Method and apparatus of redundant path validation before provisioning

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9354915-B2
Application number	US-201213560139-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 27, 2012
Priority date	Jul 27, 2012
Publication date	May 31, 2016
Grant date	May 31, 2016

Abstract

Exemplary embodiments of the invention provide a technique to validate physical cabling and logical path before provisioning volume. In accordance with an aspect, a computer comprises a memory storing software and a processor executing the software. The software is operable to: identify first server port and second server port forming redundant ports of a server and first storage port and second storage port forming redundant ports of a storage system; and check whether a redundant relationship is formed by at least one of (i) a physical connection between the first server port and the first storage port and a physical connection between the second server port and the second storage port, or (ii) a logical connection between the first server port and the first storage port and a logical connection between the second server port and the second storage port.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer comprising a memory storing software and a processor executing the software, wherein the software is operable to:
receive an identification of storage ports of a storage system corresponding to a volume to be provisioned, wherein the identification of storage ports include a first storage port and a second storage port to be used to access the same volume to be provisioned;
after receiving the identification of the storage ports, gather preset server configuration information including server ports of a plurality of servers managed by the computer;
after receiving the identification of the storage ports, gather preset FC-SW configuration information including port connection information of a plurality of FC-SWs indicating connections between ports of the FC-SWs and the server ports or storage ports, wherein the gathered preset FC-SW configuration information further includes reserved status of each of the ports of the FC-SWs, and;
after receiving the identification of the storage ports, gather preset storage configuration information including the identified storage ports; and
validate the redundant relationship by checking whether a redundant relationship is formed by a first physical connection between a first server port of the plurality of servers and the first storage port of the identified storage ports of the storage system and a second physical connection between a second server port of the plurality of servers and the second storage port of the identified storage ports of the storage system, the first physical connection and the second physical connection are selected based on the gathered preset configuration information of servers, FC-SWs and identified storage ports, to validate the first and second physical connections, wherein the software is operable to validate the redundant relationship by checking the connections between un-reserved ports of the FC-SWs and the server ports or storage ports; and
provision the volume from the storage system after validating the redundant relationship.

2. The computer according to claim 1 ,
wherein the software is operable to validate the first physical connection between the first server port and the first storage port and to validate the second physical connection between the second server port and the second storage port in order to establish the redundant relationship of the first and second physical connections; and
wherein if the software does not validate the redundant relationship of the first and second physical connections, the software is operable to repair one or both of the first and second physical connections using reserved ports provided in reserved information stored in the memory so as to establish the redundant relationship of first and second physical connections.

3. The computer according to claim 1 ,
wherein the first server port and the second server port are used by a same virtual machine of the server.

4. The computer according to claim 1 , wherein the software is operable to:
gather additional preset FC-SW configuration information including zone information of the FC-SW;
match the gathered ports from the preset server configuration information with the zone information of the FC-SW; and
after the software has validated the first and second physical connections, check whether a redundant relationship is formed by a first logical connection between the first server port of the plurality of servers and the first storage port of the identified storage ports of the storage system and a second logical connection between the second server port of the plurality of servers and the second storage port of the identified storage ports of the storage system to validate the first and second logical connections.

5. The computer according to claim 4 ,
wherein if the software does not validate the redundant relationship of the first and second logical connections, the software is operable to create a new zone for NPIV (Node Port Interface Virtualization) with a virtual machine port WWN (World Wide Name) and a storage port WWN to repair one or both of the first and second logical connections, so as to establish the redundant relationship of the first and second logical connections for the virtual machine.

6. The computer according to claim 1 ,
wherein the gathered preset FC-SW configuration information includes correspondence of the ports of the FC-SWs, discovered server ports and storage ports and the reserved status of the ports of the FC-SWs; and
wherein the software is operable to validate the first physical connection by matching the first server port and the first storage port with the discovered server ports and storage ports corresponding to un-reserved ports of the FC-SWs, and to validate the second physical connection by matching the second server port and the second storage port with the discovered server ports and storage ports corresponding to un-reserved ports of the FC-SWs.

7. A system comprising:
a storage system; and
a computer including a memory storing software and a processor executing the software, wherein the software is operable to:
receive an identification of storage ports of a storage system corresponding to a volume to be provisioned, wherein the identification of storage ports include a first storage port and a second storage port to be used to access the same volume to be provisioned;
after receiving the identification of the storage ports, gather preset server configuration information including server ports of a plurality of servers managed by the computer;
after receiving the identification of the storage ports, gather preset FC-SW configuration information including port connection information of a plurality of FC-SWs indicating connections between ports of the FC-SWs and the server ports or storage ports, wherein the gathered preset FC-SW configuration information further includes reserved status of each of the ports of the FC-SWs, and;
after receiving the identification of the storage ports, gather preset storage configuration information including the identified storage ports; and
validate the redundant relationship by checking whether a redundant relationship is formed by a first physical connection between a first server port of the plurality of servers and the first storage port of the identified storage ports of the storage system and a second physical connection between a second server port of the plurality of servers and the second storage port of the identified storage ports of the storage system, the first physical connection and the second physical connection are selected based on the gathered preset configuration information of servers, FC-SWs and identified storage ports, to validate the first and second physical connections, wherein the software is operable to validate the redundant relationship by checking the connections between un-reserved ports of the FC-SWs and the server ports or storage ports; and
provision the volume from the storage system after validating the redundant relationship.

8. The system of claim 7 , further comprising the server having the first server port and the second server port.

9. The system according to claim 7 , wherein the software is operable to:
gather additional preset FC-SW configuration information including zone information of the FC-SW;
match the gathered ports from the preset server configuration information with the zone information of the FC-SW; and
after the software has validated the first and second physical connections, check whether a redundant relationship is formed by a first logical connection between the first server port of the plurality of servers and the first storage port of the identified storage ports of the storage system

Assignees

• Kano Yoshiki
• Ritchie Dan
• Chong Randy
• Masood Abid
• Hitachi Ltd

Inventors

• Kano Yoshiki
• Ritchie Dan
• Chong Randy
• Masood Abid

Classifications

• G06F3/067

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

• H04L12/467

  Arrangements for supporting untagged frames, e.g. port-based VLANs · CPC title

• G06F3/0665

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

• G06F9/45558 Primary

  Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects · CPC title

• H04L41/0873

  Checking configuration conflicts between network elements · CPC title