Storage system and method of controlling same

• US 8,271,559 B2
• Filed: 07/23/2010
• Issued: 09/18/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 07/23/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Inventors: Shoji, Tomoki, Okamoto, Takuya, Shitomi, Hidehisa
• Primary Examiner(s): Pham, Khanh
• Application Number:
  US12/865,806
• Publication Number:
  US 20120023146A1
• Time in Patent Office: 788 Days
• Field of Search: 707828-831
• US Class Current: 707/828
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/185 Hierarchical storage management [HSM] systems, e.g. file migration or policies thereof details of archiving G06F16/11
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0611 in relation to response time
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0617 in relation to availability
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0622 in relation to access
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/064 Management of blocks
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0647 Migration mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0683 Plurality of storage devices

Abstract

Data migration is efficiently executed with optional timing. A file server outputs an instruction to a CPU of a storage apparatus to migrate a file belonging to Tier 1 to Tier 2 when, based on policy information, a condition for migrating the file belonging to Tier 1 to Tier 2 is fulfilled. Based on the instruction from the file server, the CPU copies the data of migration target files in Tier 1 from a page to a Tier 1 virtual page, copies the data which has been copied to the Tier 1 virtual page 114 to a Tier 2 virtual page, copies the data which has been copied to the Tier 2 virtual page to any page in Tier 2, and then overwrites and releases the Tier 1 and Tier 2 virtual pages, and migrates files belonging to Tier 1 to Tier 2.

Claims

1. A storage system, comprising:

a plurality of storage apparatuses which include storage devices of a plurality of types of varying processing performance;

a plurality of file servers configured to manage a plurality of physical volumes which are configured hierarchized in a plurality of tiers in correspondence with the storage devices of a plurality of types and which volumes are constructed on storage areas of each of the storage apparatuses, the physical volumes being managed as data storage areas of tiered file systems that are obtained by integrating and virtually configuring file groups, and which file servers are configured to manage the tiered file systems as access targets of access request sources and to control migration pertaining to files which belong to the tiered file systems on the basis of policy information which determines migration conditions for files which belong to the tiered file systems; and

a storage controller configured to store the file groups in association with the plurality of tiers in virtual volumes obtained by virtualizing the plurality of physical volumes, manage the virtual volumes as access targets of each of the file servers, and control data input/output processing to/from each of the storage apparatuses in response to instructions from each of the file servers,

wherein the file servers are each connected to one another via a first network and the storage apparatuses are each connected to one another via a second network,

wherein the migration source file server of the plurality of file servers is configured to specify, as a target file, a file which is a target of the migration from the tiered file systems on the basis of the policy information, instruct the storage controller to migrate the specified target file, update file management information for managing data and attributes of the specified target file in accordance with information indicating the migration destination of the specified target file, and transmit the updated file management information to the migration destination file server via the first network,

wherein the storage controller is configured, in response to the instruction from the migration source file server, to select the target file from the file groups stored in the virtual volume, migrate the selected target file from a tier which is configured as the migration source tier in the policy information and which is the tier to which the target file belongs, to a tier which is configured as the migration destination tier in the policy information, and migrate data of the selected target file from the physical volume of the migration source tier to the physical volume of the migration destination, and

wherein the storage controller is further configured to divide each of the storage areas of the plurality of physical volumes into a plurality of blocks, manage each of the divided blocks as a plurality of pages corresponding to each of the physical volumes, manacle the plurality of pages corresponding to each of the physical volumes as data storage areas for storing the data of each of the files, and manage a specified page, for temporarily storing data from the plurality of pages which correspond to each of the physical volumes, in association with each of the physical volumes as a virtual page; and

, if the selected target file is migrated from the migration source tier to the migration destination tier, to migrate data stored in a plurality of pages corresponding to the physical volume of the migration source tier to a virtual page corresponding to the physical volume of the migration source tier, copy the data which has been migrated to the virtual page corresponding to the physical volume of the migration source tier to the virtual page corresponding to the physical volume of the migration destination tier, and migrate the data which has been copied to the virtual page corresponding to the physical volume of the migration destination tier to a plurality of pages corresponding to the physical volume of the migration destination tier.

