Entries |
Document | Title | Date |
20080201524 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR INCREASING VIDEO SERVER STORAGE BANDWIDTH - A system and method for storing data in a data storage system. A data storage system is provided having a plurality of hard disk drive units each of which includes a plurality of hard disk storage devices. A first logical volume and a second logical volume may be formed for storing data such that the logical volumes include a respective set of hard disk storage devices for each of the plural hard disk drive units where each of the sets of hard disk storage devices are mutually exclusive. A first data set and a second data set may then be stored in the first and second logical volumes, respectively. | 08-21-2008 |
20080201525 | RAID capacity expansion handling method and system with concurrent data access capability - A RAID capacity expansion handling method and system with concurrent data access capability is proposed, which is designed for use with a RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) unit for providing a capacity-expanding function that allows the RAID unit to add just a single disk to an original disk cluster for expanding the total capacity thereof, and meanwhile allows a network server to concurrently gain access to the data stored in the RAID unit. This feature allows the capacity-expanding procedure for the RAID unit to be implemented in a more simplified manner with enhanced system performance. | 08-21-2008 |
20080201526 | Array-type processor having delay adjusting circuit - Disclosed is an array-type processor including a data path unit in which a plurality of processor elements are arranged in an array; a state-transition management unit that stores information for controlling changeover of data paths; and a delay adjusting circuit that adjusts delay of the input clock signal based upon information output from the state-transition management unit, and provides the delay-adjusted clock signal to the data path unit. The delay adjusting circuit has a delay control information memory and a programmable delay. The delay control information memory stores a plurality of items of delay control information, delay control information is read out using a configuration number supplied from the state-transition management unit as an address, and the delay control information is applied to the programmable array. The programmable delay delays the input clock signal by a delay time specified by the delay control information and provides the delayed clock signal to the data path unit. | 08-21-2008 |
20080201527 | Data Processing System and Storage Subsystem Provided in Data Processing System - A first storage subsystem | 08-21-2008 |
20080209123 | Storage control system and method - A first storage control system comprises a CHN connected to a LAN CN. The CHN comprises a NAS processor and I/O processor. The I/O processor judges whether all or a portion of block level data is to be stored in either a first storage control system or a second storage control system, on the basis of an I/O allocation control data which indicates which of either the first storage control system or the second storage control system the block level data is to be stored in. On the basis of the result of this judgment, the I/O processor transfers the block level data from the NAS processor, to at least one of the DKA and the CHF connected to the second storage control system. | 08-28-2008 |
20080209124 | SYSTEM, METHOD AND APPARATUS TO AGGREGATE HETEROGENEOUS RAID SETS - A method according to one embodiment may include partitioning a plurality of core processors into a main partition comprising at least one processor core capable of executing an operating system and an embedded partition comprising at least one different processor core. The main partition and embedded partition may communicate with each other through a bridge. The embedded partition of this embodiment may be capable of: mapping two or more mass storage systems, coupled to the embedded partition, into a single logical device; presenting the logical device to the bridge; and receiving at least one I/O request, generated by the main partition and directed to the logical device, and in response to the I/O request, the embedded partition may be further capable of communicating with at least one of the two or more mass storage systems using at least one communication protocol to process said I/O request; and reporting the status of the I/O request to the main partition, via the bridge. | 08-28-2008 |
20080215809 | Disk drive diagnosis apparatus - According to an aspect of an embodiment, a disk drive diagnosis apparatus is included in a RAID system in which a RAID control unit and a drive enclosure that encloses a disk drive are interconnected via a fabric switch. The apparatus comprises a virtual login processing unit configured to virtually execute a login process for a fabric switch of a disk drive and a control unit configured to notify the RAID control unit of a result of the virtual login process and disconnect from a connection line for the RAID control unit a disk drive that has not normally performed the virtual login process relative to the drive enclosure. | 09-04-2008 |
20080215810 | RAID CONTROL APPARATUS AND CONTROL METHOD THEREFOR - A RAID control apparatus and control method. The RAID control apparatus includes disk devices and disk control devices including a cache memory that stores cache data of a logical unit, and control unit, upon the logical units present in different disk devices being concatenated to each other, switching in-charge disk control devices such that a disk control device is in charge of access to the concatenated logical units without writing back the cache data stored in a cache memory of a source disk control device to the disk device. | 09-04-2008 |
20080215811 | Multiple sourcing storage devices for ultra reliable mirrored storage subsystems - One aspect of the invention is a method for configuring an array of storage devices to reduce the probability of data loss due to clustered storage device failures in the array. An example of this method includes identifying all storage devices in a primary set of storage devices and a first mirror set of storage devices in the array of storage devices. This example also includes obtaining data regarding each identified storage device. This example further includes determining if any of the storage devices in the primary set of storage devices has a vital characteristic that is the same as a vital characteristic of any of the storage devices in the first mirror set of storage devices, and if so, indicating an array configuration error, and if not, continuing the configuration. | 09-04-2008 |
20080215812 | Storage system having dynamic volume allocation function - Access to a plurality of logical devices is enabled regardless of the number of ports provided in a storage system and the number of logical devices that can be allocated to a single port, thereby improving the usability of the logical devices. A storage system comprises a plurality of logical devices, a target device which is the object of access from a computer, and a juke box system for allocating one of the plurality of logical devices to the target device. The juke box system changes the logical device that is allocated to the target device in accordance with a request from the computer. | 09-04-2008 |
20080215813 | Storage system and storage management system - A storage system whereby all managers of the storage system can easily collect the history data of the manager of each partition. The storage system is designed such that the memory resources within the system are managed by a system manager while partitions of the memory resources are managed by partition managers assigned for every partition unit. The storage system is provided with management modules that change the configuration of the memory resources corresponding to the content set by the system manager or partition manager, a history data management module that creates history data correlating the identifier of the partition unit that has undergone modification of the configuration of the memory resources, the setting content, and the identification data of the manager, and a history data storage unit that stores the history data. | 09-04-2008 |
20080222354 | Method of creating a multiple of virtual SATA ports in a disk array controller - This invention discloses a method of creating a multiple of virtual SATA ports in a disk array controller, and the method builds a port multiplier in a SATA disk array controller by a software method, and the port multiplier defines several slices capable of identifying the address of a computer host system. The port multiplier is connected to at least one disk set, and each disk is divided into several data blocks corresponding to data blocks of another disk of the same disk set to constitute a synchronously updated disk backup system. The software method provides a method of connecting several storage units to overcome the restriction on the point-to-point connection of the SATA disk array system, so as to achieve a multi-driving function and a serial bus system. The invention also has the features of a low pin count and a high-frequency transmission. | 09-11-2008 |
20080222355 | Method for managing volume groups considering storage tiers - A tiered storage system according to the present invention provides for the management of migration groups. When a migration group is defined, a reference tier position is determined and the relative tier position of each constituent logical device is determined. Movement of a migration group involves migrating data in its constituent logical devices to target logical devices. The migration group is then defined by the target devices. A virtualization system makes the transition transparent to host devices. | 09-11-2008 |
20080222356 | CONNECTING DEVICE OF STORAGE DEVICE AND COMPUTER SYSTEM INCLUDING THE SAME CONNECTING DEVICE - In an environment in which plural external storage devices having different function control interfaces are intermixed, when a function of a storage device is controlled from a computer, a common interface for controlling the function of the storage device is provided. A device that provides the common interface manages an interrelationship between a storage area recognized by a host computer and a storage area provided by the storage device and associates a storage area which becomes a target of a function control instruction with the storage device that provides the storage area. A type of the storage device that provides the storage area which becomes the target of the function control instruction is identified and function control is ordered through a function control interface unique to the device. | 09-11-2008 |
20080229012 | RAID Array Auto-Initialization (RAAI) - A system and method are provided for efficiently initializing a redundant array of independent disks (RAID). The method monitors host write operations and uses that information to select the optimal method to perform a parity reconstruction operation. The bins to which data access write operations have not occurred can be initialized using a zeroing process. In one aspect, the method identifies drives in the RAID array capable of receiving a ‘WriteRepeatedly’ command and leverages that capability to eliminate the need for the RAID disk array controller to provide initialization data for all disk array initialization transfers. This reduces the RAID array controller processor and I/O bandwidth required to initialize the array and further reduces the time to initialize a RAID array. In a different aspect, a method is provided for efficiently selecting a host write process for optimal data redundancy and performance in a RAID array. | 09-18-2008 |
20080229013 | CACHE SYNCHRONIZATION IN A RAID SUBSYSTEM USING SERIAL ATTACHED SCSI AND/OR SERIAL ATA - A RAID system includes a pair of RAID controllers adapted to operate in active-active mode, each controller including a cache memory and at least one SAS/SATA I/O chip connected to a plurality of hard disk drives. Each SAS/SATA I/O chip includes more SAS/SATA ports than required to carry data to the hard drives. The caches in the respective controllers are synchronized via the extra SAS/SATA ports in each controller. | 09-18-2008 |
20080235447 | Storage device - The present disclosure relates to a method for detecting a RAID device. The RAID device includes a disk set for storing a special data and the disk set is composed of a plurality of member disks. The method comprises the following steps. The first step is to read data stored in the RAID device to determine whether or not a data read from the disk set is equal to the special data. the second step is to set one of said member disks as a failure disk to determine whether or not the failure disk affects the disk set operation. The third step is to replace the failure disk with a non-member disk and rebuilding data of the failure disk in the non-member disk to determine whether or not the rebuilt data is equal to data of the failure disk. | 09-25-2008 |
20080235448 | Storage apparatus and storage area arrangement method - This storage apparatus for providing a dynamically expandable virtual volume to a host system to access the virtual volume comprises an allocation unit for configuring a group with a plurality of disks for providing a storage area to be allocated to the virtual volume, and allocating the storage area respectively from a plurality of the groups to the virtual volume; and a storage area arrangement unit for rearranging the storage area in each of the groups being used by the virtual volume to become optimal among each of the groups based on external operation. | 09-25-2008 |
20080235449 | REBALANCING OF STRIPED DISK DATA - Provided are a method, system, and article of manufacture, where a plurality of extents are stored in a first set of storage units coupled to a controller. A determination is made that a second set of storage units has been coupled to the controller. The plurality of extents are distributed among all storage units included in the first set of storage units and the second set of storage units. | 09-25-2008 |
20080244174 | Replication in storage systems - Embodiments include methods, apparatus, and systems for replication in storage systems. One embodiment includes a method that uses a target port on a storage array to function as an initiator port on a host in a storage area network (SAN). The target port discovers storage arrays in the SAN and mimics an initiator port to transmit input/output (I/O) requests. | 10-02-2008 |
20080244175 | MEMORY SYSTEM AND COMPUTER SYSTEM - When a memory card is inserted into a computer, a memory controller sends command information stored in a memory array to the computer. Then, the computer stores the command information received from the memory card into a RAM. The computer generates a command as needed on the basis of the stored command information and sends the generated command to the memory card. When the memory card receives the command from the computer, the memory controller analyzes the received command and performs it while making reference to command analysis information. This makes it possible to reduce a load accompanying the change and addition of commands in a semiconductor memory. | 10-02-2008 |
20080244176 | INFORMATION PROCESSING DEVICE AND DISK ARRAY CONSTRUCTION METHOD - According to one embodiment, an information processing device, includes a connecting port configured to be connected by a second storage device, having a plurality of areas to duplicate data to be stored by a internal storage device having a first capacity and to be disposed in a body, and of which the capacity of each area is larger than the first capacity, an inquiring unit configured to inquire to a user which of areas in the second storage device is selected for constructing a disk array, after the second storage device is connected to the connecting port, a rebuilding unit configured to rebuild the data in the internal storage device into the area selected by the user in response to the inquiry from the inquiring unit, and a disk array construction unit configured to construct the disk array by an area corresponding to the area selected by the user. | 10-02-2008 |
20080244177 | MODULAR SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR MANAGING DATA STORAGE OPERATIONS - The invention is a modular backup and retrieval system. The software modules making up the backup and retrieval system run independently, and can run either on the same computing devices or on different computing devices. The modular software system coordinates and performs backups of various computing devices communicating to the modules. At least one module on one of the computing devices acts as a system manager for a network backup regimen. A management component acts as a manager for the archival and restoration of the computing devices on the network. It manages and allocates library media usage, maintains backup scheduling and levels, and supervises or maintains the archives themselves through pruning or aging policies. A second software module acts as a manager for each particular library media. | 10-02-2008 |
20080244178 | REBALANCING OF STRIPED DISK DATA - Provided are a method, system, and article of manufacture, where a plurality of extents are stored in a first set of storage units coupled to a controller. A determination is made that a second set of storage units has been coupled to the controller. The plurality of extents are distributed among all storage units included in the first set of storage units and the second set of storage units. | 10-02-2008 |
20080256291 | Disk array synchronization using power distribution - Disk drives are synchronized by a timing signal generated in a master disk drive. The timing signal is transmitted over a power distribution network common to the disk drives. A slave drive receives the timing signal and synchronizes at least one disk based on the timing signal. | 10-16-2008 |
20080256292 | APPARATUS, SYSTEM, AND METHOD FOR A SHARED, FRONT-END, DISTRIBUTED RAID - An apparatus, system, and method are disclosed for a shared, front-end, distributed redundant array of independent drives (“RAID”). A multiple storage request receiver module receives at least two storage requests from at least two clients to store file or object data in one or more storage devices of a storage device set. The storage requests are concurrent and have at least a portion of the data in common. The storage device set includes autonomous storage devices forming a RAID group. Each storage device is capable of independently receiving storage requests from a client over a network. A striping module calculates a stripe pattern and writes N data segments per stripe to N storage devices. A parity-mirror module writes a set of N data segments to parity-mirror storage devices. A sequencer module ensures completion of a first storage request prior to executing a second storage request. | 10-16-2008 |
20080263274 | System for Determining Allocation of Tape Drive Resources for a Secure Data Erase Process - A system is provided to ensure a timely secure data erase by determining whether allocating an additional tape drive would improve secure data erase performance by evaluating a quantity of physical volumes to be secure data erased, a maximum queued threshold, an average time to an erasure deadline and a minimum expiration threshold. An additional tape drive is allocated for the secure data erase process when it is determined that allocating an additional tape drive would improve secure data erase performance. | 10-23-2008 |
20080263275 | DATA STORAGE CONTROLLER - A system, method and computer program product for controlling a storage device. The system comprises a monitoring component for monitoring and storing information upon which storage device use can be predicted; a predictor component for predicting storage device use responsive to receipt of the information; and a control component for controlling a power-management-capable device driver to initiate a storage component of the storage device responsive to the predictor component. | 10-23-2008 |
20080263276 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR EVALUATING AND IMPROVING DISK ACCESS TIME IN A RAID SYSTEM - Techniques for improving access time in data storage systems are disclosed. These techniques can be used to prevent undesirable access delays that are often experienced in conventional storage systems. “Slow-access” can be defined as an access operation that does not successfully complete within a predetermined amount of time. The “slow-access” time can, for example, be defined based on a system requirement, specification, or a particular need of a specific application. As such, when detected “slow-access” indicates a potential performance problem that can manifest in undesirable effects. A data storage system is evaluated for potential performance problems by scanning it for “slow-access.” In addition, preventative measures are taken to prevent occurrence of a “slow-access” once it has been identified. These measures can prevent the undesirable effects experienced in conventional storage systems. This also means that specific system or application requirements can be certified and met. | 10-23-2008 |
20080270690 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR EFFICIENT UPDATES OF SEQUENTIAL BLOCK STORAGE - A system and method enhances performance of updates to sequential block storage of a storage system. According to an aspect of the invention, a disk array of the storage system is utilized to extend write buffers of the system, thereby rendering a portion of the disk array a disk-based log. To that end, one portion of the disk array is organized into a home location array having a set of sequential home locations for disk blocks. Another portion of the disk array is organized into the disk-based log having a set of log buffers configured to store versions of disk blocks that have yet to be returned to their home locations in the home location array. In addition, non-volatile memory of the storage system is organized as an index configured to provide efficient mappings of disk blocks not yet returned to their home locations. In accordance with another aspect of the invention, a novel disk-based multi-level sort procedure is provided to establish locality among updates (write data) held in the disk-based log, thereby enabling the write data to be efficiently written to home locations on the disk array. | 10-30-2008 |
20080270691 | DYNAMIC STORAGE BASED ON PERFORMANCE THROTTLING - A system and method for dynamic storage based on performance throttling. The method comprises providing an array of storage devices coupled to a computing device. The method comprises determining a status of a system condition, such as ambient temperature. The method comprises throttling the operating speed of one or more storage devices in the array based on the status of the system condition. The method comprises determining relative frequency of access to data to be stored by the computing device in the array of storage devices. The method comprises optimizing storage of data by the computing device in the array of storage devices based at least in part on 1) relative frequency of access to data and 2) which of the one or more storage devices are throttled. | 10-30-2008 |
20080270692 | Enabling and disabling cache in storage systems - Embodiments include methods, apparatus, and systems for enabling and disabling cache in storage systems. One embodiment includes a method that changes a time period for delaying host requests received at a cache of a storage device and converts the storage device from a cache enabled state to a cache disabled state while the storage device is online. | 10-30-2008 |
20080270693 | Managing resources in cluster storage systems - Embodiments include methods, apparatus, and systems for managing resources in a storage system. One embodiment includes a method that discovers storage resources for arrays in a cluster storage system. A table defines how the resources are divided among the arrays and is provided to the arrays so each array can identify which resources to manage. | 10-30-2008 |
20080270694 | Method and system for distributing snapshots across arrays of an array cluster - Embodiments of the present invention include array-cluster systems, and methods employed in array-cluster systems, that allow snapshot data to be distributed over multiple arrays within an array cluster. By distributing snapshot data over multiple arrays within an array cluster, the load, generally related to the number of access operations directed to the arrays within an array cluster, may be more evenly distributed among the arrays of an array cluster, preventing increased latencies associated with overloading individual arrays Distributed snapshots may also facilitate high availability and fault tolerance within an array cluster. | 10-30-2008 |
20080270695 | Storage system and method of managing the same - A storage system includes a plurality of storage apparatuses respectively connected to a host apparatus via a network. A disk controller of each storage apparatus has DKC identifying information for recognizing itself, a logical device identifier created based thereon, and a virtual/logical device identifier set containing a real/logical device identifier and a virtual/logical device identifier. The storage apparatus defined with a pair relationship creates a virtual/logical device identifier set of a mirrored image relationship by replacing its own real/logical device identifier and using it as its own virtual/logical device identifier. | 10-30-2008 |
20080270696 | VOLUME ASSIGNMENT MANAGEMENT DEVICE - The present invention is a management computer that determines, as the assignment source of a logical volume that is assigned in order to store predetermined data, a storage area of a RAID group including one or more disk drives among a plurality of disk drives provided in a storage system; and the CPU that executes the volume assignment module accepts a logical volume assignment request and, in cases where a logical volume assignment request is accepted, determines the RAID group which is the assignment source of the logical volume on the basis of the access trend assumed for the logical volume which is the subject of the assignment request. | 10-30-2008 |
20080270697 | STORAGE SYSTEM AND INFORMATION TRANSFER METHOD FOR THE SAME - Before transferring a file, a CPU executes the following processing based on a transfer processing program: obtaining the directory tree structure of a transfer-source storage device; dividing the directory tree into directory trees so that each divided directory tree is structured within the full path length of a directory tree that can be handled by a transfer-destination storage device; associating the divided directory trees with each other; and then storing the associated directory trees in a volume of the transfer-destination storage device. | 10-30-2008 |
20080270698 | Data migration including operation environment information of a host computer - A technology that improves the reproducibility of stored data in response to a change in the operation environment of the host computer is provided. Operation environment identification information that identifies the operation environment of the host computer is obtained, the software operation environment identified by the operation environment identification information is obtained as a stored software environment from the host computer | 10-30-2008 |
20080270699 | System for controlling spinning of disk - A system for controlling spinning of a disk is provided to prevent deterioration of the access response speed and to suppress the power consumption. The system includes a controller controlling a file system, and a disk array system storing data of the file system. The disk array system includes a plurality of logical volumes, each of which is configured by at least one disk device, and a disk controller controlling data input/output to/from the plurality of logical volumes. The plurality of logical volumes includes at least one first type logical volume which is controlled so that spinning of a disk device that configures the logical volume can be stopped, and at least one second type logical volume which is controlled so that spinning of a disk device that configures the logical volume cannot be stopped. Data satisfying a predetermined condition is stored in the second type logical volume. | 10-30-2008 |
20080276041 | DATA STORAGE ARRAY SCALING METHOD AND SYSTEM WITH MINIMAL DATA MOVEMENT - A method for rearranging data blocks in a data storage system when adding new storage devices to create an expanded data storage system. A temporary configuration is selected for which the exchange of one or more data blocks between the temporary configuration and the source configuration produces the destination configuration before identifying and exchanging data blocks between the temporary configuration and the source configuration to produce the destination configuration. A single data element transfer chain embodiment provides superior performance in an embodiment that maintains (does not reduce) the source array data storage efficiency at the destination array after scaling. When adding a single new device to an existing array, the required data movement is minimized and does not exceed the capacity of the new device. | 11-06-2008 |
20080276042 | DATA STORAGE SYSTEM AND METHOD - Disclosed are a redundant data storage system (e.g., a RAID system) and a method of operating such a redundant data storage system that provides significant power savings with minimal reduction in reliability. The system and method allow up to half of the memory devices in any of the memory arrays in the system to be placed in standby without significantly impacting the read accesses. The system and method further designate reserved areas in the active memory devices as write-journals, which have at least the same level of protection as the main arrays. The write-journals allow data to be written without powering up a standby memory device. Thus, power consumption is minimized without impacting reliability. | 11-06-2008 |
20080276043 | DATA STORAGE SYSTEM AND METHOD - Disclosed are a redundant data storage system (e.g., a RAID system) and a method of operating such a redundant data storage system that provides significant power savings with minimal reduction in reliability. The system and method allow up to half of the memory devices in any of the memory arrays in the system to be placed in standby without significantly impacting the read accesses. The system and method further designate reserved areas in the active memory devices as write-journals, which have at least the same level of protection as the main arrays. The write-journals allow data to be written without powering up a standby memory device. Thus, power consumption is minimized without impacting reliability. | 11-06-2008 |
20080282030 | DYNAMIC INPUT/OUTPUT OPTIMIZATION WITHIN A STORAGE CONTROLLER - A system and method for optimizing accesses to storage devices based on RAID I/O request characteristics is disclosed. A current I/O request processed by a storage controller is analyzed for relative locality to a previous I/O request, and adjusted over time such that storage device accesses will be efficiently conducted with respect to sequential or random workloads. A storage device access profile is maintained for each storage device based on sequential or random locality characteristics of previous RAID I/O requests. The chunk locations of the two most recent accesses are sampled according to predetermined criteria in order to create a storage device access profile, which governs queue depth and I/O size parameters used to communicate with storage devices. By managing I/O requests to storage devices using this invention, performance of such a storage controller will be optimized for changing random and sequential workloads. | 11-13-2008 |
20080282031 | STORAGE MEDIUM CONTROL UNIT, DATA STORAGE DEVICE, DATA STORAGE SYSTEM, METHOD, AND CONTROL PROGRAM - To prevent random access commands from remaining even in the case of mixed sequential and random accesses. A storage medium control unit is used in a data storage device adapted to perform processing on a data storage medium based on multiple requests including sequential access requests and random access requests. The storage medium control unit includes: request response delay monitoring device for monitoring the presence of delay in response to the requests based on whether or not the response time for each request exceeds a certain allowable delay time; and request control device for preventing the rearrangement processing of the sequential access requests and controlling the processing of the requests to be performed in a certain request order at the allowable delay time if exceeded. | 11-13-2008 |
20080294843 | MINIMIZING CONFIGURATION CHANGES IN A FABRIC-BASED DATA PROTECTION SOLUTION - A method, system, and apparatus of minimizing configuration of changes in a fabric-based data protection solution. In one embodiment, a method includes configuring a switch such that a write request to a primary storage device is transferred through a virtual initiator in the switch to the primary storage device and to a secondary storage device, and configuring the switch such that a read request from the secondary initiator of a data in the primary storage device appears as though the read request is coming from a physical initiator rather than the secondary initiator (e.g., such that system protocol may be bypassed because the switch intercepts a response having the data from the primary storage device through a virtual target which uses the virtual initiator of the switch to communicate the data to the secondary initiator rather than the physical initiator). | 11-27-2008 |
20080294844 | Storage controller managing logical volume - A storage controller is provided to prevent access performance from dropping. The storage controller comprises a processor unit, a network controller, and a cache memory, and a disk controller connected to a logical volume. The processor unit includes: a file creating module which creates a file in the logical volume; an arrangement information management module which manages information on an arrangement of the file created in the logical volume; and a file presenting module which presents the file as a virtual volume based on the arrangement information stored in the cache memory. | 11-27-2008 |
20080301366 | RAID SYSTEM AND DATA TRANSFER METHOD IN RAID SYSTEM - There is provided a novel storage system in which the number of signal lines will not increase even if the number of storage devices to be connected in a RAID system increases, and a novel data transfer method to enable a high-speed data transfer even when the transfer rate of the IDE device side is low. A RAID system ( | 12-04-2008 |
20080307161 | Method For Accessing Target Disk, System For Expanding Disk Capacity and Disk Array - The present invention discloses a method for accessing a target disk and a system for expanding disk capacity. A processing unit of a master disk array sends a command or data to a PCIe switching unit of the master disk array upon receipt of the command or data; the PCIe of the master disk array sends the received command or data to a control unit in a corresponding disk array according to an address of a target disk indicated in the command or data; the control unit in the corresponding disk array sends the received command or data to the target disk that is directly connected to the control unit. The present invention also discloses a master disk array and a slave disk array. | 12-11-2008 |
20080313397 | OPTIMIZATION OF STORAGE DEVICE ACCESSES IN RAID SYSTEMS - A result value, such as a parity value, for a set of corresponding data elements from a plurality of storage devices is determined using a commutative operation. When accessing the set of corresponding data elements from a plurality of storage devices, a dual access can be performed for the storage device accessed last for the set of corresponding data elements so as to also obtain a data element from the last-accessed storage device for the next parity calculation. As a result, the number of storage device accesses can be reduced compared to conventional systems whereby a single access is performed for each storage device to obtain a single data element from the storage device. | 12-18-2008 |
20080313398 | STORAGE SYSTEM THAT EXECUTES PERFORMANCE OPTIMIZATION THAT MAINTAINS REDUNDANCY - One storage area is selected from two or more storage areas of a high load physical storage device, a physical storage device withal lower load than that of the physical storage device is selected, and it is judged whether the redundancy according to the RAID level corresponding to the logical volume decreases when the data elements stored in the selected storage area are transferred to the selected low load physical storage device. If the result of this judgment is that the redundancy does not decrease, the data elements stored in the selected storage area are transferred to a buffer area of the selected low load physical storage device and the logical address space of the logical volume that corresponds to the selected storage area is associated with the buffer area. | 12-18-2008 |
20080313399 | STORAGE CONTROL SYSTEM AND METHOD - A disk array system including a plurality of disk drives, including: a plurality of first-type disk drives being used to form a first-type logical unit having a plurality of a first-type of chunks; a plurality of second-type disk drives being used to form a second-type logical unit having a plurality of a second-type of chunks; and a storage controller, if the storage controller copies data stored in a source chunk to a destination chunk, selecting the destination chunk from the first-type of chunks or the second-type of chunks. | 12-18-2008 |
20080320218 | Disk array apparatus and control method for disk array apparatus - Resources of a storage apparatus are utilized effectively by increasing and reducing a capacity of a differential LU used in a snapshot. In a disk array apparatus including a control processor which controls reading and writing of data with respect to a first logical volume which is generated using storage areas of a plural disk drives, performs control such that data in the past stored in the first logical volume is written in a second logical volume as differential data for each generation, and manages the differential data, the control processor manages a pool management table, in which a logical volume usable as the second logical volume is registered, and a pool addition object management table, in which a logical volume which can be added to the second logical volume is registered, and moves the logical volume from the pool addition object management table to the pool management table to thereby increase a capacity of the second logical volume. | 12-25-2008 |
20080320219 | COMPUTER AND METHOD FOR CONFIGURING DATA BACKUP ENVIRONMENT USED BY PLURALITY OF ASSOCIATIVELY OPERATED APPLICATIONS - The present invention stores application management information indicating respective applications constituting a federated application environment, which is a group constituted by a plurality of associatively operated applications. By referencing this application management information, a plurality of applications constituting this federated application environment are specified. A plurality of first logical volumes allocated to the specified plurality of applications, and a plurality of second logical volumes constituting the backup targets for data stored in the plurality of first logical volumes, are assigned to the same volume group. | 12-25-2008 |
20080320220 | Storage system, data transfer method, and program - The present invention suggests a storage system capable of realizing highly reliable data back-up. | 12-25-2008 |
20080320221 | Storage system and storage control method comprising router and switch communication with RAID modules - A storage system comprises a router, which receives and transfers commands; a plurality of RAID modules; and a switch, which receives commands from the router and transmits the commands to any of the plurality of RAID modules. Each RAID module comprises a plurality of media drives, a RAID group is provided by the plurality of media drives. Each RAID module comprises an independent RAID group which does not extend into other RAID groups. In the storage system, the router performs transfer of commands without performing analysis of commands, and a processor within the RAID module performs command analysis. | 12-25-2008 |
20090006737 | Implementing A Redundant Array Of Inexpensive Drives - Methods, apparatus, and products are disclosed for implementing a redundant array of inexpensive drives (‘RAID’) with an external RAID controller and hard disk drives from separate computers, including configuring by the external RAID controller a RAID array, the RAID array comprising hard disk drives from the separate computers, the external RAID controller comprising a hardware RAID controller installed externally with respect to the separate computers, and storing, by one or more of the separate computers through the external RAID controller, computer data on the RAID array. | 01-01-2009 |
20090006738 | HOST ADAPTIVE SEEK TECHNIQUE ENVIRONMENT - A data storage system and associated method implement a HASTE with a policy engine that continuously collects qualitative information about a network load to the data storage system in order to dynamically characterize the load, and continuously correlates a command profile to a data storage device of the data storage system in relation to the characterization. | 01-01-2009 |
20090006739 | REQUEST PRIORITY SEEK MANAGER - As apparatus and associated method for a dual active-active array storage system with a first controller with top level control of a first memory space and a second controller with top level control of a second memory space different than the first memory space. A seek manager residing in only one of the controllers defines individual command profiles derived from a combined list of data transfer requests from both controllers. A policy engine continuously collects qualitative information about a network load to both controllers to dynamically characterize the load, and governs the seek manager to continuously correlate each command profile in relation to the load characterization. | 01-01-2009 |
20090006740 | DATA STRUCTURE FOR HIGHLY EFFICIENT DATA QUERIES - Apparatus and method for highly efficient data queries. In accordance with various embodiments, a data structure is provided in a memory space with a first portion characterized as a virtual data space storing non-sequential entries and a second portion characterized as a first data array of sequential entries. At least a first sequential entry of the data array points to a skip list, at least a second sequential entry of the data array points to a second data array, and at least a third sequential entry points to a selected non-sequential entry in the first portion. | 01-01-2009 |
20090006741 | PREFERRED ZONE SCHEDULING - A data storage system and associated method are provided wherein a policy engine continuously collects qualitative information about a network load to the data storage system in order to dynamically characterize the load and continuously correlates the load characterization to the content of a command queue of transfer requests for writeback commands and host read commands, selectively limiting the content with respect to writeback commands to only those transfer requests for writeback data that are selected on a physical zone basis of a plurality of predefined physical zones of a storage media. | 01-01-2009 |
20090006742 | Method and apparatus improving performance of a digital memory array device - A method for improving performance of a digital memory array device including a plurality of memory cells; each respective memory cell storing a first digital value and a second digital value being an inverse of the first digital value; storing of the first and second digital values being controlled by a first digital signal effecting selection of a specified memory cell for storing; includes: (a) determining an extant value relating to the first digital signal; (b) if the extant value has a first value, effecting a bit flip operation in the specified memory cell to invert values of at least one of the stored first digital and the second digital values; (c) if the extant value does not have the first value, foregoing the bit flip operation in the specified memory cell. | 01-01-2009 |
20090006743 | Writing data to multiple storage devices - In one embodiment, the present invention includes a method to write a first block group of multiple data blocks of a write request into a first disk in a first time period, and write a second block group of the multiple data blocks into the second disk in the first time period. Later a flip write process may be performed to write the first and second block groups into the other disk. Other embodiments are described and claimed. | 01-01-2009 |
20090006744 | Automated intermittent data mirroring volumes - Methods and apparatus relating to automated intermittent data mirroring volumes are described. In one embodiment, data mirroring may be suspended in response to occurrence of a scheduled or predefined event. Other embodiments are also disclosed. | 01-01-2009 |
20090006745 | Accessing snapshot data image of a data mirroring volume - Methods and apparatus relating to accessing snapshot data image of a data mirroring volume are described. In one embodiment, a host computer is allowed to access a first data volume and a second data volume. The second data volume may comprise data corresponding to a snapshot image of the first data volume prior to a suspension of data mirroring. Other embodiments are also disclosed. | 01-01-2009 |
20090006746 | Online Restriping Technique for Distributed Network Based Virtualization - A technique is provided for implementing online restriping of a volume in a storage area network. A first instance of the volume is instantiated at a first port of the fibre channel fabric for enabling I/O operations to be performed at the volume. While restriping operations are being performed at the volume, the first port is able to concurrently perform I/O operations at the volume. | 01-01-2009 |
20090019222 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR PLACEMENT OF LOGICAL DATA STORES TO MINIMIZE REQUEST RESPONSE TIME - Logical data stores are placed on storages to minimize store request time. The stores are sorted. A store counter and a storage counter are each set to one. (A), (B), and (C) are repeated until the storage counter exceeds the number of storages within the array. (A) is setting a load for the storage specified by the storage counter to zero. (B) is performing (i), (ii), and (iii) while the load for the storage specified by the storage counter is less an average determined load over all the storages. (i) is allocating the store specified by the store counter to the storage specified by the storage counter; and, (ii) is incrementing the load for this storage by this storage's request arrival rate multiplied by an expected service time for the requests of this store. (iii) is incrementing the store counter by one. (C) is incrementing the storage counter by one. | 01-15-2009 |
20090024792 | DISK ARRAY INCLUDING PLURAL EXCHANGEABLE MAGNETIC DISK UNIT - To provide a storage apparatus in which a plurality of drives in a unit are separately treated and the unit can be easily exchanged for another unit even when RAID groups are freely composed. The storage apparatus includes a plurality of drive cases in each of which a plurality of units are detachably mounted, each of the units including a plurality of drives that are detachably, and a controller case in which a disk control section is provided, wherein the disk control section comprises a RAID group creation section for creating a RAID group using the plurality of disks and an exchange indicating section for giving a notice that a unit is ready to exchange after rebuilding or copying of data in disks included in the unit at the time of exchange of the unit. | 01-22-2009 |
20090031080 | FLASH MEMORY DEVICE AND PROGRAM METHOD THEREOF - A flash memory device includes a memory cell array, a peri circuit unit, an I/O controller, and a controller. The memory cell array includes a plurality of memory cells respectively connected to a plurality of bit line pairs and a plurality word lines. The peri circuit unit is configured to program data into the memory cell array or read data stored in the memory cell array in response to a command input through a control bus. The I/O controller is configured to receive data for programming and supply the data to the peri circuit unit in response to a command provided through a data input/output (I/O) bus. The controller is configured to control the I/O controller to perform a voltage setup operation for a program while the data for program is received. | 01-29-2009 |
20090037655 | System and Method for Data Storage and Backup - Systems and methods for data storage and backup are disclosed. A system for data storage and backup may include a storage array comprising one or more storage resources and an agent running on a host device, the agent communicatively coupled to the storage array. The agent may be operable to automatically allocate one or more storage resources for the storage of data associated with a backup job of the hose device and communicate the data associated with the backup job to the allocated storage resources. | 02-05-2009 |
20090037656 | STORAGE SYSTEM HAVING RAID LEVEL CHANGING FUNCTION - A plurality of storage devices, provided in a storage system, comprise not less than two member storage devices, which are storage devices provided as members of a RAID group, and a spare storage device, which is not a member of the RAID group. A controller, provided in the storage system, uses the spare storage device to carry out the changing of the RAID level of the RAID group from a first RAID level to a second RAID level. | 02-05-2009 |
20090043962 | ANOMALY NOTIFICATION CONTROL IN DISK ARRAY - In a storage device incorporating a plurality of kinds of disk drives with different interfaces, the controller performs sparing on a disk drive, whose errors that occur during accesses exceed a predetermined number, by swapping it with a spare disk drive that is prepared beforehand. | 02-12-2009 |
20090049239 | CONSISTENT DATA STORAGE SUBSYSTEM CONFIGURATION REPLICATION IN ACCORDANCE WITH PORT ENABLEMENT SEQUENCING OF A ZONEABLE SWITCH - Consistency for replicating data storage subsystem configurations in accordance with a “golden” configuration file. A data storage subsystem comprises a blade system configured to support a plurality of blades and a storage system, each arranged in a predetermined slot of the blade system, and at least one zoneable switch whose zoning is disabled at power on. A management module operates the blade system to power on all slots. The storage system, in accordance with a “golden” configuration file, transfers port enablement sequencing to the switch, and the switch enables and zones ports in sequence to allow the server blades to see the storage system in accordance with the port enablement sequence. The storage system is configured with the “golden” configuration file to log on the server blades in accordance with the port enablement sequence to logically configure the server blades in accordance with the “golden” configuration file. | 02-19-2009 |
20090049240 | APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR STORAGE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM - A storage apparatus, method and program are provided. The apparatus includes a management information storing unit that stores management information which defines storage nodes to allocate primary data used as a destination of access and secondary data used as a backup. The apparatus also includes data allocation unit that divides storage nodes | 02-19-2009 |
20090049241 | METHOD FOR CONTROLLING STORAGE SYSTEM, AND STORAGE CONTROL APPARATUS - A method for controlling a storage system including a host computer, and a first and a second storage control apparatuses each receiving a data input/output request from the host computer and executing a data input/output process for a storage device in response to the request, comprises connecting a first communication path between the host computer and the first apparatus; connecting a second communication path between the first apparatus and the second apparatus; receiving by the first apparatus a first data input/output request from the host computer through the first path; when the first apparatus has judged that the first request is not for the first apparatus, transmitting by the first apparatus a second data input/output request corresponding to the first request, to the second apparatus through the second path; and by the second apparatus, receiving the second request and executing a data input/output process corresponding to the second request received. | 02-19-2009 |
20090055584 | DETECTION AND CORRECTION OF DROPPED WRITE ERRORS IN A DATA STORAGE SYSTEM - Method, system and computer program product are provided for detecting and correcting dropped writes in a storage system. Data and a checksum are written to a storage device, such as a RAID array. The state of the data is classified as being in a “new data, unconfirmed” state. The state of written data is periodically checked, such as with a timer. If the data is in the “new data, unconfirmed” state, it is checked for a dropped write. If a dropped write has occurred, the state of the data is changed to a “single dropped write confirmed” state and the dropped write error is preferably corrected. If no dropped write is detected, the state is changed to a “confirmed good” state. If the data was updated through a read-modified-write prior to being checked for a dropped write event, its state is changed to an “unquantifiable” state. | 02-26-2009 |
20090055585 | METHOD FOR AUTO-CORRECTION OF ERRORS IN A RAID MEMORY SYSTEM - A method for auto-correction of errors in an array of disk storage devices ( | 02-26-2009 |
20090055586 | COMPUTER SYSTEM HAVING AN EXPANSION DEVICE FOR VIRTUALIZING A MIGRATION SOURCE LOGICAL UNIT - A migration destination storage creates an expansion device for virtualizing a migration source logical unit. A host computer accesses an external volume by way of an access path of a migration destination logical unit, a migration destination storage, a migration source storage, and an external volume. After destaging all dirty data accumulated in the disk cache of the migration source storage to the external volume, an expansion device for virtualizing the external volume is mapped to the migration destination logical unit. | 02-26-2009 |
20090063767 | Method for Automatically Configuring Additional Component to a Storage Subsystem - A method for automatically configuring a newly added component to a storage subsystem is disclosed. In response to a new component being connected to a storage subsystem, a determination is made whether or not the new component is a host computer or a disk drive. If the new component is a host computer, the new component is added to the storage subsystem as a host computer when the number of computer systems that can be supported by the storage subsystem has not yet been exceeded. If the new component is a disk drive, the new component is allocated to a pool of storage devices within the storage subsystem, wherein some of the pool of storage devices are held in reserve while some of the pool of storage devices are allocated to a host computer based on policy rules. | 03-05-2009 |
20090063768 | ALLOCATION OF HETEROGENEOUS STORAGE DEVICES TO SPARES AND STORAGE ARRAYS - A plurality of storage devices of a plurality of types is provided. A plurality of criteria is associated for each of the plurality of storage devices, based on characteristics of the plurality of storage devices, wherein the plurality of criteria can be used to determine whether a selected storage device is a compatibility spare for a storage device in a storage device array, and whether the selected storage device is an availability spare for the storage device in the storage device array. A determination is made by a spare management application, based on at least the plurality of criteria and at least one optimality condition, of a first set of storage devices selected from the plurality of storage devices to be allocated to a plurality of storage device arrays, and of a second set of storage devices selected from the plurality of storage devices to be allocated as spares for the plurality of storage device arrays. An allocation is made of the first set of storage devices to the plurality of storage device arrays. An allocation made of the second set of storage devices as spares for the plurality of storage device array. | 03-05-2009 |
20090063769 | RAID APPARATUS, CONTROLLER OF RAID APPARATUS AND WRITE-BACK CONTROL METHOD OF THE RAID APPARATUS - A RAID apparatus includes a plurality of recording devices, a first adaptor connected to a first interface which is connected to a high-level apparatus, a controller for controlling processing of data transmitted by the high-level apparatus, and a second adaptor that connects to a second interface connected to a plurality of recording devices. The controller has a first memory area in which said data are stored, a second memory area used for a write-back of the data in said plurality of recording devices, a write-back information control unit controlling a write-back type of data stored in the first memory area and a usage state of the second memory area, a write-back data determination unit for determination of data to be written-back based on the write-back information, and a write-back execution unit for executing a write-back of the data to be written back on the plurality of recording devices. | 03-05-2009 |
20090063770 | STORAGE CONTROL APPARATUS, STORAGE CONTROL PROGRAM, AND STORAGE CONTROL METHOD - A storage control apparatus controls a logical volume using a plurality of recording media. The storage control apparatus includes: a management database that manages information of the recording media, type of the logical volume using the recording media, and state of the logical volume, and a control section that sets, when receiving a first instruction of changing a non-mirrored volume set in advance in the management database to a mirrored volume, the non-mirrored volume as a mirrored volume in a non-redundant state which is a state where only one of recording media constituting a mirroring pair exists, in the management database and performs rebuild processing of the mirrored volume in the non-redundant state. | 03-05-2009 |
20090070528 | APPARATUS, SYSTEM, AND METHOD FOR INCREMENTAL RESYNCHRONIZATION IN A DATA STORAGE SYSTEM - An apparatus, system, and method are disclosed for performing an incremental resynchronization between two unrelated volumes when a third volume fails. The apparatus, system, and method include initiating registration of changed tracks; keeping track of bytes in flight activities between a local volume and an intermediate volume; recording the changed tracks in bitmaps at the local volume; stopping the recording of the changed tracks; and starting a resynchronization process by sending the changed tracks to a recovery volume. | 03-12-2009 |
20090070529 | DATA PROTECTION AFTER POSSIBLE WRITE ABORT OR ERASE ABORT - A portion of a nonvolatile memory array that is likely to contain, partially programmed data may be identified from a high sensitivity read, by applying stricter than usual ECC requirements, or using pointers to programmed sectors. The last programmed data may be treated as likely to be partially programmed data. Data in the identified portion may be copied to another location, or left where it is with an indicator to prohibit further programming to the same cells. To avoid compromising previously stored data during subsequent programming, previously stored data may be backed up. Backing up may be done selectively, for example, only for nonsequential data, or only when the previously stored data contains an earlier version of data being programmed. If a backup copy already exists, another backup copy is not created. Sequential commands are treated as a single command if received within a predetermined time period. | 03-12-2009 |
20090070530 | STORAGE SYSTEM AND REPLICATION CREATION METHOD THEREOF - In a storage system having a plurality of control units each connected with a plurality of disk units, it is provided that a replication is created in the volume of the disk units connected to different control units. The replication creation unit of a given control unit creates a replication in the volume of the disk unit connected to other control units in such a manner that the original volume information, the replication volume information in the control unit and information on the other control units are registered as volume pair information. Based on this volume pair information, a replication creation request is transmitted to the other control units. | 03-12-2009 |
20090077314 | METHOD FOR OPTIMIZED DATA RECORD VERIFICATION - A method for optimized data record verification when processing data-chained channel control words that span a single count field is provided. The method includes reading a first portion of a count field into a sequence buffer memory buffer and a store count field buffer. The first portion of the count field is copied to a local memory location. A first starting offset based on a size of the first portion of the count field is determined. The first portion of the count field is read into a sequence buffer memory bit bucket. A second portion of the count field, beginning at the first starting offset, is read into the sequence buffer memory buffer and the store count field buffer. The second portion of the count field is copied from the store count field buffer into the local memory location. | 03-19-2009 |
20090077315 | Storage system and data rearrangement method - The first storage apparatus includes a transmission unit for sending to a host computer, if data rearrangement in a volume is executed, a data transmission switching request for switching the transmission destination of write data, and a rearrangement unit for rearranging data in the volume. The host computer includes a data transmission switching unit for switching, after receiving the data transmission switching request from the transmission unit, the transmission destination of the write data from a first virtual volume in the first storage apparatus to a second virtual volume in a second storage apparatus. The rearrangement unit rearranges data in the first volume after the data transmission switching unit switches the transmission destination of the write data from the first virtual volume in the first storage apparatus to the second virtual volume in the second storage apparatus. | 03-19-2009 |
20090083481 | METHOD FOR MAPPING WRITE OPERATION OF RAID DEVICE - A method for mapping a write operation of an RAID device, includes flowing steps, initiating a mirroring device built in each member disk of the RAID device; activating a kernel thread, for monitoring the operation state of the RAID device, and recording current usage information; and if an incorrect write operation occurs to a member disk of the RAID device, storing the data of the incorrect write operation into a mirroring device of another member disk of the RAID device through the kernel thread. The method ensures the integrity and safety of the data stored in the RAID device and prevents the data from being lost when the member disk of the RAID device is replaced or severely damaged. | 03-26-2009 |
20090083482 | Increasing the speed at which flash memory is written and read - Flash memory often cannot be written at speeds approaching those of rotating magnetic storage speeds. This embodiment permits normal NAND flash to be written much faster and to be read at speeds exceeding typical speeds and through put for normal hard disk storage and enables these speeds while removing incremental cost from the device packaging. | 03-26-2009 |
20090083483 | Power Conservation In A RAID Array - Power conservation in a redundant array of inexpensive drives (‘RAID array’) that preserve RAID functionality, the RAID array including RAID subarrays of a same RAID specification, including powering off a drive in at least one of the RAID subarrays; responsive to a write request directed to a particular subarray containing a powered off drive, writing data redundantly to a RAID cache that is independent from the subarray having a powered off drive; powering on the powered-off drive; and flushing the written data from the cache to the particular subarray to which it was originally directed. | 03-26-2009 |
20090083484 | System and Method for Zoning of Devices in a Storage Area Network - A system and method for performing zoning of devices, such as Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) devices, for example, in a storage area network (SAN) in which all host systems of the SAN are automatically mapped to all of the storage systems is provided. Mechanisms for automatically mapping backend storage enclosures to appropriate storage system controllers on the SAN are provided. The zoning is automatically performed based on whether ports/phys are coupled to host systems, storage systems, and whether there are storage system controllers associated with the storage systems. Based on the automatic zoning, mapping of the storage devices of the storage systems to the host systems may be automatically performed via zone permission tables. By automating the zoning, users that do not necessarily have a detailed knowledge of the storage device communication protocol or SANs may configure the SAN even if it utilizes a complex and large architecture. | 03-26-2009 |
20090083485 | NONVOLATILE MEMORY WITH SELF RECOVERY - A nonvolatile memory array includes two or more devices, each device containing data that is scrambled using a different scrambling scheme. When the same data is provided and stored in both devices, different data patterns occur in each device, so that if one of the patterns causes data pattern induced errors, the original data can be recreated from another copy that does not share the same data pattern. | 03-26-2009 |
20090089502 | Rotating parity redundant array of independant disk and method for storing parity the same - A rotating parity redundant array of independent disk (RAID) and a method for storing parity of the same are provided. The rotating parity RAID comprises a first˜a third disk. The first disk has A | 04-02-2009 |
20090089503 | DISK ARRAY APPARATUS, COMPUTER-READABLE RECORDING MEDIUM HAVING DISK ARRAY APPARATUS CONTROL PROGRAM RECORDED THEREON, AND DISK ARRAY APPARATUS CONTROL METHOD - A disk array apparatus has a plurality of disks constituting a mounted RAID group and controls access from an upper-level device to each of the disks. The disk array apparatus also has a performance information collector for collecting a piece of performance-related information of each of the disks, and a suspected disk detector for comparing the pieces of information collected for the disks by the performance information collector among disks constituting a single one of the RAID group and detecting a suspected disk suspected of being abnormal in performance based on a result of the comparison. | 04-02-2009 |
20090089504 | Virtual Disk Drive System and Method - A disk drive system and method capable of dynamically allocating data is provided. The disk drive system may include a RAID subsystem having a pool of storage, for example a page pool of storage that maintains a free list of RAIDs, or a matrix of disk storage blocks that maintain a null list of RAIDs, and a disk manager having at least one disk storage system controller. The RAID subsystem and disk manager dynamically allocate data across the pool of storage and a plurality of disk drives based on RAID-to-disk mapping. The RAID subsystem and disk manager determine whether additional disk drives are required, and a notification is sent if the additional disk drives are required. Dynamic data allocation and data progression allow a user to acquire a disk drive later in time when it is needed. Dynamic data allocation also allows efficient data storage of snapshots/point-in-time copies of virtual volume pool of storage, instant data replay and data instant fusion for data backup, recovery etc., remote data storage, and data progression, etc. | 04-02-2009 |
20090094415 | METHODS FOR IMPLEMENTATION OF AN ARRAY OF REMOVABLE DISK DRIVES - Embodiments provide systems and methods for storing data on two or more removable disk drives. The two or more removable disk drives are inserted into a modular drive bay having two or more drive ports. Embodiments of the modular drive bay include a switch to redirect operations to a drive port. By arraying the drive ports, the removable disk drives may be replaced without needing to readdress the removable disk drives when new removable disk drives are inserted. Thus, the modular drive bay does not require configuration changes when new removable disk drives are inserted. | 04-09-2009 |
20090100222 | System, Device, and Method for Detecting and Configuring Mirror Relationships in a Storage System - Mirror relationships between system drives may be detected and/or configured automatically by writing a predetermined data pattern to a predetermined location within a system drive and then checking one or more other system drives for a mirrored copy of the same data pattern. If the data pattern is found in another SD, then it can be assumed that there is a mirror relationship between the two SDs. Failure to find the data pattern in another SD, or finding the data pattern in multiple other SDs, may indicate an error condition. Once mirror relationships are discovered, the mirror relationships can be configured into the file server automatically so that the engineer does not have to manually configure the mirror relationships. The same mechanism can be used to check mirror relationships from time to time, for example, to detect possible problems with the RAID system. | 04-16-2009 |
20090100223 | Storage control apparatus, data archive method for storage control apparatus, and storage system - The storage control apparatus of the present invention efficiently shifts data which are stored in a virtual volume from a random access-type storage device to a sequential access-type storage device. The virtual volume is constituted by a plurality of pages. Each page is associated with either a segment of a disk device or a segment of a tape device. Data which have not been accessed by the host are collected in page units in a spare disk device for data migration. The data are copied from the migration source disk device to the migration destination tape device. The segment assignment destination of the page of the virtual volume is changed from a segment in the disk device to a segment in the tape device. | 04-16-2009 |
20090106491 | Method for reducing latency in a raid memory system while maintaining data integrity - A latency reduction method for read operations of an array of N disk storage devices ( | 04-23-2009 |
20090106492 | Storage apparatus and data storage method using the same - A storage apparatus comprises a disk device and a disk controller for controlling the disk device. The disk controller provides a data volume including an actual volume and virtual volume with a volume capacity virtualization function. The virtual volume is associated with a pool volume for storing the actual data and the actual data is stored in the pool volume. In response to a write command from a host computer, the disk controller compresses write data under RAID 5 control and stores the compressed data in a storage area in the actual volume. If the entire compressed data cannot be stored in that storage area, the disk controller stores the remaining portion of the compressed data in the virtual volume. | 04-23-2009 |
20090106493 | INFORMATION PROCESSOR, VIRTUAL DISK MANAGING METHOD, AND COMPUTER-READABLE RECORDING MEDIUM THAT RECORDS DEVICE DRIVER - The present invention claims and discloses an information processor comprising: an auxiliary storing unit that has at least one and preferably two auxiliary storage devices in which at least three distributable virtual disks are formed so as to be distributed; a disk array control unit that controls the at least three distributable virtual disks that designate one of disk control modes; a CB storing unit that stores a control block in each virtual disk that includes but is not limited to first designation information for designating the disk control mode and second designation information for designating an auxiliary storage; and a device driver unit that generates control information of the disk array control unit including but not limited to the first designation information and the second designation information and that transmits the control information to the disk array control unit based on a request for accessing any of the at least three distributable virtual disks and a control block corresponding to the requested virtual disk. | 04-23-2009 |
