Capacity expansion method and device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9354826-B2
Application number	US-201414454054-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 7, 2014
Priority date	Apr 23, 2013
Publication date	May 31, 2016
Grant date	May 31, 2016

Abstract

Embodiments of the present invention provide a capacity expansion method and device, so as to reduce the time needed by capacity expansion of a hard disk. The method specifically includes: dividing, in a distributed redundant array of independent disks RAID system, each hard disk into virtual hard disks of equal size equally; dividing an original hard disk into X groups equally; selecting m virtual hard disks from each hard disk in sequence to form one original hard disk; selecting m virtual hard disks from each added hard disk and inserting the m virtual hard disks into the virtual hard disk group; moving, in the virtual hard disk group, data in virtual hard disks of the original hard disk to the virtual hard disks of the added hard disk. The present invention is applied to capacity expansion of a hard disk.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A capacity expansion method, comprising:
dividing, in a distributed redundant array of independent disks (RAID) system, each hard disk into virtual hard disks of equal size equally, wherein a quantity of the virtual hard disks is an integer multiple of m, wherein m is a maximum quantity of RAID groups that can be constructed in the distributed RAID system and m is a positive integer;
dividing an original hard disk into X groups equally, wherein X is a quantity of units of each strip in the distributed RAID system, a quantity of original hard disks in the distributed RAID system is an integer multiple of X, and X is a positive integer;
selecting m virtual hard disks from each hard disk to form one original hard disk, wherein all the original hard disks form one original hard disk group;
selecting m virtual hard disks from each original hard disk group in sequence to form one virtual hard disk group;
inserting, in the distributed RAID system, an added hard disk formed by virtual hard disks with a quantity being an integer multiple of m, wherein the quantity of the added hard disks is an integer multiple of X;
selecting m virtual hard disks from each added hard disk, and inserting the m virtual hard disks into the virtual hard disk group; and
moving, in the virtual hard disk group, data in virtual hard disks of the original hard disk to the virtual hard disks of the added hard disk.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein after selecting m virtual hard disks from each hard disk to form one original hard disk, the method further comprises:
constructing, in all the original hard disk groups and by using a distributed RAID algorithm, a RAID in virtual hard disks with a same virtual hard disk group number.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein after moving, in the virtual hard disk group, data in virtual hard disks of the original hard disk to the virtual hard disks of the added hard disk, the method further comprises:
constructing, by using a distributed RAID algorithm, a new RAID in idle virtual hard disks of a same virtual hard disk group.

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein moving, in the virtual hard disk group, data in virtual hard disks of the original hard disk to the virtual hard disks of the added hard disk comprises:
selecting, in each virtual hard disk group, original hard disks where the quantity of virtual hard disks exceeds a specific quantity in the original hard disk group, wherein the specific quantity is a quantity of virtual hard disks that can be allocated in each hard disk when the virtual hard disks are allocated equally; and
migrating data in the virtual hard disks in the original hard disks where the quantity of virtual hard disks exceeds the specific quantity in the original hard disk group to the virtual hard disks of the added hard disk equally, wherein the virtual hard disks of the added hard disk and the virtual hard disks where the data needs to be moved belong to a same virtual hard disk group.

5. A capacity expansion device, comprising:
a processing unit, configured to divide, in a distributed redundant array of independent disks (RAID), system, each hard disk into virtual hard disks of equal size equally, wherein a quantity of the virtual hard disks is an integer multiple of m, wherein m is a maximum quantity of RAID groups that can be constructed in the distributed RAID system and m is a positive integer;
wherein the processing unit is further configured to divide an original hard disk into X groups equally, wherein X is a quantity of units of each strip in the distributed RAID system, a quantity of original hard disks in the distributed RAID system is an integer multiple of X, and X is a positive integer;
a selecting unit, configured to select m virtual hard disks from each hard disk to form one original hard disk, wherein all the original hard disks form one original hard disk group;
wherein the selecting unit is further configured to select m virtual hard disks from each original hard disk group in sequence to form one virtual hard disk group;
an inserting unit, configured to insert, in the distributed RAID system, an added hard disk formed by virtual hard disks with a quantity being an integer multiple of m, wherein the quantity of the added hard disks is an integer multiple of X;
wherein the selecting unit is further configured to select m virtual hard disks from each added hard disk, and insert the m virtual hard disks into the virtual hard disk group; and
the processing unit is further configured to move, in the virtual hard disk group, data in virtual hard disks of the original hard disk to the virtual hard disks of the added hard disk.

6. The device according to claim 5 , comprising:
a constructing unit, configured to construct, in all the original hard disk groups and by using a distributed RAID algorithm, a RAID in virtual hard disks with a same virtual hard disk group number.

7. The device according to claim 5 , wherein:
the constructing unit is further configured to construct, by using a distributed RAID algorithm, a new RAID in idle virtual hard disks of a same virtual hard disk group.

8. The device according to claim 5 , wherein the processing unit comprises:
a selecting subunit, configured to select, in each virtual hard disk group, original hard disks where the quantity of virtual hard disks exceeds a specific quantity in the original hard disk group, wherein the specific quantity is a quantity of virtual hard disks that can be allocated in each hard disk when the virtual hard disks are allocated equally; and
a processing subunit, configured to migrate data in the virtual hard disks in the original hard disks where the quantity of virtual hard disks exceeds the specific quantity in the original hard disk group to the virtual hard disks of the added hard disk equally, wherein the virtual hard disks of the added hard disk and the virtual hard disks where the data needs to be moved belong to a same virtual hard disk group.

Assignees

• Huawei Tech Co Ltd

Inventors

• Xu Yan
• Sun Yaping
• Zhou Huiqiang

Classifications

• G06F3/0665

  at area level, e.g. provisioning of virtual or logical volumes · CPC title

• G06F3/0604

  Improving or facilitating administration, e.g. storage management · CPC title

• G06F3/0607

  by facilitating the process of upgrading existing storage systems, e.g. for improving compatibility between host and storage device · CPC title

• G06F3/0632

  by initialisation or re-initialisation of storage systems · CPC title

• G06F3/0629

  Configuration or reconfiguration of storage systems · CPC title