Data processing system, data processing method and storage apparatus

• US 7,610,506 B2
• Filed: 09/06/2006
• Issued: 10/27/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 06/29/2006
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Inventors: Arai, Masahiro
• Primary Examiner(s): LE, DIEU MINH T
• Application Number:
  US11/515,759
• Publication Number:
  US 20080005612A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,147 Days
• Field of Search: 714/6, 714/7, 714/8, 714 10- 13, 714/42, 714/54, 714/710, 714/718, 711/114, 711/100
• US Class Current: 714/6.12
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1084 Degraded mode, e.g. caused by single or multiple storage removals or disk failures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1662 the resynchronized component or unit being a persistent storage device re-synchronization of failed mirror storage G06F11/2082; rebuild or reconstruction of parity RAID storage G06F11/1008
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2094 Redundant storage or storage space G06F11/2056 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2211/1028 Distributed, i.e. distributed RAID systems with parity

Abstract

A compact data processing system suitable for long-term use that enables the maintenance of failure resistance without having to mount many spare disks or replace disks; a data processing method; and a storage apparatus for this data processing system are provided. In the data processing system, which has a host system and a storage apparatus that provides first memory areas for storing data read/written by the host system, the storage apparatus has a reservation unit that dynamically reserves one of the first memory areas as a spare second memory area when a failure occurs in any one of the first memory areas and there is no spare second memory area to migrate the data stored in that faulty memory area to.

Claims

1. A data processing system comprising:

a host system; and

a storage apparatus that provides one or more first memory areas storing data read/written by the host system,

wherein the storage apparatus includes a reservation unit that executes, when any one of the memory areas is determined to be faulty, a first search that searches for a spare memory area that serves as a replacement for the faulty memory area, and, if a snare memory area is found in the first search, rebuilds a content of the faulty memory area in the snare memory area and then executes a second search that searches for a second spare memory area, and, if no second spare memory area is found in the second search, dynamically reserves one of the memory areas as the second spare memory area.

2. A data processing system according to claim 1, wherein the reservation unit executes an operation that, when a spare area cannot be dynamically reserved after the second search, a notification that the faulty disk has been replaced with a new disk is prepared.

3. The data processing system according to claim 2, wherein the first memory areas constitute a logical volume and the reservation unit migrates the data previously stored in one of the first memory areas to another memory area from among the first memory areas, thereby reserves a second memory area in the logical volume.

4. The data processing system according to claim 2, wherein the first memory areas also constitute a logical volume storing parity data and the reservation unit deletes the parity data, thereby reserving a second memory area in that logical volume.

5. The data processing system according to claim 2, wherein the first memory areas constitute a plurality of logical volumes and the reservation unit reserves an unused logical volume with no data from among the logical volumes as a second memory area.

6. A data processing system according to claim 5, wherein the reserved spare area serving as the second spare memory area is reserved while avoiding a RAID group which a faulty disk belongs to.

7. The data processing system according to claim 2, wherein the first memory areas constitute a dynamically-expandable virtual volume, one of the first memory areas accessed by the host system constitutes a dynamically-expandable pool volume, and the reservation unit reduces the size of the pool volume to reserve a second memory area.

8. A data processing method performed in a data processing system comprising a host system and a storage apparatus that provides one or more first memory areas for storing data read/written by the host system, the method comprising:

a step where the storage apparatus executes, when any one of the memory areas is determined to be faulty, a first search that searches for a spare memory area that serves as a replacement for the faulty memory area, and, if a spare memory area is found in the first search, rebuilds a content of the faulty memory area in the spare memory area and then executes a second search that searches for a second spare memory area, and, if no second spare memory area is found in the second search, dynamically reserves one of the memory areas as the second spare memory area.

9. The data processing system according to claim 8, wherein when a spare area cannot be dynamically reserved after the second search, a notification that the faulty disk has been replaced with a new disk is prepared.

10. The data processing method according to claim 9, wherein the first memory areas constitute a logical volume and, in the reservation step, the data previously stored in one of the plurality of first memory areas is migrated to another memory area from among the plurality of first memory areas, thereby reserving a second memory area in the logical volume.

11. The data processing method according to claim 9, wherein the first memory areas also constitute a logical volume storing parity data and, in the reservation step, the parity data is deleted to reserve a second memory area in that logical volume.

12. The data processing method according to claim 9, wherein the first memory areas constitute a plurality of logical volumes and, in the reservation step, an unused logical volume with no data from among the logical volumes is reserved as a second memory area.

13. The data processing system according to claim 12, wherein the reserved spare area serving as the second spare memory area is reserved while avoiding a RAID group which a faulty disk belongs to.

14. The data processing method according to claim 9, wherein the first memory areas constitute a dynamically-expandable virtual volume, one of the first memory areas accessed by the host system constitutes a dynamically-expandable pool volume, and, in the reservation step, the size of the pool volume is reduced and a second memory area is reserved.

15. A storage apparatus for providing one or more first memory areas for storing data read/written by a host system, comprising:

a reservation unit that executes, when any one of the memory areas is determined to be faulty, a first search that searches for a spare memory area that serves as a replacement for the faulty memory area, and, if a spare memory area is found in the first search, rebuilds a content of the faulty memory area in the spare memory area and then executes a second search that searches for a second spare memory area, and, if no second spare memory area is found in the second search, dynamically reserves one of the memory areas as the second spare memory area.

16. The storage area according to claim 15, wherein the reservation unit executes an operation that, when a spare area cannot be dynamically reserved after the second search, a notification that the faulty disk has been replaced with a new disk is prepared.

17. The storage apparatus according to claim 16,

wherein the first memory areas constitute a logical volume;

and

the reservation unit migrates the data previously stored in one of the first memory areas to another memory area from among the first memory areas, thereby reserving a second memory area in the logical volume.

18. The storage apparatus according to claim 16,

wherein the first memory areas also constitute a logical volume storing parity data;

and

the reservation unit deletes the parity data to reserve a second memory area in that logical volume.

19. The storage apparatus according to claim 16,

wherein the first memory areas constitute a plurality of logical volumes;

and

the reservation unit reserves an unused logical volume with no data from among the logical volumes as a second memory area.

20. The storage apparatus according to claim 16,

wherein the first memory areas constitute a dynamically-expandable virtual volume;

one of the first memory areas accessed by the host system constitutes a dynamically-expandable pool volume; and

the reservation unit reduces the size of the pool volume and a second memory area is reserved.

21. The storage apparatus according to claim 15, wherein the reserved spare area serving as the second spare memory area is reserved while avoiding a RAID group which a faulty disk belongs to.