20090113126 | Method and apparatus for full backups in advance - An improved system and method are disclosed for the backup and restoration of data. An init image is created for a new system. Data is uploaded from a current system and a data image is generated. The resulting data image and the init image are combined to create a combined data image, which is then stored on an on-line backup host. A copy of the combined data image is transferred to the new system. The uploaded data is extracted from the copy of the combined data image and stored on the new system in the same location as the original system. Metadata describing the location of the combined data on the new system is captured and then applied to the combined data image stored on the on-line backup host. The extracted data on the new system is compared to the current data on the original system and the new system is updated. A differential backup is performed on the new system and then uploaded to the on-line backup host, where it is associated with the combined data image. | 04-30-2009 |
20090113127 | RAID Storage system with tandem operation using multiple virtual profiles - An improved RAID storage system adapted to selectively and automatically store the same data “in tandem” using two different storage profiles. In one embodiment, a first store operation occurs in accordance with first storage profile and, if a flag in the first storage profile is set, a second store operation automatically occurs in accordance with a second storage profile but with the same data as stored in the first store operation. The first and second storage profiles are stored sequentially in profile registers within a controller in the storage system. To speed the tandem operation, the data may be held in a re-readable FIFO buffer in the controller. The buffer is sized to hold the minimum size of data that can be stored to the physical disks in the storage system. Preferably, the size of the buffer is substantially equal to the minimum size. | 04-30-2009 |
20090119453 | DATA READING METHOD - According to an aspect of an embodiment, a method for controlling a controller connected to a plurality of storage units which are arranged in a redundant configuration, the controller reading data stored in the plurality of storage units in accordance with requests received from a host computer, the method comprising the steps of: receiving requests to read data successively from one of the storage units from the host computer; reading a part of requested target data from said one of the storage units; reading associated data and parity data stored in other storage units corresponding to other part of requested target data; generating other part of requested target data on the basis of the associated data and the parity data read out from the other storage units; and transmitting the part of the target data and the other part of the target data to the host computer. | 05-07-2009 |
20090125678 | METHOD FOR READING DATA WITH STORAGE SYSTEM, DATA MANAGING SYSTEM FOR STORAGE SYSTEM AND STORAGE SYSTEM - Provided is a database management system obtains storage mapping information which associates addresses in a plurality of physical disk drives within the storage system and addresses in logical disk drives including these physical disk drives, to create queues individually for each of the plurality of physical disk drives. The database management system receives a plurality of read requests which request to read data out of the physical disk drives via the logical disk drives provided by the storage system, sorts the read requests by their destination, and accumulates the read requests in the respective queues associated with the request destination physical disk drives. The database management system reallocates the accumulated read requests into an order that shortens the data read time in each physical disk drive, and then issues the read requests to the storage system. | 05-14-2009 |
20090125679 | COMPUTER AND METHOD FOR REFLECTING PATH REDUNDANCY CONFIGURATION OF FIRST COMPUTER SYSTEM IN SECOND COMPUTER SYSTEM - Mapping management information denoting the mapping of a first host and first host volume and a second host and second host volume is prepared beforehand. First-path-redundancy information, which is related to the redundancy of a first path of the first host volume, is acquired, and a second host volume and second host mapped to this first host volume and the first host thereof are specified by referencing the mapping management information. The redundancy of a second path, which links the specified second host volume and a second storage volume, is decided based on the first-path-redundancy information. Second-path-redundancy information, which is related to the decided second-path redundancy, is outputted to configure the decided second-path redundancy in the above-mentioned specified second host. | 05-14-2009 |
20090125680 | Storage System for Restoring Data Stored in Failed Storage Device - The present invention maintains mapping information denoting which real areas have been allocated to which virtual areas for a virtual volume, the capacity of which is dynamically expanded. The present invention also maintains real area management information denoting which real areas have been allocated to which virtual areas. The real area management information is referenced to determine whether or not a low-reliability real area, which is a real area for which reliability has been lowered by the occurrence of a failure in a certain physical storage device, and which belongs to a RAID group comprising this certain physical storage device, has been allocated to a virtual area. A data restore process is not carried out for a low-reliability real area that has not been allocated to a virtual area, but a data restore process is carried out for a low-reliability real area that has been allocated to a virtual area. | 05-14-2009 |
20090125681 | DATA RECORDING APPARATUS, METHOD FOR INTERNAL CONTROL OF DATA RECORDING APPARATUS, AND DATA RECORDING SYSTEM - A data recording apparatus that writes data on/reads data from a hard disk drive in response to a data-write/read command received from an upper control device is provided. The data recording apparatus includes a command-aggregating device and a command-issuing device. The command-aggregating device is configured to generate an aggregate command by aggregating contents of a plurality of commands under the conditions that the plurality of commands are of the same kind continuously received from the control device and logical block addresses designated by the plurality of commands are consecutive addresses. The command-issuing device is configured to issue the aggregate command generated by aggregating the plurality of commands to a hard disk drive controller that controls the hard disk drive. | 05-14-2009 |
20090132761 | STORAGE MANAGEMENT METHOD AND SYSTEM USING THE SAME - A storage management system and a storage management method are provided. The storage management system includes a host, a memory buffer, a plurality of storage blocks, and an input/output bus to perform an interface function among the host, the memory buffer, and the plurality of storage blocks, wherein each of the plurality of storage blocks is connected with the input/output bus via a corresponding channel, and the plurality of storage blocks is managed for each channel group generated by grouping at least one channel. | 05-21-2009 |
20090138656 | Method of skipping synchronization process for initialization of RAID1 device - A method for skipping an initialization process of synchronization of an RAID 1 device skips synchronization process of the RAID1 device through a bitmap technique. First, an RAID1 device is established, a space of the same size is divided from each member disk of the RAID1 device for storing a bitmap corresponding to each data block on each member disk. When a read/write operation is executed on the RAID1 device, before the bit value in the bitmap corresponding to the data block is read, whether the bitmap exists or not is determined first, then corresponding operation is executed according to the bit value in the bitmap corresponding to data block requesting the read/write operation. The method skips synchronization process of the RAID 1 device during the initial establishment, thereby largely saving the time required by the synchronization process for initialization, and further improving the overall performance of the RAID1 device. | 05-28-2009 |
20090144496 | FAST ACCESSIBLE COMPRESSED THIN PROVISIONING VOLUME - A computerized data storage system includes at least one storage device including a nonvolatile writable medium; a cache memory operatively coupled to the storage port and including a data storing area and a data management controller and a storage port. The storage port is operable to connect to a host computer, receive and send I/O information required by the host computer. The storage port is also operable to receive a request to read data, and, in response to the request to read data, the storage port is operable to send the data stored in the data storing area of the cache memory. The storage port is further operable to receive a request to write data, and, in response to the request to write data, the storage port is operable to send the write data to the data storing area of the cache memory. The storage system further includes a thin provisioning controller operable to provide a virtual volume having a virtual volume page, a capacity pool having a capacity pool page and manage a mapping between the virtual volume page and the capacity pool page. The storage system further includes a data compression controller operable to perform a compression operation, and a data decompression controller operable to perform a decompression operation. | 06-04-2009 |
20090144497 | Redundant Storage of Data on an Array of Storage Devices - A disk array control apparatus controls writing of data onto an array of N storage devices such as disk drives, where N is an integer of 3 or greater. Each storage device writes data with a granularity of a sector having a predetermined sector size. The apparatus writes data with a granularity of a transfer unit having a transfer size which is T times the sector size, where T is a plural integer greater than (N−1). The apparatus is allows writing to an array of storage devices for which (N−1) is not a factor of T. In particular, the apparatus divides each transfer unit of data into plural stripes each consisting of a respective plural number of sectors of data having the sector size, the stripes each consisting of at most (N−1) sectors and at least one of the stripes consisting of less than (N−1) sectors, and calculates, in respect of each stripe, a parity sector of parity data. The sectors of data and the parity sector representing the parity of each stripe are written onto different storage devices. | 06-04-2009 |
20090144498 | DATA STORAGE SYSTEM FOR STORING DATA IN DIFFERENT TYPES OF DATA STORAGE MEDIA - A data storage system for storing data includes a data storage medium and a data interface that communicates with the data storage medium. The data interface is configured to place data into a logical data capsule having a defined size, where the data placed into the logical data capsule can occupy less than the defined size of the logical data capsule. In the data storage system, the logical data capsule is moved as a whole between the data storage medium and the data interface. Additionally, when any data in the logical data capsule is read or modified, all of the data in the logical data capsule is read or modified as a whole. | 06-04-2009 |
20090150609 | DISK ARRAY APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR CONTROLLING THE SAME - An apparatus includes a controller and a plurality of disk drives. The controller has a communication control unit for accepting a data input/output request, a disk controller unit for controlling a disk drive, and a cache memory for temporarily storing data transferred between the communication control unit and the disk controller unit. The plurality of disk drives has different communication interfaces and connected to the disk controller unit to communicate with the disk controller unit. | 06-11-2009 |
20090157958 | CLUSTERED STORAGE NETWORK - A data storage network is provided. The network includes a client connected to the data storage network; a plurality nodes on the data storage network, wherein each data node has two or more RAID controllers, wherein a first RAID controller of a first node is configured to receive a data storage request from the client and to generate RAID parity data on a data set received from the client, and to store all of the generated RAID parity data on a single node of the plurality of nodes. | 06-18-2009 |
20090157959 | STORAGE MEDIUM CONTROL DEVICE, STORAGE MEDIUM MANAGING SYSTEM, STORAGE MEDIUM CONTROL METHOD, AND STORAGE MEDIUM CONTROL PROGRAM - To provide a storage medium control device capable of preventing decrease in the reliability of data saving with a non-redundant structure. Provided is a storage medium control device capable of communicating with a higher-order device, for managing/controlling an information storage device main body configured with physical storage media to be capable of storing information with a non-redundant structure. The device includes: a region allotment processing device for allotting each physical recording medium to a user useable region and to a substitute sector region, respectively; a fault sector detecting device for checking sectors of the user useable region allotted by the region allotment processing device in initialization processing of the non-redundant structure to detect a fault sector from which information cannot be read out; and a fault sector exchange processing device for exchanging the detected fault sector of the user useable region with a normal sector of the substitute sector region. | 06-18-2009 |
20090164720 | Storage Apparatus and Control Method Therefor - A storage apparatus comprises at least one housing A in which a storage device and a controller are provided, at least one housing B in which a storage device and a peripheral device are provided, and a transmission path for connecting the storage device and the controller of the housing A, and the storage device of the housing B to enable communication therebetween. The storage apparatus is capable of controlling operation of the storage device of the housing B according to an operating state of the storage device of the housing A through communication via the transmission path; and controlling operation of the peripheral device according to an operating state of the storage device of the housing B. | 06-25-2009 |
20090164721 | HIERARCHICAL STORAGE CONTROL APPARATUS, HIERARCHICAL STORAGE CONTROL SYSTEM, HIERARCHICAL STORAGE CONTROL METHOD, AND PROGRAM FOR CONTROLLING STORAGE APPARATUS HAVING HIERARCHICAL STRUCTURE - An extractor extracts a plurality of storage areas storing identical data strings therein from the storage areas of a lower storage layer. A layer storage controller associates the extracted storage areas with a single storage area of an upper storage layer. | 06-25-2009 |
20090172273 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR DISK STORAGE DEVICES REBUILD IN A DATA STORAGE SYSTEM - In a data storage system, failed disk drives are switched temporarily off-line to be quickly rebuilt by executing a journaling/rebuild algorithm which tracks the updates to the failed disk drive into a journal structure created in a non-volatile memory. The journal information is used to update those data sections of the disk drive affected by updates after the disk drive is failed. The journal information is stored in bit maps indicating which portions of the disk drive have been updated with new data while the disk was failed. As an option, the system permits verification of data consistency on the data section of the disk drive which have not been affected by the updates. The journaling/rebuild of failed disks is applicable, among others, to RAID data storage systems. | 07-02-2009 |
20090172274 | STORAGE DEVICE HAVING DIRECT USER ACCESS - Various methods, devices and systems are described for providing distributed storage services. A data storage device is capable of initiating a communication session with an external entity such as a local host computer (and vice versa) coupled directly to the data storage device, a remote server computer, or directly with remote data storage devices with or without intervention by a local host computer. | 07-02-2009 |
20090172275 | DATA USAGE PROFILING BY LOCAL STORAGE DEVICE - A local storage device (LSD) is provided configured to have a host device (HD) in communication with the LSD. The LSD includes a memory array. The LSD is configured to characterize data access usage of the LSD by at least one program executing on the HD. The LSD is configured to monitor access to the LSD as a result of data access operations by the HD relative to the memory array of the LSD. The LSD is additionally configured to determine characteristics of the monitored access. The LSD is additionally configured to, based on characteristics of the monitored access, determine and store data on the LSD indicative of the characterized monitored access. | 07-02-2009 |
20090172276 | STORAGE DEVICE HAVING REMOTE STORAGE ACCESS - A method of servicing a command sent from a host device file system (HDFS) within a host device (HD) by a local storage device (LSD) in communication with the HD is described. The method includes receiving a first command at the LSD instructing the LSD to execute an operation on associated logical addresses. If the first command is associated with at least a first set of logical addresses, the method includes servicing the first command by the LSD at least by way of sending a second command to a device (RD) external to the LSD that instructs the RD to execute an operation on memory locations within the RD. If the first command is not associated with the first set of logical addresses, the method includes servicing the first command by the LSD only by way of operations executed by the LSD on memory locations within the LSD. | 07-02-2009 |
20090172277 | RAID LEVEL MIGRATION METHOD FOR PERFORMING ONLINE RAID LEVEL MIGRATION AND ADDING DISK TO DESTINATION RAID, AND ASSOCIATED SYSTEM - A Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID) level migration method for performing an online RAID level migration and adding a disk to a destination RAID is provided. First, the required information for migration is specified, and then a degraded mode is used to establish the destination RAID, and file system is built on the destination RAID. The file system of the source disk device is configured to be read-only, and all data of the source disk device are duplicated to the destination RAID. After completing file duplication, the destination RAID replaces the source disk device. The operation of the source disk device is stopped and the source disk device is added to the destination RAID. As a result, the RAID migration is accomplished. In addition, an associated RAID level migration system is further provided. | 07-02-2009 |
20090172278 | Method and System for Backing Up and Restoring Online System Information - A method and system for copying operating system information to said at least two storage devices, selectively hiding at least one, but not all, of the storage devices from being accessed by the operating system, and selectively revealing one or more of said hidden storage devices as needed to permit access to the information stored therein. | 07-02-2009 |
20090177838 | APPARATUS AND METHOD TO ACCESS DATA IN A RAID ARRAY - A method to access a data in a RAID array comprising a plurality of data storage media, wherein information is written to said plurality of data storage media using a RAID configuration, wherein the method receives from a requester a command comprising a data access priority indicator. If a RAID rebuild is in progress, the method determines if the data access priority indicator is set. If the data access priority indicator is set, the method executes a command selected from the group consisting of writing information to the target logical block array range, and returning to the requestor information read from the target logical block array range. | 07-09-2009 |
20090177839 | METHOD FOR ANALYZING PERFORMANCE INFORMATION - A performance information display method using a computer, includes the steps, in the computer, of reading out information data of a storage device previously stored in a storage device and information data of a plurality of devices utilizing the storage device, displaying an identifier of the storage device and identifiers of a plurality of devices utilizing the storage device on a screen on the basis of the information data read out, accepting a command to select the displayed identifier of the storage device, and displaying performance information data of the devices utilizing the selected storage device in association on the basis of the accepted command and the information data read out. | 07-09-2009 |
20090182939 | Asynchronous and Distributed Storage of Data - In one example, multimedia content is requested from a plurality of storage modules. Each storage module retrieves the requested parts, which are typically stored on a plurality of storage devices at each storage module. Each storage module determines independently when to retrieve the requested parts of the data file from storage and transmits those parts from storage to a data queue. Based on a capacity of a delivery module and/or the data rate associated with the request, each storage module transmits the parts of the data file to the delivery module. The delivery module generates a sequenced data segment from the parts of the data file received from the plurality of storage modules and transmits the sequenced data segment to the requester. | 07-16-2009 |
20090182940 | STORAGE CONTROL SYSTEM AND CONTROL METHOD - A storage control system in which a first storage controller is connected to a storage device in a second storage controller and the first storage controller is configured to be able to read and write data from/to the storage device in the second storage controller in response to a request from a host device connected to the first storage apparatus, the first storage controller including: a controller for controlling data transmission and reception between the host device and the storage device in the second storage controller; and a cache memory for temporarily storing the data, wherein the controller sets a threshold value for storage capacity in the cache memory assigned to the storage device according to the properties of the storage device. | 07-16-2009 |
20090187707 | System and method of maximization of storage capacity in a configuration limited system - A method, system and computer-usable medium are disclosed for providing management of serial attached small computer system interface (SAS) storage devices. A host computer comprises a storage controller connected to a SAS port expander comprising a plurality of ports that are logically assigned to target storage devices. The device ports of all storage devices physically attached to the SAS port expander are bypassed to remove their logical SAS expander port assignments. The storage controller unbypasses the device ports, allowing it to recognize the presence of all physically attached storage devices. The recognized storage devices are inventoried and storage devices that are not logically assigned a SAS expander port are designated as being spare storage devices. SAS expander ports are logically assigned to the non-spare storage devices and SAS storage operations are performed. | 07-23-2009 |
20090187708 | PROGRAM, METHOD, AND DEVICE FOR COMMUNICATION PROCESSING - A path controller controls a plurality of paths, including switching between those paths in response to an error notice. Upon detection of a path connection timeout at the path controller, a target driver submits an I/O abort request to a disk array device. The target driver also forwards an error notice to the path controller when it is received. A Fibre Channel driver controls a Fibre Channel adapter. In response to an I/O abort request submitted by the target driver, the Fibre Channel driver blocks every operation on the disk array device, as well as sending an error notice to the target driver. | 07-23-2009 |
20090198885 | SYSTEM AND METHODS FOR HOST SOFTWARE STRIPE MANAGEMENT IN A STRIPED STORAGE SUBSYSTEM - Systems and methods for coalescing host generated write requests in a RAID software driver module to generate full stripe write I/O operations to storage devices. Where RAID management is implemented exclusively in software features and aspects hereof improve performance by using full stripe write operations instead of slower read-modify-write operations. The features and aspects may be implemented for example within a software RAID driver module coupled to a plurality of storage devices in a storage system devoid of RAID specific hardware and circuits. | 08-06-2009 |
20090198886 | Power Conservation in a Composite Array of Data Storage Devices - Operating a composite array of data storage devices, such as hard disk drives, to conserve power includes storing data in block-level stripes with parity on a composite array including a controller and at least three data storage devices. The composite array includes a hot spare distributed across the data storage devices. The method further comprises placing one of the data storage devices in a standby state, operating the rest of the data storage devices in an active state, and controlling logical operations of the controller and the read and write operations of the active data storage devices to substitute for read and write operations on the standby device. For example, the controller can read redundant data on the active drives and compute data identical to the data on the standby drive to substitute for reading the standby drive. Furthermore, the controller can write a modified version of data on the standby drive to a spare block to substitute for writing to the standby drive. | 08-06-2009 |
20090198887 | STORAGE SYSTEM - A storage group configured by a plurality of storage devices is configured by a plurality of storage sub-groups, and the respective storage sub-groups are configured from two or more storage devices. A sub-group storage area, which is the storage area of the respective storage sub-groups, is configured by a plurality of rows of sub-storage areas. A data set, which is configured by a plurality of data elements configuring a data unit, and a second redundancy code created on the basis of this data unit, is written to a row of sub-storage areas, a compressed redundancy code is created on the basis of two or more first redundancy codes respectively created based on two or more data units of two or more storage sub-groups, and this compressed redundancy code is written to a nonvolatile storage area that differs from the above-mentioned two or more storage sub-groups. | 08-06-2009 |
20090198888 | Disk Array System - Provided is a disk array system which is connected to a computer and which data is transmitted by the computer, including: a plurality of disk drives for storing user data transmitted by the computer; a cache memory for temporarily storing data sent/received among the computer and the plurality of disk drives; and a control unit for controlling input/output of the data to/from the cache memory, in which the control unit stores user data identification information that is capable of judging whether the user data is stored in a sector of the disk drive. The disk array system according to this invention allows the identification of user data of a disk drive. | 08-06-2009 |
20090204757 | Systems and Methods for Automatically Generating A Mirrored Storage Configuration For a Storage Array - An information handling system includes a plurality of storage enclosures, a plurality of logical storage units located in each storage enclosure, a controller connected to each of the plurality of logical storage units. The controller is configured to receive data regarding the plurality of logical storage units, and automatically execute an algorithm based on the received logical storage unit data to generate a mirrored storage configuration to be implemented, the mirrored storage configuration defining mirrored pairs of the plurality of logical storage units. | 08-13-2009 |
20090204758 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR ASYMMETRIC RAID DEVICES - An information handling system can include an asymmetric RAID device. The information handling system comprises a RAID controller and a RAID volume. The RAID volume includes a first disk and a second disk attached to the RAID controller, wherein the first disk provides faster access than the second disk. In a particular embodiment, the first disk is an SSD and the second disk is a HDD. The RAID controller may be configured to support symmetric or asymmetric write operations. | 08-13-2009 |
20090204759 | ON-LINE VOLUME COALESCE OPERATION TO ENABLE ON-LINE STORAGE SUBSYSTEM VOLUME CONSOLIDATION - A mechanism to permit consolidation of storage subsystem volumes into larger, more easily managed volumes and an operating system device driver which includes a trap mechanism for intercepting calls from a host into logical unit devices that were previously consolidated into a single physical volume. A map converts such calls to a logical unit device into a corresponding offset in the single physical volume. A driver accesses the single physical volume with corresponding offsets to transfer data associated with a particular logical unit device. So, logical unit devices can be consolidated and reconsolidated to single physical volumes and other physical volumes without requiring changes to the operating system or its application software and without requiring application or host downtime. | 08-13-2009 |
20090204760 | STORAGE APPARATUS, RELAY DEVICE, AND METHOD OF CONTROLLING OPERATING STATE - Each time any one of HDDs is accessed, a corresponding relationship between the disk address of the accessed HDD and the time information indicating a time at which the HDD is accessed is added to a first operating-state management table. When a corresponding relationship with the same disk address already exists in the first operating-state management table, the time information is updated. When the first operating-state management table has no space available for new entry, corresponding relationships are deleted from the one having the oldest time information. Only HDDs of which disk address is recorded in the first operating-state management table is turned on. | 08-13-2009 |
20090210618 | APPARATUS AND METHOD TO ALLOCATE RESOURCES IN A DATA STORAGE LIBRARY - A method to allocate resources in a data storage library comprising a plurality of data storage devices configured as a RAID array, by establishing a normal operation resource allocation, a RAID failure resource allocation, and a multiple storage device failure resource allocation. The method receives host I/O requests, and enqueues those host I/O requests. If the system is operating without any storage device failures, then the method processes host I/O requests using the normal operation resource allocation. If the system is operating with a storage device failure, then the method processes host I/O requests using the RAID failure resource allocation. If the system is operating with multiple storage device failures, then the method processes host I/O requests using the multiple storage device failure resource allocation. | 08-20-2009 |
20090210619 | Method for handling more than a maximum number of supported drives in a raid configuration - The present invention is a method for handling disk drives in a Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks (RAID) configuration. The method may include detecting a disk drive received via insertion of the disk drive in a disk drive slot of an enclosure of the RAID configuration. Prior to the disk drive being received, it may be that fewer than a maximum number of supported disk drives are configured. It may also be the case that, after the disk drive is received, no more than the maximum number of supported drives are in-place within the enclosure of the RAID configuration. In such instances, and when the insertion is a cold insertion into an empty disk drive slot, the method may further include marking the disk drive as Un-configured good alias Ready. Further, if the disk drive is inserted into a missing disk drive slot and has a smaller storage capacity than that of the replaced disk drive previously in place within the missing disk drive slot, the method may further include marking the disk drive as FAIL. Still further, if the disk drive is inserted into a missing disk drive slot and has the same storage capacity or larger storage capacity than the replaced disk drive, the method may further include marking the disk drive as FAIL or RBLD based on an Auto Rebuild flag. | 08-20-2009 |
20090210620 | Method to handle demand based dynamic cache allocation between SSD and RAID cache - An apparatus and method to dynamically allocate cache in a SAN controller between a first fixed cache comprising traditional RAID cache comprised of RAM and a second, scalable RAID cache comprising of SSDs (Solid State Devices). The method is dynamic and switches between the first and second cache depending on IO demand. | 08-20-2009 |
20090216946 | RAID1 SYSTEM AND READING METHOD FOR ENHANCING READ PERFORMANCE - Concerning the operations of a redundant array of independent disks 1 system, a reading process is carried out by skipping the even-address storage units in a first storage device, sequentially fetching the data of the odd-address storage units in the first storage device for forming a first data stream, skipping the odd-address storage units in a second storage device, sequentially fetching the data of the even-address storage units in the second storage device for forming a second data stream, and merging the first data stream and the second data stream for generating a readout data stream. | 08-27-2009 |
20090222622 | VIDEO MEDIA DATA STORAGE SYSTEM AND RELATED METHODS - A video media data storage system may include first and second pluralities of data storage devices each arranged in a redundant array of independent drives (RAID) configuration for permitting writing and reading of video media data. The system may further include at least one memory controller coupled to the first and second pluralities of data storage devices for performing mirrored writing of video media data to both the first and second pluralities of data storage devices. The at least one memory controller may also be for generating respective first and second file allocation tables (FATs) including video media data time stamps and validity information for both of the first and second pluralities of data storage devices, and selectively reading video media data from the first and second pluralities of data storage devices based upon the first and second FATs. | 09-03-2009 |
20090222623 | STORAGE SYSTEM AND MANAGEMENT METHOD OF ITS STORAGE MEDIUM - High availability is provided in a storage system that offers expandability more inexpensively. Provided is a storage system including multiple expanders to be connected to multiple storage mediums, multiple cascades connected respectively to a prescribed number of expanders among the multiple expanders, and multiple control units for respectively controlling the multiple cascades. One end of the multiple cascades is connected with an inter-cascade link, and the inter-cascade link has a logically connected state and a logically disconnected state. | 09-03-2009 |
20090235022 | APPARATUS AND METHOD TO SELECT A DEDUPLICATION PROTOCOL FOR A DATA STORAGE LIBRARY - A method to select a deduplication protocol for a data storage library comprising a plurality of data storage devices configured as a RAID array, by establishing a normal deduplication protocol, a RAID failure deduplication protocol, and a multiple storage device failure deduplication protocol. The method receives host data comprising a plurality of interleaved data blocks. If the system is operating without any storage device failures, then the method processes the host data using the normal deduplication protocol. If the system is operating with a storage device failure, then the method processes the host data using the RAID failure deduplication protocol. If the system is operating with multiple storage device failures, then the method processes the host data using the multiple storage device failure deduplication protocol. | 09-17-2009 |
20090235023 | Stripe Caching and Data Read Ahead - A method of improving a serial IO operation, where the serial IO operation includes at least one of a read operation of a data block and a write operation of a data block, and the serial IO operation is directed to a logical disk of a computerized data storage system. Only one stripe of data is read from the logical disk into a cache, and it is determined whether the data block for the IO operation is included within the cache. When the data block for the IO operation is included within the cache, then for a read operation, the IO operation is serviced from the cache. For a write operation, the cache is updated with the data block to be written, and only an updated parity block is written to the logical disk. When the data block for the IO operation is not included within the cache, then for a read operation, only one new stripe of data that includes the data block is read from the logical disk into the cache, and the IO operation is serviced from the cache. For a write operation, only one new stripe of data that excludes the data block is read from the logical disk into the cache, the cache is updated with the data block to be written, and only an updated parity block is written to the logical disk. | 09-17-2009 |
20090235024 | Volume Providing System Calling Two Processes Executing the Same Program Code and Exchanging Information Between the Two Processes - A host computer HA | 09-17-2009 |
20090240880 | HIGH AVAILABILITY AND LOW CAPACITY THIN PROVISIONING - A data storage system and method for simultaneously providing thin provisioning and high availability. The system includes external storage volume and two storage subsystems coupled together and to external storage volume. Each of storage subsystems includes disk drives and a cache area, each of the storage subsystems includes at least one virtual volume and at least one capacity pool. The virtual volume is allocated from storage elements of the at least one capacity pool. The capacity pool includes the disk drives and at least a portion of external storage volume. The storage elements of the capacity pool are allocated to the virtual volume in response to a data access request. The system further includes a host computer coupled to the storage subsystems and configured to switch input/output path between the storage subsystems. Each of the storage subsystems is adapted to copy received write I/O request to other storage subsystems. Upon receipt of request from another storage subsystem, storage element of the capacity pool of storage subsystem is prevented from being allocated to the virtual volume of that storage subsystem. | 09-24-2009 |
20090240881 | System and Method for Information Handling System Operation With Different Types of Permanent Storage Devices - A storage controller, such as a RAID controller arbitrates storage tasks between a hard disk drive and a solid state drive based on predetermined factors, such as the type of information associated with a read or a write or the power available for running the storage devices. For example, a RAID controller on a portable information handling system performs writes and reads for sequential information with a hard disk drive. If power is limited, such as from a battery, the storage controller powers down the hard disk drive and performs storage tasks with the solid state drive with periodic power ups of the hard disk drive to mirror stored information. | 09-24-2009 |
20090240882 | Method of extension of storage capacity and storage system using the method - Provided are a storage system and a method of controlling a storage system in which respective real storage areas of a plurality of disk drives contained in the storage system contain management units, and a control device of the storage system assigns a real storage area of a plurality of first disk drives to the virtual storage area, distributedly stores the data in the plurality of management units of the assigned real storage area, distributedly stores, upon receiving a request for adding a second disk drive, the data stored in the plurality of management units of the plurality of first disk drives in the plurality of management units of the plurality of first disk drives and the second disk drive, and assigns the real storage area of the plurality of first disk drives and the second disk drive to an unused virtual storage area. | 09-24-2009 |
20090240883 | STORAGE APPARATUS AND CONFIGURATION SETTING METHOD - This storage apparatus has a plurality of physical devices for storing data sent from a host system, and includes a physical device group setting unit for setting a physical device group from the plurality of physical devices based on a policy file which lists matters to be operated and set by an administrator as parameters in advance, and information on the physical devices, a first logical device setting unit for setting a first logical device from the physical device group based on information on the physical device group and the policy file set with the physical device group setting unit, and a second logical device setting unit for setting a second logical device from the first logical device based the information on the first logical device and the policy file set with the first logical device setting unit. | 09-24-2009 |
20090248978 | USB DATA STRIPING - A striping system and method for distributing a payload of data across a plurality of parallel USB cables from a source to a destination is described. The striping devices reside in the architecture of a source and destination connected by more than one standardized USB bus cable. The striping devices increase the bandwidth between the source and the destination by providing more lanes of data traffic and utilizing segmentation and reassembly to ensure that the data is split up and then reassembled correctly into the original stream at the destination. The striping devices allow for user determination of usability along with self diagnostics as to the source's and destination's ability to handle striping. Other embodiments are described. | 10-01-2009 |
20090248979 | Storage apparatus and control method for same - The storage apparatus includes an external logical unit as a target of a plurality of host apparatuses, and an internal logical unit assigned to the external logical unit. The internal logical unit includes a common logical unit having common files commonly used by the plurality of host apparatuses, and an individual logical unit having individual files used by each of the plurality of host apparatuses. Upon receipt of a write request from the host apparatus, the storage apparatus performs data matching by comparing write data depending on the write request with data stored in the common logical unit at a management block unit. The storage apparatus stores matching data block in the common logical unit, and stores a non-matching data block in an individual logical block. | 10-01-2009 |
20090248980 | Storage System and Capacity Allocation Method Therefor - A storage system connected to a terminal, the computer system includes: a plurality of drive devices that respectively drive a plurality of physical disks each having a physical storage area; a RAID configuration unit that configures a plurality of RAID groups by grouping two or more of the plurality of physical disks; a logical disk creation unit that creates, for the terminal through the RAID group, a logical disk having a logical storage area associated with the physical storage area; a memory for storing a RAID group control table showing, for each the RAID group, (i) a free capacity that is the amount of physical storage area remaining in the RAID group to be able to be associated with the logical disk and (ii) a power status of the RAID group; a receiver that receives a request for creating a new logical disk; and an area allocation unit that allocates to the new logical disk the physical storage area remaining in the RAID group selected by giving priority to a RAID group in a powered state over a RAID group in a non-powered state with reference to the RAID group control table. | 10-01-2009 |
20090254703 | DISK ORDER EXAMINING SYSTEM FOR A DUAL-HOST REDUNDANT STORAGE SYSTEM AND METHOD THEREOF - This present invention is a disk order examining system for a dual-host redundant storage device and method thereof, implementing in a dual-host redundant storage device with a master controller and a slave controller. The invention is to examine if the linkage orders of disks to the master controller are the same as those to the slave controller by sequentially writing random values into each disk of a disk concatenation, and then reading out to discriminate their sequence. | 10-08-2009 |
20090259812 | Storage system and data saving method - This storage system includes a plurality of data drives, a plurality of spare drives for storing data stored in at least one data drive among the plurality of data drives as save-target data, one or more RAID groups configured from the plurality of data drives, one or more spare RAID groups associated with the one or more RAID groups and configured from the plurality of spare drives, and a write unit to configured to write the save-target data into the plurality of spare drives configuring the one or more spare RAID groups in the order that the save-target data was read from the at least one data drive. | 10-15-2009 |
20090265510 | Systems and Methods for Distributing Hot Spare Disks In Storage Arrays - In one embodiment, a system may include a storage array and a controller. The storage array may include a plurality of storage resources, where each storage resource of the plurality of storage resources may include plurality of active storage drives and a plurality of hot spare drives. The controller, coupled to the storage array, may be configured to generate a mapping of the location of hot spare drives in the plurality of storage resources; detect a failure in an active storage drive in a first storage resource of the plurality of storage resources; using at least the map, select a hot spare drive in a second storage resource for rebuilding the active storage drive in the first storage resource; and provide the selected hot spare drive in the second storage resource to rebuild the failed active storage drive in the first storage resource. | 10-22-2009 |
20090265511 | STORAGE SYSTEM, COMPUTER SYSTEM AND A METHOD OF ESTABLISHING VOLUME ATTRIBUTE - In order to store data in disk drives securely in an environment with a mixture of disk drives having write protection mechanisms and disk drives without write protection mechanisms, a different write protection mechanism must be checked for each of the disk drives, and write protection must be defined for each of the disk drives storing data to be saved, which may impose a large load on system administrators. There is provided a storage controller for performing data input/output processing from a computer by managing volumes of multiple storage subsystems as external volumes and by using these external volumes as virtual volumes. In the data input/output processing, write protection is achieved based on an access attribute set for each of the virtual volumes. When an access attribute is set for a virtual volume, the same access attribute is set for an external volume corresponding to the virtual volume. Thus, the write protection is achieved for the external volume corresponding to the virtual volume. | 10-22-2009 |
20090271571 | STORAGE SERVER - A storage server includes a plurality of first disk drives ( | 10-29-2009 |
20090276566 | CREATING LOGICAL DISK DRIVES FOR RAID SUBSYSTEMS - A computer storage system includes multiple disk trays, each disk tray holding two or more physical disks. The disks on a single tray are virtualized into a single logical disk. The single logical disk reports to the RAID (redundant array of inexpensive disks) subsystem, creating the impression that there is one large capacity disk. In one implementation, each disk in the tray is allocated to a different RAID group. By allocating the disks in a tray to different RAID groups, if the tray is removed, only a portion of several different RAID groups are removed. This arrangement permits a simple reconstruction of the RAID groups if a disk tray is removed from the system. | 11-05-2009 |
20090276567 | Compensating for write speed differences between mirroring storage devices by striping - A method and system for data storage provides a digital fast-write storage device, a plurality of digital slow-write storage devices, and a controller. The digital fast-write storage device might be a solid state drive. The digital slow-write storage devices might be conventional rotational media drives. Typically, read operations are directed to the fast-write storage device. The slow-write storage devices provide redundancy by mirroring the contents of the high-speed storage device. Data on the slow-write storage devices is organized in stripes, allowing data to be written in parallel. The number of slow-write storage devices can be chosen to compensate for the speed differential on write operations. In some embodiments, the controller will represent the storage system as a virtual disk drive. | 11-05-2009 |
20090276568 | Storage system, data processing method and storage apparatus - Proposed are a storage system, data processing method and storage apparatus capable of performing stable data I/O processing. Each of the storage apparatuses configured in the storage group stores group configuration information containing priority information given to each storage apparatus, and the storage apparatus with the highest priority becomes a master and performs virtualization processing and data I/O processing, and another storage apparatus belonging to this storage group performs internal processing of the storage group. | 11-05-2009 |
20090276569 | APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR REALLOCATING LOGICAL TO PHYSICAL DISK DEVICES USING A STORAGE CONTROLLER WITH ACCESS FREQUENCY AND SEQUENTIAL ACCESS RATIO CALCULATIONS AND DISPLAY - A storage controller calculates an access frequency of each logical disk; that is selects a first logical disk device of which the access frequency exceeds a first predetermined value, the first logical disk device being allocated to a first physical disk device; selects a second logical disk device which has the access frequency equal to or less than a second predetermined value, the second logical disk device being allocated to a second physical disk device; and reallocates the first and second logical device; and reallocates the first and second logical devices to the second and the first physical disk device, respectively. | 11-05-2009 |
20090287880 | ONLINE STORAGE CAPACITY EXPANSION OF A RAID STORAGE SYSTEM - The methods and structure herein provide for expanding the storage capacity of a RAID storage system while maintaining the same level of RAID storage management. A RAID storage controller may be coupled between a host computer and a RAID storage volume. The RAID storage controller manages the disk drives of the storage volume to present a single logical volume of storage to the host computer. When a storage expansion is desired, the RAID storage controller may communicatively couple to at least one expansion disk drive and begin transfer of data from the original RAID storage volume to the expansion disk drive(s). During this data transfer, read and write operations are continued to the original RAID storage volume. Additionally, the RAID storage controller duplicates write operations to the expansion disk drive(s) such that general storage operations required by the host computer are continued. | 11-19-2009 |
20090287881 | Environmentally protected data storage container - The Environmentally Protected Data Storage Container is a system comprising an environmentally protected box approximating the size of a shoebox of sufficient structural rigidity to withstand an underground environment. Within the box, a data storage interface with a connection to outside the box exists. The data storage interface provides an attachment point to a data storage device. The data storage device is protected from data loss due to destructive environmental forces. Furthermore, the system may contain specific thermal management, power management, and sensor devices. | 11-19-2009 |
20090287882 | RAID_5 CONTROLLER AND ACCESSING METHOD WITH DATA STREAM DISTRIBUTION AND AGGREGATION OPERATIONS BASED ON THE PRIMITIVE DATA ACCESS BLOCK OF STORAGE DEVICES - By taking advantage of parallel data processing and transmission techniques, the data access rate of a redundant array of independent disks (RAID) level 5 can be boosted significantly. A data distribution and aggregation unit is utilized to distribute a data stream into a plurality of data sub-streams based on the primitive data access block of storage devices as a processing unit of data writing, or to aggregate a plurality of data sub-streams to form a data stream based on the primitive data access block of storage devices as a processing unit of data reading. An exclusive OR operation unit capable of parallel data processing is introduced for performing data processing on the plurality of data sub-streams simultaneously. The data transmission of each data sub-stream is controlled individually by one of a plurality of transmission controllers. | 11-19-2009 |
20090292870 | STORAGE APPARATUS AND CONTROL METHOD THEREOF - With this storage apparatus and its control method for presenting multiple virtual volumes to a host apparatus and dynamically allocating to each of the multiple virtual volumes a physical storage area for storing data according to the usage status of each of the multiple virtual volumes, the importance set to each of the multiple virtual volumes is managed, and a storage area is dynamically allocated to each of the multiple virtual volumes. Here, upon dynamically allocating the storage area to each of the multiple virtual volumes, a storage area provided by a plurality of memory apparatus groups respectively configured from a plurality of memory apparatuses is allocated to one or more virtual volumes with low importance among the multiple virtual volumes, and a storage area provided by one of the memory apparatus groups is allocated to other virtual volumes among the multiple virtual volumes. | 11-26-2009 |
20090292871 | STORAGE CONTROLLER, AND METHOD OF CONTROLLING STORAGE CONTROLLER TO IMPROVE THE RELIABILITY OF THE STORAGE CONTROLLER - The present invention controls supply of power to a storage device on the basis of an access status, moves a logical storage device between physical storage devices having different power supply modes, reduces energization time, and improves the reliability. A relocation plan creation portion creates a relocation plan by disposing a logical volume with high access frequency in a RAID group which is in a long-time energization mode, disposing a logical volume with moderate access frequency in a RAID group which is in a first short-time energization mode, and disposing a logical volume with low access frequency in a RAID group which is in a second short-time energization mode. An execution time determination portion determines an execution time for executing the relocation plan, on the basis of the access frequency to the RAID groups. The volumes with higher access frequency are disposed in the RAID group in which the power supply time is long, and the volumes with lower access frequency are disposed in the RAID group in which the power is supplied in an on-demand fashion. | 11-26-2009 |
20090292872 | Method and device for controlling disk array apparatus - A method for controlling a disk array apparatus includes: assigning serial addresses to all addresses of multiple disk drives of the disk array apparatus in an order of disk drive; equally separating the serial addresses into a first disk group having first serial addresses in an increasing order and a second disk group having second serial addresses in the increasing order; and writing data in the first disk group at one of the first serial addresses and in the second disk group at a corresponding one of the second serial addresses, said corresponding one of the second serial addresses being obtained by adding a maximum serial address out of the first serial addresses of the first disk group to said one of the first serial addresses. | 11-26-2009 |
20090292873 | DISK ARRAY APPARATUS, METHOD FOR APPLICATION OF CONTROL FIRMWARE, AND CONTROLLING UNIT FOR CONTROLLING APPLICATION OF CONTROL FIRMWARE - A disk array apparatus with a number of storage units aims at application of new control firmware to the storage units. The disk array apparatus includes a controlling unit controlling the storage units, which controlling unit includes a storing section storing control firmware to be applied; a monitoring section for monitoring a state of access to each storage unit to which the control firmware is to be applied; and an application instructing section instructing, on the basis of the result of the monitoring by the monitoring section, each the first storage unit to apply the first control firmware. In response to the instructing by the application instructing section, the control firmware is applied to each the storage unit. | 11-26-2009 |
20090292874 | VIRTUAL PATH STORAGE SYSTEM AND CONTROL METHOD FOR THE SAME - Provided is a storage system having improved access performance. The storage system includes: a hard disk drive, and a storage controller for reading/writing data from/to the hard disk drive, the storage controller including: at least one interface connected to a host computer through a network; and a plurality of processors connected to the interface through an internal network. The storage system is characterized in that: the processor provides at least one logical access port to the host computer; and the interface stores routing information including a processor which processes an access request addressed to the logical access port, extracts an address from the received access request upon reception of the access request from the host computer, specifies the processor which processes the received access request based on the routing information and the extracted address, and transfers the received access request to the specified processor. | 11-26-2009 |
20090292875 | DISK ARRAY CONTROLLER CAPABLE OF DETECTING AND CORRECTING FOR UNEXPECTED DISK DRIVE POWER-ON-RESET EVENTS - A disk array controller detects disk drive power-on-reset events that may cause a disk drive to lose uncommitted write data stored in its cache. When an unexpected disk drive power-on-reset event is detected, the disk array controller may initiate an appropriate corrective action. For example, the disk array controller may initiate a disk drive rebuild operation, or may re-send a set of write commands to the disk drive. | 11-26-2009 |
20090300282 | REDUNDANT ARRAY OF INDEPENDENT DISKS WRITE RECOVERY SYSTEM - A redundant array of independent disks write recovery system includes: providing a logical drive having a disk drive that failed; rebooting a storage controller, coupled to the disk drive, after a controller error; and reading a write hole table, in the storage controller, for regenerating data on the logical drive. | 12-03-2009 |
20090300283 | Method and apparatus for dissolving hot spots in storage systems - Hot spots in a storage system may be located and dissolved in a smallest feasible time. A particular volume can be selected to be migrated from a hot spot with a minimum workload, and the most appropriate destination for receiving the migration is identified prior to beginning the migration. A management computer may monitor the load of each array group in the storage system in order to detect hot spots, and calculate estimated migration times for selecting a volume to be migrated from a hot spot according to shortest estimated time. Furthermore, because the storage controller needs to re-write data that is updated in an already-migrated area by a host computer during the migration, choosing the smallest volume is not the only consideration taken into account. Write access rates by host computers to the volume be migrated are taken into consideration when determining a candidate for migration. | 12-03-2009 |
20090300284 | Disk array apparatus and disk array apparatus control method - A journal write unit writes journal data into a third storage device. The journal data includes an identifier of a logical volume in a first storage device into which data has been written, information of a location in which the data is stored in the logical volume, update time which is current time acquired from a timing mechanism, and the data. A second write unit refers to update time of the journal data stored in the third storage device, selects journal data for which a difference between current time acquired from the timing mechanism and the update time is longer than a detection time stored in the third storage device, and writes the data into a place indicated by the location information, in a logical volume in the second storage device in the order of update time in the selected journal data. | 12-03-2009 |
20090300285 | COMPUTER SYSTEM, STORAGE SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR EXTENDING VOLUME CAPACITY - The object of the present invention is to prevent distribution of a storage range to a volume from an inappropriate disk drive comparing with use of the volume as a result of an automatic extension of a volume capacity. A computer system has a storage system including a physical storage device, a host computer, and a management computer. The storage system includes a plurality of kinds of physical storage devices physically dividing into two segments or more the volume and records as constitution information the correspondence between each segment and the volume using the segment. And the storage system records the kind of physical storage device to be allocated to the volume and selects the physical storage device according to the kind of stored physical storage device for allocation of the segment when the host computer performs an I/O access to the volume. | 12-03-2009 |
20090307420 | Storage apparatus and failure recovery method - Proposed are a storage apparatus and a failure recovery method capable of performing failure recovery processing while reducing performance deterioration. Whether user data is written into a storage area provided by multiple storage mediums is managed for each stripe. When any one of the storage mediums is blocked due to a failure, correction copy processing is executed to the stripe written with the user data in preference to the stripe not written with the user data in a storage area provided by the multiple storage mediums, and correction copy processing is executed to the stripe not written with the user data in a storage area provided by the multiple storage mediums during spare time. | 12-10-2009 |
20090307421 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR DISTRIBUTED RAID IMPLEMENTATION - Embodiments of the systems and methods disclosed provide a distributed RAID system comprising a set of data banks. More particularly, in certain embodiments of a distributed RAID system each data bank has a set of associated storage media and executes a similar distributed RAID application. The distributed RAID applications on each of the data banks coordinate among themselves to distribute and control data flow associated with implementing a level of RAID in conjunction with data stored on the associated storage media of the data banks. | 12-10-2009 |
20090307422 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR DATA MIGRATION IN A DISTRIBUTED RAID IMPLEMENTATION - Embodiments of the systems and methods disclosed provide a distributed RAID system comprising a set of data banks. More particularly, in certain embodiments of a distributed RAID system each data bank has a set of associated storage media and executes a similar distributed RAID application. The distributed RAID applications on each of the data banks coordinate among themselves to distribute and control data flow associated with implementing a level of RAID in conjunction with a volume stored on the associated storage media of the data banks. Migration of this volume, or a portion thereof, from one configuration to another configuration may be accomplished such that the volume, or the portion thereof, and corresponding redundancy data may be stored according to this second configuration. | 12-10-2009 |
20090307423 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR INITIALIZING STORAGE IN A STORAGE SYSTEM - Embodiments of systems and methods for a high availability storage system are disclosed. More particularly, in certain embodiments desired locations of storage devices may be zeroed out during operation of the storage system and areas that have been zeroed out allocated to store data when commands pertaining to that data are received. Specifically, in one embodiment a distributed RAID system comprising a set of data banks may be provided where each data bank in the set of data banks may execute a background process which zeroes areas of the storage devices of the data bank. When a command pertaining to a logical location is received a zeroed area of the physical storage devices on the data bank may be allocated to store data associated with that logical location. | 12-10-2009 |
20090307424 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR PLACEMENT OF DATA ON A STORAGE DEVICE - Embodiments of systems and methods for a storage system are disclosed. More particularly, in certain embodiments locations of storage devices may be allocated to store data when commands pertaining to that data are received. Specifically, in one embodiment a distributed RAID system comprising a set of data banks may be provided where the different performance characteristics associated with different areas of disks in the data bank may be taken into account when allocating physical segments to corresponding logical segments of a volume by allocating certain physical segments to a particular logical segment based upon a location of the physical segment or criteria associated with the logical segment. | 12-10-2009 |
20090307425 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR DISTRIBUTING COMMANDS TO TARGETS - Embodiments of systems and methods for routing commands to a distributed RAID system are disclosed. Specifically, embodiments may route a command to an appropriate data bank in a distributed RAID system, where each data bank has a set of associated storage media and executes a similar distributed RAID application. The distributed RAID applications on each of the data banks coordinate among themselves to distribute and control data flow associated with implementing a level of RAID in conjunction with data stored on the associated storage media of the data banks. | 12-10-2009 |
20090307426 | Method and System for Rebuilding Data in a Distributed RAID System - Embodiments of the systems and methods disclosed provide a distributed RAID system comprising a set of data banks. More particularly, in certain embodiments of a distributed RAID system each data bank has a set of associated storage media and executes a similar distributed RAID application. The distributed RAID applications on each of the data banks coordinate among themselves to distribute and control data flow associated with implementing a level of RAID in conjunction with a volume stored on the associated storage media of the data banks. Migration of volumes, or portions thereof, from one configuration to another configuration may be accomplished according to a priority associated with the volume. | 12-10-2009 |
20090313427 | COMPUTER SYSTEM FOR REDUCING POWER CONSUMPTION OF STORAGE SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR CONTROLLING THE SAME - To optimize performance and power consumption of a storage system having many disk drives, the storage system contains a plurality of volumes. A first number of the volumes belong to a first volume set. The first number of the remaining volumes belong to a second volume set. The volumes that belong to the first volume set are allocated dispersedly to a second number of disk drives. The volumes that belong to the second volume set are allocated dispersedly to a third number of disk drives, the third number being larger than the second number. A computer selects one of the first volume set and the second volume set based on a predetermined condition to store data dispersedly in the volumes belonging to the selected volume set. The computer stops spinning of disks in the disk drives to which none of the volumes belonging to the selected volume set are allocated. | 12-17-2009 |
20090313428 | Optimising Remote Mirroring Resynchronisation - The invention relates to data resynchronization on a computer system arranged to store a plurality of primary logical volumes and a plurality of associated secondary logical volumes. The method comprises executing at least one copy thread and at least one resynchronization thread in parallel, the copy thread being arranged to copy one of the secondary logical volumes to an associated tertiary logical volume at a time. The resynchronization thread is arranged to resynchronize the secondary logical volume to an associated primary logical volume, wherein the secondary logical volume is resynchronized after completion of copying the one of the secondary logical volumes. By coordinating the degree of parallelism in resynchronization with the degree in parallelism in executing the copying to a tertiary image, resynchronization is made more efficient. | 12-17-2009 |
20090313429 | Disk-based operating environment management system and method thereof - A method for managing disk-based operating environment for one or more host computers is provided. The environment management method includes the following steps: first, providing a plurality of operating systems together with specific application environments; then, selecting at least one operating system with specific application environment based on the user's preference and according to the authority of the host; finally, the host loading and executing the operating system to boot up specific operating environment. | 12-17-2009 |
20090313430 | Positron Emission Tomography Event Stream Buffering - PET system including array, data processing, and data acquisition. Data acquisition includes one-to-N channel write striping, N-to-one channel read unstriping, N data storage elements, and control logic. Control logic allocates (statically or dynamically) write/read access to data storage elements. Dynamic allocation can be conditional, e.g., that data storage elements be available to receive all input data from array. Embodiments include an input buffer where the condition is determined dynamically based on capacity of the input buffer to temporarily preserve all input data supplied during periods data storage element unavailability. Communication between array and data acquisition can be Fibre Channel simplex implementing only FC-0, FC-1. Data storage elements have data handling bandwidth equal to or greater than (data output rate /N) plus (data input rate/N). Control logic, write striping, read unstriping can be implemented in FPGA. Data storage elements can form a Redundant Array of Independent Disks, e.g., RAID 0. | 12-17-2009 |
20090313431 | Disk Array Recording Apparatus and Recording Control Method Thereof - The present invention provides a disk array recording apparatus that is composed of a plurality of hard disk drives (HDDs) and capable of unfailingly decreasing the startup time required between power application and recording operation initiation. When three out of four HDDs | 12-17-2009 |
20090327601 | ASYNCHRONOUS DATA MIRRORING WITH LOOK-AHEAD SYNCHRONIZATION RECORD - A data storage system is provided. The system includes a primary storage subsystem, which includes first non-volatile storage media and a secondary storage subsystem, which includes second non-volatile storage media, wherein the primary storage subsystem is arranged to receive data from a host processor for writing to a specified location, and to store the data in the specified location on the first non-volatile storage media while copying the data to the second storage subsystem, which is arranged to store the data in the specified location on the second non-volatile storage media so as to create a mirror on the secondary storage subsystem of the data received by the primary storage subsystem, and wherein the primary storage subsystem is arranged to maintain a record of locations to which data are expected to be written on the primary storage subsystem by the host processor, as indicated by a predetermined prediction algorithm based on the locations to which the data have already been written, and upon receiving the data from the host processor, to update the record using the prediction algorithm so that the record includes both the specified location and one or more further locations that have not yet been specified by the host processor if the specified location is not included in the record, and to output an acknowledgement to the host processor to indicate that the data have been stored in the data storage system after receiving the data and, after updating the record if the specified location was not included in the record prior to-updating the record. | 12-31-2009 |
