Apparatus and method for partitioning and managing subsystem logics

• US 7,363,455 B2
• Filed: 02/15/2005
• Issued: 04/22/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 08/25/2003
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Inventors: Fujii, Kozue, Tabuchi, Hideo, Nakamura, Yasuaki, Shimada, Akinobu, Ohno, Shotaro
• Primary Examiner(s): Song; Jasmine
• Assistant Examiner(s): Doan; Duc T.
• Application Number:
  US11/057,754
• Publication Number:
  US 20050149675A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,162 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 711/170
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/10 File systems; File servers
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0605 by facilitating the interaction with a user or administrator
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0622 in relation to access
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0637 Permissions
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0644 Management of space entities, e.g. partitions, extents, pools
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0665 at area level, e.g. provisioning of virtual or logical volumes

Abstract

A subsystem logics partitioning and managing apparatus comprises a recognition unit for recognizing logical and physical resources that constitute a subsystem a partition definition table in which the logical and physical resources in the subsystem are assigned for each user at an interface level at which a storage configuration can be referenced by a storage management program an account table in which an account is set for each user-specific partition defined in the partition definition table a receiving unit for receiving a user account transmitted from an information processing unit and checking the received user account against the account table, to recognize a partition that corresponds to the user and a unit for outputting, at a GUI level, logical resources and physical resources that are contained in the recognized partition to an output interface as a resource configuration in the subsystem.

Claims

1. A disk array system, comprising:

a port receiving data sent from a first information processing device;

a logical unit provided for said first information processing device to store data and relating to a storage region;

a plurality of disk drives having said storage region;

a plurality of RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) groups relating to said disk drives, said disk drives storing a plurality of data and a parity data related to data sent from said first information processing device; and

a plurality of resource groups each having a plurality of resources among said port, said logical unit, said disk drives and said RAID groups,

wherein a first resource group of said resource groups is managed by a first manager, said first manager being different from a second manager which manages a second resource group of said resource groups,

wherein said first resource group is changed from a first state of relating between a first resource and a second resource in said first resource group into a second state of relating between said first resource and a third resource in said first resource group if said first manager changes configuration in said first resource group according to a configuration change request which relates to a relation between said port and said RAID groups,

wherein said first resource group is defined according to a first policy such that, in a partition assigned to said first manager, a logical unit is generated by selecting a logical device from a disk unit group to which no other partitions are assigned and in which no disk unit group is present from which I/O is controlled via a same adapter, and

wherein according to the first policy, said first manager is permitted to see resources in said first resource group end change between the first state and the second state such that said port is related to a first RAID group in the first state and said port is related to a second RAID group in the second state.

2. The disk array system according to claim 1, further comprising:

a managing device having information relating to said resource groups;

a management client coupled to said managing device and displaying information of some resources in said first resource group and requesting said first manager to change configuration in said first resource group.

3. The disk array system according to claim 1, wherein:

said first information processing device requests said first manager to change configuration in said first resource group.

4. The disk array system according to claim 1, wherein:

said resource groups are managed by an upper manager.

5. The disk array system according to claim 1, wherein:

said resource groups are formed in accordance with a request received from said first information processing device or a second information processing device.

6. The disk array system according to claim 1, wherein:

data stored in said RAID group of said first resource group are moved to another RAID group in accordance with a request sent from a second information processing device used by an upper manager.

7. The disk array system according to claim 1, wherein:

said logical unit is formed in accordance with a request sent from a second information processing device used by an upper manager.

8. The disk array system according to claim 1, further comprising:

a plurality of said logical units;

wherein some of said logical units are combined in accordance with a request sent from a second information processing device used by an upper manager.

9. The disk array system according to claim 1, further comprising:

a table having a first identification of said first manager and being set in accordance with a request sent from a second information processing device used by an upper manager;

wherein said table is used to check whether a request from said first manager can be allowed or not.

10. A disk array system, comprising:

a port receiving data from an information processing device;

a first controller controlling to transfer data received by said port;

a memory storing data in accordance with controlling by said first controller;

a second controller controlling to transfer data stored in said memory;

a plurality of disk drive groups storing data transferred by said second controller and having a plurality of storage regions in a plurality of disk drives;

a plurality of logical units being addresses to which data is sent from said information processing device and corresponding to said storage regions; and

a plurality of resource groups each having a first plurality of resources among said port, said first controller, said memory, said second controller, said disk drive groups, or said logical units,

wherein a first resource group of said resource groups is managed by a manager and is changed from a first state of relating between a first resource and a second resource in said first resource group into a second state of relating between said first resource and a third resource in said first resource group for changing configuration in said first resource group by said manager according to a configuration change request which relates to a relation between said port and at least one of said plurality of disk drive groups,

wherein said first resource group is defined according to a first policy such that, in a partition assigned to said manager, a logical unit is generated by selecting a logical device from a disk unit group to which no other partitions are assigned and in which no disk unit group is present from which I/O is controlled via a same adapter,

wherein according to the first policy, said manager is permitted to see resources in said first resource group and change between the first state and the second state such that said pod is related to a first disk drive group in the first state and said port is related to a second disk drive group in the second state.

