Storage apparatus

• US 7,171,517 B2
• Filed: 05/19/2004
• Issued: 01/30/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 03/23/2004
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Inventors: Takeuchi, Hisaharu, Muto, Yoshiaki
• Primary Examiner(s): Bataille; Pierre
• Assistant Examiner(s): Schlie; Paul
• Application Number:
  US10/848,150
• Publication Number:
  US 20050216658A1
• Time in Patent Office: 986 Days
• Field of Search: 711/162, 711/203, 711/113, 714/1, 714/6, 714/13, 707/202, 707/8, 707/200, 710/5
• US Class Current: 711/113
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1451 by selection of backup contents
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2064 while ensuring consistency
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2074 Asynchronous techniques

Abstract

A storage apparatus is provided in which the data amount of transfer data to a secondary disk controller from a primary disk controller at the event of remote copying can be reduced, and data integrity also can be assured. According to the storage apparatus, in the primary disk controller, overwriting update data in same records during a specified time between a preset first base point and a preset second base point on the update data that are stored in the second area of the cache memory and that are to be transferred to the secondary disk controller; and in the secondary disk controller, handling the update data between the first base point and the second base point as real data having consistency.

Claims

1. A storage apparatus comprising:

a plurality of primary disk controllers each including a cache memory, each primary disk controller coupled to at least one disk device, said plurality of primary disk controllers being connected to at least one host computer;

a secondary disk controller including a cache memory, said secondary disk controller being configured to receive data sent from the plurality of primary disk controllers by remote copy process; and

a disk device connected to the secondary disk controller, wherein

the cache memory of each primary disk controller has a first area for storing update data that are to be written to the corresponding disk device connected thereto, and a second area for storing overwritten update data that are to be transferred to the secondary disk controller,

each primary disk controller receives said updated data sent from the host computer so as to be stored into the second area of the cache memory as said overwritten update data that are to be transferred to the secondary disk controller, transfers the stored overwritten update data to the secondary disk controller, and performs remote copying to the secondary disk controller,

each primary disk controller overwrites said overwritten update data during at least one time period in the second area of the cache memory, records in said update data sent from the host computer overwrite corresponding records defined in said overwritten update data during the at least one time period such that the overwritten update data overwritten and stored during the time period are transferred to the secondary disk controller together, and

the secondary disk controller handles the overwritten update data sent from the plurality of primary disk controllers as real data having consistency,

wherein each of said plurality of primary disk controllers includes a cache memory and a control memory,

each primary disk controller is configured to add timestamps and acceptance numbers to said update data sent from the host computer so as to be stored into the second area of the cache memory, and

when a record is updated on the overwritten update data stored in the cache memory of each primary disk controller, information of the number of overwrites is stored in the control memory; and

in the secondary disk controller, the overwritten update data is verified in accordance with the information of the timestamp, the acceptance number, and the number of overwrites.

2. A storage apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:

the timestamps are provided by the host computer or each of the plurality of primary disk controllers;

the acceptance numbers are provided by each of the plurality of primary disk controllers in accordance with acceptance information in the update data from the host computer; and

these items of information are stored into the control memory.

3. A storage apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:

in the primary disk controllers, the second base point is stored as an synchronization point into the cache memory of the primary disk controllers; and

in the secondary disk controller, update data between the first base point and the synchronization point is handled as real data having consistency.

4. A storage apparatus according to claim 3, wherein:

the synchronization point is stored into the cache memory of the primary disk controller in response to a synchronization request from the host computer.

5. A storage apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:

each primary disk controller transfers in batch the overwritten update data between the first base point and the second base point to the secondary disk controller.

6. A storage apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:

a mode for overwriting and a mode for not overwriting update data in a same record on update data stored in the cache memory of each primary disk controller are provided;

upon acceptance of a mode switching instruction from the host computer, mode switching information is stored into the cache memory of each primary disk controller; and

the mode switching information is transferred to the secondary disk controller; and

in the secondary disk controller, a operation mode is changed in accordance with the mode switching information transferred from each primary disk controller.

