Patent application number | Description | Published |
20080201392 | Storage system having plural flash memory drives and method for controlling data storage - Provided is a storage system having a storage device including memory drives formed of the non-volatile memory, a group is constituted by the memory drives whose number is larger than the number of memory drives necessary to provide the memory capacity, the divided storage areas are managed in each of segments that includes at least one of the divided storage areas, the data storage area or the temporary storage area is allocated to the divided storage areas, upon receiving a data write request, the data storage area in which the write data is written and the segment are specified, the updated data is written in the temporary storage area included in the specified segment, the temporary storage area in which the data is written is set as a new data storage area, and data stored in the data storage area is erased and set as a new temporary storage area. | 08-21-2008 |
20080244139 | DISK ARRAY SUBSYSTEM AND CONTROL METHOD THEREOF - This disk array subsystem includes a data input/output unit for inputting and outputting data in and from the network, a connecting unit for connecting the data input/output unit and a plurality of storage apparatuses, and a control unit for controlling the input and output of data in and from the network. The control unit includes a logical link setting unit for zoning at least one or more physical links among a plurality of physical links for inputting and outputting data between the data input/output unit and the connecting unit, or between the connecting unit and the connecting unit into at least one or more logical links, and setting a plurality of logical links to one physical link; and a link unit for simultaneously multiplexing the data to a plurality of the logical links set with the logical link setting unit, and linking the data to the physical link. | 10-02-2008 |
20090265584 | STORAGE CONTROL UNIT WITH CONTROL SIGNAL PATH BETWEEN COUPLED CONTROLLERS - Provided is a storage control unit capable of, even when a failure occurs in access from a control unit to storage devices and the access from the control unit to the storage devices is switched to access via an alternate path, continuing I/O access to the storage devices without interrupting I/O requests from a host. | 10-22-2009 |
20100058322 | Storage device and method of instructing to update firmware - Provided is a storage device which can increase the speed of transmission/reception of data and reliability thereof. The storage device including: a plurality of expanders connected to a disk device which stores data transmitted from a host device; and a controller unit for controlling the expander, wherein the controller unit includes a determination unit for determining whether or not, when download data is received from a predetermined terminal in order to update firmware of the expander, it is necessary to initialize a corresponding expander after downloading the download data by the expander, a transmission unit for transmitting initialization determining information determined by the determination unit to the terminal, and a update instruction unit for transmitting the download data to the corresponding expander and instructing the corresponding expander to update the firmware at a timing for updating the firmware, which is determined by the terminal based on the initialization determining information transmitted from the transmission unit. | 03-04-2010 |
20100115143 | STORAGE CONTROL SYSTEM, CONTROL METHOD FOR STORAGE CONTROL SYSTEM, PORT SELECTOR, AND CONTROLLER - An object of the present invention is to provide a means for detecting a logical command error, and a storage system and its control method that can properly perform error handling, and detection and blockage of a malfunctioning section. A storage control system includes controller units | 05-06-2010 |
20110138097 | COMPUTER SYSTEM FOR CONTROLLING ALLOCATION OF PHYSICAL LINKS AND METHOD THEREOF - The computer system of the present invention has a plurality of SAS target devices, an SAS initiator device, and a service delivery subsystem that is connected to each SAS target device by means of a physical link that is physical wiring and connected to the SAS initiator device by means of a wide link constituted by a plurality of physical links. The SAS initiator device controls how many physical links in the wide link are allocated to a particular SAS target device, whereby access from the SAS initiator device to the SAS target device is made via a physical link that is allocated to the SAS target device and is not made via a physical link that is not allocated to the SAS target device. | 06-09-2011 |
