Storage system and snapshot data preparation method in storage system

• US 7,536,592 B2
• Filed: 01/25/2005
• Issued: 05/19/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 12/06/2004
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Inventors: Watanabe, Haruaki
• Primary Examiner(s): Chu; Gabriel L
• Application Number:
  US11/043,717
• Publication Number:
  US 20060136771A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,575 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 714/15
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0727 in a storage system, e.g. in a DASD or network based storage system drivers for digital recording or reproducing units G06F3/06; circuits for error detection or correction within digital recording or reproducing units G11B20/18; for distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS], H04L67/1097
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/076 by exceeding a count or rate limit, e.g. word- or bit count limit
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1471 involving logging of persistent data for recovery
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0608 Saving storage space on storage systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0659 Command handling arrangements, e.g. command buffers, queues, command scheduling
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0689 Disk arrays, e.g. RAID, JBOD

Abstract

The present invention is devised so that snapshot data preparation processing does not end abnormally as a result of the pool region becoming full with saved data from the primary logical volume during snapshot data preparation. When the CHA receives a snapshot data preparation request, the CHA checks whether or not update information is present in the logical volume that is the object of this data preparation. If such information is present (YES in S51), a check is made from the number of slots in the in the volume control information and the updating amount count value in the update information in order to ascertain whether or not the proportion of the updating amount relative to the number of slots is equal to or greater than the threshold value in the threshold value control information (S52). If this proportion is equal to or greater than the threshold value (YES in S52), the update information is initialized (S53), and physical snapshot control is started (S54). If such is not the case (NO in S52), the update information is initialized (S55), and logical snapshot control is started (S56).

Claims

1. A storage system comprising:

a physical snapshot execution part which writes data that has been updated into both a primary storage device and a secondary storage device;

a logical snapshot execution part which writes input data into said primary storage device, and which writes differential data between said data and data prior to updating into said secondary storage device;

an update data search part which performs a search in order to ascertain whether or not data that is to be updated is present in said primary storage device involved in a snapshot data preparation request when such a preparation request is received from a higher-level device;

a data updating amount judgment part which judges whether or not the amount of updated data in said primary storage device is greater than a specified value when said update data search part finds that update data is present in said primary storage device; and

a snapshot execution part selection part which selectively drives said physical snapshot execution part when said data updating amount judgment part judges that said amount of updated data is greater than said specified value, and which selectively drives said logical snapshot execution part when said data updating amount judgment part judges that said amount of updated data is less than said specified value, or when no updated data is present in said storage device.

2. The storage system according to claim 1, wherein said specified value is a preset threshold value relating to the amount of updated data, and said threshold value is a default value.

3. The storage system according to claim 1, wherein said specified value is a preset threshold value relating to the amount of updated data, and said threshold value can be freely set or altered by a user.

4. The storage system according to claim 1, wherein, prior to the driving of said physical snapshot execution part or said logical snapshot execution part, said snapshot execution part selection part initializes information relating to said data updating of said device involved in said snapshot data preparation request among information relating to the updating of data that is set for said first and second storage devices.

5. The storage system according to claim 1, wherein deletion of snapshot data that is prepared by said physical snapshot execution part or said logical snapshot execution part includes at least processing that initializes the information relating to the updating of said data of said primary storage device involved in said snapshot data preparation request.

6. The storage system according to claim 1, wherein the processing of writing data into said primary storage device based on a data write command from said higher-level device is accomplished by performing processing which indicates that data has been updated in information relating to the updating of data corresponding to said primary storage device.

7. A storage system comprising:

a physical snapshot execution part which writes data that has been updated into both a primary storage device and a secondary storage device;

a logical snapshot execution part which writes input data into said primary storage device, and which writes differential data between said data and data prior to updating into said secondary storage device;

an update data search part which performs a search in order to ascertain whether or not data that is to be updated is present in said primary storage device involved in a snapshot data preparation request when such a preparation request is received from a higher-level device;

an access degree-of-competition judgment part which, when said update data search part finds update data in said primary storage device, and said primary storage device and said secondary storage device are simultaneously accessed from said higher-level device, judges whether or not an access degree of competition between access to said primary storage device and access to said secondary storage device is high; and

a snapshot execution part selection part which selectively drives said physical snapshot execution part when said access degree-of-competition judgment part judges that said access degree of competition is high, and which selectively drives said logical snapshot execution part when said access degree-of-competition judgment part judges that said access degree of competition is not high.