11. A disk array system, comprising:

a port receiving data from a first information processing device;

a logical unit being provided for said first information processing device and relating to a storage region;

a plurality of RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) groups relating to a plurality of disk drives, said disk drives storing a plurality of data and a parity data related to data sent from said first information processing device and relating to said storage region;

a plurality of logical resources including said port, said logical unit and said RAID groups;

a plurality of physical resources including said disk drives; and

a plurality of resource groups each having one or more of said logical resources and one or more of said physical resources,

wherein a first resource group of said resource groups is managed by a first manager, said first manager being different from a second manager which manages a second resource group of said resource groups,

wherein said first resource group is generated in accordance with a request which relates to a relation between said port and said RAID groups and being sent from a second information processing device used by said first manager and is assigned to a first part of resources of said first resource group,

wherein a second part of resources of said first resource group related to said first part of resources is selected based on a predetermined policy,

wherein said first resource group is defined according to a first policy such that, in a partition assigned to said first manager, a logical unit is generated by selecting a logical device from a disk unit group to which no other partitions are assigned and in which no disk unit group is present from which I/O is controlled via a same adapter, and

wherein according to the first policy, said first manager is permitted to see resources in said first resource group and change between a first state and a second state such that said pod is related to a first RAID group in the first state and said port is related to a second RAID group in the second state.

12. A disk array system, comprising:

a port receiving data from a first information processing device;

a logical unit being provided for said first information processing device and relating to a storage region;

a plurality of RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) groups relating to a plurality of disk drives, said disk drives storing a plurality of data and a parity data related to data sent from said first information processing device and relating to said storage region;

a plurality of logical resources including said port, said logical unit and said RAID groups;

a plurality of physical resources including said disk drives; and

a plurality of resource groups each having one or more of said logical resources and one or more of said physical resources,

wherein a first resource group of said resource groups is managed by a first manager, said first manager being different from a second manager which manages a second resource group of said resource groups,

wherein said first resource group is formed in accordance with a request which relates to a relation between said port and said RAID groups and being sent from a second information processing device used by said first manager and is assigned some of said resources,

wherein said first resource group is defined according to a first policy such that, in a partition assigned to said first manager, a logical unit is generated by selecting a logical device from a disk unit group to which no other partitions are assigned and in which no disk unit group is present from which I/O is controlled via a same adapter, and

wherein according to the first policy, said first manager is permitted to see resources in said first resource group and change between a first state and a second state such that said port is related to a first RAID group in the first state and said port is related to a second RAID group in the second state.

13. A disk array system, comprising:

a port receiving data from an information processing device;

a plurality of logical units provided for said information processing device and relating to a plurality of storage regions;

a plurality of disk drives having said storage regions;

a plurality of ECC (Error Check and Correct) groups relating to said disk drives and each of said ECC groups storing a plurality of data and a parity data related to data sent from said information processing device;

a first plurality of resources having said port, said logical units, said disk drives and said ECC groups;

a second plurality of resources having a plurality of type of resources as in said first plurality of resources; and

a plurality of resource groups managed by a supervisor and each resource group having said second plurality of resources,

wherein a first resource group of said resource groups is changed from a first state of relating between a first resource and a second resource in said first resource group into a second state of relating between said first resource and a third resource in said first resource group for changing configuration in said first resource group according to a configuration change request which relates to a relation between said port and at least one of said ECC groups,

wherein said first resource group is defined according to a first policy such that, in a partition assigned to a first manager, a logical unit is generated by selecting a logical device from a disk unit group to which no other partitions are assigned and in which no disk unit group is present from which I/O is controlled via a same adapter, and

wherein according to the first policy, said first manager is permitted to see resources in said first resource group and change between the first state and the second state such that said port is related to a first ECC group in the first state and said port is related to a second ECC group in the second state.

