Patent application number | Description | Published |
20080215812 | Storage system having dynamic volume allocation function - Access to a plurality of logical devices is enabled regardless of the number of ports provided in a storage system and the number of logical devices that can be allocated to a single port, thereby improving the usability of the logical devices. A storage system comprises a plurality of logical devices, a target device which is the object of access from a computer, and a juke box system for allocating one of the plurality of logical devices to the target device. The juke box system changes the logical device that is allocated to the target device in accordance with a request from the computer. | 09-04-2008 |
20080243946 | Storage system and data recovery method - Proposed are a storage system and a data recovery method capable of guaranteeing data recovery processing at a service level sought by a user. This storage system and data recovery method uses one or more data recovery candidate points and specifies a section containing the journal and the replication of write data, checks a redundancy relation of a write range in the volume of write data written from host into the volume contained in the journal regarding one or more the journals in the section, and executes redundancy elimination processing of merging a plurality of the replications of write data or a plurality of the journals into a single replication of write data or a single journal based on the check result. | 10-02-2008 |
20080250079 | STORAGE SUBSYSTEM - The data up to a point of time whereat failure has occurred will be restored at high speed at a remote site without imposing any burden on a host. The first storage system on the master side processes an I/O request from the host, and as a result of I/O processing to the second storage system on the remote side, transmits the update data. The second storage system retains data received from the first storage system as update log data. The host transmits a command for settling a state of an application to the first storage system as data, and the first storage system transmits the data to the second storage system. The host and the second storage system both retain an identifier corresponding to the command, and relate the identifier to the log data. Thereby, the host designates the identifier at any given time, whereby the second storage system restores the data at any given time. | 10-09-2008 |
20090006876 | STORAGE SYSTEM COMPRISING FUNCTION FOR REDUCING POWER CONSUMPTION - For at least one of storage unit, processor and cache memory which are I/O process-participating devices related to I/O command process, when a load of one or more I/O process-participating devices or a part thereof is a low load equal to or less than a predetermined threshold value, a processing related to a state of one or more of the I/O process-participating devices or a part thereof is redirected to another one or more I/O process-participating devices or a part thereof, and the state of the one or more I/O process-participating devices or a part thereof is shifted to a power-saving state. | 01-01-2009 |
20090055586 | COMPUTER SYSTEM HAVING AN EXPANSION DEVICE FOR VIRTUALIZING A MIGRATION SOURCE LOGICAL UNIT - A migration destination storage creates an expansion device for virtualizing a migration source logical unit. A host computer accesses an external volume by way of an access path of a migration destination logical unit, a migration destination storage, a migration source storage, and an external volume. After destaging all dirty data accumulated in the disk cache of the migration source storage to the external volume, an expansion device for virtualizing the external volume is mapped to the migration destination logical unit. | 02-26-2009 |
20090055593 | STORAGE SYSTEM COMPRISING FUNCTION FOR CHANGING DATA STORAGE MODE USING LOGICAL VOLUME PAIR - A storage system writes a data element stored in a primary volume to a secondary volume constituting a volume pair with the primary volume in accordance with a selected storage mode, which is a data storage mode selected from a plurality of types of data storage modes. This storage system is provided with a function for switching the above-mentioned selected storage mode from a currently selected data storage mode to a different type of data storage mode. | 02-26-2009 |
20090055613 | STORAGE SYSTEM PERFORMING VIRTUAL VOLUME BACKUP AND METHOD THEREOF - The respective data fragments stored in each page assigned to the respective virtual areas of the virtual volume are copied to the logical volume, and information representing the respective copy source pages corresponding with information representing the respective virtual areas in the mapping information that indicates which storage area corresponds with which virtual area is updated to information representing the respective copy destination storage areas of the data fragments stored in the respective copy source pages and copies the updated mapping information to the logical volume which constitutes the data fragment copy destination. | 02-26-2009 |
20090070530 | STORAGE SYSTEM AND REPLICATION CREATION METHOD THEREOF - In a storage system having a plurality of control units each connected with a plurality of disk units, it is provided that a replication is created in the volume of the disk units connected to different control units. The replication creation unit of a given control unit creates a replication in the volume of the disk unit connected to other control units in such a manner that the original volume information, the replication volume information in the control unit and information on the other control units are registered as volume pair information. Based on this volume pair information, a replication creation request is transmitted to the other control units. | 03-12-2009 |
20090113152 | STORAGE SYSTEM GROUP - A first storage system comprises a first logical volume, and a first controller that has a first memory. A second storage system comprises a second physical storage device that constitutes the basis of a second logical volume and a journal area, and a second controller that has a second memory. At least the first memory stores a write unit size, which is the size of a write data element. The journal area is a storage area in which is stored a journal data element, which is a data element that is stored in any block of a plurality of blocks configuring the first and/or second logical volume, or a data element that is written to this block. The size of the journal data element, and the size of the respective blocks that are managed as the respective components of the first and second logical volumes are the write unit size. | 04-30-2009 |
20090113153 | STORAGE SYSTEM GROUP - There is a journal area and one or more logical volumes comprising a first logical volume. The journal area is a storage area in which is stored a journal data element, which is a data element that is stored in any storage area of a plurality of storage areas configuring a logical volume, or a data element that is written to the storage area. A controller has a size receiver that receives a write unit size, which is the size of a write data element received from a computer, and a size setting unit that sets the received write unit size in a memory for one or more logical volumes. The size of a journal data element stored in a journal area based on the set write unit size is the write unit size. | 04-30-2009 |
20090119473 | STORAGE SYSTEM - When a computer | 05-07-2009 |
20090125680 | Storage System for Restoring Data Stored in Failed Storage Device - The present invention maintains mapping information denoting which real areas have been allocated to which virtual areas for a virtual volume, the capacity of which is dynamically expanded. The present invention also maintains real area management information denoting which real areas have been allocated to which virtual areas. The real area management information is referenced to determine whether or not a low-reliability real area, which is a real area for which reliability has been lowered by the occurrence of a failure in a certain physical storage device, and which belongs to a RAID group comprising this certain physical storage device, has been allocated to a virtual area. A data restore process is not carried out for a low-reliability real area that has not been allocated to a virtual area, but a data restore process is carried out for a low-reliability real area that has been allocated to a virtual area. | 05-14-2009 |
20090125692 | BACKUP SYSTEM AND METHOD - A storage system, upon receiving a marker from a host computer, executes a generation determination process for determining a generation of a first logical volume that is used by a host computer, and writes information related to the generation determined in this generation determination process to a physical storage device and/or a memory. A backup controller determines whether or not any data or a specified file and/or folder inside the first logical volume of the immediately preceding generation has changed, and when the result of this determination is affirmative, sends a marker insert indication, which induces the issuance of a marker, to the host computer, and when the result of the determination is negative, does not send the marker insert indication to the host computer. | 05-14-2009 |
20090150606 | INFORMATION PROCESSING SYSTEM HAVING VOLUME GUARD FUNCTION - In a system comprising a first storage system providing plural first logical volumes including real logical volume and a virtual logical volume with a host, a second storage system having a second logical volume, and a management computer, when the first storage system receives an access request to the virtual logical volume, it accesses a second logical volume associated with the virtual logical volume. In this system, when the management computer receives a request to guard one of the plural first logical volumes, it checks whether a target first logical volume of the request is a real logical volume or a virtual logical volume, in case of the virtual logical volume, generates and provides a possible at least one option to guard the virtual logical volume by considering a program for volume guard, which each of the first storage system and the second storage system has. | 06-11-2009 |