20090327602 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR MANAGING WEAR-LEVEL AWARE FILE SYSTEMS - A method for wear level-based allocation in a storage pool. The method includes receiving a first request to write a first data item in a storage pool, where the storage pool includes a number of physical locations associated with the storage devices, and where each of the storage devices includes metadata regarding a level of wear of the storage device. The method further includes determining a first target physical location selected from the plurality of physical locations by using a wear-level selection policy and a wear cost for each of the storage devices, where the wear cost is determined based on a type of the storage device. The method further includes allocating a first data block to the first target physical location writing the first data block to the first target physical locations, wherein the first data block comprises a first portion of the first data item. | 12-31-2009 |
20090327603 | System including solid state drives paired with hard disk drives in a RAID 1 configuration and a method for providing/implementing said system - The present invention is a storage system. The storage system includes a disk array. The disk array includes a disk drive pair which includes a hard disk drive and a solid state disk drive, such as a NAND flash drive. The storage system also includes a disk array controller. The disk array controller may be communicatively coupled with a host server and with the disk array. Further, the disk array controller may be configured for reading from the disk array and writing to the disk array based upon read commands and write commands received from the host server. The disk array may be configured as a Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks (RAID) configuration, such as a Level 1 RAID configuration (RAID 1). Thus, the disk drive pair may be a RAID disk drive pair, such as a RAID 1 disk drive pair. Further, all the read commands may be directed exclusively to the solid state disk drive and the write commands may be directed to both the solid state disk drive and the hard disk drive. | 12-31-2009 |
20090327604 | STORAGE DEVICE, CONTROL DEVICE, STORAGE SYSTEM, AND STORAGE METHOD - A size storage unit stores therein a block size of a memory element. A buffering unit executes buffer processing configured to store data received from a RAID (Redundant Arrays of Inexpensive/Independent Disks) controller into a buffer, and to write the data stored in the buffer into the memory element. A stripe-size receiving unit receives a stripe size that indicates a size of a unit of access at time of access to the memory element by the RAID controller. Writing processing is configured to write data received from the RAID controller into the memory element without executing the buffer processing by the buffering unit, when the stripe size is n times of the block size (n is a positive integer). | 12-31-2009 |
20090327605 | DISK ARRAY APPARATUS, CONTROLLER AND CONTROLLING METHOD THEREFOR, AND RECORDING MEDIUM IN WHICH CONTROLLING PROGRAM IS STORED - A disk array apparatus includes a first converting unit that performs first conversion on storing object data received in a first control unit from a controller to convert the storing object data into data in a second control unit, the controller including a selecting section that selects, on the basis of the access state monitored by a monitoring section, one from the controller and said first converting unit, and a second converting unit that performs, if the controller is selected by the selecting section, a second conversion, different from the first conversion, on the object data to convert the object data managed in the first control unit into the data in the second control unit. With this configuration, the disk array apparatus accomplishes the object to improve the accessibility to different types of storage units that manage data storing in different control units. | 12-31-2009 |
20090327606 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR EXECUTION OF APPLICATIONS IN CONJUNCTION WITH DISTRIBUTED RAID - Systems and methods are disclosed which allow various applications which may utilize a distributed RAID system (or other types of applications) to be executed on the same set of computing devices which implement that distributed RAID system. More particularly, in certain embodiments a virtualization layer may be executed on a data bank. A set of desired application programs may be executed using this virtualization layer, where the context for each instance of the applications executing on the virtualization layer may be stored in a volume kept utilizing the distributed RAID system. | 12-31-2009 |
20100005240 | DISPLAY APPARATUS AND ITS METHOD FOR DISPLAYING CONNECTIONS AMONG A HOST, A LOGICAL UNIT AND A STORAGE SYSTEM IN A VIRTUAL STORAGE SYSTEM - This invention provides a user or an operator with a management apparatus or method for displaying logical connection information between an interface connected to a computer and a switch and a storage system or a logical unit in the storage system in a virtual storage system, wherein the switch receives a first access request from said computer, converts said first access request to a second access request to one of said plural storage systems, and sends said second access request to one of said plural storage systems or one logical unit | 01-07-2010 |
20100011162 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR PERFORMING RAID LEVEL MIGRATION - A RAID level migration system and method are provided that enable RAID level migration to be performed without the use of a hardware RAID controller with NVRAM for storing the migration parameters. Eliminating the need for a hardware controller having NVRAM significantly reduces the costs associated with performing RAID level migration. The system and method are capable of migrating from any arbitrary RAID level to any other arbitrary RAID level. | 01-14-2010 |
20100023685 | Storage device and control method for the same - A storage device is provided with: a first management section that manages a storage area provided by one or more hard disk drives on a basis of a predetermined unit created using one or more parameters; a second management section that manages, on a basis of a pool configured by at least one or more of the units, a management policy about the capacity of the pools and a threshold value of the storage capacity of the pools; a power supply control section that controls each of the hard disk drives of the unit under the management of the first management section to be in either a first turn-ON state or a second turn-ON state with a low power consumption; and a control section that selects, when the storage capacity of any of the pools exceeds the threshold value, the management policy of the pools, and any of the managed parameters considered optimum to serve as the unit of the storage area, and after making the power supply control section to change the state of the hard disk drive of the selected unit from the second turn-ON state to the first turn-ON state, adds the unit of the storage area to the capacity of the pool. With such a configuration, the storage device can achieve reduction of power consumption, simplification of management, and increase of use efficiency of storage resources. | 01-28-2010 |
20100023686 | METHOD FOR IMPROVING RAID 1 READING EFFICIENCY - A method for improving redundant array of inexpensive disks 1 (RAID 1 array) reading efficiency, which includes providing a disk head address of each disk in a RAID 1 array; receiving a read command and providing a reading file address of the read command; choosing a first preferred disk from the disks in the RAID 1 array, which has a disk head address closest to the reading file address among disks of the RAID 1 array; and sending the read command to the first preferred disk. | 01-28-2010 |
20100023687 | METHOD FOR PROVIDING A CUSTOMIZED RESPONSE FROM A DISK ARRAY - The present invention discloses a method for providing a customized response from disk array, which is implemented on a disk array server having disks. The method comprises steps of receiving a request packet from a front end server, determining whether the request packet is for a response of disk environment information of one of the disks, and directly providing a customized response back to the front end server when the request packet is for a response of disk environment information of one of the disks, or passing the request packet to an originally aimed disk of the disk array server when the request packet is for data access on the originally aimed disk. | 01-28-2010 |
20100023688 | SYMMETRICAL STORAGE ACCESS ON INTELLIGENT DIGITAL DISK RECORDERS - A method includes designating at least three storage partitions on at least two logical drives, placing a first storage partition on a first of the logical drives adjacent to a second storage partition on a second of the logical drives separate from the first logical drives, and creating a third partition among both the first and second of the logical drives. The first, second and third partitions are balanced for storage access symmetry such that the drives bear equal storage placement. | 01-28-2010 |
20100030960 | RAID ACROSS VIRTUAL DRIVES - A plurality of physical drives is grouped into a physical drive group. The plurality of physical drives comprises at least a first physical drive and a second physical drive. At least the first physical drive and the second physical drive are striped to create at least a first virtual drive and a second virtual drive. The first virtual drive is comprised of storage space residing on the first physical drive and the second virtual drive is comprised of storage space residing on the second physical drive. Storage data is distributed across at least the first virtual drive and the second virtual drive using at least one redundant array of independent disks (RAID) technique to create at least a first virtual volume and a second virtual volume. When a physical drive fails, data from the failed physical drive may be reconstructed using temporary stripes from a virtual drive. | 02-04-2010 |
20100037019 | METHODS AND DEVICES FOR HIGH PERFORMANCE CONSISTENCY CHECK - Methods and devices for reading data from a plurality of storage devices belonging to a plurality of spans and checking consistency (e.g., XOR parity check) of data belonging to each span independently of another span in one embodiment. Methods and devices for reading data from a plurality of stripes and checking consistency of the data from the plurality of stripes in another embodiment. | 02-11-2010 |
20100037020 | PIPELINED MEMORY ACCESS METHOD AND ARCHITECTURE THEREFORE - A memory array and a method for accessing a memory array including: receiving an address from a host related to relevant data; accessing a first module based on the address received from the host, wherein accessing the first module includes: decoding the address for the first module; enabling a wordline based on the decoded address for the first module and sensing the contents of one or more bits at the decoded address for the first module; and outputting information regarding the first module; and accessing a second module based on the address received from the host, wherein accessing the second module includes: decoding the address for the second module; enabling a wordline based on the decoded address for the second module and sensing the contents of one or more bits at the decoded address for the second module; and outputting information regarding the second module, wherein the step of decoding the address for the second module occurs while the step of enabling a wordline based on the decoded address for the first module and sensing the contents of one or more bits at the decoded address for the first module occurs. | 02-11-2010 |
20100037021 | STORAGE DEVICE, STORAGE DEVICE ARRAY AND DATA PROCESSING SYSTEM - A storage device includes a data storage section, a first control section, a communication section, a second control section and a wireless transmission/reception section. The data storage section stores data. The first control section controls reading and writing the data from and into the data storage section. The communication section transmits and receives the data through a transmission line to and from a host device. The second control section transmits and receives the data to and from the first control section and the communication section. The wireless transmission/reception section is connected to the first and second control sections, is directed toward a predetermined direction, and wirelessly transmits and receives data to and from another storage device provided in the predetermined direction. | 02-11-2010 |
20100037022 | RAID Data Protection Architecture Using Data Protection Information - A structure of redundant array of independent disks (RAID) comprising multiple parity data is provided. A data protection field is attached after each basic data access unit of the parity data sequences and each subfields of the data protection field is defined according to different applications to protect the basic data access unit of the parity data or the data protection field of the payload data from errors incurring during data transmission. | 02-11-2010 |
20100037023 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR TRANSFERRING DATA BETWEEN DIFFERENT RAID DATA STORAGE TYPES FOR CURRENT DATA AND REPLAY DATA - The present disclosure relates to a data storage system including a RAID subsystem having a first and second type of RAID storage. A virtual volume configured to accept I/O is stored on the first type of RAID storage, and snapshots of the virtual volume are stored on the second type of RAID storage. A method of the present disclosure includes providing an active volume that accepts I/O and generating read-only snapshots of the volume. In certain embodiments, the active volume is converted to a snapshot. The active volume includes a first type of RAID storage, and the snapshots include a second type of RAID storage. The first type of RAID storage has a lower write penalty than the second type of RAID storage. In typical embodiments, the first type of RAID storage includes RAID 10 storage and the second type of RAID storage includes RAID 5 and/or RAID 6 storage. | 02-11-2010 |
20100049913 | MANAGING MULTIPLE CONCURRENT OPERATIONS WITH VARIOUS PRIORITY LEVELS IN A LOCAL STORAGE DEVICE - Techniques for rendering the management of processes supported by a storage device are described. In particular, the efficient allocation of storage array processing resources when managing concurrent processes on a storage array is described. | 02-25-2010 |
20100049914 | RAID Enhanced solid state drive - The present invention relates to a solid-state storage subsystem which comprises a plurality of solid state drive designs integrated with a storage processor that provides performance, data integrity and reliability improvements in a standard disk drive form factor with a standard disk drive interface. | 02-25-2010 |
20100049915 | Virtual disk timesharing - A method and system are described for the use of a high speed storage device to temporarily substitute for a low speed storage device in a computer storage system. Because the change is done behind a virtualization facade, hot swapping of the storage devices is achieved. A record is kept of changes to the high speed storage device during the substitution interval, to update the low speed storage device so that it can resume its responsibilities. The resumption of responsibilities by the low speed storage device is also achieved by hot swapping. The approach makes effective use of a relatively rare resource in the storage system, permitting it to be shared among various applications, as directed by a timesharing engine. | 02-25-2010 |
20100049916 | POWER-SAVING-BACKUP MANAGEMENT METHOD - A storage subsystem includes: a controller; a first logical storage area corresponding to a RAID group configured by a plurality of storage devices; and a second logical storage area corresponding to a plurality of the RAID groups each configured by the plurality of storage devices, and storing a copy of data stored in the first logical storage area. In the storage subsystem, the first and second logical storage areas form a copy group, and for starting copying from the first to second logical storage area, the controller performs a mode change, from a power saving mode to a ready mode, to the plurality of storage devices configuring the plurality of RAID groups corresponding to the second logical storage area. With such a storage subsystem, the time can be reduced for activating copy-destination storage devices to which a power saving function is applied, and the copy time is thus favorably reduced. | 02-25-2010 |
20100049917 | STORAGE SYSTEM, AND DATA MIGRATION METHOD FOR THE SAME - The invention is directed to a storage system including a storage subsystem providing a data storage service to a host computer, and a management device managing the storage subsystem. The management device issues a command to a controller in the storage subsystem for migrating data on a migration-source volume to a migration-destination volume in accordance with a predetermined task. When the migration-destination volume is not available for use for some reason, and when the data migration is not completed normally, the management device searches an alternative volume in accordance with migration-destination requirements including essential and arbitrary requirements, and then issues a command for data migration to thus found alternative volume. With such a configuration, even if a migration-destination volume is not available for use for some reason during data migration, any other volume can be used as a migration destination in accordance with the migration-destination requirement(s). | 02-25-2010 |
20100049918 | VIRTUAL DISK MANAGEMENT PROGRAM, STORAGE DEVICE MANAGEMENT PROGRAM, MULTINODE STORAGE SYSTEM, AND VIRTUAL DISK MANAGING METHOD - In a multinode storage system, a virtual disk associated with a storage device to be connected is created, and a slice of a connected storage device is allocated to one segment of the virtual disk. Next, one slice of data in the storage device to be connected is copied to the connected storage device. The rest of data in the storage device to be connected is divided into slices, which are allocated to segments of the virtual disk. Then, metadata of the rest of the slices is written into a management information area in which copying of the data therefrom has been completed. | 02-25-2010 |
20100049919 | SERIAL ATTACHED SCSI (SAS) GRID STORAGE SYSTEM AND METHOD OF OPERATING THEREOF - There is provided a SAS grid storage system and a method of operating thereof. The system comprises a) a storage control grid comprising a plurality of interconnected data servers operable in accordance with at least one SAS protocol and b) a plurality of disk units adapted to store data at respective ranges of logical block addresses (LBAs), said addresses constituting an entire address space. Each disk unit comprises at least one input/output (IO) module comprising at least one internal SAS expander configured as a target with regard to the storage control grid. The plurality of disk units is operatively connected to the storage control grid in a manner enabling to each data server comprised in the storage control grid an access to each disk unit among the plurality of disk units. The method of operating the grid storage system comprises: a) assigning each LBA to a primary data server configured to have a primary responsibility for permanent storing of data and/or metadata related to the desired LBA, a secondary data server configured to take over the responsibility for said permanent storing in an event of a failure of the primary data server, and, optionally, to auxiliary secondary data server configured to take over the responsibility for said permanent storing in an event of a failure of the secondary data server; b) responsive to an I/O requests directed to a certain LBA, temporarily storing the data and metadata with respect to desired LBA in the primary data server; c) sending copies of said data/metadata from the primary data server to respective secondary data servers for temporarily storing; and d) sending permissions from the primary data server to the secondary data servers to delete the copy of data/metadata upon successful permanent storing said data/metadata. | 02-25-2010 |
20100057985 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ALLOCATING PERFORMANCE TO DATA VOLUMES ON DATA STORAGE SYSTEMS AND CONTROLLING PERFORMANCE OF DATA VOLUMES - System and method for dynamic chunk allocation to data volumes in storage systems. The system includes host computer, management computer and storage system. A dynamic chunk allocation program in the storage system allocates chunks from chunk pool to a volume using a chunk pool management table and a chunk table. A chunk allocation rule table holds rules for allocating chunks from the HDDs. The dynamic chunk allocation program refers to the chunk allocation rule table, to allocate a chunk to a volume. The storage system may have a chunk move program for moving a chunk from one HDD to another HDD or from parity group to parity group for load balancing. A host ID identifying program in the storage system is also used for load balancing. The chunk allocation rule table may be updated by the management computer or rule creation program for changing the rules. | 03-04-2010 |
20100057986 | STORAGE ARRAY BOOT AND CONFIGURATION - A RAID storage array having a controller and plurality of disk drives is configured into a plurality of groups. The plurality of disk drives are in a plurality of drive trays. The controller includes a main memory. A set of configuration information is stored on a central nonvolatile memory device. The set of configuration information includes group configuration information corresponding to each group of the plurality of groups with which a corresponding disk drive is associated. The set of configuration information is stored on a plurality of remote nonvolatile memory devices that are each associated with at least one of the plurality of drive trays. A bootware control process is loaded into the main memory. The bootware control process is executed. A plurality of service layer processes are loaded into the main memory. The plurality of service layer processes are executed in parallel under the control of the bootware control process. The configuration information is read from the central nonvolatile memory device. | 03-04-2010 |
20100057987 | Method and System for Upgrading Normal Disk Controller to RAID Controller - The invention provides a method and system for upgrading Normal Disk Controller to RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) Controller. Unlike Normal Disk Controller that reports the exact physical disks to Host Computer System, the RAID Controller only reports the configured RAID Logical Units. According to different RAID configurations, the RAID Controller might increase data availability and storage capacity, improve system performance and flexibility, and realize data protection and recovery. The disclosed method and system for upgrading includes three parts: RAID BIOS (Basic Input/Output System) Initialization and Configuration, OS (Operate System) Driver, and Application Program, and the Controller after upgrading will behave exactly like a RAID Controller, at BIOS level, OS level, and Application level. | 03-04-2010 |
20100057988 | STORAGE SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR MANAGING CONFIGURATION THEREOF - In a storage system having a plurality of storage devices, erasing frequencies of the storage devices with a limit of the number of erasures are made uniform. | 03-04-2010 |
20100057989 | METHOD OF MOVING DATA IN LOGICAL VOLUME, STORAGE SYSTEM, AND ADMINISTRATIVE COMPUTER - A data storage system satisfying user's requirements of a thin provisioned volume even if an event has occurred in which the requirements of the thin provisioned volume are not satisfied. When event information is sent from a storage subsystem to an administrative computer, the computer identifies physical resources affected by the event. A decision is made as to whether the identified physical resources satisfy the pool requirements of the thin provisioned volume. If the pool requirements are not satisfied, physical resources satisfying the pool requirements are selected from all physical resources. The administrative computer instructs the storage subsystem to move data. The storage subsystem moves data stored in physical resources affected by the event to physical resources satisfying the pool requirements and modifies the physical resource numbers given to the physical resources affected by the event to the physical resource numbers given to the physical resources satisfying the pool requirements. | 03-04-2010 |
20100057990 | Storage System Logical Storage Area Allocating Method and Computer System - A method for allocating optimum pages to a logical volume according to the usage of the logical volume and an access characteristic is provided. A storage system is connected to a host computer, includes plural disk drives and a controller to control the plural disk drives, includes a first disk drive group including at least one disk drive, holds information indicating that a first attribute is assigned to a logical volume, assigns the first attribute when a first logical volume including plural first logical storage areas is provided to the host computer, reserves plural physical storage areas of the first disk drive group as the plural first logical storage areas, reserves the plural first logical storage areas included in the first logical volume as storage areas for storing data requested by the host computer, and stores the data requested by the host computer into the allocated physical storage areas. | 03-04-2010 |
20100057991 | METHOD FOR CONTROLLING STORAGE SYSTEM, STORAGE SYSTEM, AND STORAGE APPARATUS - A storage apparatus comprising a logical volume composed of a plurality of storage media includes an access instruction receiving section receiving, from a server, an instruction to access the logical volume, an access executing section executing an access to the logical volume based on the access instruction, and a power supply control section which, if the logical volume to be accessed is inaccessible, changes a power supply status of a storage medium corresponding to redundancy of the logical volume. | 03-04-2010 |
20100064102 | COMPONENT DISCOVERY IN MULTI-BLADE SERVER CHASSIS - A method for discovering components on a multi-blade server chassis having an input/output (I/O) module in communication with a plurality of components managed by an advanced management module (AMM) is provided. The I/O module includes a switch module, a redundant array of independent disks (RAID) controller and a baseboard management controller (BMC). A first address for a first component of the plurality of components is received. The first address is provided by a user. The switch module is queried for additional addresses for additional components of the plurality of components. The switch module obtains the additional addresses for the additional components from a first persistent storage location associated with the switch module. The first and additional addresses for the first and additional components are stored in a second persistent storage location accessible by the BMC, the switch module, and the RAID controller. | 03-11-2010 |
20100064103 | Storage control device and raid group extension method - The present invention provides a storage system having a controller that can extend an old RAID group to a new RAID group without decreasing a processing speed. A conversion part reads the data from an unconverted area A | 03-11-2010 |
20100064104 | Integrated-circuit implementation of a storage-shelf router and a path controller card for combined use in high-availability mass-storage-device shelves and that support virtual disk formatting - An integrated circuit implementing a storage-shelf router used alone, or in combination with other storage-shelf routers, and in combination with path controller cards, to interconnect the disks within a storage shelf or disk array to a high-bandwidth communications medium through which data is exchanged between the individual disk drives of the storage shelf and a disk-array controller. In various embodiments, the present invention provides virtual disk formatting by a storage shelf router and the storage shelf in which the storage-shelf is included, to external computing entities, such as disk-array controllers and host computers. By providing virtual disk formatting, a storage-shelf router can provide to a disk-array controller, and other external computing entities, the disk-formatting convention expected by the disk-array controller, even though disk drives and other storage systems that do not conform to the expected formatting conventions may be included in the storage shelf and interconnected to a disk-array controller and other external processing entities via an interface provided by a storage-shelf router. Virtual disk formatting, in addition, allows a storage-shelf router to format a disk drive differently from the disk formatting expected by external computing entities, so that the storage-shelf router can transparently include additional information into disk sectors, such as additional error detection and error-correction information. | 03-11-2010 |
20100070702 | UNUSED CAPACITY UTILIZATION - Disclosed is a method of operating a RAID storage system. A first capacity of a first storage device is determined. A second capacity of a second storage device that is greater than the first capacity is determined. A storage space pool comprising at least a first logical drive, a second logical drive, and a third logical drive is created. The first logical drive corresponds to the first storage device. The second logical drive corresponds to a first portion of the second storage device. The third logical drive corresponds to a second portion of the second storage device. The first portion and the second portion having at least the first capacity. | 03-18-2010 |
20100070703 | SOFTWARE TECHNIQUE FOR IMPROVING DISK WRITE PERFORMANCE ON RAID SYSTEM WHERE WRITE SIZES ARE NOT AN INTEGRAL MULTIPLE OF NUMBER OF DATA DISKS - A method, apparatus, and system of a software technique for improving disk write performance on raid system where write sizes are not an integral multiple of number of data disks are disclosed. In one embodiment, a method includes configuring a queue module to place an amount of data of a write operation into a data buffer module associated with a memory system if writing the amount of data to the memory system would generate a read-modify-write operation to occur, using the data buffer module to temporarily store the amount of data, writing the amount of data from the data buffer module to the memory system. The method may include algorithmically determining the amount of data to place in the data buffer module as a portion of the write operation that may cross a boundary between a striped sector unit (SSU) and/or an other SSU. | 03-18-2010 |
20100070704 | METHOD FOR REMOTE DATA BACK UP WITH DE-DUPLICATION AND RECOVERY FROM CLUSTERED SECONDARY STORAGE ARRAYS - A method, system, and apparatus a method for remote data back up with de-duplication and recovery from clustered secondary storage arrays are disclosed. In one embodiment, a method includes writing a set of data of a primary storage module (e.g., may be coupled to the secondary storage cluster with a fibre channel network) to a secondary storage module of a secondary storage cluster, writing an other set of data of the primary storage module to an other secondary storage module coupled to the secondary storage module, writing the set of data from the secondary storage module to the other secondary storage module of the secondary storage cluster (e.g., the other secondary storage module may contain both the set of data and the other set of data), and writing the other set of data from the other secondary storage module to the secondary storage module. | 03-18-2010 |
20100070705 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR RESOLVING CONFIGURATION CONFLICTS IN RAID SYSTEMS - A software-based RAID system is provided that enables configuration conflicts to be detected and resolved between a PD that is logically present but physically missing, and a PD that is physically and logically present. In accordance with the invention, a determination is made as to whether such a configuration conflict exists, and if so, the logically-present, but physically missing, reference identifier associated with the PD is remapped to a port number that currently is not in use. | 03-18-2010 |
20100070706 | Method of Allocating Physical Volume Area to Virtualized Volume, and Storage Device - In a storage device in which physical memory areas are sequentially allocated to virtual volumes according to an access, data are divided based on data creation date and so and are stored in physical RGs. The storage device includes a memory unit including a plurality of physical RGs including a first physical RG; and a controller. The controller sequentially allocates a memory area of the first physical RG or a pool memory area including a plurality of first physical RGs to a first virtual volume based on a use order according to an access to the first virtual volume, receives a break request, and allocates the memory area of the first physical RG of the next use order or the pool memory area including the plurality of first physical RGs of the next use order to the first virtual volume according to the access to the first virtual volume after receiving the break request. | 03-18-2010 |
20100082899 | MANAGEMENT COMPUTER AND OPERATING METHOD THEREOF - Implementing migration of a computer or data in consideration of the performance of an entire computer system is disclosed. A management computer is coupled to a computer | 04-01-2010 |
20100082900 | MANAGEMENT DEVICE FOR STORAGE DEVICE - The present invention provides effective use of a storage resource in a system where a storage area of a logical volume is dynamically extended and reduced. In an information processing system including a management device communicably connected to a storage device that can dynamically change a storage capacity of a virtual volume allocated to a host computer, when a used amount of a certain storage pool exceeds a threshold set in the storage pool, the management device sends to the storage device, an instruction to migrate a predetermined number of virtual volumes, sequentially selected in ascending order of capacity increasing rate, so that another storage pool different from the certain storage pool may be used as a creation source. At this time, as a migration destination, the management device uses, the storage pool having, for example, an attribute of the storage resource identical to that of the certain storage device. | 04-01-2010 |
20100082901 | STORAGE SYSTEM WITH LU-SETTING FUNCTION - In a storage system, an operator makes an input only of minimum-required information, and when an LU setting command including the information is accepted, in response to the LU setting command, any internal process is executed using configuration management information about an LU and a plurality of physical storage devices. After completion of the internal process, the processing result is forwarded back. Herein, the configuration management information is about the LU and the physical storage devices, including information about a free area and a free capacity in a storage space of each of the physical storage devices, and information about the LU based on the storage spaces. The free area is an address area occupied by the free space not used as the LU. The free capacity is the capacity of the free space. Accordingly, an LU setting technology with a reduced level of the operator's load of work can be favorably provided. | 04-01-2010 |
20100082902 | SECURITY FOR LOGICAL UNIT IN STORAGE SUBSYSTEM - Mapping tables are for stipulating information for primarily identifying computers, information for identifying a group of the computers and a logical unit number permitting access from the host computer inside storage subsystem, in accordance with arbitrary operation method by a user, and for giving them to host computer. The invention uses management table inside the storage subsystem and allocates logical units inside the storage subsystem to a host computer group arbitrarily grouped by a user in accordance with the desired form of operation of the user, can decide access approval/rejection to the logical unit inside the storage subsystem in the group unit and at the same time, can provide the security function capable of setting interface of connection in the group unit under single port of storage subsystem without changing existing processing, limitation and other functions of computer. | 04-01-2010 |
20100095059 | DISTRIBUTED FILE SERVING ARCHITECTURE SYSTEM WITH METADATA STORAGE VIRTUALIZATION AND DATA ACCESS AT THE DATA SERVER CONNECTION SPEED - Method, apparatus and program storage device that provides a distributed file serving architecture with metadata storage virtualization and data access at the data server connection speed is provided. A host issues a file access request including data target locations. The file access request including data target locations is processed. Remote direct memory access (RDMA) channel endpoint connection are issued in response to the processing of the file access request. An RDMA transfer of the file-block data associated with the file access request is made directly between a memory at the host and a data server. | 04-15-2010 |
20100095060 | LOCATION-INDEPENDENT RAID GROUP VIRTUAL BLOCK MANAGEMENT - A computer storage system is described. A range of volume block numbers (VBNs) is assigned to a volume. A range of storage device block numbers (DBNs) is assigned to each of a plurality of storage devices. A first mapping parameters are created to map a first range of VBN numbers to a first selected range of DBNs using a first portion of a new storage device. A second mapping parameters are created to map a second range of VBN numbers to a second range of DBNs on a second portion of the new storage device. | 04-15-2010 |
20100100676 | Systems And Methods Of Presenting Virtual Tape Products To A Client - Systems and methods for presenting virtual tape products to a client are disclosed. An exemplary method may include allocating a plurality of disks connected to a host bus adapter (HBA) as both virtual tape storage and virtual disk storage. The method may also include translating at the HBA an input/output (I/O) communication between the client and the plurality of disks to access at least a portion of the plurality of disks allocated as virtual tape storage. The method may also include handling all other I/O communication between the client and the plurality of disks for access to the plurality of disks allocated as virtual disk storage. | 04-22-2010 |
20100100677 | Power and performance management using MAIDx and adaptive data placement - The present invention is a method for storing data. The method includes the step of dividing data into a plurality of uniformly-sized segments. The method further includes storing said uniformly-sized segments on a plurality of storage mechanisms. The method includes the steps of monitoring access to the uniformly-sized segments stored on the plurality of storage mechanisms to determine an access pattern; monitoring access patterns between the plurality of disks and monitoring performance characteristics of the plurality of storage mechanisms to determine a performance requirement for the plurality of storage mechanisms. Finally, the method includes the step of migrating at least one segment of the plurality of uniformly-sized segments from a first storage mechanism of the plurality of storage mechanisms to a second storage mechanism of the plurality of storage mechanisms in response to at least one of the access patterns or the performance requirements. | 04-22-2010 |
20100100678 | Volume management system - The work load imposed on an administrator increases because the administrator has heretofore performed the work of allocating volumes to applications of PC server devices and the work of taking over volumes for applications in accordance with change in PC server devices. To solve this problem, there is provided a volume management system in a computer system having storage devices each of which has a unit which manages volume configuration information in accordance with each application, a unit which manages volume usage information in accordance with each of volumes for the applications, and a unit which manages allocatable areas of the storage devices while partitioning the allocatable areas of the storage devices in accordance with performance and reliability, wherein the volume management system has: a unit which selects suitable allocation regions in accordance with the volume usages of the applications; a unit which selects a suitable allocation region in accordance with change of host performance and migrates a volume to the suitable allocation region when host configuration of an application is changed; and a unit which changes configuration information to perform change of setting on each host. | 04-22-2010 |
20100100679 | Embedded scale-out aggregator for storage array controllers - Methods and systems for dynamic storage tiering may comprise: discovering one or more remote virtual drives associated with one or more remote storage arrays; advertising one or more local virtual drives associated with a local storage array; receiving one or more IO requests from a client addressed to one or more remote virtual drives associated with one or more remote storage arrays; transmitting one or more command descriptor block (CDB) requests to one or more remote storage arrays associated with the one or more virtual drives to allocate local cache space and transmitting the one or more IO requests to the one or more remote storage arrays via Remote Direct Memory Access (RDMA). | 04-22-2010 |
20100106904 | SHADOW RAID CACHE MEMORY - A shadow cache memory system includes one or more subsystems to provide a processor, couple a main memory module with the processor, assign a portion of the main memory module to be used for cache memory, couple a shadow memory module to the cache memory and couple a battery with the shadow memory module. The shadow cache memory system also includes using a memory controller, to simultaneously write data to the cache memory and the shadow memory module while the memory controller is unaware of writing the data to the shadow memory module. | 04-29-2010 |
20100106905 | DISK ARRAY CONTROL DEVICE AND STORAGE DEVICE - According to one embodiment, a disk array control device manages a plurality of drives as a single logical drive. The disk array control device includes a first register configured to store a to-he-accessed drive number which is designated by a host, and a control module. The control module is configured to receive a command from the host, determine whether the received command is a predetermined command which is used for maintenance of each of the drives, and execute, in a case where the received command is the predetermined command, a pass-through process of sending the received command to the drive which is designated by the to-be-accessed drive number in the first register. | 04-29-2010 |
20100106906 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR PROTECTING AGAINST MULTIPLE FAILURES IN A RAID SYSTEM - Embodiments of methods of protecting RAID systems from multiple failures and such protected RAID systems are disclosed. More particularly, in certain embodiments of a distributed RAID system each data bank has a set of associated storage media and executes a similar distributed RAID application. The distributed RAID applications on each of the data banks coordinate among themselves to distribute and control data flow associated with implementing a level of RAID in conjunction with data stored on the associated storage media of the data banks. Furthermore, one or more levels of RAID may be implemented within one or more of the data banks comprising the distributed RAID system. | 04-29-2010 |
20100106907 | Computer-readable medium storing data management program, computer-readable medium storing storage diagnosis program, and multinode storage system - A computer-readable medium storing a data management program makes a computer manage data redundantly stored in storage devices having storage areas split into slices for data management. The data management program realizes the following functions in the computer. A first function receives irregularity information indicating that each of one or more of the storage devices may be possibly faulty, and stores the irregularity information in a storage; and a second function determines, by reference to the irregularity information, whether or not a first storage device containing a slice to be accessed is possibly faulty, on receipt of access information indicating occurrence of a request to access the slice. When yes is determined, the second function instructs an external device to recover data stored in the slice, where the external device controls a second storage device storing redundant data identical to the data stored in the slice. | 04-29-2010 |
20100106908 | COMPUTER SYSTEM, STORAGE AREA ALLOCATION METHOD, AND MANAGEMENT COMPUTER - Disclosed is a system and method for preventing deterioration in I/O performance of a computer resulted from a use of the same physical disk among different logical volumes. A volume management server | 04-29-2010 |
20100115198 | System and method for loose coupling between raid volumes and drive groups - The present disclosure describes a system and method for allocating volume pieces across a redundant array of inexpensive discs (RAID). | 05-06-2010 |
20100115199 | DISK ARRAY APPARATUS AND CONTROL METHOD FOR DISK ARRAY APPARATUS - A disk array apparatus capable of effecting saving and operation of data through a simple construction. When a host computer sets “write inhibit” or “read/write inhibit” for an LDEV which is set on a first storage device, this setting is registered in an access attribute management table and is also reflected onto a migration management table. A migration control program moves the LDEV for which access limitation has been set to a lower-speed (lower-performance) second storage device or to an external storage device. When the access limitation is released, the moved LDEV is restored to the first storage device from the storage device to which the LDEV has been moved. By performing migration control in interlocking relation to control of access attributes, it is possible to obtain a simple data saving function and data management function. | 05-06-2010 |
20100122027 | Storage controller - A storage controller of the present invention enables a larger number of storage devices to be mounted while keeping the installation size small. A plurality of sub-storage units are disposed inside a high density-type storage unit. The respective sub-storage units comprise a plurality of hard disk drives, controller, memory, power supply device, and display part. The respective sub-storage units operate independently of one another. A controller creates a management table based on management data acquired from the respective sub-storage units. The user is notified when there is an error in the table contents. A display part lights up in accordance with an indication from a storage unit specification part, notifying the user of the location of the sub-storage unit. | 05-13-2010 |
20100122028 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR CONTROLLING INFORMATION OF LOGICAL DIVISION IN A STORAGE CONTROLLER - A storage controller is realized in which validity/invalidity of functions is settable in a unit of logical division in conformity with logical division of logical groups control is performed such that operation has the influence upon only the inside of a range defined by resource groups of logical division and an Inband I/F for accessing functions is made to match with the logical division. Further, access control cooperative with information on the user side (information of server, user and application) is realized by causing a management server to manage information in the storage controller and user information. | 05-13-2010 |
20100122029 | MEMORY CONTROL DEVICE AND METHOD FOR CONTROLLING THE SAME - The present invention provides a storage control device which enables the time between failures to prolong as much as possible, though it uses HDD's whose mean time between failures is relatively short. The storage control device controls spindle motors in a manner that a spindle motor is rotated regarding the HDD of data which can access from a host computer and a spindle motor is stopped regarding the HDD of data which are clearly judged that a host computer does not access the data. Whether the host computers can access the HDD or not is judged by the fact that whether the memory region (internal logical volume) provided by the HDD is in mapped to the host logical volume or not which is recognized by the host computer and is able to access thereby. | 05-13-2010 |
20100122030 | COMPUTER SYSTEM AND PROCESS FOR TRANSFERRING MULTIPLE HIGH BANDWIDTH STREAMS OF DATA BETWEEN MULTIPLE STORAGE UNITS AND MULTIPLE APPLICATIONS IN A SCALABLE AND RELIABLE MANNER - Multiple applications request data from multiple storage units over a computer network. The data is divided into segments and each segment is distributed randomly on one of several storage units, independent of the storage units on which other segments of the media data are stored. At least one additional copy of each segment also is distributed randomly over the storage units, such that each segment is stored on at least two storage units. This random distribution of multiple copies of segments of data improves both scalability and reliability. When an application requests a selected segment of data, the request is processed by the storage unit with the shortest queue of requests. Random fluctuations in the load applied by multiple applications on multiple storage units are balanced nearly equally over all of the storage units. This combination of techniques results in a system which can transfer multiple, independent high-bandwidth streams of data in a scalable manner in both directions between multiple applications and multiple storage units. | 05-13-2010 |
20100125705 | USING DELETE NOTIFICATIONS TO FREE RELATED STORAGE RESOURCES - A storage stack delete notification can be received at a storage stack filter. The delete notification can indicate deletion of primary data in a primary storage region. Secondary data that is taking up storage resources managed by the storage stack filter can be identified. The secondary data can be associated with the primary storage region, and the storage resources can be resources other than the primary storage region. It can be determined whether it is useful to have the secondary data continue taking up the storage resources. If having the secondary data continue taking up the storage resources is not useful, then the storage resources can be freed. | 05-20-2010 |
20100131705 | STORAGE SYSTEM, LOAD DISTRIBUTION MANAGEMENT METHOD, AND STORAGE MEDIUM - A host computer includes a virtual disk control part for controlling an input/output request into a virtual disk. A plurality of storage subsystems includes a load monitoring part for measuring a load on a physical disk by the input/output request and storing load information in a disk management table. The virtual disk control part identifies, upon receiving the input/output request into a not-ever-outputted space in a virtual disk, an appropriate logical disk on the virtual disk based on the load information in the disk management table, sends the input/output request to the storage subsystem having the identified logical disk, and updates, upon receiving a completion acknowledgement of the input/output request, the load information in the disk management table based on the load information in the logical disk map information table. | 05-27-2010 |
20100131706 | DATA RELIABILITY BIT STORAGE QUALIFIER AND LOGICAL UNIT METADATA - Apparatus and associated method that stores first metadata only at the same addressable storage location of a computer readable medium as that where associated first user data is stored, and afterward satisfies a read request for the first user data by retrieving the first user data from the addressable location of the computer readable medium where the first metadata is stored if the first metadata has a first value, and by reconstructing the first user data from other metadata stored at another addressable location of the computer readable medium than where the first metadata is stored if the first metadata has a second value. | 05-27-2010 |
20100138603 | System and method for preventing data corruption after power failure - A system and method for preventing data corruption after power failure is described. The system may include a host server, a disk array, a journaling disk, and/or a RAID controller. A method for preventing data corruption after power failure may include receiving at least one of a read command or a write command, storing information on an array of disk drives at least partially based on receiving the at least one of a read command or a write command, and storing persistent information on a journaling drive. | 06-03-2010 |
20100138604 | RECORDING MEDIUM STORING CONTROL PROGRAM FOR DECENTRALIZED DATA, STORAGE MANAGEMENT PROGRAM, CONTROL NODE, AND DISK NODE - A number-of-slices collector collects number-of-slices information indicating the number of free slices, which are not assigned to a storage areas of a logical disk, from each of a plural disk nodes, divides the storage area of the corresponding storage device in units of slice, and stores an assignment relation of the slices with respect to the storage areas of the logical disk. A disk node selector selects a source disk node from among the disk nodes having the free slices, and requests a slice identifier to identify the free slice for the selected source disk node. The source disk node serves as a source providing the slice to be assigned. A slice assigner receives the slice identifier from the source disk node, and determines an assignment relation of the free slice, which is denoted by the received slice identifier, with respect to the storage areas of the logical disk. | 06-03-2010 |
20100138605 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR MULTI-TIERED META-DATA CACHING AND DISTRIBUTION IN A CLUSTERED COMPUTER ENVIRONMENT - A system and method caches and distributes meta-data for one or more data containers stored on a plurality of volumes configured as a striped volume set (SVS) and served by a plurality of nodes interconnected as a cluster. The SVS comprises one meta-data volume (MDV) configured to store a canonical copy of certain meta-data, including access control lists and directories, associated with all data containers stored on the SVS, and one or more data volumes (DV) configured to store, at least, data content of those containers. In addition, for each data container stored on the SVS, one volume is designated a container attribute volume (CAV) and, as such, is configured to store (“cache”) a canonical copy of certain, rapidly-changing attribute meta-data, including time stamps and container length, associated with that container. | 06-03-2010 |
20100146206 | GRID STORAGE SYSTEM AND METHOD OF OPERATING THEREOF - The is provided a storage system comprising a plurality of disk units adapted to store data at respective ranges of logical block addresses (LBAs), said addresses constituting an entire address space, and a storage control grid operatively connected to the plurality of disk units and comprising a plurality of data servers. The method of operating the storage system comprises: a) configuring a first data server to have a primary responsibility over a certain range of LBAs, b) configuring a second data server to have a secondary responsibility over said certain range of LBAs and to overtake the primary responsibility over said certain range of LBAs if the first server fails; c) responsive to a request to one or more LBAs within said certain range of LBAs, generating a primary cache object in the first data server and generating a redundancy object in the second data server; d) deleting said redundancy object upon successful permanent storing of data and/or metadata corresponding to said request, said storing provided by the first data server, e) if operation d) fails, using said redundancy object by the second server for providing permanent storing said data and/or metadata when overtaking primary responsibility, wherein said redundancy object is derivation of the primary cache object and need to be reconstructed in order to enable overtaking the responsibility. | 06-10-2010 |
20100146207 | STORAGE SYSTEM AND CONTROL METHOD FOR THE SAME - An object of the present invention is to improve the usage efficiency of a storage extent in a storage system using the AOU technique. A controller in the storage system allocates a storage extent in an actual volume to an extent in a virtual volume accessed by a host computer, detects any decrease in necessity for maintaining that allocation, and cancels the allocation of the storage extent in the actual volume to the extent in the virtual volume based on the detection result. | 06-10-2010 |
20100146208 | VISUALIZATION METHOD AND STORAGE APPARATUS FOR A STORAGE SYSTEM HAVING EXTERNAL CONNECTIVITY - A virtualization method for a storage system recognizes one or more logical devices located in a first and second storage apparatus and defined in a host apparatus as being connected to a channel, based on an inquiry command sent from the host apparatus when the channel comes on-line; detects one or more logical devices among the one or more logical devices defined in the host apparatus as being connected to the channel and located in the first and second storage apparatus, based on the recognition result; sets, based on the detection result, one or more virtual volumes in the first storage apparatus, respectively corresponding to the one or more logical devices in the second storage apparatus; and sets a first logical path between each of the set one or more virtual volumes and each of the corresponding one or more logical devices in the second storage apparatus. | 06-10-2010 |
20100153640 | AUTOMATIC RAID VOLUME GENERATION AND MIGRATION BASED ON APPLICATION TYPE - A method and system of automatic redundant array of independent disks (RAID) volume generation based on an application type is disclosed. In one embodiment, a method for selecting a RAID level includes receiving setup data of an application type and a number of volumes for generating the RAID, assigning a level of the RAID in response to the application type and generating the number of volumes for the level of the RAID. The method may also include mapping the number of volumes to a host of the RAID, scanning the volumes for data written to the volumes and read from the volumes and evaluating the data to determine an appropriateness of the level of the RAID for the application type. Further, the method may include automatically migrating to another RAID level for the application if the level of the RAID is inappropriate. | 06-17-2010 |
20100153641 | HIERARCHICAL STORAGE MANAGEMENT (HSM) FOR REDUNDANT ARRAY OF INDEPENDENT DISKS (RAID) - Hierarchical storage management (HSM) for redundant array of independent disks (RAID) which comprise a plurality of drive trays of different types is disclosed. In one embodiment, a method for hierarchically managing RAID which includes a plurality of drive trays of different types, includes writing data to a tray of a first type, periodically monitoring a use of the data, and moving the data to a tray of a second type if the use of the data yields less than a threshold value. Each one of the tray of the first type and the tray of the second type includes at least one hard drive, and a composite score of price, capacity, performance, and function of the tray of the first type which is higher than a corresponding composite score of the tray of the second type. | 06-17-2010 |
20100161898 | METHOD FOR PRESERVING DATA INTEGRITY BY BREAKING THE REDUNDANT ARRAY OF INDEPENDENT DISKS LEVEL 1(RAID1) - A method of breaking a redundant array of independent disks level | 06-24-2010 |
20100161899 | DISK DRIVE ARRAY SYNCHRONIZATION VIA SHORT-RANGE RF SIGNALING - A plurality of disk drives in a disk drive array are synchronized. A synchronization signal is generated at a master disk drive. The synchronization signal is encoded as a radio frequency signal for transmission over a radio frequency network in communication with the plurality of disk drives. The transmitted radio frequency signal is received at a slave disk drive and decoded to recover the synchronization signal. Rotation of a disk in the slave disk drive is synchronized with rotation of a disk in the master disk drive based on the recovered synchronization signal. | 06-24-2010 |
20100161900 | DATA REPLICATION IN A STORAGE SYSTEM - For a storage system having plural control units to which plural disk devices are connected, in the method for creating replication in a volume of the disk devices connected to different control units, when receiving update I/O of a replication source during an initial copy for replication, the reflection of update to the replication destination is performed on an extension of the same I/O. When a pair is divided after the completion of copying, the update position is retained on the differential bitmap disposed in the individual control units, and the differential bitmap is merged to one of the control units at a time of resynchronization to perform copy processing. | 06-24-2010 |
20100169570 | Providing differentiated I/O services within a hardware storage controller - A device, system, and method are disclosed. In one embodiment device includes routing logic that is capable of receiving an I/O storage request from an operating system. The I/O storage request includes an input/output (I/O) data type tag that specifies a type of I/O data to be stored with the I/O storage request. The routing logic is also capable of determining, based on the I/O data type tag, which of a number of storage pools to send the I/O storage request. Each storage pool has a certain level of associated service. | 07-01-2010 |
20100169571 | DATA REDUNDANCY USING TWO DISTRIBUTED MIRROR SETS - A method for storing data and two sets of distributed mirrored data disposed as data stripes which permits data recovery without the necessity of parity calculations, is described. Redundant data are stored in groups of five physical hard drives which are logically segmented into stripe groups, each stripe group having three data stripe sets wherein one data stripe is protected by two distributed mirror stripes in accordance with an algorithm. The present method provides protection for all one- and two-disk failures and certain three-disk drive failures, for each physical five disk group, and retains a usable disk capacity of 33%. | 07-01-2010 |
20100169572 | DATA STORAGE METHOD, APPARATUS AND SYSTEM FOR INTERRUPTED WRITE RECOVERY - Embodiments of the invention include a method, apparatus and system for storing data that involves storing boundary information for data that is being written to a plurality of data storage devices. The method includes storing boundary information for a write operation of data to a plurality of data storage device, writing the data to the plurality of data storage devices and removing the recorded boundary information upon completion of the write operation of the data to the plurality of data storage devices. The boundary information can indicate the data storage device regions where particular sets of data are to be written during the write operation. If an interruption occurs during the write operation, the boundary information can be used to recover from the interruption by identifying the specific data storage device region or regions where data was being written when the interruption occurred. | 07-01-2010 |
20100169573 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS AND ACCESS REQUEST ARBITRATION METHOD FOR A RAID DRIVER - An image forming apparatus includes a RAID control unit comprising an access request queue and an access request arbitrating unit configured to store access requests to a logical disk sent from an operating system in the access request queue on the basis of fetch order determination information, and to fetch the access requests. An access arbitration method for a RAID driver comprises the steps of storing the access requests in an access request queue on the basis of fetch order determination information, converting logical disk access information contained in access information corresponding to the access requests into physical disk access information, and supplying the access information containing the physical disk access information to a RAID controller. | 07-01-2010 |
20100169574 | COMMUNICATION CONTROL APPARATUS AND METHOD - A communication control apparatus in a RAID device including redundant communication paths to storage devices includes a blocking unit. The blocking unit blocks configuration change notifications outputted from the storage devices to a control apparatus, which controls access to the storage devices, when a power of a communication relay device arranged on the redundant paths connecting the storage devices and the control apparatus is turned off. | 07-01-2010 |
20100169575 | STORAGE AREA MANAGING APPARATUS AND STORAGE AREA MANAGING METHOD - A storage area managing apparatus includes a managing unit for managing a plurality of logical volumes provided by a plurality of storage drive groups for storing data redundantly, and a rebuilding controller for generating recovery data when at least one of the drive groups is degraded on the basis of the data stored in the degraded drive group and generating a selected logical volume on the basis of the capacity of the recovery data, the rebuilding controller controlling the management unit for managing first logical volumes to correspond to a part of the plurality of storage drive groups except for the degraded drive group. The storage area managing apparatus includes a first transferring unit for transferring the recovery data to the part of the plurality of storage drive groups as indicated by the selected logical volume. | 07-01-2010 |
20100174864 | PERFORMANCE IN A DATA STORAGE SYSTEM - A method for improving performance in a storage system is provided. The method comprises receiving a request to destage a partial stride of data from a storage cache; reserving space for a full stride of data on one or more storage devices; allocating the partial stride of data to the reserved space; adding padding for unallocated blocks, wherein the unallocated blocks are reserved for future updates; and destaging the full stride of data to the storage devices, wherein the full stride of data comprises the allocated partial stride of data and the padded unallocated blocks. | 07-08-2010 |
20100174865 | DYNAMIC DATA SECURITY ERASURE - One aspect of the present invention includes an operation to efficiently erase data from a storage device with the use of a multiple-write secure erasure technique. One embodiment includes a hardware command that sends an I/O operation to the control unit to erase a set of selected tracks (“dirty tracks”) from a storage device, and replace the set of dirty tracks within the storage device with unallocated but available tracks retrieved from an available storage pool. After allocating the previously unallocated tracks to the available storage in the storage device, the operation performs the secure erasure of the dirty tracks in the background with a secure erasure algorithm. Once the secure erasure algorithm has fully erased the dirty tracks, the tracks are then added back to the available storage pool for subsequent use within the storage system. | 07-08-2010 |
20100180076 | Locking in raid storage systems - A method for regulating I/O requests in a RAID storage system may comprise: receiving a first request to access a first set of one or more logical block addresses (LBAs) of a RAID volume; receiving a second request to access at least one of the first set of one or more LBAs of the RAID volume; and queuing the second request. | 07-15-2010 |
20100180077 | Logical Volume Transfer Method and Storage Network System - The present invention transfers replication logical volumes between and among storage control units in a storage system comprising a plurality of storage control units. To transfer replication logical volumes from a storage control unit to a storage control unit, a virtualization device sets a path to the storage control unit. The storage control unit then prepares a differential bitmap in order to receive access requests. When the preparation is completed, the virtualization device makes access requests to the storage control unit. The storage control unit then hands over the access requests to the storage control unit. Subsequently, the storage control unit performs a process so that the access requests are reflected in a disk device and performs an emergency destage of storing data in a cache memory into disk device. When the emergency destage is ended, the storage control unit connects to an external storage control unit and hands over access requests to the external storage control unit. | 07-15-2010 |
20100180078 | VIRTUAL STORAGE SYSTEM AND CONTROL METHOD THEREOF - A virtual storage system is equipped with a plurality of storage systems and a virtualization device for virtualizing the plurality of storage systems logically into a single storage resource provided to a host computer. When one of the storage systems receives a command from the host computer, in the event that the storage system itself is not in possession of a function corresponding to the command, the storage system retrieves a storage system in possession of a function corresponding to the command and transfers this command to the storage system in possession of the function corresponding to the command. | 07-15-2010 |
20100180079 | NOTIFYING SOFTWARE COMPONENTS USING A SHARED PHYSICAL STORAGE MEDIUM - A method for implementing virtual disk reservations on a storage medium for multiple distributed applications. The method includes initializing a plurality of virtual disks, wherein each of the virtual disks is instantiated on a physical storage medium. A reservation status is determined for each of the virtual disks and a first distributed application that uses at least one virtual disk is executed. Upon an update of the reservation status for the at least one virtual disk by the first distributed application, a notification indicator is set to notify a second distributed application of the update. The update is subsequently recognized and the notification indicator is cleared in order to continue I/O for the first distributed application and the second distributed application. | 07-15-2010 |
20100185815 | Onboard Computer Data Storage, Access, and Caching System - A controller and memory unit for a host computer has a primary controller coupled to a parallel bus interface connectable or connected to the host computer, and by cable connections to one or more remote memory disk units, one or more secondary controllers coupled by parallel bus to the primary controller, and one or more solid-state memory modules coupled by parallel bus one-to-one with the secondary controllers. The primary controller provides read/write access to the remote memory disk units and read/write access to each of the solid-state memory modules through the associated secondary controller. | 07-22-2010 |
20100191907 | RAID Converter and Methods for Transforming a First RAID Array to a Second RAID Array Without Creating a Backup Copy - A system transforms data structures absent the need for a backup copy. The system transforms a first logical store in an initial logical arrangement to a desired logical arrangement where the data structures of the logical arrangements are different. The system uses a select sequence of data operations that moves data from its origin in the initial logical arrangement to a target location in the desired logical arrangement. The system generates and properly locates parity information when so desired. The system executes a subsequent data operation in accordance with an indication that the previous data operation was successful. Each subsequent data operation uses the source location from the previous data operation. A non-volatile memory element holds information concerning a present data operation to enable a rollback operation when a present data operation is unsuccessful. | 07-29-2010 |
20100191908 | Computer system and storage pool management method - Provided is a computer system comprising an application computer; a storage system which is coupled to the application computer, and which comprises at least one storage medium and a controller; and a management system which is coupled to the application computer and the storage system, and which comprises at least one computer. The management system monitors a capacity of the storage pool and transmits an allocation request to the storage system in a case where the capacity of the storage pool is equal to or smaller than a predetermined threshold value. The storage system allocates, in a case where the allocation request is received, a first logical storage area to the storage pool based on information included in the received allocation request. The management system displays information for judging whether or not the first certain logical storage area temporarily-allocated is to be associated with the storage pool. | 07-29-2010 |