2. The storage system according to claim 1,

wherein the storage controller is further configured such that, if the selected target file is migrated from the migration source tier to the migration destination tier, the storage controller migrates the data which has been migrated to the virtual page corresponding to the physical volume of the migration source tier to the physical volume of the migration destination tier.

3. The storage system according to claim 1,

wherein the storage controller is further configured such that, if the selected target file is migrated from the migration source tier to the migration destination tier, the storage controller migrates the data which has been migrated to the virtual page corresponding to the physical volume of the migration source tier to the virtual page corresponding to the physical volume of the migration destination tier.

4. The storage system according to claim 1,

wherein the storage controller

wherein the storage controller is further configured such that, if the policy information is policy information with which the plurality of tiers are divided into an upper tier and a lower tier in accordance with the level of processing performance and with which policy information a file belonging to the upper tier is migrated to the lower tier, the storage controller selects the upper tier as the migration source tier and selects the lower tier as the migration destination tier, and

wherein the storage controller is further configured such that, if the selected target file is migrated from the upper tier of the migration source to the lower tier of the migration destination, the storage controller migrates data stored in a plurality of pages corresponding to the physical volume of the migration source upper tier to a virtual page corresponding to the physical volume of the migration source upper tier, and migrates the data which has been migrated to the virtual page corresponding to the physical volume of the migration source upper tier to the virtual page corresponding to the physical volume of the migration destination lower tier.

5. The storage system according to claim 1,

wherein the storage controller is further configured such that, if the policy information is policy information with which the plurality of tiers are divided into an upper tier and a lower tier in accordance with the level of processing performance and with which policy information a file belonging to the lower tier is migrated to the upper tier, the storage controller selects the lower tier as the migration source tier and selects the upper tier as the migration destination tier, and

wherein the storage controller is further configured such that, if the selected target file is migrated from the lower tier of the migration source to the upper tier of the migration destination, the storage controller migrates data stored in a plurality of pages corresponding to the physical volume of the migration source lower tier to a virtual page corresponding to the physical volume of the migration source lower tier, and migrates the data which has been migrated to the virtual page corresponding to the physical volume of the migration source lower tier to the virtual page corresponding to the physical volume of the migration destination upper tier.

6. The storage system according to claim 1,

wherein the storage controller is further configured such that, the storage controller arranges a first downgrade virtual page as the virtual page in the physical volume corresponding to the upper tier, arranges a second downgrade virtual page as the virtual page in the physical volume corresponding to the middle tier, and arranges a third downgrade virtual page as the virtual page in the physical volume corresponding to the lower tier,

wherein the storage controller is further configured such that, if the policy information is policy information with which the plurality of tiers are divided into an upper tier, a middle tier, and a lower tier in accordance with the level of processing performance and with which policy information a file belonging to the upper tier is migrated to the middle tier, the storage controller selects the upper tier as the migration source tier and selects the middle tier as the migration destination tier,

wherein the storage controller is further configured such that, if the selected target file is migrated from the upper tier of the migration source to the middle tier of the migration destination, the storage controller migrates data stored in a plurality of pages corresponding to the physical volume of the migration source upper tier to the first downgrade virtual page, and migrates the data which has been migrated to the first downgrade virtual page to the second downgrade virtual page corresponding to the physical volume of the migration destination middle tier,

wherein the storage controller is further configured such that, if the policy information is policy information with which the plurality of tiers are divided into an upper tier, a middle tier, and a lower tier in accordance with the level of processing performance and with which policy information a file belonging to the middle tier is migrated to the lower tier, the storage controller selects the middle tier as the migration source tier and selects the lower tier as the migration destination tier, and

wherein the storage controller is further configured such that, if the selected target file is migrated from the middle tier of the migration source to the lower tier of the migration destination, the storage controller migrates data stored in a plurality of pages corresponding to the physical volume of the migration source middle tier to the second downgrade virtual page, and migrates the data which has been migrated to the second downgrade virtual page to a third downgrade virtual page corresponding to the physical volume of the migration destination lower tier.

