System and method for transferring volume ownership in networked storage

• US 7,788,361 B2
• Filed: 10/04/2007
• Issued: 08/31/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/21/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NetApp, Inc.
• Original Assignee: NetApp, Inc.
• Inventors: sen Sarma, Joydeep, Coatney, Susan M., Rowe, Alan L., Cramer, Samuel M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Dalencourt; Yves
• Application Number:
  US11/867,130
• Publication Number:
  US 20080021992A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,062 Days
• Field of Search: 709/223, 709/226, 711/154, 711/156
• US Class Current: 709/223
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/061 Improving I/O performance
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0631 by allocating resources to storage systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0634 by changing the state or mode of one or more devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0665 at area level, e.g. provisioning of virtual or logical volumes
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/067 Distributed or networked storage systems, e.g. storage area networks [SAN], network attached storage [NAS]

Abstract

In a method for operating a data storage system, a request is issued that an ownership attribute of a logical arrangement of storage space associated with a first storage system be associated with a second storage system. In response to the request, the ownership attribute is changed to a state of unowned. In response to the request, and in response to the state of unowned, the ownership attribute of the logical arrangement of storage space is changed to a new set of attributes associated with the second storage system to change ownership of the logical arrangement of storage space from the first storage system to the second storage system.

Claims

1. A method for operating a data storage system, comprising:

indicating by a first indicia of ownership and by a second indicia of ownership that a selected storage system of a plurality of storage systems has ownership of a logical arrangement of storage space, and the two indicia of ownership are required to agree for the selected storage system to have ownership of the logical arrangement of storage space;

issuing a request that ownership of the logical arrangement of storage space owned by a first storage system of the plurality of storage systems be transferred to a second storage system of the plurality of storage systems;

changing, in response to the request, a first ownership attribute to a state of unowned;

changing, in response to the request, a second ownership attribute to a state of unowned;

changing, in response to the first ownership attribute and the second ownership attribute both being in the state of unowned, the first ownership attribute and the second ownership attribute to indicate that the second storage system is the owner of the logical arrangement of storage space; and

maintaining a log of changes of the first ownership attribute and the second ownership attribute, the log written into persistent storage, the log permitting the request for ownership to continue in the event that either the first storage system or the second storage system becomes inoperative before the change in ownership is completed.

2. The method as in claim 1, further comprising:

including two independent ownership attributes in the ownership attributes.

3. The method as in claim 1, further comprising:

including a small computer interface (SCSI) reservation as an ownership attribute.

4. The method as in claim 1, further comprising:

including an ownership sector on a disk as an ownership attribute.

5. The method as in claim 1, further comprising:

including a storage disk in the logical arrangement of storage space.

6. The method as in claim 1, further comprising:

including a volume of a plurality of storage disks in the logical arrangement of storage space.

7. The method as in claim 1, further comprising:

writing the ownership attributes to persistent storage.

8. The method as in claim 1, further comprising:

writing the ownership attribute to a disk.

9. A method for operating a data storage system, the method comprising:

indicating by a plurality of ownership attributes that a selected storage system of a plurality of storage systems has ownership of a logical arrangement of storage space, and the plurality of ownership are required to agree for the selected storage system to have ownership of the logical arrangement storage space;

issuing a request that ownership of a logical arrangement of storage space owned by a first storage system be transferred to a second storage system;

changing, in response to the request, a plurality of ownership attributes of the logical arrangement of storage space previously indicating ownership by the first storage system to a new set of attributes indicating that the logical arrangement of storage space is unowned;

after the new set of attributes indicates that the logical arrangement of storage space is unowned, changing the new set of attributes to indicate that the second storage system owns the logical arrangement of storage space; and

maintaining a log of changes of the plurality of ownership attributes, the log written into persistent storage, the log permitting the request for ownership to continue in the event that either the first storage system or the second storage system becomes inoperative before the change in ownership is completed.

10. A data storage system, comprising:

a plurality of ownership attributes that a selected storage system of a plurality of storage systems has ownership of a logical arrangement of storage space, and the plurality of ownership attributes are required to agree for the selected storage system to have ownership of the logical arrangement storage space;

a request that ownership of a logical arrangement of storage space owned by a first storage system be transferred to a second storage system;

a process to change, in response to the request, a plurality of ownership attributes to a state of unowned;

after the of plurality of ownership attributes indicates that the logical arrangement of storage space is unowned, the process to change the plurality of ownership attributes of the logical arrangement of storage space to a new state indicating that the second storage system is the owner of the logical arrangement of storage space; and

a log of changes of the plurality of ownership attributes, the log written into persistent storage, the log permitting the request for ownership to continue in the event that either the first storage system of the second storage system become inoperative before the change in ownership is completed.

11. The data storage system as in claim 10, further comprising:

two independent indicia of ownership included in the ownership attributes.

12. The data storage system as in claim 10, further comprising:

a small computer interface (SCSI) reservation included in the ownership attributes.

13. The data storage system as in claim 10, further comprising:

an ownership sector on a disk included in the ownership attributes.

14. The data storage system as in claim 10, further comprising:

a storage disk included in the logical arrangement of storage space.

15. The data storage system as in claim 10, further comprising:

a volume of a plurality of storage disks included in the logical arrangement of storage space.

16. The data storage system as in claim 10, further comprising:

the ownership attributes written to persistent storage.

17. The data storage system as in claim 10, further comprising:

the ownership attributes written to a disk.

18. A data storage system, comprising:

a plurality of ownership attributes to indicate that a selected storage system of a plurality of storage systems has ownership of a logical arrangement of storage space, and the plurality of ownership attributes are required to agree for the selected storage system to have ownership of the logical arrangement storage space;

a request that ownership of a logical arrangement of storage space owned by a first storage system be transferred to a second storage system;

a process to change, in response to the request, a plurality of ownership attributes of the logical arrangement of storage space to a state of unowned;

after the plurality of ownership attributes indicates that the logical arrangement of storage space is unowned, a computer to transfer the plurality of ownership attributes of the logical arrangement of storage space previously indicating ownership by the first storage system to indicate that the logical arrangement of storage space is unowned;

after the plurality of ownership attributes indicates that the logical arrangement of storage space is unowned, the process to change the plurality of ownership attributes of the logical arrangement of storage space indicates that the second storage system owns the logical arrangement of storage space; and

a log of changes of the plurality of ownership attributes, the log written into persistent storage, the log permitting the request for ownership to continue in the event that either the first storage system or the second storage system becomes inoperative before the change in ownership is completed.

19. A non-transitory computer readable media having instructions stored thereon for execution on a processor for a method of operating a data storage system, the method having,

indicating by a first indicia of ownership and by a second indicia of ownership that a selected storage system of a plurality of storage systems has ownership of a logical arrangement of storage space, and the two indicia of ownership are required to agree for the selected storage system to have ownership of the logical arrangement of storage space;

issuing a request that ownership of a logical arrangement of storage space owned by a first storage system be transferred to a second storage system;

changing, in response to the request, a first ownership attribute to a state of unowned;

changing, in response to the request, a second ownership attribute to a state of unowned;

changing, in response to the first ownership attribute and the second ownership attribute both being in the state of unowned, the first ownership attribute and the second ownership attribute to indicate that the second storage system is the owner of the logical arrangement of storage space; and

maintaining a log of changes of the first ownership attribute and the second ownership attribute, the log written into persistent storage, the log permitting the request for ownership to continue in the event that either the first storage system or the second storage system becomes inoperative before the change in ownership is completed.