14. A disk array system, comprising:

a port receiving data from an information processing device;

a plurality of logical units provided for said information processing device and relating to a plurality of storage regions;

a plurality of disk drives having said storage regions;

a plurality of RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) groups relating to said disk drives and each of said RAID groups storing a plurality of data and a parity data related to data sent from said information processing device;

a first plurality of resources having said port, said logical units, said disk drives and said RAID groups;

a second plurality of resources having a plurality of type of resources as in said first plurality of resources; and

a plurality of resource groups managed by a supervisor and each resource group having said second plurality of resources,

wherein a first resource group of said resource groups is managed by a manager, said manager being different from said supervisor,

wherein said first resource group is formed in accordance with a request from said manager and which relates to a relation between said port and at least one of said RAID groups and is assigned to a first part of said second plurality of resources,

wherein a second part of said second plurality of resources of said first resource group are selected based on a policy determined by said supervisor,

wherein said first resource group is defined according to a first policy such that, in a partition assigned to said manager, a logical unit is generated by selecting a logical device from a disk unit group to which no other partitions are assigned and in which no disk unit group is present from which I/O is controlled via a same adapter, and

wherein according to the first policy, said manager is permitted to see resources in said first resource group and change between a first state and a second state such that said port is related to a first RAID group in the first state and said port is related to a second RAID group in the second state.

15. A disk array system, comprising:

a port receiving data from a first information processing device;

a logical unit provided for said first information processing device and relating to a storage region;

a plurality of ECC (Error Check and Correct) groups relating to a plurality of disk drives, said disk drives storing a plurality of data and a parity data related to data sent from said first information processing device and relating to said storage region;

a plurality of logical resources including said port, said logical unit and said ECC groups;

a plurality of physical resources including said disk drives; and

a plurality of resource groups each having one or more of said logical resources and one or more of said physical resources,

wherein a first resource group of said resource groups is managed by a first manager, said first manager being different from a second manager which manages a second resource group of said resource groups,

wherein said first resource group is changed from a first state of relating between a first resource and a second resource in said first resource group into a second state of relating between said first resource and a third resource in said first resource group for changing configuration in said first resource group by said first manager according to a configuration change request which relates to a relation between said port and said ECC groups,

wherein said second resource group is changed from a third state of relating between a fourth resource and a fifth resource in said second resource group into a fourth state of relating between said fourth resource and a sixth resource in said second resource group for changing configuration in said second resource group by said second manager,

wherein said first resource group is defined according to a first policy such that, in a partition assigned to said first manager, a logical unit is generated by selecting a logical device from a disk unit group to which no other partitions are assigned and in which no disk unit group is present from which I/O is controlled via a same adapter, and

wherein according to the first policy, said first manager is permitted to see resources in said first resource group and change between the first state and the second state such that said port is related to a first ECC group in the first state and said port is related to a second ECC group in the second state.

16. A disk array system, comprising:

a port receiving data from an information processing device;

a first controller controlling to transfer data received by said port;

a memory storing data in accordance with controlling by said first controller;

a second controller controlling to transfer data stored in said memory;

a plurality of disk drive groups storing data transferred by said second controller and having a plurality of storage regions in a plurality of disk drives;

a plurality of logical units being addresses to which data is sent from said information processing device and corresponding to said storage regions; and

a plurality of resource groups each having a plurality of resources among said port, said first controller, said memory, said second controller, said disk drive groups, or said logical units,

wherein a first resource group of said resource groups is managed by a first manager, said first manager being different from an upper manager which manages said resource groups,

wherein a second resource group of said resource groups is managed by a second manager, said second manager being different from said upper manager,

wherein said first resource group is changed from a first state of relating between a first resource and a second resource in said first resource group into a second state of relating between said first resource and a third resource in said first resource group if said first manager changes configuration in said first resource group according to a configuration change request which relates to a relation between said port and at least one of said disk drive groups,

wherein said second resource group is changed from a third state of relating between a fourth resource and a fifth resource in said second resource group into a fourth state of relating between said fourth resource and a sixth resource in said second resource group if said second manager changes configuration in said second resource group,

wherein said first resource group is defined according to a first policy such that, in a partition assigned to said first manager, a logical unit is generated by selecting a logical device from a disk unit group to which no other partitions are assigned and in which no disk unit group is present from which I/O is controlled via a same adapter, and

wherein according to the first policy, said first manager is permitted to see resources in said first resource group and change between the first state and the second state such that said port is related to a first disk drive group in the first state and said port is related to a second disk drive group in the second state.