20090193219 | STORAGE SUBSYSTEM - There is provided a storage subsystem having a virtual volume and a page volume which has a page physical area allocated to the virtual volume. The storage subsystem divides an address space of the virtual volume into a plurality of pages, classifies each of the pages into one of a plurality of states including at least a first state and a second state, and further divide a page which is classified into the second state into a plurality of segments to managed the page classified into the second state. The first state is a state in which a page physical area is allocated to the page from the page volume, and the write data is stored in the page physical area. The second state is a state in which the predetermined pattern data and the segment are managed, in the memory, by correlating with each other. | 07-30-2009 |
20090276661 | STORAGE SYSTEM CREATING A RECOVERY REQUEST POINT ENABLING EXECUTION OF A RECOVERY - A switch connected to a network system including a computer and a storage apparatus: controlling read/write request from the computer to the storage apparatus and controlling to store journal data in the storage apparatus; wherein the storage apparatus includes a first storage area for storing data to be used by the computer and a second storage area for storing journal data including write data and first update log information corresponding to the write data when there is a write request from the computer for writing data in the first storage area; wherein when the switch detects an event of status change related to the network system, the switch marks a first point of time corresponding to the event as a recovery request point, and creates second update log information corresponding to the recovery request point. | 11-05-2009 |
20090282209 | Storage System, Storage Extent Release Method and Storage Apparatus - This storage system has an allocation unit for allocating a storage extent in prescribed units to the dynamic logical volume upon storing the data sent from the host computer in the dynamic logical volume; a management unit for managing the storage extent recognized as being currently used by the file system among the storage extents allocated to the dynamic logical volume by the allocation unit; and a release unit for releasing the storage extent that is not being managed by the management unit from the dynamic logical volume. | 11-12-2009 |
20090292871 | STORAGE CONTROLLER, AND METHOD OF CONTROLLING STORAGE CONTROLLER TO IMPROVE THE RELIABILITY OF THE STORAGE CONTROLLER - The present invention controls supply of power to a storage device on the basis of an access status, moves a logical storage device between physical storage devices having different power supply modes, reduces energization time, and improves the reliability. A relocation plan creation portion creates a relocation plan by disposing a logical volume with high access frequency in a RAID group which is in a long-time energization mode, disposing a logical volume with moderate access frequency in a RAID group which is in a first short-time energization mode, and disposing a logical volume with low access frequency in a RAID group which is in a second short-time energization mode. An execution time determination portion determines an execution time for executing the relocation plan, on the basis of the access frequency to the RAID groups. The volumes with higher access frequency are disposed in the RAID group in which the power supply time is long, and the volumes with lower access frequency are disposed in the RAID group in which the power is supplied in an on-demand fashion. | 11-26-2009 |
20100011239 | STORAGE SYSTEM AND DATA RESTORATION METHOD THEREOF - This storage system includes a first storage sub system having a first logical volume where a first data area is dynamically allocated to each prescribed area, and which stores data transmitted from a host computer in the first data area, and a second storage sub system having a second data area for backing up the first logical volume; wherein the first storage sub system includes: a first management unit for managing the status of the first data area allocated to each of the areas of the first logical volume; a transfer unit for transferring the data stored in the first data area allocated to each of the areas of the first logical volume to the second storage sub system; and a restoration unit for restoring the first logical volume based on the status of the first data area managed by the first management unit and/or the data transferred from the second storage sub system. | 01-14-2010 |
20100030959 | SNAPSHOT SYSTEM - A storage system including: a disk device including an original volume and a plurality of snapshot generations; and a storage control unit which includes a processor unit. The processor unit receives write data to a storage area of the original volume, and determines whether data stored in the storage area of the original volume is already copied to the snapshot volume or not; if the data stored in the storage area of original volume is not already copied to snapshot volume, the processor unit copies the data from original volume to the snapshot volume, when a use capacity of the snapshot volume is larger than threshold amount by the copy, the processor unit indicates a specified snapshot generation, the processor unit migrates data of the specified snapshot generation from the snapshot volume to tape device; the processor unit deletes information of the specified snapshot generation in the snapshot volume. | 02-04-2010 |
20100058011 | COMPUTER SYSTEM AND BACKUP METHOD THEREFOR - A computer system includes a first volume that is read and written from a first computer and in which write data is written, a second volume that stores journal data in the first volume with the journal data delimited at each predetermined point, a third volume as a virtual volume, a virtual-volume creating unit that creates, when a backup instruction for the first volume at a predetermined point is received, the third volume from which a second computer can read the journal data and in which the second computer can write the journal data, a mapping unit that maps the journal data to the third volume, and a backup unit that transfers the write data to a storage device via the second computer or transfers, through the third volume to which the journal data is mapped by the mapping unit, the journal data to the storage device via the second computer and backs up the write data and the journal data. | 03-04-2010 |
20100064097 | FLASH MEMORY STORAGE SYSTEM - A flash memory storage system has a plurality of flash memory devices comprising a plurality of flash memories, and a controller having an I/O processing control unit for accessing a flash memory device specified by a designated access destination in an I/O request received from an external device from among the plurality of flash memory devices. A parity group can be configured of flash memory devices having identical internal configuration. | 03-11-2010 |
20100088280 | COMPUTER SYSTEM FOR HIERARCHICALLY MANAGING A JOURNAL AND METHOD THEREFOR - Provided is technology in which a first storage system includes a first logical volume and a second logical volume, the second logical volume stores therein a first differential data item representing a differential between data that was stored in the first logical volume at a first time instant and data that was stored in the first logical volume at a second time instant being later than the first time instant, a second storage system includes a third logical volume, the first storage system transmits the first differential data item to the second storage system, the second storage system stores the first differential data item into the third logical volume, the first storage system deletes the first differential data item from the second logical volume, and the computer system retains management information set for associating the first logical volume with the third logical volume storing therein the first differential data item. | 04-08-2010 |
20100131727 | STORAGE SYSTEM AND METHOD IMPLEMENTING ONLINE VOLUME AND SNAPSHOT WITH PERFORMANCE/FAILURE INDEPENDENCE AND HIGH CAPACITY EFFICIENCY - A storage system for storage of data written from a computer, and when a write request of data to a first logical volume is received, the data on request is stored into the first logical volume. When a first-generation snapshot creation request is received, the data stored in the first logical volume at the time of receiving the first-generation snapshot creation request is written into a pool region as data corresponding to a first-generation snapshot, and when a second-generation snapshot creation request is received, any portion of the data updated after the first-generation snapshot creation request is received but before the second-generation snapshot creation request is issued is read from the first logical volume for writing into the pool region. Such a storage system favorably implements snapshot backup with no dependency with a positive volume in terms of performance and failure, and with high capacity efficiency. | 05-27-2010 |
20100138601 | VIRTUAL VOLUME CONTROL METHOD INVOLVING DEVICE STOP - Provided is a storage system capable of starting/stopping a disk drive. At the time of allocating a logical device, it is judged, based on attributes including a purpose of the logical device, whether or not control can be performed in terms of start/stop of an allocation target disk drive to determine an allocation destination disk drive. Further, in the case where access to a specific logical device is stopped due to release of a path definition or other such cause, it is judged whether or not a disk drive corresponding to the logical device can be stopped. When it is judged that the disk drive can be stopped, the disk drive is stopped. When it is judged that the disk drive cannot be stopped, the logical device is migrated to another disk drive that can be stopped, a migration destination disk drive is stopped. | 06-03-2010 |
20100180078 | VIRTUAL STORAGE SYSTEM AND CONTROL METHOD THEREOF - A virtual storage system is equipped with a plurality of storage systems and a virtualization device for virtualizing the plurality of storage systems logically into a single storage resource provided to a host computer. When one of the storage systems receives a command from the host computer, in the event that the storage system itself is not in possession of a function corresponding to the command, the storage system retrieves a storage system in possession of a function corresponding to the command and transfers this command to the storage system in possession of the function corresponding to the command. | 07-15-2010 |
