Storage system

• US 7,366,839 B2
• Filed: 04/20/2007
• Issued: 04/29/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 02/17/2003
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Inventors: Yamamoto, Masayuki, Yagisawa, Ikuya, Matsunami, Naoto, Mannen, Akihiro
• Primary Examiner(s): Ellis; Kevin L.
• Application Number:
  US11/785,780
• Publication Number:
  US 20070245084A1
• Time in Patent Office: 375 Days
• Field of Search: 711/114, 711/112
• US Class Current: 711/114
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1456 Hardware arrangements for backup
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2069 Management of state, configuration or failover
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2071 using a plurality of controllers
• 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 3/0616 in relation to life time, e.g. increasing Mean Time Between Failures [MTBF]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0617 in relation to availability
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0629 Configuration or reconfiguration of storage systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0634 by changing the state or mode of one or more devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0647 Migration mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/065 Replication mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0653 Monitoring storage devices or systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0658 Controller construction arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0661 Format or protocol conversion arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0689 Disk arrays, e.g. RAID, JBOD

Abstract

A disk array includes a drive management unit, which is a program for identifying kinds of disk devices and managing different disk devices separately, and a drive management table for storing information to be utilized by the drive management unit. The disk array further includes a program for managing ac-cumulated time of disk devices. The program includes a drive lifetime setting portion for setting lifetimes of drives, a drive start/stop portion for intentionally starting/stopping ATA disk devices, and an operation time measurement portion for measuring accumulated operation time. Since it is necessary to be conscious of difference in reliability and performance among disk devices when forming a RAID, a drive kind notification unit, which is a program for notifying of the kind of a disk device when forming the RAID, is provided.

Claims

1. A program product, stored in a memory and executed by a controller of a storage system, wherein the storage system includes the controller, first interface type disk devices having first type interfaces, and second interface type disk devices having second type interfaces, the first type interfaces being different type interfaces from the second type interfaces, comprising:

code for managing interface types of the first interface type disk devices and the second interface type disk devices;

code for configuring a first interface type RAID group by using the first interface type disk devices based on the interface types of the first interface type disk device; and

code for configuring a second interface type RAID group by using the second interface type disk devices based on the interface types of the second interface type disk devices.

2. A program product according to claim 1, further comprising:

code for managing a first interface type logical storage area configured by using the first interface type RAID group; and

code for managing a second interface type logical storage area configured by using the second interface type RAID group.

3. A program product, according to claim 1, further comprising:

code for obtaining information relating to the interface types of the first interface type disk devices and the second interface type disk devices, and

wherein the interface types of the first interface type disk devices and the second interface type disk devices are managed based on the information obtained.

4. A program product, according to claim 3, wherein the code for obtaining information relating to the interface types of the first interface type disk devices and the second interface type disk devices includes:

code for issuing a command to the first interface type disk devices and the second interface type disk devices; and

code for receiving a response to the command to obtain the information relating to the interface types of the first interface type disk devices and the second interface type disk devices.

5. A program product according to claim 1, wherein the first type interfaces are FC type interfaces and the second type interfaces are ATA type interfaces.

6. A program product according to claim 1, further comprising:

code for outputting information indicating the interface types of the first interface type disk devices and the second interface type disk devices.

7. A program product according to claim 2, further comprising:

code for executing a data copy operation from the first interface type logical storage area to the second interface type logical storage area.

8. A program product according to claim 7, further comprising:

code for selecting the second interface type logical storage area as a destination storage area of the data copy operation based on an interface type of the second interface type logical storage area.

9. A program product, stored in a memory and executed by a controller of a storage system, wherein the storage system includes the controller, first type disk devices each having a first type interface, and second type disk devices each having a second type interface, the first type interface being different from the second type interface, the program product comprising:

code for configuring a first interface type disk group including the first type disk devices based on a type of interfaces of the first type disk devices, in the first interface type disk group a first interface type logical storage area being to be configured; and

code for configuring a second interface type disk group including the second type disk devices based on a type of interfaces of the second type disk devices, in the second interface type disk group a second interface type logical storage area being to be configured.

10. A program product according to claim 9, further comprising:

code for obtaining information relating to the type of the interfaces of the first type disk devices and the type of the interfaces of the second type disk devices, and

wherein the first interface type disk group and the second interface type disk group are configured based on the obtained information.

11. A program product according to claim 9, wherein the first type interface is an FC type interface and the second type interface is an ATA type interface.

12. A program product according to claim 9, further comprising:

code for executing a copy operation from the first interface type logical storage area to the second interface type logical storage area.

13. A storage system comprising:

first interface type disk devices each including a first type interface;

second interface type disk devices each including a second type interface; and

a controller coupled to the first interface type disk devices and the second interface type disk devices,

wherein the first type interface is a different type interface from the second type interface,

wherein the controller configures a first interface type RAID group by using the first interface type disk devices and a second interface type RAID group by using the second interface type disk devices based on interface types of the first interface type disk devices and the second interface type disk devices, and

wherein a first interface type logical storage area is configured in the first interface type RAID group and a second interface type logical storage area is configured in the second interface type RAID group.

14. A storage system according to claim 13, wherein the controller obtains information relating to interface types of the first interface type disk devices and the second interface type disk devices, and configures the first interface type RAID group and the second interface type RAID group based on the information obtained.

15. A storage system according to claim 13, wherein the first type interface is an FC type interface and the second type interface is an ATA type interface.

16. A storage system according to claim 13, wherein both of the first interface type RAID group and the second interface type RAID group are in a RAID 5 configuration.

17. A storage system according to claim 13, wherein the controller executes a data copy operation from the first interface type logical storage area to the second interface type logical storage area.

18. A storage system according to claim 17, wherein the second interface type logical storage area is selected as a destination logical storage area for the data copy operation based on interface types of the first interface type logical storage area and the second interface type logical storage area.

19. A storage system according to claim 13, wherein the controller manages interface types of the first interface type logical storage area and the second interface type logical storage area.