7. The storage system according to claim 1,

wherein the storage controller is further configured such that, if the plurality of physical volumes are configured from storage devices of three types and the plurality of tiers are divided into an upper tier, a middle tier, and a lower tier in accordance with the level of processing performance, the storage controller the storage controller arranges a first upgrade virtual page as the virtual page in the physical volume corresponding to the upper tier, arranges a second upgrade virtual page as the virtual page in the physical volume corresponding to the middle tier, and arranges a third upgrade virtual page as the virtual page in the physical volume corresponding to the lower tier, and

wherein the storage controller is further configured such that, if the policy information is policy information with which the plurality of tiers are divided into an upper tier, a middle tier, and a lower tier in accordance with the level of processing performance and with which policy information a file belonging to the lower tier is migrated to the middle tier, the storage controller selects the lower tier as the migration source tier and selects the middle tier as the migration destination tier,

wherein the storage controller is further configured such that, if the selected target file is migrated from the lower tier of the migration source to the middle tier of the migration destination, the storage controller migrates data stored in a plurality of pages corresponding to the physical volume of the migration source lower tier to the third upgrade virtual page, and migrates the data which has been migrated to the third upgrade virtual page to the second upgrade virtual page corresponding to the physical volume of the migration destination middle tier,

wherein the storage controller is further configured such that, if the policy information is policy information with which the plurality of tiers are divided into an upper tier, a middle tier, and a lower tier in accordance with the level of processing performance and with which policy information a file belonging to the middle tier is migrated to the upper tier, the storage controller selects the middle tier as the migration source tier and selects the upper tier as the migration destination tier, and

wherein the storage controller is further configured such that, if the selected target file is migrated from the middle tier of the migration source to the upper tier of the migration destination, the storage controller migrates data stored in a plurality of pages corresponding to the physical volume of the migration source middle tier to the second upgrade virtual page, and migrates the data which has been migrated to the second upgrade virtual page to the first upgrade virtual page corresponding to the physical volume of the migration destination upper tier.

8. The storage system according to claim 1,

wherein the storage controller is further configured such that, if the plurality of physical volumes are configured from storage devices of three types and the plurality of tiers are divided into an upper tier, a middle tier, and a lower tier in accordance with the level of processing performance, the storage controller arranges, as the virtual pages in the physical volume corresponding to the upper tier, a first virtual page for temporarily storing a plurality of data stored in the physical volume corresponding to the upper tier in order to migrate the plurality of data from the upper tier to the middle tier, and a second virtual page for temporarily storing a plurality of data which is migrated from the middle tier to the upper tier, arranges, as the virtual pages in the physical volume corresponding to the middle tier, a third virtual page for temporarily storing a plurality of data which is migrated from the upper tier to the middle tier, a fourth virtual page for temporarily storing a plurality of data stored in the physical volume corresponding to the middle tier in order to migrate the plurality of data from the middle tier to the upper tier, a fifth virtual page for temporarily storing a plurality of data stored in the physical volume corresponding to the middle tier in order to migrate the plurality of data from the middle tier to the lower tier, and a sixth virtual page for temporarily storing a plurality of data which is migrated from the lower tier to the middle tier, and arranges, as the virtual pages in the physical volume corresponding to the lower tier, a seventh virtual page for temporarily storing a plurality of data which is migrated from the middle tier to the lower tier, and an eighth virtual page for temporarily storing a plurality of data stored in the physical volume corresponding to the lower tier in order to migrate the plurality of data from the lower tier to the middle tier,

wherein the storage controller is further configured such that, if the policy information is policy information with which the plurality of tiers are divided into an upper tier, a middle tier, and a lower tier in accordance with the level of processing performance and with which policy information a file belonging to the upper tier is migrated to the middle tier, the storage controller selects the upper tier as the migration source tier and selects the middle tier as the migration destination tier,

wherein the storage controller is further configured such that, if the selected target file is migrated from the upper tier of the migration source to the middle tier of the migration destination, the storage controller migrates data stored in a plurality of pages corresponding to the physical volume of the migration source upper tier to the first virtual page, and migrates the data which has been migrated to the first virtual page to the third virtual page corresponding to the physical volume of the migration destination middle tier,