20100199039 | Systems and Methods for Optimizing Host Reads and Cache Destages in a Raid System - In one aspect, a method of a storage adapter controlling a redundant array of independent disks (RAID) may be provided. The method may include examining performance curves of a storage adapter with a write cache, determining if an amount of data entering the write cache of the storage adapter has exceeded a threshold, and implementing a strategy based on the determining operation. The strategy may include one of coupling Read-XOR/Write operations and providing priority reordering of Read operations over the Read-XOR/Write operations in order to minimize host read response time if data entering the write cache is less than the threshold, and allowing all Read operations and Read-XOR/Write operations to be queued at the device using simple tags in order to achieve maximum throughput if data entering the write cache is greater than the threshold. Additional aspects are described. | 08-05-2010 |
20100199040 | Storage Subsystem And Storage System Architecture Performing Storage Virtualization And Method Thereof - A method for generating a virtual volume (VV) in a storage system architecture. The architecture comprises a host and one or more disk array subsystems. Each subsystem comprises a storage controller. One or more of the subsystems comprises a physical storage device (PSD) array. The method comprises the following steps: mapping the PSD array into a plurality of media extents (MEs), each of the MEs comprises a plurality of sections; providing a virtual pool (VP) to implement a section cross-referencing function, wherein a section index (SI) of each of the sections contained in the VP is defined by the VP to cross-reference VP sections to physical ME locations; providing a conversion method or procedure or function for mapping VP capacity into to a VV; and presenting the VV to the host. A storage subsystem and a storage system architecture performing the method are also provided. | 08-05-2010 |
20100199041 | Storage Subsystem And Storage System Architecture Performing Storage Virtualization And Method Thereof - Method for accessing data in a storage system architecture, the architecture comprises at least one disk array subsystem, comprising the following steps. Provide a SAS for managing a first and a second media extent (ME) the at least one subsystem. Obtain a location index corresponding to a host LBA via a BAT. Obtain a location information of a physical section located in the first ME corresponding to the location index via a physical section to virtual section cross-referencing functionality. Update the cross-reference in the cross-referencing functionality so that the location information obtained from the cross-referencing functionality corresponding to the location index is the location information of the second physical section. A host IO request addressing the host LBA accesses data in the second physical section utilizing the location information of the second physical section. | 08-05-2010 |
20100199042 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR SECURE AND RELIABLE MULTI-CLOUD DATA REPLICATION - A multi-cloud data replication method includes providing a data replication cluster comprising at least a first host node and at least a first online storage cloud. The first host node is connected to the first online storage cloud via a network and comprises a server, a cloud array application and a local cache. The local cache comprises a buffer and a first storage volume comprising data cached in one or more buffer blocks of the local cache's buffer. Next, requesting authorization to perform cache flush of the cached first storage volume data to the first online storage cloud. Upon receiving approval of the authorization, encrypting the cached first storage volume data in each of the one or more buffer blocks with a data private key. Next, assigning metadata comprising at lest a unique identifier to each of the one or more buffer blocks and then encrypting the metadata with a metadata private key. Next, transmitting the one or more buffer blocks with the encrypted first storage volume data to the first online cloud storage. Next, creating a sequence of updates of the metadata, encrypting the sequence with the metadata private key and then transmitting the sequence of metadata updates to the first online storage cloud. | 08-05-2010 |
20100205370 | File server, file management system and file management method - When receiving a file access from the client, the file access program refers to the mapping table, and processes an access to files of on volumes of RAID groups. The file server analyzes the file access states, and groups the files depending on the access time period, defines the file migration pattern based on the grouping, migrates the files, and then carries out a power management operation like a spin-down/-up operation on the RAID groups based on the migration pattern. | 08-12-2010 |
20100205371 | STORAGE SYSTEM - The threshold excess is judged by a peak value, and therefore, since the threshold excess is judged by a value of high-workload IO of backup or the like that is designed on the assumption that the workload of storage is high, whether the performance limit has been reached remains uncertain. Furthermore, although an optimistic prediction trend with low workload trend and a pessimistic prediction trend with high pessimistic workload trend are presented, LUs that require improvement remain uncertain. Moreover, the time to improve the configuration and the effect of the improvement remain uncertain, and therefore, an improved configuration cannot be determined. | 08-12-2010 |
20100205372 | DISK ARRAY CONTROL APPARATUS - A disk array control apparatus controls a disk array having a redundant configuration with two or more disk devices and a spare disk provided for lack of redundancy in the disk array. And the disk array control apparatus includes a failure detecting unit for detecting the lack of redundancy in the disk array, and a rebuilding control unit for performing rebuilding processing on a dedicated spare disk device assigned to the disk array with the lack of redundancy, the dedicated spare disk being the spare disk dedicatedly assigned to the two or more disk arrays including the disk devices having a same characteristic as that of the spare disk. | 08-12-2010 |
20100211733 | DATA VALID INDICATION METHOD AND APPARATUS - Memory devices and methods facilitate handling of data received by a memory device through the use of data grouping and assignment of data validity status values to grouped data. For example, data is received and delineated into one or more data groups and a data validity status is associated with each data group. Data groups having a valid status are latched into one or more cache registers for storage in an array of memory cells wherein data groups comprising an invalid status are rejected by the one or more cache registers. | 08-19-2010 |
20100211734 | MAINTAINING METHOD FOR EXTERNAL CONTROLLER-BASED STORAGE APPARATUS AND MAINTENANCE SYSTEM FOR STORAGE APPARATUS - The invention discloses a maintaining method for an external controller-based storing apparatus, which the maintaining method includes the steps of: a) connecting a portable maintenance apparatus to an external controller-based storage apparatus; b) when the portable maintenance apparatus is connected to and detected by the external controller-based storage apparatus, executing an application program set automatically; c) gathering system information of the external controller-based storage apparatus; d) analyzing the system information and generating an analytic result; e) loading a maintaining instruction according to the analytic result from the portable maintenance apparatus; and f) executing the maintaining instruction for maintaining the external controller-based storage apparatus. | 08-19-2010 |
20100211735 | STORAGE SYSTEM, STORAGE CONTROL DEVICE, RECEPTION CONTROL DEVICE, AND CONTROL METHOD - A storage system, including a storing unit, which is configured to be connectable to an information processor, includes a communication data receiving unit, a path information extracting unit, a specifying information creating unit and an access controlling unit. The communication data receiving unit receives communication data transmitted from the information processor. The path information extracting unit extracts path information indicating a communication path between the information processor and the communication data receiving unit, from the communication data received by the communication data receiving unit. The specifying information creating unit creates specifying information indicating the information processor that is the transmission source of the communication data, based on the path information extracted by the path information extracting unit. The access controlling unit performs an access control on the storing unit corresponding to the communication data, based on the specifying information created by the specifying information creating unit. | 08-19-2010 |
20100211736 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR PERFORMING I/O OPERATIONS ON DISK ARRAYS - A method and system for performing input/output (I/O) operations on disk arrays are disclosed. The method for performing I/O operations on disk array comprises: determining whether the data layout of a row of storage units in a disk array related to an I/O operation request is a first layout or a second layout; if it is a first layout, the I/O operation corresponding to the first layout will be performed on the row of storage units; otherwise, the data layout of the row of storage units will be converted from the second layout to the first layout, and the I/O operation corresponding to the first layout will be performed on the row of storage units. | 08-19-2010 |
20100211737 | APPARATUS, SYSTEM, AND METHOD FOR DATA BLOCK USAGE INFORMATION SYNCHRONIZATION FOR A NON-VOLATILE STORAGE VOLUME - An apparatus, system, and method are disclosed for data block usage information synchronization for a non-volatile storage volume. The method includes referencing first data block usage information for data blocks of a non-volatile storage volume managed by a storage manager. The first data block usage information is maintained by the storage manager. The method also includes synchronizing second data block usage information managed by a storage controller with the first data block usage information maintained by the storage manager. The storage manager maintains the first data block usage information separate from second data block usage information managed by the storage controller. | 08-19-2010 |
20100211738 | MASS STORAGE SYSTEM WITH IMPROVED USAGE OF BUFFER CAPACITY - The present invention relates to a mass storage system with improved usage of buffer capacity, and more specifically to a mass storage system for real-time data storage with an embedded controller. According to the invention, the mass storage system has a first data path between a real-time data interface and a mass storage array, the first data path including a data buffer without access latency, and a second data path between an embedded processor and the mass storage array, wherein the data buffer without access latency is also used as a data buffer for non real-time data transfers between the embedded processor and the mass storage array. | 08-19-2010 |
20100211739 | STORAGE SUBSYSTEM AND STORAGE SYSTEM - The first storage subsystem, when new data is written in a first memory device beyond a certain timing, writes pre-updated data prior to update by said new data into a pre-updated data memory region and, in addition, updates snapshot management information that expresses a snapshot of a data group within the first memory device to information that expresses the snapshot at the certain timing and, at a later timing than the certain timing, judges, on the basis of the snapshot management information, in which of either the pre-updated data memory region or the first memory device the data constituting the data group at a certain timing exists, acquires data from the one in which the data exists and writes it into the second memory device of the second storage subsystem, and generates the certain timing repeatedly. | 08-19-2010 |
20100211740 | INTEGRATED STORAGE VIRTUALIZATION AND SWITCH SYSTEM - A system integrates an intelligent storage switch with a flexible virtualization system to enable the intelligent storage switch to provide efficient service of file and block protocol data access requests for information stored on the system. A storage operating system executing on a storage system coupled to the switch implements the virtualization system to provide a unified view of storage to clients by logically organizing the information as named files, directories and logical unit numbers. The virtualization system may be embodied as a file system having a write allocator configured to provide a flexible block numbering policy to the storage switch that addresses volume management capabilities, such as storage virtualization. | 08-19-2010 |
20100217930 | MANAGING PROCESSING SYSTEMS ACCESS TO CONTROL BLOCKS PROVIDING INFORMATION ON STORAGE RESOURCES - Provided are a method, system, and article of manufacture to manage storage resources in a storage system. Requests by processing systems are received for access to a control block providing information on an address assigned to one of the storage resources to access. A token is generated for each processing system requesting the control block uniquely identifying the processing system and the control block. The processing systems are provided copies of the requested control blocks to use to access the storage resource. A request is received to modify one of the control blocks for one of the storage resources. A determination is made as to whether at least one of the tokens was generated for the control block to modify. At least one processing system associated with the determined at least one token is provided a copy of the modified control block to use to access the storage resource associated with the control block. | 08-26-2010 |
20100217931 | MANAGING WORKFLOW COMMUNICATION IN A DISTRIBUTED STORAGE SYSTEM - In a data storage system having a plurality of storage nodes storing replicas of stripes, one storage node serves as a primary stripe node for a stripe. Client applications using the data storage system request operations affecting metadata stored in the stripe, and the data storage system creates workflow objects to implement the requested operation. Once the operation is completed, the workflow is acknowledged. A method for establishing a new primary stripe node comprises performing, by a selected storage node, a feasibility determination to determine the feasibility of the selected storage node becoming the new primary stripe node. It is feasible to become a new primary stripe node when doing so does not cause workflows that have been acknowledged, or that will be acknowledged, to result in strays. | 08-26-2010 |
20100217932 | STORAGE APPARATUS AND STORAGE CONTROL APPARATUS - A storage apparatus includes a copy control unit for managing a copy session for copying an copy source data area in at least one of the first to the Mth copy source disk groups to an copy destination data area in a corresponding copy destination disk group, setting a first to an Mth copy session groups, each of the copy session groups including one or more copy sessions from the ith copy source disk group to the ith copy destination disk group as the copy session, and performing repeatedly a selection operation for cyclically selecting a copy session from each of the first to the Mth copy session groups in a predetermined sequence and a control operation for cyclically executing copy processing on a predetermined copy processing unit basis for the M copy sessions selected by the selection operation in a predetermined sequence for a prescribed number of times. | 08-26-2010 |
20100217933 | Allocation control program and allocation control device - An allocation control device divides the storage management devices into groups based on grouping factors. It generates group management information about each group based on the grouping factors corresponding to storage management devices belonging to the group. It obtains logical volume information about a subject logical volume to be allocated to the physical storage areas, the logical volume information indicating the capacity of the subject logical volume and a predicted capability value of the subject logical volume. It acquires the physical storage areas to which the subject logical volume is to be allocated, based on the logical volume information and the group management information. It selects one of the groups for which the maximum processing capability is higher than the predicted capability value of the subject logical volume. It allocates divisional areas of the subject logical volume to the physical storage areas in the selected group. | 08-26-2010 |
20100223427 | SYSTEM FOR HANDLING INPUT/OUTPUT REQUESTS BETWEEN STORAGE ARRAYS WITH DIFFERENT PERFORMANCE CAPABILITIES - An apparatus comprising a remote storage array, a primary storage array and a network. The remote storage array may be configured to (i) define a queue size based on a performance capability of the remote storage array, (ii) generate a multiplier based on resources being used by the remote storage array, and (iii) adjust the queue size by the multiplier. The primary storage array may be configured to execute input/output (IO) requests between the remote storage array and the primary storage array based on the adjusted queue size. The network may be configured to connect the remote storage array to the primary storage array. | 09-02-2010 |
20100223428 | Snapshot reset method and apparatus - A method, device, and system for resetting snapshots are provided. The reset of a snapshot incorporates the traditional snapshot delete and snapshot create operations into a single operation. Additionally, a snapshot created under the reset operation may receive an array partition from a snapshot being deleted under the same snapshot reset operation thereby retaining its identifying characteristics. | 09-02-2010 |
20100228915 | LOGICAL VOLUME CONFIGURATION INFORMATION DISTRIBUTION PROGRAM, LOGICAL VOLUME CONFIGURATION INFORMATION DISTRIBUTION METHOD, AND LOGICAL VOLUME CONFIGURATION INFORMATION DISTRIBUTION APPARATUS - A recording medium storing a logical volume configuration information distribution program causing a computer to execute processing based on logical volume configuration information that defines a correspondence relation between a virtual storage area in a logical volume defined virtually and a real storage area in a storage unit, the logical volume configuration information distribution program includes: when the correspondence relation between the virtual storage area and the real storage area is changed, referencing an access node list storage unit for storing an access node list in which identification information of the access node is registered, and transmitting update information that indicates an updated correspondence relation concerning the virtual storage area whose correspondence relation with the real storage area has been changed, to the access node indicated in the access node list via the network. | 09-09-2010 |
20100235572 | DATA STORAGE SYSTEM REDUNDANCY SCHEME VERIFICATION - Data storage systems are provided. Some embodiments of data storage systems include a storage device controller and a plurality of storage devices. The plurality of storage devices are illustratively in a redundancy scheme and the storage device controller receives from the plurality of storage devices a plurality of symbols. In one embodiment, each of the plurality of symbols is representative of data in the redundancy scheme, and the storage device controller verifies the consistency of the redundancy scheme based at least in part on the plurality of symbols. | 09-16-2010 |
20100235573 | Computer and method for managing storage apparatus - A management computer manages the pool application information that indicates a pool application for a pool and the application condition information that indicates the condition for the pool application. The management computer calculates an excess storage capacity based on a pool usage status for the pool. The management computer specifies a pool application for the pool and the condition for the pool application based on the pool application information and the application condition information. The management computer judges whether the specified condition is satisfied even in the case in which a storage area having a storage capacity equivalent to or less than the calculated excess storage capacity is deleted from the pool. In the case in which the result of the judgment is positive, the management computer defines a capacity equivalent to or less than the excess storage capacity as an unused capacity. | 09-16-2010 |
20100235574 | STORAGE MANAGEMENT APPARATUS, STORAGE SYSTEM, AND STORAGE MANAGEMENT METHOD - A storage management apparatus controls the storage device such that data is redundantly stored in each of an opened area and a closed area. The storage management apparatus includes an area laying-open unit and a re-redundancy unit. The area laying-open unit deletes or compresses data stored in the at least two closed areas, converts one of the closed areas into the opened area and writes data corresponding to a write request to the opened area and to at least the other of the closed areas, if a capacity of the storage device reaches a given value. The re-redundancy unit converts memory area of an add-on storage device into the closed area and copies data in an opened area, placed in a redundant-storing relationship with the data deleted or compressed by the area laying-open unit, to the closed area, if the storage device is added on. | 09-16-2010 |
20100250845 | STORAGE MANAGEMENT TASK DISTRIBUTION METHOD AND SYSTEM ON STORAGE VIRTUALIZER - Systems and methods for dissolving the bottleneck issue of management task requested from management client to the storage virtualizer which consolidates externally attached storage arrays while providing a single management point of the entire system to the management client. Specifically, by utilizing the storage virtualizer to distribute received management tasks to respective external attached arrays, it can off load tasks, thus reducing the workload on the storage virtualizer itself. Because of the task distribution, the storage virtualizer consequently does not need to copy and hold detailed information of each storage volume in the respective attached storage arrays, thereby avoiding any inconsistent information between the arrays and the virtualizer when the configuration change has been done on the external array. | 09-30-2010 |
20100250846 | ASYMETRIC LOAD BALANCING FOR RAID STORAGE SYSTEMS - The instant invention broadly contemplates balancing of asymmetric RAID arrays based on application usage patterns. The instantly claimed invention broadly contemplates balancing the type of workload and delivery of the work load in asymmetric RAID arrays by intelligently implementing different types of applications on disks strategically positioned to deliver workload to the RAID channel that is most capable of handling the work load. The invention makes use of the fact that some applications are more large block, sequential transfer dependant while other applications are more small block, high random, high IOP dependent, and places these applications accordingly within the asymmetric RAID array. | 09-30-2010 |
20100250847 | METHOD FOR CONFIGURING RAID - A method for configuring a RAID (Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks) includes the following steps. When a RAID instruction to access the RAID array is received, it is determined whether a removed hard drive unconnected to the RAID array is present in a hard drive list of the RAID array; when the removed hard drive unconnected to the RAID array is present in the hard drive list, the hard drive list of the RAID array is amended; it is detected whether a new hard drive connected to the RAID array is absent in the hard drive list; when the new hard drive connected to the RAID array is absent in the hard drive list, the hard drive list is amended; and the RAID instruction is executed to access the RAID array according to the hard drive list. | 09-30-2010 |
20100250848 | APPARATUSES AND METHODS PROVIDING REDUNDANT ARRAY OF INDEPENDENT DISKS ACCESS TO NON-VOLATILE MEMORY CHIPS - A controller may include a RAID controller and an access controller. The RAID controller exchanges data with a host and select ones of a plurality of RAID levels responsive to RAID level information. The access controller is connected to the RAID controller and to a plurality of channels that are each connected to a plurality of non-volatile memory chips. The access controller accesses data in at least one of the non-volatile memory chips connected to each of the channels according to the selected RAID level. The controller may alternatively or additionally include a storage device and a main processor. The main processor is configured to logically partition a plurality of non-volatile memory chips that are connected to each of a plurality of channels into a normal partition region and a RAID level partition region, where data access is performed according to a selected RAID level, in response partition information that is stored in the storage device. | 09-30-2010 |
20100262772 | TRANSFER CONTROL OF A STORAGE VOLUME BETWEEN STORAGE CONTROLLERS IN A CLUSTER - A first storage controller that is part of a cluster of storage controllers includes an interface to communicate with at least one storage subsystem having a storage volume, where the first storage controller is initially assigned to process requests for the storage volume. The first storage controller further includes a processor to receive requests to access the storage volume, where the requests include client requests from one or more client computers and proxy requests from one or more other storage controllers in the cluster. Based on monitoring the client requests and the proxy requests, it is determined that a second of the storage controllers in the cluster is to be assigned to process requests for the storage volume. In response to the determining, control of the storage volume is transferred from the first storage controller to the second storage controller. | 10-14-2010 |
20100262773 | DATA STRIPING IN A FLASH MEMORY DATA STORAGE DEVICE - A method is disclosed for striping data from a host to a data storage device that includes a plurality of memory chips and a plurality of physical channels for communication of data between the host and the plurality of memory chips, where each channel is operably connected to a different plurality of the memory chips. The method includes determining a number of physical channels in the plurality of channels, determining a first channel chunk size with which to write data to memory chips connected to separate channels, segmenting, via the host, logically sequential data into first channel chunk size segments, and striping data to different channels of the data storage device in first channel chunk size units. | 10-14-2010 |
20100262774 | STORAGE CONTROL APPARATUS AND STORAGE SYSTEM - A storage control apparatus is provided. The storage control apparatus reads from and writes to a plurality of storages of a storage system including a plurality of servers and a control server that sets storage areas available to one of the plurality of servers from among the storage areas of the plurality of storages sharable among the plurality of servers. The apparatus includes a first acquisition unit that acquires, for each of the storages, an index about the distance between the control server and the storage, a second acquisition unit that acquires, for each of the storage areas in the storages, an index about a writing speed to the storage area, and a calculation unit that calculates, for each of the storage areas, a general index indicating the quality of the storage area based on the indexes acquired by the first acquisition unit and second acquisition unit. | 10-14-2010 |
20100262775 | RAID CONTROL APPARATUS AND RAID SYSTEM - A RAID system performs host I/O processing during RAID formatting of a plurality of physical disk drives. The controller executes sequential format processing and one-point format processing. A RAID format writing size (SFS) for sequential format processing is set larger than a RAID format writing size (OFS) for one-point format processing. Delay of host I/O processing is reduced, so that the time required for RAID formatting can be shortened. | 10-14-2010 |
20100268875 | RAID LEVEL MIGRATION FOR SPANNED ARRAYS - A method for a redundant array of independent disks (RAID) controller for migrating a RAID level in spanned arrays is disclosed. In one embodiment, a method for a RAID controller for migrating a RAID level in spanned arrays includes receiving a command for a RAID level migration from a first RAID level in spanned arrays to a second RAID level. The method further includes initializing a number of pointers which correspond to a number of the spanned arrays in the first RAID level, and transferring at least one data block of the first RAID level in the spanned arrays using the number of pointers to form the second RAID level. | 10-21-2010 |
20100268876 | SLIDING-WINDOW MULTI-CLASS STRIPING - A sequence of storage devices of a data store may include one or more stripesets for storing data stripes of different lengths and of different types. Each data stripe may be stored in a prefix or other portion of a stripeset. Each data stripe may be identified by an array of addresses that identify each page of the data stripe on each included storage device. When a first storage device of a stripeset becomes full, the stripeset may be shifted by removing the full storage device from the stripeset, and adding a next storage device of the data store to the stripeset. A class variable may be associated with storage devices of a stripeset to identify the type of data that the stripeset can store. The class variable may be increased (or otherwise modified) when a computer stores data of a different class in the stripeset. | 10-21-2010 |
20100268877 | SECURING DATA IN A DISPERSED STORAGE NETWORK USING SHARED SECRET SLICES - A data element can be encoded into multiple encoded data elements using an encoding algorithm that includes an encoding function and one or more encoder constant. The encoded data elements can be organized into multiple pillars, each having a respective pillar number. Each of the pillars is sent to a different storage unit of a distributed storage network. To recover the original data element, the encoded data elements are retrieved from storage, and the encoder constant is recovered using multiple encoded data elements. Recovering the encoder constant allows the encoding algorithm originally used to encode the data elements to be determined, and used to recover the original data element. The security of the stored data is enhanced, because an encoded data element from a single pillar is insufficient to identify the encoder constant. | 10-21-2010 |
20100274965 | REDUNDANT SOLID STATE DISK SYSTEM VIA INTERCONNECT CARDS - A first interconnect card is configured, wherein a first controller is included in the first interconnect card. A second interconnect card coupled to the first interconnect card is configured, wherein a second controller is included in the second interconnect card. In response to a failure of the first controller included in the first interconnect card, the first interconnect card is controlled via the second controller included in the second interconnect card. In response to a failure of the second controller included in the second interconnect card, the second interconnect card is controlled via the first controller included in the first interconnect card. | 10-28-2010 |
20100274966 | HIGH AVAILABILTY LARGE SCALE IT SYSTEMS WITH SELF RECOVERY FUNCTIONS - Storage Systems in the IT system provide information of the status of its components to the System Monitoring Server. System Monitoring Server calculates storage availability of storage systems based on information using failure rates of the components, and determines whether the volumes of the storage system should be migrated based on a predetermined policy. If migration is required, System Monitoring Server selects the target storage system based on storage availability of storage systems, and requests migration to be performed. | 10-28-2010 |
20100274967 | MANAGING STORAGE ARRAY OPERATIONS THAT CAUSE LOSS OF ACCESS TO MIRRORED DATA - Storage array operations, such as code downloads and other operations of the type that cause loss of access to portions of the storage array, are managed in a manner that preserves access to other portions of the storage array so that other storage array operations, such as data synchronization, can continue. | 10-28-2010 |
20100274968 | Performing data operations using non-volatile third dimension memory - Performing data operations using non-volatile third dimension memory is described, including a storage system having a non-volatile third dimension memory array configured to store data, the data including an address indicating a file location on a disk drive, and a controller configured to process an access request associated with the disk drive, the access request being routed to the non-volatile third dimension memory array to perform a data operation, wherein data from the data operation is used to create a map of the disk drive. In some examples, an address in the non-volatile third dimension memory array provides an alias for another address in a disk drive. | 10-28-2010 |
20100281211 | Storage apparatus, management apparatus, and method of controlling storage apparatus - In a storage apparatus comprising a communication interface that receives an I/O request sent from a host apparatus, a storage device controller that performs writing and reading of data with respect to a storage device, and a cache memory that stores data to be written in the storage device or data read from the storage device, a journal volume operated as a volume for which update writing is prohibited and write once is permitted is provided, on the basis of a storage area provided by the storage device, and a virtual volume is provided as a volume accessible from the host apparatus, the journal volume being the entity of the virtual volume, the virtual volume being a volume for which an attribute (Read/Add) that permits only reading and write once is settable. | 11-04-2010 |
20100281212 | CONTENT-BASED WRITE REDUCTION - Apparatus, systems, and methods may operate to detect a write request to write new data to a storage medium, to generate a coded version of the new data, to compare the coded version of the new data to a coded version of old data stored in the storage medium, and to refrain from writing the new data to the storage medium when the coded version of the new data is equal to the coded version of the old data. Additional apparatus, systems, and methods are disclosed. | 11-04-2010 |
20100281213 | CHANGING THE REDUNDANCY PROTECTION FOR DATA ASSOCIATED WITH A FILE - A storage subsystem provides redundancy protection for data associated with files stored in a storage subsystem. A request is received to change the redundancy protection for data associated with at least one of the files, where the request identifies the data for which the redundancy protection is to be changed. The redundancy protection for the data identified by the request is changed, while the redundancy protection for a remainder of the data associated with the files stored in the storage subsystem is maintained unchanged. | 11-04-2010 |
20100281214 | DATA DISTRIBUTION THROUGH CAPACITY LEVELING IN A STRIPED FILE SYSTEM - A data distribution technique is configured to provide capacity leveling in a striped file system. When a new node is added to a striped volume set, the striping table is evolved to accommodate the newly added node. Each node of a cluster is illustratively associated with a capacity value that takes into account, e.g., processor speed, number of processors, hardware configuration and/or software available for the node. During the evolution process of the striping table, the technique apportions stripes of the SVS among the nodes in a manner so that they are optimally assigned to the nodes in accordance with each node's capacity value. By utilizing the evolutionary striping table that incorporates capacity values, heterogeneous nodes may be utilized to their maximum capacity within a striped volume set, thereby reducing underutilized processing resources. | 11-04-2010 |
20100281215 | RESTORING STRIPED VOLUMES OF DATA - According to one embodiment, a backup is searched for data to be restored from a striped volume. The backup comprises multiple disks divided into stripes. The stripes that contain data to be restored from the striped volume are identified as desired stripes, and a current disk is searched for the desired stripes. The content of a first subset of desired stripes is read from the current disk. A second subset of desired stripes that are not on the current disk are recorded on an unread list. The remaining content is read from the remaining disks according to the unread list. | 11-04-2010 |
20100287338 | SELECTIVE MIRRORING METHOD - A selective mirroring method is disclosed. In the selective mirroring, first mirroring to duplicate an input/output for a first directory or a file at a time point when the input/output occurs and second mirroring to mirror a second directory or file at a necessary time point may be performed cooperatively or selectively. The selective mirroring may be performed in a kernel layer of the OS. The first mirroring may be performed through hooking of a file I/O system call. The second mirroring may be implemented by a daemon. The second mirroring may be performed when the directory is to be entirely mirrored, when an error occurs in the course of mirroring, or when mirroring is to be performed on a medium to which the first mirroring is hardly applied. The second mirroring may wake up from a sleep state at a time point when mirroring is required to perform a given operation. | 11-11-2010 |
20100306464 | System and Method for Managing Devices in an Information Handling System - A method can include associating a bin access value with each data storage bin of a plurality of data storage bins after a current time window ends; mapping each data storage bin of the plurality of data storage bins to a storage tier of a hierarchy of storage tiers, based on the bin access value associated with the data storage bin, such that a bin access value associated with each data storage bin mapped to a storage tier is greater than or equal to a bin access value associated with each data storage bin mapped to a next highest-performing storage tier; causing data associated with each data storage bin of the plurality of data storage bins to be migrated to the storage tier to which the data storage bin is mapped; and, when a data storage bin was not mapped to a current storage tier after a previous time window ended, automatically determining a time weighting factor to be applied to an access frequency associated with a time window. | 12-02-2010 |
20100306465 | STORAGE SYSTEM COMPRISING PLURALITY OF PROCESSOR UNITS - The present invention allows load balancing between processor units without impacting the I/O performance of the storage system. An LDEV owner right is changed on the basis of static information that does not dynamically change in accordance with the number of I/O commands relating to a LDEV. This information is a load index determined for each LDEV. Any of a plurality of processor units selects a processor unit that is to be an assignment destination of the owner right of a target LDEV, based on the load index that has been assigned to each processor unit and the load index of the target LDEV, and assigns this owner right to the selected processor unit. The load index assigned to the processor unit is a value based on the load index of one or more LDEV respectively corresponding to one or more owner rights assigned to this processor unit. | 12-02-2010 |
20100306466 | METHOD FOR IMPROVING DISK AVAILABILITY AND DISK ARRAY CONTROLLER - The present invention discloses a method for improving disk availability and a disk array controller. The method includes: determining, when detecting that part of tracks of a disk in a disk array is damaged, a first master data storage space in a damaged track; selecting an idle first backup data storage space from at least one back data storage space, establishing a corresponding relation between an address of a strip contained in the first master data storage space and an address of a strip contained in the first backup data storage space; and receiving an instruction for accessing the strip contained in the first master data storage space, finding the strip contained in the first backup data storage space according to an address of the strip in the instruction and the corresponding relation, and accessing the strip contained in the first backup data storage space. | 12-02-2010 |
20100306467 | Metadata Management For Virtual Volumes - Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, manage metadata for virtual volumes. In some implementations, a method and system include defining multiple metadata blocks in a persistent storage, including information that links a virtual address space to the storage system, where the defining includes, for at least one of the multiple metadata blocks, determining multiple output addresses corresponding to the storage system, and writing the multiple output addresses and an identifier corresponding to the multiple metadata blocks in a metadata block in the persistent storage. In some implementations, a method and system include reading the multiple metadata blocks into the memory from the persistent storage, including identifying the metadata block based on the identifier; receiving an input address of the virtual address space; and obtaining a corresponding output address to the storage system using the multiple metadata blocks in the memory. | 12-02-2010 |
20100306468 | DISK ARRAY, AND DISK ARRAY CONTROL METHOD AND PROGRAM - A data management section manages source data from a host apparatus by dividing the source data into a plurality of stripe structure data, and distributes and stores the plurality of stripe structure data in a plurality of storage devices having different capacity. Then, the data management section performs control for determining the length of the stripe structure data according to the capacity of each of the plurality of storage devices, and stores the stripe structure data of the same length in each of the storage devices. Further, the data management section manages, as a chunk structure, a data set configured by each one of the stripe structure data respectively stored in the plurality of storage devices. At this time, the source data is configured by a set of the chunk structures. The above contents are the same in RAID 0 and RAID 5. | 12-02-2010 |
20100312961 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR STORING EXCESS DATA IN A REDUNDANT ARRAY OF INDEPENDENT DISK LEVEL 6 - A method and system for storing excess data in a redundant array of independent disks (RAID) level 6 are disclosed. In one embodiment, a method for storing excess data in a RAID 6 volume includes writing excess data to Q parity blocks of a first RAID 6 volume when a receipt of the excess data directed to the first RAID 6 volume is detected subsequent to a saturation of the first RAID 6 volume, where the first RAID 6 volume is converted to a pseudo-RAID 5 volume with P parity blocks. The method further includes re-computing the P parity blocks of the pseudo-RAID 5 volume based on data blocks of the pseudo-RAID 5 volume. In addition, the method includes constructing a second RAID 6 volume based on the pseudo-RAID 5 volume when at least one additional drive is inserted to the pseudo-RAID 5 volume. | 12-09-2010 |
20100312962 | N-WAY DIRECTLY CONNECTED ANY TO ANY CONTROLLER ARCHITECTURE - Disclosed is a storage system architecture. Array controllers are configured with at least 2M ports, where M is an integers greater than two that corresponds to the number of SAS domains or JBOD units in the system. Serial attached SCSI (SAS) domains or JBOD units are configured with at least 2N ports, where N corresponds to the number of array controllers in the system. At least two of each of the 2N ports are directly connected to a corresponding at least two of each of the 2M ports of each of the N array controllers, thereby establishing direct redundant connectivity between each of the N array controllers and each of the M SAS domains or JBOD units. | 12-09-2010 |
20100318736 | METHOD AND SYSTEM OF AN ADAPTIVE INPUT/OUTPUT SCHEDULER FOR STORAGE ARRAYS - An adaptive input/output (I/O) scheduler for storage arrays is disclosed. In one embodiment, a method of a redundant array of independent disks (RAID) controller for deploying an optimal I/O scheduler type per a storage array configuration includes generating performance data by assessing respective performances of a plurality of I/O scheduler types on different RAID level test volumes with at least one I/O pattern generated internally within a storage subsystem which comprises the RAID controller. The method also includes storing the associativeness of the performance data with respect to a particular I/O scheduler most suited for a given I/O workload to a nonvolatile memory of the RAID controller. The method further includes deploying an optimal one of the plurality of I/O scheduler types and at least one performance parameter for at least one subsequent I/O operation associated with the storage subsystem based on the performance data. | 12-16-2010 |
20100318737 | PROVIDING DATA REDUNDANCY USING AN INTERNAL MASS STORAGE DEVICE AND AN EXTERNAL MASS STORAGE DEVICE - A computer includes an enclosure, an internal mass storage device within the enclosure, and a redundancy controller within the enclosure. At least one port enables direct connection of the computer to at least one external mass storage device. The redundancy controller is configured to provide data redundancy using the internal mass storage device and the at least one external storage device if the at least one external mass storage device is connected to the at least one port. | 12-16-2010 |
20100318738 | HARD DISK SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ACCESSING THE SAME - A hard disk system and a method for accessing the hard disk system are provided. The hard disk system includes a first hard disk and a second hard disk. The first hard disk is used to store system data that is read-only. The second hard disk includes a mapped data storage section and a variable data storage section, wherein the mapped data storage section is used to store a mapped data generated by mapping the system data of the first hard disk. A maximum number of writes for the first hard disk is less than a maximum number of writes for the second hard disk, wherein the hard disk system performs data modification via the variable data section of the second hard disk. | 12-16-2010 |
20100318739 | MANAGEMENT METHOD FOR A VIRTUAL VOLUME ACROSS A PLURALITY OF STORAGES - To enhance capacity expansion property of a storage system for providing a thin provisioning volume, this invention provides a computer system including: a first storage system; and a second storage system for providing a second volume to the first storage system. The first storage system is configured to: define at least one first volumes; define a first storage pool including the defined first volume and the provided second volume; provide to the host computer a first thin provisioning volume that is recognized as a volume having a capacity equal to or larger than that of storage areas assigned from the first storage pool. The first thin provisioning volume is thus assigned with both storage areas of the first volume and storage areas of the second volume, which are included in the first storage pool. | 12-16-2010 |
20100332748 | DISTRIBUTED DATA STORAGE SYSTEM USING LOCAL COPY OPERATIONS FOR RAID-1 VOLUMES - In a distributed RAID-1 (DR1) copy operation, operation of source and target DR1 volumes is first converted to a local-copy operating mode in which the distributed copy operation is converted into a set of local copy operations. Each t is performed at a respective location of the disks of the DR1 volumes and involves copying data of the source DR1 from a first disk to a second disk via a local second communication channel of relatively high bandwidth. Following conversion, the local copy operations are performed at the locations. Upon completion of the local copy operations, storage operations to the source and target DR1 volumes are temporarily suspended, operation of the source and target DR1 volumes is converted back to the normal operating mode, and storage operations to the source and target DR1 volumes are resumed. | 12-30-2010 |
20100332749 | WEAR LEVELING OF SOLID STATE DISKS DISTRIBUTED IN A PLURALITY OF REDUNDANT ARRAY OF INDEPENDENT DISK RANKS - A computational device allocates a plurality of solid state disks to a plurality of redundant array of independent disk (RAID) ranks, wherein a different solid state disk is absent in each RAID rank of the plurality of RAID ranks. The computational device determines at least one selected solid state disk from the plurality of solid state disks, wherein the at least one selected solid state disk is estimated to have undergone a greater amount of wear in comparison to other solid state disks in the plurality of solid state disks. Relatively more data and parity information is written to those RAID ranks in which the at least one selected solid state disk is absent in comparison to those RAID ranks in which the at least one selected solid state disk is present. | 12-30-2010 |
20100332750 | MAINTAINING ACCESS TIMES IN STORAGE SYSTEMS EMPLOYING POWER SAVING TECHNIQUES - An apparatus, method, and computer program for maintaining access times in a data processing system, wherein the data processing system comprises a plurality of storage devices, the apparatus including: a receive component, for receiving a command or an availability message, wherein an availability message indicates whether the storage device is available; an evaluate component for evaluating a plurality of first relationships between the storage devices and a plurality of first values, wherein each of the first values indicates whether a related storage device is a redundant; a send component, for sending a power message to one or more of the storage devices; and an update component for updating a second relationship between the redundant storage device and a plurality of second values, wherein each of the second values indicates whether a related redundant storage device is available. | 12-30-2010 |
20100332751 | DISTRIBUTED STORAGE PROCESSING MODULE - A dispersed storage (DS) processing module may include a gateway module operable to communicate data and/or corresponding information with a user device and may include an access module operable to segment outbound data of the data into one or more outbound data segments and aggregate one or more inbound data segments into inbound data of the data. The DS processing module may include a grid module operable to encode an outbound data segment of the one or more outbound data segments into a plurality of outbound encoded data slices and decode a plurality of inbound encoded data slices into an inbound data segment of the one or more inbound data segments. The DS processing module may include a storage module operable to output the plurality of outbound encoded data slices to a plurality of DS storage units and receive the plurality of inbound encoded data slices from the plurality of DS storage units. | 12-30-2010 |
20110010496 | METHOD FOR MANAGEMENT OF DATA OBJECTS - A method and system for management of data objects on a variety of storage media, wherein a storage control module is allocated to each of the storage media, wherein a file system is provided that communicates with each of the storage control modules, wherein the storage control module obtains information about the storage medium, the information including, at a minimum, a latency, a bandwidth, the number of possible parallel read/write accesses, or information on occupied and free storage blocks on the storage medium, wherein all information about the allocated storage medium is forwarded to the file system by the storage control module. | 01-13-2011 |
20110016272 | VIRTUALIZED DATA STORAGE IN A NETWORK COMPUTING ENVIRONMENT - Methods and systems for load balancing read/write requests of a virtualized storage system. In one embodiment, a storage system includes a plurality of physical storage devices and a storage module operable within a communication network to present the plurality of physical storage devices as a virtual storage device to a plurality of network computing elements that are coupled to the communication network. The virtual storage device comprises a plurality of virtual storage volumes, wherein each virtual storage volume is communicatively coupled to the physical storage devices via the storage module. The storage module comprises maps that are used to route read/write requests from the network computing elements to the virtual storage volumes. Each map links read/write requests from at least one network computing element to a respective virtual storage volume within the virtual storage device. | 01-20-2011 |
20110016273 | STORAGE MANAGEMENT METHOD AND SERVER - When the application I/O performance problem is solved, the I/O amount from the application is increased. In the conventional technique, no consideration has been taken on the affect of the increase of the application I/O performance to other applications. A resource whose I/O load is reduced by setting modification of a storage subsystem is specified and the application using this resource is specified as an application whose I/O processing amount may be increased. Furthermore, the resource used by the specified application and another application using this resource are specified as a resource and an application whose I/O processing performance may be lowered by the setting modification. | 01-20-2011 |
20110022795 | MANAGEMENT METHOD FOR VIRTUALIZED STORAGE VIEW - Method and system for providing a topology view for a storage system. Storage system includes a storage device, a management server and host devices in communication together. The host devices are used by users. The management server is in control of an administrator. The storage device is divided into logical partitions that are assigned to users. An icon is assigned to each user, each storage unit and to each virtual storage device. The topology view displays the associations between users and physical data storage units or virtual storage devices by drawing a linkage between each user icon and icons for the associated physical or virtual storage devices on a user interface of the management server for viewing by the administrator. Consolidated storage is shown to the administrator as a single element while partitioned storage is shown as multiple elements. | 01-27-2011 |
20110022796 | DISK ARRAY APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR CONTROLLNG THE SAME - An apparatus includes a controller and a plurality of disk drives. The controller has a communication control unit for accepting a data input/output request, a disk controller unit for controlling a disk drive, and a cache memory for temporarily storing data transferred between the communication control unit and the disk controller unit. The plurality of disk drives has different communication interfaces and connected to the disk controller unit to communicate with the disk controller unit. | 01-27-2011 |
20110029728 | METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR REDUCING INPUT/OUTPUT OPERATIONS IN A RAID STORAGE SYSTEM - Methods and systems for managing RAID volumes are disclosed. Metadata is associated with storage devices that comprise a RAID volume. The metadata identifies each of a plurality of portions as being either initialized or non-initialized. The number of I/O operations performed by a storage controller coupled with the storage devices is reduced in response to a request for the RAID volume based on the metadata. | 02-03-2011 |
20110029729 | ERASURE CODED DATA STORAGE CAPACITY AND POWER MANAGEMENT - A set of data is allocated into a plurality of data chunks, wherein the plurality of data chunks is thinly provisioned and erasure coded. A plurality of storage devices is divided into a first and a second set of storage devices, wherein the first set of storage devices is powered up and the second set of storage devices is powered down. The data chunks are distributed on the first set of storage devices to equally load each of the first set of storage devices. A storage device from the second set of storage devices is powered up to reassign the storage device from the second set of storage devices to the first set of storage devices. Data chunks are migrated to a reassigned storage device until the data chunks are evenly distributed on the first set of storage devices and the reassigned storage device. | 02-03-2011 |
20110029730 | DATA PROCESSING SYSTEM USING CACHE-AWARE MULTIPATH DISTRIBUTION OF STORAGE COMMANDS AMONG CACHING STORAGE CONTROLLERS - A data processing system includes a storage system and caching storage controllers coupled to the storage system and to a storage network. The storage controllers operate in an active-active fashion to provide access to volumes of the storage system from any of the storage controllers in response to storage commands from the storage network. The storage controllers employ a distributed cache protocol in which (a) each volume is divided into successive chunks of contiguous blocks, and (b) either chunk ownership may be dynamically transferred among the storage controllers in response to the storage commands, or storage commands sent to a non-owning controller may be forwarded to the owning controller. A multipathing initiator such as a server computer directs the storage commands to the storage controllers by (1) for each volume, maintaining a persistent association of the chunks of the volume with respective storage controllers, and (2) for each storage request directed to a target chunk, identifying the storage controller associated with the target chunk and sending a corresponding storage command to the identified storage controller. Chunk ownership tends to stabilize at individual storage controllers, reducing unnecessary transfer of cache data and metadata among the storage controllers. | 02-03-2011 |
20110029731 | DISPERSED STORAGE WRITE PROCESS - A dispersed storage (DS) method begins by issuing a plurality of write commands to a plurality of DS storage units. The method continues by receiving a write acknowledgement from one of the plurality of DS storage units to produce a received write acknowledgement. The method continues by issuing a plurality of commit commands to the plurality of DS storage units when a write threshold number of the received write acknowledgements have been received. The method continues by receiving a commit acknowledgement from a DS storage unit of the plurality of DS storage units to produce a received commit acknowledgement. The method continues by issuing a plurality of finalize commands to the plurality of DS storage units when a write threshold number of the received commit acknowledgements have been received. | 02-03-2011 |
20110029732 | STORAGE DEVICE CONTROLLER WITH A PLURALITY OF I/O PROCESSORS REQUESTING DATA FROM A PLURALITY OF STRIPE UNITS OF A LOGICAL VOLUME - Provided is a storage controller capable of improving the access performance to the storage device by preventing an I/O access request to the storage device from being concentrated on certain I/O processors among a plurality of I/O processor, and causing the plurality of I/O processors to issue the I/O access request in a well balanced manner. With this storage control system, a plurality of stripe units are formed by striping the logical volume into a stripe size of an arbitrary storage capacity, and information regarding which I/O processor among the plurality of I/O processors will output the I/O request to which stripe unit among the plurality of stripe units is stored as the control information in the memory. | 02-03-2011 |
20110035547 | Method for utilizing mirroring in a data storage system to promote improved data accessibility and improved system efficiency - The present invention is a method for utilizing mirroring in a data storage system to promote improved data accessibility and improved system efficiency. The method includes establishing a first set of drives of the system in active mode and a second set of drives of the system in passive mode (ex.—a lower power mode). The method further includes writing a first portion of data to a first drive of the first drive set, and writing a copy of the first portion of data to a second drive of the first drive set. A third drive (ex.—from the second drive set), may be activated from passive mode to active mode. The method may further include writing a second copy of the first data portion to the third drive, re-establishing the third drive in passive mode, and deleting the copy of the first data portion from the second drive. | 02-10-2011 |
20110035548 | HYBRID MEDIA STORAGE SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE - A hybrid media storage architecture has a log-structured file system configured to control a plurality of different storage media organized as hybrid storage media that cooperate to provide a total storage space of a storage system. The log-structured file system is configured to perform initial placement and migration of data, as well as fine-grain write allocation of the data, among storage space locations of the hybrid storage media to thereby improve the performance characteristics of the media. By defining and implementing heuristics and policies directed to, e.g., types of data, the file system may initially place data on any of the different media and thereafter migrate data between the media at fine granularity and without the need for manual enforcement. | 02-10-2011 |
20110035549 | DATA STORAGE DEVICE - A data storage device is provided. The data storage device may include a buffer memory, a storage medium, and a controller. The buffer memory may be configured to sequentially store written data blocks received from a host. The storage medium may be configured to include at least one drive. The controller may be configured to calculate first parity data for data selected from the written data in the buffer memory, generate journaling data, and control the generated journaling data to be stored in the storage medium. The data storage device may decrease a number of inputs/outputs used for a parity calculation to thereby reduce overhead. | 02-10-2011 |
20110040935 | MANAGEMENT COMPUTER FOR MANAGING STORAGE SYSTEM CAPACITY AND STORAGE SYSTEM CAPACITY MANAGEMENT METHOD - A management system, which manages a plurality of storage systems, in a case where belonging to a storage system having a first function constitutes a condition for allocating a plurality of volumes to a host device, retrieves the storage system having the first function from among the plurality of storage systems, selects one or more unallocated logical volumes included in the retrieved storage system, acquires a logical volume capacity included in the selected logical volumes and notifies an output device of the acquired capacity as the capacity allocatable to the host device. | 02-17-2011 |
20110040936 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR EXECUTION OF APPLICATIONS IN CONJUNCTION WITH RAID - Systems and methods are disclosed which allow various applications which may utilize a RAID system (or other types of applications) to be executed on the same set of computing devices which implement that RAID system. More particularly, in certain embodiments a virtualization layer may be executed on a data bank. A set of desired application programs may be executed using this virtualization layer, where the context for each instance of the applications, executing on the virtualization layer may be stored in a volume kept utilizing the RAID system. | 02-17-2011 |
20110047330 | DATABASE OPERATION-AWARE STRIPING TECHNIQUE - A method, device, and computer readable medium for striping rows of data across logical units of storage with an affinity for columns is provided. Alternately, a method, device, and computer readable medium for striping columns of data across logical units of storage with an affinity for rows is provided. When data of a logical slice is requested, a mapping may provide information for determining which logical unit is likely to store the logical slice. In one embodiment, data is retrieved from logical units that are predicted to store the logical slice. In another embodiment, data is retrieved from several logical units, and the data not mapped to the logical unit is removed from the retrieved data. | 02-24-2011 |
20110047331 | DATA PROCESSING SYSTEM HAVING A PLURALITY OF STORAGE SYSTEMS - It is an object of the present invention to conduct data transfer or data copying between a plurality of storage systems, without affecting the host computer of the storage systems. Two or more auxiliary storage systems | 02-24-2011 |
20110055471 | APPARATUS, SYSTEM, AND METHOD FOR IMPROVED DATA DEDUPLICATION - An apparatus, system, and method are disclosed for improved deduplication. The apparatus includes an input module, a hash module, and a transmission module that are implemented in a nonvolatile storage device. The input module receives hash requests from requesting entities that may be internal or external to the nonvolatile storage device; the hash requests include a data unit identifier that identifies the data unit for which the hash is requested. The hash module generates a hash for the data unit using a hash function. The hash is generated using the computing resources of the nonvolatile storage device. The transmission module sends the hash to a receiving entity when the input module receives the hash request. A deduplication agent uses the hash to determine whether or not the data unit is a duplicate of a data unit already stored in the storage system that includes the nonvolatile storage device. | 03-03-2011 |
20110055472 | REDUNDANCY PROTECTED MASS STORAGE SYSTEM WITH INCREASED PERFORMANCE - The present invention relates to a redundancy protected mass storage system with increased performance, and more specifically to a mass storage system with multiple storage units. According to the invention, the resources that are essentially provided for compensating the damage of one or more storage units are also used to enhance the system performance. For this purpose during reading or writing the storage system just waits for the responses of a minimum number of required storage units to start reading or writing, respectively. | 03-03-2011 |
20110055473 | DISPERSED STORAGE PROCESSING UNIT AND METHODS WITH DATA AGGREGATION FOR USE IN A DISPERSED STORAGE SYSTEM - A new data block to be stored in the dispersed storage system is received. When it is determined that a previous data segment contains sufficient space for the new data block, the previous data segment is retrieved from a plurality of dispersed storage units. A revised data segment is generated by aggregating the new data block with at least one existing data block of the previous data segment. A plurality of slices are generated for the revised data segment. The plurality of slices are stored in the plurality of dispersed storage units. | 03-03-2011 |
20110055474 | DISPERSED STORAGE PROCESSING UNIT AND METHODS WITH GEOGRAPHICAL DIVERSITY FOR USE IN A DISPERSED STORAGE SYSTEM - A plurality of data slices are generated from a block of data to be stored in the dispersed storage system. A plurality of dispersed storage units are determined for storing the plurality of data slices, based on a geographical location associated with the plurality of dispersed storage units. | 03-03-2011 |
20110055475 | STORAGE CONTROL DEVICE AND STORAGE SYSTEM - A storage control device for controlling the storage device including a medium for storing data, logical address information, and address translation information and a memory for storing the address translation information read from the medium includes a first receiver for receiving a write request including logical address information, a first sending module for sending a read request including the logical address information of the write request to the storage device, a second receiver for receiving data and logical address information stored in the medium in accordance with the read request from the storage device, and a second sending module for sending an instruction to cause the storage device to write the address translation information stored in the medium into the memory when the logical address information received by the second receiver is different from logical address information included in the write request. | 03-03-2011 |
20110055476 | RAID Array Access By A RAID Array-unaware Operating System - A system comprises a processor configured to execute a first operating system and a second operating system. The system further comprises a plurality of storage drives. The second operating system configures the plurality of storage drives as a RAID array. The first operating system accesses the storage drives without knowledge that the storage drives are configured as a RAID array. | 03-03-2011 |
20110055477 | AVOIDING USE OF AN INTER-UNIT NETWORK IN A STORAGE SYSTEM HAVING MULTIPLE STORAGE CONTROL UNITS - A storage system provides virtual ports, and is able to transfer the virtual ports among physical ports located on multiple storage control units making up the storage system. The storage system is able to manage logical volumes and/or virtual volumes and virtual ports as a group when considering whether to move logical/virtual volumes and/or virtual ports to another storage control unit in the storage system. When the storage system is instructed to transfer volumes, virtual ports, or a group of volumes and virtual ports among the storage control units, the storage system determines whether an inter-unit network will be required to be used following the transfer. When the storage system determines that the inter-unit network will be required if the transfer takes place, the storage system determines and presents an alternate storage control unit for the transfer to avoid use of the inter-unit network, thereby avoiding degraded performance. | 03-03-2011 |
20110060878 | MANAGEMENT COMPUTER - The management computer allocates a volume of an external storage device to a host so as to satisfy performance requirements specified from the host. The management computer selects a path that is formed including a first port of the storage device and a second port of the external storage device and that satisfies the performance requirements from the host, and then sets the priority. The management computer sets to the host the use authorization of a primary port and a secondary port that constitute a selected path and the use authorization of a second logical volume. | 03-10-2011 |
20110066801 | STORAGE SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR CONTROLLING THE SAME - A storage system in accordance with the present invention creates a virtual volume based on a remote copy pair and provides the virtual volume to a host. A first storage device and a second storage device share a locked disk in a third storage device. The information for controlling a usage of the virtual volume is stored into the locked disk. The virtual volume is created based on a remote copy pair composed of a primary volume and a secondary volume. A user can create and delete a virtual volume and a locked disk by issuing an instruction from a management server. | 03-17-2011 |
20110066802 | DYNAMIC PAGE REALLOCATION STORAGE SYSTEM MANAGEMENT - In one embodiment, a storage system for storage management in a tiered storage environment comprises a plurality of storage volumes in a pool which are divided into a plurality of tiers having different tier levels, the tiers being organized according to a tier configuration rule, the plurality of storage volumes provided by a plurality of physical storage devices in the storage system; and a controller controlling the plurality of physical storage devices, the controller including a processor and a memory. The controller changes tier configurations of the tiers of storage volumes when the tier configuration rule is changed, the tier configurations including the tier levels. The controller allocates the pool to a plurality of virtual volumes based on a change of tier levels against the physical storage devices which occurs when the pool does not meet the tier configuration rule that was in effect. | 03-17-2011 |
20110066803 | METHOD AND APPARATUS TO UTILIZE LARGE CAPACITY DISK DRIVES - A method of utilizing storage in a storage system comprises prioritizing a plurality of storage areas in the storage system for data recovery with different priorities; and performing data recovery of the storage system at an occurrence of a failure involving one or more of the storage areas in the storage system based on the priorities. Data recovery for one storage area having a higher priority is to occur before data recovery for another storage area having a lower priority in the storage system. In various embodiments, the prioritization is achieved by monitoring the access characteristics, or the priority is specified by the host or management computer based on the usage and/or importance of data stored in the storage system, or the priority is determined by the storage system based on the area assignment/release (i.e., usage) of thin provisioned volumes. | 03-17-2011 |
