Computer system, management computer and storage management method for managing data configuration based on statistical information

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9348515-B2
Application number	US-201113139664-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 22, 2011
Priority date	Jan 17, 2011
Publication date	May 24, 2016
Grant date	May 24, 2016

Abstract

A storage apparatus comprises a storage device storing data which is read/written by a host computer and a control device for controlling data writing to the storage device. The control device provides a predetermined storage area of the storage device to the host computer as one or more volumes and, in response to the request from the management computer, provides statistical information relating to the storage areas to the management computer. the management computer comprises a storage device storing a storage area management table for managing the storage area of a plurality of storage apparatuses and a control device for managing the configuration of the storage areas of the storage apparatuses. The control device manages the data configuration of the plurality of storage apparatuses on the basis of the statistical information relating to the storage areas of the storage apparatuses which is provided by the plurality of storage apparatuses.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A computer system comprising:
a plurality of storage apparatuses;
a plurality of host apparatuses configured to issue a data writing request to the plurality of storage apparatuses; and
a management computer configured to manage the plurality of storage apparatuses and the plurality of host apparatuses,
wherein the plurality of storage apparatuses, the plurality of host apparatuses, and the management computer are interconnected via a network,
wherein at least one storage apparatus of the plurality of storage apparatuses comprises:
a storage device which stores data which is read/written by at least one host apparatus of the plurality of host apparatuses; and
a control device configured to control the data writing to the storage device,
wherein the control device is configured to provide a predetermined storage area of the storage device to the host apparatus as one or more volumes and provide statistical information relating to the storage areas to the management computer in response to a request from the management computer,
wherein a volume of the one or more volumes is a virtual volume configured from different resources having different performances,
wherein the management computer comprises:
a storage device which stores a storage area management table which manages storage areas of the plurality of storage apparatuses, and
a control device configured to manage the configuration of the storage areas of the plurality of storage apparatuses,
wherein the control device of the management computer is configured to provide, to the storage apparatuses, volume units or pool units as units of the statistical information relating to the storage areas, and number of segments assigned for each resource as types and/or granularity of the statistical information or data occupancy in the volumes,
wherein the granularity of statistical information includes the number of segments assigned for each different resource,
wherein the control device of the at least one storage apparatus is configured to generate the statistical information relating to the storage areas based on the units, types and/or granularity of the statistical information relating to the storage areas provided to the management computer,
wherein the control device of the management computer is configured to calculate information relating to data configuration of the storage apparatuses based on the statistical information relating to the storage areas of the storage apparatuses and which is provided by the storage apparatuses,
wherein the control device of the at least one storage apparatus is configured to manage changes in configuration information and performance information of the storage areas of the storage device and provide, to the management computer, the statistical information relating to the storage areas based on an update in response to a request from the management computer, and
wherein the control device of the management computer is configured to manage the data configuration of the plurality of storage apparatuses by using the statistical information.

2. The computer system according to claim 1 , wherein the control device of the at least one storage apparatus is configured to assign an unassigned area among the storage areas to the data storage area of the volume in response to a write request by the host apparatus, and wherein the control device of the management computer is configured to manage the data configuration stored in the volume of the at least one storage apparatus.

3. The computer system according to claim 1 , wherein the control device of the at least one storage apparatus is configured to dynamically change assignment of the data stored in the volume to which the storage area is already assigned to the storage area of a different performance depending on the state of access to the data, and wherein the control device of the management computer is configured to manage the data configuration stored in the volume of the at least one storage apparatus.

4. The computer system according to claim 1 , wherein the control device of the management computer is configured to calculate a data migration required time when the data stored in the volume of the at least one storage apparatus is migrated to another volume on the basis of the statistical information relating to the storage areas of the at least one storage apparatus which is provided by the at least one storage apparatus.

5. The computer system according to claim 1 , wherein the control device of the management computer is configured to calculate the data access performance, when data stored in the volume of the at least one storage apparatus is migrated to another volume, of the other migration-destination volume, on the basis of the statistical information relating to the storage areas of the at least one storage apparatus provided by the at least one storage apparatus.

6. The computer system according to claim 1 , wherein the control device of the management computer is configured to manage the data configuration of the plurality of storage apparatuses on the basis of the statistical information, provided by the plurality of storage apparatuses, which relates to the storage areas of the plurality of storage apparatuses.

7. A management computer in which a plurality of storage apparatuses and a plurality of host apparatuses that issue a data writing request to the plurality of storage apparatuses are interconnected via a network,
wherein at least one storage apparatus of the plurality of storage apparatuses is configured to
provide a predetermined storage area of the at least one storage apparatus to a host apparatus of the plurality of host apparatuses as one or more volumes,
wherein a volume of the one or more volumes is a virtual volume configured from different resources having different performances,

manage changes in configuration information and performance information of storage areas of the at least one storage apparatus, and
provide statistical information relating to the storage areas based on an update to the management computer in response to a request from the management computer,
wherein the management computer comprises a storage device that stores a storage area management table for managing the storage area of the plurality of storage apparatuses and a control device configured to manage the configuration of the storage areas of the plurality of storage apparatuses, and
wherein the control device is configured:
to provide, to the plurality of storage apparatuses, volume units or pool units as units of the statistical information relating to the storage areas, and number of segments assigned for each resource as types and/or granularity of the statistical information or data occupancy in the volumes,
wherein the granularity of statistical information includes the number of segments assigned for each different resource, and
to calculate information relating to data configuration of the storage apparatuses based on the statistical information relating to the storage areas of the storage apparatuses based on units, types and/or granularity of the statistical information relating to the storage areas and which is provided by the storage apparatuses, and

wherein the control device is configured to manage the data configuration of the plurality of storage apparatuses by using the statistical information.

8. A storage management method of a computer system in which a plurality of storage apparatuses, a plurality of host apparatuses which issue a data writing request to the plurality of storage apparatuses, and a management computer which manages the plurality of storage apparatuses and plurality of host apparatuses are interconnected via a network, com

Assignees

• Kaneko Satoshi
• Yamamoto Akira
• Shibayama Tsukasa
• Hitachi Ltd

Inventors

• Kaneko Satoshi
• Yamamoto Akira
• Shibayama Tsukasa

Classifications

• G06F3/0647

  Migration mechanisms · CPC title

• G06F3/0653

  Monitoring storage devices or systems · CPC title

• G06F3/061 Primary

  Improving I/O performance · CPC title

• G06F3/067

  Distributed or networked storage systems, e.g. storage area networks [SAN], network attached storage [NAS] · CPC title