20100205479 | INFORMATION SYSTEM, DATA TRANSFER METHOD AND DATA PROTECTION METHOD - Availability of an information system including a storage system that performs remote copy between two or more storage apparatuses and a host computer using such storage system is improved. A third storage apparatus including a third volume is coupled to a first storage apparatus, a fourth storage apparatus including a fourth volume is coupled to a second storage apparatus, the first and third storage apparatuses perform remote copy of copying data stored in a first volume to the third volume, the first and second storage apparatuses perform remote copy of copying data stored in the first volume to a second volume, and the third and fourth storage apparatuses perform remote copy of copying data stored in the third volume to the fourth volume. | 08-12-2010 |
20100235591 | COMPUTER SYSTEM AND SNAPSHOT CREATION METHOD THEREOF, DELAYING SNAPSHOT CREATION UNTIL PENDING TRANSFER BETWEEN VOLUMES IS COMPLETE - A storage system and snapshot method wherein after a first processor transfers data stored in a first data area to a second storage system, the first processor transfers a first marker stored in a first marker area to a second storage system so that the first marker is stored in a second marker area of a second volume, wherein a second processor checks whether the first marker stored in the second storage area of the second volume corresponds to a second marker designated, and wherein, if the first marker stored in the second storage are of the second volume is a second marker designated, the second processor creates a snapshot of the data that is stored in the second data area, in a third storage volume. | 09-16-2010 |
20100250886 | STORAGE SYSTEM HAVING DYNAMIC VOLUME ALLOCATION FUNCTION - Access to a plurality of logical devices is enabled regardless of the number of ports provided in a storage system and the number of logical devices that can be allocated to a single port, thereby improving the usability of the logical devices. A storage system comprises a plurality of logical devices, a target device which is the object of access from a computer, and a juke box system for allocating one of the plurality of logical devices to the target device. The juke box system changes the logical device that is allocated to the target device in accordance with a request from the computer. | 09-30-2010 |
20100313068 | INFORMATION SYSTEM AND DATA TRANSFER METHOD - Availability of an information system including a storage apparatus and a computer is improved. First and second storage apparatuses execute remote copy of copying data written into a first primary volume from the computer to a second primary volume, at least one of the first and second storage apparatuses executes local copy of copying the data written into the first or second primary volume in a self-storage apparatus to the corresponding first or second secondary volume, and the computer switches the destination of a write request of the data from the first storage apparatus to the second storage apparatus in case of a failure occurring in the first storage apparatus. | 12-09-2010 |
20100318579 | Control Device for Storage System Capable of Acting as a Constituent Element of Virtualization Storage System - A management target constituting the target of processing executed by a first storage system in accordance with a request transmitted from a higher-level device is managed by first and second management identifiers. A request designating the first management identifier is received from the higher-level device, and a first management identifier designated by the request is converted into a corresponding second management identifier. | 12-16-2010 |
20100325379 | STORAGE SUBSYSTEM AND PERFORMANCE TUNING METHOD - In a storage subsystem, performance tuning is performed with respect to all of the logical devices including external storage subsystems that are not directly connected to host computers. The physical storage units presented by the external storage subsystems are defined as logical devices of the storage subsystem, and I/O processing requests from the host computers are relayed to the logical devices. At the time of relaying, I/O processing conditions are monitored. When the load of an external storage subsystem is high, then operating conditions of ports and processors are examined. When the load can be reduced by changing the configuration of those ports and processors, the configuration is changed to reduce the load. When the load can not be reduced, data is migrated from a logical device having a high load to a logical device having a sufficient performance. | 12-23-2010 |
20110047344 | STORAGE SYSTEM FOR A STORAGE POOL AND VIRTUAL VOLUMES - This invention provides a storage system to store data used by computers. A storage system coupled to a computer and a management apparatus, includes storage devices accessed by the computer and a control unit that controls the storage devices, in which the control unit performs the following operations: setting, in the storage devices, a first virtual device including a first logical device; setting a second virtual device which including a second logical device, which is a virtual volume accessed by the computer; allocating an address of the first logical device to the second logical device; and changing the allocation to change storage areas of the virtual volume. | 02-24-2011 |
20110055504 | STORAGE SYSTEM - When a computer | 03-03-2011 |
20110055506 | Storage System and Method of Producing Recovery Volume - A storage system for writing data sent from a computer to storage regions is described. The storage system includes storage regions configured to store data, and a controller coupled with the storage regions. The controller is configured to control writing of the data from the computer. The controller is further configured to set a first storage region for writing data sent from the computer to a second storage region. The controller then acquires a snapshot of the first storage region at a predetermined time, writes a snapshot journal for the snapshot to the second storage region, and manages a snapshot management table. The controller also acquires a recovery point journal when a recovery volume designated by the computer is made, and writes the recovery point journal to the second storage region. | 03-03-2011 |
20110060885 | COMPUTING SYSTEM AND CONTROLLING METHODS FOR THE SAME - Provided is a computer system capable equalizing the storage capacity immediately and reliably to multiple real logical areas dynamically providing storage capacity to virtual logical areas. | 03-10-2011 |
20110060944 | COMPUTER SYSTEM HAVING AN EXPANSION DEVICE FOR VIRTUALIZING A MIGRATION SOURCE LOGICAL UNIT - A migration destination storage creates an expansion device for virtualizing a migration source logical unit. A host computer accesses an external volume by way of an access path of a migration destination logical unit, a migration destination storage, a migration source storage, and an external volume. After destaging all dirty data accumulated in the disk cache of the migration source storage to the external volume, an expansion device for virtualizing the external volume is mapped to the migration destination logical unit. | 03-10-2011 |
20110078121 | STORAGE SUBSYSTEM - The data up to a point of time whereat failure has occurred will be restored at high speed at a remote site without imposing any burden on a host. The first storage system on the master side processes an I/O request from the host, and as a result of I/O processing to the second storage system on the remote side, transmits the update data. The second storage system retains data received from the first storage system as update log data. The host transmits a command for settling a state of an application to the first storage system as data, and the first storage system transmits the data to the second storage system. The host and the second storage system both retain an identifier corresponding to the command, and relate the identifier to the log data. Thereby, the host designates the identifier at any given time, whereby the second storage system restores the data at any given time. | 03-31-2011 |
20110119435 | FLASH MEMORY STORAGE SYSTEM - A flash memory storage system has a plurality of flash memory devices comprising a plurality of flash memories, and a controller having an I/O processing control unit for accessing a flash memory device specified by a designated access destination in an I/O request received from an external device from among the plurality of flash memory devices. A parity group can be configured of flash memory devices having identical internal configuration. | 05-19-2011 |
20110119459 | SNAPSHOT SYSTEM - A storage system including: a storage device which configures an original volume for storing data which is read/written by a host, a copy volume for storing a copy of the original volume at a predetermined timing, and a snapshot volume for storing a snapshot data which is a snapshot of the original volume; and a controller which controls access from the host to the storage device; wherein the controller: copies data of the original volume to the copy volume at a predetermined timing; stores the snapshot data in the snapshot volume corresponding to a write request to the original volume without decreasing a performance of the original volume; manages a generation of the stored snapshot according to predetermined copy volume blocks and snapshot volume blocks, and manages a generation of the copy volume; and reads data from the snapshot volume and/or the copy volume when a read request to a volume of a generation different from that of the original volume is received from the host, without decreasing a performance of the original volume. | 05-19-2011 |
20110145495 | VIRTUAL VOLUME CONTROL METHOD INVOLVING DEVICE STOP - Provided is a storage system capable of starting/stopping a disk drive. At the time of allocating a logical device, it is judged, based on attributes including a purpose of the logical device, whether or not control can be performed in terms of start/stop of an allocation target disk drive to determine an allocation destination disk drive. Further, in the case where access to a specific logical device is stopped due to release of a path definition or other such cause, it is judged whether or not a disk drive corresponding to the logical device can be stopped. When it is judged that the disk drive can be stopped, the disk drive is stopped. When it is judged that the disk drive cannot be stopped, the logical device is migrated to another disk drive that can be stopped, a migration destination disk drive is stopped. | 06-16-2011 |
