the first path that passes through the candidate passes;

the aggregated information amount per unit of time is the total value of the information amount per unit of time flowing through the candidate or the first path that passes through the candidate and the information amount per unit of time flowing through the power effect unit, through which the second path passes;

the specification part further specifies a second power effect unit, through which the first path targeted for closure passes, and through which a path which is not targeted for closure does not pass;

the power management part transmits a switching instruction to switch the power state of the second power effect unit to a power savings state to the second power effect unit or to an electronic device which comprises the second power effect unit;

the second power effect unit is the upper-level device or a part thereof, and/or the storage device or a part thereof;

the first power effect unit corresponds to at least one of (2-1) to (2-5) below;

(2-1) a power effect unit of a first type for which the power consumption is higher than that for the other power effect unit of a first type;

(2-2) a power effect unit of a first type for which the information amount flowing per unit of time is smaller than that for the other power effect unit of a first type;

(2-3) a power effect unit of a first type for which the number of first paths passing therethrough is smaller than that for the other power effect unit of a first type;

(2-4) a power effect unit of a first type for which the number of the corresponding second power effect units or the total power consumption amount is smaller than those for the other power effect unit of a first type; and

(2-5) a power effect unit of a first type for which the current time has reached a preset time.

3. The management device according to claim 2, wherein

the specification part specifies a third power effect unit in a power savings state, which satisfies at least one of (3-1) to (3-3) below:

(3-1) a fault has occurred in any of K (where K is a natural number) second paths which correspond with a closed first path;

(3-2) the information per unit of time flowing through at least one communication port among an upper-level port, a switch port of a first type, a switch port of a second type, and a storage port, through which a second path passes, exceeds a threshold value associated with the communication port; and

(3-3) a power effect unit for which the current time has reached a preset time, and wherein

the power management part transmits a switching instruction to switch the power state to an ON state to the third power effect unit or to an electronic device which comprises the third power effect unit; and

the path management part transmits an instruction to cancel the closure of the closed first path to the power effect unit which has the upper-level port, through which the first path passes, or to the upper-level device which has the power effect unit.

4. The management device according to claim 2, wherein the first power effect unit is a power effect unit that satisfies (2-1) and at least one of (2-2) to (2-4) above.

5. The management device according to claim 2, wherein the judgment sub-part judges that it is possible to close the first paths passing through the selected candidate in cases where the aggregated information amount per unit of time does not exceed a threshold value associated with the upper-level port, through which a second path of the multipath including the first path that passes through the candidate passes.

6. The management device according to claim 1, wherein the first power effect unit is a power effect unit of a first type for which the power consumption is higher than that for the other power effect unit of a first type.

7. The management device according to claim 1, wherein the first power effect unit is a power effect unit of a first type for which the information amount flowing per unit of time is smaller than that for the other power effect unit of a first type.

8. The management device according to claim 1, wherein the first power effect unit is a power effect unit of a first type for which the number of first paths passing therethrough is smaller than that for the other power effect unit of a first type.

9. The management device according to claim 1, wherein

the specification part further specifies a second power effect unit, through which the first path targeted for closure passes, and through which a path which is not targeted for closure does not pass;

and

the power management part transmits a switching instruction to switch the power state of the second power effect unit to a power savings state to the second power effect unit or to an electronic device which comprises the second power effect unit.

10. The management device according to claim 1, wherein the first power effect unit is a power effect unit of a first type for which the number of the corresponding second power effect units or the total power consumption amount is smaller than those for the other power effect unit of a first type.

11. The management device according to claim 1, wherein the specification part specifies a third power effect unit in a power savings state which satisfies (11-1) and/or (11-2) below:

(11-1) a fault has occurred in any of K (where K is a natural number) second paths which correspond with a closed first path;

(11-2) the information per unit of time flowing through at least one communication port among an upper-level port, a switch port of a first type, a switch port of a second type, and a storage port, through which a second path passes, exceeds a threshold value associated with the communication port;

the power management part transmits a switching instruction to switch the power state to an ON state to the third power effect unit or to an electronic device which comprises the third power effect unit; and

the path management part transmits an instruction to cancel the closure of the closed first path to the power effect unit which has the upper-level port, through which the first path passes, or to the upper-level device which has the power effect unit.

