PSEUDO-VOLUME FOR CONTROL AND STATISTICS OF A STORAGE CONTROLLER

• US 20110196846A1
• Filed: 02/08/2010
• Published: 08/11/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 02/08/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: WEISS, Gary
• Granted Patent: US 10,732,837 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/688
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0604 Improving or facilitating administration, e.g. storage management
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0629 Configuration or reconfiguration of storage systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0653 Monitoring storage devices or systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/067 Distributed or networked storage systems, e.g. storage area networks [SAN], network attached storage [NAS]

Abstract

Exemplary method, system, and computer program embodiments for facilitating information between at least one host and a storage controller operational in a data storage subsystem are provided. In one embodiment, a pseudo-volume, mappable to the at least one host and mountable as a filesystem, is initialized. The pseudo-volume is adapted for performing at least one of providing diagnostic and statistical data representative of the data storage subsystem to the at least one host, and facilitating control of at least one parameter of the storage controller.

Claims

1. An interface between at least one host and a storage controller operational in a data storage subsystem established by a processor device, the interface comprising:

a pseudo-volume, mappable to the at least one host and mountable as a filesystem, wherein the pseudo-volume is adapted for performing at least one of;

providing diagnostic and statistical data representative of the data storage subsystem to the at least one host, and

facilitating control of at least one parameter of the storage controller.

2. The interface of claim 1, wherein the diagnostic and statistical data representative of the data storage subsystem includes at least one of statistics, debug information, lists of objects, states, events, history, adapter information, cable information, and performance information representative of the data storage subsystem.

3. The interface of claim 1, wherein at least one of the pseudo-volume, the diagnostic and statistical data, and the at least one parameter is adapted to be visualized by the at least one host in a browsable representation.

4. The interface of claim 3, wherein the browsable representation is organized in a hierarchical structure.

5. The interface of claim 1, wherein at least one of the pseudo-volume, the diagnostic and statistical data, and the at least one parameter is maintained by the storage controller in a storage location.

6. The interface of claim 1, wherein at least one of the pseudo-volume, the diagnostic and statistical data, and the at least one parameter is dynamically generated in response to a request from the at least one host.

7. The interface of claim 1, wherein the pseudo-volume is further adapted for at least one of:

mounting as one of a database and an extended markup language (XML) flat file, and

mounting as one of a network drive and remote filesystem compliant with one of network file system (NFS) and server message block/common internet file system (SMB/CIFS) protocols.

8. A method of facilitating information between at least one host and a storage controller operational in a data storage subsystem by a processor device, comprising:

initializing a pseudo-volume, mappable to the at least one host and mountable as a filesystem, wherein the pseudo-volume is adapted for performing at least one of;

providing diagnostic and statistical data representative of the data storage subsystem to the at least one host, and

facilitating control of at least one parameter of the storage controller.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein providing the diagnostic and statistical data representative of the data storage subsystem includes providing at least one of statistics, debug information, lists of objects, states, events, history, adapter information, cable information, and performance information representative of the data storage subsystem.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein initializing the pseudo-volume further includes configuring at least one of the pseudo-volume, the diagnostic and statistical data, and the at least one parameter to be visualized by the at least one host in a browsable representation.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein configuring at least one of the pseudo-volume, the diagnostic and statistical data, and the at least one parameter to be visualized by the at least one host in the browsable representation includes organizing the browsable representation in a hierarchical structure.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein initializing the pseudo-volume further includes configuring at least one of the pseudo-volume, the diagnostic and statistical data, and the at least one parameter to be maintained by the storage controller in a storage location.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein initializing the pseudo-volume further includes configuring at least one of the pseudo-volume, the diagnostic and statistical data, and the at least one parameter to be dynamically generated in response to a request from the at least one host.

14. The method of claim 8, wherein initializing the pseudo-volume further includes adapting the pseudo-volume for at least one of:

mounting as one of a database and an extended markup language (XML) flat file, and

mounting as one of a network drive and remote filesystem compliant with one of network file system (NFS) and server message block/common internet file system (SMB/CIFS) protocols.

15. A computer program product for facilitating information between at least one host and a storage controller operational in a data storage subsystem by a processor device, the computer program product comprising a computer-readable storage medium having computer-readable program code portions stored therein, the computer-readable program code portions comprising:

a first executable portion for initializing a pseudo-volume, mappable to the at least one host and mountable as a filesystem, wherein the pseudo-volume is adapted for performing at least one of;

providing diagnostic and statistical data representative of the data storage subsystem to the at least one host, and

facilitating control of at least one parameter of the storage controller.

16. The computer program product of claim 15, further including a second executable portion for, pursuant to providing the diagnostic and statistical data representative of the data storage subsystem, providing at least one of statistics, debug information, lists of objects, states, events, history, adapter information, cable information, and performance information representative of the data storage subsystem.

17. The computer program product of claim 15, further including a second executable portion for, pursuant to initializing the pseudo-volume, configuring at least one of the pseudo-volume, the diagnostic and statistical data, and the at least one parameter to be visualized by the at least one host in a browsable representation.

18. The computer program product of claim 17, further including a third executable portion for, pursuant to configuring at least one of the pseudo-volume, the diagnostic and statistical data, and the at least one parameter to be visualized by the at least one host in the browsable representation, organizing the browsable representation in a hierarchical structure.

19. The computer program product of claim 15, further including a second executable portion for, pursuant to initializing the pseudo-volume, configuring at least one of the pseudo-volume, the diagnostic and statistical data, and the at least one parameter to be maintained by the storage controller in a storage location.

20. The computer program product of claim 15, further including a second executable portion for, pursuant to initializing the pseudo-volume, configuring at least one of the pseudo-volume, the diagnostic and statistical data, and the at least one parameter to be dynamically generated in response to a request from the at least one host.