Method, device and program for managing volume

• US 7,249,240 B2
• Filed: 07/05/2006
• Issued: 07/24/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 01/14/2004
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Inventors: Yamamoto, Masayuki, Kaneda, Yasunori, Nakagawa, Hirotaka
• Primary Examiner(s): Sough; Hyung
• Assistant Examiner(s): PATEL, KAUSHIKKUMAR M
• Application Number:
  US11/480,394
• Publication Number:
  US 20060253679A1
• Time in Patent Office: 384 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 711/170
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3485 for I/O devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0605 by facilitating the interaction with a user or administrator
• 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 3/0631 by allocating resources to storage systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0647 Migration mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0653 Monitoring storage devices or systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/067 Distributed or networked storage systems, e.g. storage area networks [SAN], network attached storage [NAS]
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99953 Recoverability
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99955 Archiving or backup

Abstract

Computer systems having a plurality of storage systems could not detect addition of storage systems or configuration changes thereof and automatically redistribute existing volumes based on “hints” provided when the volumes were created. A management computer, which is connected via a network to storage systems having volumes connected via a network to a host computer and which stores data used by the host computer, keeps correspondences between levels indicating specific performances of volumes and storage system characteristics indicating performances of the storage systems. From a first storage system, a level is obtained indicating a performance of a volume of the first storage system allocated to the host computer. The storage system characteristics of the first storage system corresponding to the obtained level indicating the performance of the volume, and storage system characteristics of another storage system are referenced, and the performances of the volumes of the storage systems are compared.

Claims

1. A method of managing volumes of a plurality of storage systems, by a management computer, connected via a first network to the plurality of storage systems having volumes connected to a computer via a second network and storing data used by the computer, the method comprising the steps of:

keeping a correspondence between a plurality of levels and characteristic information of each of the storage systems,

wherein said levels are represented by values, each indicating a desirable performance of a volume with respect to a particular characteristic, as represented by characteristic information, of a storage system in which the volume can be created,

wherein a high value indicates a high desire for a corresponding characteristic relative to a low value which indicates a low desire for the corresponding characteristic;

obtaining from a first storage system a first value of a level corresponding to characteristic information of a first volume having been provided to the computer by the first storage system;

referencing, by the management computer, characteristic information corresponding to the first value among the plurality of storage systems;

comparing the referenced characteristic information among the plurality of storage systems to the characteristic information corresponding to the first value to determine a storage system which can provide better performance than the first storage system; and

selecting a volume based on the comparison to allocate the selected volume to the computer.

2. The volume management method according to claim 1, wherein a correspondence is obtained from another storage system connected to the management computer.

3. The volume management method according to claim 2, wherein the comparison of the characteristic information of respective volumes is also performed when a new correspondence is obtained from the first storage system.

8. The volume management method according to claim 1, wherein the comparison of the respective levels indicating a specific performance is not performed in a case where the level indicating the specific performance of the volume indicates that the specific performance is not needed.

4. A method of managing volumes of a plurality of storage systems, by a management computer, connected via a first network to the plurality of storage systems having volumes connected to a computer via a second network and storing data used by the computer, the method comprising the steps of:

keeping a correspondence between a plurality of levels and characteristic information of each of the storage systems,

wherein said levels are represented by values, each indicating a desirable performance of a volume with respect to a particular characteristic, as represented by characteristic information, of a storage system in which the volume can be created,

wherein a high value indicates a high desire for the corresponding characteristic relative to a low value which indicates a low desire for the corresponding characteristic;

obtaining from a first storage system a level indicating a performance of a volume allocated to the computer by the first storage system;

referencing, by the management computer, storage system characteristics of the first storage system that corresponds to the obtained level indicating the performance of the volume and storage system characteristics of another storage system that corresponds to the obtained level indicating the performance of the volume, respectively;

comparing the performances of the volumes of the respective storage systems to the characteristic information corresponding to the first value to determine a storage system which can provide better performance than the first storage system,

wherein the comparison of the performances of the respective volumes in the respective storage systems is performed when a correspondence is obtained from a new storage system that has been connected to the management computer via the first network; and

selecting a volume based on the comparison to allocate the selected volume to the computer.

5. A method of managing volumes of a plurality of storage systems, by a management computer, connected via a first network to the plurality of storage systems having volumes connected to a computer via a second network and storing data used by the computer, the method comprising the steps of:

keeping a correspondence between a plurality of levels and characteristic information of each of the storage systems,

wherein said levels are represented by values, each indicating a desirable performance of a volume with respect to a particular characteristic, as represented by characteristic information, of a storage system in which the volume can be created,

wherein a high value indicates a high desire for the corresponding characteristic relative to a low value which indicates a low desire for the corresponding characteristic;

obtaining from a first storage system a level indicating a performance of a volume allocated to the computer by the first storage system;

referencing, by the management computer, the storage system characteristics of the first storage system; and

comparing the performances of the volumes of the respective storage systems to the characteristic information corresponding to the first value to determine a storage system which can provide better performance than the first storage system,

wherein the level is an integer value from 0 to 10; and

selecting a volume based on the comparison to allocate the selected volume to the computer.

