Storage management method and storage management system

• US 7,415,578 B2
• Filed: 03/20/2007
• Issued: 08/19/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 03/17/2004
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Inventors: Fujii, Kozue, Murakami, Tatsuya, Yagi, Shuichi
• Primary Examiner(s): Sough; Hyung
• Assistant Examiner(s): Doan; Duc T
• Application Number:
  US11/723,453
• Publication Number:
  US 20070192562A1
• Time in Patent Office: 518 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 711/147
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0605 by facilitating the interaction with a user or administrator
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0631 by allocating resources to storage systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0637 Permissions
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/067 Distributed or networked storage systems, e.g. storage area networks [SAN], network attached storage [NAS]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5016 the resource being the memory
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5077 Logical partitioning of resources; Management or configuration of virtualized resources specific details on emulation or internal functioning of virtual machines G06F9/455

Abstract

There is provided a storage management system capable of utilizing division management with enhanced flexibility and of enhancing security of the entire system, by providing functions by program products in each division unit of a storage subsystem. The storage management system has a program-product management table stored in a shared memory in the storage subsystem and showing presence or absence of the program products, which provide management functions of respective resources to respective SLPRs. At the time of executing the management functions by the program products in the SLPRs of users in accordance with instructions from the users, the storage management system is referred to and execution of the management function having no program product is restricted.

Claims

1. A storage management method partitioning a physical resource and a logical resource in a storage subsystem, allocating a management user per partition unit, and performing partition management of each of said resources, the storage subsystem having a plurality of channel adapters coupled to a host computer and receiving data from the host computer, a cache memory temporarily storing data sent from the channel adapters, a plurality of disk adapters receiving data stored in the cache memory, a plurality of physical disks connected to said disk adapters and storing data sent from the disk adapters, a shared memory, and a switch for connecting said plurality of channel adapters, said plurality of disk adapters, said shared memory, and said cache memory, the storage management method comprising the steps of:

storing, in said shared memory in said storage subsystem, a program-product management table showing presence or absence of a program product that provides a configuration-changing function for each of said resources, said resources including partitioned channel adapters, a partitioned cache memory, and a logical disk drive group relating to a storage area of the physical disks, in a partition unit;

receiving a request from said management user to access the configuration-changing functions provided by the program product of the partition unit of said management user;

in response to receiving said request, said program-product management table is referenced to determine and specify the partition unit of said management user, based on information contained in said request;

in response to an instruction received from said management user to execute a configuration-changing function provided by the program product of the partition unit of said management unit, referring to said program-product management table at the time of executing the configuration-changing function by said program product of each of said resources in the partition unit of said management user; and

restricting execution of the configuration-changing function of a resource without said program product.

2. The storage management method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of:

referring to said program-product management table to provide, to said management user, an operation screen having only a configuration-changing function in which said program product is present with respect to the partition unit of said management user.

3. The storage management method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of:

at the time of having an instruction to add or delete said program product from said management user, changing information that shows presence or absence in said program-product management table with respect to said program product instructed.

4. The storage management method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of:

at the time of receiving said instruction of a configuration-changing request for each of said resources from said management user, returning, to said management user, a configuration-unchangeable error if a resource of the configuration-changing request is not a resource in the partition unit of said management user.

5. A storage management system partitioning a physical resource and a logical resource in a storage subsystem, allocating a management user per partition unit, and performing partition management of each of said resources, the storage subsystem having a plurality of channel adapters coupled to a host computer and receiving data from the host computer, a cache memory temporarily storing data sent from the channel adapters, a plurality of disk adapters receiving data stored in the cache memory, a plurality of physical disks connected to said disk adapters and storing data sent from the disk adapters, a shared memory, and a switch for connecting said plurality of channel adapters, said plurality of disk adapters, said shared memory, and said cache memory, the storage management system comprising:

a program-product management table stored in said shared memory in said storage subsystem and showing presence or absence of a program product that provides a configuration-changing function of each of said resources, said resources including partitioned channel adapters, a partitioned cache memory, and a logical disk drive group relating to a storage area of the physical disks, in a partition unit,

wherein, in response to receiving a request from said management user to access the configuration-changing functions provided by the program product of the partition unit of said management user, said program-product management table is referenced to determine and specify the partition unit of said management user, based on information contained in said request; and

wherein, in response to an instruction received from said management user to execute a configuration-changing function provided by the program product of the partition unit of said management unit, at the time of executing the configuration-changing function by said program product of each of said resources in the partition unit of said management user, said program-product management table is referenced to restrict execution of the configuration-changing function of a resource without said program-product management table.

6. The storage management system according to claim 5, further comprising:

a management client connected to said storage subsystem, said management user performing management for each of the resources in said partition unit by using the management client,

wherein, at the time of displaying, from said management client, an operation screen of a configuration-changing function by said program product, said program-product management table is referred to and the operation screen of only the configuration-changing function having said program product is displayed.

