Automated on-line capacity expansion method for storage device
First Claim
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1. A system for storing data accessed from a host, comprising:
- a plurality of disk devices, the plurality of disk devices storing data;
an Input/Output (I/O) detector, the I/O detector accepting an I/O request to a logical volume from a host, the capacity of said logical volume managed by an operating system (OS) in a host being larger than a capacity of a physical storage area actually allocated to said logical volume;
an I/O processor, said I/O processor performing an I/O process according to said I/O request;
a capacity controller, the capacity controller allocating a physical storage area to a logical volume, said capacity controller allocating an additional physical storage area to said logical volume according to said I/O request when said I/O detector receives an I/O request to a logical volume whose capacity is larger than a capacity of physical storage area actually allocated to said logical volume;
a segment manager, the segment manager managing a storage domain of the logical volume;
and a physical and logical address manager, the physical and logical address manager receiving a request from the capacity controller and reserving a free segment in response to the request,wherein if the physical and logical address manager receives a request to connect segment from the capacity controller, the physical and logical address manager connects the reserved segment to the logical volume in response to the connect segment request.
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Abstract
A volume provider unit in a computer system that detects a logical block address of a read or write I/O accessing a logical volume of a storage device from a host. According to the logical block address fetched, a storage domain of the logical volume is dynamically expanded. Moreover, the storage domain of the logical volume is reduced or expanded according to an instruction of logical volume capacity reduction or expansion from a host commander part to a volume server.
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Citations
24 Claims
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1. A system for storing data accessed from a host, comprising:
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a plurality of disk devices, the plurality of disk devices storing data; an Input/Output (I/O) detector, the I/O detector accepting an I/O request to a logical volume from a host, the capacity of said logical volume managed by an operating system (OS) in a host being larger than a capacity of a physical storage area actually allocated to said logical volume; an I/O processor, said I/O processor performing an I/O process according to said I/O request;
a capacity controller, the capacity controller allocating a physical storage area to a logical volume, said capacity controller allocating an additional physical storage area to said logical volume according to said I/O request when said I/O detector receives an I/O request to a logical volume whose capacity is larger than a capacity of physical storage area actually allocated to said logical volume;a segment manager, the segment manager managing a storage domain of the logical volume; and a physical and logical address manager, the physical and logical address manager receiving a request from the capacity controller and reserving a free segment in response to the request, wherein if the physical and logical address manager receives a request to connect segment from the capacity controller, the physical and logical address manager connects the reserved segment to the logical volume in response to the connect segment request. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. A method for storing data comprising:
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storing data by a plurality of disk devices; and executing a capacity reduction process of a logical volume by a capacity controller, wherein said capacity controller receives a capacity reduction request including a reduction size of storage area from a host computer, selects a physical storage area to be deleted from a logical volume according to said reduction size, deletes the selected physical storage area from the logical volume creating a capacity reduced logical volume, and calculates an end logical block address of the capacity reduced logical volume according to said reduction size.
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7. A method for storing data comprising:
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storing data by a plurality of disk devices; accepting an Input/Output (I/O) request to a logical volume from a host by an I/O detector, the capacity of said logical volume managed by an operating system (OS) in a host being larger than a capacity of a physical storage area actually allocated to said logical volume; performing an I/O process according to said I/O request by an I/O processor; allocating a physical storage area to a logical volume by a capacity controller, said capacity controller allocating an additional physical storage area to said logical volume according to said I/O request when said I/O detector receives an I/O request to a logical volume whose capacity is larger than a capacity of physical storage area actually allocated to said logical volume; managing a storage domain of the logical volume by a segment manager; and receiving a request from the capacity controller and reserving a free segment in response to the request, by a physical and logical address manager, wherein if the physical and logical address manager receives a request to connect segment from the capacity controller, the physical and logical address manager connects the reserved segment to the logical volume in response to the connect segment request. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A storage system comprising:
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a logical volume accessed from a computer; a plurality of disks including a plurality of physical storage areas; and a controller coupled to said plurality of disks and said computer; wherein, in response to a write request, if a physical storage area to write data of said write request is allocated to said logical volume, said controller writes said data of said write request into said allocated physical storage areas, wherein, in response to a write request, if a physical storage area to write data of said write request is not allocated to said logical volume, said controller allocates a part of said physical storage areas to said logical volume, and writes said data into said part of said physical storage areas, and wherein said controller monitors a capacity of physical storage areas which are not allocated to said logical volume. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A method for storing data in a storage system, said storage system comprising a logical volume accessed from a computer, a plurality of disks including a plurality of physical storage areas, and a controller coupled to said plurality of disks and said computer, said method comprising:
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in response to a write request, if a physical storage area to write data of said write request is allocated to said logical volume, writing by said controller said data of said write request into said allocated physical storage areas; in response to a write request, if a physical storage area to write data of said write request in snot allocated to said volume, allocating by said controller a part of said physical storage areas to said logical volume, and writing said data into said part of said physical storage areas; and monitoring by said controller a capacity of physical storage areas which are not allocated to said logical volume. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
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Specification