Storage control system and storage control method

• US 8,327,184 B2
• Filed: 01/26/2011
• Issued: 12/04/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 07/23/2007
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Inventors: Onabe, Kenji, Morita, Seiki
• Primary Examiner(s): DUNCAN, MARC M
• Application Number:
  US13/014,302
• Publication Number:
  US 20110119527A1
• Time in Patent Office: 678 Days
• Field of Search: 714/6.22, 714/6.3, 714/6.32
• US Class Current: 714/6.22
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1092 Rebuilding, e.g. when physically replacing a failing disk
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1096 Parity calculation or recalculation after configuration or reconfiguration of the system

Abstract

Unique information including a logical type name is stored in a user data area of a management area as a media of the alternative disk drive to become an alternative of the storage device. Upon using the alternative disk drive, a disk controller reads the unique information of the alternative disk drive, and determines that copy back is unnecessary when the rotating speed and capacity belonging to the unique information of the alternative disk drive are the same as the rotating speed and capacity of the failed disk drive belonging to RAID, and otherwise determines that copy back is necessary.

Claims

1. A storage control system being coupled to at least one host computer, the storage control system comprising:

a plurality of disk drives include a first plurality of disk drives configuring a first RAID group, a second plurality of disk drives configuring a second RAID group and a plurality of spare disk drives; and

a controller for sending and receiving data between said plurality of disk drives and said at least one host computer,

wherein each of said plurality of disk drives stores unique information including a respective operational capacity and a respective operational performance which does not depends on the physical capacity and the physical performance thereof, so that said controller can manage a plurality of disk drives having different physical capacity and physical performance as same-type disk drives,

wherein when a first disk drive included in said first plurality of disk drives is failed, said controller is configured to;

compare the operational capacity and the operational performance of the failed first disk drive with those of each of said plurality of spare disk drives;

select one of the spare disk drives whose operational capacity and the operational performance is the same as that of the failed first disk drive; and

recover the data stored in the failed first disk drive to the selected spare disk drive using data stored in said first plurality of disk drives other than the failed first disk drive.

2. A storage control system according to claim 1,

wherein the storage control system further comprises a management terminal having a display,

said controller configured to:

store said operational capacity and said operational performance to each of the plurality of disk drives as the unique information according to a designation by a user via the display of said management terminal, and

display said unique information of each of the plurality of disk drives via the display of said management terminal in response to receiving a read request.

3. A storage control system according to claim 1,

wherein when an alternative disk drive corresponding to the failed first disk drive is added, said controller is configured to determine whether data should be copied from the selected spare disk drive to said alternative disk drive based on the unique information thereof.

4. A storage control system according to claim 1,

wherein said unique information is stored in a plurality of sections in each of the plurality of disk drives according to designated redundancy.

5. A method for storage control in a storage control system having at least one host computer and a plurality of disk drives having a first plurality of disk drives and a second plurality of disk drives, comprising:

configuring a first RAID group with the first plurality of disk drives, configuring a second RAID group and a plurality of spare disk drives with the second plurality of disk drives;

sending and receiving data between said plurality of disk drives and said at least one host computer,

wherein each of said plurality of disk drives stores unique information including a respective operational capacity and a respective operational performance which does not depends on the physical capacity and the physical performance thereof, so that the plurality of disk drives having different physical capacity and physical performance can be managed as same-type disk drives; and

when a first disk drive included in said first plurality of disk drives is failed;

comparing the operational capacity and the operational performance of the failed first disk drive with those of each of said plurality of spare disk drives;

selecting one of the spare disk drives whose operational capacity and the operational performance is the same as that of the failed first disk drive; and

recovering the data stored in the failed first disk drive to the selected spare disk drive using data stored in said first plurality of disk drives other than the failed first disk drive.

6. A method for storage control according to claim 5, wherein the storage control system includes a management terminal having a display, further comprising the steps of:

storing said operational capacity and said operational performance to each of the plurality of disk drives as the unique information according to a designation by a user via the display of said management terminal, and

displaying said unique information of each of the plurality of disk drives via the display of said management terminal in response to receiving a read request.

7. A method for storage control according to claim 5, further comprising the steps of:

determining whether data should be copied from the selected spare disk drive to said alternative disk drive based on the unique information thereof when an alternative disk drive corresponding to the failed first disk drive is added.

8. A method for storage control according to claim 5, further comprising the steps of:

storing said unique information in a plurality of sections in each of the plurality of disk drives according to designated redundancy.