TECHNIQUES FOR DATA STORAGE CONFIGURATION

• US 20110208882A1
• Filed: 05/04/2011
• Published: 08/25/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 09/28/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Emc IP Holding Company LLC (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Original Assignee: EMC Corporation (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Inventors: DON, Arieh, MADDEN, John F. JR., RIORDAN, Patrick Brian, SCHARLAND, Michael J., MARTIN, Kevin, BECKETT, Violet S.
• Granted Patent: US 8,397,001 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 710/38
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0605 by facilitating the interaction with a user or administrator
• 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

Abstract

Described are techniques for storage configuration. Defined are one or more initiator groups each including one or more initiator ports, one or more target groups each including one or more target ports, and one or more storage groups each including one or more devices. A masking view is created where the masking view includes a first of the initiator groups, a first of the target groups, and a first of the storage groups. The masking view indicates which devices of the first storage group are accessible using one or more paths. Each of the one or more paths is specified using an initiator port from the first initiator group and a target port from the first target group.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method for storage configuration comprising:

defining one or more initiator groups each including one or more initiator ports;

defining one or more target groups each including one or more target ports;

defining one or more storage groups each including one or more devices; and

creating a masking view including a first initiator group from said one or more initiator groups, a first target group from said one or more target groups, and a first storage group from said one or more storage groups, said masking view indicating which devices of said first storage group are accessible using one or more paths, each of said one or more paths specified using an initiator port from said first initiator group and a target port from said first target group.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said initiator ports are included in a host.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein said target ports are included in a data storage system including a default masking view and said masking view is a first masking view defined when bootstrapping the data storage system, and, wherein, in response to said creating, said default masking view is deleted, and the method further comprising:

updating the masking view;

receiving a command from the host directed to a target port of the masking view; and

in response to said receiving and said updating, the data storage system fails the command and notifies said host of the command failure and that there has been a change to the masking view.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said devices include one or more logical devices of the data storage system.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising performing automated logical unit assignment for each device of said first storage group where said each device is added as a device accessible over a selected path included in said one or more paths associated with said masking view, said device being added if said device is not already specified as a device accessible over the selected path prior to creating said masking view, each device that is added for the selected path being assigned a next logical unit identifier in a sequence uniquely associated with the selected path.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein a different logical unit assignment sequence is associated with each path included in said one or more paths.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of said first initiator group, said first target group and said first storage group have at least one member which is another group.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein at least one of said first initiator group, said first target group and said first storage group are specified using a hierarchical structure group definition, said hierarchical structure group definition including at least member which is a group.

9. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

modifying said masking view by modifying at least one of said first initiator group, said first port group, and said first storage group; and

automatically performing said automated logical unit assignment for each device of said first storage group where said each device is added as a device accessible over a selected path included in said one or more paths associated with said masking view, said device being added if said device is not already specified as a device accessible over the selected path prior to performing said modifying of said masking view.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein automated logical unit assignment is performed for each device included in said first storage group, a different logical unit sequence being associated with each different path over which devices are accessible so that if a same logical device is accessible on two different paths, said same logical device is assigned a first logical unit identifier on a first of said two different paths in accordance with a next identifier of a first identifier sequence for the first path and a second logical unit identifier on a second of said two different paths in accordance with a next identifier of a second identifier sequence for the second path.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one port included in said first initiator group or said first target group is a virtual port.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein said first storage group includes devices used by a first application and said one or more storage groups includes a second storage group comprising devices used by a second application.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein said first storage group includes devices having a first set of one or more attributes common to devices of the first storage group, and said one or more storage groups includes a second storage group comprising devices having a second set of one or more attributes common to devices of the second storage group.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein said one or more devices are logical devices of a data storage system.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising creating a second masking view different from said masking view, said second masking view being defined using at least one of said first initiator group, said first target group and said first storage group.

16. A computer readable medium comprising executable code stored thereon which, when executed, perform processing for storage configuration, the computer readable medium comprising executable code for:

defining one or more initiator groups each including one or more initiator ports;

defining one or more target groups each including one or more target ports;

defining one or more storage groups each including one or more devices; and

creating a masking view including a first initiator group from said one or more initiator groups, a first target group from said one or more target groups, and a first storage group from said one or more storage groups, said masking view indicating which devices of said first storage group are accessible using one or more paths, each of said one or more paths specified using an initiator port from said first initiator group and a target port from said first target group.

17. The computer readable medium of claim 16, wherein said initiator ports are included in a host, said target ports are included in a data storage system, and said devices include one or more logical devices of the data storage system.

18. The computer readable medium of claim 16 further comprising executable code for performing automated logical unit assignment for each device of said first storage group where said each device is added as a device accessible over a selected path included in said one or more paths associated with said masking view, said device being added if said device is not already specified as a device accessible over the selected path prior to creating said masking view, each device that is added for the selected path being assigned a next logical unit identifier in a sequence uniquely associated with the selected path, and wherein a different logical unit assignment sequence is associated with each path included in said one or more paths.

19. The computer readable medium of claim 16, wherein at least one of said first initiator group, said first target group and said first storage group have at least one member which is another group, said at least one of said groups having a hierarchical structure group definition.

20. A system comprising:

a data storage system including one or more initiator ports and one or more storage devices;

a host including one or more target ports; and

a computer readable medium comprising executable code stored thereon which, when executed, perform processing for storage configuration, the computer readable medium comprising executable code for;

defining one or more initiator groups each including at least one of said one or more initiator ports;

defining one or more target groups each including at least one of said one or more target ports;

defining one or more storage groups each including at least one of said one or more devices; and

creating a masking view including a first initiator group from said one or more initiator groups, a first target group from said one or more target groups, and a first storage group from said one or more storage groups, said masking view indicating which devices of said first storage group are accessible using one or more paths, each of said one or more paths specified using an initiator port from said first initiator group and a target port from said first target group.