20120066420 | DISK ARRAY SUBSYSTEM AND CONTROL METHOD THEREOF - This disk array subsystem includes a data input/output unit for inputting and outputting data in and from the network, a connecting unit for connecting the data input/output unit and a plurality of storage apparatuses, and a control unit for controlling the input and output of data in and from the network. The control unit includes a logical link setting unit for zoning at least one or more physical links among a plurality of physical links for inputting and outputting data between the data input/output unit and the connecting unit, or between the connecting unit and the connecting unit into at least one or more logical links, and setting a plurality of logical links to one physical link; and a link unit for simultaneously multiplexing the data to a plurality of the logical links set with the logical link setting unit, and linking the data to the physical link. | 03-15-2012 |
20120254554 | COMPUTER SYSTEM AND COMPUTER SYSTEM MANAGEMENT METHOD - A computer system in which one or more host computers | 10-04-2012 |
20120311256 | COMPUTER SYSTEM FOR CONTROLLING ALLOCATION OF PHYSICAL LINKS AND METHOD THEREOF - The computer system of the present invention has a plurality of SAS target devices, an SAS initiator device, and a service delivery subsystem that is connected to each SAS target device by means of a physical link that is physical wiring and connected to the SAS initiator device by means of a wide link constituted by a plurality of physical links. The SAS initiator device controls how many physical links in the wide link are allocated to a particular SAS target device, whereby access from the SAS initiator device to the SAS target device is made via a physical link that is allocated to the SAS target device and is not made via a physical link that is not allocated to the SAS target device. | 12-06-2012 |
20130024639 | COMPUTER SYSTEM AND DATA MIGRATION METHOD THEREOF - Data migration can be preformed between source and target storage subsystems without stopping exchanging data between a host computer and each of the storage subsystems. | 01-24-2013 |
20130212345 | STORAGE SYSTEM WITH VIRTUAL VOLUME HAVING DATA ARRANGED ASTRIDE STORAGE DEVICES, AND VOLUME MANAGEMENT METHOD - A virtual LU astride a plurality of storage devices is a virtual volume composed of a plurality of partial volumes. Functions of the storage system, Zoning information of a SAN and a host group information of the virtual volume are inherited to a partial volume created for each physical device. When a page granularity data migration is executed, volume or data are migrated to other storage devices without depending on the relationship between a physical port and the physical device. When a host IO request is received when migration is on-going, response processing is performed by synchronizing storage devices within the range of migration data. The host IO request related to the page being migrated sends a partial complete response including information for re-routing the request to a path of the appropriate data migration destination device capable of issuing the IO. | 08-15-2013 |
20140351545 | STORAGE MANAGEMENT METHOD AND STORAGE SYSTEM IN VIRTUAL VOLUME HAVING DATA ARRANGED ASTRIDE STORAGE DEVICE - An administrator instructs creation of a volume to a virtual storage device and registration of a host port for providing access permission to the volume. The virtual storage device searches a candidate of a physical storage device capable of reaching the host port and a candidate of the target port based on the access permission information, and creates a distributed volume astride the candidate physical storage device. The distributed volume is composed of a plurality of partial volumes, and the partial volumes inherit the functions of the storage device and the access permission information set for the distributed volume. The virtual storage device distributes an access permission to the physical storage device, constitutes the access permission information of the host port and the volume with respect to the candidate target port, and registers the access permission information of the host port and the target port to the SAN switch. | 11-27-2014 |
20150324126 | STORAGE SYSTEM WITH VIRTUAL VOLUME HAVING DATA ARRANGED ASTRIDE STORAGE DEVICES, AND VOLUME MANAGEMENT METHOD - A virtual LU astride a plurality of storage devices is a virtual volume composed of a plurality of partial volumes. Functions of the storage system, Zoning information of a SAN and a host group information of the virtual volume are inherited to a partial volume created for each physical device. When a page granularity data migration is executed, volume or data are migrated to other storage devices without depending on the relationship between a physical port and the physical device. When a host IO request is received when migration is on-going, response processing is performed by synchronizing storage devices within the range of migration data. The host IO request related to the page being migrated sends a partial complete response including information for re-routing the request to a path of the appropriate data migration destination device capable of issuing the IO. | 11-12-2015 |