20110154102 | INFORMATION SYSTEM, DATA TRANSFER METHOD AND DATA PROTECTION METHOD - Availability of an information system including a storage system that performs remote copy between two or more storage apparatuses and a host computer using such storage system is improved. A third storage apparatus including a third volume is coupled to a first storage apparatus, a fourth storage apparatus including a fourth volume is coupled to a second storage apparatus, the first and third storage apparatuses perform remote copy of copying data stored in a first volume to the third volume, the first and second storage apparatuses perform remote copy of copying data stored in the first volume to a second volume, and the third and fourth storage apparatuses perform remote copy of copying data stored in the third volume to the fourth volume. | 06-23-2011 |
20110167215 | Storage System Comprising RAID Group - A pool that is a storage area group composed of a plurality of real pages based on a plurality of RAID groups is managed. The storage system carries out the rebuild processing that includes the steps of copying each of data that has been stored into all allocated real pages among all real pages based on a specific RAID group to an unallocated real page based on at least one RAID group separate from the specific RAID group, allocating a real page of each copy destination to each virtual page of an allocated destination of an allocated real page of each copy source, and canceling an allocation of an allocated real page of each copy source to a virtual page. | 07-07-2011 |
20110167236 | STORAGE SYSTEM PROVIDING VIRTUAL VOLUMES - Multiple storage area groups into which multiple storage areas provided by multiple storage devices are classified with reference to storage area attributes are managed. The multiple logical volumes to which, in accordance with a write request to at least one address included in multiple addresses in the logical volume, at least one storage area included in the multiple storage areas is allocated are provided. In accordance with the access condition of the at least one address in the logical volume, the data written to the at least one address by the write request is migrated from the at least one storage area included in one of the multiple storage area groups to at least one storage area in another storage area group included in the multiple storage area groups. | 07-07-2011 |
20110167294 | STORAGE SYSTEM FOR RESTORING DATA STORED IN FAILED STORAGE DEVICE - A storage system including: a controller; and, a plurality of physical storage devices coupled to the controller and constituting a RAID group; wherein the controller provides one or more logical volumes belonging to the RAID group, each of the one or more logical volumes having a plurality of storage areas; one or more virtual volumes, wherein, when receiving a write request to a virtual volume of the one or more virtual volumes, the controller allocates a storage area in a logical volume to the virtual volume; and writes data to the allocated storage area, wherein, when a physical storage device of the plurality of physical storage devices fails, the controller selectively performs a RAID restore process to a storage area allocated to a virtual volume. | 07-07-2011 |
20110178988 | COMPUTER SYSTEM AND ITS DATA CONTROL METHOD - Provided are a computer system and its data control method that enable safe backup of data and reduction in the capacity of data to be backed up. A control processor refers to a differential and, if a differential bit is “0,” encrypts data of an online VOL with an encryption circuit by using key information, and transfers the encrypted data to a second storage system. If the differential bit is “1,” the control processor performs redundancy elimination processing to journal data, thereafter compresses the journal data with a compression circuit, encrypts the compressed journal data with an encryption circuit according to the key information, and transfers the journal data that was encrypted after compression to the second storage system. | 07-21-2011 |
20110179263 | STORAGE SYSTEM FOR A STORAGE POOL AND VIRTUAL VOLUMES - This invention provides a storage system to store data used by computers. A storage system coupled to a computer and a management apparatus, includes storage devices accessed by the computer and a control unit that controls the storage devices, in which the control unit performs the following operations: setting, in the storage devices, a first virtual device including a first logical device; setting a second virtual device which including a second logical device, which is a virtual volume accessed by the computer; allocating an address of the first logical device to the second logical device; and changing the allocation to change storage areas of the virtual volume. | 07-21-2011 |
20110185148 | Data Management Method in Storage Pool and Virtual Volume in DKC - A storage system connected to a computer and a management computer, includes storage devices accessed by the computer, and a control unit for controlling the storage devices. A first-type logical device corresponding to a storage area set in at least one of the storage devices and a second-type logical device that is a virtual storage area are provided. The control unit sets at least two of the first-type logical devices different in a characteristic as storage areas included in a storage pool through mapping. The first-type logical device stores data by allocating a storage area of the second-type logical device to a storage area of the first-type logical device mapped to the storage pool. The characteristic of the second-type logical device can be changed by changing the allocated storage area of the second-type logical device to a storage area of another first-type logical device. | 07-28-2011 |
20110197044 | STORAGE SYSTEM FOR REALLOCATING DATA IN VIRTUAL VOLUMES AND METHODS OF THE SAME - A storage system comprises a virtual volume configured of multiple virtual areas and a pool configured of multiple actual area groups of different performances. The controller of the storage system manages which actual areas are assigned to which virtual areas and the access load on the actual areas assigned to the virtual areas. The controller, if the access load of a first actual area assigned to a first virtual area is inappropriate for a first actual area group comprising the first actual area, migrates data to a second actual area in a second actual area group which is appropriate for the access load of the first actual area from the first actual area. The controller performs data migration between actual areas for achieving data allocation at a certain point of time based on history information which is the information related to a virtual area at a point of time in the past and an actual area assigned to the virtual area. Data allocation is the allocation of data in a virtual area to an actual area in an actual area group. | 08-11-2011 |
20110225379 | VOLUME MANAGEMENT APPARATUS AND STORAGE SYSTEM - The present invention allocates a suitable physical device to each volume page according to the state transition command relating to paired volumes. A plurality of logical devices forming a logical storage area of a plurality of physical devices of varying performance are tiered according to the performance of the physical devices to form a pool volume, and each of the areas of the primary logical volume, secondary logical volume and pool volume are managed by a controller, divided into a primary page, secondary page and pool page. Upon receiving a pair formation-related command from the host computer, the controller allocates pool pages belonging to the same tier to the primary page and secondary page, and upon subsequently receiving a pair-related state transition command, the controller allocates a pool page, in a different tier from the primary page, to the secondary page. | 09-15-2011 |
20110246739 | STORAGE SYSTEM PROVIDING VIRTUAL VOLUMES - Multiple storage area groups into which multiple storage areas provided by multiple storage devices are classified with reference to storage area attributes are managed. The multiple logical volumes to which, in accordance with a write request to at least one address included in multiple addresses in the logical volume, at least one storage area included in the multiple storage areas is allocated are provided. In accordance with the access condition of the at least one address in the logical volume, the data written to the at least one address by the write request is migrated from the at least one storage area included in one of the multiple storage area groups to at least one storage area in another storage area group included in the multiple storage area groups. | 10-06-2011 |
20110258408 | CREATING A SNAPSHOT BASED ON A MARKER TRANSFERRED FROM A FIRST STORAGE SYSTEM TO A SECOND STORAGE SYSTEM - Storage arrangements including: a first storage system including: a first volume which includes a first data area storing data sent from a computer; and a first processor which stores data sent from the computer in the first volume; a second storage system including: a second volume which includes a second data area; a third volume; and a second processor which is configured to store data sent from the first storage system in the second volume; wherein the first processor transfers the data stored in the first data area of the first volume, to the second storage system, and the second processor stores the data in the second data area of the second volume; and wherein in executing a snapshot, the second processor checks and waits until a local copy control flag of the data that is stored in the second data area, is a predetermined value, before executing the snapshot. | 10-20-2011 |
20110289287 | STORAGE APPARATUS AND DATA MANAGEMENT METHOD - Proposes the realization of the performance stability operation of virtual volumes and the stabilized access performance for the virtual volumes in the storage apparatus. In the storage apparatus which configures a pool of multiple types of storage tiers of different performances, provides virtual volumes to the host computer and, in accordance with a write request from an application to a virtual volume, assigns pages to the relevant virtual volume from the pool, a policy associating an application with the virtual volume with which the relevant application reads/writes data, a storage tier to assign pages to the relevant virtual volume, and the priority of the relevant storage tier is managed and, in accordance with a write request from the application, complying with the corresponding policy, among the storage tiers associated with the corresponding virtual volume, pages are assigned from the storage tier of the higher priority to the relevant virtual volume. | 11-24-2011 |
