STORAGE SYSTEM

• US 20180275894A1
• Filed: 01/20/2015
• Published: 09/27/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 01/20/2015
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Inventors: YOSHINO, Yukihiro, HOMMA, Shigeo, NINOSE, Kenta
• Application Number:
  US15/542,446
• Publication Number:
  US 20180275894A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0727 in a storage system, e.g. in a DASD or network based storage system drivers for digital recording or reproducing units G06F3/06; circuits for error detection or correction within digital recording or reproducing units G11B20/18; 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], H04L67/1097
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/076 by exceeding a count or rate limit, e.g. word- or bit count limit
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1076 Parity data used in redundant arrays of independent storages, e.g. in RAID systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0616 in relation to life time, e.g. increasing Mean Time Between Failures [MTBF]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0647 Migration mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0688 Non-volatile semiconductor memory arrays
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0689 Disk arrays, e.g. RAID, JBOD

Abstract

According to one aspect of the present invention, the storage system has a storage controller and a plurality of storage devices. Each storage device calculates its degradation level based on an error bit count (number of correctable errors that have occurred during read), and transmits the same to the storage controller. By calculating the life of each RAID group based on the received degradation levels of the respective storage devices, the storage controller specifies the RAID group predicted to reach its life before achieving a target service life (target life), and migrates the data stored in the specified RAID group to a different RAID group.

Claims

1. A storage system having a storage controller connected to a host computer, and a plurality of storage devices connected to the storage controller, the storage system configuring a plurality of RAID groups using the plurality of storage devices;

each storage device having a nonvolatile storage media and a device controller;

wherein

the device controller calculates a degradation level of the storage device based on an error bit count detected when reading a storage area of the nonvolatile storage media, and transmits the degradation level to the storage controller;

the storage controller calculates a life of the RAID group to which the storage device belongs based on the degradation level received from the storage device; and

the storage controller further specifies the RAID group whose life is shorter than a target life determined in advance, and migrates data within the specified RAID group to a different RAID group.

2. The storage system according to claim 1, wherein

when migrating data within the specified RAID group to the different RAID group, the storage controller calculates an upper limit value of the amount of write data capable of being accepted before a term of use of the specified RAID group reaches the target life, and based on the calculated upper limit value, determines the amount of data to be migrated.

3. The storage system according to claim 1, wherein

the storage controller determines the life of the storage device having the shortest life out of the plurality of storage devices belonging to the RAID group as the life of the RAID group.

4. The storage system according to claim 1, wherein

the device controller is configured to stop use of a storage area when an error bit count detected from the storage area of the nonvolatile storage media exceeds an error bit threshold;

and

the device controller calculates the degradation level by dividing the error bit count by the error bit threshold.

5. The storage system according to claim 4, wherein

the error bit threshold is a value that depends on an elapsed time from when write has last been performed to the storage area.

6. The storage system according to claim 1, wherein

the storage controller has one or more pools for managing a plurality of the RAID groups;

and

when migrating the data within the specified RAID group, the storage controller determines the RAID group belonging to the same pool as the specified RAID group as the migration destination of the data.

7. The storage system according to claim 6, wherein

if the life of RAID groups belonging to the same pool as the specified RAID group are all shorter than the target life, the storage controller determines a spare RAID group that does not belong to the pool as the migration destination of the data.

8. The storage system according to claim 5, wherein

the storage controller is configured to provide a plurality of virtual volumes composed of a plurality of virtual chunks to the host computer, and to map a chunk which is a storage area of the RAID group to the virtual chunk when a write request to the virtual chunk is received from the host computer;

and

when migrating data within the specified RAID group, the storage controller determines the RAID group having the chunk not mapped to any of the virtual chunks as the migration destination of the data.

9. A method for controlling a storage system having a plurality of storage devices with a nonvolatile storage media and a device controller, and a storage controller connected to the plurality of storage devices and configuring a plurality of RAID groups from the plurality of storage devices;

the method comprising;

the device controller calculating a degradation level of the storage device based on an error bit count detected when reading a storage area of the nonvolatile storage media, and transmitting the same to the storage controller;

the storage controller calculating a life of the RAID group to which the storage device belongs based on the degradation level received from the storage device; and

the storage controller further specifying the RAID group whose life is shorter than a target life determined in advance, and migrating data within the specified RAID group to a different RAID group.

10. The method for controlling the storage system according to claim 9, wherein

when migrating data within the specified RAID group to the different RAID group, the storage controller calculates an upper limit value of the amount of write data capable of being accepted before a term of use of the specified RAID group reaches the target life, and based on the calculated upper limit value, determines the amount of data to be migrated.

11. The method for controlling the storage system according to claim 9, wherein

the storage controller determines the life of the storage device having the shortest life out of the plurality of storage devices belonging to the RAID group as the life of the RAID group.

12. The method for controlling the storage system according to claim 9, wherein

the device controller is configured to stop use of a storage area when an error bit count detected from the storage area of the nonvolatile storage media exceeds an error bit threshold;

and

the device controller calculates the degradation level by dividing the error bit count by the error bit threshold.

13. The method for controlling the storage system according to claim 12, wherein

the error bit threshold is a value that depends on an elapsed time from when write has last been performed to the storage area.