12. The management device according to claim 1, wherein

the specification part has a selection sub-part that selects a power effect unit candidate to be transitioned to a power savings state, and a judgment sub-part that judges whether it is possible to close all of the first paths passing through the selected candidate;

the first power effect unit is the candidate in cases where an affirmative judgment result is obtained;

the judgment sub-part judges that it is possible to close the first paths passing through the selected candidate in cases where the aggregated information amount per unit of time does not exceed a threshold value associated with the power effect unit, through which a second path of the multipath including the first path that passes through the candidate passes; and

the aggregated information amount per unit of time is the total value of the information amount per unit of time flowing through the candidate or the first path that passes through the candidate and the information amount per unit of time flowing through the power effect unit, through which the second path passes.

13. The management device according to claim 12, wherein the judgment sub-part judges that it is possible to close the first paths passing through the selected candidate in cases where the aggregated information amount per unit of time does not exceed a threshold value associated with the upper-level port, through which a second path of the multipath including the first path that passes through the candidate passes.

14. A method that manages a plurality of electronic devices constituting a storage system,

the plurality of electronic devices including one or more storage devices, one or more upper-level devices, and one or more switch devices,

the one or more storage devices having;

one or more logical storage units; and

a plurality of storage ports which are a plurality of communication ports,

the one or more upper-level devices having a plurality of upper-level ports which are a plurality of communication ports,

the one or more switch devices having a plurality of switch ports which are a plurality of communication ports;

the plurality of switch ports including a switch port of a first type that is connected to the upper-level ports and a switch port of a second type that is connected to the storage ports,

the storage system having one or more multipaths formed therein, the multipaths being constituted by a plurality of paths linked to the same logical storage unit and the respective paths passing through the upper-level ports, the switch port of a first type, the switch port of a second type, and the storage ports,

the respective electronic devices having one or more power effect units which are units, the power states of which are switched independently,

the power effect units of the electronic devices having communication ports of the electronic devices and being the electronic devices themselves or a part of the electronic devices,

the method comprising the steps of;

specifying a first power effect unit, the power state of which is an ON state, from among the plurality of power effect units in the storage system, all of the respective first paths passing through the first power effect unit being constituent elements of any of multipaths;

transmitting a path closure instruction, which is an instruction to close a first path which passes through the first power effect unit, to the power effect unit having the upper-level port through which the first path passes, or to the upper-level device having the power effect unit; and

transmitting a switching instruction to switch the power state of the first power effect unit to the power savings state to the first power effect unit or the electronic device having the first power effect unit.

15. A computer program for causing a computer to execute management of a plurality of electronic devices constituting a storage system,

the plurality of electronic devices including one or more storage devices, one or more upper-level devices, and one or more switch devices,

the one or more storage devices having one or more logical storage units and a plurality of storage ports which are a plurality of communication ports,

the one or more upper-level devices having a plurality of upper-level ports which are a plurality of communication ports,

the one or more switch devices having a plurality of switch ports which are a plurality of communication ports, the plurality of switch ports including a switch port of a first type connected to the upper-level ports and a switch port of a second type connected to the storage ports,

the storage system having one or more multipaths formed therein, the multipaths being constituted by a plurality of paths linked to the same logical storage unit and the respective paths passing through the upper-level ports, the switch port of a first type, the switch port of a second type, and the storage ports,

the respective electronic devices having one or more power effect units which are units, the power states of which are switched independently;

the power effect units of the electronic devices having communication ports of the electronic devices and being the electronic devices themselves or a part of the electronic devices,

the computer program;

specifying a first power effect unit, the power state of which is an ON state, from among the plurality of power effect units in the storage system, all of the respective first paths passing through the first power effect unit being constituent elements of any of multipaths;

transmitting a path closure instruction, which is an instruction to close a first path which passes through the first power effect unit, to the power effect unit having the upper-level port through which the first path passes, or to the upper-level device having the power effect unit; and

transmitting a switching instruction to switch the power state of the first power effect unit to the power savings state to the first power effect unit or the electronic device having the first power effect unit.