Storage system, controller module and method of controlling storage system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9104230-B2
Application number	US-201213685963-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 27, 2012
Priority date	Dec 27, 2011
Publication date	Aug 11, 2015
Grant date	Aug 11, 2015

Abstract

A storage-system includes a storage-device, a first-device that controls to transfer data to-and-fro the storage-device and a second-device redundant from the first-device, wherein the first-device includes a processing-device that processes a command related to input-and-output of data stored in the storage-device, a storage-unit that stores, in a correlated manner, the number of commands issued collectively during download of firmware for controlling the processing-device and response delay-time representing time in which a response has been delayed due to the download in a correlated manner, and a control-unit which retrieves the number of issuable commands corresponding to acceptable response-delay-time of the command during download and restricts issue of the command for which an issue request has been newly made if the number of commands being issued is equal to or greater than the retrieved number of issuable commands during the download, when a download request is made.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A storage system comprising:
a storage device that stores data; and
a first device that controls the transfer of data to and from the storage device and a second device which is redundant with the first device,
wherein the first device includes:
a processing device that processes a command related to input and output of data stored in the storage device;
a storage unit that stores, in a correlated manner, the number of commands when commands are issued collectively during download of firmware for controlling the processing device, and response delay time representing time in which a response has been delayed due to the download of the firmware; and
a control unit which, when a download request of the firmware is made, retrieves the number of issuable commands corresponding to acceptable response delay time of the command during download in accordance with information stored in the storage unit and, when the number of commands being issued is equal to or greater than the retrieved number of issuable commands during download of the firmware, restricts issue of the command for which an issue request has been newly made.

2. The storage system according to claim 1 , wherein, if the number of commands being issued is equal to or greater than the number of issuable commands, the control unit requests the second device to issue the command for which an issue request has been newly made.

3. The storage system according to claim 1 , wherein, if the number of commands being issued is greater than the number of issuable commands, the control unit waits for the start of download of firmware for which a download request has been made.

4. The storage system according to claim 1 , wherein, when the number of commands being issued is less than the number of issuable commands, the control unit issues the command for which an issue request has been newly made and adds, to a predetermined response wait time of the command, the response delay time corresponding to the number of commands being issued which is obtained in accordance with information stored in the storage unit.

5. The storage system according to claim 4 , wherein the control unit calculates a difference between the issue time of the command for which an issue request has been newly made and response time of the command, sets the calculated difference to response time corresponding to the number of commands being issued, and updates the response delay time corresponding to the number of commands being issued and stored in the storage unit.

6. The storage system according to claim 5 , wherein the control unit calculates a ratio of the value of the response delay time corresponding to the number of commands being issued before and after the update, multiplies, by the calculated ratios, response delay time corresponding to the number of commands different from the number of commands being issued, and updates a value obtained by multiplication in the storage unit as response delay time corresponding to the number of commands.

7. A controller module for controlling to transfer data to and from a storage device that stores data, the controller module comprising:
a device that processes a command related to input and output of data stored in the storage device;
a storage unit that stores, in a correlated manner, the number of commands when commands are issued collectively during download of firmware for controlling the device, and response delay time representing time in which a response has been delayed due to the download of the firmware; and
a control unit which, when a download request of the firmware is made, retrieves the number of issuable commands corresponding to acceptable response delay time of the command during download in accordance with information stored in the storage unit and, when the number of commands being issued is equal to or greater than the retrieved number of issuable commands during download of the firmware, restricts issue of the command for which an issue request has been newly made.

8. The controller module according to claim 7 , wherein, if the number of commands being issued is equal to or greater than the number of issuable commands, the control unit requests the second device to issue the command for which an issue request has been newly made.

9. The controller module according to claim 7 , wherein, if the number of commands being issued is greater than the number of issuable commands, the control unit waits for the start of download of firmware for which a download request has been made.

10. The controller module according to claim 7 , wherein, when the number of commands being issued is less than the number of issuable commands, the control unit issues the command for which an issue request has been newly made and adds, to a predetermined response wait time of the command, the response delay time corresponding to the number of commands being issued which is obtained in accordance with information stored in the storage unit.

11. The controller module according to claim 7 , wherein the control unit calculates a difference between the issue time of the command for which an issue request has been newly made and response time of the command, sets the calculated difference to response time corresponding to the number of commands being issued, and updates the response delay time corresponding to the number of commands being issued and stored in the storage unit.

12. The controller module according to claim 7 , wherein the control unit calculates a ratio of the value of the response delay time corresponding to the number of commands being issued before and after the update, multiplies, by the calculated ratios, response delay time corresponding to the number of commands different from the number of commands being issued, and updates a value obtained by multiplication in the storage unit as response delay time corresponding to the number of commands.

13. A method for controlling a storage system including a first device, configured to control to transfer data to and from a storage device, and a second device which is redundant with the first device, the method comprising:
retrieving the number of issuable commands corresponding to acceptable response delay time of the command during download in accordance with the number of commands when the commands are issued collectively during download of the firmware for controlling a processing device for processing a command related to input and output of the data, and in accordance with information stored in a storage unit for storing, in a correlated manner, response delay time which represents time in which a response is delayed due to download of the firmware, when a download request of the firmware is made; and
requesting the second device to issue the command for which an issue request has been newly made, when the number of commands being issued is equal to or greater than the number of issuable commands retrieved by the retrieving process during download of the firmware.

14. The method for controlling a storage system according to claim 13 , further comprising, when the number of commands being issued is greater than the number of issuable commands, controlling to wait for the start of download of firmware for which a download request has been made.

15. The method for controlling a storage system according to claim 13 , further comprising, when the number of commands being issued is less than the number of issuable commands, controlling to issue the command for which an issue request has been newly made and adding, to a predetermined response wait time of the command, the response delay tim

Assignees

• Fujitsu Ltd

Inventors

• Ando Shun

Classifications

• G06F3/0689

  Disk arrays, e.g. RAID, JBOD · CPC title

• G06F3/0659

  Command handling arrangements, e.g. command buffers, queues, command scheduling · CPC title

• G06F3/0611 Primary

  in relation to response time · CPC title

• G06F3/00 Primary

  Input arrangements for transferring data to be processed into a form capable of being handled by the computer; Output arrangements for transferring data from processing unit to output unit, e.g. interface arrangements · CPC title