STORAGE MANAGEMENT COMPUTER

• US 20170132044A1
• Filed: 03/27/2015
• Published: 05/11/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 03/27/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Inventors: KANEKO, Satoshi
• Granted Patent: US 10,248,460 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45579 I/O management, e.g. providing access to device drivers or storage
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45583 Memory management, e.g. access or allocation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0605 by facilitating the interaction with a user or administrator
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/061 Improving I/O performance
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0631 by allocating resources to storage 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: G06F 3/0685 Hybrid storage combining heterogeneous device types, e.g. hierarchical storage, hybrid arrays
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45558 Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5016 the resource being the memory

Abstract

A management computer communicates with a host computer and a storage device, and is provided with a memory and a CPU. The memory stores configuration information which includes information about a plurality of storage media having different performance levels provided in the host computer and the storage device, and which associates storage regions provided by the storage media with the host computer. If the CPU receives a request for allocation of a storage region to the host computer, and which includes information about access characteristics of the host computer and the capacity of the storage region to be allocated, the CPU refers to the configuration information, selects a storage medium that provides a storage region having the requested capacity, from among the storage media and the host computer, and generates and outputs a configuration scheme for allocating a storage region from the selected storage medium to the host computer.

Claims

1. A management computer which communicates with a host computer and a storage device comprising:

a memory is configured to store configuration information including information about a plurality of storage media each having a different performance level in the host computer and the storage device, while indicating a storage area supplied from the storage media and the host computer with their association; and

a CPU which is connected to the memory, and configured to receive an allocation request of the storage area to the host computer, which contains information about access characteristics by the host computer, and a capacity of the storage area to be allocated, select the storage medium capable of providing the storage area with the capacity from the storage media of the storage device and the host computer based on the access characteristics included in the request in reference to the configuration information, generate a configuration scheme for allocating the storage area with the capacity from the selected storage media to the host computer, and output the configuration scheme.

2. The management computer according to claim 1, wherein the CPU is configured to control allocation of the storage area to the host computer based on the configuration scheme.

3. The management computer according to claim 2, wherein:

the configuration information includes information about a virtual machine stored in the storage area and executed by the host computer in association with the storage area; and

the CPU receives an allocation request of the storage area to the virtual machine, and generates the configuration scheme.

4. The management computer according to claim 3, wherein the information about the access characteristics included in the request includes information about a ratio of a Random I/O and a Sequential I/O, and information about a ratio of a Read I/O and a Write I/O , both of which are issued by the virtual machine.

5. The management computer according to claim 4, wherein the storage media of the host computer and the storage device include a Flash Memory Drive.

6. The management computer according to claim 5, wherein the CPU determines whether or not the Flash Memory Drive of the host computer is allocated as a cache which is usable by the virtual machine based on the information about the ratio of the Random I/O and the Sequential I/O, and the ratio of the Read I/O and the Write I/O, and generates the configuration scheme.

7. The management computer according to claim 6, wherein the CPU calculates a first threshold value of a vacant capacity of the Flash Memory Drive of the host computer, and determines whether or not the Flash Memory Drive of the host computer is allocated to the virtual machine based on the first threshold value, and changes the first threshold value based on the ratio of the Random I/O and the Sequential I/O, and the ratio of the Read I/O and the Write I/O, both of which are included in the request.

8. The management computer according to claim 7, wherein in the case of a large value of the Read I/O ratio, the CPU is configured to calculate the first threshold value that is smaller than the one obtained in the case of a small value of the Read I/O ratio so as to generate the configuration scheme for preferentially allocating the Flash Memory Drive of the host computer to the virtual machine with the large Read I/O ratio.

9. The management computer according to claim 3, wherein:

the plurality of host computers constitute a tenant which allows the plurality of virtual machines to share the storage media; and

the CPU is configured to search whether or not the host computer having the storage medium corresponding to the access characteristics exists among the host computers that constitute the tenant to which the host computer allowing an operation of the request virtual machine belongs, and generate the configuration scheme for allocating the storage area to the virtual machine from the storage medium of the searched host computer if it is determined that the host computer exists.

10. The management computer according to claim 8, wherein:

the plurality of host computers constitute a tenant which allows the plurality of virtual machines to share the storage media; and

the CPU is configured to calculate a second threshold value of a capacity of the Flash Memory Drive of the host computer on which the virtual machine runs based on a vacant capacity of the storage medium of another host computer belonging to the same tenant as that of the host computer on which the request virtual machine runs, determines whether or not the Flash Memory Drive of the storage device is allocated to the virtual machine based on the second threshold value, and generates the configuration scheme.

11. The management computer according to claim 3, wherein:

the configuration information further includes information about required performance of the virtual machine; and

the CPU is configured to generate the configuration scheme for allocating the storage area to the virtual machine with the high required performance preferentially to the Flash Memory Drive in reference to the configuration information.

12. The management computer according to claim 1, wherein:

the memory further stores hierarchy policy information indicating a rate of the capacity supplied by the plurality of storage media of the storage device, each having different performance to the storage area supplied by the storage device; and

the CPU is configured to generate the configuration scheme for allocating the supplied storage area based on the hierarchy policy corresponding to the access characteristics contained in the request to the host computer in reference to the hierarchy policy information.

13. The management computer according to claim 1, wherein:

the configuration information further includes information about the access characteristics of the storage area in association with the host computer; and

the CPU is configured to generate a configuration changing scheme for allocating a different storage area from the storage media of the storage device or the host computer to the host computer in association with the storage area based on the information about the storage area capacity and the access characteristics to the storage area in reference to the configuration information instead of receiving the request.

14. The management computer according to claim 1, wherein:

the configuration information includes information about a logical volume to which the storage area is supplied from the storage medium and the host computer with their association, and stores further information about the access characteristics with respect to the logical volume; and

in response to transfer of data stored in the logical volume to another logical volume instead of receiving the request, the CPU generates a configuration changing scheme for allocating the storage area from the storage medium of the storage device or the host computer with respect to the host computer in association with the logical volume based on the information about the capacity of the logical volume as a transfer source and the access characteristics to the logical volume as the transfer source in reference to the configuration information.

15. The management computer according to claim 3, wherein:

the configuration information includes information about the logical volume to which the storage area is supplied from the storage medium and the virtual machine with their association, information about the access characteristics to the logical volume, and information about the logical volume, and throughput of the virtual machine in association with the logical volume; and

in response to transfer of data of the virtual machine stored in a first logical volume to a second logical volume instead of receiving the request, the CPU is configured to calculate the access characteristics after the transfer of the data from the first logical volume using the access characteristics to the first logical volume included in the configuration information, the first logical volume, and the throughput of the virtual machine in reference to the configuration information, calculate the access characteristics to the first logical volume included in the configuration information as the access characteristics of the second logical volume after the data transfer, and generate the configuration changing scheme for allocating the storage area from the storage media of the storage device or the host computer to the first and the second logical volumes.