Presentation of management functionality of virtual arrays

• US 8,583,861 B1
• Filed: 06/29/2006
• Issued: 11/12/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 06/29/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Emc IP Holding Company LLC (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Original Assignee: EMC Corporation (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Inventors: Ofer, Adi, Madnani, Kiran, Brown, Jeffrey A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Bertram, Ryan
• Application Number:
  US11/427,759
• Time in Patent Office: 2,693 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 711/112
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0617 in relation to availability
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0635 by changing the path, e.g. traffic rerouting, path reconfiguration
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0647 Migration mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/067 Distributed or networked storage systems, e.g. storage area networks [SAN], network attached storage [NAS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1097 for distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS]

Abstract

Described are a system and method of presenting virtual arrays in a storage network. A physical storage array is partitioned into a plurality of virtual arrays. Each virtual array has logical units of storage. Each virtual array is associated with a virtual array management interface by which a management application executing remotely on a host can address communications separately to that virtual array for managing the logical units of storage of that virtual array.

Claims

1. A method of presenting virtual arrays in a storage network, the method comprising:

partitioning a physical storage array into a plurality of virtual arrays, each virtual array having a plurality of separately addressable logical units of storage;

assigning a unique logical serial number to each virtual array;

associating each virtual array via its logical serial number with a separate virtual array management interface by which a management application executing remotely on a host can address communications separately to that virtual array for managing the logical units of storage of that virtual array, such that each host can access multiple virtual array management interfaces; and

allowing access to a given virtual array management interface associated with a given virtual array partitioned within the physical storage array by a host application executing remotely on a host if the host application is configured to have access to the given virtual array partitioned within the physical storage array.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of associating each virtual array with a virtual array management interface includes the step of assigning a different IP address to each virtual array.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of assigning a unique logical serial number to each virtual array includes the step of deriving the logical serial number for each virtual array from a physical serial number associated with that virtual array.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of associating each virtual array with a virtual array management interface includes the step of generating a different gatekeeper for each virtual array.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of associating each virtual array with a virtual array management interface includes the step of generating a different array name for each virtual array.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the physical storage array is a first physical storage array and one of the virtual arrays spans the first physical storage array and a second physical storage array.

7. A storage network comprising:

a host executing a management application;

a physical storage array partitioned into a plurality of virtual arrays, each virtual array having a plurality of separately addressable logical units of storage, each virtual array assigned a unique logical serial number, each virtual array being associated via its logical serial number with a separate virtual array management interface by which the management application executing on the host can address communications separately to that virtual array for managing the logical units of storage of that virtual array, such that each host can access multiple virtual array management interfaces; and

a given virtual array management interface associated with a given virtual array partitioned within the physical storage array accessible by a host application executing remotely on a host if the host application is configured to have access to the given virtual array partitioned within the physical storage array.

8. The storage network of claim 7, wherein the virtual array management interface of each virtual array includes an IP address.

9. The storage network of claim 7, wherein the logical serial number of each virtual array is derived from a physical serial number associated with that virtual array.

10. The storage network of claim 7, wherein the virtual array management interface of each virtual array includes a gatekeeper.

11. The storage network of claim 7, wherein the virtual array management interface of each virtual array includes an array name.

12. The storage network of claim 7, wherein the physical storage array is a first storage array and one of the virtual arrays has at least one logical unit of storage that belongs to the first storage array and at least one logical unit of storage that belongs to a second physical storage array.

13. A storage array comprising:

a plurality of logical units of storage arranged in a plurality of virtual arrays, each virtual array having a plurality of separately addressable logical units of storage, each virtual array assigned a unique logical serial number, each virtual array being associated via its logical serial number with a separate virtual array management interface by which a management application executing on a host can address communications separately to that virtual array for managing the logical units of storage of that virtual array such that each host can access multiple virtual array management interfaces; and

a given virtual array management interface associated with a given virtual array partitioned within the storage array accessible by a host application executing remotely on a host if the host application is configured to have access to the given virtual array partitioned within the storage array.

14. The storage array of claim 13, wherein the virtual array management interface of each virtual array includes an IP address.

15. The storage array of claim 13, wherein the logical serial number of each virtual array is derived from a physical serial number associated with the virtual array.

16. The storage array of claim 13, wherein the virtual array management interface of each virtual array includes a gatekeeper.

17. The storage array of claim 13, wherein the virtual array management interface of each virtual array includes an array name.