Patent application number | Description | Published |
20110320706 | STORAGE APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR CONTROLLING THE SAME - A storage apparatus capable of improving the reliability of a large-scale storage system, and a method for controlling such a storage apparatus are suggested. A storage apparatus including a storage device for storing data, and a multiplexer for multiplexing a port for the storage device, the multiplexer being connected to one or more host controllers, and a method for controlling such a storage apparatus, wherein the multiplexer judges whether a command sent from the host controller to the storage device is proper or not; and if the command is improper, the multiplexer discards the command without transferring it to the storage device, and sends an error response to the host controller. | 12-29-2011 |
20120039163 | COMMUNICATION NETWORK CONTROL SYSTEM AND CONTROL METHOD - In a case where a failure has occurred in one of fabric management mechanisms, nodes resume data I/O communications without degrading performance and without changing the data I/O communication path between the nodes by switching control to the other one of the fabric management mechanisms. The fabric management mechanisms share management information with each other. When a failure occurs in either of the fabric management mechanisms, an E_Node that belongs to the domain, in which a failure has occurred, logs into a normal fabric management mechanism via a newly created management-use communication path. The normal fabric management mechanism allocates an N_Port_ID on the basis of a virtual FC domain number that has been allocated to a switch. | 02-16-2012 |
20120066468 | COMPUTER SYSTEM CONTROL METHOD AND COMPUTER SYSTEM - A host computer is coupled to a first fabric, a source storage apparatus is coupled to a second fabric, and a destination storage apparatus is coupled to a third fabric. A destination port of the destination storage apparatus comprises a same WWPN as a WWPN of a source port, and is logged in to the fabric beforehand. Duplicate WWPNs are allowed to exist because an inter fabric router separately manages the second fabric and the third fabric. When a switchover is instructed, the inter fabric router switches a coupling destination of the host computer to the destination storage apparatus. | 03-15-2012 |
Patent application number | Description | Published |
20140082310 | METHOD AND APPARATUS OF STORAGE TIER AND CACHE MANAGEMENT - Storage systems and methods directed to tier management and tier movement. Tier management is conducted based on access frequency of data in a storage subsystem in comparison to the storage subsystem tier. The storage system may then manage cache pre-fetch or tier movement as file location granularity without a special management interface from the host to the storage system. | 03-20-2014 |
20140089585 | HIERARCHY MEMORY MANAGEMENT - In one embodiment, a storage system comprises: a first type interface being operable to communicate with a server using a remote memory access; a second type interface being operable to communicate with the server using a block I/O (Input/Output) access; a memory; and a controller being operable to manage (1) a first portion of storage areas of the memory to allocate for storing data, which is to be stored in a physical address space managed by an operating system on the server and which is sent from the server via the first type interface, and (2) a second portion of the storage areas of the memory to allocate for caching data, which is sent from the server to a logical volume of the storage system via the second type interface and which is to be stored in a storage device of the storage system corresponding to the logical volume. | 03-27-2014 |
20140115087 | METHOD AND APPARATUS OF STORAGE VOLUME MIGRATION IN COOPERATION WITH TAKEOVER OF STORAGE AREA NETWORK CONFIGURATION - Systems and methods directed to the automation of Storage Area Network (SAN) configuration when storage volume migration or server virtual machine migration is conducted. Systems and methods described herein may involve the takeover of a SAN network attribute for the migration, and may involve translation of zone object formats to facilitate the migration and ensure compatibility when the takeover is conducted. | 04-24-2014 |
20140115277 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR OFFLOADING STORAGE WORKLOAD - Exemplary embodiments provide a technique to offload storage workload. In one aspect, a computer comprises: a memory; and a controller operable to manage a relationship among port information of an initiator port, information of a logical volume storing data from the initiator port, and port information of a target port to be used for storing data from the initiator port to the logical volume, and to cause another computer to process a storage function of a storage system including the logical volume and the target port by creating a virtual machine for executing the storage function and by configuring the relationship on said another computer, said another computer sending the data to the logical volume of the storage system after executing the storage function. In specific embodiments, by executing the storage function on said another computer, the workload of executing the storage function on the storage system is eliminated. | 04-24-2014 |
