RAID DATA STORAGE SYSTEM

• US 20130262760A1
• Filed: 02/19/2013
• Published: 10/03/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 03/30/2012
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Lenovo Enterprise Solutions (Singapore) Pte., Ltd. (Lenovo Group Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Cheng, Yi-Hsin, Huang, Chien-Hua, Huang, Kelvin WP, Lee, Nian-Guang, Yardley, Brent W.
• Application Number:
  US13/770,271
• Publication Number:
  US 20130262760A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 711/114
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/201 between storage system components
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2089 Redundant storage control functionality
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0613 in relation to throughput
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0617 in relation to availability
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0632 by initialisation or re-initialisation of 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

Abstract

A data storage system comprises at least one data storage module, each data storage module having at least a first I/O port and a second I/O port, wherein the data storage module includes a storage medium having at least a first pre-partitioned area and a second pre-partitioned area. The data storage system further comprises a first controller module, which is directly connected to the first I/O port of each data storage module to access the first pre-partitioned area of each data storage module, and a second controller module, which is directly connected to the second I/O port of each data storage module to access the second pre-partitioned area of each data storage module.

Claims

1. A data storage system, comprising:

at least one data storage module, each data storage module having at least a first I/O port and a second I/O port, wherein the data storage module includes a storage medium having at least a first pre-partitioned area and a second pre-partitioned area;

a first controller module, which is directly connected to the first I/O port of each data storage module to access the first pre-partitioned area of each data storage module; and

a second controller module, which is directly connected to the second I/O port of each data storage module to access the second pre-partitioned area of each data storage module.

2. The data storage system of claim 1, wherein the at least one data storage module is a plurality of data storage modules.

3. The data storage system of claim 2, wherein the first pre-partitioned area of each data storage module is the same size.

4. The data storage system of claim 2, wherein the first pre-partitioned area of each data storage module is the same size as the second pre-partitioned area of each data storage module.

5. The data storage system of claim 2, wherein the plurality of data storage modules include a first number of the data storage modules, wherein the first pre-partitioned area of the first number of data storage modules form a first disk array controlled by the first controller module.

6. The data storage system of claim 5, wherein the plurality of data storage modules include a second number of the data storage modules, wherein the second pre-partitioned area of the second number of data storage modules form a second disk array controlled by the second controller module.

7. The data storage system of claim 6, wherein the first number is not the same as the second number.

8. The data storage system of claim 6, wherein the first and second disk arrays are both RAID arrays, and wherein the first RAID array has a first RAID level and the second RAID array has a second RAID level that is not the same as the first RAID level.

9. The data storage system of claim 2, wherein the first controller module controls a combination of logical disks as a single entity.

10. The data storage system of claim 9, wherein the combination of logical disks includes a pair of first pre-partitioned areas.

11. A computer system, comprising:

a host;

at least one data storage module, each data storage module having at least a first I/O port and a second I/O port, wherein the data storage module includes a storage medium having at least a first pre-partitioned area and a second pre-partitioned area;

a first controller module in communication with the host, which is directly connected to the first I/O port of each data storage module to access the first pre-partitioned area of each data storage module; and

a second controller module in communication with the host, which is directly connected to the second I/O port of each data storage module to access the second pre-partitioned area of each data storage module.

12. The computer system of claim 11, wherein the at least one data storage module is a plurality of data storage modules.

13. The computer system of claim 12, wherein the first pre-partitioned area of each data storage module is the same size.

14. The computer system of claim 12, wherein the first pre-partitioned area of each data storage module is the same size as the second pre-partitioned area of each data storage module.

15. The computer system of claim 12, wherein the plurality of data storage modules include a first number of the data storage modules, wherein the first pre-partitioned area of the first number of data storage modules form a first disk array controlled by the first controller module.

16. The computer system of claim 15, wherein the plurality of data storage modules include a second number of the data storage modules, wherein the second pre-partitioned area of the second number of data storage modules form a second disk array controlled by the second controller module.

17. The computer system of claim 16, wherein the first number is not the same as the second number.

18. The computer system of claim 16, wherein the first and second disk arrays are both RAID arrays, and wherein the first RAID array has a first RAID level and the second RAID array has a second RAID level that is not the same as the first RAID level.

19. The computer system of claim 12, wherein the first controller module controls a combination of logical disks as a single entity.

20. The computer system of claim 19, wherein the combination of logical disks includes a pair of first pre-partitioned areas.