Zoning of devices in a storage area network

• US 7,996,509 B2
• Filed: 09/26/2007
• Issued: 08/09/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 09/26/2007
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Ricketts, Ashaki Ayanna, McWaters, Kelly Louise, Swingler, Teresa Shen, Hourselt, Andrew Gary, Basham, Robert Beverley
• Primary Examiner(s): Dharia; Rupal D
• Assistant Examiner(s): Tran; Jimmy H
• Application Number:
  US11/861,684
• Publication Number:
  US 20090083423A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,413 Days
• Field of Search: 709223-227, 710300-317, 710/2, 710 8- 10, 710 15- 17, 710 36- 38, 711100-115, 370/254, 370/386, 370/389
• US Class Current: 709/223
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 15/16 Combinations of two or more digital computers each having at least an arithmetic unit, a program unit and a register, e.g. for a simultaneous processing of several programs coordinating program control therefor G06F9/52; in regulating and control system G05B
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0605 by facilitating the interaction with a user or administrator
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0637 Permissions
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/067 Distributed or networked storage systems, e.g. storage area networks [SAN], network attached storage [NAS]

Abstract

Mechanisms for performing zoning of devices, such as Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) devices, for example, in a storage area network (SAN) in which all host systems of the SAN are automatically mapped to all of the storage systems are provided. Mechanisms for automatically mapping backend storage enclosures to appropriate storage system controllers on the SAN are provided. The zoning is automatically performed based on whether ports/phys are coupled to host systems, storage systems, and whether there are storage system controllers associated with the storage systems. Based on the automatic zoning, mapping of the storage devices of the storage systems to the host systems may be automatically performed via zone permission tables. By automating the zoning, users that do not necessarily have a detailed knowledge of the storage device communication protocol or SANs may configure the SAN even if it utilizes a complex and large architecture.

Claims

1. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer useable storage medium having a computer readable program stored thereon, wherein the computer readable program, when executed on a zone manager in a Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) protocol subsystem of a storage area network (SAN), causes the zone manager to:

automatically assign a host system of a chassis, in a storage area network (SAN) implementing a zoning protocol which comprises grouping and mapping components, to a first zone group of the SAN;

automatically assign a second zone group of the SAN to a plurality of SAS storage devices in the chassis; and

automatically map the assigned first zone group and the second zone group to each other such that the host system is mapped to the plurality of SAS storage devices by automatically updating a zone permissions table associated with one or more SAS expanders of the SAN, wherein communication between the host system and the plurality of SAS storage devices is controlled based on the mapping of the assigned first zone group to the assigned second zone group;

wherein the computer readable program causes the zone manager to automatically map the assigned first zone group and the second zone group to each other by;

enumerating zone groups of storage device enclosures within the chassis to thereby generate an enumerated list;

determining, for each storage device enclosure zone group in the enumerated list, whether a storage system controller is present in a same chassis as a storage device enclosure of the storage device enclosure zone group; and

mapping the storage device enclosure zone group to a storage system controller zone group having a smallest number of storage device enclosure zone groups mapped to it.

2. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the SAN comprises a plurality of host systems and a plurality of storage devices, and wherein the computer program product is executed with regard to each of the host systems and each of the storage devices such that each of the plurality of host systems is mapped to each of the plurality of storage devices.

3. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the computer readable program further causes the zone manager to:

determine whether the chassis has an associated storage system controller;

assign front end ports of the storage system controller to at least one third zone group responsive to a determination that the chassis has an associated storage system controller;

determine whether backend ports of the storage system controller are in a same SAN as the front end ports; and

assign the backend ports of the storage system controller to at least one fourth zone group responsive to a determination that the backend ports are in the same SAN as the front end ports.

4. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the computer readable program further causes the zone manager to automatically assign the second zone group to the storage device by:

determining whether there is a storage device enclosure present in the chassis;

determining whether a storage system controller is present in the same chassis as the storage device enclosure; and

assigning all of the storage devices in the storage device enclosure to a fifth zone group responsive to a determination that a storage system controller is present in the chassis.

5. The computer program product of claim 4, wherein the computer readable program further causes the zone manager to automatically assign the second zone group to the SAS storage device by:

assigning each storage device in the storage device enclosure to its own storage device zone group and re-assigning each host system to its own host system zone group responsive to a determination that there is not a storage system controller in the chassis.

6. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the computer readable program further causes the zone manager to automatically map the assigned first zone group and the second zone group to each other by:

mapping storage device enclosure zone groups internal or external to the chassis equally to host systems of the SAN.

7. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the computer readable program further causes the zone manager to automatically map the assigned first zone group and the second zone group to each other by:

enumerating unassigned storage device enclosure zone groups to generate an enumerated list; and

iteratively mapping the storage device enclosure zone groups to storage system controller zone groups having a smallest number of storage device enclosure zone groups mapped to them.

8. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the chassis is a blade system chassis having one or more blades provided in one or more bays of the blade system chassis.

9. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the computer program product is executed automatically by the zone manager in response to one of initialization of the SAN or addition of a new SAN device to the SAN.

10. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the computer readable program further causes the zone manager to:

retrieve attribute information for at least one of the host system or the SAS storage device; and

modify the mapping in the zone permissions table data structure based on the attribute information.

11. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein the attribute information identifies a capability of the host system or storage device, and wherein the mapping in the zone permissions table data structure is modified to limit mappings associated with the host system or storage device based on the capability.

12. A zone manager system, in a Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) protocol subsystem of a storage area network (SAN), comprising:

a processor; and

a memory coupled to the processor, wherein the memory comprises instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to;

automatically assign a host system of a chassis, in the SAN implementing a zoning protocol which comprises grouping and mapping components, to a first zone group of the SAN;

automatically assign a second zone group of the SAN to a SAS storage device in the chassis; and

automatically map the assigned first zone group and the second zone group to each other such that the host system is mapped to the SAS storage device by automatically updating a zone permissions table associated with one or more SAS expanders of the SAN, wherein communication between the host system and the SAS storage device is controlled based on the mapping of the assigned first zone group to the assigned second zone group,

wherein the zone manager system automatically maps the assigned first zone group and the second zone group to each other by;

enumerating zone groups of storage device enclosures within the chassis to thereby generate an enumerated list;

determining, for each storage device enclosure zone group in the enumerated list, whether a storage system controller is present in a same chassis as a storage device enclosure of the storage device enclosure zone group; and

mapping the storage device enclosure zone group to a storage system controller zone group having a smallest number of storage device enclosure zone groups mapped to it.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the SAN comprises a plurality of host systems and a plurality of storage devices, and wherein the computer program product is executed with regard to each of the host systems and each of the storage devices such that each of the plurality of host systems is mapped to each of the plurality of storage devices.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein the zone manager system:

determines whether the chassis has an associated storage system controller;

assigns front end ports of the storage system controller to at least one third zone group responsive to a determination that the chassis has an associated storage system controller;

determines whether backend ports of the storage system controller are in a same SAN as the front end ports; and

assigns backend ports of the storage system controller to at least one fourth zone group responsive to a determination that the backend ports are in the same SAN as the front end ports.

15. The system of claim 12, wherein the zone manager system automatically assigns the second zone group to the SAS storage device by:

determining whether there is a storage device enclosure present in the chassis;

determining whether a storage system controller is present in the same chassis as the storage device enclosure; and

assigning all of the storage devices in the storage device enclosure to a fifth zone group responsive to a determination that a storage system controller is present in the chassis.

16. The system of claim 12, wherein the zone manager system automatically maps the assigned first zone group and the second zone group to each other by:

enumerating unassigned storage device enclosure zone groups to generate an enumerated list; and

iteratively mapping the storage device enclosure zone groups to storage system controller zone groups having a smallest number of storage device enclosure zone groups mapped to them.

17. The system of claim 12, wherein the zone manager system operates in response to one of initialization of the SAN or addition of a new SAN device to the SAN to automatically assign the first zone group, automatically assign the second zone group, and map the first zone group to the second zone group.

18. A method, in a zone manager in a Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) protocol subsystem of a storage area network (SAN), for automatically configuring zones of the SAN, the SAN comprising one or more host systems and one or more storage devices, comprising:

automatically assigning a host system of a chassis, in the SAN implementing a zoning protocol which comprises grouping and mapping components, to a first zone group of the SAN;

automatically assigning a second zone group of the SAN to a SAS storage device in the chassis; and

automatically mapping the assigned first zone group and the second zone group to each other such that the host system is mapped to the SAS storage device by automatically updating a zone permissions table associated with one or more SAS expanders of the SAN, wherein communication between the host system and the SAS storage device is controlled based on the mapping of the assigned first zone group to the assigned second zone group,

wherein automatically assigning the second zone group to the SAS storage device further comprises;

enumerating zone groups of storage device enclosures within the chassis to thereby generate an enumerated list;

determining, for each storage device enclosure zone group in the enumerated list, whether a storage system controller is present in a same chassis as a storage device enclosure of the storage device enclosure zone group; and

mapping the storage device enclosure zone group to a storage system controller zone group having a smallest number of storage device enclosure zone groups mapped to it.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

determining whether the chassis has an associated storage system controller;

assigning front end ports of the storage system controller to at least one third zone group responsive to a determination that the chassis has an associated storage system controller;

determining whether backend ports of the storage system controller are in a same SAN as the front end ports; and

assigning backend ports of the storage system controller to at least one fourth zone group responsive to a determination that the backend ports are in the same SAN as the front end ports.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein automatically assigning the second zone group to the storage device further comprises:

determining whether there is a storage device enclosure present in the chassis;

determining whether a storage system controller is present in the same chassis as the storage device enclosure; and

assigning all of the storage devices in the storage device enclosure to a same fifth zone group responsive to a determination that a storage system controller is present in the chassis.

21. The method of claim 18, wherein automatically mapping the assigned first zone group and the second zone group to each other further comprises:

storing a mapping of the first zone group with the second zone group in a zone permissions table data structure associated with at least one of the host system or the SAS storage device;

retrieving attribute information for at least one of the host system or the SAS storage device; and

modifying the mapping in the zone permissions table data structure based on the attribute information.