METHOD AND APPARATUS TO UTILIZE LARGE CAPACITY DISK DRIVES

• US 20110066803A1
• Filed: 09/17/2009
• Published: 03/17/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 09/17/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Inventors: YAMAMOTO, Akira, ARAKAWA, Hiroshi
• Granted Patent: US 8,285,952 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 711/114
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1088 Reconstruction on already foreseen single or plurality of spare disks
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1662 the resynchronized component or unit being a persistent storage device re-synchronization of failed mirror storage G06F11/2082; rebuild or reconstruction of parity RAID storage G06F11/1008
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2082 Data synchronisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2094 Redundant storage or storage space G06F11/2056 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3485 for I/O devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/85 Active fault masking without idle spares active fault masking without idle spare hardware where processing functionality is redundant G06F11/2035
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2211/1057 Parity-multiple bits-RAID6, i.e. RAID 6 implementations
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0619 in relation to data integrity, e.g. data losses, bit errors
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0653 Monitoring storage devices or systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0689 Disk arrays, e.g. RAID, JBOD

Abstract

A method of utilizing storage in a storage system comprises prioritizing a plurality of storage areas in the storage system for data recovery with different priorities; and performing data recovery of the storage system at an occurrence of a failure involving one or more of the storage areas in the storage system based on the priorities. Data recovery for one storage area having a higher priority is to occur before data recovery for another storage area having a lower priority in the storage system. In various embodiments, the prioritization is achieved by monitoring the access characteristics, or the priority is specified by the host or management computer based on the usage and/or importance of data stored in the storage system, or the priority is determined by the storage system based on the area assignment/release (i.e., usage) of thin provisioned volumes.

Claims

1. A method of utilizing storage in a storage system, the method comprising:

prioritizing a plurality of storage areas in the storage system for data recovery with different priorities; and

performing data recovery of the storage system at an occurrence of a failure involving one or more of the storage areas in the storage system based on the priorities;

wherein data recovery for one storage area having a higher priority is to occur before data recovery for another storage area having a lower priority in the storage system.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the prioritizing comprises:

monitoring access characteristics of the storage areas in the storage system; and

prioritizing the storage areas in the storage system for data recovery with different priorities based on the monitored access characteristics.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the access characteristics comprises at least one of access frequency, access rate, or access interval.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the prioritizing comprises:

assigning the different priorities for the storage areas in the storage system.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein the different priorities are assigned based on at least one of usage or importance of data in the storage areas.

6. The method according to claim 5, further comprising:

if the different priorities are assigned based on the usage of data in the storage areas, analyzing the usage of data stored in each of the storage areas to determine the priorities and updating the different priorities for the storage areas in the storage system based on the analyzed usage; and

if the different priorities are assigned based on the importance of data in the storage areas, analyzing the importance of data stored in each of the storage areas to determine the priorities and updating the different priorities for the storage areas in the storage system based on the analyzed importance.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein for a storage volume which is a thin provisioned volume, the prioritizing comprises:

determining the different priorities based on area assignment and release of the thin provisioned volume using information regarding assignation process and information regarding release process for the thin provisioned volume.

8. A storage system comprising:

a data processor and a memory;

a plurality of storage areas which have different priorities for data recovery; and

a storage controller which performs data recovery of the storage system at an occurrence of a failure involving one or more of the storage areas in the storage system based on the priorities;

wherein data recovery for one storage area having a higher priority is to occur before data recovery for another storage area having a lower priority in the storage system.

9. The storage system according to claim 8,

wherein the storage controller monitors access characteristics of the storage areas in the storage system, and prioritizes the storage areas in the storage system for data recovery with different priorities based on the monitored access characteristics.

10. The storage system according to claim 9, wherein the access characteristics comprises at least one of access frequency, access rate, or access interval.

11. The storage system according to claim 8,

wherein the different priorities for the storage areas are assigned and registered in the storage system.

12. The storage system according to claim 11, wherein the different priorities are assigned based on at least one of usage or importance of data in the storage areas.

13. The storage system according to claim 12,

wherein the storage controller receives information on analyzing the usage of data stored in each of the storage areas to determine the priorities, if the different priorities are assigned based on the usage of data in the storage areas;

wherein the storage controller receives information on analyzing the importance of data stored in each of the storage areas to determine the priorities, if the different priorities are assigned based on the importance of data in the storage areas; and

wherein the storage controller updates the different priorities for the storage areas in the storage system based on the received information.

14. The storage system according to claim 8,

wherein for a storage volume which is a thin provisioned volume, the storage controller determines the different priorities based on area assignment and release of the thin provisioned volume using information regarding assignation process and information regarding release process for the thin provisioned volume.

15. A computer-readable storage medium storing a plurality of instructions for controlling a data processor to utilize storage in a storage system, the plurality of instructions comprising:

instructions that cause the data processor to prioritize a plurality of storage areas in the storage system for data recovery with different priorities; and

instructions that cause the data processor to perform data recovery of the storage system at an occurrence of a failure involving one or more of the storage areas in the storage system based on the priorities;

wherein data recovery for one storage area having a higher priority is to occur before data recovery for another storage area having a lower priority in the storage system.

16. The computer-readable storage medium according to claim 15, wherein the instructions that cause the data processor to prioritize a plurality of storage areas in the storage system for data recovery with different priorities comprise:

instructions that cause the data processor to monitor access characteristics of the storage areas in the storage system; and

instructions that cause the data processor to prioritize the storage areas in the storage system for data recovery with different priorities based on the monitored access characteristics.

17. The computer-readable storage medium according to claim 16, wherein the instructions that cause the data processor to prioritize a plurality of storage areas in the storage system for data recovery with different priorities comprise:

instructions that cause the data processor to assign the different priorities for the storage areas in the storage system.

18. The computer-readable storage medium according to claim 17, wherein the different priorities are assigned based on at least one of usage or importance of data in the storage areas.

19. The computer-readable storage medium according to claim 18, wherein the instructions that cause the data processor to prioritize a plurality of storage areas in the storage system for data recovery with different priorities comprise:

if the different priorities are assigned based on the usage of data in the storage areas, instructions that cause the data processor to analyze the usage of data stored in each of the storage areas to determine the priorities, and to update the different priorities for the storage areas in the storage system based on the analyzed usage; and

if the different priorities are assigned based on the importance of data in the storage areas, instructions that cause the data processor to analyze the importance of data stored in each of the storage areas to determine the priorities, and to update the different priorities for the storage areas in the storage system based on the analyzed importance.

20. The computer-readable storage medium according to claim 15, wherein for a storage volume which is a thin provisioned volume, and wherein the instructions that cause the data processor to prioritize a plurality of storage areas in the storage system for data recovery with different priorities comprise:

instructions that cause the data processor to determine the different priorities based on area assignment and release of the thin provisioned volume using information regarding assignation process and information regarding release process for the thin provisioned volume.