Pushing attribute information to storage devices for network topology access

• US 7,398,273 B2
• Filed: 04/20/2004
• Issued: 07/08/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 05/10/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: EMC Corporation (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Original Assignee: EMC Corporation (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Inventors: Bauer, Andreas L., Todd, Stephen James, Sykes, Timothy D., Nicoletti, Jennifer Lyn Milliken, O'Brien, Walter A. III, Ericson, George M., Hopkins, Charles H., Dobberpuhl, Walter T.
• Primary Examiner(s): Lu; Kuen S.
• Application Number:
  US10/827,716
• Publication Number:
  US 20040199513A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,540 Days
• Field of Search: 707/10, 707/104.1, 709/250, 709/213, 709/227
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0635 by changing the path, e.g. traffic rerouting, path reconfiguration
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/067 Distributed or networked storage systems, e.g. storage area networks [SAN], network attached storage [NAS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/12 Discovery or management of network topologies

Abstract

A method apparatus and computer program product for providing access to host attribute information in a storage area network is disclosed. The storage area network is composed of a plurality of hosts coupled to at least one initiator. Each initiator is coupled to one or more targets and each initiator has an associated identifier. In each host, the identifier of the initiator is related to other host attribute information. The identifier may be, for example, a world wide name. The host attribute information including the identifier is sent from each of the plurality of hosts to the one or more targets and stored in memory of an associated storage array. Either a host or requestor remote from the storage array may request the collected host attribute information from the storage array. A topology of the storage area network may then be formed from the host attribute information of each host.

Claims

1. A method for providing access to topology information in a storage area network, for creating a topology of the storage area network for a retrieving device coupled to a storage array,

wherein the storage area network is composed of a plurality of networking devices including hosts, each host coupled to at least one initiator, each initiator coupled to one or more targets that provide access to the storage array, each initiator having an associated identifier, the method comprising:

a. automatically ascertaining, from each host, host attribute information by polling each initiator coupled to a corresponding host;

b. relating identifiers, associated with the coupled initiators, to the host attribute information to form topology information, the topology information comprising data representing interconnections among the networking devices from the plurality of networking devices; and

c. storing the topology information in a data structure within the storage array,

wherein the identifier is a worldwide name, and

wherein the host attribute information includes a reference to operating system type of the host and a reference to initiator type.

2. A method according to claim 1, wherein polling includes checking any SCSI devices attached to the host.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the SCSI devices include host bus adapters.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the data structure is a database.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

requesting topology information from the storage array; and

creating a topology of the storage area network.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the host attribute information includes a name for the host.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the host attribute information includes an Internet protocol address for the host.

8. A method according to claim 1, wherein each host is a server in the storage area network.

9. A method according to claim 4, wherein the target is coupled to the storage array wherein the storage array is composed of disks grouped into LUNs and the database has an association between host attribute information and the LUNs.

10. A method for providing access to topology information in a storage area network according to claim 5, wherein a server creates the topology.

11. A method for providing access to topology information in a storage area network according to claim 10, wherein the topology is created in response to a request from outside of the storage area network.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

requesting the topology information from the storage array; and

creating a topology of the storage area network from the topology information.

13. The method according to claim 1 further comprising:

determining each unique path between each initiator and one or more targets, each target coupled to the storage array wherein the unique path includes the identifier of the host bus adaptor;

for each host, associating each unique path with the host attribute information for the host; and

each host providing the unique path along with the association to the host attribute information for that host to the storage array.

14. A method according to claim 1 wherein relating the identifier to at least a portion of the queried host attribute information requires relating the identifier to an operating system name associated with the initiator.

15. A method according to claim 1, further comprising:

accessing the topology information, in response to a request by the retrieving host, in the data structure within the storage array; and

providing topology information to the retrieving host.

16. A method according to claim 15, further comprising

creating topology, including interconnections among the networking devices from

the plurality of networking devices, by the retrieving device.

17. A method according to claim 15, wherein the retrieving device is a client device located outside the storage area network.

18. A computer program product according to claim 17, further comprising:

computer code for accessing the topology information, in response to a request by the retrieving device, in the data structure within the storage array and providing topology information to the retrieving device.

19. A method according to claim 18, wherein the retrieving device is a client device located outside the storage area network.

20. A computer program product stored on a tangible computer readable medium operative on the computer for providing access to topology information in a storage area network, for creating a topology of the storage area network, for a retrieving device that is coupled to a storage array,

wherein the storage area network is composed of a plurality of networking devices including hosts, each host coupled to at least one initiator, each initiator coupled to one or more targets that provide access to a storage array, each initiator having an associated identifier, the computer program product comprising:

a. computer code for automatically ascertaining, from each host, host attribute information by polling each initiator coupled to a corresponding host;

b. computer code for relating identifiers, associated with coupled initiators, to the networking host attribute information to form topology information, the topology information comprising data representing interconnections among the networking devices from the plurality of networking devices; and

c. computer code for storing the topology information in a data structure within the storage array,

wherein the identifier is a worldwide name, and

wherein the host attribute information includes a reference to operating system type of the host and a reference to initiator type.

21. A computer program product according to claim 20, wherein polling includes checking all SCSI devices attached to the host.

22. A computer program product according to claim 21, wherein the SCSI devices include host bus adapters.

23. The computer program product according to claim 20, wherein the initiator is a host bus adapter.

24. The computer program product according to claim 20, further comprising:

computer code for requesting the topology information from a storage array associated with the target; and

computer code for creating a topology of the storage area network.

25. The computer program product according to claim 20, wherein the host attribute information includes a name for the host.

26. The computer program product according to claim 20, wherein the host attribute information includes an Internet protocol address of the host.

27. The computer program product according to claim 20, wherein the storage array is composed of disks grouped into LUNs, wherein the host attribute information are associated with a LUN.

28. The computer program product according to claim 20, wherein each host is a server in the storage area network.

29. A computer program product for providing access to topology information in a storage area network according to claim 20, further comprising:

computer code for requesting the topology information from the storage array; and

computer code for creating a topology of the storage area network based on the topology information.

30. A computer program product for providing access to topology information in a storage area network according to claim 29, wherein the topology is created in response to a request from outside of the storage area network.

31. A computer program product according to claim 20 further comprising:

computer code for determining each unique path between each initiator and one or more targets, each target controlling access to the storage array wherein the unique path includes the identifier of the host bus adaptor;

computer code for each host, for associating each unique path with the host attribute information for the host; and

computer code for each host providing the unique path along with the association to the host attribute information for that host to the storage array.

32. A computer program product according to claim 20 wherein the computer code for relating the identifier to at least a portion of the queried host attribute information requires relating the identifier to an operating system name associated with the initiator.