20110289292 | STORAGE SYSTEM PERFORMING VIRTUAL VOLUME BACKUP AND METHOD THEREOF - The respective data fragments stored in each page assigned to the respective virtual areas of the virtual volume are copied to the logical volume, and information representing the respective copy source pages corresponding with information representing the respective virtual areas in the mapping information that indicates which storage area corresponds with which virtual area is updated to information representing the respective copy destination storage areas of the data fragments stored in the respective copy source pages and copies the updated mapping information to the logical volume which constitutes the data fragment copy destination. | 11-24-2011 |
20110296101 | COMPUTER SYSTEM HAVING AN EXPANSION DEVICE FOR VIRTUALIZING A MIGRATION SOURCE LOGICAL UNIT - A migration destination storage creates an expansion device for virtualizing a migration source logical unit. A host computer accesses an external volume by way of an access path of a migration destination logical unit, a migration destination storage, a migration source storage, and an external volume. After destaging all dirty data accumulated in the disk cache of the migration source storage to the external volume, an expansion device for virtualizing the external volume is mapped to the migration destination logical unit. | 12-01-2011 |
20110302447 | INFORMATION SYSTEM AND DATA TRANSFER METHOD - Availability of an information system including a storage apparatus and a computer is improved. First and second storage apparatuses execute remote copy of copying data written into a first primary volume from the computer to a second primary volume, at least one of the first and second storage apparatuses executes local copy of copying the data written into the first or second primary volume in a self-storage apparatus to the corresponding first or second secondary volume, and the computer switches the destination of a write request of the data from the first storage apparatus to the second storage apparatus in case of a failure occurring in the first storage apparatus. | 12-08-2011 |
20110314242 | COMPUTER SYSTEM FOR HIERARCHICALLY MANAGING A JOURNAL AND METHOD THEREFOR - A computer system having a first storage system which includes a first logical volume and a second logical volume, wherein the second logical volume stores a first differential data item representing a differential between data that was stored in the first logical volume at a first time instant and data that was stored in the first logical volume at a second time instant being later than the first time instant, and a second storage system which includes a third logical volume. The first storage system transmits the first differential data item to the second storage system, the second storage system stores the first differential data item into the third logical volume, the first storage system deletes the first differential data item from the second logical volume, and the computer system retains management information set for associating the first logical volume with the third logical volume storing therein the first differential data item. | 12-22-2011 |
20110320754 | MANAGEMENT SYSTEM FOR STORAGE SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR MANAGING STORAGE SYSTEM - Provided is a management system for a storage system, the storage system including a first storage subsystem and a second storage subsystem each including logical storage areas for storing data to be processed by a host computer, the logical storage areas in each of the first and second storage subsystems having storage tiers associated respectively with a plurality of storage area characteristic information pieces which are information pieces characterizing the corresponding logical storage areas and which are different from each other, the management system comprising a data migration management part, wherein when the data is migrated from the first storage subsystem to the second storage subsystem, the data migration management part: acquires a configuration of the storage tiers of the logical storage areas of the first storage subsystem in which the data of a migration target is stored; compares the configuration with a configuration of the storage tiers of the logical storage areas of the second storage subsystem; and then migrates the migration target data stored in the logical storage areas of the first storage subsystem to the logical storage areas of the second storage subsystem in accordance with a result of the comparison. | 12-29-2011 |
20120005504 | STORAGE SYSTEM COMPRISING FUNCTION FOR REDUCING POWER CONSUMPTION - For at least one of storage unit, processor and cache memory which are I/O process-participating devices related to I/O command process, when a load of one or more I/O process-participating devices or a part thereof is a low load equal to or less than a predetermined threshold value, a processing related to a state of one or more of the I/O process-participating devices or a part thereof is redirected to another one or more I/O process-participating devices or a part thereof, and the state of the one or more I/O process-participating devices or a part thereof is shifted to a power-saving state. | 01-05-2012 |
20120023305 | COMPUTER SYSTEM AND STORAGE CONTROL METHOD OF THE SAME - A computer system dynamically assigns the storage capacity from pool volumes to the access target in the higher-level system, and can immediately respond to the change of the status of the pool comprising the pool volumes. A control device sets the access target for the host computer to access, each time a write to the access target occurs from the host computer, from the pool assigned to the access target to the write area of the access target. The control device performs the processing of assigning the storage capacity from the logical volume in the pool. The control device defines the logical volumes in advance, compiles the same into a management group as a preliminary for the pool and, in accordance with the change of the pool status, adds the logical volumes from the management group to the pool. | 01-26-2012 |
20120036330 | COMPUTER SYSTEM AND DATA MIGRATION METHOD - With a computer system having a host computer and first and second storage apparatuses, the second storage apparatus virtualizes first logical units in the first storage apparatus and provides them as second logical units to the host computer, collects configuration information about each first logical unit, and sets each piece of the collected configuration information to each corresponding second logical unit. The host computer adds a path to the second logical units and deletes a path to the first logical units. The second storage apparatus copies data stored in the first logical units to a storage area provided by the second storage device and associates the storage area with the second logical units. | 02-09-2012 |
20120042138 | STORAGE SUBSYSTEM AND PERFORMANCE TUNING METHOD - The storage system includes a first storage system and a second storage system. The first storage system, which is coupled to a computer and the second storage system, includes a first storage control device and a plurality of first storage units. The second storage system includes a plurality of second storage units. The first storage control device provides the computer with a logical unit assigned to at least one of the second storage units, receives a first access request from the computer and sends a second access request to one of plurality of the second storage units, obtains performance information relating to the second access request, and moves data stored in at least one of the plurality of second storage units to at least one of the first storage units according to the performance information. | 02-16-2012 |
20120042141 | STORAGE APPARATUS AND CONTROL METHOD THEREOF - Improvement of read/write access performance with respect to a disk is proposed. A controller manages a first volume format LDEV, in which each distributed user data area and each distributed information area among a plurality of the distributed user data areas for storing a data part and a plurality of the distributed control information area for storing a control information part, are targets that capacity is changed. The controller also manages a second format LDEV, which include a plurality of groups each of which is formed from one distributed user data area and one distributed control information area, and in which each group is a unit that capacity is expanded in a real storage area. The controller converts a data address of the data part belonging to the first volume format LDEV into a data address of a data part of the second volume format LDEV in order to execute input/output processing with respect to the data part, when received an request for access to the data part belonging to the first volume format LDEV. | 02-16-2012 |
20120072688 | STORAGE SYSTEM AND DATA RESTORATION METHOD THEREOF - This storage system includes a first storage sub system having a first logical volume where a first data area is dynamically allocated to each prescribed area, and which stores data transmitted from a host computer in the first data area, and a second storage sub system having a second data area for backing up the first logical volume; wherein the first storage sub system includes: a first management unit for managing the status of the first data area allocated to each of the areas of the first logical volume; a transfer unit for transferring the data stored in the first data area allocated to each of the areas of the first logical volume to the second storage sub system; and a restoration unit for restoring the first logical volume based on the status of the first data area managed by the first management unit and/or the data transferred from the second storage sub system. | 03-22-2012 |
20120096231 | DATA MIGRATION SYSTEM AND DATA MIGRATION METHOD - A second storage maps a migration source volume to a virtual volume of a migration destination volume according to storage virtualization technology. A host system including a host switches an access path from an access path to the migration source volume to an access path to the migration destination volume. The second storage executes copy processing of migrating, from the migration source volume to the migration destination volume, data in an assigned area of a virtual volume according to thin provisioning of the migration source volume based on the information contained in the first thin provisioning information in the first storage, and copying that data from the migration destination volume to a virtual volume according to thin provisioning of a copy destination volume in the second storage. The second storage associates the virtual volume of the copy destination volume with the migration destination volume in substitute for the original virtual volume. | 04-19-2012 |
