COMPUTER SYSTEM AND COUPLING CONFIGURATION CONTROL METHOD

• US 20160188511A1
• Filed: 04/25/2014
• Published: 06/30/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 04/25/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Inventors: KANEDA, Yasunori, ISHIKI, Toshihiro, MURAOKA, Satoshi, HATASAKI, Keisuke, HOSOYA, Mutsumi
• Granted Patent: US 9,652,421 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 13/364 using independent requests or grants, e.g. using separated request and grant lines
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 13/4022 using switching circuits, e.g. switching matrix, connection or expansion network G06F13/4009 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 13/4282 on a serial bus, e.g. I2C bus, SPI bus on daisy chain buses G06F13/4247

Abstract

A computer system includes a switch having a plurality of ports, a plurality of devices coupled to the plurality of ports, and a management system coupled to at least one of the plurality of devices and the switch. The coupling between the plurality of devices and the switch is a communication interface in which the number of master devices capable of existing in the same space is defined. The management system collects device coupling data of each of the plurality of devices coupled to the switch. Each of the device coupling data includes an ID of a port to which the device is coupled and information representing an attribute indicating whether the device is a master or a slave. The management system determines a coupling configuration on the basis of the plurality of the collected device coupling data and a communication interface protocol and, configures, to the switch, coupling information that is information in accordance with the determined coupling configuration.

Claims

1. A computer system, comprising:

a switch including a plurality of switch ports, the plurality of switch ports being a plurality of ports;

a plurality of devices coupled to the plurality of switch ports; and

a management system coupled to at least one of the plurality of devices and the switch, wherein

the coupling between the plurality of devices and the switch is coupling in accordance with a first communication interface, the first communication interface is a communication interface in which the master devices capable of being existing in the same space are defined,

the coupling between the at least one of the plurality of devices and the switch, and the management system is coupling in accordance with a second communication interface different from the first communication interface, and

the management system is configured to

collect device coupling data of each of the plurality of devices coupled to the switch, each of the device coupling data including an ID of a switch port to which a device is coupled and information representing an attribute indicating whether the device is a master or a slave,

determine a coupling configuration on the basis of the plurality of the collected device coupling data and a protocol of the first communication interface, the coupling configuration being a configuration representing a master device, the number of which is equal to or less than a defined number, and one or more slave devices to be associated with the master device for each of one or more spaces, and,

configure, to the switch, coupling information that is information in accordance with the determined coupling configuration.

2. The computer system according to claim 1,

wherein the first communication interface is an interface in which the number of master devices capable of existing in the same space is one,

wherein the plurality of devices include a plurality of storage controllers, which is configured to control accesses to a plurality of storage devices and a plurality of servers,

wherein each of the storage controllers including a plurality of storage ports, the plurality of storage ports being a plurality of ports,

wherein each of the device coupling data includes information representing a type of device,

wherein each of the plurality of storage controllers is a master device,

wherein the plurality of servers include one or more slave servers,

each of the one or more slave servers is a server including a processor module that is a master device, and a first interface module coupled to the processor module and the switch,

wherein the first interface module is a slave device,

wherein the attribute in device coupling data of each of the one or more slave servers represents a slave,

wherein the determined coupling configuration includes a configuration representing one or more storage-slave server sets determined on the basis of the number of the storage controllers and the number of the slave servers, and

wherein each of the one or more storage-slave server sets includes one storage controller and one or more slave servers under control thereof.

3. The computer system according to claim 2,

wherein the switch includes a plurality of switch parts, each of which is configured to switch coupling,

wherein the plurality of storage controllers include a redundant storage controller,

wherein each of the redundant storage controllers is coupled to two or more switch parts of the plurality of switch parts, and

wherein at least one slave server is coupled to each of the redundant storage controllers.

4. The computer system according to claim 3,

wherein the coupling configuration includes a configuration which maximizes the number of slave servers parallelly accessible by each of the storage controllers.

5. The computer system according to claim 2,

wherein the plurality of devices include one or more third devices that are one or more devices of other types than the storage controllers and the servers,

wherein each of the one or more third devices is a slave device, and includes a nonvolatile memory device, and

wherein the coupling configuration includes association of the nonvolatile memory device with at least one storage controller.

6. The computer system according to claim 5,

wherein the plurality of servers include one or more master servers,

wherein each of the one or more master servers includes a processor module that is a master device, and a second interface module coupled to the processor module and the switch,

wherein the second interface module is a pass-through device which is neither a master device nor a slave device,

wherein the attribute in the device coupling data of the master server represents a master, and

wherein the coupling configuration includes association of the third device other than the nonvolatile memory device with the one or more master servers.

7. The computer system according to claim 2,

wherein the plurality of devices include one or more third devices that are one or more devices of other types than the storage controllers and the servers,

wherein the plurality of servers include one or more master servers,

wherein each of the one or more master servers includes a processor module that is a master device, and a second interface module coupled to the processor module and the switch,

wherein the second interface module is a pass-through device which is neither a master device nor a slave device,

wherein the attribute in the device coupling data of the master server represents a master, and

wherein the coupling configuration includes association of at least one of the one or more third devices with the one or more master servers.

