Storage system and control method for the same

• US 8,635,424 B2
• Filed: 11/30/2011
• Issued: 01/21/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 08/29/2008
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Inventors: Kawamura, Shunji
• Primary Examiner(s): Dudek, Jr., Edward
• Assistant Examiner(s): Verderamo, III, Ralph A
• Application Number:
  US13/308,115
• Publication Number:
  US 20120072691A1
• Time in Patent Office: 783 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 711/170
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2069 Management of state, configuration or failover
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2082 Data synchronisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0608 Saving storage space on storage systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/061 Improving I/O performance
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0644 Management of space entities, e.g. partitions, extents, pools
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0655 Vertical data movement, i.e. input-output transfer; data movement between one or more hosts and one or more storage devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0665 at area level, e.g. provisioning of virtual or logical volumes
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/067 Distributed or networked storage systems, e.g. storage area networks [SAN], network attached storage [NAS]

Abstract

An externally-connected volume of a main storage is correlated to an AOU volume inside of an external storage. The AOU volume is allocated with a not-yet-used page in a pool in accordance with data writing. When a command is issued to the externally-connected volume for formatting or others, a first controller in the main storage converts the command into a format command or an area deallocation command with respect to the AOU volume in the external storage. As such, the external AOU volume is subjected to a write process in its entirety, thereby being able to prevent any unnecessary page allocation. With such a configuration, the storage system of the present invention can use pages in the pool with good efficiency.

Claims

1. A storage system in which first and second storage control devices are connected to each other for communications, the system comprising:

a first volume that is provided virtually to the first storage control device;

a second volume that is provided virtually to the second storage control device with correspondence in terms of a storage space with the first volume, and is accessed in response to an access request to the first volume;

a pool section that keeps a plurality of physical storage areas for allocation to the second volume in response to a write access request to the second volume;

a first control section that is provided to the first storage control device issues a command to the second volume in response to the access request to the first volume, and performs data reading/writing from/to the second volume; and

a second control section that is provided to the second storage control device, performs data input/output to/from the second volume in response to the command from the first control section, and allocates, to the second volume, in response to a write access request from the first control section, any of the plurality of physical storage areas in the pool section not yet in use, and

wherein the first control section includes first management information for use to manage a state of use of areas in the first volume and second management information for use to manage a state of use of areas in the second volume, and

wherein the first and second management information each include information about whether the areas are each written with data.

2. The storage system according to claim 1, wherein, for data reading from the second volume in response to a read access request from a request source, the first control section determines whether any of the areas designated as a read target is updated in the first volume or not based on the first and second management information, and, upon determining that the read target area is not updated in the first volume, forwards predetermined format data back to the request source without accessing the second volume.

3. The storage system according to claim 1, wherein, upon the first control section receiving a format command for execution of a format process to the first volume, the first control section forwards to the second control section either another format command for execution of the format process to the second volume or a deallocation command for deallocating the physical storage area allocated to the second volume from the second volume.

4. The storage system according to claim 3, wherein, if the second control section cannot process the command forwarded from the first control section, the first control section forwards, to the second control section, the write command for writing predetermined data that is prepared in advance to the second volume.

5. The storage system according to claim 1, wherein, upon the first control section receiving a shred command for execution of a shred process to the first volume, the first control section forwards to the second control section either another shred command for execution of the shred process to the second volume or a write command for writing of a predetermined pattern to the physical storage area allocated to the second volume.

6. The storage system according to claim 5, wherein, if the second control section cannot process the command forwarded from the first control section, the first control section forwards, to the second control section, the write command for writing predetermined data that is prepared in advance to the second volume.

7. The storage system according to claim 1, wherein, upon the first control section receiving a command for forming a copy pair with a third volume and the first volume provided to the first storage control device, and for performing initial copy from the third to first volume, the first control section forwards to the second control section a deallocation command for deallocating, from the second volume, the physical storage area allocated to the second volume, and a write command for data storage from the third to the first volume to an area of the third volume already storing any data.

8. The storage system according to claim 1, wherein, upon the first control section receiving a pair resync command or a pair restore command for establishing synchronization between storage details of a third volume and storage details of the first volume provided to the first storage control device for forming a copy pair with the third volume and the first volume, the first control section forwards to the second control section a deallocation command for deallocating, from the second volume, the physical storage area allocated to the second volume only for a not-yet-used area of the third volume not written with any data, and a write command for data storage from the first to second volume for an area of the first and third volumes through with data updating.

9. The storage system according to claim 1, wherein, if the second control section cannot process a command forwarded from the first control section, the first control section forwards, to the second control section, an alternative command that is prepared in advance for the command forwarded from the first control section.

10. The storage system according to claim 1, wherein the first control section can issue an Inquiry command for making an inquiry about a configuration of the second volume, and based on a response to the Inquiry command from the second control section, sets a relationship between the first and second volumes.

11. The storage system according to claim 1, wherein the first control section is configured to write, when the first volume is written with data, the data to the second volume in a unit of management area of a predetermined size, and stores format data set in advance to any remaining portion of the management area not written with the data.

12. The storage system according to claim 1, wherein, for writing of data to the first volume, the first control section determines whether or not the data is the same as format data that is set in advance, and, upon determining that the data is the same as the format data, sets an attribute of the data to be discardable.

13. A storage system in which first and second storage control devices are connected to each other for communications, and the storage system includes a first volume that is provided virtually to the first storage control device, a second volume that is provided virtually to the second storage control device with correspondence in terms of a storage space with the first volume, and is accessed in response to an access request to the first volume, and a pool section that is provided to the second storage control device, and keeps a plurality of physical storage areas for allocation to the second volume in response to a write access request to the second volume, the system executing the steps of:

using first management information to manage a state of use of areas in the first volume and second management information to manage a state of use of areas in the second volume, where the first management information includes information about whether each area in the first volume is written with data and the second management information includes information about whether each area in the second volume is written with data;

making an inquiry from the first to second storage control device about the information of the second volume, and based on an inquiry result coming from the second storage control device, setting a relationship between the first and second volumes in the first storage control device;

storing, when the write access request is issued to the first volume, predetermined format data into any portion in a unit of predetermined management area not written with write data, and issuing the write access request to the second volume in the unit of management area;

allocating, when the write access request is issued to the second volume, to any corresponding portion of the management area in the second volume asked for a write access, any of the plurality of physical storage areas not yet in use, and storing the write data to the allocated physical storage area; and

upon a format command being provided for executing a format process to the first volume,

1. forwarding, if the second storage control device can execute the format process to the second volume in response to a command coming from the first storage control device, from the first to second storage control device, the format command for making the second storage control device to execute the format process with respect to the second volume;

2. forwarding, if the second storage control device cannot execute the format process to the second volume in response to the command coming from the first storage control device, and if the second storage control device can deallocate, from the second volume, the physical storage area allocated to the second volume in response to the command coming from the first storage control device, a deallocation command from the first to second storage control device for deallocating the physical storage area; and

3. forwarding, if the second storage control device cannot execute the format process to the second volume in response to the command coming from the first storage control device, and if the second storage control device cannot deallocate, from the second volume, the physical storage area allocated to the second volume in response to the command coming from the first storage control device, predetermined format data from the first to second storage control device, and writing the predetermined format data to the second volume.