Connecting A Storage Subsystem And An Electronic Device With A Control Device That Hides Details Of The Storage Subsystem

• US 20110093655A1
• Filed: 07/29/2008
• Published: 04/21/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 07/29/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Boerger, Paul A.
• Granted Patent: US 8,554,995 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 711/114
• 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 3/0644 Management of space entities, e.g. partitions, extents, pools
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0647 Migration mechanisms
• 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 3/0689 Disk arrays, e.g. RAID, JBOD

Abstract

An apparatus includes an external interface port to connect to an external electronic device, where the external interface port is to communicate over a communications path with the external electronic device according to a serial communication protocol. The apparatus has a control device to hide details of the storage subsystem from the external electronic device. The control device is configured to perform at least one of (1) expanding a storage capacity of at least one logical storage volume of the storage subsystem, and (2) migrating a portion of data stored in the storage subsystem to a new physical storage device.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

an external interface port to connect to an external electronic device, the external interface port to communicate over a communications path with the external electronic device according to a serial communication protocol;

a storage interface port to connect to a storage subsystem having a plurality of logical storage volumes; and

a control device to hide details of the storage subsystem from the external electronic device, the control device configured to perform at least one of;

(1) expanding a storage capacity of at least one of the logical storage volumes, and

(2) migrating a portion of data stored in the storage subsystem to a new physical storage device.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the serial communication protocol comprises an external Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (eSATA) protocol.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the external interface port is to communicate according to the eSATA protocol with a set-top box, the electronic device being the set-top box.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the control device is configured to migrate the data by performing RAID (Redundant Arrays of Inexpensive Disks) migration.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the control device is configured to further perform one or more of RAID recovery in response to lost data in the storage subsystem, and RAID rebuilding in response to failure of a portion of the storage subsystem.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the control device is configured to support hot plugging of physical storage devices of the storage subsystem.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a port expander having a plurality of ports, wherein the control device is configured to provide control for the port expander.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a housing, wherein the external interface port, storage interface port, and control device are contained in the housing.

9. A method of abstracting a storage subsystem to an electronic device, comprising:

providing an abstraction controller separate from the electronic device, the abstraction controller having an external interface port for connection to the electronic device and a storage interface port for connection to a storage subsystem;

communicating between the abstraction controller and the electronic device according to a serial communication protocol; and

performing, by the abstraction controller, at least one of the following tasks;

(1) expanding a storage capacity of at least one logical storage volume in the storage subsystem; and

(2) migrating a portion of data stored in the storage subsystem to a new physical storage device that has been added to the storage subsystem.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein migrating the portion of the data stored in the storage subsystem to the new physical storage device is performed as part of a migration from a first RAID (Redundant Arrays of Inexpensive Disks) level to a second, different RAID level.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein communicating between the abstract controller and the electronic device according to the serial communication protocol comprises communicating according to an external Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (eSATA) protocol.

12. The method of claim 9, further comprising performing, by the abstraction controller, rebuilding of lost data in the storage subsystem using a RAID algorithm.

13. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

detecting an indication of a hot plug event relating to a physical storage device in the storage subsystem; and

performing a task in response to receiving the indication of the hot plug event.

14. A system comprising:

an electronic device having an interface port;

a controller having an interface port to communicate with the electronic device according to a serial communications protocol; and

a storage subsystem connected to the controller,

wherein the controller is configured to hide details of the storage subsystem from the electronic device, the controller configured to perform RAID (Redundant Arrays of Inexpensive Disks) migration between different RAID levels of the storage subsystem.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the storage subsystem has multiple physical storage devices and multiple logical storage volumes, wherein the electronic device and the controller are configured to communicate according to an external Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (eSATA) protocol, and wherein the interface port of the electronic device is unable to recognize multiple physical storage devices and multiple logical storage volumes.