Logical partitioning of a redundant array storage system
First Claim
1. A storage subsystem for use in conjunction with a system central processing unit that issues data requests to said storage subsystem, said data requests being mapped by said system central processing unit to respective addresses that appear to said system central processing unit to be addressed within said storage subsystem, comprising:
- a plurality of physical data storage units that are accessible in terms of block numbers and configured as one or more logical storage units, wherein the logical storage units are dynamically configurable into two or more logical volumes, wherein each of said logical volumes comprises a subset of said plurality of physical data storage units, and wherein each of said two or more logical volumes may be configured as separate redundancy groups; and
a storage controller for remapping a specified logical volume, an initial block volume, and a number of blocks mapped by said system central processing unit to actual addresses within said storage subsystem for accessing data structures of the logical volumes transparent to the system central processing unit.
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Abstract
A redundant array storage system that can be configured as a RAID 1, 3, 4, or 5 system, or any combination of these configurations. The invention comprises a configuration data structure for addressing a redundant array storage system, and a method for configuring a redundant array storage system during an initialization process. The redundant array storage system comprises a set of physical storage units which are accessible in terms of block numbers. The physical storage units are each configured as one or more logical storage units. Each logical storage unit is addressed in terms of a channel number, storage unit number, starting block number, offset number, and number of blocks to be transferred. Once logical storage units are defined, logical volumes are defined as one or more logical storage units, each logical volume having a depth characteristic. After the logical volumes are defined, redundancy groups are defined as one or more logical volumes. A redundancy level is specified for each redundancy group. The redundancy level may be none, one, or two. Logical volumes are addressed by a host CPU by volume number, initial block number, and number of blocks to be transferred. The host CPU also specifies a READ or WRITE operation. The specified volume number, initial block number, and number of blocks to be transferred are then translated into a corresponding channel number, storage unit number, starting block number, offset number, and number of blocks to be transferred. With the present invention, it is possible for a logical volume to span across physical storage units ("vertical partitioning"), comprise only a portion of each such physical storage unit ("horizontal partitioning"), and have definable depth and redundancy characteristics.
146 Citations
13 Claims
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1. A storage subsystem for use in conjunction with a system central processing unit that issues data requests to said storage subsystem, said data requests being mapped by said system central processing unit to respective addresses that appear to said system central processing unit to be addressed within said storage subsystem, comprising:
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a plurality of physical data storage units that are accessible in terms of block numbers and configured as one or more logical storage units, wherein the logical storage units are dynamically configurable into two or more logical volumes, wherein each of said logical volumes comprises a subset of said plurality of physical data storage units, and wherein each of said two or more logical volumes may be configured as separate redundancy groups; and a storage controller for remapping a specified logical volume, an initial block volume, and a number of blocks mapped by said system central processing unit to actual addresses within said storage subsystem for accessing data structures of the logical volumes transparent to the system central processing unit. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. A method for dynamically configuring a storage subsystem comprising a storage controller coupling a plurality of physical data storage units to a host central processing unit, said method comprising the steps of:
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configuring each of the physical data storage units as one or more logical storage units;
partitioning at least some of said logical storage units into two or more logical volumes;configuring each of said two or more logical volumes as separate redundancy groups; receiving from said host central processing unit a specified logical volume, an initial block volume, and a number of blocks which has been mapped by said host central processing unit into a host address directed to said storage subsystem; remapping said host address to an address within said logical volumes; and using said remapped address, accessing data structures of the logical volumes transparently to said host central processing unit. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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Specification