Method, computer system, and relay device for data transfer among plural memories to reduce the number of memory devices with relatively small storage capacity
First Claim
1. A data transfer method in a computer system, comprising:
- plural computers;
plural memory devices, each being separate from the others;
a relay device which connects the computers and the memory devices; and
a management device which manages the computers, the memory devices, and the relay device,wherein the management device sets virtual memory areas of the memory devices for the plural computers and holds first information on contents of the setting for each virtual memory area,wherein the relay device holds second information for each virtual memory area, said second information for each virtual memory area being created based upon the first information for the virtual memory area,wherein each second information of a corresponding virtual memory area indicates whether data stored in the corresponding virtual memory area can be transferred from a memory device containing said virtual memory area to another memory device,wherein each of the virtual memory areas corresponds to memory areas contained in one memory device or corresponds to a memory area formed by combining memory areas contained in plural different memory devices, andwherein the relay device selects a virtual memory area based on the second information, determines whether the selected virtual memory area is a virtual memory area formed by a memory area that combines memory areas contained in plural different memory devices, and if the selected virtual memory area is formed by combining memory areas in plural different memory devices and if an unused memory area exists in the memory device containing the selected virtual memory area, performs data transfer of data from a memory area of one of the different memory devices other than the memory device containing the selected virtual memory area to the unused memory area of the memory device containing the selected virtual memory area.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
When destinations of memory devices constituting one virtual volume increase, a relay device performs data transfer among plural memory devices such that a structure of the virtual volume can be changed so as to reduce the destinations of the memory devices as much as possible with this increase in the destinations as an opportunity for data transfer. In addition, when memory areas with a relatively small capacity increase among unused memory areas in which a virtual volume is not constituted, the relay device performs data transfer among the plural memory devices such that the number of the memory areas with a small capacity is reduced as much as possible with this increase in the memory areas as an opportunity for data transfer.
31 Citations
18 Claims
-
1. A data transfer method in a computer system, comprising:
-
plural computers; plural memory devices, each being separate from the others; a relay device which connects the computers and the memory devices; and a management device which manages the computers, the memory devices, and the relay device, wherein the management device sets virtual memory areas of the memory devices for the plural computers and holds first information on contents of the setting for each virtual memory area, wherein the relay device holds second information for each virtual memory area, said second information for each virtual memory area being created based upon the first information for the virtual memory area, wherein each second information of a corresponding virtual memory area indicates whether data stored in the corresponding virtual memory area can be transferred from a memory device containing said virtual memory area to another memory device, wherein each of the virtual memory areas corresponds to memory areas contained in one memory device or corresponds to a memory area formed by combining memory areas contained in plural different memory devices, and wherein the relay device selects a virtual memory area based on the second information, determines whether the selected virtual memory area is a virtual memory area formed by a memory area that combines memory areas contained in plural different memory devices, and if the selected virtual memory area is formed by combining memory areas in plural different memory devices and if an unused memory area exists in the memory device containing the selected virtual memory area, performs data transfer of data from a memory area of one of the different memory devices other than the memory device containing the selected virtual memory area to the unused memory area of the memory device containing the selected virtual memory area. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
-
-
13. A computer system comprising:
-
plural computers; plural memory devices, each being separate from the others; a relay device which connects the computers and the memory devices with each other; and a management device which manages the computers, the memory devices, and the relay device, wherein the management device sets virtual memory areas of the memory devices for the plural computers and holds first information on contents of the setting for each virtual memory area, wherein the relay device holds second information for each virtual memory area, said second information for each virtual memory area being created based upon the first information for the virtual memory area, wherein each second information of a corresponding virtual memory area indicates whether data stored in the corresponding virtual memory area can be transferred from a memory device containing said virtual memory area to another memory device, wherein each of the virtual memory areas corresponds to memory areas contained in one memory device or corresponds to a memory area formed by combining memory areas contained in plural different memory devices, and wherein the relay device selects a virtual memory area based on the second information, determines whether the selected virtual memory area is a virtual memory area formed by a memory area that combines memory areas contained in plural different memory devices, and if the selected virtual memory area is formed by combining memory areas of different memory devices and if an unused memory area exists in the memory device containing the selected one virtual memory area, performs data transfer of data from a memory area of one of the different memory devices other than the memory device containing the selected on virtual memory area to the unused memory area of the memory device containing the selected one virtual memory area. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15)
-
-
16. A relay device connecting computers and memory devices with each other, each memory device being separate from the other memory devices, said relay device comprising:
-
an interface section for making connection with the computers or the memory devices; a routing control section which performs routing of a packet received from the computers or the memory devices; and a management section which manages the entire relay device, wherein the management section holds second information which is created based upon first information on contents of virtual memory areas of the memory devices set for the computers, said second information being created for each virtual memory area, wherein said second information of a corresponding virtual memory area indicates whether data stored in the corresponding virtual memory area can be transferred from a memory device containing said virtual memory area to another memory device, wherein each of the virtual memory areas corresponds to memory areas contained in one memory device or corresponds to a memory area formed by combining memory areas contained in plural different memory devices, and wherein the management section selects a virtual memory area based on the second information, determines whether the selected virtual memory area is a virtual memory area formed by a memory area that combines memory areas contained in plural different memory devices, and if, the selected virtual memory area is formed by combining memory areas in different memory devices and if an unused memory area exits in the memory device containing the selected one virtual memory area, performs control of data transfer of data from a memory area of one of the different memory devices other than the memory device containing the selected one virtual memory area to the unused memory area of the memory device containing the selected virtual memory area via the routing control section and the interface section. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18)
-
Specification