System and method for providing highly-available volume mount points

• US 6,865,597 B1
• Filed: 12/20/2002
• Issued: 03/08/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 12/20/2002
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Veritas Technologies, LLC (Whitehouse Group Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Veritas Operating Corporation (Gen Digital Inc.)
• Inventors: Bandopadhyay, Tushar, Pangarkar, Mangesh D.
• Primary Examiner(s): MOAZZAMI, NASSER G
• Application Number:
  US10/324,810
• Time in Patent Office: 809 Days
• Field of Search: 709/213, 709220-221, 709/248, 711/114, 711/147, 711148-149, 711170-173, 714/1, 714 3- 4, 714 6- 7
• US Class Current: 709/213
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/201 between storage system components
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2089 Redundant storage control functionality
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0607 by facilitating the process of upgrading existing storage systems, e.g. for improving compatibility between host and storage device
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0617 in relation to availability
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0635 by changing the path, e.g. traffic rerouting, path reconfiguration
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/067 Distributed or networked storage systems, e.g. storage area networks [SAN], network attached storage [NAS]

Abstract

A system and method for providing highly-available volume mount points is disclosed. According to one embodiment, in a system including a shared storage resource coupled to a server cluster and accessible by a node of said server cluster, a volume mount point is provided within the shared storage resource. According to another embodiment, the shared storage resource includes a base volume and a target volume and a volume mount point corresponding to the target volume is provided within the base volume. A first mount is configured corresponding to the target volume and a mount order dependency relationship is defined between the first mount and a second mount corresponding to the base volume. Embodiments of the present invention may be used to ensure that a new (secondary) node accesses a shared disk or volume in the same way it was accessed before a transition event (e.g., failover or switchover).

Claims

1. A method comprising:

providing a volume mount point within a shared storage resource, wherein

said shared storage resource is coupled to a server cluster,

said shared storage resource is accessible by a node of said server cluster, and

said providing said volume mount point comprises

verifying said volume mount point, and

configuring said volume mount point in response to said verifying.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein

said verifying comprises

determining that a folder associated with said volume mount point is empty.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

mounting a volume on said volume mount point using said node of said server cluster.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein

said shared storage resource comprises

a base volume, and

a target volume, and

said providing said volume mount point comprises

providing a volume mount point associated with said target volume within said base volume.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein

said providing said volume mount point further comprises

configuring a mount corresponding to said target volume.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein

said configuring said mount corresponding to said target volume comprises

configuring a first mount corresponding to said target volume, and

associating said first mount with a second mount corresponding to said base volume.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein

said associating said first mount with said second mount further comprises

defining a mount order dependency relationship between said first mount and said second mount.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein

said mounting comprises

mounting said target volume on said volume mount point using said mount order dependency relationship.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein

said mounting said target volume on said volume mount point using said mount order dependency relationship comprises

mounting said base volume, and

mounting said target volume in response to said mounting of said base volume.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein

said server cluster comprises

a primary node, and

a secondary node, and

said mounting comprises

detecting a transition between said primary node and said secondary node, and

mounting said target volume on said volume mount point using said mount order dependency relationship in response to said detecting.

11. The method of claim 6, wherein

said associating said first mount with said second mount comprises

specifying a mountpath attribute for said first mount.

12. A machine-readable medium having a plurality of instructions executable by a machine embodied therein, wherein said plurality of instructions when executed cause said machine to perform a method comprising:

providing a volume mount point within a shared storage resource, wherein

said shared storage resource is coupled to a server cluster,

said shared storage resource is accessible by a node of said server cluster, and

said providing said volume mount point comprises

verifying said volume mount point, and

configuring said volume mount point in response to said verifying.

13. The machine-readable medium of claim 12, said method further comprising:

mounting a volume on said volume mount point using said node of said server cluster.

14. The machine-readable medium of claim 13, wherein

said shared storage resource comprises

a base volume, and

a target volume, and

said providing said volume mount point further comprises

providing a volume mount point associated with said target volume within said base volume.

15. The machine-readable medium of claim 14, wherein

said providing said volume mount point further comprises

configuring a mount corresponding to said target volume.

16. The machine-readable medium of claim 15, wherein

said configuring said mount corresponding to said target volume comprises

configuring a first mount corresponding to said target volume, and

associating said first mount with a second mount corresponding to said base volume.

17. The machine-readable medium of claim 16, wherein

said associating said first mount with said second mount further comprises

defining a mount order dependency relationship between said first mount and said second mount.

18. The machine-readable medium of claim 16, wherein

said mounting comprises

mounting said target volume on said volume mount point using said mount order dependency relationship.

19. A system comprising:

a shared storage resource comprising

a base volume, and

a target volume, wherein

said base volume comprises a volume mount point associated with said target volume;

a server cluster coupled to said shared storage resource, wherein

said shared storage resource is accessible to a node of said server cluster; and

a first mount corresponding to said target volume having a mount order dependency relationship with a second mount corresponding to said base volume.

20. A system comprising:

means for providing a volume mount point associated with a target volume within a base volume within a shared storage resource, wherein

said shared storage resource is coupled to a server cluster,

said shared storage resource is accessible by a node of said server cluster, and

said means for providing said volume mount point comprises

means for defining a mount order dependency relationship between a first mount corresponding to said target volume and a second mount corresponding to said base volume; and

means for mounting said target volume on said volume mount point using said node of said server cluster.