7. The storage management system according to claim 6,

wherein, at the time of having an instruction to add or delete said program product from said management client, information showing presence or absence in said program-product management table is changed with respect to said program product instructed.

8. The storage management system according to claim 6,

wherein, at the time of receiving said instruction of a configuration-changing request for each of said resources from said management client, if a resource of the instructed configuration-changing request is not a resource in the partition unit of said user, a configuration-unchangeable error is returned to said user.

9. The storage management system according to claim 6, further comprising:

a management terminal connected to said storage subsystem and said management client and performing a logon processing for the management user from said management client,

wherein said management terminal receives said request from said management user via said management client and specifies the partition unit of said management user in accordance with logon information of said management user received from said management client.

10. The storage management system according to claim 5,

wherein, at the time of receiving said instruction of a configuration-changing request for each of said resources from a host computer of said management user, the host computer being connected to the partition unit of said storage subsystem, if a resource of the instructed configuration-changing request is not a resource in the partition unit to which said host computer is connected, a configuration-unchangeable error is returned to said host computer.

11. A storage management method comprising the steps of:

receiving a program-product information acquisition request and user logon information;

executing a logon processing with respect to the user logon information;

in response to a successful logon for the user logon information, determining and specifying a resource partition unit corresponding to a user ID of a user for whom the program-product information acquisition request was received;

transmitting an information request for a program product specified in the program-product information acquisition request and corresponding to the resource partition unit thus specified;

specifying program product information of the requested program product corresponding to the specified resource partition unit; and

transmitting the specified program product information as a response to the program-product information acquisition request;

wherein the step of determining and specifying a resource partition unit is performed, using the user ID as a key, by referring to a first table showing a relation between the user ID and the resource partition unit corresponding thereto of the user for whom the program-product information acquisition request was received; and

wherein the step of specifying the program product information of the requested program product is performed, using the specified resource partition unit as a key, by referring to a second table showing a relation between the specified resource partition unit and the program product information corresponding thereto, the second table showing presence or absence of the requested program product that provides a configuration-changing function for resources including partitioned channel adapters, a partitioned cache memory, and a logical disk drive group relating to a storage area of the physical disks, in a partition unit.

12. A storage management method according to claim 11, further comprising the step of:

transmitting the program-product information acquisition request from a client terminal;

wherein the step of receiving the program-product information acquisition request receives the request transmitted from the client terminal;

wherein the receiving step is performed by a server; and

wherein the step of transmitting the program product information as the response to the program-product information acquisition request is performed by the server transmitting the program product information to the client terminal.

13. A storage management method according to claim 12, wherein the step of transmitting the program product information as the response to the program-product information acquisition request transmits the program product information adapted for displaying only such program product information as corresponds to the resource partition unit corresponding to the user ID, without displaying program product information for other resource partition units that do not correspond to the user ID.

14. A storage management apparatus comprising:

a server adapted to;

receive a program-product information acquisition request and user logon information from a client terminal;

execute a logon processing with respect to the user logon information;

in response to a successful logon for the user logon information, determine and specify a resource partition unit corresponding to a user ID of a user for whom the program-product information acquisition request was received; and

transmit a request to access a configuration-changing function of a program product specified in the program-product information acquisition request and corresponding to the resource partition unit thus specified, the requested program product providing a configuration-changing function for resources including partitioned channel adapters, a partitioned cache memory, and a logical disk drive group relating to a storage area of the physical disks, in a partition unit; and

a storage controller adapted to;

specify the configuration-changing function provided by the requested program product of the management user, in the program product information of the requested program product corresponding to the specified resource partition unit;

wherein the server is further adapted to;

receive the specified program product information of the requested program product corresponding to the requested resource partition unit; and

transmit the received program product information as a response to the program-product information acquisition request.

15. A storage management apparatus according to claim 14,

wherein the server determines and specifies the resource partition unit, using the user ID as a key, by referring to a first table stored in the server and showing a relation between the user ID and the resource partition unit corresponding thereto of the user for whom the program-product information acquisition request was received;

and

wherein the storage controller is part of a storage subsystem and receives information of the specified resource partition unit in the information request transmitted by the server, and specifies the program product information, using the specified resource partition unit as a key, by referring to a second table stored in the storage subsystem showing a relation between the specified resource partition unit and the program product information corresponding thereto.

16. A storage management apparatus according to claim 14,

wherein the program-product information acquisition request is received from a client terminal;

wherein the server receives the program-product information acquisition request from the client terminal; and

wherein the server transmits to the client terminal the program product information as the response to the program-product information acquisition request.

17. A storage management apparatus according to claim 16, wherein the server is further adapted to transmit to the client terminal the program product information adapted for displaying only such program product information as corresponds to the resource partition unit corresponding to the user ID, without displaying program product information for other resource partition units that do not correspond to the user ID.