20120131287 | STORAGE CONTROL APPARATUS AND LOGICAL VOLUME SIZE SETTING METHOD - The present invention efficiently changes a volume size while maintaining a copy pair as-is. A PVOL and a SVOL # | 05-24-2012 |
20120131302 | CONTROL METHOD OF VIRTUAL VOLUMES AND STORAGE APPARATUS - Multiple types of storage devices which have different performance are appropriately allocated to multiple virtual volumes in accordance with the performance requirements of the respective virtual volumes. In cases where, among virtual volumes | 05-24-2012 |
20120151160 | VIRTUAL STORAGE SYSTEM AND CONTROL METHOD THEREOF - A virtual storage system is equipped with a plurality of storage systems and a virtualization device for virtualizing the plurality of storage systems logically into a single storage resource provided to a host computer. When one of the storage systems receives a command from the host computer, in the event that the storage system itself is not in possession of a function corresponding to the command, the storage system retrieves a storage system in possession of a function corresponding to the command and transfers this command to the storage system in possession of the function corresponding to the command. | 06-14-2012 |
20120166736 | STORAGE SYSTEM COMPRISING MULTIPLE STORAGE APPARATUSES WITH BOTH STORAGE VIRTUALIZATION FUNCTION AND CAPACITY VIRTUALIZATION FUNCTION - A first virtual storage and a second virtual storage share an external LU (Logical Unit) inside an external storage. The first virtual storage comprises a first LU, which comprises multiple first virtual areas and conforms to thin provisioning, and an external capacity pool, which is a storage area based on the external LU, and which is partitioned into multiple external pages, which are sub-storage areas. The second virtual storage comprises a second LU, which comprises multiple second virtual areas and conforms to thin provisioning. In a data migration from the first LU to the second LU, for a data migration from a first virtual area, to which an external page has been allocated, to a second virtual area, the first virtual storage notifies the second virtual storage of a migration-source address, which is an address of the first virtual area, and an external address, which is an address of the external page that has been allocated to this virtual area, and the second virtual storage stores a corresponding relationship between the notified migration-source address and external address. | 06-28-2012 |
20120166748 | STORAGE SYSTEM, MANAGEMENT METHOD OF THE STORAGE SYSTEM, AND PROGRAM - Provided is a technique for realizing allocation of pool areas to virtual volumes in accordance with the use environment of the user with proper cost, while improving the capacity efficiency of media. For this purpose, in the present invention, a pool is constituted by selecting or limiting combinations of tiers of media in the pool to be used (range of tiers that can be used in each pool) for each virtual volume set in a storage system (see FIG. | 06-28-2012 |
20120173802 | FLASH MEMORY STORAGE SYSTEM - A flash memory storage system has a plurality of flash memory devices comprising a plurality of flash memories, and a controller having an I/O processing control unit for accessing a flash memory device specified by a designated access destination in an I/O request received from an external device from among the plurality of flash memory devices. A parity group can be configured of flash memory devices having identical internal configuration. | 07-05-2012 |
20120191932 | COMPUTER SYSTEM AND BACKUP METHOD THEREFOR - A computer system includes a first volume that is read and written from a first computer and in which write data is written, a second volume storing journal data in the first volume, the journal data delimited at each predetermined point, a third volume as a virtual volume, a unit that creates, when a backup instruction for the first volume at a predetermined point is received, the third volume from which a second computer reads the journal data and in which the second computer writes the journal data, a unit that maps the journal data to the third volume, and a unit that transfers the write data to a storage device via the second computer or transfers, through the third volume to which the journal data is mapped, the journal data to the storage device via the second computer and backs up the write data and the journal data. | 07-26-2012 |
20120203963 | COMPUTER SYSTEM HAVING AN EXPANSION DEVICE FOR VIRTUALIZING A MIGRATION SOURCE - A migration destination storage creates an expansion device for virtualizing a migration source logical unit. A host computer accesses an external volume by way of an access path of a migration destination logical unit, a migration destination storage, a migration source storage, and an external volume. After destaging all dirty data accumulated in the disk cache of the migration source storage to the external volume, an expansion device for virtualizing the external volume is mapped to the migration destination logical unit. | 08-09-2012 |
20120210087 | METHOD OF IMPROVING EFFICIENCY OF CAPACITY OF VOLUME USED FOR COPY FUNCTION AND APPARATUS THEREOF - Provided is a computer system including: a host computer; a first storage system connected to the host computer; and a second storage system connected to the first storage system; in which the first storage system sets a first logical volume recognized by the host computer as a logical storage area; the first logical volume includes a plurality of first storage areas; a first real storage area on the first disk drive is allocated to at least one of the first storage areas. In the computer system, the second storage system sets a second logical volume corresponding to the first logical volume, and the first storage system transmits data stored in the first storage area allocated to the first storage area to the second storage system when the first real storage area is allocated to the first storage area. | 08-16-2012 |
20120226860 | COMPUTER SYSTEM AND DATA MIGRATION METHOD - A path is formed between a host computer and storage apparatuses without depending on the configuration of the host computer and a network and a plurality of volumes having a copy function are migrated between storage apparatuses while keeping the latest data. | 09-06-2012 |
20120233436 | Data Management Method in Storage Pool and Virtual Volume in DKC - A storage system connected to a computer and a management computer, includes storage devices accessed by the computer, and a control unit for controlling the storage devices. A first-type logical device corresponding to a storage area set in at least one of the storage devices and a second-type logical device that is a virtual storage area are provided. The control unit sets at least two of the first-type logical devices different in a characteristic as storage areas included in a storage pool through mapping. The first-type logical device stores data by allocating a storage area of the second-type logical device to a storage area of the first-type logical device mapped to the storage pool. The characteristic of the second-type logical device can be changed by changing the allocated storage area of the second-type logical device to a storage area of another first-type logical device. | 09-13-2012 |
20120246386 | STORAGE SYSTEM AND STORAGE AREA ALLOCATION METHOD - If a monitor measurement cycle is set as a long cycle, promotion in a short cycle cannot be performed; and even if the number of I/Os is very large in response to fluctuations of the number of I/Os in several minutes to several hours of normal work, pages will be promoted after waiting for several weeks. As a result, I/Os which could have normally accepted by an upper tier will be accepted by a lower tier, which results in a problem of worsening the performance efficiency. A monitoring system capable of preventing demotion due to temporary reduction of the number of I/Os for specific pages from a viewpoint of a long cycle and enabling prompt promotion in response to an increase of the number of U/Os for 3 | 09-27-2012 |
20120254583 | STORAGE CONTROL SYSTEM PROVIDING VIRTUAL LOGICAL VOLUMES COMPLYING WITH THIN PROVISIONING - A storage control system comprises a storage resource and a controller. If the controller receives a write command which specifies an address belonging to a virtual volume, to the area belonging to the address, unassigned pages in a pool which is a storage area based on a plurality of media types of physical storage media and which is divided into a plurality of pages are supposed to be assigned. The storage control system comprises a plurality of management entries which are a plurality of entries for page management information which is the information related to the pages. The plurality of management entries include two or more page entries and two or more statistical entries. A statistical entry about a certain media type corresponds to M pages based on the storage media of the certain media type (M is an integral number which is 2 or larger). The statistical entry corresponding to the M pages comprises the information related to the I/O performance value for those M pages. | 10-04-2012 |
20120290804 | STORAGE SYSTEM FOR A STORAGE POOL AND VIRTUAL VOLUMES - This invention provides a storage system to store data used by computers. A storage system coupled to a computer and a management apparatus, includes storage devices accessed by the computer and a control unit that controls the storage devices, in which the control unit performs the following operations: setting, in the storage devices, a first virtual device including a first logical device; setting a second virtual device which including a second logical device, which is a virtual volume accessed by the computer; allocating an address of the first logical device to the second logical device; and changing the allocation to change storage areas of the virtual volume. | 11-15-2012 |