wherein the storage controller is further configured such that, if the policy information is policy information with which the plurality of tiers are divided into an upper tier, a middle tier, and a lower tier in accordance with the level of processing performance and with which policy information a file belonging to the middle tier is migrated to the lower tier, the storage controller selects the middle tier as the migration source tier and selects the lower tier as the migration destination tier, and

wherein the storage controller is further configured such that, if the selected target file is migrated from the middle tier of the migration source to the lower tier of the migration destination, the storage controller migrates data stored in a plurality of pages corresponding to the physical volume of the migration source middle tier to the fifth virtual page, and migrates the data which has been migrated to the fifth virtual page to the seventh virtual page corresponding to the physical volume of the migration destination lower tier.

9. The storage system according to claim 1,

wherein the storage controller is further configured such that, if the plurality of physical volumes are configured from storage devices of three types and the plurality of tiers are divided into an upper tier, a middle tier, and a lower tier in accordance with the level of processing performance, the storage controller arranges, as the virtual pages in the physical volume corresponding to the upper tier, a first virtual page for temporarily storing a plurality of data stored in the physical volume corresponding to the upper tier in order to migrate the plurality of data from the upper tier to the middle tier, and a second virtual page for temporarily storing a plurality of data which is migrated from the middle tier to the upper tier, arranges, as the virtual pages in the physical volume corresponding to the middle tier, a third virtual page for temporarily storing a plurality of data which is migrated from the upper tier to the middle tier, a fourth virtual page for temporarily storing a plurality of data stored in the physical volume corresponding to the middle tier in order to migrate the plurality of data from the middle tier to the upper tier, a fifth virtual page for temporarily storing a plurality of data stored in the physical volume corresponding to the middle tier in order to migrate the plurality of data from the middle tier to the lower tier, and a sixth virtual page for temporarily storing a plurality of data which is migrated from the lower tier to the middle tier, and arranges, as the virtual pages in the physical volume corresponding to the lower tier, a seventh virtual page for temporarily storing a plurality of data which is migrated from the middle tier to the lower tier, and an eighth virtual page for temporarily storing a plurality of data stored in the physical volume corresponding to the lower tier in order to migrate the plurality of data from the lower tier to the middle tier,

wherein the storage controller is further configured such that, if the policy information is policy information with which the plurality of tiers are divided into an upper tier, a middle tier, and a lower tier in accordance with the level of processing performance and with which policy information a file belonging to the lower tier is migrated to the middle tier, the storage controller selects the lower tier as the migration source tier and selects the middle tier as the migration destination tier,

wherein the storage controller is further configured such that, if the selected target file is migrated from the lower tier of the migration source to the middle tier of the migration destination, the storage controller migrates data stored in a plurality of pages corresponding to the physical volume of the migration source lower tier to the eighth virtual page, and migrates the data which has been migrated to the eighth virtual page to the sixth virtual page corresponding to the physical volume of the migration destination middle tier,

wherein the storage controller is further configured such that, if the policy information is policy information with which the plurality of tiers are divided into an upper tier, a middle tier, and a lower tier in accordance with the level of processing performance and with which policy information a file belonging to the middle tier is migrated to the upper tier, the storage controller selects the middle tier as the migration source tier and selects the upper tier as the migration destination tier, and

wherein the storage controller is further configured such that, if the selected target file is migrated from the middle tier of the migration source to the upper tier of the migration destination, the storage controller migrates data stored in a plurality of pages corresponding to the physical volume of the migration source middle tier to the fourth virtual page, and the storage controller migrates the data which has been migrated to the fourth virtual page to the second virtual page corresponding to the physical volume of the migration destination upper tier.