20110066804 | STORAGE DEVICE AND INFORMATION MANAGEMENT SYSTEM - Using a snapshot function, a remote copy is efficiently created. Data for a snapshot is converted into a first bitmap of differential data for a remote copy. The conversion is performed in advance at appropriate chronological intervals. Furthermore, when the snapshot function splits, a second bitmap of cascade differential data, which is new differential data, is created simultaneously with creation of the data for the snapshot. This second bitmap of cascade differential data is created in the same format as the first bitmap of differential data for the remote copy. Then, when the snapshot function shifts from split status to pair status, the second bitmap of cascade differential data is added to the first bitmap of differential data for the remote copy (to produce a logical sum), and a remote copy is created based on this bitmap that was added. | 03-17-2011 |
20110072208 | Distributed Storage Resource Scheduler and Load Balancer - Distributed storage resources are managed based on data collected from online monitoring of workloads on the storage resources and performance characteristics of the storage resources. Load metrics are calculated from the collected data and used to identify workloads that are migration candidates and storage units that are migration destinations, so that load balancing across the distributed storage resources can be achieved. | 03-24-2011 |
20110072209 | Processing Diagnostic Requests for Direct Block Access Storage Devices - Described embodiments provide a media controller for processing a diagnostic request received from a diagnostic source. The received diagnostic request is parsed by a corresponding request handling module of the media controller, where each diagnostic source type has a corresponding request handling module. If the received diagnostic request requires allocation of buffer space, a common diagnostic handling module of the media controller allocates buffer space in a buffer for the received diagnostic request. The common diagnostic handling module is common for all diagnostic source types. The common diagnostic handling module provides the received diagnostic request to a corresponding one of a plurality of end diagnostic handling modules. The end diagnostic handling module performs the diagnostic tasks. If the received diagnostic request requires a transfer of data to the diagnostic source, the common diagnostic handling module performs the data transfer between the media controller and the diagnostic source. | 03-24-2011 |
20110072210 | PESSIMISTIC DATA READING IN A DISPERSED STORAGE NETWORK - A method begins by a processing module receiving a data retrieval request and determining a read threshold number of dispersed storage (DS). The method continues with the processing module sending read request messages to DS units and receiving encoded data slices to produce received encoded data slices. The method continues with the processing module determining an incremental number of encoded data slices based on the number of received encoded data slices, determining an incremental number of DS units, and sending a read request message to each of the incremental number of DS units when the number of received encoded data slices compares unfavorably to a decode threshold number. The method continues with the processing module dispersed storage error decoding the received encoded data slices to produce data when the number of received encoded data slices compares favorably to the decode threshold number of encoded data slices. | 03-24-2011 |
20110078371 | DISTRIBUTED STORAGE NETWORK UTILIZING MEMORY STRIPES - Multiple data slices are generated from an original data segment. The data slices are constructed to prevent recovery of the original data segment using a single related data slice, but to allow recovery of the original data segment using fewer than all of the data slices. Each data slice is stored in the same memory stripe as the other data slices. The memory stripe extends across multiple memory devices and multiple different distributed storage units. The memory device in which each data slice is stored can be determined based on a source name associated with each data slice. | 03-31-2011 |
20110078372 | DISTRIBUTED STORAGE NETWORK MEMORY ACCESS BASED ON MEMORY STATE - A distributed storage unit determines how to handle a read or write request for a data slice based on a state of the memory the data slice is to be read from or written to. When receiving a request to retrieve a data slice, the distributed storage unit, determines a state of the memory in which the data slice is stored. Based on the memory state, one of multiple different methods for obtaining the data slice is selected. The methods include, among others, a direct read from the memory, and reconstructing the data slice using other memories and parity values. In response to a write request, the distributed storage unit can determine whether to use the currently selected memory for writing, or rotate the memory used for writing, based on a state of the memory. | 03-31-2011 |
20110078373 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DISPERSED STORAGE MEMORY DEVICE SELECTION - A method begins when a dispersed storage (DS) processing unit of a DS unit has at least one of DS unit operational data and DS unit operating system algorithm to store. The method continues with the DS processing unit encoding at least a portion of the at least one of DS unit operational data and DS unit operating system algorithm in accordance with an error coding dispersal storage function to produce a plurality of data slices. The method continues with the DS processing unit storing at least some of the plurality of data slices in memory devices of the DS unit in accordance with the error coding dispersal storage function. | 03-31-2011 |
20110078374 | DISK ARRAY APPARATUS - A disk array apparatus improves scalability, performance such as data transfer between different kinds of I/Fs, and maintainability and reliability about boards/PKs configuring the DKC and about a DKC configuration obtained by interconnecting them. The DKC in the disk array apparatus is configured by interconnecting mix PKs each including a base PK and a functional PK which is hierarchically connected to the base PK and on which individually separate functions are mounted. The base PK coexists with and is connectable to a plurality of different I/F-PKs, and includes an intra-package interconnection network for communicating between the functional PKs and with the DKC, and further has a processor interconnection network. The DKC performs a data transfer processing by using the functional PK and the base PK. | 03-31-2011 |
20110082975 | DISK ARRAY SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR CONTROLLING DISK ARRAY SYSTEM - The disk array system includes a first controller adapted to transfer/receive data to/from a host computer and to receive/transfer data from/to first type disk drive units via a first type interface of the first controller; a second controller adapted to transfer/receive data to/from the host computer and/or another host computer and to receive/transfer data from/to the first type disk drive units via a first type interface of the second controller, the first type disk drive units each having a converter and a first type disk drive, the converter converting between a first type protocol and a second type protocol, the first type disk drive having a second type interface and storing data converted to the second type protocol by the converter; and an expansion housing including the first type disk drive units. Each of the first type disk drive units are coupled to both the first and second controllers. | 04-07-2011 |
20110082976 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR OBJECT-ORIENTED DATA STORAGE - In accordance with the present invention, data may be written and read differently in accordance with their attributes, which may include, inter alia, critical vs. non-critical data, streaming vs. non-streaming media, confidential vs. non-confidential, or read or write speed requirements. A data block to be written may be considered an object, and is examined, and from its attributes one or more memory device operating modes may be determined, such as different numbers of bits per cell, different numbers of error-correction code (ECC) parities per user data block, and encryption vs. lack of encryption. The storage controller then performs the writing process according to the mode(s) of operation determined by the attributes. Respective designated portions of the storage device may be selectively operated in respective ones of a plurality of operating modes to process each of the plurality of data objects based on a corresponding one or more of the attributes. | 04-07-2011 |
20110082977 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR A UNIFIED STORAGE SYSTEM - A unified storage system for executing a variety of types of storage control software using a single standardized hardware platform includes multiple storage control modules connected to storage devices for storing data related to input/output (I/O) operations. A first type of storage control software is initially installed and executed on a first storage control module for processing a first type of I/O operations. A management module replaces the first type of storage control software by installing a second type of storage control software onto the first storage control module. When the second type of storage control software is installed and executed, the first storage control module processes a second type of I/O operation, different from the first type of I/O operation. Control of volumes originally accessed by the first storage control module may be transferred to a second storage control module having the first type of storage control software installed. | 04-07-2011 |
20110082978 | NON-VOLATILE MEMORY - In a non-volatile memory, external bit data whose opposite bit is in the programmed state is stored in a buffer, and is then programmed. A program level is increased in a stepwise manner every pulse. When the program level reaches a threshold voltage, unprogrammed data is stored into the buffer, and program operation is continued. Therefore, variations in a program characteristic which are caused by the programmed state of the opposite bit are reduced or prevented, thereby reducing or preventing the increase in the number of program pulses and the expansion of the threshold voltage distribution during program operation. As a result, lower-cost, higher-speed, and more highly reliable program operation is achieved. | 04-07-2011 |
20110087837 | SECONDARY CACHE FOR WRITE ACCUMULATION AND COALESCING - A method for efficiently using a large secondary cache is disclosed herein. In certain embodiments, such a method may include accumulating, in a secondary cache, a plurality of data tracks. These data tracks may include modified data and/or unmodified data. The method may determine if a subset of the plurality of data tracks makes up a full stride. In the event the subset makes up a full stride, the method may destage the subset from the secondary cache. By destaging full strides, the method reduces the number of disk operations that are required to destage data from the secondary cache. A corresponding computer program product and apparatus are also disclosed and claimed herein. | 04-14-2011 |
20110087838 | Memory Device and Operation Method Therefor - Provided is a MLC (Multi-level cell) memory device, comprising: a memory array, including a plurality of groups each storing a plurality of bits; and an inverse bit storage section, storing a first inverse bit data including a plurality of inverse bits, the plurality of bits in the same group in the memory array being related to a respective inverse bit. | 04-14-2011 |
20110093655 | Connecting A Storage Subsystem And An Electronic Device With A Control Device That Hides Details Of The Storage Subsystem - An apparatus includes an external interface port to connect to an external electronic device, where the external interface port is to communicate over a communications path with the external electronic device according to a serial communication protocol. The apparatus has a control device to hide details of the storage subsystem from the external electronic device. The control device is configured to perform at least one of (1) expanding a storage capacity of at least one logical storage volume of the storage subsystem, and (2) migrating a portion of data stored in the storage subsystem to a new physical storage device. | 04-21-2011 |
20110099330 | MEMORY OPTIMIZATION FOR VIDEO PROCESSING - Memory storage requirements for digital signal processing operations, for example, motion-compensated video scan rate conversion, that produce intermediate output data, which is then used as an input to the operation, are reduced by reordering operations and organizing memory allocations in a special manner to allow intermediate output at a particular execution time, to substantially share the same memory space as the intermediate output of a previous execution time. Such a reduction in the amount of memory required for processing operations advantageously reduces cost and power consumption. | 04-28-2011 |
20110107026 | CONCURRENT SET STORAGE IN DISTRIBUTED STORAGE NETWORK - For each original data segment, a distributed storage processing unit generates encoded slices designed to prevent the original data segment from being reconstructed using fewer than a threshold number of encoded slices. Multiple encoded slices are generated for each of two different data segments, and the slices associated with the first and second data segment are stored substantially concurrently in different storage sets employing different distributed storage units. Encoded slices for even and odd data segments can be stored in different storage sets, or longer sequences of data segments can be stored in alternating storage sets. Storage sets can also be determined by the vault generation of a particular data segment. | 05-05-2011 |
20110107027 | INDIRECT STORAGE OF DATA IN A DISPERSED STORAGE SYSTEM - A method begins by a dispersed storage processing module obtaining data for storage. The method continues with the dispersed storage processing module encoding the data in accordance with an error coding dispersal storage function to produce a plurality of sets of encoded data slices. The method continues with the dispersed storage processing module determining a proxy unit. The method continues with the dispersed storage processing module transmitting the plurality of sets of encoded data slices to the proxy unit, wherein the proxy unit disperses the plurality of sets of encoded data slices to a plurality of dispersed storage units. | 05-05-2011 |
20110107028 | Dynamically Expanding Storage Capacity of a Storage Volume - A storage system includes at least one storage device on which are provided data storage volumes and an extended storage volume. The data storage volumes include a first data storage volume that is implemented with a data protection mechanism, and a second data storage volume that is implemented without the data protection mechanism. Also, an extended storage volume is provided that is initially un-allocated to any of the data storage volumes. A controller dynamically allocates at least one portion of the extended storage volume to the particular data storage volume to dynamically expand storage capacity of the particular data storage volume. | 05-05-2011 |
20110107029 | STORAGE SUBSYSTEM THAT CONNECTS FIBRE CHANNEL AND SUPPORTS ONLINE BACKUP - The storage system includes first and second disk arrays. The first disk array has a first port coupled to a second port of the second disk array, a port controller controlling the first port, a plurality of disk devices to store data, and a controller managing a plurality of logical units on the plurality of disk drives. The first port controller controls the first port so as to execute, in a time-sharing manner, data transfer corresponding to a initiator task and data transfer corresponding to a target task. The initiator task is generated to execute the data transfer from a first logical unit on the plurality of disk drives of the first disk array to a second logical unit on a plurality of disk drives of the second disk array. The target task is generated to execute the data transfer to receive data from the second disk array. | 05-05-2011 |
20110113193 | STORAGE SYSTEM, DATA TRANSFER METHOD, AND PROGRAM - The storage system including a first disk array apparatus for providing first volumes for storing data sent from a host system; a second disk array apparatus for providing second volumes for storing back-up data of the first volumes; and a console terminal for operating the first disk array apparatus. The console terminal is equipped with a setting unit for setting a priority for each first volume in accordance with an external command. The first disk array apparatus is equipped with: a storage unit for storing the priorities set by the priority setting unit; and a transfer unit for reading the priorities from the storage unit upon receiving the data and transferring the data stored in the first volumes to the second volumes of the second disk array apparatus in order of descending priority of the first volumes that store the data. | 05-12-2011 |
20110113194 | Filesystem-Aware Block Storage System, Apparatus, and Method - A filesystem-aware storage system locates and analyzes host filesystem data structures in order to determine storage usage of the host filesystem. To this end, the storage system might locate an operating system partition, parse the operating system partion to locate its data structures, and parse the operating system data structures to locate the host filesystem data structures. The storage system manages data storage based on the storage usage of the host file system. The storage system can use the storage usage information to identify storage areas that are no longer being used by the host filesystem and reclaim those areas for additional data storage capacity. Also, the storage system can identify the types of data stored by the host filesystem and manage data storage based on the data types, such as selecting a storage layout and/or an encoding scheme for the data based on the data type. | 05-12-2011 |
20110119443 | Apparatus and Method for Distributing Writes Asymmetrically Among Drives - An apparatus and method are disclosed for distributing writes asymmetrically. An asymmetric distribution module calculates an asymmetric distribution of writes for a plurality of drives. A write module writes data to each drive in accordance with the asymmetric distribution of writes. | 05-19-2011 |
20110125963 | ELECTRONIC DEVICE WITH DATA BACKUP/RESTORE CAPABILITY - An electronic device with data backup/restore capability includes a connection port, an internal storage device, a storage device controller, a processor and a bridge circuit. The internal storage device is used for storing data. The storage device controller is coupled to the connection port and the internal storage device, for controlling data accessing and data backup/restore operations of the internal storage device. The processor is used for controlling the operation of the electronic device. The bridge circuit is coupled between the storage device controller and the processor. | 05-26-2011 |
20110125964 | VIRTUAL PATH STORAGE SYSTEM AND CONTROL METHOD FOR THE SAME - Provided is a storage system having improved access performance. The storage system includes: a hard disk drive, and a storage controller for reading/writing data from/to the hard disk drive, the storage controller including: at least one interface connected to a host computer through a network; and a plurality of processors connected to the interface through an internal network. The storage system is characterized in that: the processor provides at least one logical access port to the host computer; and the interface stores routing information including a processor which processes an access request addressed to the logical access port, extracts an address from the received access request upon reception of the access request from the host computer, specifies the processor which processes the received access request based on the routing information and the extracted address, and transfers the received access request to the specified processor. | 05-26-2011 |
20110125965 | Direct Attached Storage System And Method For Implementing Multiple Simultaneous Storage Schemes - A direct attached storage (DAS) system configurable to simultaneously implement a plurality of data storage schemes, comprising one or more storage devices, a controller coupled to the storage devices for implementing and managing a plurality of data storage schemes on the storage devices, an I/O port for inputting data to and outputting data from the storage devices, and an apportionment selector coupled to the controller for selecting a portion of the storage devices to be allocated to a determined data storage scheme. | 05-26-2011 |
20110131374 | Direct Memory Access for Loopback Transfers in a Media Controller Architecture - Described embodiments provide for transferring data from one location to another location in a memory of a media controller. A transmit data path and a receive data path of the media controller are linked with a generic direct memory access (GDMA). The transmit data path includes a transmit (TX) buffer and the receive data path includes a receive (RX) buffer. The GDMA is programmed with a total transfer count and a transfer mode. The GDMA processes the movable data based on the total transfer count and the transfer mode by converting one or more portions of the movable data in the TX buffer into a predefined frame structure defined with status entries, which translates frames of the moveable data between the TX data path and the RX data path and synchronizes the movable data between the TX buffer and the RX buffer with the status entries. | 06-02-2011 |
20110131375 | Command Tag Checking in a Multi-Initiator Media Controller Architecture - Described embodiments provide a method of allocating resources of a media controller for a data transfer. A data transfer request is received from at least one host device, and includes a host device ID and a data transfer request ID. The media controller generates a Tag ID of the data transfer request based on the host device ID and the data transfer request ID, and generates a starting memory address of a tag table based on the Tag ID of the data transfer request. A tag count value is read from the starting memory address of the tag table. If the tag count value reaches a threshold, an absence of a tag overlap is determined and the Tag ID of the data transfer request is added to the tag table at the starting memory address. | 06-02-2011 |
20110153930 | STORAGE SYSTEM AND PROCESSING EFFICIENCY IMPROVING METHOD OF STORAGE SYSTEM - A storage system | 06-23-2011 |
20110153931 | HYBRID STORAGE SUBSYSTEM WITH MIXED PLACEMENT OF FILE CONTENTS - A storage subsystem combining solid state drive (SSD) and hard disk drive (HDD) technologies provides low access latency and low complexity. Separate free lists are maintained for the SSD and the HDD and blocks of file system data are stored uniquely on either the SSD or the HDD. When a read access is made to the subsystem, if the data is present on the SSD, the data is returned, but if the block is present on the HDD, it is migrated to the SSD and the block on the HDD is returned to the HDD free list. On a write access, if the block is present in the either the SSD or HDD, the block is overwritten, but if the block is not present in the subsystem, the block is written to the HDD. | 06-23-2011 |
20110153932 | MULTI-COLUMN ADDRESSING MODE MEMORY SYSTEM INCLUDING AN INTEGRATED CIRCUIT MEMORY DEVICE - A memory system includes a master device, such as a graphics controller or processor, and an integrated circuit memory device operable in a dual column addressing mode. The integrated circuit memory device includes an interface and column decoder to access a row of storage cells or a page in a memory bank. During a first mode of operation, a first row of storage cells in a first memory bank is accessible in response to a first column address. During a second mode of operation, a first plurality of storage cells in the first row of storage cells is accessible in response to a second column address during a column cycle time interval. A second plurality of storage cells in the first row of storage cells is accessible in response to a third column address during the column cycle time interval. The first and second pluralities of storage cells are concurrently accessible from the interface. | 06-23-2011 |
20110167215 | Storage System Comprising RAID Group - A pool that is a storage area group composed of a plurality of real pages based on a plurality of RAID groups is managed. The storage system carries out the rebuild processing that includes the steps of copying each of data that has been stored into all allocated real pages among all real pages based on a specific RAID group to an unallocated real page based on at least one RAID group separate from the specific RAID group, allocating a real page of each copy destination to each virtual page of an allocated destination of an allocated real page of each copy source, and canceling an allocation of an allocated real page of each copy source to a virtual page. | 07-07-2011 |
20110167216 | Redundant array of independent disks system - A Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID) system is disclosed in this invention. The RAID system includes a plurality of data storage units and a parity storage medium. The parity storage medium can be singular storage hardware or a logical storage module including multiple storage units. The parity storage medium cooperates with the data storage units to form a RAID. The parity storage medium is used for storing parity information of the RAID. A first write speed of the parity storage medium is faster than a second write speed of each data storage unit. | 07-07-2011 |
20110167217 | EXTENT MIGRATION FOR TIERED STORAGE ARCHITECTURE - A method for data migration between each of a plurality of storage pools in a computing storage environment is provided. Each of the plurality of storage pools is categorized by a metric shared between data segments assigned to any one of the plurality of storage pools. The data segments are prioritized in the any one of the plurality of storage pools based on the metric. A discovery is performed for each of the plurality of storage pools, on a predetermined interval, based on the metric, whether a data segment with a highest priority on a child pool is greater than a data segment with a lowest priority on a parent pool. If so, the data segment with the highest priority on the child pool is promoted to the parent pool. A similar discovery process demotes the data segment with the highest priority on the parent pool to the child pool. | 07-07-2011 |
20110167218 | STORAGE SYSTEM FOR SENDING AN ACCESS REQUEST FROM A HOST TO A STORAGE SUBSYSTEM - This invention provides a user or an operator with a management apparatus or method for displaying logical connection information between an interface connected to a computer and a switch and a storage system or a logical unit in the storage system in a virtual storage system, wherein the switch receives a first access request from said computer, converts said first access request to a second access request to one of said plural storage systems, and sends said second access request to one of said plural storage systems or one logical unit. | 07-07-2011 |
20110167219 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR RAID MANAGEMENT, REALLOCATION, AND RESTRIPPING - The present disclosure relates to systems and methods for RAID Restriping. One method includes selecting an initial RAID device for migration based on at least one score, creating an alternate RAID device, moving data from the initial RAID device to the alternate RAID device, and removing the initial RAID device. The method may be performed automatically by the system or manually. The method may be performed periodically, continuously, after every RAID device migration, upon addition of disk drives, and/or before removal of disk drives, etc. One system includes a RAID subsystem and a disk manager configured to automatically calculate a score for each RAID device, select a RAID device based on the relative scores of the RAID devices, create an alternate RAID device, move data from the selected RAID device to the alternate RAID device, and remove the selected RAID device. | 07-07-2011 |
20110167220 | STORAGE SYSTEM FOR HOLDING A REMAINING AVAILABLE LIFETIME OF A LOGICAL STORAGE REGION - The storage system includes a plurality of first disk devices, a plurality of second disk devices, in which a lifetime of the plurality of second disk devices is different from a lifetime of the plurality of first disk devices, and a controller coupled to the plurality of first disk devices and the plurality of second disk devices. The controller configures a first logical unit by the plurality of first disk devices and a second logical unit by the plurality of second disk devices, provides the first and the second logical units to a host computer, and manages a first remaining available time of the first logical unit and a second remaining available time of the second logical unit, on logical unit basis. | 07-07-2011 |
20110173387 | STORAGE SYSTEM HAVING FUNCTION OF PERFORMING FORMATTING OR SHREDDING - It is desired to reduce the danger of leakage of data stored in a logical storage device. A storage system has a detection unit and a security processing unit. The detection unit detects a system change, during which it is not possible to perform I/O for a first logical storage device, among a plurality of logical storage devices in the storage system. And the security processing unit takes this type of system change as the opportunity for performing security processing, i.e. formatting or shredding, upon the first logical storage device. | 07-14-2011 |
20110173388 | FIBER CHANNEL CONNECTION STORAGE CONTROLLER - A storage system adapted to be coupled to a plurality of host devices via a fibre channel. The storage system including a plurality of storage devices, at least a portion of the plurality of storage devices corresponding to a logical unit of a plurality of logical units, the logical unit having a logical unit number (LUN). The storage system also including a storage control device having a cache memory and controlling to store data, addressed to the LUN, into the portion of the plurality of storage devices. The storages system also including an input device being adapted to be used to set information, which is used to prevent an unauthorized access to the logical unit and which corresponds to a relationship between a host device of the plurality of host devices and the logical unit. | 07-14-2011 |
20110179224 | DATA STORAGE MIRRORING - There is provided a method and apparatus for implementing a virtual mirror of a primary storage device ( | 07-21-2011 |
20110179225 | APPARATUS, SYSTEM, AND METHOD FOR A SHARED, FRONT-END, DISTRIBUTED RAID - An apparatus, system, and method are disclosed for a shared, front-end, distributed redundant array of independent drives (“RAID”). A multiple storage request receiver module receives at least two storage requests from at least two clients to store file or object data in one or more storage devices of a storage device set. The storage requests are concurrent and have at least a portion of the data in common. The storage device set includes autonomous storage devices forming a RAID group. Each storage device is capable of independently receiving storage requests from a client over a network. A striping module calculates a stripe pattern and writes N data segments per stripe to N storage devices. A parity-mirror module writes a set of N data segments to parity-mirror storage devices. A sequencer module ensures completion of a first storage request prior to executing a second storage request. | 07-21-2011 |
20110185119 | PARITY GENERATOR FOR REDUNDANT ARRAY OF INDEPENDENT DISCS TYPE MEMORY - In a Redundant Array of Independent Discs (RAID) type memory, dual parities P and Q are generated by a dual XOR engine that performs a plain XOR operation for parity P and a weighted XOR operation for parity Q. The plain and weighted XOR operations may be performed in a single pass. | 07-28-2011 |
20110185120 | METHOD FOR PLACEMENT OF VIRTUAL VOLUME HOT-SPOTS IN STORAGE POOLS USING ONGOING LOAD MEASUREMENTS AND RANKING - The present invention is directed to a method for providing data element placement in a storage system via a Dynamic Storage Tiering (DST) mechanism, such that improved system efficiency is promoted. For example, the DST mechanism may implement an algorithm for providing data element placement. The data elements (ex.—virtual volume hot-spots) may be placed into storage pools, such that usage of higher performing storage pools is maximized. Hot-spots may be detected by dynamically measuring load on LBA ranges. Performance of the storage pools may be measured on an ongoing basis. Further, the hot-spots may be ranked according to load, while storage pools may be ranked according to measured performance. If a hot-spot's load decreases, the hot-spot may be moved to a lower performing storage pool. If a hot-spot's load increases, the hot-spot may be moved to a higher performing storage pool. | 07-28-2011 |
20110185121 | MIRRORING MULTIPLE WRITEABLE STORAGE ARRAYS - Systems, methods, and computer program products for mirroring dual writeable storage arrays are provided. Various embodiments provide configurations including two or more mirrored storage arrays that are each capable of being written to by different hosts. When commands to write data to corresponding mirrored data blocks within the respective storage arrays are received from different hosts at substantially the same time, write priority for writing data to the mirrored data blocks is given to one of the storage arrays based on a predetermined criterion or multiple predetermined criteria. | 07-28-2011 |
20110185122 | STORAGE SYSTEM AND METHOD OF PROCESSING DATA USING THE SAME - A storage system includes a plurality of data processing devices connected in series. One of the data processing devices either accesses a first data storage device or transmits an access command output from a host to an next data processing device in the series according to the access command. The data processing device determines whether to access a second data storage device according to the received access command. | 07-28-2011 |
20110185123 | STORAGE DEVICE - A storage device is provided with a file I/O interface control device and a plurality of disk pools. The file I/O interface control device sets one of a plurality of storage hierarchies defining storage classes, respectively, for each of LUs within the disk pools, thereby forming a file system in each of the LUs. The file I/O interface control device migrates at least one of the files from one of the LUs to another one of the LUs of an optimal storage class, based on static properties and dynamic properties of each file. | 07-28-2011 |
20110185124 | STORAGE SYSTEM THAT EXECUTES PERFORMANCE OPTIMIZATION THAT MAINTAINS REDUNDANCY - One storage area is selected from two or more storage areas of a high load physical storage device, a physical storage device with a lower load than that of the physical storage device is selected, and it is judged whether the redundancy according to the RAID level corresponding to the logical volume decreases when the data elements stored in the selected storage area are transferred to the selected low load physical storage device. If the result of this judgment is that the redundancy does not decrease, the data elements stored in the selected storage area are transferred to a buffer area of the selected low load physical storage device and the logical address space of the logical volume that corresponds to the selected storage area is associated with the buffer area. | 07-28-2011 |
20110191536 | STORAGE SYSTEM, STORAGE APPARATUS, AND OPTIMIZATION METHOD OF STORAGE AREAS OF STORAGE SYSTEM - This invention is intended for the purpose of providing the storage system, the storage apparatus, and the storage system by which, even if the storage areas allocated to the virtual volume are managed in management units set by the RAID group, overhead for parity calculation does not become excessive. This invention, by releasing a specific management unit not fully utilized for page allocation from allocation to the virtual volume and migrating the allocated pages belonging to this specific management unit to the other management unit, makes the storage areas of the specific management unit available for the write accesses for the other virtual volumes from the host computer. | 08-04-2011 |
20110191537 | STORAGE CONTROLLER AND VIRTUAL VOLUME CONTROL METHOD - A storage controller allocates a real storage area to a virtual volume in chunk units each comprising a plurality of pages. In a case where load bias occurs between RAID groups, data reallocation is carried out. A real storage area inside a pool is allocated to a virtual volume | 08-04-2011 |
20110191538 | STORAGE DEVICE, METHOD FOR RESTORING DATA IN STORAGE DEVICE AND STORAGE CONTROLLER - A virtual volume control unit allocates, upon detection of a write request for new data in a virtual volume to be accessed, an actual storage space of a physical medium existing in the same storage group to the virtual volume in accordance with volume capacity of the new data. A storage control unit stores the new data as actual data in the actual storage space of the physical medium allocated to the virtual volume. And a restoration control unit causes, upon detection of a fallback in data redundancy in the storage group, the actual data in a stored space among the actual storage spaces in the physical medium that caused the fallback to be preferentially restored in an actual storage space in a destination physical medium with reference to the physical media other than the physical medium that caused the fallback in the storage group. | 08-04-2011 |
20110197023 | CONTROLLING METHODS OF STORAGE CONTROL DEVICE AND VIRTUAL VOLUMES - The storage control device of this invention allocates the physical storage area in RAID groups to virtual volumes in units of chunks including multiple pages. | 08-11-2011 |
20110197024 | PROVIDING REDUNDANCY IN A VIRTUALIZED STORAGE SYSTEM FOR A COMPUTER SYSTEM - A method for providing redundancy in a virtualized storage system for a computer system is provided. The method includes determining a first set of first logical addresses to provide a virtual storage volume. A redundancy schema is then selected to provide redundancy data for primary data stored in the first set of first logical addresses. A second set of second logical addresses is determined to provide logical storage for the primary data and for the redundancy data. The first set of first logical addresses and the second set of second logical addresses are then mapped and a set of physical storage addresses is selected from a set of physical storage elements. Mapping between the second set of second logical addresses and the set of physical addresses is then performed to provide physical storage for the primary data and the redundancy data stored in the virtual storage volume. | 08-11-2011 |
20110197025 | STORAGE APPARATUS, PATROLLING METHOD AND STORAGE SYSTEM - A storage apparatus includes a written state bit map memory that stores a written state bit map that includes bits each allocated to one of partial areas of a storage device for storing write management information indicating whether written data is present in a partial area of the storage device that is allocated to one of the bits, a bit map management section, when data is written into a partial area of the storage device in response to a write request from the host apparatus, that sets a value indicating that the data is written into the partial area to a bit allocated to the partial area in which the data is written, and a patrolling process section for performing a patrolling process on the partial areas of the storage device on the basis of the write management information stored in the written state bit map memory. | 08-11-2011 |
20110197026 | SCALABLE INTEGRATED HIGH DENSITY OPTICAL DATA/MEDIA STORAGE DELIVERY SYSTEM - An apparatus and system for recording, playing, handling, and storing a plurality of media disks in a plurality of configurations and a device for moving any disk into and out of a media disk storage mechanism and into or out of a selected media player/recorder on demand, and a controller for directing operation of the device for moving the disks and controlling selection of operation of the media disk storage mechanism. | 08-11-2011 |
20110202719 | Logical Drive Duplication - There is provided a method of, and apparatus for, duplicating a logical drive. The method includes sequentially copying data from a source logical drive to a destination logical drive, and determining whether a write request to the source logical drive is received during the sequential copying. If so, the step of copying data in the write-requested data area to an additional storage area is carried out prior to executing the write request. It is further specified that the data in the write-requested data area is to be ignored and not copied during the sequential copying. The method further includes copying, upon completion of the sequential copying, data from the additional storage area to the destination logical drive. | 08-18-2011 |
20110202720 | Snapback-Free Logical Drive Duplication - There is provided a method of duplicating a logical drive. The method includes sequentially copying data from a source logical drive to a destination logical drive and determining whether a write request is received to a data area on the source logical drive which has not yet been copied to the destination logical drive. If a write request is detected, the data at the write-requested data area is copied to the destination logical drive prior to executing the write request. By providing such a method, the destination logical drive can be used as the change-data store while in the process of the duplication operation, removing the need for a snapshot logical drive in the duplication process. This results in improvements in duplication speed and reduces drive wear due to the reduced number of data reads/writes. | 08-18-2011 |
20110202721 | REDUNDANT ARRAY OF INDEPENDENT STORAGE - A data storage system includes three or more storage devices, each associated with a unique data volume. A first one of the data storage devices at least has two or more data storage areas but can have more storage areas, which can be either data storage areas or parity storage areas. A second data storage device at least has two storage areas, one of which is a data storage area. A third data storage device at least has a parity storage area but can have more storage areas, which can be either data storage areas or parity storage areas. A first group of corresponding storage areas is defined by at least the data storage areas of the first and second storage devices and the parity storage area of the third storage device. A second group of corresponding storage areas is defined by at least the storage areas of the first and second storage devices. When a data segment is written to one of the data storage areas of a storage device, parity information can be updated using information read from one or more storage areas of the group of corresponding storage areas having the data storage area to which the data segment is written. | 08-18-2011 |
20110202722 | Mass Storage System and Method of Operating Thereof - There are provided a storage system and a method of operating thereof. The method comprises: caching in the cache memory a plurality of data portions matching a certain criterion, thereby giving rise to the cached data portions; analyzing the succession of logical addresses characterizing the cached data portions; if the cached data portions cannot constitute a group of N contiguous data portions, where N is the number of RG members, generating a virtual stripe being a concatenation of N data portions wherein at least one data portion among said data portions is non-contiguous with respect to any other portion in the virtual stripe, and wherein the size of the virtual stripe is equal to the size of the stripe of the RAID group; destaging the virtual stripe and writing it to a respective storage device in a write-out-of-place manner. The virtual stripe can be generated responsive to receiving a write request from a client and/or responsive to receiving a write instruction from a background process. | 08-18-2011 |
20110202723 | Method of allocating raid group members in a mass storage system - There are provides an allocation module and a method of allocating a logical disk to a next member of a given RAID group. The method comprises: identifying one or more physical disks comprising at least one logical disk with already allocated member of said given RAID group, thus giving rise to allocated physical disks; identifying one or more pairs constituted by at least one allocated physical disk with non-allocated physical disks, said pairs having minimal number of RAID groups with members allocated to both physical disks in the pair, thus giving rise to a first group of pairs with minimal contention value; and selecting among the first group of pairs with minimal contention value one or more non-allocated physical disks as candidate physical disks for allocating said next member MEM | 08-18-2011 |
20110208910 | Storage Control Device for Storage System Provided with Storage Device Coupled to Switch Network - A plurality of storage devices are coupled with at least two switch of a switch network that is configured by a plurality of switches that transfer a packet that complies with an IP (Internet Protocol). Moreover, a storage control device is coupled with the switch network. The storage control device builds an LU (Logical Unit) that is utilized by a host device based on at least two storage devices that are coupled with different switches. | 08-25-2011 |
20110208911 | STORAGE SYSTEM, CONTROL METHOD THEREOF, AND PROGRAM - This invention manages a power consumption of a system including a computer and a storage in combination with a workload of a business application. More specifically, a power consumption per transaction processing count is employed as an index that an application user utilizes as a guide for adjusting a power consumption amount. Further, the invention provides means that adjusts a power consumption per workload based on a trade off between power consumption and system performance. When adjusting the power consumption, the system configuration is modified so as to increase or decrease computer resources such as a disk or a server that the application utilizes. | 08-25-2011 |
20110208912 | FULL-STRIPE-WRITE PROTOCOL FOR MAINTAINING PARITY COHERENCY IN A WRITE-BACK DISTRIBUTED REDUNDANCY DATA STORAGE SYSTEM - Data storage reliability is maintained in a write-back distributed data storage system including multiple nodes. Information is stored as a stripe including a collection of a data strips and associated parity strips, the stripe distributed across data and parity nodes. Each data node maintains the data strip holding a first copy of data, and each parity node maintains a parity strip holding a parity for the collection of data strips. A driver node initiates a full-stripe-write parity update protocol for maintaining parity coherency in conjunction with other nodes, to keep the relevant parity strips coherent. Parity is determined directly by computing parity strips for all data strips of a stripe. Any node may function as a driver node. | 08-25-2011 |
20110213927 | CONFIGURABLE AND SCALABLE STORAGE SYSTEM - The system utilizes a plurality of layers to provide a robust storage solution. One layer is the RAID engine that provides parity RAID protection, disk management and striping for the RAID sets. The second layer is called the virtualization layer and it separates the physical disks and storage capacity into virtual disks that mirror the drives that a target system requires. A third layer is a LUN (logical unit number) layer that is disposed between the virtual disks and the host. By using this approach, the system can be used to represent any number, size, or capacity of disks that a host system requires while using any configuration of physical RAID storage. | 09-01-2011 |
20110213928 | DISTRIBUTEDLY STORING RAID DATA IN A RAID MEMORY AND A DISPERSED STORAGE NETWORK MEMORY - A method begins by a processing module receiving redundant array of independent disks (RAID) data and determining whether to store the RAID data in at least one of a RAID format and in a dispersed storage network (DSN) format. The method continues with the processing module converting at least a portion of the RAID data into at least one set of encoded data slices when the at least a portion of the RAID data is to be stored in the DSN format. The method continues with the processing module outputting the at least one set of encoded data slices to a DSN memory. | 09-01-2011 |
20110213929 | DATA MIGRATION BETWEEN A RAID MEMORY AND A DISPERSED STORAGE NETWORK MEMORY - A method begins by a processing module determining whether to convert data between a redundant array of independent disks (RAID) format and a dispersed storage network (DSN) format. The method continues with the processing module retrieving the data from a RAID memory to produce retrieved RAID data when the data is to be converted from the RAID format to the DSN format. The method continues with the processing module converting stripe-block data of the retrieved RAID data into a plurality of sets of encoded data slices and outputting the plurality of sets of encoded data slices to at least one of the RAID memory and a DSN memory for storage therein. | 09-01-2011 |
20110225359 | FAST MIGRATION OF VIRTUAL STORAGE PARTITION DATA ACROSS STORAGE SYSTEMS - A method includes reading a superblock of a read-only replica of a source virtual volume in a source virtual storage partition associated with a source aggregate of a source storage system at the destination storage system, modifying the superblock of the read-only replica in a memory of the destination storage system, and associating the modified superblock with one or more virtual volume block number(s) configured to be previously associated with the superblock of the read-only replica of the source virtual volume without initiating a destination consistency point (DCP) at the destination storage system to render the destination virtual volume writable. The method also includes modifying a disk group label to reflect an association of the destination storage disk with the writable destination virtual volume, and initiating the DCP to ensure that the modified superblock and the modified disk group label are flushed to the destination storage disk. | 09-15-2011 |
20110225360 | DISPERSED STORAGE NETWORK RESOURCE ALLOCATION - A dispersed storage managing unit allocates resources within a dispersed storage network by determining a state of a dispersed storage unit supporting a vault associated with at least one user of the dispersed storage network and provisioning storage within the dispersed storage unit based on the state thereof. | 09-15-2011 |
20110225361 | DISPERSED STORAGE NETWORK FOR MANAGING DATA DELETION - A dispersed storage device manages deletion of data objects stored within a dispersed storage network by receiving a data delete request to delete a data object stored throughout a set of dispersed storage units within a dispersed network memory of the dispersed storage network, determining a deletion policy for the data object and selectively generating and transmitting, based on the deletion policy, a delete command to the set of dispersed storage units. | 09-15-2011 |
20110225362 | ACCESS CONTROL IN A DISPERSED STORAGE NETWORK - A method begins by a processing module receiving a data storage request that includes data and determining dispersed storage error encoding parameters for dispersed error encoding storage of data. The method continues with the processing module dispersed storage error encoding the data in accordance with the dispersed storage error encoding parameters to produce a set of encoded data slices and establishing access control information for each encoded data slice of the set encoded data slices in accordance with the dispersed storage error encoding parameters to produce a set of access control information. The method continues with the processing module appending a corresponding one of the set of access control information to each of the set of encoded data slices to produce a set of appended slices and outputting the set of appended slices to a set of dispersed storage units. | 09-15-2011 |
20110225363 | STORAGE PROCESSING DEVICE - A storage processing device to which a plurality of removable hard disk drives and the like are connected and includes: a RAID controller for controlling RAID including the removable hard disk drives and the like, and an available storage capacity setting unit for setting an available storage capacity which is a storage capacity actually available for a predetermined storage unit that is one of the storage units connected to the storage processing in the disk array, on the basis of the real storage capacity of the predetermined storage unit, when the predetermined storage unit is connected to the storage processing device. | 09-15-2011 |
20110225364 | EXTENSION OF WRITE ANYWHERE FILE LAYOUT WRITE ALLOCATION - A plurality of storage devices is organized into a physical volume called an aggregate, and the aggregate is organized into a global storage space, and a data block is resident on one of the storage devices of the plurality of storage devices. A plurality of virtual volumes is organized within the aggregate and he data block is allocated to a virtual volume. A physical volume block number (pvbn) is selected for the data block from a pvbn space of the aggregate, and virtual volume block number (vvbn) for the data block is selected from a vvbn space of the selected vvol. Both the selected pvbn and the selected vvbn are inserted in a parent block as block pointers to point to the allocated data block on the storage device. | 09-15-2011 |
20110231604 | STORAGE SYSTEM AND CONTROL METHOD THEREOF AS WELL AS PROGRAM - In a storage system in which computers are connected via a network, in order to avoid a state where communication quality is degraded due to poor performance of an apparatus constituting the network, for a transfer data amount, an amount of data sent out from a storage apparatus is suppressed. Moreover, the storage apparatus inhibits a read-ahead process, in accordance with the suppression of the sending out of the data. Furthermore, proper load allocation is realized by migrating a logical storage unit provided by the storage, to another network interface or a second storage apparatus, without changing a configuration of the network. | 09-22-2011 |
20110231605 | STORAGE CONTROLLER AND STORAGE CONTROL METHOD FOR DYNAMICALLY ASSIGNING PARTIAL AREAS OF POOL AREA AS DATA STORAGE AREAS - A plurality of CPU cores each have control rights for logical storage areas of one or more types among logical storage areas of a plurality of types. As a source for an area to be assigned to the logical storage areas, a physical storage area which is common to the logical storage areas of the plurality of types is managed. Each CPU core, in the case of a data access to a logical storage area corresponding to the control rights of the CPU core, assigns an area required to store the data from the common physical storage area. | 09-22-2011 |
20110231606 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR GROUPING STORAGE SYSTEM COMPONENTS - Methods and systems are provided for associating a storage system component, e.g. a server, client, machine, sub-client, or other storage system component, with one or more other storage system components into a group. Storage preferences are defined for the group which is automatically associated with each component in the group. The storage preferences define how storage operations are to be performed on the storage system components. | 09-22-2011 |
20110238909 | Multicasting Write Requests To Multiple Storage Controllers - In one embodiment, the present invention includes a method for performing multicasting, including receiving a write request including write data and an address from a first server in a first canister, determining if the address is within a multicast region of a first system memory, and if so, sending the write request directly to the multicast region to store the write data and also to a mirror port of a second canister coupled to the first canister to mirror the write data to a second system memory of the second canister. Other embodiments are described and claimed. | 09-29-2011 |
20110238910 | DATA STORAGE SYSTEM AND SYNCHRONIZING METHOD FOR CONSISTENCY THEREOF - The invention discloses a data storage system and a synchronizing method for consistency thereof, especially for the data storage system specified in RAID 5 architecture. The data storage system according to the invention includes N storage devices, where N is an integer equal to or larger than 3. The synchronizing method according to the invention performs writing commands for the designated storage device among the N storage devices, and reading commands for the other (N−1) storage devices, to reduce synchronization time of the data storage system. | 09-29-2011 |
20110238911 | METHOD OF CONTROLLING OPTICAL DISC DRIVE ARCHIVE SYSTEM - A method of controlling an ODD archive system comprising three or more ODDs is provided comprising storing information on a parity drive in a memory, and setting a parity drive in which parity data is to be recorded based on the information when data recording is requested in a RAID 3 or 4 manner. The information on the parity drive may include a cumulative value of number of times by which each ODD has been set as the parity drive up to now. Or the information on the parity drive may be managed for each of one or more magazine having optical discs the number of which is equal to or less than the number of ODDs included in the archive system. | 09-29-2011 |
20110238912 | FLEXIBLE DATA STORAGE SYSTEM - Methods and systems for managing and locating available storage space in a system comprising data files stored in a plurality of storage devices and configured in accordance with various data storage schemes (mirroring, striping and parity-striping). A mapping table associated with each of the plurality of storage devices is used to determine the available locations and amount of available space in the storage devices. The data storage schemes for one or more of the stored data files are changed to a basic storage mode when the size of a new data file configured in accordance with an assigned data storage scheme exceeds the amount of available space. The configured new data file is stored in accordance with the assigned data storage scheme in one or more of the available locations and the locations of the new data file are recorded. | 09-29-2011 |
20110238913 | DISK ARRAY CONTROL DEVICE AND STORAGE DEVICE - According to one embodiment, a disk array control device manages a plurality of drives as a single logical drive. The disk array control device includes a first register configured to store a to-be-accessed drive number which is designated by a host, and a control module. The control module is configured to receive a command from the host, determine whether the received command is a predetermined command which is used for maintenance of each of the drives, and execute, in a case where the received command is the predetermined command, a pass-through process of sending the received command to the drive which is designated by the to-be-accessed drive number in the first register. | 09-29-2011 |
20110246716 | CONCATENATING A FIRST RAID WITH A SECOND RAID - A method and apparatus are disclosed for concatenating a first RAID and a second RAID. The apparatus includes a concatenation module and a direction module. The concatenation module concatenates a first Redundant Array of Independent Disks (“RAID”) with a second RAID into a top-level RAID. The first RAID and the second RAID may have disparate operational characteristics. The direction module directs storage operations to one of the first RAID and the second RAID based on a direction policy. | 10-06-2011 |
20110246717 | STORAGE APPARATUS, RECORDING MEDIUM AND METHOD FOR CONTROLLING STORAGE APPARATUS - A storage apparatus has a plurality of storage media including each storage area in which a stripe is set extending over the storage area of the plurality of storage media. An access unit that writes a format data into the storage area, wherein when the plurality of storage media are formatted, the access unit writes an unformatted-state identifier indicating incompletion of formatting into at least a portion of storage area to be included in the stripe, or when the storage area to be included in the stripe is accessed for writing new data, the access unit reads out existing data stored in the storage area included in the stripe to be accessed. And when the unformatted-state identifier is detected from the existing data that has been read out, the access unit writes the new data or the format data to be written by formatting into the storage area. | 10-06-2011 |
20110246718 | MEMORY CONTROL DEVICE AND METHOD FOR CONTROLLING THE SAME - The present invention provides a storage control device which enables the time between failures to prolong as much as possible, though it uses HDD's whose mean time between failures is relatively short. The storage control device controls spindle motors in a manner that a spindle motor is rotated regarding the HDD of data which can access from a host computer and a spindle motor is stopped regarding the HDD of data which are clearly judged that a host computer does not access the data. Whether the host computers can access the HDD or not is judged by the fact that whether the memory region (internal logical volume) provided by the HDD is in mapped to the host logical volume or not which is recognized by the host computer and is able to access thereby. | 10-06-2011 |
20110252194 | STORAGE CONTROL APPARATUS AND STORAGE CONTROL METHOD - This storage control apparatus | 10-13-2011 |
20110252195 | DISK ARRAY SYSTEM AND HARD DISK DRIVE EXPANSION METHOD THEREOF - Even if an arbitrary hard disk drive is added, the hard disk drive is operated in a specific operation mode suited for that hard disk drive. As triggered by attachment of a hard disk drive to a disk adapter, a processor operates the hard disk drive in a predetermined operation mode based on predetermined parameter information that has been prepared in advance. The hard disk drive stores, in advance, particular parameter information including information about the specific operation mode suited for operation. The processor reads the particular parameter information from the hard disk drive in the predetermined operation mode and operates the hard disk drive in the specific operation mode based on the particular parameter information. | 10-13-2011 |
20110252196 | METHOD OF EXTENSION OF STORAGE CAPACITY AND STORAGE SYSTEM USING THE METHOD - Provided are a storage system and a method of controlling a storage system in which respective real storage areas of a plurality of disk drives contained in the storage system contain management units, and a control device of the storage system assigns a real storage area of a plurality of first disk drives to the virtual storage area, distributedly stores the data in the plurality of management units of the assigned real storage area, distributedly stores, upon receiving a request for adding a second disk drive, the data stored in the plurality of management units of the plurality of first disk drives in the plurality of management units of the plurality of first disk drives and the second disk drive, and assigns the real storage area of the plurality of first disk drives and the second disk drive to an unused virtual storage area. | 10-13-2011 |
20110252197 | STORAGE SYSTEM - A storage group configured by a plurality of storage devices is configured by a plurality of storage sub-groups, and the respective storage sub-groups are configured from two or more storage devices. A sub-group storage area, which is the storage area of the respective storage sub-groups, is configured by a plurality of rows of sub-storage areas. A data set, which is configured by a plurality of data elements configuring a data unit, and a second redundancy code created on the basis of this data unit, is written to a row of sub-storage areas, a compressed redundancy code is created on the basis of two or more first redundancy codes respectively created based on two or more data units of two or more storage sub-groups, and this compressed redundancy code is written to a nonvolatile storage area that differs from the above-mentioned two or more storage sub-groups. | 10-13-2011 |
20110258377 | DISK ARRAY SYSTEM AND COMMAND PROCESSING METHOD FOR DISK ARRAY SYSTEM - Commands can be issued by being flexibly adjusted to each of an in-band method and an out-of-band method. | 10-20-2011 |
20110258378 | Optimizing a File System for Different Types of Applications in a Compute Cluster Using Dynamic Block Size Granularity - Embodiments of the invention relate to optimizing a file system for different types of applications in a compute cluster using dynamic block size granularity. An exemplary embodiment includes reserving a predetermined number of storage allocation regions for each node in a cluster, wherein each storage allocation region comprises a set of contiguous data blocks on a single storage disk of locally attached storage; using a contiguous set of data blocks on a single storage disk of locally attached storage as a file system's block allocation granularity for striping data to be stored in the file system for a compute operation in the cluster; and using a single data block of a shared storage subsystem as the file system's block allocation granularity for striping data to be stored in the file system for a data access operation in the cluster. | 10-20-2011 |
20110258379 | METHOD AND APPARATUS TO MANAGE TIER INFORMATION - A method of tier management of data comprises performing a tier migration log information setup process which includes selecting an area specified by a virtual volume address and a logical volume address; determining a destination tier for the area based on a number of accesses to the area; and updating a tier migration log information by inputting the determined destination tier and a time; and performing a process using the tier migration log information to determine whether to migrate a specific area which includes loading a tier migration log from the tier migration log information by selecting a specific time; checking if a current tier of the specific area equals a destination tier specified by the tier migration log; and if the current tier is not equal to the destination tier, migrating the specific area to the destination tier. | 10-20-2011 |
20110258380 | FAULT TOLERANT STORAGE CONSERVING MEMORY WRITES TO HOST WRITES - A data storage apparatus and associated method involving a memory with a plurality of storage elements defining an associated set of stored data, and memory control logic that, responsive to a request to store first data in a first storage element of the plurality of storage elements, computes without storing to any of the plurality of storage elements first redundancy data for the associated set of stored data inclusive of the first data. | 10-20-2011 |
20110258381 | DATA DUPLICATION RESYNCHRONISATION - There is provided a method of resynchronising a previous duplication, started at a first time, of a source logical drive on a destination logical drive. The method comprises tracking changes to the data on said source logical drive since said first time and starting a resynchronisation operation at a second time later than said first time. The resynchronisation operation comprises copying data from said source logical drive to said destination logical drive by copying only data which has changed since said first time. By providing such a method, the need to copy data which has not changed since the previous duplication operation is alleviated. This reduces the time and processing required to perform the resynchronisation operation by eliminating unnecessary transfer of data which has not changed since the earlier duplication. | 10-20-2011 |
20110258382 | RAID CONTROLLED SEMICONDUCTOR STORAGE DEVICE - Provided is a RAID controlled storage device of a serial attached small computer system interface/serial advanced technology attachment (PCI-Express) type, which provides data storage/reading services through a PCI-Express interface. The PCI-Express type storage device includes: a memory disk unit which includes a plurality of memory disks provided with a plurality of volatile semiconductor memories; a PCI-Express host interface unit which interfaces between the memory disk unit and a host; and a controller unit which adjusts synchronization of a data signal transmitted/received between the PCI-Express host interface unit and the memory disk unit to control a data transmission/reception speed between the PCI-Express host interface unit and the memory disk unit. The storage device can support a low-speed data processing speed for the host and simultaneously support a high-speed data processing speed for the memory disk unit, so that there are advantages in that the performance of the memory disk can be fully utilized to enable high-speed data processing in an existing interface environment. | 10-20-2011 |
20110258383 | METHOD OF SETTING UP A REDISTRIBUTION SCHEME OF A DIGITAL STORAGE SYSTEM - A method of setting up a redistribution scheme for redistributing digital data packages within a digital data storage system comprising a plurality of nodes, wherein the data packages are associated with respective keys and are distributed among the nodes according to a first distribution configuration within the digital data storage system. The method includes: determining a second distribution configuration, in accordance with which it is intended to redistribute the data packages; applying a migration function to the respective keys of each of the data packages, which function yields a migration value associated with each of the data packages; and assigning a migration time to each of the data packages based on its associated migration value, at which times it is intended to migrate the respective data packages to conformity with the second distribution configuration. A corresponding digital data storage system is described. | 10-20-2011 |
20110258384 | VIRTUAL DISK DRIVE SYSTEM AND METHOD - A disk drive system and method capable of dynamically allocating data is provided. The disk drive system may include a RAID subsystem having a pool of storage, for example a page pool of storage that maintains a free list of RAIDs, or a matrix of disk storage blocks that maintain a null list of RAIDs, and a disk manager having at least one disk storage system controller. The RAID subsystem and disk manager dynamically allocate data across the pool of storage and a plurality of disk drives based on RAID-to-disk mapping. The RAID subsystem and disk manager determine whether additional disk drives are required, and a notification is sent if the additional disk drives are required. Dynamic data allocation and data progression allow a user to acquire a disk drive later in time when it is needed. Dynamic data allocation also allows efficient data storage of snapshots/point-in-time copies of virtual volume pool of storage, instant data replay and data instant fusion for data backup, recovery etc., remote data storage, and data progression, etc. | 10-20-2011 |
20110258385 | VIRTUAL DISK DRIVE SYSTEM AND METHOD - A disk drive system and method capable of dynamically allocating data is provided. The disk drive system may include a RAID subsystem having a pool of storage, for example a page pool of storage that maintains a free list of RAIDs, or a matrix of disk storage blocks that maintain a null list of RAIDs, and a disk manager having at least one disk storage system controller. The RAID subsystem and disk manager dynamically allocate data across the pool of storage and a plurality of disk drives based on RAID-to-disk mapping. The RAID subsystem and disk manager determine whether additional disk drives are required, and a notification is sent if the additional disk drives are required. Dynamic data allocation and data progression allow a user to acquire a disk drive later in time when it is needed. Dynamic data allocation also allows efficient data storage of snapshots/point-in-time copies of virtual volume pool of storage, instant data replay and data instant fusion for data backup, recovery etc., remote data storage, and data progression, etc. | 10-20-2011 |
20110258386 | Partial Block Data Programming And Reading Operations In A Non-Volatile Memory - Data in less than all of the pages of a non-volatile memory block are updated by programming the new data in unused pages of either the same or another block. In order to prevent having to copy unchanged pages of data into the new block, or to program flags into superceded pages of data, the pages of new data are identified by the same logical address as the pages of data which they superceded and a time stamp is added to note when each page was written. When reading the data, the most recent pages of data are used and the older superceded pages of data are ignored. This technique is also applied to metablocks that include one block from each of several different units of a memory array, by directing all page updates to a single unused block in one of the units. | 10-20-2011 |