20140169214 | METHOD AND APPARATUS OF NETWORK CONFIGURATION FOR STORAGE FEDERATION - A computer comprises a memory, and a controller operable to: manage, using the memory, a first relationship among a plurality of ports of Fibre Channel protocol and a volume used to store data to be sent via the ports, and a second relationship between each of the ports and a fabric identification of a fabric topology; manage use of the ports for creating a same fabric zone if the ports correspond to same fabric identification based on the second relationship; and manage use of (1) a first port of the plurality of ports as a first proxy port in a second fabric zone and (2) a second port of the plurality of ports as a second proxy port in a first fabric zone, for interconnecting the first fabric zone and the second fabric zone, if the ports do not correspond to the same fabric identification based on the second relationship. | 06-19-2014 |
20140181804 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR OFFLOADING STORAGE WORKLOAD - An aspect of the invention is directed to a storage management computer for managing offloading of storage workload between a storage controller of a storage system and one or more host computers. The storage management computer comprises: a memory; and a controller operable to request a virtual machine management computer to register the storage controller as a host computer, and to send, to the virtual machine management computer, storage processes information of storage processes in the storage system which can be offloaded as virtual machines in order for the virtual machine management computer to register the storage processes as virtual machines. | 06-26-2014 |
20140281306 | METHOD AND APPARATUS OF NON-DISRUPTIVE STORAGE MIGRATION - Example implementations described herein are directed to non-disruptive I/O storage migration between different storage types. In example implementations, virtual volume migration techniques such as snapshot, thin-provisioning, tier-provisioning, de-duplicated virtual volume, and so forth, are conducted between different storage types by using pool address re-mapping. In example implementations, asynchronous remote copy volume migration is performed without the initial secondary volume copy. | 09-18-2014 |
20150277803 | METHOD AND APPARATUS OF STORAGE VOLUME MIGRATION IN COOPERATION WITH TAKEOVER OF STORAGE AREA NETWORK CONFIGURATION - Systems and methods directed to the automation of Storage Area Network (SAN) configuration when storage volume migration or server virtual machine migration is conducted. Systems and methods described herein may involve the takeover of a SAN network attribute for the migration, and may involve translation of zone object formats to facilitate the migration and ensure compatibility when the takeover is conducted. | 10-01-2015 |
20150331753 | METHOD AND APPARATUS OF DISASTER RECOVERY VIRTUALIZATION - Systems and methods described herein involve a virtual storage utilized to virtualize the storage of storage systems across multiple sites. The virtual storage is associated with a virtual multipath control. The virtual multipath control manages the virtual path state of the inter-physical storage, the remote copy volume state which has primary volume or secondary volume state, and the volume copy operation mode such as synchronous copy mode journal copy mode, or bitmap resync mode. The virtual multipath control of the virtual storage facilitates choices from the host for a preferred site, path, state, and volume by utilizing a virtual multipath state from a get virtual multipath information command. | 11-19-2015 |
20160004444 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR APPLYING STORAGE FUNCTIONALITY TO EACH SUBSIDIARY VOLUME - Exemplary embodiments apply storage functionality to a subsidiary volume of a logical unit group. In one aspect, a storage system comprises a plurality of storage devices to store data, and a controller operable to manage a plurality of logical volumes, each of which is a unit for setting a storage function. The controller is operable to manage a logical unit group, which is mapped to one of the logical volumes and includes an administrative logical unit and one or more subsidiary logical units. The controller is operable to manage a virtual logical unit group which includes a plurality of virtual subsidiary logical units and a virtual administrative logical unit that is mapped to the administrative logical unit, each of which is provided to one of a plurality of virtual machines of a server, at least one virtual subsidiary logical unit being mapped to the one or more subsidiary logical units. | 01-07-2016 |