Programmable availability for a high availability system

• US 8,504,857 B1
• Filed: 09/30/2008
• Issued: 08/06/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Emc IP Holding Company LLC (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Original Assignee: EMC Corporation (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Inventors: Robillard, Michael
• Primary Examiner(s): Patel, Nimesh G
• Application Number:
  US12/241,200
• Time in Patent Office: 1,771 Days
• Field of Search: 713/324
• US Class Current: 713/324
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3206 Monitoring of events, devices or parameters that trigger a change in power modality
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3234 Power saving characterised by the action undertaken
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3287 by switching off individual functional units in the computer system
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/06 Digital input from, or digital output to, record carriers , e.g. RAID, emulated record carriers or networked record carriers
• 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 3/0689 Disk arrays, e.g. RAID, JBOD
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 10/00 Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/50 in wire-line communication networks, e.g. low power modes or reduced link rate

Abstract

A storage system includes a storage array and a host system in communication with the storage array. The storage array has a first module and a second module with electronics configured to provide redundant functionality to the first module. The host system has a processor programmed to associate a power profile with the second module and to cause the storage array at appropriate moments determined by the power profile to power down and restore power to the electronics of the second module while the first module continues to receive power for normal operation. The storage array may be preprogrammed to independently power down and restore power to the electronics of the second module at the appropriate moments. When powered down, the second module temporarily ceases to provide redundant functionality to the first module, thereby reducing availability of the storage array in order to reduce power consumed by the storage array.

Claims

1. A storage system comprising:

a storage array including a plurality of enclosures, the plurality of enclosures including;

a first enclosure having a first link control card module and a second link control card module with electronics configured to provide redundant functionality to the first link control card module, the second link control card module of the first enclosure being a sole source of the redundant functionality for the first link control card module of the first enclosure;

a second enclosure having a first storage processor module and a second storage processor module with electronics configured to provide redundant functionality to the first storage processor module, the second storage processor module of the second enclosure being a sole source of the redundant functionality for the first storage processor module of the second enclosure, the second enclosure further comprising a first power supply module and a second power supply module with electronics configured to provide redundant functionality to the first power supply module, the second power supply module of the second enclosure being a sole source of the redundant functionality for the first power supply module of the second enclosure; and

a host system in communication with the storage array, the host system having a processor programmed to associate a separate power profile with each module of each enclosure in the storage array, the processor being programmed to configure each module to power down and restore power to a major portion of the electronics of each module in accordance with each separate module power profile, wherein the separate power profile associated with the second link control card module of the first enclosure powers down the second link control card module during a copy or move of data from the storage system, and wherein the separate power profiles of the first and second link control card modules of the first enclosure and of the first and second storage processor modules of the second enclosure comprise a trigger condition to individually power down the associated modules when a workload of the storage system falls below a predetermined threshold.

2. The storage system of claim 1, wherein each separate power profile defines a timetable for powering down electronics of the module associated with that separate power profile.

3. The storage system of claim 1, wherein each separate power profile defines an event, the occurrence of which signals an appropriate moment to power down the module associated with that separate power profile.

4. The storage system of claim 1, wherein the trigger condition further individually powers down the first and second power supply modules of the second enclosure in accordance with the respective power profiles of the first and second power supply modules.

5. The storage system of claim 1, wherein the separate power profiles of the first and second link control card modules power down the first and second link control card modules during a copy or move of data to or from the storage system.

6. A storage system comprising:

a storage array having one or more disk array enclosures in communication with one or more processor enclosures, each disk array enclosure including a first power supply module, a redundant second power supply module being a sole source of redundant functionality for the first power supply module, and a first control card module in electrical communication with a redundant second control card module that is a sole source of redundant functionality for the first control card module, and each processor enclosure (PE) including a first PE power supply module, a redundant second PE power supply module that is a sole source of redundant functionality for the first PE power supply module, a first processor module in electrical communication with a redundant second processor module that is a sole source of redundant functionality for the first processor module; and

a host system in communication with the storage array, the host system having a processor programmed to associate a separate power profile with each module of each enclosure in the storage array and to configure the storage array to power down and restore power to major portions of the redundant modules at appropriate moments determined by the power profiles associated with the redundant modules while the other modules continue to receive power so that the other modules may operate normally, wherein each redundant module temporarily ceases to provide the redundant functionality of that redundant module during each interim in which that redundant module is powered down, thereby reducing availability of the storage array during such interims in order to reduce power consumed by the storage array, wherein the separate power profile of the second control card module powers down the second control card module during a copy or move of data from the storage system.

7. The storage system of claim 6, wherein one or more of the power profiles define a timetable for powering down the module associated with that one or more power profiles.

8. The storage system of claim 6, wherein one or more of the power profiles define an event, the occurrence of which signals an appropriate moment to power down the module associated with that one or more power profiles.

9. The storage system of claim 6, wherein each first control card module includes a controller configured to issue a signal periodically to indicate that the first control card module is operating normally, and each redundant second control card module includes a controller to process signals periodically issued by and received from the controller of the first control card module with which that redundant second control card module is in electrical communication, and

wherein the controller of each redundant second control card module issues a second signal that causes power to be restored to that redundant second control card module when signals issued from the controller of the first control card module with which that redundant second control card module is in electrical communication go undetected for a specified period.

10. The storage system of claim 6, wherein each first processor module includes a controller configured to issue a signal periodically to indicate that the first processor module is operating normally, and each redundant second processor module includes a controller to process signals periodically issued by and received from the controller of the first processor module with which that redundant second processor module is in electrical communication, and

wherein the controller of each redundant second processor module issues a second signal that causes power to be restored to that redundant second processor module when signals issued from the controller of the first processor module with which that redundant second processor module is in electrical communication go undetected for a specified period.

11. A method for reducing power consumption in a storage system including a host system in communication with a storage array including a plurality of enclosures, each enclosure having a plurality of modules including first and second modules, the second module of each enclosure having electronics configured to provide redundant functionality to the first module of that enclosure, the second module of each enclosure being a sole source of the redundant functionality for the first module of that enclosure, method comprising:

defining a separate power profile for each module of each enclosure in the storage array;

powering down the second module of one of the plurality of enclosures during a copy or move of data from the storage system in accordance with the separate power profile of the second module of that one of the plurality of enclosures; and

powering down a major portion of the electronics of the second module of a given enclosure when a workload of the storage system falls below a predetermined threshold while the first module of the given enclosure continues to receive power so that the first module of the given enclosure may operate normally, wherein the second module of the given enclosure temporarily ceases to provide the redundant functionality to the first module of the given enclosure during each interim in which the second module of the given enclosure is powered down, thereby reducing availability of the storage array during such interims in order to reduce power consumed by the storage array.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the power profile of the second module of the given enclosure defines a timetable for powering down the electronics of the second module of the given enclosure.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the first and second modules of the given enclosure are power supplies.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the first and second modules of the given enclosure are control cards.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein the first and second modules of the given enclosure are processor cards.

16. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

periodically issuing a signal from the first module of the given enclosure to indicate that the first module of the given enclosure is operating normally;

processing by the second module of the given enclosure the signal periodically issued by and received from the first module of the given enclosure; and

restoring power to the electronics of the second module when the signal periodically issued from the first module of the given enclosure is not received by the second module of the given enclosure for a specified period.