Detecting single points of failure on a storage system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11336509-B2
Application number	US-201816176752-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 31, 2018
Priority date	Oct 31, 2018
Publication date	May 17, 2022
Grant date	May 17, 2022

Abstract

Single points of failure (SPoFs) may be determined for I/O connectivity on a storage network. I/O path information may be determined for a storage device, for example, as a result of a host system logging into the storage network, and may be updated in response to events on the storage network. From this determined I/O path information, one or more SPoFs between a storage device and an application layer may be determined if, for the I/O path information collectively, it is determined that there is only one of any of the path components between the storage device and the application layer. The I/O path information may be displayed in a manner that facilitates a user identifying that there is an SPoF on an I/O path between a storage device and an application layer of a host system. Based on the determination of an SPoF, an alert may be issued.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. For a network including one or more host systems coupled to a storage system by one or more switches, the storage system including a plurality of storage devices, and the one or more host systems each hosting one or more applications of a host application layer, a method of determining whether there is a potential single point of failure between a first of the plurality of storage devices and the host application layer of any of the one or more host systems, the method comprising:
determining I/O path information for the first storage device, including:
determining at least a first of the one or more host systems operative to exchange I/O communications with the first storage device; and
for the at least first host system, determining one or more permitted I/O paths between the first host system and the first storage device, each determined one or more permitted I/O paths including at least one of each of the following: a port of the first host system, a fabric of the one or more switches and a storage component of the storage system;

for the first host system and the first storage device, performing processing comprising:
determining a first list identifying ports of the storage system to which a port of the first host system is logged-into;
determining a second list identifying ports of the storage system over which a port of the first host system is permitted to communicate with the first storage device;
determining an overlap between the first list and the second list;
determining that the overlap between the first list and the second list includes only a single port of the storage system; and
responsive to determining that the overlap between the first list and the second list includes only a single port of the storage system, performing first processing comprising:
determining that the single port of the storage system is indicative of a potential single point of failure between the host application layer of the first host system and the storage system; and
displaying, on a user interface, the first list, the second list and the single port indicative of a potential single point of failure between the host application layer of the first host system and the storage system;

determining counts for the one or more permitted I/O paths, each count being a cumulative number of one of the following: ports of the first host system, fabrics of the one or more switches, and storage components of the storage system; and
determining from the counts whether the determined I/O path information collectively includes only one of any of the following: the at least one port, the at least one fabric, and the at least one storage component,
wherein determining that collectively there is only one of any of: the at least one port, the at least one fabric, and the at least one storage component is indicative of a potential single point of failure between the first storage device and the host application layer of the first host system,
wherein the method further comprises displaying the I/O path information on a user interface in a manner that enables a user to visually determine a potential single point of failure between the first storage device and the host application layer of the first host system, including displaying, for at least a first port of the first host system, a first listing of one or more storage system ports of the storage system to which the first port is logged in and a second listing of one or more storage system ports with which the first port has permission to exchange I/O communications; and
wherein determining whether the determined I/O path information collectively includes only one of the at least one port includes determining, for each physical port of the first host system, whether two different virtual ports of the first host system correspond to a same said each physical port of the first host system, and
wherein the counts for the one or more permitted I/O paths are determined before displaying the I/O path information on the user interface.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one storage component is one of: a host adapter; or a port of the host adapter.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the I/O path information further includes:
accessing a data structure that, for each storage device of the plurality of storage devices, specifies a combination of a host port of a storage system and a host adapter port of a host system over which I/O communications with the storage device are permitted.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one fabric includes a first switch, and wherein said determining the I/O path information further includes:
for the first switch of the at least one fabric, accessing zoning information that specifies which ports of the at least first host system are communicatively coupled through the first switch to which ports of the storage system, wherein the zoning information is used by the first switch to determine internal connections between ports of the first switch to communicatively couple ports of the at least first host to ports of the storage system.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the I/O path information further includes:
the at least first host system logging into the storage system,
wherein the storage system determining I/O path information in response to the first host system logging in.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises:
determining whether the determined I/O path information collectively includes only one at least first host system, and
wherein determining that there is only one at least first host system is indicative of a potential single point of failure between the first storage device and the host application layer of any of the one or more host systems.

7. A storage system in a network including one or more host systems coupled to the storage system by one or more switches, the one or more host systems each hosting one or more applications of a host application layer, the storage system comprising:
a plurality of storage devices;
one or more processors; and
a memory comprising code stored thereon that, when executed, performs a method of determining whether there is a potential single point of failure between a first of the plurality of storage devices and the host application layer of any of the one or more host systems, the method comprising:
determining I/O path information for the first storage device, including:
determining at least a first of the one or more host systems operative to exchange I/O communications with the first storage device; and
for the at least first host system, determining one or more permitted I/O communication paths between the first host system and the first storage device, each determined one or more permitted I/O communication paths including at least one of each of the following: a port of the first host system, a switch fabric of the one or more switches and a storage component of the storage system;

for the first host system and the first storage device, performing processing comprising:
determining a first list identifying ports of the storage system to which a port of the first host system is logged-into;
determining a second list identifying ports of the storage system over which a port of the first host system is permitted to communicate with the first storage device;
determining an overlap between the first list and the second list;
determining that the overlap between the first list and the second list includes only a single port of the storage system; and
responsive to determining that the overlap between the first list and the second list includes only a single port of the storage system, performing first processing comprising:
determining that t

Assignees

• Emc Ip Holding Co Llc

Inventors

• Smith Erik P
• Rowlands Scott
• Westin Vincent H
• Martin Kevin
• Don Arieh

Classifications

• H04L41/0677 Primary

  Localisation of faults · CPC title

• H04L67/1097 Primary

  for distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS] · CPC title

• H04L41/22

  comprising specially adapted graphical user interfaces [GUI] · CPC title

• H04L49/354

  for supporting virtual local area networks [VLAN] · CPC title

• H04L43/0811

  by checking connectivity · CPC title