20120297157 | INFORMATION SYSTEM AND DATA TRANSFER METHOD OF INFORMATION SYSTEM - Availability of an information system including a storage apparatus and a host computer is improved. A host system includes a first storage apparatus provided with a first volume for storing data, and a second storage apparatus for storing the data sent from the first storage apparatus. In case of a failure occurring in the first storage apparatus, the host sends the data to be sent to the first storage apparatus to the second storage apparatus. | 11-22-2012 |
20120303926 | STORAGE SUBSYSTEM - There is provided a storage subsystem having a virtual volume and a page volume which has a page physical area allocated to the virtual volume. The storage subsystem divides an address space of the virtual volume into a plurality of pages, classifies each of the pages into one of a plurality of states including at least a first state and a second state, and further divide a page which is classified into the second state into a plurality of segments to managed the page classified into the second state. The first state is a state in which a page physical area is allocated to the page from the page volume, and the write data is stored in the page physical area. The second state is a state in which the predetermined pattern data and the segment are managed, in the memory, by correlating with each other. | 11-29-2012 |
20120317373 | STORAGE APPARATUS AND METHOD OF CONTROLLING STORAGE APPARATUS - Efficient data processing is implemented by using the functions of an external storage apparatus which is connected to the virtual storage apparatus. | 12-13-2012 |
20120324162 | STORAGE SYSTEM COMPRISING FUNCTION FOR REDUCING POWER CONSUMPTION - For at least one of storage unit, processor and cache memory which are I/O process-participating devices related to I/O command process, when a load of one or more I/O process-participating devices or a part thereof is a low load equal to or less than a predetermined threshold value, a processing related to a state of one or more of the I/O process-participating devices or a part thereof is redirected to another one or more I/O process-participating devices or a part thereof, and the state of the one or more I/O process-participating devices or a part thereof is shifted to a power-saving state. | 12-20-2012 |
20120331258 | STORAGE SYSTEM GROUP - There is a journal area and one or more logical volumes comprising a first logical volume. The journal area is a storage area in which is stored a journal data element, which is a data element that is stored in any storage area of a plurality of storage areas configuring a logical volume, or a data element that is written to the storage area. A controller has a size receiver that receives a write unit size, which is the size of a write data element received from a computer, and a size setting unit that sets the received write unit size in a memory for one or more logical volumes. The size of a journal data element stored in a journal area based on the set write unit size is the write unit size. | 12-27-2012 |
20130036286 | FIRST STORAGE CONTROL APPARATUS AND FIRST STORAGE CONTROL APPARATUS CONTROL METHOD - The present invention creates a pool comprising tiers corresponding to the performance of logical volumes. | 02-07-2013 |
20130054534 | STORAGE SYSTEM AND METHOD IMPLEMENTING ONLINE VOLUME AND SNAPSHOT WITH PERFORMANCE/FAILURE INDEPENDENCE AND HIGH CAPACITY EFFICIENCY - A storage system for storage of data written from a computer, and when a write request of data to a first logical volume is received, the data on request is stored into the first logical volume. When a first-generation snapshot creation request is received, the data stored in the first logical volume at the time of receiving the first-generation snapshot creation request is written into a pool region as data corresponding to a first-generation snapshot, and when a second-generation snapshot creation request is received, any portion of the data updated after the first-generation snapshot creation request is received but before the second-generation snapshot creation request is issued is read from the first logical volume for writing into the pool region. Such a storage system favorably implements snapshot backup with no dependency with a positive volume in terms of performance and failure, and with high capacity efficiency. | 02-28-2013 |
20130097377 | METHOD FOR ASSIGNING STORAGE AREA AND COMPUTER SYSTEM USING THE SAME - When a method for relocating data to a preferable storage area based on access frequency is applied to virtual machines, it takes a long time for determining volumes that are not accessed, and the access performance is deteriorated. The present invention provides a system and method in which a utilization status of a virtual machine is checked by the storage system, and pages used by virtual machines not being utilized are relocated promptly to lower tiers and pages used by virtual machines being utilized are relocated promptly to higher tiers, according to which the performance of the system is improved. | 04-18-2013 |
20130103895 | FLASH MEMORY STORAGE SYSTEM - A flash memory storage system has a plurality of flash memory devices comprising a plurality of flash memories, and a controller having an I/O processing control unit for accessing a flash memory device specified by a designated access destination in an I/O request received from an external device from among the plurality of flash memory devices. A parity group can be configured of flash memory devices having identical internal configuration. | 04-25-2013 |
20130159651 | STORAGE SYSTEM AND STORAGE MIGRATION METHOD - A storage system and storage migration method where migration may be carried out to an access destination of a host apparatus without stopping the exchange of data between the host apparatus and the storage apparatus. This system is provided with a host apparatus inputting and outputting requests for data, a migration source storage apparatus having logical unit(s) correlated to storage regions of physical devices for storing the data, a migration destination storage apparatus having logical unit(s). The system also has an editing unit for editing configuration control information relating to the logical unit(s) for the migration source so as to match with settings for the migration destination storage apparatus, an importing unit for importing edited configuration control information to the migration destination storage apparatus, and a mapping unit for mapping the logical unit(s) of the migration source to the logical unit(s) of the migration destination. | 06-20-2013 |
20130185505 | STORAGE SYSTEM PROVIDING VIRTUAL VOLUMES - Multiple storage area groups into which multiple storage areas provided by multiple storage devices are classified with reference to storage area attributes are managed. The multiple logical volumes to which, in accordance with a write request to at least one address included in multiple addresses in the logical volume, at least one storage area included in the multiple storage areas is allocated are provided. In accordance with the access condition of the at least one address in the logical volume, the data written to the at least one address by the write request is migrated from the at least one storage area included in one of the multiple storage area groups to at least one storage area in another storage area group included in the multiple storage area groups. | 07-18-2013 |
20130254504 | COMPUTER SYSTEM AND DATA MIGRATION METHOD - A computer system and data migration method capable of replacing a storage apparatus with another storage apparatus and avoiding stopping data transmission or reception between a host computer and the storage apparatuses without depending on the configuration of existing storage apparatuses and other devices is suggested. | 09-26-2013 |
20130262803 | COMPUTER SYSTEM AND ITS DATA CONTROL METHOD - Provided are a computer system and its data control method that enable safe backup of data and reduction in the capacity of data to be backed up. A control processor refers to a differential and, if a differential bit is “0,” encrypts data of an online VOL with an encryption circuit by using key information, and transfers the encrypted data to a second storage system. If the differential bit is “1,” the control processor performs redundancy elimination processing to journal data, thereafter compresses the journal data with a compression circuit, encrypts the compressed journal data with an encryption circuit according to the key information, and transfers the journal data that was encrypted after compression to the second storage system. | 10-03-2013 |
20130282981 | STORAGE SYSTEM PROVIDING VIRTUAL VOLUMES - Multiple storage area groups into which multiple storage areas provided by multiple storage devices are classified with reference to storage area attributes are managed. The multiple logical volumes to which, in accordance with a write request to at least one address included in multiple addresses in the logical volume, at least one storage area included in the multiple storage areas is allocated are provided. In accordance with the access condition of the at least one address in the logical volume, the data written to the at least one address by the write request is migrated from the at least one storage area included in one of the multiple storage area groups to at least one storage area in another storage area group included in the multiple storage area groups. | 10-24-2013 |
20130282998 | BACKUP SYSTEM AND BACKUP METHOD - A backup system and backup method with which the processing time can be shortened without increasing the overhead and burden on the system administrator in a two-stage backup. | 10-24-2013 |
20130283000 | Storage System Comprising Function for Changing Data Storage Mode Using Logical Volume Pair - A storage system writes a data element stored in a primary volume to a secondary volume constituting a volume pair with the primary volume in accordance with a selected storage mode, which is a data storage mode selected from a plurality of types of data storage modes. This storage system is provided with a function for switching the above-mentioned selected storage mode from a currently selected data storage mode to a different type of data storage mode. | 10-24-2013 |