7. A storage apparatus according to claim 6, wherein:

the mode switching information is stored into the cache memory of each primary disk controller in accordance with a processing state of the update data in each primary disk controller.

8. A storage apparatus according to claim 1, wherein each primary disk controller is configured to overwrite said update data in same records during a time period between a preset first base point and a preset second base point in the second area of the cache memory into said overwritten update data that are to be transferred to the secondary disk controller.

9. A storage apparatus according to claim 8, wherein:

the first base point and the second base point are synchronized with each other between the primary disk controllers and the secondary disk controller.

10. A storage apparatus according to claim 1, wherein each primary disk controller overwrites said overwritten update data in the second area of the cache memory during a plurality of time periods, records in said update data sent from the host computer during each time period overwrite corresponding records defined in said overwritten update data during said time period, such that the overwritten update data overwritten and stored during each of said plurality of time periods are transferred to the secondary disk controller together.

11. A storage apparatus comprising:

a plurality of primary disk controllers including a cache memory, a primary write-data accepting section, a primary write-data transmitting section and a disk-data transmission/reception section, and connected to at least one host computer, each primary disk controller coupled to at least one disk device connected to the disk-data transmission/reception section of the primary disk controllers;

a secondary disk controller including a cache memory, a secondary write-data accepting section and a disk-data transmission/reception section, said secondary disk controller being configured to receive data sent from the plurality of primary disk controllers by remote copy process; and

a disk device connected to the disk-data transmission/reception section of the secondary disk controller, wherein

the cache memory of each primary disk controller has a first area for storing update data that are to be written by the disk-data transmission/reception section to the disk device connected thereto, and a second area for storing overwritten update data that are to be transferred to the secondary disk controller,

each primary disk controller accepts said update data from the host computer through the primary write-data accepting section, receives said updated data sent from the host computer so as to stored into the second area of the cache memory as said overwritten update data to be transferred to the secondary disk controller, transfers the stored overwritten update data to the secondary disk controller through the primary write-data transmitting section, and performs remote copying to the secondary disk controller,

each primary disk controller overwrites said overwritten update data during a at least one time period in the second area of the cache memory, and storing the overwritten data into the cache memory of the primary disk controller, records in said update data sent from the host computer overwrite corresponding records defined in said overwritten update data during the at least one time period such that the overwritten update data overwritten and stored during the time period are transferred to the secondary disk controller together, and

the secondary disk controller accepts through the secondary write-data accepting section the overwritten update data transferred from the primary write-data transmitting section, stores the accepted overwritten update data into the cache memory of the secondary disk controller, and handles the stored overwritten update data between the first base point and the synchronization point as real data having consistency,

each of said plurality of primary disk controllers includes a cache memory and a control memory,

each primary disk controller is configured to add timestamps and acceptance numbers to said update data sent from the host computer so as to be stored into the second area of the cache memory, and

when a record is updated on the overwritten update data stored in the cache memory of each primary disk controller, information of the number of overwrites is stored in the control memory; and

in the secondary disk controller. the overwritten update data is verified in accordance with the information of the timestamp, the acceptance number, and the number of overwrites.

12. A storage apparatus according to claim 11, wherein each of said plurality of primary disk controllers further includes a control memory.

13. A storage apparatus according to claim 12, wherein each primary disk controller is configured to add timestamps and acceptance numbers to said update data sent from the host computer so as to be stored into the second area of the cache memory.

14. A storage apparatus according to claim 11, wherein each primary disk controller is configured to overwrite said update data in same records during a time period between a preset first base point and a preset second base point in the second area of the cache memory into said overwritten update data that are to be transferred to the secondary disk controller.

15. A storage apparatus according to claim 11, wherein each primary disk controller overwrites said overwritten update data in the second area of the cache memory during a plurality of time periods, records in said update data sent from the host computer during each time period overwrite corresponding records defined in said overwritten update data during said time period, such that the overwritten update data overwritten and stored during each of said plurality of time periods are transferred to the secondary disk controller together.