20110258387 | RAID Array Auto-Initialization (RAAI) Method - A system and method are provided for efficiently initializing a redundant array of independent disks (RAID). The method monitors host write operations and uses that information to select the optimal method to perform a parity reconstruction operation. The bins to which data access write operations have not occurred can be initialized using a zeroing process. In one aspect, the method identifies drives in the RAID array capable of receiving a ‘WriteRepeatedly’ command and leverages that capability to eliminate the need for the RAID disk array controller to provide initialization data for all disk array initialization transfers. This reduces the RAID array controller processor and I/O bandwidth required to initialize the array and further reduces the time to initialize a RAID array. In a different aspect, a method is provided for efficiently selecting a host write process for optimal data redundancy and performance in a RAID array. | 10-20-2011 |
20110258388 | VIRTUAL DISK DRIVE SYSTEM AND METHOD - A disk drive system and method capable of dynamically allocating data is provided. The disk drive system may include a RAID subsystem having a pool of storage, for example a page pool of storage that maintains a free list of RAIDs, or a matrix of disk storage blocks that maintain a null list of RAIDs, and a disk manager having at least one disk storage system controller. The RAID subsystem and disk manager dynamically allocate data across the pool of storage and a plurality of disk drives based on RAID-to-disk mapping. The RAID subsystem and disk manager determine whether additional disk drives are required, and a notification is sent if the additional disk drives are required. Dynamic data allocation and data progression allow a user to acquire a disk drive later in time when it is needed. Dynamic data allocation also allows efficient data storage of snapshots/point-in-time copies of virtual volume pool of storage, instant data replay and data instant fusion for data backup, recovery etc., remote data storage, and data progression, etc. | 10-20-2011 |
20110258389 | VIRTUAL STORAGE METHOD AND DEVICE - A virtual storage method and a device are disclosed. The virtual storage method includes: obtaining a volume management mode of a Logical Unit Number (LUN) from a storage array and recording the volume management mode into stitch data; and constructing a virtual LUN according to the LUN and the stitch data, and mapping the virtual LUN to a host to enable read/write access; and modifying a destination address of an Input/Output (I/O) data packet delivered by the host according to the stitch data after receiving the I/O data packet, delivering the I/O data packet to the virtual LUN, and delivering the I/O data packet which has been delivered to the virtual LUN to the storage array according to the stitch data, where an address of the storage array to which the I/O data packet is delivered is the same as the destination address of the I/O data packet before the destination address of the I/O data packet is modified. | 10-20-2011 |
20110264854 | STORAGE SYSTEM - To maintain reliability even when the repetition of the power saving control for storage systems occurs frequently due to the access from the host computer. During the course of controlling the operation mode of the drives, the controller measures the start/stop cycle count and the load/unload cycle count, calculates the S/S wear-out rate showing the ratio of the measured value of the start/stop cycle count to the first upper limit value and the L/U wear-out rate showing the ratio of the measured value of the load/unload cycle count to the second upper limit value, and for the drives in the idle operation mode, selects the low-speed rotation operation mode if the S/S wear-out rate is greater than the L/U wear-out rate, or selects the standby operation mode if the S/S wear-out rate is less than the L/U wear-out rate. | 10-27-2011 |
20110264855 | STORAGE APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR CONTROLLING STORAGE APPARATUS - A storage apparatus | 10-27-2011 |
20110264856 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR ALLOCATING STORAGE SPACE - A method is provided method for allocating storage space. The method includes obtaining performance parameters for a storage pool, wherein the performance parameters comprise a size of the storage pool and a type of the storage pool. Proposed back end logical units (BELUs) to match the performance parameters are determined. Current disk groups for the proposed BELUs are identified, and if none exists, a plurality of storage arrays is analyzed to locate free disks that can be formed into a proposed disk group to support the creation of the proposed BELUs. A proposal is created showing the changes that would be made to a storage system to create the storage pool. | 10-27-2011 |
20110264857 | MEMORY EFFICIENT CHECK OF RAID INFORMATION - Disclosed is a RAID data checking system. I/O controllers to read data RAID data from the storage devices and transfer that data to virtual memory address ranges. The P+Q checking function receives the data sent to the virtual memory address ranges. However, instead of storing the incoming data, the P+Q checking function updates intermediate values of the P and Q redundant data calculations associated with the incoming data. When all of the strips have been received, the P+Q checking function will have completed the calculation of P and Q redundant data. In this case, after all the strips and the P or Q data have been received, the P+Q checking function will hold zeroes if all the data and the P and Q data was correct and hold non-zero values if there was an error. | 10-27-2011 |
20110264858 | MULTI-SERIAL INTERFACE STACKED-DIE MEMORY ARCHITECTURE - Systems and methods disclosed herein substantially concurrently transfer a plurality of streams of commands, addresses, and/or data across a corresponding plurality of serialized communication link interfaces (SCLIs) between one or more originating devices or destination devices such as a processor and a switch. At the switch, one or more commands, addresses, or data corresponding to each stream can be transferred to a corresponding destination memory vault controller (MVC) associated with a corresponding memory vault. The destination MVC can perform write operations, read operations, and/or memory vault housekeeping operations independently from concurrent operations associated with other MVCs coupled to a corresponding plurality of memory vaults. | 10-27-2011 |
20110271049 | STORAGE SYSTEM HAVING POWER SAVING FUNCTION - A data element that is identical to a part of a plurality of data elements stored in a logical storage device (LU hereinbelow) is stored in a storage area (pool hereinbelow) separate from the LU. A first PDEV (physical storage device) that stores the data element stored in the LU may be placed in a power saving state while the storage system is operating (in periods when a read command can be received), and a second PDEV which stores the data element stored in the pool is not placed in a power saving state during operation. When the storage system receives a read command which is received from the host apparatus, and if the first PDEV is in the power saving state and a data element identical to the data element which is the target of the read command is stored in the pool, the storage system reads the identical data element from the pool without canceling the power saving state of the first PDEV, and sends the read data element to the host apparatus. | 11-03-2011 |
20110271050 | STORAGE SYSTEM - A storage system includes: a plurality of storing means and a data processing means that stores data into the plurality of storing means and retrieves the data stored in the storing means. The data processing means includes: a data set generating means that generates division data by dividing storage target data into a plurality of pieces and also generates redundant data for restoring the storage target data, thereby generating a data set composed of a plurality of fragment data that are the division data and the redundant data; and a distribution storage controlling means that distributes and stores the fragment data into the respective storing means. The distribution storage controlling means stores the fragment data composing the data set in same positions within storage regions formed in the respective storing means, respectively. | 11-03-2011 |
20110271051 | ARRAY TYPE DISK DEVICE, AND CONTROL METHOD FOR ARRAY TYPE DISK DEVICE - For the purpose of reducing the time for information processing in an array type disk device provided with a plurality of optical disk devices, when a beginning address is notified from any one of the optical disk devices to a main control device of the array type disk device, the main control device determines the beginning address notified first as a writing start address, without waiting for a notification of a beginning address from any other optical disk devices. Then, the main control device notifies the determined writing start address to the respective optical disk devices. Accordingly, even if search times for the writing start address are different among the optical disk devices, all the optical disk devices can start the writing of information based on which optical disk device has most quickly notified the beginning address. | 11-03-2011 |
20110271052 | RAID SYSTEM INCLUDING SEMICONDUCTOR STORAGE UNIT AND CONTROL METHOD OF THE SAME - A RAID system to transfer data to and from host equipment includes a semiconductor storage unit, a semiconductor-memory selector, and a memory controller. The semiconductor storage unit includes two or more semiconductor memories, a mounting board, and solder joints. The semiconductor memories are mounted on the mounting board. The solder joints are between the semiconductor memories and the mounting board. The semiconductor-memory selector selects a combination of the semiconductor memories to dispersively record the data in the semiconductor storage unit. The memory controller accesses the combination in response to a request of the host equipment. In addition, the selector selects the combination so that mechanical loads received by the semiconductor memories are averaged. | 11-03-2011 |
20110276758 | LOAD BALANCING OF DATA READS IN STORAGE ENVIRONMENTS - Exemplary method, system, and computer program product embodiments for, within a data storage system performing data mirroring, performing load balancing pursuant to completing a read request. At least one of a preferred storage controller and preferred storage device to accommodate the read request is determined by performing one of selecting a request queue having a closest offset to an offset of the read request, selecting a request queue having a most requests within a predetermined distance of the offset of the read request, selecting a request queue having a closest median offset to the offset of the read request, selecting a request queue having a closest average offset to the offset of the read request, and selecting a request queue having a predetermined additional number of entries than another request queue. The selected request queue is associated with the preferred storage controller and the preferred storage device. | 11-10-2011 |
20110276759 | DATA STORAGE SYSTEM AND CONTROL METHOD THEREOF - The invention discloses a data storage system and a control method thereof. The data storage system according to the invention includes N groups of storage devices, where N is an integer larger than 1. The invention is to judge if the use information of one of the batches of data satisfies the set of condition thresholds relative to the group of storage devices where said one batch of data is stored, and if NO, to re-allocate said one batch of data to one of the group of storage devices whose condition thresholds are satisfied by the use information of said one batch of data and to update the virtual drive locations of said one batch of data mapping the logical locations of the storage devices. | 11-10-2011 |
20110283062 | STORAGE APPARATUS AND DATA RETAINING METHOD FOR STORAGE APPARATUS - To enable reduction of the data capacity while inhibiting degradation of read performance. | 11-17-2011 |
20110283063 | DISK ARRAY DEVICE, A DISK ARRAY DEVICE CONTROL METHOD AND A DISK ARRAY DEVICE CONTROL PROGRAM - A disk array device includes a control unit which sends and receives a command and data to/from a host device, and in case a first disk device which constitutes RAID is stopped, controls so that data which is to be written from the host device to the stopped first disk device is written to a second disk device different from the first disk device. | 11-17-2011 |
20110283064 | STORAGE APPARATUS AND DATA STORAGE METHOD USING THE SAME - A storage apparatus comprises a disk device and a disk adapter for controlling the disk device. The disk adapter controls the disk device and forms a data volume and a pool volume, creates a data block for parity data, compresses write data and the created parity data, and stores a number of compressed data blocks equal to or less than a predetermined number and stores compressed parity data that are within a predetermined size in storage areas in an actual volume, and stores the remaining compressed data blocks of a number greater than the predetermined number and compressed parity data that exceed the predetermined size in storage areas in the pool volume corresponding to a virtual volume. | 11-17-2011 |
20110289271 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR OPTIMIZING DATA RAMANENCE OVER HYBRID DISK CLUSTERS USING VARIOUS STORAGE TECHNOLOGIES - A method is implemented in a computer infrastructure having computer executable code tangibly embodied on a computer readable storage medium having programming instructions. The programming instructions are operable to optimize data ramanence over hybrid disk clusters using various storage technologies. The programming instructions are operable to determine one or more data storage technologies accessible by a file system. The programming instructions are operable to determine secure delete rules for each of the one or more storage technologies accessible by the file system. The secure delete rules include a number of overwrites required for data to be securely deleted from each of the one or more storage technologies. The programming instructions are operable to provide the secure delete rules to the file system upon a request for deletion of data for each of the one or more storage technologies a specific amount of times germane to secure delete data from the one or more storage technologies. | 11-24-2011 |
20110289272 | Apparatus and methods for restoring data in a RAID system - The present invention provides a RAID controller and an operation method thereof, to avoid buffer data loss due to accidental power loss for a long period of time. The RAID controller comprises a first memory, a switch and a functional module. The first memory stores a buffer data. The switch is coupled to the first memory. The functional module is coupled to the switch, and has a second memory. The functional module causes the switch to be connected to the first memory based on a pre—determined instruction, to backup the buffer data by means of the second memory. | 11-24-2011 |
20110289273 | DISK ARRAY DEVICE AND METHOD FOR CONTROLLING DISK ARRAY DEVICE - A disk array device includes, a cache memory, a plurality of types of disk drives of which data transfer capacity are different, redundant transmission paths that are data transfer paths between the cache memory and the disk drives, and a controller to divide the disk drives into two groups based on the data transfer capacity and allocate each of the two groups to each of the redundant transmission paths when the disk drives have three types. | 11-24-2011 |
20110289274 | Storage Device Realignment - Realigning storage devices arranged as storage arrays when one of the storage arrays enters a critical state after failure of a storage device is disclosed. The method is particularly useful for RAID groups of storage devices. The method may be used with hard disk drives, solid-state drives, and other storage devices arranged as groups. The method includes identifying that a storage array of a plurality of storage arrays is in a critical condition. A critical condition storage array and a healthy storage array are identified. Both the critical condition storage array and the healthy storage array are rebuilt. The rebuilding includes configuring the critical condition storage array to include a storage device from the healthy storage array and configuring the healthy storage array to function with one less storage device. The method may be implemented in hardware, firmware, software, or a combination thereof. | 11-24-2011 |
20110296102 | STORAGE APPARATUS COMPRISING RAID GROUPS OF RAID 1 SERIES AND CONTROL METHOD OF WRITING TO RAID GROUP OF RAID 1 SERIES - A RAID group of RAID 1 series comprises one or more pairs of first storage devices and second storage devices. A storage apparatus reads data from the entire area of a first storage block group including the write destination of write target data in the first storage device. The storage apparatus, in accordance with the write target data and staging data which is the read data, generates one or more data units each of which is the data configured of the write target data or the copy of the same and the staging data part or the copy of the same and of the same size as the first storage block group. The controller writes any of the one or more data units to the first storage block group in the first storage device and, at the same time, writes any of the one or more data units to the second storage block group corresponding to the first storage block group and of the same size as the same in the second storage device. | 12-01-2011 |
20110296103 | STORAGE APPARATUS, APPARATUS CONTROL METHOD, AND RECORDING MEDIUM FOR STORAGE APPARATUS CONTROL PROGRAM - According to an embodiment, a storage apparatus including: a plurality of storage media of which a first RAID is composed, a logical storage area of the first RAID for storing data being set over; a plurality of expansion storage media of which a second RAID is composed; a spare storage medium that is different from in any of the storage media or the expansion storage media; and a configuration control unit that when the spare storage medium is set in the first RAID, sets the logical storage area in the storage media, and when the expansion storage media are set in the storage apparatus, sets the expansion storage media in the second RAID, excludes the spare storage medium that is set in the first RAID, and moves the logical storage area that is set in the first RAID to the second RAID. | 12-01-2011 |
20110296104 | STORAGE SYSTEM - A storage system includes: a distribution storage processing means configured to distribute and store a plurality of fragment data into a plurality of storing means; a data location monitoring means configured to monitor a data location status of the fragment data and store data location information representing the data location status; and a data restoring means configured to, when the storing means is down, regenerate the fragment data having been stored in the down storing means based on the fragment data stored in the other storing means. The storage system also includes: a data location returning means configured to, when the down storing means recovers, return a data location of the fragment data by using the fragment data stored in the storing means having recovered so that the data location status becomes as represented by the data location information stored by the data location monitoring means. | 12-01-2011 |
20110296105 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR REALIZING RAID-1 ON A PORTABLE STORAGE MEDIUM - A system of realizing RAID-1 on a portable storage medium includes a Universal Serial Bus device and the portable storage medium. The portable storage medium is divided into a main partition and at least one backup partition according to a RAID-1 mode. The Universal Serial Bus device is coupled to the portable storage medium for receiving a write command and/or a read command transmitted by a host, and writing data to the portable storage medium and/or reading data from the portable storage medium according to the write command and/or the read command. The Universal Serial Bus device does not transmit capacity information of the at least one backup partition to the host. | 12-01-2011 |
20110302368 | STORAGE SYSTEM HAVING SAS AS ITS BACKEND COMMUNICATION STANDARD - Each communication path between controllers and a plurality of storage devices has a plurality of expanders coupled in series. In order to shorten the time during which the communication path is not used for I/O, either (A) the length of time for which I/O suppression is set for the communication path is shortened, or (B) the overall time it takes for processing other than I/O processing is shortened. In the (A), a determination as to whether or not the coupling between the expanders has been disconnected is made for the I/O-suppressed communication path, and in a case where the result of this determination is negative, a discover process is carried out after releasing the I/O suppression with respect to this communication path. In the (B), the number of command issue times of updating routing control information of the expander is reduced. | 12-08-2011 |
20110302369 | STORAGE APPARATUS AND CONTROL METHOD THEREFOR - A storage apparatus includes a storage unit including plural storage media, and a controller for controlling the storage unit. After a new storage medium has been added to the storage unit, the controller causes the new storage medium to store error correction codes for data stored in the respective storage media pre-existing in the storage unit. When new data is stored in the storage unit after the addition of the new storage medium, the controller causes the pre-existing storage media and the new storage medium to dispersedly store the new data and error correction codes for the new data. | 12-08-2011 |
20110302370 | VIRTUALIZATION METHOD AND STORAGE APPARATUS FOR A STORAGE SYSTEM HAVING EXTERNAL CONNECTIVITY - A virtualization method for a storage system recognizes one or more logical devices located in a first and second storage apparatus and defined in a host apparatus as being connected to a channel, based on an inquiry command sent from the host apparatus when the channel comes on-line; detects one or more logical devices among the one or more logical devices defined in the host apparatus as being connected to the channel and located in the first and second storage apparatus, based on the recognition result; sets, based on the detection result, one or more virtual volumes in the first storage apparatus, respectively corresponding to the one or more logical devices in the second storage apparatus; and sets a first logical path between each of the set one or more virtual volumes and each of the corresponding one or more logical devices in the second storage apparatus. | 12-08-2011 |
20110307658 | STORAGE SYSTEM AND METHOD OF OPERATING THE SAME - A storage system comprising a storage apparatus having a storage control unit communicatively coupled to an external apparatus, forming a plurality of virtual storage areas each serving as a unit storage area used by the external apparatus as a data storing area, using a unit logical storage area selected among a plurality of unit logical storage areas provided by a physical storage medium, linking to each of the virtual storage areas, and any one of a plurality of attributes each representing a storage state of data stored in the virtual storage area, and maintaining the link wherein the storage control unit | 12-15-2011 |
20110307659 | Hardware-Accelerated Lossless Data Compression - Systems for hardware-accelerated lossless data compression are described. At least some embodiments include data compression apparatus that includes a plurality of hash memories each associated with a different lane of a plurality of lanes (each lane including data bytes of a data unit being received by the compression apparatus), an array including array elements each including a plurality of validity bits (each validity bit within an array element corresponding to a different lane of the plurality of lanes), control logic that initiates a read of a hash memory entry if a corresponding validity bit indicates that said entry is valid, and an encoder that compresses at least the data bytes for the lane associated with the hash memory comprising the valid entry if said valid entry comprises data that matches the lane data bytes. | 12-15-2011 |
20110307660 | REDUNDANT ARRAY OF INDEPENDENT DISKS SYSTEM, METHOD FOR WRITING DATA INTO REDUNDANT ARRAY OF INDEPENDENT DISKS SYSTEM, AND METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR CREATING VIRTUAL DISK - A redundant array of independent disks (RAID) system stores data mapped to a virtual disk, where the virtual disk includes a plurality of virtual sub-disks. The RAID system includes a plurality of storage devices and a controller. The controller is electrically connected to the storage devices, and is utilized for configuring the storage devices into a plurality of zone stripes, where each storage device includes a plurality of zones, each zone stripe includes one zone of each of the storage devices, and each zone stripe stores data mapped to a portion of data of each of the virtual sub-disks. | 12-15-2011 |
20110314218 | PARITY-BASED RAID SYSTEM CONFIGURED TO PROTECT AGAINST DATA CORRUPTION CAUSED BY THE OCCURRENCE OF WRITE HOLES - A RAID system is provided in which the RAID controller of the system causes a predetermined number, N, of IO commands to be queued in a memory element, where N is a positive integer. After the N IO commands have been queued, the RAID controller writes N locks associated with the N IO commands in parallel to a service memory device. The RAID controller then writes N stripes of data and parity bits associated with the N IO commands to the PDs of the system to perform striping and parity distribution. If a catastrophic event, such as a power failure, occurs, the RAID controller reads the locks from the service memory device and causes parity to be reconstructed for the stripes associated with the locks. These features improve write performance while preventing the occurrence of data corruption caused by write holes. | 12-22-2011 |
20110314219 | SYSTEMS ANDMETHOD FOR STORING PARITY GROUPS - A system and method for dynamic redistribution of parity groups is described. The system and method for dynamic redistribution of parity groups operates on a computer storage system that includes a plurality of disk drives for storing parity groups. Each parity group includes storage blocks. The storage blocks include one or more data blocks and a parity block that is associated with the data blocks. Each of the storage blocks is stored on a separate disk drive such that no two storage blocks from a given parity set reside on the same disk drive. The computer system further includes a redistribution module to dynamically redistribute parity groups by combining some parity groups to improve storage efficiency. | 12-22-2011 |
20110314220 | STORAGE CONTROL APPARATUS, STORAGE SYSTEM AND METHOD - A storage control apparatus includes a controller configured to control to convert an access to logical volume into an access to associated RAID group in response to an access to the corresponding virtual volume on the basis of access conversion information, monitor frequency of access to each of logical volumes, select a logical volume on the basis of the monitored frequency of access, move data stored in a RAID group corresponding to the selected logical volume to a different RAID group corresponding to a logical volume to be a data shift destination, and update the access conversion information to convert access to the RAID group corresponding to the selected logical volume into access to the different RAID group. | 12-22-2011 |
20110314221 | STORAGE APPARATUS, CONTROLLER AND STORAGE APPARATUS CONTROL METHOD - An apparatus including: a first storage for storing first data; second storages for storing the first data; a storage controller for storing the first data stored in the first storage into the second storage; a third storage for saving data including second data; a saving device for reading the data and saving the data in the third storage; a data set output device for outputting the data to a copy destination device; a restoration device for storing the data saved in the third storage into available ones of the second storages; and a suspending device for causing the data set output device to output all of the data stored in the second storage to the copy destination device and then suspending the output of the data by the data set output device to the copy destination device to place the data set output device in a suspend state. | 12-22-2011 |
20110314222 | Clustered Storage Network - A data storage network is provided. The network includes a client connected to the data storage network; a plurality nodes on the data storage network, wherein each data node has two or more RAID controllers, wherein a first RAID controller of a first node is configured to receive a data storage request from the client and to generate RAID parity data on a data set received from the client, and to store all of the generated RAID parity data on a single node of the plurality of nodes. | 12-22-2011 |
20110320706 | STORAGE APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR CONTROLLING THE SAME - A storage apparatus capable of improving the reliability of a large-scale storage system, and a method for controlling such a storage apparatus are suggested. A storage apparatus including a storage device for storing data, and a multiplexer for multiplexing a port for the storage device, the multiplexer being connected to one or more host controllers, and a method for controlling such a storage apparatus, wherein the multiplexer judges whether a command sent from the host controller to the storage device is proper or not; and if the command is improper, the multiplexer discards the command without transferring it to the storage device, and sends an error response to the host controller. | 12-29-2011 |
20110320707 | STORAGE APPARATUS AND STORAGE MANAGEMENT METHOD - The performance to transfer data to external storage media in thin provisioning is enhanced. | 12-29-2011 |
20110320708 | STORAGE SYSTEM - A storage expander apparatus for accessing storage units includes first interfaces for accessing the storage units, a second interface for accessing subordinate expander apparatus, and a processor for executing receiving from an external apparatus a first request for obtaining first information indicative of a state of a connection of the storage expander apparatus, transmitting a second request for obtaining second information indicative of a state of a connection of the subordinate expander apparatus, measuring an elapsing time that has elapsed since transmitting the second request, storing a first response corresponding to the second request upon receiving the first response, starting a process for obtaining third information indicative of a state of a connection to be connected with the first interfaces upon the elapsing time exceeding a predetermined time, and transmitting a second response including the third information to the external apparatus upon receiving the third response. | 12-29-2011 |
20110320709 | REALIZING A STORAGE SYSTEM - A storage system and a method for realizing a storage system is disclosed, the storage system comprising: a disk array comprising at least one solid state disk and at least one non-solid state disk; and a storage control means configured to: in response to entering a scrubbing mode, scan and move data blocks in the at least one non-solid state disk in the disk array to form more continuous free blocks. The storage system of the present invention has good read and write performances, higher data reliability and availability, and lower cost. | 12-29-2011 |
20110320710 | STORAGE SYSTEM AND DATA MANAGEMENT METHOD - A storage system including: a virtualization apparatus having a control unit, said control unit setting an actual volume for storing data sent from a host apparatus, formed in a storage area provided by a physical disk; and a virtual volume paired with the actual volume, for storing replicated data for the data; and an external storage apparatus having a logical volume that functions as an actual storage area for the virtual volume; and a tape associated with the logical volume, for storing the replicated data; wherein the external storage apparatus has a copy unit for copying the replicated data stored in the logical volume to the tape. | 12-29-2011 |
20110320711 | Method and System for Rebuilding Data in a Distributed RAID System - Embodiments of the systems and methods disclosed provide a distributed RAID system comprising a set of data banks. More particularly, in certain embodiments of a distributed RAID system each data bank has a set of associated storage media and executes a similar distributed RAID application. The distributed RAID applications on each of the data banks coordinate among themselves to distribute and control data flow associated with implementing a level of RAID in conjunction with a volume stored on the associated storage media of the data banks. Migration of volumes, or portions thereof, from one configuration to another configuration may be accomplished according to a priority associated with the volume. | 12-29-2011 |
20110320712 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CONTROLLING STATE OF STORAGE DEVICE AND STORAGE DEVICE - The embodiments of the present invention provide a method and an apparatus for controlling a state of a storage device, and a storage device, and relate to the field of electronic technologies. State control information of logic disks in the storage device is obtained; it is judged whether the state control information of all the logic disks in the storage device includes sleep instructions; and the storage device is controlled to switch into a sleep state when the state control information of all the logic disks includes the sleep instructions. The technical solutions may effectively control the storage device to switch into the sleep state, overcome the inconvenience of the read and write operations when the storage device automatically switches into the sleep state, and save the power consumption of the storage device with convenient use. | 12-29-2011 |
20120005423 | Viewing Compression and Migration Status - A method for use in viewing compression and migration status is disclosed. A logical volume is selected for compression into a compressed logical volume. A destination storage pool for the compressed logical volume is selected. The logical volume is compressed during migration of the logical volume to the destination pool. Unified status information of progress of the compression and migration is presented. A system for use in viewing compression and migration status is also disclosed. | 01-05-2012 |
20120005424 | Method and Apparatus for Providing Highly-Scalable Network Storage for Well-Gridded Objects - An apparatus comprising a plurality of storage nodes comprising a plurality of corresponding storage disks and configured to store data in a distributed manner between the storage disks that achieves a Redundant Array of Independent Disks-0 (RAID0) like performance based on positioning information and without indexing the distributed data. A network component comprising a storage disk configured to maintain a plurality of physical files for different user data that are mapped to different volumes, wherein the volumes are distributed between the storage disk and a second storage disk based on a RAID0 like data distribution scheme without being indexed. | 01-05-2012 |
20120005425 | Storage system and storage control method - A storage control program causes a computer to execute a RAID level acquisition unit, a mapping unit, and a mapping information storage unit therein. The RAID level acquisition unit acquires RAID levels, supportable by a storage device including a plurality of storage mediums, from the storage device. The mapping unit maps the function types of a storage virtualization function in a host device accessing the storage device on the respective RAID levels acquired by the RAID level acquisition unit. The mapping information storage unit stores the correspondence relationship between the RAID levels and the function types mapped by the mapping unit as mapping information. | 01-05-2012 |
20120005426 | STORAGE DEVICE, CONTROLLER OF STORAGE DEVICE, AND CONTROL METHOD OF STORAGE DEVICE - A storage device includes a plurality of data storage units that store data; an attribution storage unit that stores an attribution group including each data storage unit on the basis of attributions of the plurality of data storage units; a defect storage unit that stores defects that occurred in a data storage unit; and a preventive-maintenance-subject extracting unit that extracts, as a preventive-maintenance subject, another data storage unit belonging to the same attribution group as the data storage unit in which the defects stored by the defect storage unit has occurred, on the basis of an occurrence history of the defects that occurred in the data storage unit and the attribution group stored by the attribution group storage unit. The storage device also includes a preventive-maintenance performing unit that performs preventive-maintenance on data stored in the other data storage unit extracted by the preventive-maintenance-subject extracting unit. | 01-05-2012 |
20120005427 | AUTOMATED ON-LINE CAPACITY EXPANSION METHOD FOR STORAGE DEVICE - The storage system provides a logical volume and includes a plurality of disk devices and a controller, coupled to the plurality of disk devices, which manages a plurality of storage areas provided by the plurality of disk devices. The host includes an application which sends data to a logical volume and an operating system which manages a block position of the logical volume. If the operating system receives a request from the application to expand a first capacity of the logical volume, the operating system sends a write request to the logical volume. In response to the write request, the controller allocates at least one of the plurality of storage areas to the logical volume. The controller monitors a second capacity of storage areas allocated to the logical volume relative to a third capacity of the plurality of storage areas. | 01-05-2012 |
20120005428 | COMPUTER SYSTEM, STORAGE AREA ALLOCATION METHOD, AND MANAGEMENT COMPUTER - Disclosed is a system and method for preventing deterioration in I/O performance of a computer resulted from a use of the same physical disk among different logical volumes. A volume management server | 01-05-2012 |
20120011315 | STORAGE SYSTEM - A RAID group is not configured from a plurality of storage devices. A storage area of a storage device is provided directly to a virtual volume instead of providing a logical volume inside the RAID group to the virtual volume. The storage system, upon receiving a write request with respect to a virtual storage area, first, specifies a data redundancy configuration (the number of data partitions and the number of created parities) and a RAID level set to a virtual volume including this virtual storage area. From among storage devices selected in accordance with specified RAID level and redundancy configuration for this virtual storage area, a storage area is selected that is not allocated to any virtual storage area, and allocates this storage area to this virtual storage area. The storage system partitions the data and writes this data together with the parity to this allocated storage area. | 01-12-2012 |
20120011316 | INTELLIGENT STORAGE PROVISIONING WITHIN A CLUSTERED COMPUTING ENVIRONMENT - Embodiments of the present invention provide an approach for intelligent storage planning and planning within a clustered computing environment (e.g., a cloud computing environment). Specifically, embodiments of the present invention will first determine/identify a set of storage area network volume controllers (SVCs) that is accessible from a host that has submitted a request for access to storage. Thereafter, a set of managed disk (mdisk) groups (i.e., corresponding to the set of SVCs) that are candidates for satisfying the request will be determined. This set of mdisk groups will then be filtered based on available space therein, a set of user/requester preferences, and optionally, a set of performance characteristics. Then, a particular mdisk group will be selected from the set of mdisk groups based on the filtering. | 01-12-2012 |
20120011317 | DISK ARRAY APPARATUS AND DISK ARRAY CONTROL METHOD - When executing a sequential process on a volume of disks constituting RAID, a disk array apparatus determines whether a process other than the sequential process is executed in a predetermined period. The disk array apparatus specifies a disk type when the execution determining unit determines that no process other than the sequential process is executed in the predetermined period. The disk array apparatus then determines a multiplicity according to the disk type and executes the sequential process with the determined multiplicity. | 01-12-2012 |
20120011318 | STORAGE SYSTEM - A storage device includes: a data storing control unit configured to store storage target data into a storage device and, in the case of storing other storage target data with the same data content as the storage target data already stored in the storage device into the storage device, control so as to refer to the storage target data already stored in the storage device as the other storage target data; a reference count management unit configured to, for each of the storage target data stored in the storage device, store a reference count that is a number of times that the storage target data is referred to as other storage target data; and a redundancy degree control unit configured to execute redundancy processing corresponding to a redundancy degree proper to the reference count of the storage target data, and store the storage target data into the storage device. | 01-12-2012 |
20120011319 | MASS STORAGE SYSTEM AND METHOD OF OPERATING THEREOF - There are provided a mass storage system and a method of operating thereof. The method comprises: dividing one or more logical volumes into a plurality of statistical segments with predefined size; assigning to each given statistical segment a corresponding activity vector characterizing statistics of I/O activity with regard to data portions within the given statistical segment, said statistics collected over a plurality of cycles of fixed counted length; and evaluating similarity of expected I/O activity with regard to certain data portions with the help of activity vectors. Two data portions are characterized by similar expected I/O activity if a distance between activity vectors characterizing respective statistical segments matches a similarity criterion. | 01-12-2012 |
20120011320 | COMPUTER SYSTEM AND MANAGEMENT METHOD FOR THE TRANSFER AND REPLICATION OF DATA AMONG SEVERAL STORAGE DEVICES - Arrangements for transfer and replication of data. A host computer retains a transfer volume management information including HDD identifiers corresponding to a plurality of primary volumes and identifiers of at least one of transfer volumes, wherein, from a plurality of volumes in a first storage device, the host computer extracts a reserve volume as an additional transfer volume, if a capacity usage of the at least one of the transfer volumes reaches or goes above a predetermined level, wherein the host computer transmits an allocation request about the additional transfer volume, wherein, after receiving the allocation request, the first storage device implements the reserve volume as the additional transfer volume corresponding to the at least one of transfer volumes for transfer of write data to the second storage device. | 01-12-2012 |
20120011321 | METHOD AND SYSTEM OF COLLECTION PERFORMANCE DATA FOR STORAGE NETWORK - This invention provides a user or an operator with a management apparatus or method for displaying logical connection information between an interface connected to a computer and a switch and a storage system or a logical unit in the storage system in a virtual storage system, wherein the switch receives a first access request from said computer, converts said first access request to a second access request to one of said plural storage systems, and sends said second access request to one of said plural storage systems or one logical unit. | 01-12-2012 |
20120017041 | MANAGING EXTENDED RAID CACHES USING COUNTING BLOOM FILTERS - Contentual metadata of an extended cache is stored within the extended cache. The contentual metadata of the extended cache is approximated utilizing a counting Bloom filter. The counting Bloom filter is stored within a primary cache. Contentual metadata of the primary cache is stored within the primary cache. One of a data read or a data write is executed without accessing the contentual metadata of the extended cache stored within the extended cache. | 01-19-2012 |
20120017042 | STORAGE CONTROL APPARATUS AND STORAGE SYSTEM COMPRISING MULTIPLE STORAGE CONTROL APPARATUSES - A storage system has multiple disk controller (DKC) units that are coupled to one another in accordance with a coupling mode that satisfies the following (a1) through (a3):
| 01-19-2012 |
20120017043 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR HETEROGENEOUS DATA VOLUME - A method and system is disclosed for providing a heterogeneous data storage comprising a plurality of storage devices of different types with respect to device vendor, model, capacity, performance and/or function. The present invention employs data access mechanisms specific to the type of underlying storage and the type of data to be stored or retrieved, and provides for integrated remote mirroring, disaster recovery and hierarchical storage management (HSM), as well as improved I/O performance and life expectancy of storage disks. A method of writing to and reading from heterogeneous data volume is also disclosed. | 01-19-2012 |
20120023290 | STORAGE SYSTEM CONFIGURED FROM PLURALITY OF STORAGE MODULES AND METHOD FOR SWITCHING COUPLING CONFIGURATION OF STORAGE MODULES - There are a loose coupling and a tight coupling as the coupling configurations for a first module and a second module. The loose coupling is a coupling configuration in which the first and second modules are coupled together by way of a front-end path, and the first module is not able to access a second storage resource. The tight coupling is a coupling configuration in which the first and second modules are coupled together by way of a back-end path, and the first module is able to access the second storage resource. A switch from the loose coupling to the tight coupling is performed using the following processing flow without the first and second modules being partitioned into respectively independent storage modules. Specifically, first, the first and second modules are coupled together by way of the back-end path, and next, the first module merges information denoted by second management information from the second storage resource with first management information via the back-end path. | 01-26-2012 |
20120023291 | Method and Apparatus for Dynamically Adjusting Memory Capacity in Accordance with Data Storage - A storage apparatus and method configured to improve efficiency of data access utilizing dynamically adjusting storage zone boundary within a disk are disclosed. A process capable of implementing the flexible zone boundary, in one example, allocates a first zone of a first disk operable to store data. While the first zone can be referred to as a Redundant Array of Independent Disks 0 (“RAID 0”) zone, the implementation of RAID 0 can be carried out in the first zone. Upon allocating a second zone of the first disk operable to store secured data, the process allocates a third zone of the first disk wherein the storage boundary of the first zone can be dynamically expanded into the third zone in response to the availability of free storage capacity of the first zone of the first disk. | 01-26-2012 |
20120023292 | STORAGE APPARATUS AND STORAGE CONTROL METHOD FOR THE SAME - A storage apparatus and its control method capable of implementing thin provisioning and reducing power consumption of storage devices are provided. | 01-26-2012 |
20120030423 | STORAGE DEVICE, CONTROLLING METHODS FOR THE SAME AND PROGRAMS - This invention ensures the provision of data as complete files in the storage device capable of processing both block I/O and file I/O. For this purpose, for each of the logical volumes, this invention attempts to unmount logical units (LUs) storing files triggered by a session start request for block I/O (login request) such as iSCSI, and to recognize (mount) files of the logical units triggered by a session completion request for block I/O (logout request) (refer to FIG. | 02-02-2012 |
20120030424 | Transparent Data Migration Within a Computing Environment - Described is a method and system for transparently migrating data between storage systems of a computing environment without disrupting realtime access to the stored data of the storage systems. Specifically, when adding a new storage system to the computing environment, realtime data write operations can be redirected to the new storage system instead of an existing storage system. During the redirection, the data stored on the existing storage system can be accessed for data operations. Concurrently, during the redirection, data stored on the existing storage system can be migrated to the new storage system. When the data migration completes and all the data, stored on the existing storage system prior to the redirection, resides on the new storage system, the new storage system can function as the primary storage system. Thus, storage capacity can increase or be replaced without disrupting data operations. | 02-02-2012 |
20120030425 | PARITY DECLUSTERED STORAGE DEVICE ARRAY WITH PARTITION GROUPS - This disclosure relates to parity declustered storage device arrays having partition groups. In an exemplary embodiment, the storage system includes a storage device array, such as disk array. Each storage device is divided into partitions. Each partition includes stripe units, such as hundreds or thousands of stripe units in exemplary embodiments. The storage system also includes a physical array controller coupled to the storage device array. In an exemplary embodiment, the array controller includes a partition group lookup table and stores and retrieves data and parity in the storage devices based on the partition group lookup table. In this exemplary embodiment, the array controller also includes a stripe lookup table and/or a log. In an exemplary embodiment, the partition group lookup table and the stripe lookup table take up less memory (e.g., by an order of magnitude) than a single-level stripe map conveying the same information. | 02-02-2012 |
20120030426 | METHOD OF ACCESS CONTROL TO STORED INFORMATION AND SYSTEM THEREOF - The presently disclosed subject relates at least to a method and system for controlling access to a logical unit (LU) in a logical storage space, available to a given initiator, representing a corresponding physical storage space, said logical storage space being accessible via a storage control layer, said storage control layer being associated with a security manager. A first value is generated by the security manager, based on a secret key, and transmitted to host requesting permission to access the logical storage space, while the secret key is made available to a target associated with the logical storage space. The host sends to the control device an access related request, the request comprising a second value which was generated based on the first value. Responsive to the command the target calculates the first value, based on the secret key and the second value based on the first value. The second value is validated with the help of said secret key and the respective access is allowed in case the second value is validated. | 02-02-2012 |
20120036320 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PERFORMING A CONSISTENCY CHECK OPERATION ON A DEGRADED RAID 1E DISK ARRAY - A system and method for performing a consistency check operation on a degraded RAID 1E disk array is disclosed. In one embodiment, in a method for performing a consistency check on a degraded RAID 1E disk array, a read request is sent to a first row in all mirror sets having no missing disks. Then, an exclusive—OR (XOR) operation is performed on the first row in all the mirror sets having no missing disks for determining data consistency between a pair of disks in the mirror set. Further, data on a mirrored disk in all the mirror sets having no missing disks is updated based on the outcome of the performed XOR operation. | 02-09-2012 |
20120036321 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROVIDING IMPLICIT UNMAPS IN THINLY PROVISIONED VIRTUAL TAPE LIBRARY SYSTEMS - The present invention is a system and method which allows for a VTL system that supports thin provisioning to implicitly unmap unused storage. Such unmap operations may occur even though the VTL system does not receive any explicit unmap requests from its initiators. For example, if a system administrator knows that once a virtual tape drive of the VTL system has been partially overwritten, all previously written data sets on that virtual tape drive will never again be accessed, the system administrator may configure the VTL system so that it unmaps the entire remainder of the virtual tape drive on the first data overwrite. | 02-09-2012 |
20120036322 | RAID DEVICES, SYSTEMS, AND METHODS - The invention is directed to a storage device utilizing laptop storage drives and rackmount server adapted to use the same. The storage device includes a body and drive software. The drive and internal portions of the body are adapted to form contact fits. The software of the storage device provides an electronic interface that permits operations of advantageous RAID configurations. | 02-09-2012 |
20120036323 | STORAGE APPARATUS AND CONFIGURATION SETTING METHOD - This storage apparatus has a plurality of physical devices for storing data sent from a host system, and includes a physical device group setting unit for setting a physical device group from the plurality of physical devices based on a policy file which lists matters to be operated and set by an administrator as parameters in advance, and information on the physical devices, a first logical device setting unit for setting a first logical device from the physical device group based on information on the physical device group and the policy file set with the physical device group setting unit, and a second logical device setting unit for setting a second logical device from the first logical device based the information on the first logical device and the policy file set with the first logical device setting unit. | 02-09-2012 |
20120042124 | MANAGEMENT METHOD AND MANAGEMENT SYSTEM FOR COMPUTER SYSTEM - The present invention provides a technique to efficiently rearrange data in actual regions. | 02-16-2012 |
20120047325 | DISK ARRAY SYSTEM AND TRAFFIC CONTROL METHOD - Proposed are a disk array system and a traffic control method with which reliability can be improved by preventing system shutdown. A disk array system comprises a controller for controlling data I/O to and from a backend unit; a plurality of expanders provided in the backend unit and connected to the controller by way of a tree-structure topology; a plurality of storage devices provided in the backend unit and each connected to the corresponding expander; and a control unit for controlling the controller on the basis of an I/O request from a host device. The disk array system is configured such that the controller notifies the control unit of a link fault that has occurred in the backend unit, and the control unit, when supplied with the link fault notification from the controller, restricts issuance of I/O requests from the host device or restricts receipt of I/O requests sent from the host device as necessary. | 02-23-2012 |
20120047326 | METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR FORMATTING STORAGE VOLUMES - Methods, systems, and computer storage mediums including a computer program product method for formatting storage volumes are provided. One method includes creating a storage volume including a global counter and partitioned into multiple storage segments including a segment counter and partitioned into multiple stripes, wherein the global counter and each segment counter match at an initial time. The method further includes releasing the storage segments prior to completely reformatting the storage volume and subsequently incrementing the global counter such that the global counter and each segment counter no longer match at a subsequent time. The method further includes enabling a user to write data to the storage segments prior to completely reformatting the storage volume in response to incrementing the global counter. One system includes a processor for performing the above method and one computer storage medium includes a computer program product configured to perform the above method. | 02-23-2012 |
20120047327 | Disk array device and control method for the same - A disk array device includes a disk group that stores therein data, and stores therein an upper limit of multiplicity capable of multiple data transfer using a line, for each line connected with a transfer destination device being a transfer destination of the data stored in the disk group. When data transfer is to be executed, the disk array device acquires the upper limit stored in association with the line connected with the transfer destination device of the data transfer. The disk array device also acquires current multiplicity of the data currently transferred through the line. When it is determined that the multiplicity does not exceed the upper limit even if the data transfer is executed, the disk array device executes the data transfer. | 02-23-2012 |
20120059988 | STORAGE APPARATUS AND DATA ACCESS METHOD - Improving response time performance by executing exclusive extent processing of a plurality of I/O requests is proposed. A storage apparatus, which includes a plurality of microprocessors, a first memory which stores counter values indicating the order of the I/Os to and from the storage areas, and a second memory which stores control information of the I/O requests for each of the I/O requests, is configured such that the microprocessors store, if there is one I/O request from the host apparatus, an I/O request range of the one I/O request in an area for storing control information of the one I/O request of the second memory, the microprocessors acquire the counter value from the first memory and store the counter value in the area for storing control information of the one I/O request of the second memory, and the microprocessors compare, if the counter value of the one I/O request is greater than the counter value of another I/O request, the I/O request range of the one I/O request stored in the second memory with the I/O request range of the other I/O request. | 03-08-2012 |
20120059989 | CLUSTER TYPE STORAGE SYSTEM AND METHOD OF CONTROLLING THE SAME - The present invention can adjust the ratio between a global namespace storage area and a local namespace storage area. Each of the nodes adjusts the ratio between GNS storage areas and LNS storage areas of logical volumes according to the operating condition. When received a LNS-based access request as an access request for storing business affair data from each client, each of the nodes store the business affair data in their own LNS storage areas. When received a GNS-based access request, the node checks the unused capacity of the GNS storage areas of each of the nodes, and transfers the business affair data via a network switch to the node which comprises a logical volume with the largest unused capacity. | 03-08-2012 |
20120059990 | STORAGE APPARATUS AND CONTROL METHOD OF STORAGE APPARATUS - A start time of recovery processing performed during a fall-back operation of the RAID can be flexibly controlled. A storage apparatus including an I/O processing unit that receives a data input/output request sent from an information processing device communicatively coupled to the I/O processing unit, and performs reading and writing of data from and to storage drives, includes: a priority storage unit that stores a priority set to each RAID group; a failure information storage unit that acquires and stores information on a failure occurred in the storage drives; a blockage processing unit that determines whether or not to block each of the storage drive based on the information on the failure, and blocks the storage drive that is determined to be blocked; a start time calculation unit that calculates a start time for starting recovery processing to delete a fall-back state of the RAID group to which the blocked storage drive belongs according to the priority set to the RAID group; and a recovery processing execution unit that starts the recovery processing at the start time. | 03-08-2012 |
20120059991 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR REPRESENTATION OF TARGET DEVICES IN A STORAGE ROUTER - The present invention provides an improved device, system and method for representation of target devices in a storage router. In one aspect, a device, system and method are provided for predictive representation of SAS/SATA-based target devices in a storage router corresponding to the physical layout of the target devices. In another aspect, a storage router is communicatively connectable to a plurality of target storage devices. In one embodiment, a router discovery manager or module is configured to discover the physical layout of the target storage devices; a host system interface receives and responds to data storage commands; a computer bus interface connects/communicates with SAS and SATA storage; and a plurality of host system interface to target storage device maps correspond to the physical layout of the target storage devices. | 03-08-2012 |
20120059992 | HYBRID MEMORY MANAGEMENT - Methods and apparatus for managing data storage in hybrid memory devices utilizing single level and multi level memory cells. Logical addresses can be distributed between single level and multilevel memory cells based on a frequency of write operations performed. Initial storage of data corresponding to a logical address in memory can be determined by various methods including initially writing all data to single level memory or initially writing all data to multilevel memory. Other methods permit a host to direct logical address writes to single level or multilevel memory cells based on anticipated usage. | 03-08-2012 |
20120066447 | SCHEDULING OF I/O IN AN SSD ENVIRONMENT - A system and method for effectively scheduling read and write operations among a plurality of solid-state storage devices. A computer system comprises client computers and data storage arrays coupled to one another via a network. A data storage array utilizes solid-state drives and Flash memory cells for data storage. A storage controller within a data storage array comprises an I/O scheduler. The characteristics of corresponding storage devices are used to schedule I/O requests to the storage devices in order to maintain relatively consistent response times at predicted times. In order to reduce a likelihood of unscheduled behaviors of the storage devices, the storage controller is configured to schedule proactive operations on the storage devices that will reduce a number of occurrences of unscheduled behaviors. | 03-15-2012 |
20120066448 | SCHEDULING OF REACTIVE I/O OPERATIONS IN A STORAGE ENVIRONMENT - A system and method for effectively scheduling read and write operations among a plurality of solid-state storage devices. A computer system comprises client computers and data storage arrays coupled to one another via a network. A data storage array utilizes solid-state drives and Flash memory cells for data storage. A storage controller within a data storage array comprises an I/O scheduler. The characteristics of corresponding storage devices are used to schedule I/O requests to the storage devices in order to maintain relatively consistent response times at predicted times. Should a device exhibit an unscheduled behavior which may be indicative of the device being in an unknown state, the scheduler may schedule one or more reactive operations on the device configured to cause the device to enter a known state. | 03-15-2012 |
20120066449 | SCHEDULING OF RECONSTRUCTIVE I/O READ OPERATIONS IN A STORAGE ENVIRONMENT - A system and method for effectively scheduling read and write operations among a plurality of solid-state storage devices. A computer system comprises client computers and data storage arrays coupled to one another via a network. A data storage array utilizes solid-state drives and Flash memory cells for data storage. A storage controller within a data storage array comprises an I/O scheduler. The storage controller is configured to receive a read request targeted to the data storage medium, and identify at least a first storage device of the plurality of storage devices which contains data targeted by the read request. In response to either detecting or predicting the first storage device will exhibit variable performance, the controller is configured to generate a reconstruct read request configured to obtain the data from one or more devices of the plurality of storage devices other than the first storage device. | 03-15-2012 |
20120066450 | VIRTUALIZED STORAGE SYSTEM AND METHOD OF OPERATING THEREOF - A storage system and method is provided including physical storage devices controlled by storage control devices constituting a storage control layer operatively coupled to the physical storage devices and hosts. The storage control layer includes: a first virtual layer interfacing with the hosts, operable to represent a logical address space characterized by logical block addresses and available to said hosts and characterized by an Internal Virtual Address Space (IVAS) and operable, responsive to a configuration or I/O request addressed to the logical block addresses, to translate said logical block addresses into IVAS addresses; and a second virtual layer interfacing with the physical storage devices, operable to represent an available physical space to said hosts and characterized by a Physical Virtual Address Space (PVAS), addresses in PVAS having corresponding address in IVAS. The second virtual layer is operable to translate said respective IVAS addresses into addresses in the physical address space. | 03-15-2012 |
20120066451 | STORAGE SYSTEM, CONTROL DEVICE AND STORAGE DEVICE - A storage system includes a storage device that includes a storage medium, and a control device that is connected to an upstream-side device, scans the storage device, writes the data in the storage device, and reads the data from the storage device, wherein the control device determines whether or not the data is being written in or read from the storage device, wherein when the data is being written or read, the control device scans the storage medium at intervals of a first time in a first direction that is either a direction in ascending order of logical block addresses of the storage medium or a direction in descending order of the logical block addresses of the storage medium, and wherein when the data is not written and read during the time period, the storage device scans the storage medium in a second direction. | 03-15-2012 |
20120066452 | CONVERTING LUNS INTO FILES OR FILES INTO LUNS IN REAL TIME - A LUN is provided that can store multiple datasets (e.g., data and/or applications, such as virtual machines stored as virtual hard drives). The LUN is partitioned into multiple partitions. One or more datasets may be stored in each partition. As a result, multiple datasets can be accessed through a single LUN, rather than through a number of LUNs proportional to the number of datasets. Furthermore, the datasets stored in the LUN may be pivoted. A second LUN may be generated that is dedicated to storing a dataset of the multiple datasets stored in the first LUN. The dataset is copied to the second LUN, and the second LUN is exposed to a host computer to enable the host computer to interact with the dataset. Still further, the dataset may be pivoted from the second LUN back to a partition of the first LUN. | 03-15-2012 |
20120072661 | HYBRID RAID CONTROLLER HAVING MULTI PCI BUS SWITCHING - Embodiments of the present invention provide a hybrid RAID controller with multi PCI bus switching for a storage device of a PCI-Express (PCI-e) type that supports a low-speed data processing speed for a host. Specifically, embodiments of this invention provide a hybrid RAID controller having multiple (e.g., two or more) sets of RAID circuitry that are interconnected/coupled to on another via a PCI bus to enable real-time switching. Each set of RAID circuitry is coupled to a one or more (i.e., a set of) semiconductor storage device (SSD) memory disk units and/or HDD/Flash memory units. Among other things, the SSD memory disk units and/or HDD/Flash memory units adjust a synchronization of a data signal transmitted/received between the host and a memory disk during data communications between the host and the memory disk through a PCI-Express interface and simultaneously support a high-speed data processing speed for the memory disk, thereby supporting the performance of the memory to enable high-speed processing in an existing interface environment at the maximum. | 03-22-2012 |
20120072662 | ANALYZING SUB-LUN GRANULARITY FOR DYNAMIC STORAGE TIERING - A method for metadata management in a storage system may include providing a metadata queue of a maximum size; determining whether the metadata for a particular sub-LUN is held in the metadata queue; updating the metadata for the particular sub-LUN when the metadata for the particular sub-LUN is held in the metadata queue; inserting the metadata for the particular sub-LUN at the head of the metadata queue when the metadata queue is not full and the metadata is not held in the metadata queue; replacing an entry in the metadata queue with the metadata for the particular sub-LUN and moving the metadata to the head of the metadata queue when the metadata queue is full and the metadata is not held in the metadata queue; and controlling the number of sub-LUNs in the storage system to manage data accessed with respect to an amount of available data storage. | 03-22-2012 |
20120072663 | Storage control device and RAID group extension method - The present invention provides a storage system having a controller that can extend an old RAID group to a new RAID group without decreasing a processing speed. A conversion part reads the data from an unconverted area A | 03-22-2012 |
20120072664 | STORAGE CONTROLLER, STORAGE CONTROL SYSTEM, AND STORAGE CONTROL METHOD - There is provided a storage control system and a method in which various controls to a plurality of storage controllers connected to each other can be effectively performed. The storage control system and method controls first and second storage controllers, in which a second storage controller is connected to a first storage controller to which a host system is connected. With reference to a memory in which a table defining correspondence relationships between internal logical volumes and a host logical volume of the second storage controller is stored, a channel adapter of the first storage controller controls power supplies of driving mechanisms of storage devices corresponding to the internal logical volumes. | 03-22-2012 |
20120079188 | METHOD AND APPARATUS TO ALLOCATE AREA TO VIRTUAL VOLUME BASED ON OBJECT ACCESS TYPE - In accordance with an aspect of the invention, a storage system comprises a processor; a memory; a disk control module configured to receive a write command for writing to an unallocated area and to identify an object of the write command to be written as a written object; and an object allocation acquisition module configured to obtain object allocation information specifying one or more virtual volume locations for storing the written object. The disk control module allocates, to each of the one or more virtual volume locations, an area selected from a plurality of logical volumes if the written object is predefined as a randomly accessed object. The disk control module allocates to the one or more virtual volume locations a consecutive area of one logical volume if the written object is predefined as a sequentially accessed object. | 03-29-2012 |
20120079189 | INTRA-DEVICE DATA PROTECTION IN A RAID ARRAY - A system and method for intra-device data protection in a RAID array. A computer system comprises client computers and data storage arrays coupled to one another via a network. A data storage array utilizes solid-state drives and Flash memory cells for data storage. A storage controller within a data storage array is configured to identify a unit of data stored in the data storage subsystem, wherein said unit of data is stored across at least a first storage device and a second storage device of the plurality of storage devices, each of the first storage device and the second storage device storing intra-device redundancy data corresponding to the unit of data; and change an amount of intra-device redundancy data corresponding to the unit of data on only the first storage device. | 03-29-2012 |