20130290663 | STORAGE APPARATUS AND CONTROL METHOD THEREOF - Improvement of read/write access performance with respect to a disk is proposed. A controller manages a first volume format LDEV, in which each distributed user data area and each distributed information area among a plurality of the distributed user data areas for storing a data part and a plurality of the distributed control information area for storing a control information part, are targets that capacity is changed. The controller also manages a second format LDEV, which include a plurality of groups each of which is formed from one distributed user data area and one distributed control information area, and in which each group is a unit that capacity is expanded in a real storage area. The controller converts a data address of the data part belonging to the first volume format LDEV into a data address of a data part of the second volume format LDEV in order to execute input/output processing with respect to the data part, when received an request for access to the data part belonging to the first volume format LDEV. | 10-31-2013 |
20130318196 | STORAGE SYSTEM AND STORAGE CONTROL METHOD FOR USING STORAGE AREA BASED ON SECONDARY STORAGE AS CACHE AREA - In general, a DRAM is used as a cache memory, and when attempting to expand the capacity of the cache memory to increase the hit ratio, the DRAM is required to be physically augmented, which is not a simple task. Consequently, a storage system uses a page, which conforms to a capacity virtualization function (for example, a page allocatable to a logical volume in accordance with Thin Provisioning), as a cache area. This makes it possible to dynamically increase and decrease the cache capacity. | 11-28-2013 |
20130326139 | STORAGE SYSTEM FOR RESTORING DATA STORED IN FAILED STORAGE DEVICE - A storage system including: a controller; and, a plurality of physical storage devices coupled to the controller and constituting a RAID group; wherein the controller provides one or more logical volumes belonging to the RAID group, each of the one or more logical volumes having a plurality of storage areas; and one or more virtual volumes, wherein, when receiving a write request to a virtual volume of the one or more virtual volumes, the controller is configured to: allocate a storage area in a logical volume to the virtual volume, as an allocated storage area, where reliability of the storage area is used as a criterion in a selection of the storage area for allocation to the virtual volume; and write data to the allocated storage area, wherein, the controller is configured to selectively perform a RAID allocation process to a storage area allocated to a virtual volume. | 12-05-2013 |
20130332692 | COMPUTING SYSTEM AND CONTROLLING METHODS FOR THE SAME - Provided is a computer system capable equalizing the storage capacity immediately and reliably to multiple real logical areas dynamically providing storage capacity to virtual logical areas. | 12-12-2013 |
20140006726 | STORAGE SYSTEM COMPRISING MULTIPLE STORAGE APPARATUSES WITH BOTH STORAGE VIRTUALIZATION FUNCTION AND CAPACITY VIRTUALIZATION FUNCTION | 01-02-2014 |
20140025924 | STORAGE SYSTEM INCLUDING MULTIPLE STORAGE APPARATUSES AND POOL VIRTUALIZATION METHOD - There are a plurality of storage apparatuses including a first storage apparatus and a second storage apparatus. The first storage apparatus has a virtual volume composed of a plurality of virtual segments. At least the second storage apparatus has a pool composed of a plurality of real pages (real storage areas). The plurality of storage apparatuses each manage one or more pools including at least the pool in the second storage apparatus as one virtual pool. The virtual pool is composed of a plurality of virtual pages, and each virtual page corresponds to any of the real pages. The first storage apparatus receives a write command that specifies an address belonging to an unallocated virtual segment to which no virtual page is allocated, allocates a free virtual page from the virtual pool to the unallocated virtual segment, and writes data accompanying the write command to the real page corresponding to the allocated virtual page. | 01-23-2014 |
20140101394 | COMPUTER SYSTEM AND VOLUME MANAGEMENT METHOD FOR THE COMPUTER SYSTEM - The present invention allows distribution of load generated by a single VOL to multiple processor units, by dividing the VOL into a plurality of smaller fractions called sub-VOL and distributing their ownership to multiple processor units. The division of a VOL is performed by dividing the control information of the VOL for plurality of sub-VOLs and (A) assigning VOL ownership to a processor unit for processing the tasks that are related to complete VOL (e.g. VOL RESERVE command) and (B) assigning ownership of each sub-VOL to different processor units for processing tasks that are specific to that sub-VOL (e.g. Read/Write commands). Thus the load on a singular sub-VOL owner processor unit becomes only a fraction of the total load generated by the VOL. The present invention helps in achieving a relatively even distribution of load among processor units. | 04-10-2014 |
20140115289 | DATA MIGRATION SYSTEM AND DATA MIGRATION METHOD - A second storage maps a migration source volume to a virtual volume of a migration destination volume according to storage virtualization technology. A host system including a host switches an access path from an access path to the migration source volume to an access path to the migration destination volume. The second storage executes copy processing of migrating, from the migration source volume to the migration destination volume, data in an assigned area of a virtual volume according to thin provisioning of the migration source volume based on the information contained in the first thin provisioning information in the first storage, and copying that data from the migration destination volume to a virtual volume according to thin provisioning of a copy destination volume in the second storage. The second storage associates the virtual volume of the copy destination volume with the migration destination volume in substitute for the original virtual volume. | 04-24-2014 |
20140164729 | DATA MANAGEMENT METHOD IN STORAGE POOL AND VIRTUAL VOLUME IN DKC - A storage system connected to a computer and a management computer, includes storage devices accessed by the computer, and a control unit for controlling the storage devices. A first-type logical device corresponding to a storage area set in at least one of the storage devices and a second-type logical device that is a virtual storage area are provided. The control unit sets at least two of the first-type logical devices different in a characteristic as storage areas included in a storage pool through mapping. The first-type logical device stores data by allocating a storage area of the second-type logical device to a storage area of the first-type logical device mapped to the storage pool. The characteristic of the second-type logical device can be changed by changing the allocated storage area of the second-type logical device to a storage area of another first-type logical device. | 06-12-2014 |
20140215482 | UNIFIED STORAGE SYSTEM WITH A BLOCK MICRO CONTROLLER AND A HYPERVISOR - In conventional unified storage systems, an I/O for block storage and an I/O for file storage are processed in a single OS without being distinguished, so that it was not possible to perform processes for speedy failure detection or for enhancing performances such as tuning of performance by directly monitoring hardware. The present invention solves the problem by having a block storage-side OS and an OS group managing multiple systems including a file system other than the block storage-side OS coexist within a storage system, wherein the OS group managing multiple systems including a file system other than the block storage-side OS is virtualized by a hypervisor, wherein a block storage micro-controller and the hypervisor can cooperate in performing processes. | 07-31-2014 |
20140237179 | INFORMATION SYSTEM AND DATA TRANSFER METHOD OF INFORMATION SYSTEM - Availability of an information system including a storage apparatus and a host computer is improved. A host system includes a first storage apparatus provided with a first volume for storing data, and a second storage apparatus for storing the data sent from the first storage apparatus. In case of a failure occurring in the first storage apparatus, the host sends the data to be sent to the first storage apparatus to the second storage apparatus. The same identification number is used by the host computer for accessing data stored in the first volume via a first virtual volume and for accessing data stored in a second volume of the second storage system via a second virtual volume. | 08-21-2014 |
20140281339 | COMPUTING SYSTEM AND CONTROLLING METHODS FOR THE SAME - The computer system, during the course of executing an operation of dynamically allocating a storage area to a virtual volume in response to an access from a host system, detects where a balance of a storage capacity among a plurality of logical areas is disrupted, and subsequently moves a storage area among a plurality of logical areas to maintain balance of the storage capacity. | 09-18-2014 |
20140351513 | STORAGE APPARATUS AND CONTROL METHOD THEREOF - The storage system includes a plurality of storage devices. A storage controller is configured to manage a plurality of pages in a pool provided by at least one of the plurality of storage devices, to provide a virtual storage area to a host by allocating one or more pages from the pool dynamically, in which the virtual storage area is formed with a data area and a control information area. The storage controller is further configured to expand the virtual storage area on a unit basis, where the unit is a set of a given size area of the data area and a given size area of the control information area. In response to a write request from the host, the storage controller is configured to store data into the data area and to store control information for accessing to the data into the control information area. | 11-27-2014 |
20140351540 | COMPUTER SYSTEM AND STORAGE CONTROL METHOD OF THE SAME - A computer system dynamically assigns the storage capacity from pool volumes to the access target in the higher-level system, and can immediately respond to the change of the status of the pool having the pool volumes. The control device provides a plurality of first pools, provides a second pool, allocates a storage area from one of the first pools to a logical area of the logical volume to store data to the logical area, and stores the data in the allocated storage area, adds at least one of the one or more pool volumes in the second pool to the first pool, according to the status of the first pool, and adds at least one pool volume provided by storage areas of at least one storage device to the second pool, according to the status of the second pool. | 11-27-2014 |