Storage apparatus and control method therefor

• US 7,961,419 B2
• Filed: 12/16/2008
• Issued: 06/14/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 06/14/2002
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Inventors: Suzuki, Katsuyoshi, Kano, Azuma
• Primary Examiner(s): Sniezek; Andrew L
• Application Number:
  US12/335,771
• Publication Number:
  US 20090164720A1
• Time in Patent Office: 910 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 360/69
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/184 Mounting of motherboards
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/187 Mounting of fixed and removable disk drives
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/20 Cooling means
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/203 for portable computers, e.g. for laptops
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/206 comprising thermal management
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3221 of disk drive devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0625 Power saving in storage systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0634 by changing the state or mode of one or more devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0658 Controller construction arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0689 Disk arrays, e.g. RAID, JBOD
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 33/126 Arrangements for providing electrical connections, e.g. connectors, cables, switches
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 33/142 by air cooling
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 33/144 by detection, control, regulation of the temperature
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 10/00 Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management

Abstract

A storage apparatus comprises at least one housing A in which a storage device and a controller are provided, at least one housing B in which a storage device and a peripheral device are provided, and a transmission path for connecting the storage device and the controller of the housing A, and the storage device of the housing B to enable communication therebetween. The storage apparatus is capable of controlling operation of the storage device of the housing B according to an operating state of the storage device of the housing A through communication via the transmission path; and controlling operation of the peripheral device according to an operating state of the storage device of the housing B.

Claims

1. A disk array apparatus, comprising:

a controller communicating with a host computer and storing data received from the host computer to a plurality of storage devices;

the plurality of storage devices having a power supply off state and a plurality of operation states other than the power supply off state; and

a fan cooling the plurality of storage devices,

wherein the controller is adapted to cause a rotation speed of the fan to increase prior to causing an operation state of each of the plurality of storage devices to change from a first operation state to second operation state, in which an average power consumption of each of the plurality of storage devices is higher than the average power consumption of the one of the plurality of storage devices in said first operation state.

2. The disk array apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said first operation state is a Not Ready state, and second operation state is a Ready state.

3. The disk array apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of storage devices are a plurality of disk drives.

4. The disk array apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

a plurality of another storage devices having the power supply off state and the plurality of operation states other than the power supply off state, the plurality of the another storage devices storing data received from the controller and not including a certain function, the certain function is included in each of the plurality of storage devices; and

another fan cooling the plurality of another storage devices,

wherein the controller is adapted to, after causing the operation state of each of the plurality of storage devices, cause the rotation speed of the another fan to increase in advance to causing an operation state of each of the plurality of another storage devices to change from said first operation state to said second operation state, in which the average power consumption of each of the plurality of another storage devices is higher than the average power consumption of the one of the plurality of another storage devices in said first operation state.

5. The disk array apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the certain function includes at least one of SCSI Enclosure Service (SES) and Enclosure Service I/F (ESI) according to SCSI specifications.

6. A control method in a disk array apparatus, comprising the disk array apparatus performing steps of:

communicating with a host computer and storing data received from the host computer to a plurality of storage devices, wherein the plurality of storage devices have a power supply off state and a plurality of operation states other than the power supply off state;

operating a fan to cool the plurality of storage devices,

wherein operating the fan includes increasing a rotation speed of the fan prior to causing an operation state of each of the plurality of storage devices to change from a first operation state to second operation state, in which an average power consumption of each of the plurality of storage devices is higher than the average power consumption of the one of the plurality of storage devices in said first operation state.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein said first operation state is a Not Ready state, and second operation state is a Ready state.

8. The method according to claim 6, wherein the plurality of storage devices are a plurality of disk drives.

9. The method according to claim 6, further comprising:

operating a plurality of second storage devices having the power supply off state and the plurality of operation states other than the power supply off state, the plurality of second storage devices storing data received from the host computer and excluding a certain function, the certain function being included in each of the plurality of storage devices; and

operation a second fan to cool the plurality of second storage devices,

wherein operating the second fan includes increasing the rotation speed of the second fan prior to causing an operation state of each of the plurality of second storage devices to change from said first operation state to said second operation state, in which the average power consumption of each of the plurality of second storage devices is higher than the average power consumption of the one of the plurality of second storage devices in said first operation state.

10. The disk array apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the certain function includes at least one of SCSI Enclosure Service (SES) and Enclosure Service I/F (ESI) according to SCSI specifications.