Computer system with transparent data migration between storage volumes

• US 6,145,066 A
• Filed: 11/14/1997
• Issued: 11/07/2000
• Est. Priority Date: 11/14/1997
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Softek Storage Solutions Corp. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Amdahl Corporation (Fujitsu Limited)
• Inventors: Atkin, Carey Phillip
• Primary Examiner(s): Gossage, Glenn
• Application Number:
  US08/971,473
• Time in Patent Office: 1,089 Days
• Field of Search: 711/162, 711/161, 711/165, 711/111, 711/112, 711/114, 711/5, 714/5, 714/6, 714/7, 709/208, 709/211, 709/216, 709/217
• US Class Current: 711/165
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0605 by facilitating the interaction with a user or administrator
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0647 Migration mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0689 Disk arrays, e.g. RAID, JBOD

Abstract

A computer system includes a transparent data migration facility (TDNff) to accomplish automated movement of data (migration) from one location to another in the system. A data migration program includes a main module to control the start of a migration session when said application programs are using data accessed to and from the source volume, to migrate data from the source volume to the target volume, and to end the migration session whereby the application programs are using data accessed to and from the target volume. The data migration program includes a volume module to control the volumes during the migration session. The data migration program includes a copy module to control the copying of data from the source module to the target module during the migration session. The data migration program includes a monitor module for monitoring I/O transfers to the data volumes during the migration sessions. The computer system may have a plurality of operating systems associated with instances of the data migration program which allows for concurrent data migrations. The plurality of instances of the data migration program may also be controlled in a master slave relationship. A migration session may include a plurality of migration phases such as activation, copy, refresh, quiesce, synchronize, redirect, resume and termination phases.

Claims

1. A computer system having

a plurality of storage volumes for storing data used in the computer system,

one or more storage control units for controlling I/O transfers of data in the computer system from and to the storage volumes,

one or more application programs for execution in the computer system using data accessed from and to the storage volumes,

one or more operating system programs for execution in the computer system for controlling the storage volumes, the one or more storage control units and the one or more application programs, and

a data migration program for migrating data from one of said volumes designated as a source volume to one of said volumes designated a target volume while said one or more application programs are executing using data accessed from and to the storage volumes, said data migration program including,

a main module to control the start of a migration session when said one or more application programs are using data accessed to and from the source volume, to migrate data from the source volume to the target volume, and to end the migration session whereby said one or more application programs are using data accessed to and from the target volume,

a volume module to control said storage volumes during the migration session,

a copy module to control the copying of data from the source volume to the target volume during the migration session,

a monitor module for monitoring I/O transfers to the storage volumes during the migration session.

2. The computer system of claim 1 wherein said main module includes a communication data set for communications used for controlling data migration that is not stored on said source volume or said target volume.

3. The computer system of claim 1 wherein said main module establishes said migration session as a plurality of migration phases for controlling data migration.

4. The computer system of claim 1 wherein each of said one or more operating system programs includes an instance of said data migration program and said main module establishes one instance of said data migration program as a master instance and another instance of said data migration program as a slave whereby said migration session is controlled in a master slave relationship.

5. The computer system of claim 1 wherein said main module establishes said migration session as a plurality of migration phases including an activation phase, a copy phase, a refresh phase, a quiesce phase, a synchronize phase, a redirect phase, a resume phase and a termination phase.

6. The computer system of claim 1 wherein each of said one or more operating system programs includes an instance of said data migration program and said main module establishes a plurality of migration sessions for concurrent data migrations.

7. The computer system of claim 6 wherein for each of said data migration sessions each of said operating systems includes an instance of said data migration program and said main module establishes one instance of said data migration program as a master instance and another instance of said data migration program as a slave whereby each of said migration sessions is controlled in a master slave relationship.