17. A disk array system, comprising:

a port receiving data sent from an information processing device;

a logical unit provided for said information processing device to store data and relating to a storage region;

a plurality of disk drives having said storage region;

a plurality of RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) groups relating to said disk drives, said disk drives storing a plurality of data and a parity data related to data sent from said information processing device; and

a plurality of resource groups each having a plurality of resources among said port, said logical unit, said disk drives and said RAID groups and each resource group being logically partitioned by a logical partition,

wherein a first resource group of said resource groups is managed by a first manager, said first manager being different from an upper manager which manages said resource groups,

wherein a second resource group of said resource groups is managed by a second manager, said second manager being different from said upper manager,

wherein said first resource group is formed in accordance with a request requested by said first manager and is assigned to a first part of said plurality of resources,

wherein a second part of said plurality of resources of said first resource group is selected based on a first policy determined by said upper manager,

wherein said second resource group is formed in accordance with a request requested by said second manager and which relates to a relation between said port and said RAID groups and is assigned to said second part of said plurality of resources

wherein said second resource group is defined according to a first policy such that, in a partition assigned to said second manager, a logical unit is generated by selecting a logical device from a disk unit group to which no other partitions are assigned and in which no disk unit group is present from which I/O is controlled via a same adapter, and

wherein according to the first policy, said second manager is permitted to see resources in said second resource group and change between a first state and a second state such that said port is related to a first RAID group in the first state and said port is related to a second RAID group in the second state.

18. A disk array system, comprising:

a port receiving data from an information processing device;

a first controller controlling to transfer data received by said port;

a memory storing data in accordance with controlling by said first controller;

a second controller controlling to transfer data stored in said memory;

a plurality of disk drive groups storing data transferred by said second controller and having a plurality of storage regions in a plurality of disk drives;

a plurality of logical units being addresses to which data is sent from said information processing device and corresponding to said storage regions; and

a plurality of resource groups each having a plurality of resources among said port, said first controller, said memory, said second controller, said disk drive groups, or said logical units,

wherein a first resource group of said resource groups is managed by a first manager, said first manager being different from a second manager which manages a second resource group of said resource groups,

wherein said first resource group is formed in accordance with a request requested by said first manager and which relates to a relation between said port and at least one of said disk drive groups and is assigned to a first part of said plurality of resources,

wherein a second part of said plurality of resources of said first resource group is selected from said plurality of resources in said disk array system,

wherein said second resource group is formed in accordance with a request made by said second manager and is assigned said second part of said plurality of resources,

wherein said first resource group is defined according to a first policy such that, in a partition assigned to said first manager, a logical unit is generated by selecting a logical device from a disk unit group to which no other partitions are assigned and in which no disk unit group is present from which I/C is controlled via a same adapter, and

wherein according to the first policy, said first manager is permitted to see resources in said first resource group and change between a first state and a second state such that said port is related to a first disk drive group in the first state and said port is related to a second disk drive group in the second state.

19. A disk array system, comprising:

a port receiving data from an information processing device;

a controller controlling to transfer data received by said port;

a memory storing information which is used for control;

a plurality of disk drives storing transferred data and having a plurality of storage regions; and

a plurality of resource groups each being mutually partitioned by a logical partition based on a request of a supervisor which relates to a relation between said port and said plurality of disk drives and each of said resource groups having said port, a part of logical parts corresponding to said controller, a part of logical parts corresponding to said memory, and said disk drives,

wherein each of said resource groups can be related to said information processing device,

wherein if said information processing device is related to a first resource group of said resource groups, said information processing device cannot access resources in a second resource group of said resource groups,

wherein said first resource group is defined according to a first policy such that, in a partition assigned to a first manager, a logical unit is generated by selecting a logical device from a disk unit group to which no other partitions are assigned and in which no disk unit group is present from which I/O is controlled via a same adapter, and

wherein according to the first policy, said first manager is permitted to see resources in a first resource group and change between a first state and a second state such that said port is related to a first disk drive group in the first state and said port is related to a second disk drive group in the second state.

20. A disk array system, comprising:

a port receiving data from information processing devices;

a controller controlling to transfer data received by said port;

a memory storing data received by said port;

a plurality of disk drives storing data transferred and having a plurality of storage regions; and

a plurality of resource groups each being mutually partitioned by a logical partition based on a request of a supervisor which relates to a relation between said port and said plurality of disk drives and each of said resource groups having a plurality of said ports, a part of logical parts corresponding to said controller, a part of logical parts corresponding to said memory, and said disk drives;

wherein each of said resource groups is related to one or more of said information processing devices,

wherein a first information processing device related to a first resource group of said resource groups cannot access resources in a second resource group of said resource groups,

wherein said first resource group is defined according to a first policy such that, in a partition assigned to a first manager, a logical unit is generated by selecting a logical device from a disk unit group to which no other partitions are assigned and in which no disk unit group is present from which I/O is controlled via a same adapter, and

wherein according to the first policy, said first manager is permitted to see resources in said first resource group and change between a first state and a second state such that said port is related to a first disk drive group in the first state and said port is related to a second disk drive group in the second state.