8. The computer system according to claim 1,

wherein the plurality of switch ports include a first port and a second port,

wherein the first port is a switch port couplable not only to master devices but also to slave devices, and

wherein the second port is a switch port couplable not only to slave devices but also to master devices.

9. The computer system according to claim 8,

wherein the switch includes a switch part,

wherein the switch part includes an input part and a plurality of output parts, and is configured to output data, which is input to the input part, from any of the plurality of output parts in accordance with the coupling information configured by the management system,

wherein the switch device further includes a first sub-switch part and a second sub-switch part,

wherein the first sub-switch part and the second sub-switch part are configured to communicate bidirectionally,

wherein the first sub-switch part is interposed between the input part and the first port that is a switch port corresponding to the input part,

wherein the second sub-switch part is interposed between a predetermined output part of the plurality of output parts and the second port that is a switch port corresponding to the predetermined output part,

wherein the switch is configured to output data, which is input from the first port, from the second port via the first sub-switch part, the switch part, and the second sub-switch part, in accordance with the coupling information, when a master device is coupled to the first port and a slave device is coupled to the second port, and

wherein the switch is configured to output data, which is input from the second port, from the first port via the second sub-switch part, the first sub-switch part, and the switch part, and further via the second sub-switch part and the first sub-switch part, in accordance with the coupling information, when a slave device is coupled to the first port and a master device is coupled to the second port.

10. The computer system according to claim 1,

wherein the management system is configured to store coupling configuration information in a nonvolatile storage device, the coupling configuration information being information representing the determined coupling configuration, and

wherein the management system is configured to determine a coupling configuration reflecting the newly coupled device into the coupling configuration represented by the stored coupling configuration information, when a device is coupled to the switch.

11. The computer system according to claim 10,

wherein the coupling configuration information includes two or more information units corresponding to two or more of the switch ports, respectively,

wherein each of the information units includes a space ID of a space where a device exists, and a switch port ID of a switch port to which the device is coupled,

wherein the newly coupled device is a device with which any one of the plurality of devices is replaced, and

wherein the management system is configured to

collect the device coupling data of the replaced device,

specify the space ID corresponding to the switch port ID included in the device coupling data of the replaced device, from the coupling configuration information, and

configure the specified space ID to the replaced device.

12. The computer system according to claim 10,

wherein the coupling configuration information includes two or more information units corresponding to two or more of the switch ports, respectively,

wherein each of the information units includes a space ID of a space where a device exists, and a switch port ID of a switch port to which the device is coupled,

wherein the newly coupled device is a newly added device,

wherein the management system is configured to

collect the device coupling data of the added device,

specify a space ID of a space corresponding to the added device, on the basis of the coupling configuration information and a switch port ID included in the device coupling data of the added device, and

configure the specified space ID to the added device.

13. The computer system according to claim 1,

wherein the first communication interface is PCIe (PCI-Express),

wherein a master device is a root device, and

wherein a slave device is an endpoint.

14. A management system of a computer system including a switch including a plurality of switch ports, the plurality of switch ports being a plurality of ports, and a plurality of devices coupled to the plurality of switch ports, the management system comprising;

an interface device coupled to at least one of the plurality of devices and the switch, and

a processor coupled to the interface device,

wherein the coupling between the plurality of devices and the switch is coupling in accordance with a first communication interface, the first communication interface is a communication interface running on a protocol in which the number of master devices capable of existing in the same space is one, and one or more slave devices are capable of being coupled to the one master device,

wherein the coupling between the at least one of the plurality of devices and the switch, and the interface device is coupling in accordance with a second communication interface different from the first communication interface, and

wherein the processor is configured to

collect device coupling data of each of the plurality of devices coupled to the switch, each of the device coupling data including an ID of a switch port to which a device is coupled and information representing an attribute indicating whether the device is a master or a slave,

determine a coupling configuration on the basis of the plurality of the collected device coupling data and a protocol of the first communication interface, the coupling configuration being a configuration representing a master device, the number of which is equal to or less than a defined number, and one or more slave devices to be associated with the master device for each of one or more spaces, and,

configure, to the switch, coupling information that is information in accordance with the determined coupling configuration.

15. A coupling configuration control method of a computer system including a switch including a plurality of switch ports, the plurality of switch ports being a plurality of ports, a plurality of devices coupled to the plurality of switch ports,

wherein the coupling between the plurality of devices and the switch is coupling in accordance with a first communication interface, the first communication interface is a communication interface running on a protocol in which the number of master devices capable of existing in the same space is one, and one or more slave devices are capable of being be coupled to the one master device,

wherein the coupling between the at least one of the plurality of devices and the switch, and the interface device is coupling in accordance with a second communication interface different from the first communication interface, and

the coupling configuration control method comprising:

collecting device coupling data of each of the plurality of devices coupled to the switch, where each of the device coupling data includes an ID of a switch port to which a device is coupled and information representing an attribute indicating whether the device is a master or a slave;

determining a coupling configuration on the basis of the plurality of the collected device coupling data and a protocol of the first communication interface, where the coupling configuration is a configuration representing a master device, the number of which is equal to or less than a defined number, and one or more slave devices to be associated with the master device for each of one or more spaces; and

configuring, to the switch, coupling information that is information in accordance with the determined coupling configuration.