20120079190 | OFFSET PROTECTION DATA IN A RAID ARRAY - A system and method for offset protection data in a RAID array. A computer system comprises client computers and data storage arrays coupled to one another via a network. A data storage array utilizes solid-state drives and Flash memory cells for data storage. A storage controller within a data storage array is configured to store user data in a first page of a first storage device of the plurality of storage devices; generate intra-device protection data corresponding to the user data, and store the intra-device protection data at a first offset within the first page. The controller is further configured to generate inter-device protection data corresponding to the first page, and store the inter-device protection data at a second offset within a second page in a second storage device of the plurality of storage devices, wherein the first offset is different from the second offset. | 03-29-2012 |
20120079191 | METHODS FOR MANAGING OWNERSHIP OF REDUNDANT DATA AND SYSTEMS THEREOF - A storage system according to one embodiment includes a first storage tier; a second storage tier; logic for storing instances of a file in the first storage tier and the second storage tier; logic for determining when to migrate an instance of the file associated with a first user and stored on the first storage tier to the second storage tier; logic for searching for an instance of the file or portion thereof on the second storage tier that is not associated with any user; logic for associating the instance of the file or portion thereof on the second storage tier with the first user; and logic for disassociating the instance of the file on the first storage tier from the first user. Additional systems, methods, and computer program products are also presented. | 03-29-2012 |
20120079192 | METHODS FOR MANAGING OWNERSHIP OF REDUNDANT DATA AND SYSTEMS THEREOF - A storage system according to one embodiment includes a first storage tier; a second storage tier; logic for storing instances of a file in the first storage tier and the second storage tier; logic for determining an ownership status for each instance of the file in the storage system, wherein the ownership status includes owned and unowned; logic for determining a location of each instance of the file in the storage system; logic for determining whether each instance of the file in the first storage tier is being accessed or not being accessed; logic for assigning each instance of the file to one of a plurality of indices using the determined ownership status, location, and whether the instance is being accessed; logic for receiving a request to access the file or instance thereof from a user; logic for selecting an instance of the file based on an assignment of the instance of the file to one of the indices; and logic for providing the user with access to the selected instance of the file or copy thereof. Additional systems, methods, and computer program products are also presented. | 03-29-2012 |
20120079193 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR DISTRIBUTING MULTIPLE STORAGE DEVICES TO MULTIPLE TIERS IN A STORAGE APPARATUS - A management system of a storage apparatus, which exercises control so as to arrange data in a storage device of a certain tier of multiple tiers, carries out a first tier definition process (a process for distributing multiple storage devices to multiple tiers based on respective storage device types of the multiple storage devices and type/tier information that denotes the corresponding relationship between multiple storage device types and multiple tiers). Subsequent to the first tier definition process, the management system acquires performance information denoting the performance of a storage device for each of the multiple storage devices. The management system carries out a second tier definition process (a process for distributing the multiple storage devices to the multiple tiers based on the performance information of multiple storage devices such that two or more storage devices of similar performance are distributed to the same tier). | 03-29-2012 |
20120079194 | METHOD OF TESTING DATA STORAGE DEVICES AND A GENDER THEREFOR - A method of testing data storage devices, the method including virtualizing data storage spaces of N data storage devices to a single virtual storage space, wherein N is a natural number equal to or greater than two, and testing the N data storage devices by performing a testing sequence on the virtual storage space. | 03-29-2012 |
20120079195 | SINGLE NODENAME CLUSTER SYSTEM FOR FIBRE CHANNEL - A system and method provides a single system image for a clustered storage network including techniques for processing data access commands between storage appliances over the cluster interconnect. The system is configured such that the cluster is assigned a single world wide nodename. Requests coming to the cluster from client initiators are directed to one or the storage appliances in the cluster, i.e. the “receiving” storage appliance. Commands received by the receiving storage appliance are examined to determine LUN value(s) in the request. If the LUN value is associated with a local storage device, the request is processed by the receiving storage appliance. If the LUN value is not associated with the receiving storage appliance, the request is conveyed over the cluster interconnect to the partner storage appliance to be processed and the appropriate data written or retrieved. | 03-29-2012 |
20120079196 | File server, file management system and file relocation method - In a file server for suppressing power consumption of a storage apparatus, when a file sharing program receives a file access from a client, the program references a mapping table. The program addresses the access to the target file in the volume of a RAID group where the target file is stored. A coupling-request reception program memorizes a coupling time for each user into a coupling history table. A grouping program applies a grouping to users whose coupling time-zones are similar. A data transfer program transfers, into the same RAID group, data of the files associated with the grouped users, thereby collecting the data into the same RAID group. Thus, the time-zone when no access is made to the RAID group (i.e., non-coupling time-zone) can be made longer. Accordingly, a spin-up/down request program makes a spin-down request to the RAID group in the non-coupling time-zone. | 03-29-2012 |
20120084504 | DYNAMIC RAID GEOMETRIES IN AN SSD ENVIRONMENT - A system and method for dynamic RAID geometries. A computer system comprises client computers and data storage arrays coupled to one another via a network. A data storage array utilizes solid-state drives and Flash memory cells for data storage. A storage controller within a data storage array is configured to configure a first subset of the storage devices for use in a first RAID layout, the first RAID layout including a first set of redundant data. The controller further configures a second subset of the storage devices for use in a second RAID layout, the second RAID layout including a second set of redundant data. Additionally, the controller configure an additional device not included in either the first subset or the second subset to store redundant data for both the first RAID layout and the second RAID layout. | 04-05-2012 |
20120084505 | RECONSTRUCT READS IN A RAID ARRAY WITH DYNAMIC GEOMETRIES - A system and method for dynamic RAID geometries. A computer system comprises client computers and data storage arrays coupled to one another via a network. A data storage array utilizes solid-state drives and Flash memory cells for data storage. A storage controller within a data storage array is configured to configure a first subset of the storage devices for use in a first RAID layout, the first RAID layout including a first set of redundant data. The controller further configures a second subset of the storage devices for use in a second RAID layout, the second RAID layout including a second set of redundant data. Additionally, the controller configure an additional device not included in either the first subset or the second subset to store redundant data for both the first RAID layout and the second RAID layout. The controller is further configured to initiate a reconstruct read corresponding to a given read request directed to a particular storage device of the plurality of storage devices, in response to determining the particular storage device is exhibiting a non-error related relatively slow read response. | 04-05-2012 |
20120084506 | DISTRIBUTED MULTI-LEVEL PROTECTION IN A RAID ARRAY BASED STORAGE SYSTEM - A system and method for dynamic RAID geometries. A computer system comprises client computers and data storage arrays coupled to one another via a network. A data storage array utilizes solid-state drives and Flash memory cells for data storage. A storage controller within a data storage array is configured to configure a first subset of the storage devices for use in a first RAID layout, the first RAID layout including a first set of redundant data. The controller further configures a second subset of the storage devices for use in a second RAID layout, the second RAID layout including a second set of redundant data. Additionally, when writing a stripe, the controller may select from any of the plurality of storage devices for one or more of the first RAID layout, the second RAID layout, and storage of redundant data by the additional logical device. | 04-05-2012 |
20120084507 | MULTI-LEVEL PROTECTION WITH INTRA-DEVICE PROTECTION IN A RAID ARRAY BASED STORAGE SYSTEM - A system and method for dynamic RAID geometries. A computer system comprises client computers and data storage arrays coupled to one another via a network. A data storage array utilizes solid-state drives and Flash memory cells for data storage. A storage controller within a data storage array is configured to configure a first subset of the storage devices for use in a first RAID layout, the first RAID layout including a first set of redundant data. The controller further configures a second subset of the storage devices for use in a second RAID layout, the second RAID layout including a second set of redundant data. Additionally, the controller configure an additional device not included in either the first subset or the second subset to store redundant data for both the first RAID layout and the second RAID layout. Further, each page stored in the plurality of devices includes a checksum corresponding to the page | 04-05-2012 |
20120084508 | DISK ARRAY APPARATUS AND FIRMWARE UPDATE METHOD THEREFOR - This invention proposes a disk array apparatus capable of improving its reliability. This disk array apparatus includes a first controller, and a second controller configured redundantly with the first controller, wherein the first controller and the second controller respectively include a storage area for storing firmware and are both in an operating state. When update processing of an update portion as a portion to be updated in the firmware of the first controller is unsuccessful, the first controller confirms whether update processing of an update portion of the firmware of the second controller is also unsuccessful, and, in a case where the update processing of the update portion of the firmware of the second controller has ended normally, rewrites firmware data of the update portion of the first controller with the firmware data of the update portion of the second controller. | 04-05-2012 |
20120084509 | Application Independent Storage Array Performance Optimizer - A system comprising a performance module and an application. The performance module may be configured to (i) monitor a LUN for a predetermined amount of time, (ii) capture information relating to the LUN, and (iii) store the information. The application may be configured to (i) retrieve the information, (ii) analyze the information, (iii) generate a configuration based on the analysis of the information and (iv) send the configuration to the performance module. The performance module may reconfigure the LUN based on the configuration. | 04-05-2012 |
20120089776 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR RAID METADATA STORAGE - Systems and methods for providing self-contained embedded storage providing data redundancy and automatic failover for a RAID system are disclosed. In one embodiment, a metadata RAID array module disposed for insertion in a metadata controller is disclosed. The array module may be configured to receive power and/or cooling from the metadata controller while providing RAID metadata functionality through an external interface. The external interface may be a Fibre channel interface. | 04-12-2012 |
20120089777 | RAID ARRAY TRANSFORMATION IN A POOLED STORAGE SYSTEM - In one embodiment, a method includes reserving extents in a storage pool, reading data from a first portion of an in-use RAID arranged according to a first array configuration, using the reserved extents in the storage pool to store a first portion of the data for writing to the in-use RAID, using one or more free extents in the storage pool or in the in-use RAID to store a second portion of the data for writing to the in-use RAID, writing the data to a second portion of the in-use RAID arranged according to a second array configuration, performing one or more first I/O operations according to the first array configuration, wherein the one or more first I/O operations are performed on the data before the data is read by the data migrating component, and performing one or more second I/O operations according to the second array configuration. | 04-12-2012 |
20120089778 | STORAGE SYSTEM HAVING CROSS NODE DATA REDUNDANCY AND METHOD AND COMPUTER READABLE MEDIUM FOR SAME - Embodiments of the present invention generally provide for multi-dimensional disk arrays and methods for managing same and can be used in video surveillance systems for the management of real-time video data, image data, or combinations thereof. | 04-12-2012 |
20120089779 | Data Processing System and Storage Subsystem Provided in Data Processing System - A first storage subsystem | 04-12-2012 |
20120110260 | AUTOMATED STORAGE PROVISIONING WITHIN A CLUSTERED COMPUTING ENVIRONMENT - Embodiments of the present invention provide an approach for automatic storage planning and provisioning within a clustered computing environment (e.g., a cloud computing environment). Specifically, embodiments of the present invention will receive planning input for a set of storage area network volume controllers (SVCs) within the clustered computing environment, the planning input indicating a potential load on the SVCs and its associated components. Along these lines, analytical models (e.g., from vendors) can be also used that allow for a load to be accurately estimated on the storage components. Regardless, configuration data for a set of storage components (i.e., the set of SVCs, a set of managed disk (Mdisk) groups associated with the set of SVCs, and a set of backend storage systems) will also be collected. Based on this configuration data, the set of storage components will be filtered to identify candidate storage components capable of addressing the potential load. Then, performance data for the candidate storage components will be analyzed to identify an SVC and an Mdisk group to address the potential load. This allows for storage provisioning planning to be automated in a highly accurate fashion. | 05-03-2012 |
20120110261 | HOME STORAGE DEVICE AND SOFTWARE - In general, embodiments of the present invention provide a home storage system. Specifically, in a typical embodiment, the home storage system includes a graphical user interface for graphically accessing features of the home storage system; an internal storage management and monitoring module for managing and monitoring a set of semiconductor storage device (SSD) memory units and a set of hard disk drive (HDD) memory units within the home storage system; an external interface management and monitoring module for managing and monitoring network connectivity of the home storage system; and a portable storage management and monitoring module for managing and monitoring at least one type of external memory coupled to the home storage system. | 05-03-2012 |
20120110262 | Systems and methods for remote raid configuration in an embedded environment - Remote RAID system configuration may be implemented in an embedded and out-of-band manner using an information handling system configured, for example, as a RAID server. The remote RAID configuration may be implement, for example, on a RAID server system in the condition as it is supplied directly out-of-the-box to a user without requiring downloading of any additional software or firmware, without requiring presence of a management framework and plug in, and/or in a manner that is operating system (OS)-independent or that requires no OS to be present on the server. The RAID server may then be remotely reconfigured one or more times thereafter | 05-03-2012 |
20120110263 | MANAGEMENT METHOD OF PERFORMANCE HISTORY AND A MANAGEMENT SYSTEM OF PERFORMANCE HISTORY - A performance history management method and system are disclosed, in which the time-series performance history such as a volume included in a storage device is managed as one time-series performance history at the time of data rearrangement or device change. The data-oriented performance history providing the logical place of storage of the data stored in the volume is generated using the storage performance monitor program based on the rearrangement history information providing the information on the history of transfer of the data stored in the rearrangement history table and the volume of the storage device by the storage structure information acquisition program, the storage structure information stored in the storage structure information table and the performance history of each volume stored in the storage performance history table by the storage performance information acquisition program. The performance history can be displayed or the performance change detected to display an alert. | 05-03-2012 |
20120117322 | MASS DATA STORAGE SYSTEM AND METHOD OF OPERATING THEREOF - There are provided a mass storage system comprising a control layer operatively coupled to a physical storage space and operable to interface with one or more clients and to present to said clients a plurality of logical volumes. The method of operating the storage system comprises: dividing one or more logical volumes into a plurality of statistical segments with predefined size; assigning to each given statistical segment a corresponding activity level characterizing statistics of I/O activity with regard to data portions within the given statistical segment, said statistics collected over a plurality of cycles of fixed counting length; and managing one or more data storage processes in the storage system (e.g. a background defragmentation process, a background garbage collection process, a destage management process, etc.) using said activity level. | 05-10-2012 |
20120124285 | VIRTUAL DISK DRIVE SYSTEM AND METHOD WITH CLOUD-BASED STORAGE MEDIA - A disk drive system and method capable of dynamically allocating data is provided. The disk drive system may include a storage subsystem having a pool of storage. The storage subsystem dynamically allocates data across the pool of storage. The storage subsystem determines whether additional storage is required, and a notification is sent if the storage is required. Dynamic data allocation and data progression allow a user to acquire storage later in time when it is needed. Dynamic data allocation also allows efficient data storage of snapshots/point-in-time copies of virtual volume pool of storage, instant data replay and data instant fusion for data backup, recovery etc., remote data storage, and data progression, etc. Cloud-based storage media are provided to enhance the operational and cost efficiency of the system. | 05-17-2012 |
20120124286 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR REBUILDING DATA IN A DISTRIBUTED RAID SYSTEM - Embodiments of the systems and methods disclosed provide a distributed RAID system comprising a set of data banks. More particularly, in certain embodiments of a distributed RAID system each data bank has a set of associated storage media and executes a similar distributed RAID application. The distributed RAID applications on each of the data banks coordinate among themselves to distribute and control data flow associated with implementing a level of RAID in conjunction with a volume stored on the associated storage media of the data banks. Migration of volumes, or portions thereof, from one configuration to another configuration may be accomplished according to a priority associated with the volume. | 05-17-2012 |
20120124287 | DATA PROCESSING SYSTEM AND MANAGEMENT METHOD - A data processing system includes a first storage system configured with a virtual logical volume that includes a dynamically expandable volume, a second storage system coupled to the first storage system through a data copy network, a host computer configured to input data to the virtual logical volume, and a management server coupled to the host computer, configured to manage the virtual logical volume. | 05-17-2012 |
20120131274 | Legacy Data Managment - Various systems, processes, products, and techniques may be used to manage legacy data. In one general implementation, a system, process, and/or product for managing legacy data may include the ability to determine whether a data request has been received and, if a data request has been received, determine whether the data request is associated with legacy data of an external storage management system. If the data request is not associated with legacy data of an external storage management system, the system, process, and/or product may retrieve data from a local storage array, and if the data request is associated with legacy data of an external storage management system, the system, process, and/or product may request legacy data from an external storage management system. The system, process, and/or product may also generate a response to the data request. | 05-24-2012 |
20120131275 | NETWORK-ATTACHED STORAGE SYSTEM - The invention discloses a network-attached storage system including an interface module, a plurality of storage devices and a storage module. The interface module is configured to be attached to a network. The interface module is for receiving a transmission protocol information transmitted over the network, and processing the information into storage data and access instructions. The storage module is for receiving the storage data and the access instructions, and controlling, according to the access instructions, access of the storage data to the primary storage devices through a transmission interface. | 05-24-2012 |
20120137064 | EFFICIENT DISCARD COMMANDS ON RAID STORAGE DEVICES - A method and system for efficiently freeing storage in a Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID) system. A computer system is coupled to storage devices that are organized as a RAID with block-level striping. Each storage device is partitioned into multiple physical sectors. The computer system receives a request to free a contiguous range of logical sectors that are mapped to the storage devices. In response, the computer system issues, for each storage device, a discard command to free contiguous physical sectors in the storage device that correspond to non-contiguous logical sectors. | 05-31-2012 |
20120137065 | Virtual Port Mapped RAID Volumes - Embodiments of the invention provide a method associated with a RAID configuration, wherein RAID storage volumes are created by RAID controllers from a shared pool of disk drives. A specified RAID volume is mapped to a virtual target port, and is accessed by each of one or more servers via the virtual target address. One embodiment of the invention is directed to a method associated with multiple RAID controllers, and a pool of disk drives that comprises multiple storage disks. The method comprises operating one or more of the RAID controllers to each configure one or more RAID volumes from selected storage disks. A unique identifier is assigned to each of the RAID volumes, wherein a specified RAID volume is assigned a specified unique identifier, and a particular RAID controller is provided with ownership of the specified RAID volume at a particular time. The method further comprises using the specified unique identifier in an address to route an I/O message at the particular time between a selected host and the specified RAID volume, wherein the unique identifier includes no information that identifies the particular RAID controller. | 05-31-2012 |
20120137066 | DYNAMIC USE OF RAID LEVELS RESPONSIVE TO WORKLOAD REQUIREMENTS - Data associated with a workload is stored in a first composite array of data storage devices that meets first data storage requirements of the workload, and is automatically stored in a second composite array in response to detecting second data storage requirements of the workload, wherein the second composite array of data storage devices meets the second data storage requirements. The data may be stored in the second composite array by either converting the first array or migrating the data to another array that more closely meets the current data storage requirements of the workload. Alternatively, the array conversion or the data migration may be performed in response to a predictive failure alert from one of the data storage devices in the first composite array. | 05-31-2012 |
20120137067 | Non-Volatile Memory Device And Read Method Thereof - In one embodiment, the method includes receiving a request to read data stored in a first memory cell associated with a first word line, and performing a first read operation on at least one memory cell associated with a second word line in response to the request. The second word line follows the first word line in a word line programming order, and the first read operation is performed over a first time period. The method further includes performing a second read operation on the first memory cell based on output from the first read operation. The second read operation is performed for a second time period, and the first time period is shorter than the second time period if output from performing the first read operation indicates the first memory cell is not coupled. | 05-31-2012 |
20120137068 | COMPUTING DEVICE AND METHOD FOR IDENTIFYING HARD DISKS - A method for identifying hard disks connected to one or more ports of a computing device. The computing device comprises a controller. A first serial-number of each of the hard disks read by the controller is received. A second serial-number corresponding to each drive letter of the hard disk assigned by an operating system of the computing device is read. The first serial-number and the second serial-number is compared to determine associations between the drive letters and the hard disks. The associations are displayed on a display device connected to the computing device. | 05-31-2012 |
20120137069 | Method and System for Initializing Storage in a Storage System - Embodiments of systems and methods for a high availability storage system are disclosed. More particularly, in certain embodiments desired locations of storage devices may be zeroed out during operation of the storage system and areas that have been zeroed out allocated to store data when commands pertaining to that data are received. Specifically, in one embodiment a distributed RAID system comprising a set of data banks may be provided where each data bank in the set of data banks may execute a background process which zeroes areas of the storage devices of the data bank. When a command pertaining to a logical location is received a zeroed area of the physical storage devices on the data bank may be allocated to store data associated with that logical location. | 05-31-2012 |
20120137070 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PROVIDING A PACKET BUFFER RANDOM ACCESS MEMORY - The present invention generally provides a packet buffer random access memory (PBRAM) device including a memory array, a plurality of input ports, and a plurality of serial registers associated with the input ports. The plurality of input ports permit multiple devices to concurrently access the memory in a non-blocking manner. The serial registers enable receiving data from the input ports and concurrently packet data to the memory array. The memory performs all management of network data queues so that all port requests can be satisfied within the real-time constraints of network packet switching. | 05-31-2012 |
20120137071 | Methods for Implementation of an Active Archive in an Archiving System and Managing the Data in the Active Archive - According to the disclosure, a unique and novel archiving system that provides one or more application layer partitions to archive data is disclosed. Embodiments include an active archive including a fixed storage. The active archive can create application layer partitions that associate the application layer partitions with portions of the fixed storage. Each application layer partition, in embodiments, has a separate set of controls that allow for customized storage of different data within a single archiving system. Further, embodiments of methods for ensuring storage capacity in the active archive and the application layer partitions within the active archive is also disclosed. | 05-31-2012 |
20120144110 | METHODS AND STRUCTURE FOR STORAGE MIGRATION USING STORAGE ARRAY MANAGED SERVER AGENTS - Methods and structure for improved migration of a logical volume storage migration using storage array managed server agents. Features and aspects hereof provide for a storage array (e.g., a RAID or other storage controller in a storage array) to manage the migration of a logical volume from a first physical storage volume to a second physical storage volume. The storage array cooperates with a server agent in each server configured to utilize the logical volume. The server agent provides a level of “virtualization” to map the logical volume to corresponding physical storage locations of a physical storage volume. The storage array exchanges information with the server agents such that the migration is performed by the storage array. Upon completion of the migration, the storage array notifies the server agents to modify their mapping information to remap the logical volume to a new physical storage volume. | 06-07-2012 |
20120144111 | METHOD AND DEVICE FOR UTILIZING APPLICATION-LEVEL PRIOR KNOWLEDGE FOR SELECTIVELY STORING DATA IN HIGHER PERFORMANCE MEDIA - A method for selectively storing data identified by a software application in higher performance media may include executing control programming for an operating system and a software application hosted by the operating system. The software application assigns a first importance level to a first portion of data and a second importance level to a second portion of data. A first portion of data having the first importance level assigned by the software application is stored in a first storage medium at the instruction of the operating system. A second portion of data having the second importance level assigned by the software application is stored in a second storage medium at the instruction of the operating system. The second storage medium has at least one performance, reliability, or security characteristic different from the first storage medium. | 06-07-2012 |
20120144112 | MANAGEMENT COMPUTER AND VOLUME CONFIGURATION MANAGEMENT METHOD - The configuration of volumes provided by a plurality of storage apparatuses with an external connection function is optimized. | 06-07-2012 |
20120144113 | METHOD OF PROCESSING DATA AND SYSTEM USING THE SAME - A host generates an address array including a header and each start address to perform a data processing operation, which may for example be 4 Kbytes of a random read operation or a random write operation, and transmits a generated address array to a data storage device through a data bus. The data storage device, in the case of a random read operation, outputs each data corresponding to the each start address to the host successively by using the address array. In the case of a random write operation, the data storage device receives each data corresponding to each start address from the host and stores it in a memory core. | 06-07-2012 |
20120144114 | REDUNDANCY ARRAY OF INEXPENSIVE DISKS CONFIGURATION USING SIMPLE NETWORK MANAGEMENT PROTOCOL - A method of configuring a storage device is disclosed. The method generally includes the steps of (A) receiving a single data unit over a communication network, the data unit (i) being transferred via the communication network using a standard communication protocol, (ii) defining both (a) a plurality of new configuration items that define a new configuration of the storage device and (b) a command to be performed by the storage device and (iii) having a standard markup language format, (B) calculating at least one configuration change from a plurality of current configuration items to the new configuration items, the current configuration items defining a current configuration of the storage device, (C) adjusting the storage device into the new configuration based on the at least one configuration change and (D) performing a requested operation with the storage device in the new configuration in response to the command. | 06-07-2012 |
20120151135 | SUBSTITUTION OF A TARGET VOLUME OF A SECONDARY STORAGE CONTROLLER FOR A SOURCE VOLUME OF A PRIMARY STORAGE CONTROLLER FOR EXECUTING A WRITE OPERATION - A secondary storage controller receives metadata that uniquely identifies a source volume of a primary storage controller. Data stored in the source volume of the primary storage controller is synchronously copied to a target volume of the secondary storage controller. The secondary storage controller receives a command from a primary host to write selected data to the source volume. In response to receiving the command at the secondary storage controller, the selected data is written to the target volume of the secondary storage controller. | 06-14-2012 |
20120151136 | INSTANT DATA RESTORATION - Various embodiments are provided for restoration of data by a processor. In one embodiment, by way of example only, an exposed Internet Small Computer System Interface (iSCSI) target of a backup repository is defined as a source of, and a storage volume to be recovered as a target of, a mirrored pair of storage resources. The iSCSI target represents a point-in-time backup snapshot. Data from the iSCSI target is synchronized to the storage volume. The mechanisms of the illustrated embodiments leverage iSCSI with Instant Restore to reduce a Recovery Time Objective (RTO) and provide a secure transport when recovering a volume over a WAN. | 06-14-2012 |
20120151137 | MULTIMEDIA DEVICE WITH DATA RECOVERY FUNCTION - A multimedia device includes a display, a multimedia processing unit, and a storage unit. The storage unit is connected to the display and multimedia processing unit. The multimedia processing unit includes a redundant array of independent disk (RAID) module. The storage unit includes a plurality of HDDs. If data stored in any of the HDD(s) is damaged, and the RAID module recovers the damaged data according to other HDD(s). | 06-14-2012 |
20120151138 | DATA ARRANGEMENT METHOD AND DATA MANAGEMENT SYSTEM - According to this invention, a data arrangement method, the computer connected to a storage system which provides a plurality of logical storage devices comprising a plurality of physical storage devices arranges data in a logical storage volume constructed by integrating the plurality of logical storage devices. The method includes: a step wherein the computer receives an instruction to build the logical storage volume using the plurality of logical storage devices or to rebuild the constructed logical storage volume; a step wherein the computer obtains information about the plurality of physical storage devices constituting each of the plurality of logical storage devices included in the received instruction; and a step wherein the arrangement position of data into the logical storage volume is determined on the basis of the obtained information about the plurality of physical storage devices. | 06-14-2012 |
20120151139 | MANAGEMENT METHOD FOR A VIRTUAL VOLUME ACROSS A PLURALITY OF STORAGES - To enhance capacity expansion property of a storage system for providing thin provisioning logical volumes, a computer system includes a first storage system and a second storage system for providing a second volume to the first storage system. The first storage system is configured to define at least one first volume, define a first storage pool including the defined first volume and the provided second volume, and provide to the host computer a first thin provisioning volume that is recognized as a volume having a capacity equal to or larger than that of storage areas assigned from the first storage pool. The first thin provisioning volume is thus assigned with both storage areas of the first volume and storage areas of the second volume, which are included in the first storage pool. | 06-14-2012 |
20120159069 | Concurrently Moving Storage Devices from One Adapter Pair to Another - A mechanism is provided for moving control of storage devices from one adapter pair to another. In a trunked disk array configuration, moving the storage devices from one disk array to another disk array begins by attaching the downstream ports of the two independent disk arrays together. The mechanism redefines one set of the ports as upstream ports and through switch zoning makes a set of devices available to the second disk array adapters. By controlling zoning access and performing discovery one device port at a time, the mechanism transfers access and ownership of the RAID group from one adapter pair to another. | 06-21-2012 |
20120159070 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR HANDLING IO TO DRIVES IN A MEMORY CONSTRAINED ENVIRONMENT - A system and method for handling IO to drives in a RAID system is described. In one embodiment, the method includes providing a multiple disk system with a predefined strip size. IO request with a logical block address is received for execution on the multiple disk system. A cache line size from a plurality of cache line sizes is allocated, based on the available memory for allocation to cache line. A plurality of sub-IO requests with a sub-strip size is generated, where the sub-strip size is smaller than the strip size, based on the allocated cache line size. The generated sub-IO commands are executed on the multiple disk system. | 06-21-2012 |
20120166724 | HIGH AVAILABILITY RAID USING LOW-COST DIRECT ATTACHED RAID CONTROLLERS - A method and storage controller for providing active-active RAID functionality within storage controller device(s). An embodiment may utilize zoning capabilities to assign a subset of physical storage devices with each storage controller. One or more storage controllers may detect that a storage controller/server has failed and may reconfigure zoning of the physical storage devices originally zoned in with the failed storage controller such that the physical storage devices of the failed zone are zoned out of the failed zone and zoned in with at least one of the remaining functional storage controllers. A reverse process may be used on recovery. An embodiment may further represent each of the physical devices zoned in with a storage controller as at least one virtual storage device and configure an additional comprehensive zone incorporating the storage controllers such that each storage controller has access to all physical storage devices through the virtual storage devices. | 06-28-2012 |
20120166725 | VIRTUAL DISK DRIVE SYSTEM AND METHOD WITH DEDUPLICATION - A disk drive system and method capable of dynamically allocating data is provided. The disk drive system may include a RAID subsystem having a pool of storage, for example a page pool of storage that maintains a free list of RAIDs, or a matrix of disk storage blocks that maintain a null list of RAIDs, and a disk manager having at least one disk storage system controller. The RAID subsystem and disk manager dynamically allocate data across the pool of storage and a plurality of disk drives based on RAID-to-disk mapping. Dynamic data allocation and data progression allow a user to acquire a disk drive later in time when it is needed. Data deduplication is provided to improve storage capacity and system performance. | 06-28-2012 |
20120166726 | HIERARCHICAL, DISTRIBUTED OBJECT STORAGE SYSTEM - The invention concerns a distributed object storage system ( | 06-28-2012 |
20120173812 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR DATA DISTRIBUTION ACROSS AN ARRAY OF DRIVES - Methods and systems for data distribution may include, but are not limited to: receiving a request from a client device to store data on a distributed storage system; obtaining a hierarchical cluster map representing the distributed storage system; selecting an object at a hierarchical level of the cluster map; determining if the hierarchical level is a drive level; and adding a drive identifier associated with the object to a drive identifier array if the hierarchical level is the drive level. | 07-05-2012 |
20120173813 | STORAGE CONTROL APPARATUS UNIT AND STORAGE SYSTEM COMPRISING MULTIPLE STORAGE CONTROL APPARATUS UNITS - A first storage control apparatus unit has a first logical volume. A second storage control apparatus unit has a second logical volume, which is a virtual logical volume and is mapped to the first logical volume, and a third logical volume that is associated with the first logical volume. The second storage control apparatus unit receives, from a host, an I/O command which has information including, as information denoting an I/O-destination area, an ID of the second logical volume and an address of an area of the second logical volume. The second storage control apparatus unit identifies a logical volume having an area that serves as an entity of the I/O-destination area, and a storage control apparatus unit that has this logical volume. | 07-05-2012 |
20120173814 | STORAGE CONTROLLER AND VIRTUAL VOLUME CONTROL METHOD - A storage system includes a virtual volume, a plurality of RAID groups, a pool unit for managing a plurality of first real storage areas and a controller. If a write command related to the virtual volume is issued from a higher-level device, the controller selects a prescribed second real storage area from among respective second real storage areas included in a prescribed first real storage area, and associates this prescribed second real storage area with a prescribed area inside the virtual volume corresponding to the write command, and which associates one virtual volume with one first real storage area. A migration destination determination unit selects a migration-targeted second real storage area from among the respective second real storage areas associated with the virtual volume, and selects a migration-destination first real storage area, which is to become the migration destination of data stored in the migration-targeted second real storage area. | 07-05-2012 |
20120173815 | System For Handling Input/Output Requests Between Storage Arrays With Different Performance Capabilities - An apparatus comprising a remote storage array, a primary storage array and a network. The remote storage array may be configured to (i) define a queue size based on a performance capability of the remote storage array, (ii) generate a multiplier based on resources being used by the remote storage array, and (iii) adjust the queue size by the multiplier. The primary storage array may be configured to execute input/output (IO) requests between the remote storage array and the primary storage array based on the adjusted queue size. The network may be configured to connect the remote storage array to the primary storage array. | 07-05-2012 |
20120179869 | APPARATUS, SYSTEM, AND METHOD FOR DATA STORAGE USING PROGRESSIVE RAID - An apparatus, system, and method are disclosed for data storage with progressive redundant array of independent drives (“RAID”). A storage request receiver module, a striping module, a parity-mirror module, and a parity progression module are included. The storage request receiver module receives a request to store data of a file or of an object. The striping module calculates a stripe pattern for the data. The stripe pattern includes one or more stripes, and each stripe includes a set of N data segments. The striping module writes the N data segments to N storage devices. Each data segment is written to a separate storage device within a set of storage devices assigned to the stripe. The parity-mirror module writes a set of N data segments to one or more parity-mirror storage devices within the set of storage devices. The parity progression module calculates a parity data segment on each parity-mirror device in response to a storage consolidation operation, and stores the parity data segments. The storage consolidation operation is conducted to recover storage space and/or data on a parity-mirror storage device. | 07-12-2012 |
20120179870 | Data Storage Method with (D,K) Moore Graph-Based Network Storage Structure - A data storing method of a (d, k) Moore graph-based network storage structure is provided. The method arranges a number of formula(I) storing nodes in a wide area network (WAN) environment in accordance with a (d, k) Moore graph to form a strongly regular network structure, and utilizes implementation methods of different separate redundant array of independent disks (RAID) techniques of multiple degrees of reliability, thereby enabling data storing supported by network-RAIDs (NRAID) of multiple degrees of reliability in a network environment; said network structure of a strongly regular graph makes an arbitrarily accessed storing node as a controlling node, and uses other d+d(d−1) storing nodes as neighboring nodes of the controlling node, wherein d is the number of one-hop neighboring nodes; and d(d−1) are the number of two-hop neighboring nodes; the controlling node stores metadata of stored data, and sends information of accessing data; the neighboring nodes provide data storing services. The present invention combines the special characteristics of a (d, k) Moore graph with RAID technology, thereby enhancing the reliability of data storing in a network environment. | 07-12-2012 |
20120185643 | SYSTEMS CONFIGURED FOR IMPROVED STORAGE SYSTEM COMMUNICATION FOR N-WAY INTERCONNECTIVITY - Storage systems configured for improved N-way connectivity among all of a plurality of storage controllers and all of a plurality of storage devices in the system. All controllers of the storage system are coupled through a switched fabric communication medium to all of the storage devices of the storage system. Thus, the back-end interface of each storage controller of the storage system is used for all communications with any of the storage devices as well as for any communications among the controllers to coordinate the N-way distribution of stored data in a declustered RAID storage environment. This use of the back-end channel for all storage controller to storage device N-way connectivity as well as controller to controller N-way connectivity eliminates the need for a dedicated inter-controller interface for such N-way connectivity and eliminates the over-utilization of a front-end (e.g., network) communication path for providing N-way connectivity in the storage system. | 07-19-2012 |
20120185644 | COMPUTER SYSTEM, MANAGEMENT COMPUTER AND STORAGE MANAGEMENT METHOD - The storage apparatus | 07-19-2012 |
20120185645 | STORAGE SYSTEM AND MANAGEMENT METHOD THEREOF - A storage system including a first storage apparatus having at least one volume to be provided to a host computer, a second storage apparatus connected to the first storage apparatus and having a second volume having a pair relationship with a first volume, and a management apparatus. The management apparatus includes a user interface for setting an attribute of functions related to at least one volume of the first storage apparatus and at least one volume of the second storage apparatus. The management apparatus compares an attribute of a first function related to the first volume and an attribute of a second function related to the second volume, and sets the attribute of the second function to be consistent with the attribute of the first function. The management apparatus there commands restoration of the first volume or the second volume to a state before the set the attribute operation. | 07-19-2012 |
20120185646 | FILE SERVER, FILE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM AND FILE MANAGEMENT METHOD - When receiving a file access from the client, the file access program refers to the mapping table, and processes an access to files of on volumes of RAID groups. The file server analyzes the file access states, and groups the files depending on the access time period, defines the file migration pattern based on the grouping, migrates the files, and then carries out a power management operation like a spin-down/-up operation on the RAID groups based on the migration pattern. | 07-19-2012 |
20120185647 | Systems and Methods for Managing Stored Data - A method of managing stored data can include mapping data storage bins to a storage tier based on a bin access value associated with each data storage bin after a current time window ends, such that a first bin access value associated with a data storage bin that is mapped to a storage tier is greater than or equal to a second bin access value associated with a most frequently accessed data storage bin that is mapped to a next highest-performing storage tier, and when the data storage bin was not mapped to a current storage tier after a previous time window ended, determining a time weighting factor to be applied to an access frequency associated with the current time window, wherein a next bin access value associated with the data storage bin is calculated using the time weighting factor. | 07-19-2012 |
20120198150 | ASSIGNING DEVICE ADAPTORS AND BACKGROUND TASKS TO USE TO COPY SOURCE EXTENTS TO TARGET EXTENTS IN A COPY RELATIONSHIP - Provided are a computer program product, system, and method for assigning device adaptors and background tasks to use to copy source extents to target extents in a copy relationship. A relation is provided of a plurality of source extents in source ranks to copy to a plurality of target extents in target ranks in the storage system. One target rank in the relation is used to determine an order in which the target ranks in the relation are selected to register for copying. For each selected target rank in the relation selected according to the determined order, an iteration of a registration operation is performed to register the selected target rank and a selected source rank copied to the selected target rank in the relation. The registration operation comprises indicating in a device adaptor assignment data structure a source device adaptor and target device adaptor to use to copy the selected rank to the selected target rank and adding an entry to a priority queue for the relation for the selected target rank. The selected source rank is copied to the selected target rank using as the source and target device adaptors indicated in the device adaptor assignment data structure for the selected target rank in response to processing the entry in the priority queue added to the priority queue for the selected target rank. | 08-02-2012 |
20120198151 | STORAGE APPARATUS AND DATA MANAGEMENT METHOD - Provided are a storage apparatus and data management method with which the usage ratio of each of the storage tiers is determined beforehand for each virtual volume and data can be managed by being migrated between storage tiers within a range of predetermined usage ratios. | 08-02-2012 |
20120198152 | SYSTEM, APPARATUS, AND METHOD SUPPORTING ASYMMETRICAL BLOCK-LEVEL REDUNDANT STORAGE - A block-level storage system and method support asymmetrical block-level redundant storage by automatically determining performance characteristics associated with at least one region of each of a number of block storage devices and creating a plurality of redundancy zones from regions of the block storage devices, where at least one of the redundancy zones is a hybrid zone including at least two regions having different but complementary performance characteristics selected from different block storage devices based on a predetermined performance level selected for the zone. Such “hybrid” zones can be used in the context of block-level tiered redundant storage, in which zones may be intentionally created for a predetermined tiered storage policy from regions on different types of block storage devices or regions on similar types of block storage devices but having different but complementary performance characteristics. | 08-02-2012 |
20120198153 | DATA STORAGE - A data storage system comprises a controller, a first lower performance storage medium and a second higher performance storage medium. The controller is connected to the storage mediums and is arranged to control Input/Output (IO) access to the storage mediums. In operation, the controller is arranged to store an image on the first storage medium, initiate a copy function from the first storage medium to the second storage medium, direct all IO access for the image to the second storage medium, and periodically age data from the second storage medium to the first storage medium. | 08-02-2012 |
20120203965 | METHOD AND SYSTEM OF COLLECTION PERFORMANCE DATA FOR STORAGE NETWORK - This invention provides a user or an operator with a management apparatus or method for displaying logical connection information between an interface connected to a computer and a switch and a storage system or a logical unit in the storage system in a virtual storage system, wherein the switch receives a first access request from said computer, converts said first access request to a second access request to one of said plural storage systems, and sends said second access request to one of said plural storage systems or one logical unit. | 08-09-2012 |
20120203966 | STORAGE SYSTEM COMPRISING POWER SAVING FUNCTION - A storage system constituted such that power saving to an administrator-desired storage device can be performed from a management device. That is, the storage system comprises a power-saving indication receiving section for receiving from a management console a power-saving indication specifying at least one storage device of a plurality of RAID groups, a plurality of logical units, and a plurality of physical storage devices; and a power-saving controller for saving on power to one or more physical storage devices corresponding to the storage device specified in this power-saving indication. | 08-09-2012 |
20120210059 | CASCADED RAID CONTROLLER - A cascaded RAID controller includes a master RAID 1 controller having a control level and M slave RAID 1 controllers, where M is an integer greater than or equal to 1. Each of the M+1 RAID 1 controllers is configured respectively to have three ports, including a primary port configured to communicate bi-directionally with computer hardware having a higher control level than that of the respective one of the M+1 RAID 1 controllers and including two secondary ports. The cascaded RAID controller is configured to provide connections to a total of M+2 memory devices, and configured to record the same information on each of the M+2 memory devices to create M+2 identical copies of the information. A process for initializing a cascaded RAID controller is also described. | 08-16-2012 |
20120210060 | CREATION OF LOGICAL UNITS VIA BORROWING OF ALTERNATIVE STORAGE AND SUBSEQUENT MOVEMENT OF THE LOGICAL UNITS TO DESIRED STORAGE - A computational device receives a request to create a logical unit. Associated with the request is a first type of storage pool in which creation of the logical unit is desired. In response to determining that adequate space is not available to create the logical unit in the first type of storage pool, a determination is made as to whether a first indicator is configured to allow borrowing of storage space from a second type of storage pool. In response to determining that the first indicator is configured to allow borrowing of storage space from the second type of storage pool, the logical unit is created in the second type of storage pool and a listener application is initiated. The listener application determines that free space that is adequate to store the logical unit has become available in the first type of storage pool. The logical unit is moved from the second type of storage pool to the first type of storage pool, in response to determining, via the listener application, that free space that is adequate to store the logical unit has become available in the first type of storage pool. | 08-16-2012 |
20120210061 | COMPUTER AND METHOD FOR TESTING REDUNDANT ARRAY OF INDEPENDENT DISKS OF THE COMPUTER - In a method for testing a redundant array of independent disks (RAID) of a computer, the RAID includes two or more hard disk drives. A RAID volume is created for the RAID. One of the hard disk drives in the RAID is disabled while the RAID volume is in an optimal state. The RAID volume is in a degraded state when one of the hard disk drives in the RAID is disabled. The disabled hard disk drive in the RAID is then enabled while the RAID volume is in the degraded state. Then an attempt to rebuild the RAID volume is made. The RAID works normally once each of the hard disk drives in the RAID is disabled and enabled, and the RAID volume is successfully rebuilt after each enablement and the optimal state is achieved. | 08-16-2012 |
20120210062 | STORAGE DEVICE AND STORAGE-DEVICE CONTROL METHOD - A generation-code storage unit stores therein a generation code in association with identification information for identifying the block datum. A generation-code managing unit assigns a new generation code to a detected consecutive data set and any block datum included in writing data other than the consecutive data set and stores the assigned generation code in the generation-code storage unit. A data writing unit adds the new generation code to the block datum or consecutive data set included in the writing data and writes it to a storage unit. A determining unit determines whether the generation code added to a read block datum or consecutive data set is accordant with the generation code of the read block datum or consecutive data set stored in the generation-code storage unit. A data transmitting unit transmits, when the generation codes are accordant, the read block datum or consecutive data set. | 08-16-2012 |
20120210063 | MANAGEMENT METHOD AND A MANAGEMENT SYSTEM FOR VOLUME - It is made possible to update information registered in a database of iSNS, SLP and the like in response to a configurational change in a storage device, and for a host computer to discover a disk volume. In response to changes in contents of operation to alter a storage configuration such as in creating or deleting a volume or LUN, contents of the alteration are reflected in the database of iSNS or SLP. Also, in response to a change in setting of LUN masking, a discovery domain of iSNS or attribute values of SLP are updated so that the host computer can discover the disk volume. Also, objects and services are reregistered periodically according to a registration period of iSNS or lifetime of SLP to prevent registered contents from expiring. | 08-16-2012 |
20120221788 | MULTI-DIMENSIONAL ARRAY MANIPULATION - Method, system, and utility for performing an operation on data represented as elements of a multi-dimensional array. Operation on the data in the array may comprise performing a plurality of iterations. In each iteration, a plurality of elements in the array, stored contiguously in a first memory, may be selected based at least on a selected dimension of the array. The selected plurality of elements may be loaded into a second memory and a binary operator may be applied to each element of the selected plurality of elements and another element stored in the second memory. The second memory may have a smaller latency than the first memory. | 08-30-2012 |
20120221789 | Specifying Physical Attributes of a Cloud Storage Device - Mechanisms are provided for creating a cloud storage device. A user interface is presented for selecting a type of physical storage devices, from a plurality of possible physical storage devices, to include in the cloud storage device and a quantity of a selected type of physical storage devices to include in the cloud storage device. User input is received via the interface specifying the selected type of physical storage devices and the quantity of the selected type of physical storage devices. A cloud storage device is generated comprising the specified quantity of the selected type of physical storage devices. The cloud storage device is presented for access by a client computing device associated with the user. | 08-30-2012 |
20120221790 | Transparent Data Migration Within A Computing Environment - Described is a method and system for transparently migrating data between storage systems of a computing environment without disrupting realtime access to the stored data of the storage systems. Specifically, when adding a new storage system to the computing environment, realtime data write operations can be redirected to the new storage system instead of an existing storage system. During the redirection, the data stored on the existing storage system can be accessed for data operations. Concurrently, during the redirection, data stored on the existing storage system can be migrated to the new storage system. When the data migration completes and all the data, stored on the existing storage system prior to the redirection, resides on the new storage system, the new storage system can function as the primary storage system. Thus, storage capacity can increase or be replaced without disrupting data operations. | 08-30-2012 |
20120226853 | REDUNDANT ARRAY OF INEXPENSIVE DISKS (RAID) SYSTEM CONFIGURED TO REDUCE REBUILD TIME AND TO PREVENT DATA SPRAWL - A RAID system is provided in which, in the event that a rebuild is to be performed for one of the PDs, a filter driver of the operating system of the computer of the RAID system informs the RAID controller of the RAID system of addresses in the virtual memory that are unused. Unused virtual memory addresses are those which have never been written by the OS as well as those which have been written by the OS and subsequently freed by the OS. The RAID controller translates the unused virtual memory addresses into unused physical addresses. The RAID controller then reconstructs data and parity only for the unused physical addresses in the PD for which the rebuild is being performed. This reduces the amount of data and parity that are rebuilt during a rebuild process and reduces the amount of time that is required to perform the rebuild process. In addition, the RAID system is capable of being configured to prevent or reduce data sprawl. | 09-06-2012 |
20120226854 | STORAGE SYSTEM AND A METHOD OF CONTROL OF A STORAGE SYSTEM - A storage system and a method of control of a storage system including plural storage media, at least one SAS expander physically connected to each of the plural storage media and to a controller via plural parallel data channels, the controller being connected to a host CPU arranged in use to execute input/output operations to transfer data to and read data from the plural storage media, the method including: at the expander, varying the available bandwidth for communication with the plural storage media by varying the available number of the plural parallel data channels thereby providing control of the number of input/output operations executed by the host CPU. | 09-06-2012 |
20120226855 | SHARING A DIRECTORY OF A DISPERSED STORAGE NETWORK - A method begins by a processing module receiving a dispersed storage network (DSN) access request accessing DSN memory and determining state of a shared global DSN directory. When the shared global DSN directory is in a ready-for-modification state, the method continues with the processing module updating state of the shared global DSN directory to a modification state, executing the DSN access request, updating a non-shared local DSN directory and the shared global DSN directory, and changing the state of the shared global DSN directory to the ready-for-modification state. When the shared global DSN directory is in the modification state, the method continues with the processing module executing the DSN access request, generating a shared global DSN directory update request, updating the non-shared local DSN directory, and when the shared global DSN directory is in the ready-for-modification state, coordinating updating of the shared global DSN directory. | 09-06-2012 |
20120226856 | CONTROL METHOD WITH MANAGEMENT SERVER APPARATUS FOR STORAGE DEVICE AND AIR CONDITIONER AND STORAGE SYSTEM - Arrangements reducing power consumption of an air conditioner and a storage device. A control method with a management server apparatus for a plurality of storage devices and an air conditioner includes calculating plural combinations of allocating the work amount to the plurality of storage devices, calculating the heating value of each storage device included in the plurality of storage devices for each of the plural combinations, calculating the quantity of heat conducted to the air conditioner, based on the heating value and positional information of the plurality of storage devices and the air conditioner, calculating the power consumption to cool the quantity of heat conducted to the air conditioner, selecting a combination included in the plural combinations based on the power consumption of the air conditioner, and issuing a move of the data stored in a first storage device to a second storage device, based on the selected combination. | 09-06-2012 |
20120226857 | COMPUTER AND METHOD FOR MANAGING STORAGE APPARATUS - A management computer manages the pool application information that indicates a pool application for a pool and the application condition information that indicates the condition for the pool application. The management computer calculates an excess storage capacity based on a pool usage status for the pool. The management computer specifies a pool application for the pool and the condition for the pool application based on the pool application information and the application condition information. The management computer judges whether the specified condition is satisfied even in the case in which a storage area having a storage capacity equivalent to or less than the calculated excess storage capacity is deleted from the pool. In the case in which the result of the judgment is positive, the management computer defines a capacity equivalent to or less than the excess storage capacity as an unused capacity. | 09-06-2012 |
20120233399 | STORAGE APPARATUS AND METHOD OF CONTROLLING THE SAME - The present invention aims to improve the performance of a storage apparatus. | 09-13-2012 |
20120233400 | DISK ARRAY UNIT - A disk array unit connected to a host unit to give information thereto and receive information therefrom. The disk unit includes a plurality of disk units for storing information transmitted from the host unit and a management information recording device, formed by utilizing information storage areas in the disk units, for causing information relating to a logical unit for storing information from the host unit to correspond to information relating to the units. The invention further includes a control unit, when there is no access from the host unit to the logical unit for a predetermined time, for determining the disk units corresponding to the logical unit based on information recorded in the management information recording device and performing power saving of power supply for the disk units. | 09-13-2012 |
20120239880 | METHOD AND SYSTEM TO LOCATE A STORAGE DEVICE - A request is received from a client machine via a web interface for content presented on a web page. A globally unique identifier (GUID) that is associated with the user is accessed and a number is generated based on the GUID. The generated number is utilized as an index to locate the storage device from the number of storage devices. Here, the storage device stores a user profile associated with the user. The user profile is read from the located storage device and the web page is personalized based on this user profile. The personalized web page is then communicated to the client machine. Other techniques for locating a storage device are also described. | 09-20-2012 |
20120246403 | WRITE SPIKE PERFORMANCE ENHANCEMENT IN HYBRID STORAGE SYSTEMS - A hybrid storage array one using two or more storage device tiers. In one implementation, two tiers may be provided by solid state drives (SSDs) and hard disk drives (HDDs). Host application access patterns of a certain type determined to be relatively slow, such as random writes, are detected. The random writes are collected and written to a special reserve space, such as a portion of the SSD storage tier, referred to as a write cache extension. The write cache extension absorbs such accesses that would otherwise be written to HDD storage directly. Data structures are created in a cache memory local to an array controller representing the location on SSD reserve space to which the writes were committed and a location in the storage system where they were originally intended to go. The write cache extension can be enabled all of the time, or only when the array controller write cache experiences certain operating conditions, such as when its utilization exceeds a certain predetermined amount. The approach improves the overall performance of the hybrid array. | 09-27-2012 |
20120254532 | METHOD AND APPARATUS TO ALLOCATE AREA TO VIRTUAL VOLUME - A storage system comprises a plurality of hard disk drives and a storage controller providing a plurality of virtual volumes to a server and including a processor and a memory. The storage controller allocates pages of the plurality of virtual volumes to the plurality of hard disk drives in response to write requests. The storage controller controls to allocate outer sections of the plurality of hard disks to first addresses of the virtual volume and allocates inner sections of the plurality of hard disk drives to second addresses of the virtual volume, wherein the first addresses are lower than the second addresses. | 10-04-2012 |
20120254533 | CACHE MEMORY ALLOCATION PROCESS BASED ON TCPIP NETWORK AND/OR STORAGE AREA NETWORK ARRAY PARAMETERS - An apparatus comprising a controller, one or more host devices and one or more storage devices. The controller may be configured to store and/or retrieve data in response to one or more input/output requests. The one or more host devices may be configured to present the input/output requests. The one or more storage devices may be configured to store and/or retrieve the data. The controller may include a cache memory configured to store the input/output requests. The cache memory may be configured as a memory allocation table to store and/or retrieve a compressed version of a portion of the data in response to one or more network parameters. The compressed version may be retrieved from the memory allocation table instead of the storage devices based on the input/output requests to improve overall storage throughput. | 10-04-2012 |
20120254534 | DATA STORAGE DEVICE - A data storage device includes a plurality of main hard disk drives (HDD), at least one standby HDD, and a Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID) controller. The RAID controller controls all the plurality of main HDDs to form an RAID array that serve as a virtual single hard disk drive for storing data. When any one of the plurality of main HDDs malfunctions, the RAID controller adds the standby HDD to the RAID array to replace the malfunctioning main HDD. | 10-04-2012 |
20120254535 | INSTANT DATA RESTORATION - An exposed Internet Small Computer System Interface (iSCSI) target of a backup repository is defined as a source of, and a storage volume to be recovered as a target of, a mirrored pair of storage resources. The iSCSI target represents a point-in-time backup snapshot. Data from the iSCSI target is synchronized to the storage volume. The mechanisms of the illustrated embodiments leverage iSCSI with Instant Restore to reduce a Recovery Time Objective (RTO) and provide a secure transport when recovering a volume over a WAN. | 10-04-2012 |
20120260035 | ZERO REBUILD EXTENSIONS FOR RAID - Disclosed is a method of reliably operating a RAID storage system. A first block of data is striped across a plurality of drives following a CRUSH algorithm. The first block of data is again striped across a second plurality of drives to a D′+P′ stripe and placed on free drive space following the CRUSH algorithm. The data is written in an asynchronous fashion and possibly at a time when system utilization is low. | 10-11-2012 |
20120260036 | STORAGE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS AND METHODS - Storage management systems and methods are presented. In one embodiment, a storage management method comprises: establishing a cluster including one or more logical unit number storage components (LUNs) communicatively coupled to one or more host nodes, wherein one of the one or more nodes is a master host node; performing a LUN naming process wherein a master host node assigns a name to each of the one or more LUNs respectively, even if the one or more LUNS are communicatively coupled to a slave host node; and operating the cluster, wherein the one or more host nodes refer to the one or more LUNs by the name. In one embodiment, the master host node stores information associated with the name in a computer readable medium. The cluster can include one or more slave host nodes. | 10-11-2012 |