6. The volume management method according to claim 5, further comprising the step of:

instructing the other storage system, based on the results of the comparison, to provide to the computer a volume having the characteristic information of a storage system other than the first storage system corresponding to the obtained level.

7. A method of managing volumes of a plurality of storage systems, by a management computer, connected via a first network to the plurality of storage systems having volumes connected to a computer via a second network and storing data used by the computer, the method comprising the steps of:

keeping a correspondence between a plurality of levels and characteristic information of each of the storage systems,

wherein said levels are represented by values, each indicating a desirable performance of a volume with respect to a particular characteristic, as represented by characteristic information, of a storage system in which the volume can be created,

wherein a high value indicates a high desire for the corresponding characteristic relative to a low value which indicates a low desire for the corresponding characteristic;

obtaining from a first storage system a level indicating a performance of a volume allocated to the computer by the first storage system;

referencing, by the management computer, the storage system characteristics of the first storage system;

comparing the performances of the volumes of the respective storage systems to the characteristic information corresponding to the first value to determine a storage system which can provide better performance than the first storage system; and

instructing the other storage subsystem, based on the results of the comparison, to allocate to the computer a volume having storage system characteristics of the other storage system corresponding to the obtained level,

wherein the management computer receives an input giving an instruction to allocate to the computer the volume having storage system characteristics of the other storage system corresponding to the obtained level, and instructs the allocation.

9. A method of managing volumes of a plurality of storage systems, by a management computer, connected via a first network to the plurality of storage systems having volumes connected to a computer via a second network and storing data used by the computer, the method comprising the steps of:

keeping a correspondence between a plurality of levels and characteristic information of each of the storage systems,

wherein said levels are represented by values, each indicating a desirable performance of a volume with respect to a particular characteristic, as represented by characteristic information, of a storage system in which the volume can be created,

wherein a high value indicates a high desire for the corresponding characteristic relative to a low value which indicates a low desire for the corresponding characteristic one of a plurality of levels and characteristic information related to characteristics;

obtaining from a first storage system a level indicating a performance of a volume allocated to the computer by the first storage system;

referencing storage system characteristics of the first storage system;

comparing the performances of the volumes of the respective storage systems to the characteristic information corresponding to the first value to determine a storage system which can provide better performance than the first storage system; and

instructing the other storage subsystem, based on the results of the comparison, to allocate to the computer a volume having storage system characteristics of the other storage system corresponding to the obtained level,

wherein the management computer receives an input giving an instruction to allocate to the computer the volume having storage system characteristics of the other storage system corresponding to the obtained level, and instructs the allocation;

copying data stored in a volume of the first storage system into a volume allocated to the computer in response to the instructing; and

giving instructions to the computer via a management network to execute, via a data network, at least one of reading data copied by the computer into the allocated volume, and writing new data.

10. A first storage system connected to a computer via a network, comprising:

a volume connected to a volume of another storage system storing data used by the computer;

a memory for keeping a correspondence between a plurality of levels and characteristic information of each of the storage systems,

wherein said levels are represented by values, each indicating a desirable performance of a volume with respect to a particular characteristic, as represented by characteristic information, of a storage system in which the volume can be created,

wherein a high value indicates a high desire for the corresponding characteristic relative to a low value which indicates a low desire for the corresponding characteristic; and

a control unit for controlling access made to the first storage system or the other storage system from the computer,

wherein the control unit obtains the level indicating the specific characteristic information of the volume of the other storage system, references the characteristic information corresponding to the first value among the plurality of storage system, compares the referenced characteristic information among the plurality of storage systems to the characteristic information corresponding to the first value to determine a storage system which can provide better performance than the first storage system, and

selects a volume based on the comparison to allocate the selected volume to the computer.

11. The first storage system according to claim 10, wherein based on the result of the comparison, the data is stored into a volume having the storage system characteristics corresponding to the value of a level indicating the characteristic information of the volume of the first storage system.

12. A storage medium storing a program that can be read, by a management computer managing volumes of a plurality of storage systems, which program is executed by the management computer connected via a first network to the plurality of storage systems having volumes that are connected to a computer and to the plurality of storage systems to store data used by the computer, the storage medium comprising:

a sequence of obtaining correspondences between a plurality of levels and characteristic information of each of the storage systems,

wherein said levels are represented by values, each indicating a desirable performance of a volume with respect to a particular characteristic, as represented by characteristic information, of a storage system in which the volume can be created,

wherein a high value indicates a high desire for the corresponding characteristic relative to a low value which indicates a low desire for the corresponding characteristic;

a sequence of obtaining from a first storage system a level indicating a performance of a volume allocated to the computer by the first storage system;

referencing, by the management computer, the storage system characteristics of the first storage system, comparing the performances of the volumes of the respective storage systems to the characteristic information corresponding to the first value to determine a storage system which can provide better performance than the first storage system;

selecting a volume based on the comparison to allocate the selected volume to the computer; and

a sequence of giving an instruction to the other storage system based on the results of the comparison, to allocate to the computer a volume of the other storage system having storage system characteristics corresponding to the obtained level.