10. A method of controlling a storage system that comprises a plurality of storage apparatuses which include storage devices of a plurality of types of varying processing performance;

a plurality of file servers configured to manage a plurality of physical volumes which are configured hierarchized in a plurality of tiers in correspondence with the storage devices of a plurality of types and which volumes are constructed on storage areas of each of the storage apparatuses, the physical volumes being managed as data storage areas of tiered file systems that are obtained by integrating and virtually configuring file groups, and which file servers are configured to manage the tiered file systems as access targets of access request sources and to control migration pertaining to files which belong to the tiered file systems on the basis of policy information which determines migration conditions for files which belong to the tiered file systems; and

a storage controller configured to store the file groups in association with the plurality of tiers in virtual volumes obtained by virtualizing the plurality of physical volumes, manage the virtual volumes as access targets of each of the file servers, and control data input/output processing to/from each of the storage apparatuses in response to instructions from each of the file servers, wherein the file servers are each connected to one another via a first network and the storage apparatuses are each connected to one another via a second network,

wherein the method of controlling a storage system comprises;

the migration source file server of the plurality of file servers specifying, as a target file, a file serving as a target of the migration from the tiered file systems on the basis of the policy information, instructing the storage controller to migrate the specified target file, updating file management information for managing data and attributes of the specified target file in accordance with information indicating the migration destination of the specified target file, and transmitting the updated file management information to the migration destination file server via the first network,

the storage controller selecting the target file from the file groups stored in the virtual volumes in response to the instruction from the migration source file server, migrating the selected target file from a tier which is configured as the migration source tier in the policy information and which is the tier to which the target file belongs, to a tier which is configured as the migration destination tier in the policy information, and migrating data of the selected target file from the physical volume of the migration source tier to the physical volume of the migration destination tier;

the storage controller dividing each of the storage areas of the plurality of physical volumes into a plurality of blocks and manages each of the divided blocks as a plurality of pages corresponding to each of the physical volumes, managing the plurality of pages corresponding to each of the physical volumes as data storage areas for storing the data of each of the files, and managing a specified page for temporarily storing data from the plurality of pages corresponding to each of the physical volumes in association with each of the physical volumes as virtual pages, and

if the selected target file is migrated from the migration source tier to the migration destination tier, the storage controller migrating data stored in a plurality of pages corresponding to the physical volume of the migration source tier to the virtual page corresponding to the physical volume of the migration source tier, copying the data which is migrated to the virtual page corresponding to the physical volume of the migration source tier to the virtual page corresponding to the physical volume of the migration destination tier, and migrating the data which has been copied to the virtual page corresponding to the physical volume of the migration destination tier to a plurality of pages corresponding to the physical volume of the migration destination tier.

11. The method of controlling a storage system according to claim 10, further comprising:

if the selected target file is migrated from the migration source tier to the migration destination tier, the storage controller migrating data stored in a plurality of pages corresponding to the physical volume of the migration source tier to the virtual page corresponding to the physical volume of the migration source tier, and migrating the data which has been migrated to the virtual page corresponding to the physical volume of the migration source tier to the physical volume of the migration destination tier.

12. The method of controlling a storage system according to claim 10, further comprising:

wherein, if the selected target file is migrated from the migration source tier to the migration destination tier, the storage controller migrating data stored in a plurality of pages corresponding to the physical volume of the migration source tier to the virtual page corresponding to the physical volume of the migration source tier, and migrating the data which has been migrated to the virtual page corresponding to the physical volume of the migration source tier to a virtual page corresponding to the physical volume of the migration destination tier.

13. The method of controlling a storage system according to claim 10, further comprising:

if the policy information is policy information with which the plurality of tiers are divided into an upper tier and a lower tier in accordance with the level of processing performance and with which policy information a file belonging to the upper tier is migrated to the lower tier, the storage controller selecting the upper tier as the migration source tier and selecting the lower tier as the migration destination tier, and

if the selected target file is migrated from the upper tier of the migration source to the lower tier of the migration destination, the storage controller migrating data stored in a plurality of pages corresponding to the physical volume of the migration source upper tier to the virtual page corresponding to the physical volume of the migration source upper tier, and migrating the data which has been migrated to the virtual page corresponding to the physical volume of the migration source upper tier to a virtual page corresponding to the physical volume of the lower tier of the migration destination.