Load Balancing Logical Units in an Active/Passive Storage System

• US 20150134920A1
• Filed: 11/11/2013
• Published: 05/14/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 11/11/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: GlobalFoundries, Inc.
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Anderson, Michael S., Naineni, Malahal R., Seetharaman, Chandra
• Granted Patent: US 9,519,580 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 711/154
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 12/0646 Configuration or reconfiguration
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/061 Improving I/O performance
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0635 by changing the path, e.g. traffic rerouting, path reconfiguration
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0653 Monitoring storage devices or systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0665 at area level, e.g. provisioning of virtual or logical volumes
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/067 Distributed or networked storage systems, e.g. storage area networks [SAN], network attached storage [NAS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1008 based on parameters of servers, e.g. available memory or workload monitoring of computer activity G06F11/30
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1097 for distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS]

Abstract

An approach is provided in which a storage system includes a first storage controller, a second storage controller, and multiple logical units. The storage system determines that a controller traffic load ratio between the first storage controller and the second storage controller has reached a threshold. In turn, the storage system selects one of the logical units and changes a preferred controller ownership of the selected logical unit from the first storage controller to the second storage controller to balance the controller traffic load ratio.

Claims

1. (canceled)

2. (canceled)

3. (canceled)

4. (canceled)

5. (canceled)

6. (canceled)

7. (canceled)

8. An information handling system comprising:

one or more processors;

a memory coupled to at least one of the processors;

a plurality of storage controllers;

a plurality of logical units; and

a set of computer program instructions stored in the memory and executed by at least one of the processors in order to perform actions of;

determining that a controller traffic load ratio between a first storage controller and a second storage controller has reached a threshold, wherein the first storage controller and the second storage controller are included in the plurality of storage controllers and correspond to at least one of the plurality of logical units;

selecting one of the plurality of logical units; and

changing, by the storage system, a preferred controller ownership corresponding to the selected logical unit from the first storage controller to the second storage controller in response to the determination.

9. The information handling system of claim 8 wherein the information handling system configures the first storage controller and the second storage controller in an active/passive controller configuration.

10. The information handling system of claim 8 wherein, prior to the determination that the controller traffic load ratio has reached the threshold, the set of instructions, when executed by at least one of the processors, performs further actions of:

identifying a first data traffic amount passing through the first storage controller corresponding to one or more first logical units included in the plurality of logical units and;

identifying a second data traffic amount passing through the second storage controller corresponding to one or more second logical units included in the plurality of logical units; and

computing the controller traffic load ratio based upon the first data traffic amount and the second data traffic amount.

11. The information handling system of claim 8 wherein the set of instructions, when executed by at least one of the processors, performs further actions of:

subsequent to changing the preferred controller ownership, receiving an ownership inquiry from a host system, the ownership inquiry including a logical unit identifier corresponding to the selected logical unit; and

sending an ownership response to the host system, wherein the ownership response includes a preferred controller identifier corresponding to the second storage controller.

12. The information handling system of claim 8 wherein the set of instructions, when executed by at least one of the processors, performs further actions of:

displaying an ownership configuration window to a user;

receiving an ownership configuration selection from the user;

determining that the ownership configuration selection is a dynamic ownership selection; and

configuring the information handling system to balance the controller traffic load ratio, wherein the balancing includes changing one or more preferred controller ownerships of one or more of the plurality of logical units when the controller traffic load ratio reaches the threshold.

13. The information handling system of claim 12 wherein the threshold is an auto-balance threshold received from the user.

14. The information handling system of claim 8 wherein each of the plurality of logical units corresponds to at least a portion of a physical storage device.

15. A computer program product stored in a computer readable storage medium, comprising computer program code that, when executed by an information handling system, causes the information handling system to perform actions comprising:

determining that a controller traffic load ratio between a first storage controller and a second storage controller has reached a threshold, wherein the first storage controller and the second storage controller are included in the plurality of storage controllers and correspond to at least one of the plurality of logical units;

selecting one of the plurality of logical units; and

changing, by the storage system, a preferred controller ownership corresponding to the selected logical unit from the first storage controller to the second storage controller in response to the determination.

16. The computer program product of claim 15 wherein the computer program code that, when executed by the information handling system, causes the information handling system to configure the first storage controller and the second storage controller in an active/passive controller configuration.

17. The computer program product of claim 15 wherein the computer program code that, when executed by the information handling system, causes the information handling system to perform further actions of:

identifying a first data traffic amount passing through the first storage controller corresponding to one or more first logical units included in the plurality of logical units and;

identifying a second data traffic amount passing through the second storage controller corresponding to one or more second logical units included in the plurality of logical units; and

computing the controller traffic load ratio based upon the first data traffic amount and the second data traffic amount.

18. The computer program product of claim 15 wherein the computer program code that, when executed by the information handling system, causes the information handling system to perform further actions of:

subsequent to changing the preferred controller ownership, receiving an ownership inquiry from a host system, the ownership inquiry including a logical unit identifier corresponding to the selected logical unit; and

sending an ownership response to the host system, wherein the ownership response includes a preferred controller identifier corresponding to the second storage controller.

19. The computer program product of claim 15 wherein the computer program code that, when executed by the information handling system, causes the information handling system to perform further actions of:

displaying an ownership configuration window to a user;

receiving an ownership configuration selection from the user;

determining that the ownership configuration selection is a dynamic ownership selection; and

configuring the information handling system to balance the controller traffic load ratio, wherein the balancing includes changing one or more preferred controller ownerships of one or more of the plurality of logical units when the controller traffic load ratio reaches the threshold.

20. The computer program product of claim 19 wherein the threshold is an auto-balance threshold received from the user.