8. The storage system according to claim 7, wherein said access degree-of-competition judgment part judges whether said access degree of competition is high or not by checking a degree of utilization of said primary storage device involved in said snapshot data preparation request.

9. A storage system comprising:

a physical snapshot execution part which writes data that has been updated into both a primary storage device and a secondary storage device;

a logical snapshot execution part which writes input data into said primary storage device, and which writes differential data between said data and data prior to updating into said secondary storage device;

an update data search part which performs a search in order to ascertain whether or not data that is to be updated is present in said primary storage device involved in a snapshot data preparation request when such a preparation request is received from a higher-level device;

a trouble degree-of-occurrence judgment part which judges whether or not a degree of occurrence of trouble in said primary storage device is high when said update data search part finds update data in said primary storage device; and

a snapshot execution part selection part which selectively drives said physical snapshot execution part when said trouble degree-of-occurrence judgment part judges that said degree of occurrence of trouble in said primary storage device is high, and which selectively drives said logical snapshot execution part when said trouble degree-of-occurrence judgment part judges that said degree of occurrence of said trouble is not high.

10. The storage system according to claim 9, wherein said trouble degree-of-occurrence judgment part judges whether said degree of occurrence of said trouble is high or not by checking a trouble occurrence rate of an HDD (hard disk drive) constituting said primary storage device.

11. The storage system according to claim 9, wherein said trouble occurrence rate of said HDD is determined in accordance with the magnitude of a load in one or a plurality of HDD(s) actually holding data that is assigned to said primary storage device involved in said snapshot data preparation request.

12. The storage system according to claim 11, wherein said snapshot execution part selection part drives said physical snapshot execution part if the magnitude of said load in said one or plurality of HDD(s) is greater than a specified threshold value, and said snapshot execution part selection part drives said logical snapshot execution part if the magnitude of said load is smaller than said specified threshold value.

13. The storage system according to claim 11, wherein the magnitude of said load in said one or plurality of HDD(s) is determined by synthesizing a history of IOPS (I/O operations) of said primary storage volume that occur during snapshot data preparation, and a history of IOPS of said secondary storage volume that occur during said snapshot data preparation.

14. A storage system comprising:

a physical snapshot execution part which writes data that has been updated into both a primary storage device and a secondary storage device;

a logical snapshot execution part which writes input data into said primary storage device, and which writes differential data between said data and data prior to updating into said secondary storage device;

an empty region monitoring part which monitors an empty region of a data storage region that is provided in order to save data stored in said primary storage device involved in a snapshot data preparation request when there is such a data preparation request from a higher-level device; and

a snapshot execution part selection part which selectively drives said physical snapshot execution part when said empty region monitoring part judges that said empty region in said data storage region is small, and which selectively drives said logical snapshot execution part when said empty region monitoring part judges that said empty region is not small.

15. The storage system according to claim 14, wherein monitoring of said empty region of said data storage region by said empty region monitoring part, selection of the driving of said physical or logical snapshot execution part by said snapshot execution part selection part, and checking reliability of said primary storage device in which original data corresponding to snapshot data prepared by said logical snapshot execution part is stored are performed periodically at specified time intervals.

16. A method for preparing snapshot data in a storage system, comprising:

a first step of executing a physical snapshot that writes data that has been updated into both a primary storage device and a secondary storage device;

a second step of executing a logical snapshot that writes input data into said primary storage device, and that writes differential data between this data and data prior to updating into said secondary storage device;

a third step of conducting a search in order to ascertain whether or not data that is to be updated is present in said primary storage device involved in a snapshot data preparation request when such a preparation request is received from a higher-level device;

a fourth step of judging whether or not an amount of data updated in said primary storage device is greater than a specified value, when update data is found in said primary storage device in said third step; and

a fifth step in which, when it is judged that said amount of updated data is greater than said specified value, then execution of said physical snapshot is selected, while when it is judged that said amount of updated data is smaller than said specified value or when update data is not found in said storage device, then execution of said logical snapshot is selected.