20120260037 | SMART HYBRID STORAGE BASED ON INTELLIGENT DATA ACCESS CLASSIFICATION - A method for configuring resources in a storage array, comprising the steps of (a) determining if a data access is a first type or a second type, (b) if the data access is the first type, configuring the storage array as a reliable type configuration, (c) if the data access is the second type, configuring the storage array as a secure type configuration. | 10-11-2012 |
20120260038 | STORAGE APPARATUS AND VOLUME MANAGEMENT METHOD - Pages having different management sizes are efficiently stored in the same pool. The storage apparatus comprises a storage unit which stores data that is read/written by the host apparatus, and a control unit which controls writing of the data to the storage unit, wherein the control unit configures one or two or more pools from the storage unit and divides one of the pools into first pages having an area of a first size and divides the first pages into second pages having the second area, and manages the pages, manages a data storage area of a first volume storing the data by using the first-size area and manages a data storage area of a second volume storing the data by using the second-size area, assigns the first page to the data storage area of the first volume, and assigns the first page in units of the second volume and assigns the second page obtained by dividing the first page to the data storage area of the second volume. | 10-11-2012 |
20120265932 | METHOD TO INCREASE THE FLEXIBILITY OF CONFIGURATION AND/OR I/O PERFORMANCE ON A DRIVE ARRAY BY CREATION OF RAID VOLUME IN A HETEROGENEOUS MODE - An apparatus comprising a controller and a plurality of storage drives. The controller may be configured to generate a control signal in response to one or more input/output requests. The plurality of storage drives may be arranged as one or more volumes. Each of the volumes may comprise a plurality of drive groups. Each of the drive groups may comprise a particular type of storage drive. The controller may be configured to form the volume across drives from two or more of the groups. | 10-18-2012 |
20120265933 | STRIDE BASED FREE SPACE MANAGEMENT ON COMPRESSED VOLUMES - Compressed data is maintained in a plurality of strides of a redundant array of independent disks, wherein a stride is configurable to store a plurality of tracks. A request is received to write one or more tracks, and a determination is made as to whether all of the one or more tracks can be stored in one selected stride of the plurality of strides. In response to determining that all of the one or more tracks can be stored in the one selected stride, the one or more tracks are written in the one selected stride of the plurality of strides. | 10-18-2012 |
20120265934 | WRITING ADJACENT TRACKS TO A STRIDE, BASED ON A COMPARISON OF A DESTAGING OF TRACKS TO A DEFRAGMENTATION OF THE STRIDE - Compressed data is maintained in a plurality of strides of a redundant array of independent disks, wherein a stride is configurable to store a plurality of tracks. A request is received to write one or more tracks. The one or more tracks are written to a selected stride of the plurality of strides, based on comparing the number of operations required to destage selected tracks from the selected stride to the number of operations required to defragment the compressed data in the selected stride. | 10-18-2012 |
20120265935 | METHOD FOR IMPLEMENTING DISK ARRAY, AND METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR READING OR WRITING DATA - A method for implementing a disk array, and a method and apparatus for reading or writing data are provided in embodiments of the present invention. The method includes: creating logical partition regions, where each logical partition region corresponds to one controller in one controller group; recording a mapping relationship between the logical partition regions and the controllers in a controller mapping table; and allocating, chunklets for the logical partition regions from a physical disk that is managed by a controller in a controller group that is corresponding to each logical partition region, and recording a mapping relationship between the logical partition regions and the chunklets in a chunklet mapping table. In the present invention, a chunklet in a physical disk that is managed by a controller in the same controller group is set to corresponding to each logical partition region, so that an expansion operation is completed easily. | 10-18-2012 |
20120271996 | MEMORY RESOURCE PROVISIONING USING SAS ZONING - An example method for memory resource provisioning using SAS zoning can include a serial attached Small Computer System Interface (SCSI) (SAS) switch and a provisioning manager (PM) executing on the SAS switch. A plurality of servers are communicatively coupled to the SAS switch, each server executing an operating system (OS) having access to one or more OS volumes. A host provisioning agent (HPA) executes on the OS of each of the plurality of servers. A plurality of memory resources are communicatively coupled to the SAS switch. Each memory resource can have a number of physical hard drives. A first portion of the memory resources is associated with zone groups corresponding to the plurality of servers. A second portion of the memory resources is associated with a provisioning zone group (PZG) hidden from the plurality of servers but available to the PM. | 10-25-2012 |
20120271997 | Method and System for Distributed RAID Implementation - Embodiments of the systems and methods disclosed provide a distributed RAID system comprising a set of data banks. More particularly, in certain embodiments of a distributed RAID system each data bank has a set of associated storage media and executes a similar distributed RAID application. Each data bank may have a high speed memory where a write cache is stored. In certain embodiments, a virtualization layer may be executed on a data bank and the distributed RAID application may execute on the virtualization layer. The distributed RAID application may control access to the high speed memory on which the write cache is stored. | 10-25-2012 |
20120271998 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR DISTRIBUTED RAID IMPLEMENTATION - Embodiments of the systems and methods disclosed provide a distributed RAID system comprising a set of data banks. More particularly, in certain embodiments of a distributed RAID system each data bank has a set of associated storage media and executes a similar distributed RAID application. Each data bank may have a high speed memory where a write cache is stored. In certain embodiments, a virtualization layer may be executed on a data bank and the distributed RAID application may execute on the virtualization layer. The distributed RAID application may control access to the high speed memory on which the write cache is stored. | 10-25-2012 |
20120271999 | STORAGE SUBSYSTEM THAT CONNECTS FIBRE CHANNEL AND SUPPORTS ONLINE BACKUP - The storage system includes first and second disk arrays. The first disk array has a first port coupled to a second port of the second disk array, a port controller controlling the first port, a plurality of disk devices to store data, and a controller managing a plurality of logical units on the plurality of disk drives. The first port controller controls the first port so as to execute, in a time-sharing manner, data transfer corresponding to a initiator task and data transfer corresponding to a target task. The initiator task is generated to execute the data transfer from a first logical unit on the plurality of disk drives of the first disk array to a second logical unit on a plurality of disk drives of the second disk array. The target task is generated to execute the data transfer to receive data from the second disk array. | 10-25-2012 |
20120272000 | EFFICIENT DATA STORAGE IN STORAGE DEVICE ARRAYS - A method for data storage includes encoding data with an inter-device Error Correction Code (ECC), and sending the encoded data for storage on two or more storage devices. The data to be stored on each of the storage devices, and which has been encoded with the inter-device ECC, is encoded with an intra-device ECC, and the data encoded with the inter-device and intra-device ECCs is stored on the storage device. After storing the data, at least part of the stored data is retrieved and output by decoding the intra-device and inter-device ECCs, while using information related to one of the intra-device and inter-device ECCs in decoding the other of the intra-device and inter-device ECCs. | 10-25-2012 |
20120272001 | DYNAMIC USE OF RAID LEVELS RESPONSIVE TO WORKLOAD REQUIREMENTS - Data associated with a workload is stored in a first composite array of data storage devices that meets first data storage requirements of the workload, and is automatically stored in a second composite array in response to detecting second data storage requirements of the workload, wherein the second composite array of data storage devices meets the second data storage requirements. The data may be stored in the second composite array by either converting the first array or migrating the data to another array that more closely meets the current data storage requirements of the workload. Alternatively, the array conversion or the data migration may be performed in response to a predictive failure alert from one of the data storage devices in the first composite array. | 10-25-2012 |
20120278550 | SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE BASED ON RAID CONTROLLER COLLABORATION - Embodiments of the present invention provide a semiconductor storage device (SSD) system based on redundant array of independent disks (RAID) controller collaboration. Specifically, embodiments of the present invention provide a set (at least one) of RAID controllers coupled to a host system, wherein each of the set of RAID controllers is configured to collaborate with at least one other RAID controller within the set through at least one dedicated controller-to-controller channel to enable high bandwidth RAID storage. | 11-01-2012 |
20120278551 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR COUPLING SERIAL ATTACHED SCSI (SAS) DEVICES AND INTERNET SMALL COMPUTER SYSTEM INTERNET (iSCSI) DEVICES THROUGH SINGLE HOST BUS ADAPTER - An apparatus comprising an interface, a first port, and a second port. The interface may be configured to connect to a host computer. The first port may be configured to connect to a first set of storage devices using a first protocol. The second port may be configured to connect to a second set of storage devices using a second protocol. The apparatus may provide support for the first protocol and the second protocol to allow communication using both the first protocol and the second protocol through the interface. | 11-01-2012 |
20120278552 | REMOTE EXECUTION OF RAID IN LARGE TOPOLOGIES - A SAS expander for use in a SAS topology includes a receiving portion and a controller. The receiving portion is configured to receive a remote RAID instruction from a root host bus adapter. The controller is configured to execute the instruction to manage a RAID volume in accordance with a RAID management task specified by the instruction. | 11-01-2012 |
20120278553 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR MIGRATION OF DATA CLONES - Described herein is a system and method for migrating data from a source storage site to a destination storage site. The data may be comprised within storage objects (e.g., flexible volumes). A base storage object may comprise a parent storage object and a storage object clone may comprise a storage object that is derived from the base storage object. As such, a hierarchical relationship exists between the base storage object and the storage object clone. The storage object clone may comprise a writable point-in-time image of the parent storage object. If a migration of the base storage object and the storage object clone is performed, then the hierarchical relationship between the base storage object and the storage object clone is retained after the storage objects are migrated from the source storage site to the destination storage site. As such, the system and method for migrating data may enable storage space and network bandwidth savings. | 11-01-2012 |
20120284460 | HIGH PERFORMANCE PATH FOR COMMAND PROCESSING - Embodiments of solid-state storage system are provided herein which reduce processing delays for performance-sensitive commands. These performance-sensitive commands are typically read-write commands which can be transferred to the storage media by a high performance path to optimize responsiveness to the host. This high performance path can be enabled and disabled to prevent conflicts with commands processed via a low performance path. | 11-08-2012 |
20120290788 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR RAID MANAGEMENT, REALLOCATION, AND RESTRIPPING - The present disclosure relates to systems and methods for RAID Restriping. One method includes selecting an initial RAID device for migration based on at least one score, creating an alternate RAID device, moving data from the initial RAID device to the alternate RAID device, and removing the initial RAID device. The method may be performed automatically by the system or manually. The method may be performed periodically, continuously, after every RAID device migration, upon addition of disk drives, and/or before removal of disk drives, etc. One system includes a RAID subsystem and a disk manager configured to automatically calculate a score for each RAID device, select a RAID device based on the relative scores of the RAID devices, create an alternate RAID device, move data from the selected RAID device to the alternate RAID device, and remove the selected RAID device. | 11-15-2012 |
20120297134 | System and Method to Isolate Passive Disk Transfers to Improve Storage Performance - A storage system includes a storage controller, a storage array coupled to the storage controller, and a temporary storage device coupled to the storage controller. The storage array is operated as a redundant array of independent drives (RAID) array and includes a high priority storage volume and a low priority storage volume. The storage controller stores high priority data transfers on the high priority volume, stores low priority data transfers on the temporary storage device, and moves the low priority data transfers to the low priority volume in response to a condition of the storage system. | 11-22-2012 |
20120297135 | REDUNDANT ARRAY OF INDEPENDENT DISKS SYSTEM WITH INTER-CONTROLLER COMMUNICATION AND METHOD OF OPERATION THEREOF - A method of operation of a redundant array of independent disks system includes: instantiating a first controller having a first local map and a first remote map; instantiating a second controller having a second local map and a second remote map mapped to the first local map; mapping a first memory device to the first local map by the first controller; coupling a storage device to the second controller and the first controller; and switching control of the storage device to the first controller, when a failure of the second controller is detected, by the first controller reading the first memory device. | 11-22-2012 |
20120297136 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR DISTRIBUTED RAID IMPLEMENTATION - Embodiments of the systems and methods disclosed provide a distributed RAID system comprising a set of data banks. More particularly, in certain embodiments of a distributed RAID system each data bank has a set of associated storage media and executes a similar distributed RAID application. The distributed RAID applications on each of the data banks coordinate among themselves to distribute and control data flow associated with implementing a level of RAID in conjunction with data stored on the associated storage media of the data banks. | 11-22-2012 |
20120297137 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR DATA MIGRATION IN A DISTRIBUTED RAID IMPLEMENTATION - Embodiments of the systems and methods disclosed provide a distributed RAID system comprising a set of data banks. More particularly, in certain embodiments of a distributed RAID system each data bank has a set of associated storage media and executes a similar distributed RAID application. The distributed RAID applications on each of the data banks coordinate among themselves to distribute and control data flow associated with implementing a level of RAID in conjunction with a volume stored on the associated storage media of the data banks. Migration of this volume, or a portion thereof, from one configuration to another configuration may be accomplished such that the volume, or the portion thereof, and corresponding redundancy data may be stored according to this second configuration. | 11-22-2012 |
20120303890 | WRITING OF NEW DATA OF A FIRST BLOCK SIZE IN A RAID ARRAY THAT STORES BOTH PARITY AND DATA IN A SECOND BLOCK SIZE - A Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID) controller receives new data that is to be written, wherein the new data is indicated in blocks of a first block size. The RAID controller reads old data, and old parity that corresponds to the old data, stored in blocks of a second block size that is larger in size than the first block size. The RAID controller computes new parity based on the new data, the old data, and the old parity. The RAID controller writes the new data and the new parity aligned to the blocks of the second block size, wherein portions of the old data that are not overwritten by the RAID controller are also written to the blocks of the second block size. | 11-29-2012 |
20120303891 | WRITING OF DATA OF A FIRST BLOCK SIZE IN A RAID ARRAY THAT STORES AND MIRRORS DATA IN A SECOND BLOCK SIZE - Data that is to be written is received, wherein the data is indicated in one or more blocks of a first block size. Each of the one or more blocks of the first block size is written in consecutive blocks of a second block size that is larger is size than the first block size, wherein each of the consecutive blocks of the second block size stores only one block of the first block size, and wherein each of the consecutive blocks of the second block size has empty space remaining, subsequent to the writing of each of the one or more blocks of the first block size. Filler data is written in the empty space remaining in each of the consecutive blocks of the second block size. | 11-29-2012 |
20120303892 | WRITING OF NEW DATA OF A FIRST BLOCK SIZE IN A RAID ARRAY THAT STORES BOTH PARITY AND DATA IN A SECOND BLOCK SIZE - A Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID) controller receives new data that is to be written, wherein the new data is indicated in blocks of a first block size. The RAID controller reads old data, and old parity that corresponds to the old data, stored in blocks of a second block size that is larger in size than the first block size. The RAID controller computes new parity based on the new data, the old data, and the old parity. The RAID controller writes the new data and the new parity aligned to the blocks of the second block size, wherein portions of the old data that are not overwritten by the RAID controller are also written to the blocks of the second block size. | 11-29-2012 |
20120303893 | WRITING OF DATA OF A FIRST BLOCK SIZE IN A RAID ARRAY THAT STORES AND MIRRORS DATA IN A SECOND BLOCK SIZE - Data that is to be written is received, wherein the data is indicated in one or more blocks of a first block size. Each of the one or more blocks of the first block size is written in consecutive blocks of a second block size that is larger is size than the first block size, wherein each of the consecutive blocks of the second block size stores only one block of the first block size, and wherein each of the consecutive blocks of the second block size has empty space remaining, subsequent to the writing of each of the one or more blocks of the first block size. Filler data is written in the empty space remaining in each of the consecutive blocks of the second block size. | 11-29-2012 |
20120303894 | TRANSPORT AGNOSTIC SCSI I/O REFERRALS - The present invention is a method for providing multi-pathing via Small Computer System Interface Input/Output (SCSI I/O) referral between an initiator and a storage cluster which are communicatively coupled via a network. The method includes receiving an input/output (I/O) at a first target device from the initiator via the network. The I/O includes a data request. The method further includes transmitting a SCSI I/O referral list to the initiator when data included in the data request is not stored on the first target device, but is stored on a second target device. The referral list includes first and second port identifiers for identifying first and second ports of the second target device respectively. The first and second ports of the target device are identified as access ports for accessing the data requested in the data request. | 11-29-2012 |
20120311254 | INFORMATION PROCESSING APPARATUS AND METHOD OF CONTROLLING THE SAME - An extended command is defined in compliance with the ATA standard. A selection number for selecting one of HDDs, one or more designated ATA commands, and an accessible time period including an available count are added to the extended command. As a result, designated normal ATA commands can access a certain one of the HDDs for a certain time period. | 12-06-2012 |
20120311255 | FULL-STRIPE-WRITE PROTOCOL FOR MAINTAINING PARITY COHERENCY IN A WRITE-BACK DISTRIBUTED REDUNDANCY DATA STORAGE SYSTEM - Data storage reliability is maintained in a write-back distributed data storage system including multiple nodes. Information is stored as a stripe including a collection of a data strips and associated parity strips, the stripe distributed across data and parity nodes. Each data node maintains the data strip holding a first copy of data, and each parity node maintains a parity strip holding a parity for the collection of data strips. A driver node initiates a full-stripe-write parity update protocol for maintaining parity coherency in conjunction with other nodes, to keep the relevant parity strips coherent. Parity is determined directly by computing parity strips for all data strips of a stripe. Any node may function as a driver node. | 12-06-2012 |
20120311256 | COMPUTER SYSTEM FOR CONTROLLING ALLOCATION OF PHYSICAL LINKS AND METHOD THEREOF - The computer system of the present invention has a plurality of SAS target devices, an SAS initiator device, and a service delivery subsystem that is connected to each SAS target device by means of a physical link that is physical wiring and connected to the SAS initiator device by means of a wide link constituted by a plurality of physical links. The SAS initiator device controls how many physical links in the wide link are allocated to a particular SAS target device, whereby access from the SAS initiator device to the SAS target device is made via a physical link that is allocated to the SAS target device and is not made via a physical link that is not allocated to the SAS target device. | 12-06-2012 |
20120317355 | STORAGE APPARATUS AND DATA MANAGEMENT METHOD - A suitable Tier ratio is determined according to the I/O performance and I/O characteristic of a virtual volume. | 12-13-2012 |
20120317356 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR SHARING MEMORY BETWEEN A PLURALITY OF PROCESSORS - Systems and methods for sharing memory between a plurality of processors are provided. In one example, a shared memory system is disclosed. The system includes at least two processors and at least two memory devices, such as passive variable resistive memory (PVRM) devices. Each memory device is operatively connected to each processor via one of a plurality of processor interfaces. Each processor interface is dedicated to a single processor of the at least two processors. In this manner, any individual processor of the at least two processors is operative to access data stored in any individual memory device of the at least two memory devices via the processor interface dedicated to that respective individual processor. | 12-13-2012 |
20120317357 | System And Method For Identifying Location Of A Disk Drive In A SAS Storage System - SAS technology does not offer an explicit solution to the identification of the physical location of an end device. Accordingly, there is provided a method and system for enabling to identify the physical location of a disk in a storage system configured with SAS technology. According to the presently disclosed subject matter a control device in a storage system is operable to determine the physical location of the disks within each enclosure. The control device can be made operable also to determine the location of the enclosures within the rack and thereby obtain the full mapping of the disks within the storage system. This mapping enables, inter alia, to associate between a SCSI target number of a disk and its physical location within the storage system. | 12-13-2012 |
20120324161 | ELECTRONIC DEVICE AND METHOD FOR PERFORMING DATA BACKUP AND RECOVERY - In a method for performing data backup and recovery in an electronic device, the method initializes a redundant array of independent disk (RAID) card of the electronic device when the electronic device is started up, receives preset configuration information of the RAID card, and stores backup configuration information of the RAID card in a storage device. The method further sets a flag value of the RAID card as a first value if current configuration information of the RAID card are not identical to the backup configuration information when the electronic device is started up at a next time, restarts the electronic device, updates the current configuration information of the RAID card with the backup configuration information, sets the flag value as a second value, and restarts the electronic device. | 12-20-2012 |
20120324162 | STORAGE SYSTEM COMPRISING FUNCTION FOR REDUCING POWER CONSUMPTION - For at least one of storage unit, processor and cache memory which are I/O process-participating devices related to I/O command process, when a load of one or more I/O process-participating devices or a part thereof is a low load equal to or less than a predetermined threshold value, a processing related to a state of one or more of the I/O process-participating devices or a part thereof is redirected to another one or more I/O process-participating devices or a part thereof, and the state of the one or more I/O process-participating devices or a part thereof is shifted to a power-saving state. | 12-20-2012 |
20120331222 | METHOD TO IMPROVE THE PERFORMANCE OF A READ AHEAD CACHE PROCESS IN A STORAGE ARRAY - An apparatus comprising an array controller and a cache. The array controller may be configured to read/write data to a first array of drives of a first drive type in response to one or more input/output requests. The cache may be configured to (i) receive said input/output requests from the array controller, (ii) temporarily store the input/output requests, and (iii) read/write data to a second array of drives of a second drive type in response to the input/output requests. The first array of drives may be configured to copy the data directly to/from the second array of drives during a cache miss condition such that the array controller retrieves the data stored in the first array of drives through the second array of drives without writing the data to the cache. | 12-27-2012 |
20120331223 | PARALLEL BLOCK ALLOCATION FOR DECLUSTERED LOGICAL DISKS - In a method for allocating space on a logical disk, a computer receives an allocation request to allocate a number of requested logical disk extents. The computer selects one of a first group having an array of logical disk extents and a second group having an array of logical disk extents. The computer selects a group having a number of free logical disk extents that is greater than or equal to the number of requested logical disk extents. The logical disk extents in the array of the first group and in the array of the second group correspond to disk blocks on a logical disk. The logical disk spans one or more physical random access disks. The computer locks the selected group to prevent allocating a logical disk extent other than in response to the allocation request. | 12-27-2012 |
20120331224 | PRESERVING DATA AVAILABILITY AND I/O PERFORMANCE WHEN CREATING VIRTUAL RAID VOLUMES - A method for preserving data availability and I/O performance when creating a virtual RAID volume includes exposing a set of backend virtual volumes. The backend virtual volumes are implemented on a set of physical storage devices (e.g., physical disks or solid state drives) residing on a storage system. The method further enables selection of the set of backend virtual volumes to create a virtual RAID volume having a selected RAID level. The method further provides verification that the backend virtual volumes will be implemented on the physical storage devices in a way that preserves the data availability and I/O performance associated with the selected RAID level. A corresponding computer program product and apparatus are also described. | 12-27-2012 |
20120331225 | PRESERVING DATA AVAILABILITY AND I/O PERFORMANCE WHEN CREATING VIRTUAL RAID VOLUMES - A method for preserving data availability and I/O performance when creating a virtual RAID volume includes exposing a set of backend virtual volumes. The backend virtual volumes are implemented on a set of physical storage devices (e.g., physical disks or solid state drives) residing on a storage system. The method further enables selection of the set of backend virtual volumes to create a virtual RAID volume having a selected RAID level. The method further provides verification that the backend virtual volumes will be implemented on the physical storage devices in a way that preserves the data availability and I/O performance associated with the selected RAID level. | 12-27-2012 |
20130007362 | METHOD AND SYSTEM OF DETECTING REDUNDANT ARRAY OF INDEPENDENT DISKS AND TRANSFERRING DATA - A system is utilized for detecting a RAID which includes a detector and a processor which electrically connects with the detector. The detector detects read/write state of a plurality of storage units, and generates a signal according to the read/write state respectively. The processor receives the signal, and determines the read/write state corresponding to the signal. When the read/write state of a first storage unit of the storage units is determined abnormal and wherein the processor sends a control signal, so as to interrupt a RAID mode of the system. Then, data stored in the first storage unit moves to the rest of the storage units according to the control signal. | 01-03-2013 |
20130007363 | CONTROL DEVICE AND CONTROL METHOD - A control device includes a counter configured to count the number of files stored in a first volume having a data storage area to which an upper limit of the number of files which being stored in the data storage area is set; an interpreting unit configured to interpret an inclination to increase in a capacity of the files stored in the first volume upon the number of the files counted by the counter being greater than a particular number; and a volume controller configured to generate a second volume upon the interpreting unit interpreting the inclination as such that the capacity of the files increases by an amount greater than a particular amount within a certain time length. | 01-03-2013 |
20130007364 | Transmitting Data by Means of Storage Area Network - In the technical field of data storage and access, the invention relates to the technique of data transmission using a storage area network (SAN) in a magnetic disk storage device environment, including a method for transmitting data over a SAN in such an environment, including: determining a logical volume accessible to a server of the magnetic disk storage device; obtaining information on a logical volume accessible to a client of the magnetic disk storage device, which is determined by the client; establishing a corresponding relationship between the logical volume accessible to the server and the logical volume accessible to the client; receiving a request for using the logical volume of the magnetic disk storage device from the client; and informing the client of an available logical volume by utilizing the corresponding relationship so that a data access to the available logical volume is performed by the client over the SAN. | 01-03-2013 |
20130013857 | System and Method for Providing a RAID Plus Copy Model for a Storage Network - A storage system includes a storage server adapted to receive data, determine parity data based upon the data, and store the data and the parity data in a storage array associated with the storage server. The data and the parity data may be sent to a second storage server. | 01-10-2013 |
20130013858 | TAPE LIBRARY EMULATION WITH AUTOMATIC CONFIGURATION AND DATA RETENTION - Disk based emulation of tape libraries is provided with features that allow easier management and administration of a backup system and also allow increased flexibility to both archive data on tape at a remote location and also have fast restore access to archived data files. Features include automatic emulation of physical libraries, and the retention and write protection of virtual tapes that correspond to exported physical tapes. | 01-10-2013 |
20130019060 | CREATING MULTIPLE VERSIONS FOR INTERIOR POINTERS AND ALIGNMENT OF AN ARRAYAANM WILKENS; Tim J.AACI ModestoAAST CAAACO USAAGP WILKENS; Tim J. Modesto CA USAANM BERG; Michael C.AACI VancouverAAST WAAACO USAAGP BERG; Michael C. Vancouver WA US - A device identifies array accesses of variables in a program code that includes multiple arrays, and identifies array access patterns for one of the array accesses. The device also determines an order of the array access patterns identified for the array accesses, and calculates, based on the order, distances between the array access patterns. The device further shares address calculations amongst the array accesses associated with array access patterns with one or more of the distances that are equivalent. | 01-17-2013 |
20130019061 | DATA TRANSFER REDUCTION IN SCALE OUT ARCHITECTURESAANM Jayaraman; VinodAACI San FranciscoAAST CAAACO USAAGP Jayaraman; Vinod San Francisco CA USAANM Dinkar; AbhijitAACI San JoseAAST CAAACO USAAGP Dinkar; Abhijit San Jose CA US - Mechanisms are provided for data transfer reduction in scale out architectures. When a compute node receives a write input/output (I/O) request for a data stream, the compute node separates the data stream into chunks and generates fingerprints for the individual chunks. Fingerprints are then sent to a scale out node and compared to fingerprints of chunks already maintained at the scale out node. Write data transfers are only made for chunks not already maintained at the scale out node. For a read I/O request for a data stream, fingerprints for chunks of the data stream are requested by the compute node from a scale out node. Fingerprints received are compared to fingerprints of chunks already maintained at the compute node and read data transfers are only made for chunks not already maintained at the compute node. | 01-17-2013 |
20130019062 | RAIDed MEMORY SYSTEM - A memory system and a method for managing the system is described. The system is configured such a plurality of system controllers, which may be RAID controllers, receive requests from the external environment and distribute the requests to a plurality of memory modules such that data may be stored in the memory modules. A global sequence number is assigned to the data of a data stripe so that the operations related to the data stripe are performed in an ordered manner so that the data remains consistent. A plurality of system controllers may comprise a domain and access a plurality of memory controllers and a plurality of domains may include at least one common memory module. | 01-17-2013 |
20130024614 | STORAGE MANAGER - A switch includes an expander to couple an array controller to storage drive bays which are capable of supporting physical drives. A zone manager is coupled to the expander to perform zoning configuration of physical drives for the array controller. A storage manager is used to generate storage configuration information used by the array controller to configure logical drives of the physical drives configured for the array controller. | 01-24-2013 |
20130024615 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DIFFERENTIATED DATA PLACEMENT - Method and apparatus for locating data on disk storage, wherein multiple instances of data can be stored at different locations to satisfy different use requirements such as read access, write access, and data security. The method allows a data storage system, such as a file system, to provide both read optimized and write optimized performance on disk storage of different types (e.g., sizes and speed). | 01-24-2013 |
20130024616 | Storage System and Its Logical Unit Management Method - The size of management information pages for storing format management information is minimized and a management size of the management information pages is reduced. | 01-24-2013 |
20130024617 | METHOD FOR ADAPTING PERFORMANCE SENSITIVE OPERATIONS TO VARIOUS LEVLS OF MACHINE LOADS - A redundant array of independent disk (RAID) stack executes a first memory access routine and a second memory access routine having different access timing characteristics. The RAID stack determines a number of cache misses for the execution of each of the first and second memory access routines. The RAID stack selects one of the first and second memory access routines based on the number of cache misses for further memory accesses. | 01-24-2013 |
20130024618 | LOG STRUCTURE ARRAY - A storage system, comprising: (a) a primary storage entity utilized for persistently storing an entire data-set; (b) a secondary storage entity; and (c) a secondary storage controller (“SSC”) responsive to a destage stream pending to be written to the second storage entity for identifying a succession of physical locations on the secondary storage entity formed by non-protected locations in an extent that is sufficient to accommodate the destage stream and one or more intervening protected locations between two or more of the non-protected locations; wherein said SSC is adapted to retrieve from said primary storage entity protected data associated with the intervening protected location(s), pad the stream of data with the protected data and write the padded stream of data to said secondary storage entity as a single successive write sequence over said succession of physical locations. | 01-24-2013 |
20130036266 | FIRST STORAGE CONTROL APPARATUS AND STORAGE SYSTEM MANAGEMENT METHOD - An object of the present invention is to allocate a volume to an appropriate tier in a pool in accordance with the performance of the volume. Multiple tiers | 02-07-2013 |
20130042061 | APPARATUSES AND METHODS PROVIDING REDUNDANT ARRAY OF INDEPENDENT DISKS ACCESS TO NON-VOLATILE MEMORY CHIPS - A controller may include a RAID controller and an access controller. The RAID controller exchanges data with a host and select ones of a plurality of RAID levels responsive to RAID level information. The access controller is connected to the RAID controller and to a plurality of channels that are each connected to a plurality of non-volatile memory chips. The access controller accesses data in at least one of the non-volatile memory chips connected to each of the channels according to the selected RAID level. The controller can include a storage device and a main processor. The main processor logically partitions a plurality of non-volatile memory chips connected to each of a plurality of channels into a normal partition region and a RAID level partition region, where data access is performed according to a selected RAID level, in response partition information that is stored in the storage device. | 02-14-2013 |
20130042062 | FIRMWARE MANAGEMENT OF STORAGE CLASS MEMORY - A computer program product is provided and includes a tangible storage medium readable by a processing circuit and storing instructions for execution by the processing circuit for performing a method. The method includes detecting connections of two or more input/output (I/O) adapters, each of the two or more I/O adapters having one or more solid state devices (SSDs) connected thereto, and presenting a storage class memory address space for all of the connected SSDs that is independent of connections and disconnections between each of the one or more SSDs and each of the two or more I/O adapters and the processing unit. | 02-14-2013 |
20130046931 | OPTIMIZING LOCATIONS OF DATA ACCESSED BY CLIENT APPLICATIONS INTERACTING WITH A STORAGE SYSTEM - A method for optimizing locations of physical data accessed by one or more client applications interacting with a storage system, with the storage system comprising at least two redundancy groups having physical memory spaces and data bands. Each of the data bands corresponds to physical data stored on several of the physical memory spaces. A virtualized logical address space includes client data addresses utilizable by the one or more client applications. A storage controller is configured to map the client data addresses onto the data bands, such that a mapping is obtained, wherein the one or more client applications can access physical data corresponding to the data bands. | 02-21-2013 |
20130046932 | INDICATION OF A DESTRUCTIVE WRITE VIA A NOTIFICATION FROM A DISK DRIVE THAT EMULATES BLOCKS OF A FIRST BLOCK SIZE WITHIN BLOCKS OF A SECOND BLOCK SIZE - A disk drive receives a request to write at least one block of a first block size, wherein the disk drive is configured to store blocks of a second block size that is larger in size than the first block size, and wherein the disk drive stores via emulation a plurality of emulated blocks of the first block size in each block of the second block size. The disk drive generates a read error, in response to reading a selected block of the second block size in which the at least block of the first block size is to be written via the emulation. The disk drive performs a destructive write of selected emulated blocks of the first block size that caused the read error to be generated. The disk drive writes the at least one block of the first block size in the selected block of the second block size. The disk drive sends a notification to indicate the performing of the destructive write. | 02-21-2013 |
20130054888 | CONFIGURING OBJECT STORAGE SYSTEM FOR INPUT/OUTPUT OPERATIONS - The storage system exports logical storage volumes that are provisioned as storage objects. These storage objects are accessed on demand by connected computer systems using standard protocols, such as SCSI and NFS, through logical endpoints for the protocol traffic that are configured in the storage system. When an input-output command (IO) is received at the storage system, an identifier is retrieved from the IO and translated into a logical storage volume identifier, and the IO is executed on storage locations referenced by a logical storage volume corresponding to the logical storage volume identifier. | 02-28-2013 |
20130054889 | COMPUTER SYSTEM ACCESSING OBJECT STORAGE SYSTEM - The storage system exports logical storage volumes that are provisioned as storage objects. These storage objects are accessed on demand by connected computer systems using standard protocols, such as SCSI and NFS, through logical endpoints for the protocol traffic that are configured in the storage system. Prior to issuing input-output commands to a logical storage volume, the computer system sends a request to bind the logical storage volume to a protocol endpoint. In response a first identifier for the protocol endpoint and a second identifier for the logical storage volume is returned. Different second identifiers may be generated for different logical storage volumes even though the same protocol endpoint is being used. Therefore, a single protocol endpoint may serve as a gateway for multiple logical storage volumes. | 02-28-2013 |
20130054890 | MANAGEMENT SYSTEM AND METHODS FOR OBJECT STORAGE SYSTEM - The storage system exports logical storage volumes that are provisioned as storage objects. These storage objects are accessed on demand by connected computer systems using standard protocols, such as SCSI and NFS, through logical endpoints for the protocol traffic that are configured in the storage system. To facilitate creation and management of logical storage volumes, special application programming interfaces (APIs) have been developed. The special APIs include commands to create a logical storage volume, bind, unbind, and rebind the logical storage volume, extend the size of the logical storage volume, clone the logical storage volume, and move the logical storage volume. | 02-28-2013 |
20130054891 | DISTRIBUTION DESIGN FOR FAST RAID REBUILD ARCHITECTURE - Exemplary embodiments of the invention provide a distribution design for fast RAID rebuild architecture that avoids the deterioration of the availability/reliability in the distribution architecture. According to one aspect of the invention, a storage system comprises: a data storage unit including a plurality of storage devices; a storage controller including a processor, a memory, and a controller for controlling data transfer between the memory and corresponding storage devices in the data storage unit; and an internal network coupled between the storage controller and the storage devices. Based on loads of the processor of the storage controller and the internal network, the storage controller controls to limit a number of redundant storage devices over which to distribute a write data. | 02-28-2013 |
20130054892 | IMAGE PROCESSING APPARATUS - In a shared management information area of the HDD, management information is recorded at the time of activating a multi-functional peripheral. The RAID controller copies the management information stored in the shared management information area in a mirroring information area. Then, at the time of activating the multi-functional peripheral, the RAID controller compares information of the mirroring information area of each HDD with the management information of the shared management information area, and when content thereof corresponds with each other, performs activation normally, and in the case of not corresponding with each other, judges the HDD as having a use history in the past and separates the HDD from a control target as well as performing warning display. | 02-28-2013 |
20130060998 | CONTROL SYSTEM AND METHOD OF DISK ARRAY - A control system of a disk array including multiple data storage disks is provided. The control system includes a front-end circuit, a central processing unit and a back-end circuit. The front-end circuit is for receiving multiple packets corresponding to a first protocol from a network. The central processing unit has multiple cores. One of the cores is configured as a first dedicated core to interpret the packets corresponding to the first protocol into multiple first commands. The other non-dedicated cores are for processing the first commands and outputting multiple first access instructions. The back-end circuit is for translating the first access instructions to access the data storage disks. | 03-07-2013 |
20130067159 | VOLATILE MEMORY REPRESENTATION OF NONVOLATILE STORAGE DEVICE SET - The storage devices of a storage device set (e.g., a RAID array) may generate a nonvolatile representation of the configuration of the storage device set, including logical disks, spaces, storage pools, and layout and provisioning plans, on the physical media of the storage devices. A computer accessing the storage device set may also generate a volatile memory representation of the storage device set to use while accessing the storage devices; however, the nonvolatile representation may not be performant due to its different usage and characteristics. Presented herein are techniques for accessing the storage device set according to a volatile memory representation comprising a hierarchy of logical disks, slabs, and extents, and an accessor comprising a provisioning component that handles slab accesses while applying provisioning plans, and that interfaces with a lower-level layout component that translates slab accesses into storage device accesses while applying layout plans to the storage device set. | 03-14-2013 |
20130067160 | PRODUCER-CONSUMER DATA TRANSFER USING PIECEWISE CIRCULAR QUEUE - A method includes producing values with a producer thread, and providing a queue data structure including a first array of storage locations for storing the values. The first array has a first tail pointer and a first linking pointer. If a number of values stored in the first array is less than a capacity of the first array, an enqueue operation writes a new value at a storage location pointed to by the first tail pointer and advances the first tail pointer. If the number of values stored in the first array is equal to the capacity of the first array, a second array of storage locations is allocated in the queue. The second array has a second tail pointer. The first array is linked to the second array with the first linking pointer. An enqueue operation writes the new value at a storage location pointed to by the second tail pointer and advances the second tail pointer. | 03-14-2013 |
20130067161 | METHODS AND STRUCTURE FOR TASK MANAGEMENT IN STORAGE CONTROLLERS OF A CLUSTERED STORAGE SYSTEM - Methods and structure for task management in storage controllers of a clustered storage system. An initiator storage controller of the clustered storage system ships I/O requests for processing to a target storage controller of the system. Responsive to a need to abort a previously shipped I/O request, the initiator storage controller transmits a task management message to the target storage controller. The task management message identifies one or more previously shipped I/O requests to be aborted. The target storage controller processes the received task management message in due course of processing requests and completes processing for the aborted previously shipped request in an orderly manner. Resources associated with the aborted previously shipped requests are release within both controllers. | 03-14-2013 |
20130067162 | METHODS AND STRUCTURE FOR LOAD BALANCING OF BACKGROUND TASKS BETWEEN STORAGE CONTROLLERS IN A CLUSTERED STORAGE ENVIRONMENT - Methods and structure for load balancing of background tasks between storage controllers are provided. An exemplary active storage controller comprises a front-end interface that receives host Input/Output (I/O) requests directed to a logical volume, a back-end interface that couples with one or more of storage devices provisioning the logical volume, and a control unit. The control unit processes the host I/O requests directed to the logical volume, identifies a background processing task distinct from the host I/O requests and related to the logical volume, and assigns the background processing task to a passive storage controller for processing. | 03-14-2013 |
20130067163 | METHODS AND STRUCTURE FOR TRANSFERRING OWNERSHIP OF A LOGICAL VOLUME BY TRANSFER OF NATIVE-FORMAT METADATA IN A CLUSTERED STORAGE ENVIRONMENT - Methods and systems for transferring ownership of a logical volume in a storage system comprising multiple storage controllers is provided. According to the method, the storage controllers are coupled for communication with a logical volume, wherein at least one storage device coupled with the storage controllers implements the logical volume. The method comprises identifying, at a first storage controller, a second storage controller to receive the logical volume. The method also comprises initiating a transfer of ownership of the logical volume from the first storage controller to the second storage controller by transferring metadata stored in a memory of the first storage controller to the second storage controller, the metadata existing in a native format that describes the configuration of the logical volume on the at least one storage device. | 03-14-2013 |
20130067164 | METHODS AND STRUCTURE FOR IMPLEMENTING LOGICAL DEVICE CONSISTENCY IN A CLUSTERED STORAGE SYSTEM - Methods and system are provided for exposing logical volumes to host systems and storage controllers in a consistent manner across a clustered storage system. One embodiment is a storage controller. The storage controller is operable to communicate with other storage controllers within the clustered storage system. The storage controller is further operable to generate a proposed Logical Unit Number (LUN) for a logical volume provisioned at the storage devices, and to communicate with each of the other storage controllers within the clustered storage system requesting that the other storage controllers determine if the proposed LUN is in use. If the proposed LUN is not in use, then storage controller assigns the proposed LUN to the logical volume. If the LUN is in use, then the storage controller generates a new proposed LUN and re-tries communication with the other storage controllers until a unique LUN is found. | 03-14-2013 |
20130067165 | DISK ARRAY DEVICE AND DISK ARRAY DEVICE CONTROL METHOD - A disk array device includes hard disks from which RAID groups are configured. Therein, a volume setting unit sets one or more used areas. A data check control unit determines, on the basis of the state into which the used areas have been set, which areas in the RAID groups are subject to a diagnosis. A data check execution unit that executes a cyclical diagnosis on the areas determined, by the data check control unit, to be those subject to a diagnosis. | 03-14-2013 |
20130067166 | VIRTUAL COMPUTER SYSTEM AND METHOD OF CONTROLLING THE SAME - In a virtual computer system controlling a disk volume and a virtual server which is connected to the disk volume, to which the area of the disk volume is allocated as a virtual disk and which executes a process using the allocated virtual disk, the virtual computer system erases information stored in the virtual disk allocated to the virtual server to be deleted correspondingly with the deletion of the virtual server. An administrative server may be provided to select a server system which is low in load from among plural server systems controlling virtual servers as a server system for erasing information stored in the virtual disk allocated to the virtual server to be deleted. | 03-14-2013 |
20130073806 | TECHNIQUES FOR TRANSLATING POLICIES INTO STORAGE CONTROLLER REQUIREMENTS - Techniques for translating Service Level Agreement (SLA) policy into storage controller requirements within a cloud storage environment are presented. System resource metrics for a storage controller are derived. The SLA policy is defined in terms of SLA parameters. Heuristics are used to translate the SLA parameters into defined percentages of system resources for the storage controller, which are compared to the system resource metrics and adjustments are updates are made as needed. | 03-21-2013 |
20130073807 | HYBRID MEMORY MANAGEMENT - Methods and apparatus for managing data storage in hybrid memory devices utilizing single level and multi-level memory cells. Logical addresses can be distributed between single level and multilevel memory cells based on a frequency of write operations performed. Initial storage of data corresponding to a logical address in memory can be determined by various methods including initially writing all data to single level memory or initially writing all data to multilevel memory. Other methods permit a host to direct logical address writes to single level or multilevel memory cells based on anticipated usage. | 03-21-2013 |
20130080697 | DRIVE MAPPING USING A PLURALITY OF CONNECTED ENCLOSURE MANAGEMENT CONTROLLERS - According to one aspect, a computing system having a plurality of enclosure management controllers (EMCs) is disclosed. In one embodiment, the EMCs are communicatively coupled to each other and each EMC is operatively connected to a corresponding plurality of drive slots and at least one of a plurality of drive slot status indicators. Each EMC is operative to receive enclosure management data, detect an operational status of the drive slots, and generate drive slot status data. One of the EMCs is configured to function at least partly as a master EMC to receive drive slot status data and, based on received enclosure management data and received drive slot status data, generate mapped data for each one of the EMCs for selectively activating at least one of the drive slot status indicators to indicate corresponding operational status. | 03-28-2013 |
20130080698 | GLOBAL DISTRIBUTED MEMORY RESHAPE OPERATIONS ON RANGE-PARTITIONED ARRAYS - Embodiments are directed to reshaping a partitioned data array. In an embodiment, a computer system identifies a block length parameter that describes the number of data blocks in the range-partitioned flattened representation of the array that appear consecutively in each locale. The computer system then identifies a stride parameter that describes the amount of separation between data blocks in the range-partitioned flattened representation of the array that appear consecutively in a plurality of locales. Based on the identified block length parameter and the stride parameter, the computer system determines which of the data blocks on the plurality of locales are to be sent to other locales to produce a local version of the reshaped array. The computer system then receives data blocks from the different locales in the distributed system and reconstructs the array based on the received blocks to create a local version of the reshaped array. | 03-28-2013 |
20130080699 | INFORMATION PROCESSING APPARATUS CONTROL METHOD, COMPUTER-READABLE RECORDING MEDIUM, AND INFORMATION PROCESSING APPARATUS - A control method includes allocating a plurality of virtual disks to a virtual storage allocated to a physical storage, associating data with one of the plurality of virtual disks which has been instructed to store the data and storing the data in the physical storage, and selecting, by a processor, one of the plurality of virtual disks as a data movement target virtual disk from which data is to be moved in accordance with a network bandwidth of the physical storage corresponding to the virtual storage when free space in the virtual storage exceeds a threshold value. | 03-28-2013 |
20130080700 | RAID GROUP CONTROL DEVICE - A RAID group control device for performing access control over one or more RAID groups each having redundancy. The RAID group control device includes an acquiring unit to acquire access frequency information with respect to a RAID group among the one or more RAID groups; a scheduling unit to find a time period exhibiting a lower access frequency than access frequencies of anterior and posterior time periods in a specified time range on the basis of the access frequency information, and to determine start timing of a process of rewriting firmware of drives belonging to the RAID group on the basis of the found time period; and a firmware rewrite processing unit to start the process of rewriting the firmware of the drives at the determined start timing. | 03-28-2013 |
20130086317 | PASSING HINT OF PAGE ALLOCATION OF THIN PROVISIONING WITH MULTIPLE VIRTUAL VOLUMES FIT TO PARALLEL DATA ACCESS - An information system comprises: a storage system including a processor, a memory, and a plurality of virtual volumes to be allocated pages from a storage pool of volumes; and a metadata server which, upon receiving from a client a write request containing file data to be written to a virtual volume in the storage system, returns the write request to the client with parallel information which is added to a data layout of the file data to be written in the virtual volume. The storage system, upon receiving the write request with the parallel information, allocates, based on the parallel information, pages from the storage pool to the virtual volume for writing the file data, so that the data layout is striped and the allocated pages fit striped data access according to the striped data layout. | 04-04-2013 |
20130086318 | SAFE MANAGEMENT OF DATA STORAGE USING A VOLUME MANAGER - A method, system, and computer program product for safe management of data storage using a VM are provided in the illustrative embodiments. An I/O request is received from the VM. A determination is made whether the I/O request requests a data manipulation on the data storage in an address range that overlaps with an address range of a VM signature stored on the data storage. In response to determining that the address range of the data manipulation overlaps with the address range of the VM signature, a determination is made whether an identifier of the VM matches an identifier of a second VM associated with the signature. In response to determining that the identifier of the VM does not match the identifier of the second VM, the I/O request is failed, thereby preventing an unsafe overwriting of the signature on the data storage. | 04-04-2013 |
20130086319 | DISK ARRAY DEVICE, DISK ARRAY CONTROL METHOD, AND RECORDING MEDIUM - A disk array device includes a plurality of disk devices, and a computation portion generating a redundant code data denoting a redundant code able to recover an actual data sent from a higher-level device based on the actual data and operators, when at least part of the actual data is lost. The actual data is written by a predetermined device quantity of first disk devices in a first disk device group composed of disk devices as the first disk devices among the plurality of disk devices. The redundant code data is written by second disk devices of the same quantity as the predetermined device quantity of the first disk devices, in a second disk device group composed of disk devices as the second disk devices other than the first disk devices among the plurality of disk devices. The computation portion generates the redundant code data able to recover the actual data based on the data written into arbitrary disk devices of the device quantity among the plurality of disk devices, while the number of types of the operators used for generating the redundant code data is less than the device quantity by one or more. | 04-04-2013 |
20130091327 | SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE PERFORMING BURST ORDER CONTROL AND DATA BUS INVERSION - Disclosed herein is a device that a device including first data lines transmitting a plurality of sequential first data bits, respectively, second data lines transmitting a plurality of sequential second data bits, respectively, third data lines transmitting a plurality of sequential third data bits, respectively, a BOC circuit rearranging order of the plurality of first data bits supplied from the plurality of first data lines in accordance with address information, the BOC circuit supplying the resultant to the plurality of second data lines as the plurality of second data bits, and a DBI circuit performing inversion or non-inversion of the plurality of second data bits supplied from the plurality of second data lines independently of each other in accordance with a predetermined condition, the DBI circuit supplying the resultant to the plurality of third data lines as the plurality of third data bits. | 04-11-2013 |
20130097376 | METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR IMPROVED RAID PARITY COMPUTATION IN A STORAGE CONTROLLER - Methods and apparatus for improved calculation of redundancy information in RAID storage controllers. Features and aspects hereof provide for a firmware/software element (FPE) for generating redundancy information in combination with a custom logic circuit (HPE) designed to generate redundancy information. A scheduler element operable on a processor of a storage controller along with the FPE determines which of the FPE and HPE is best suited to rapidly complete a new redundancy computation operation and activates or queues the new operation for performance by the selected component. | 04-18-2013 |
20130097377 | METHOD FOR ASSIGNING STORAGE AREA AND COMPUTER SYSTEM USING THE SAME - When a method for relocating data to a preferable storage area based on access frequency is applied to virtual machines, it takes a long time for determining volumes that are not accessed, and the access performance is deteriorated. The present invention provides a system and method in which a utilization status of a virtual machine is checked by the storage system, and pages used by virtual machines not being utilized are relocated promptly to lower tiers and pages used by virtual machines being utilized are relocated promptly to higher tiers, according to which the performance of the system is improved. | 04-18-2013 |
20130097378 | STORAGE SYSTEM AND CONTROL METHOD THEREOF AS WELL AS PROGRAM - In a storage system in which computers are connected via a network, in order to avoid a state where communication quality is degraded due to poor performance of an apparatus constituting the network, for a transfer data amount, an amount of data sent out from a storage apparatus is suppressed. Moreover, the storage apparatus inhibits a read-ahead process, in accordance with the suppression of the sending out of the data. Furthermore, proper load allocation is realized by migrating a logical storage unit provided by the storage, to another network interface or a second storage apparatus, without changing a configuration of the network. | 04-18-2013 |
20130103902 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR IMPLEMENTING PROTECTION OF REDUNDANT ARRAY OF INDEPENDENT DISKS IN FILE SYSTEM - Embodiments of the present invention disclose a method and an apparatus for implementing protection of RAID in a file system, and are applied in the field of communications technologies. In the embodiments of the present invention, after receiving a file operation request, the file system needs to determine the type of a file to be operated as requested by the file operation request, and perform file operations in a hard disk drive of the file system directly according to a file operation method corresponding to the determined file type, that is, a RAID data protection method. Therefore, corresponding file operations may be performed in a proper operation method according to each different file types, and data of an important file type is primarily protected, thereby improving reliability of data storage. | 04-25-2013 |
20130111126 | EXPANDER TO ENABLE VIRTUAL STORAGE UNITS CORRESPONDING TO SUBDIVISIONS WITHIN A PHYSICAL STORAGE UNIT | 05-02-2013 |
20130111127 | STORAGE SYSTEM AND DATA PROCESSING METHOD IN STORAGE SYSTEM | 05-02-2013 |
20130117505 | SETTING OPTIMAL SPACE ALLOCATION POLICY FOR CREATING DEPENDENT SNAPSHOTS TO ENHANCE APPLICATION WRITE PERFORMANCE AND REDUCE RESOURCE USAGE - In one embodiment, a system includes a network storage controller having logic adapted for receiving a request to duplicate at least a portion of a volume stored on the first disk array, logic adapted for creating at least one dependent volume on the first disk array, and logic adapted for duplicating the at least the portion of the volume to the at least one dependent volume on the first disk array to create a snapshot. Other systems, computer program products, and methods are described according to more embodiments. | 05-09-2013 |
20130117506 | INTEGRATED CIRCUIT DEVICE, DATA STORAGE ARRAY SYSTEM AND METHOD THEREFOR - An integrated circuit device comprises a data storage array controller for providing data storage array functionality for at least one data storage array. The data storage array controller comprises an address window controller arranged to receive at least one data storage device access command, and upon receipt of the at least one data storage device access command the address window controller is arranged to compare a target address of the at least one data storage device access command to an address window for a target storage device of the at least one data storage device access command, and if the target address is outside of the address window for the target storage device, block the at least one data storage device access command. | 05-09-2013 |
20130124797 | VIRTUAL DISKS CONSTRUCTED FROM UNUSED DISTRIBUTED STORAGE - A virtual disk is comprised of segments of unused capacity of physical computer-readable storage media co-located with computing devices that are communicationally coupled to one another through network communications. The computing devices execute one or more of a client process, a storage process and a controller process. The controller processes manage the metadata of the virtual disk, including a virtual disk topology that defines the relationships between certain ones of the physical computer-readable storage media and a particular virtual disk. The client process provide data for storage to certain ones of the computing devices executing the storage processes, as defined by a virtual disk topology, and also read data from storage from those computing devices. The client process additionally expose the virtual disk in the same manner as any other computer-readable medium. | 05-16-2013 |
20130124798 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR TRANSFERRING DATA BETWEEN DIFFERENT RAID DATA STORAGE TYPES FOR CURRENT DATA AND REPLAY DATA - The present disclosure relates to a data storage system including a RAID subsystem having a first and second type of RAID storage. A virtual volume configured to accept I/O is stored on the first type of RAID storage, and snapshots of the virtual volume are stored on the second type of RAID storage. A method of the present disclosure includes providing an active volume that accepts I/O and generating read-only snapshots of the volume. In certain embodiments, the active volume is converted to a snapshot. The active volume includes a first type of RAID storage, and the snapshots include a second type of RAID storage. The first type of RAID storage has a lower write penalty than the second type of RAID storage. In typical embodiments, the first type of RAID storage includes RAID 10 storage and the second type of RAID storage includes RAID 5 and/or RAID 6 storage. | 05-16-2013 |
20130132668 | VOLUME COPY MANAGEMENT METHOD ON THIN PROVISIONING POOL OF STORAGE SUBSYSTEM - Exemplary embodiments provide integrated thin provisioning pool for primary logical volume and secondary logical volume in a storage subsystem. A storage system comprises a processor; a memory; and a storage controller. In one embodiment, the storage controller is configured to allocate storage area from a first pool in response to a write request, and to control allocation of storage areas for a plurality of related data, which are to be allocated from the first pool, from different specified RAID groups in the first pool. In another embodiment, the storage controller is configured to allocate storage area from a first pool in response to a write request, and to control allocation of storage areas for a plurality of related data, which are to be allocated from the first pool, from different RAID groups in the first pool. | 05-23-2013 |
20130132669 | METHOD FOR CONTROLLING THE SINGLE-AFFILIATION SERIAL ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY ATTACHMENT DRIVER OF ACTIVE-ACTIVE REDUNDANT ARRAY OF INDEPENDENT DISKS AND SYSTEM THEREOF - A method for controlling a single-affiliation serial advanced technology attachment (SATA) driver of an active-active redundant array of independent disks (RAID) and a system thereof are described. The method includes a first control device assembly traversing a local access path for determining whether the local access path is capable of being connected to an SATA device; if the local access path is damaged, the first control device assembly being connected to a second lock module; determining whether a first lock module or the second lock module obtains an access authority to the SATA device according to a time-sharing mechanism; and when the first lock module obtains the access authority, a first RAID controller being connected to the second control device assembly and accessing the SATA device by a remote access path lock module. | 05-23-2013 |
20130132670 | MEMORY UNIT AND METHOD FOR CONTROLLING CPU - A memory includes a storage element which stores the number of times of application of a rewrite voltage pulse into a memory array, and a required-time output unit which outputs data representing a required time for a rewrite operation based on the number of times of application stored in the storage element. | 05-23-2013 |
20130132671 | Redundant File System - Some embodiments of the invention shift the responsibility for creating parity and error correction blocks from the hardware or software RAID units or modules to the computer system's file system, allowing the file system's existing mechanisms of write atomicity to be used to help ensure consistency of the on-disk information throughout all or increasing portions of the information saving and/or updating cycle. | 05-23-2013 |
20130132672 | OPTICAL DISK ARRAY DEVICE - When RAID is constructed by using optical disks of the same lot, there is a problem in that the reproduction error probability of the RAID may have local increases over the reproduction error probability within the optical disks. According to the present invention, among a plurality of optical disks constituting an optical disk array, the smallest logical sector number is assigned to mutually different physical sector numbers. As a result, data in the same stripe is allowed to be recorded to sectors at mutually different physical sector numbers of the plurality of optical disks, so that the probability of occurrence of read errors due to interferences of adjacent guide grooves and/or insufficient formation of guide grooves can be leveled out, and the maximum probability of read errors can be kept small. | 05-23-2013 |
20130138879 | CIRCUIT FOR AND METHOD OF ENABLING THE TRANSFER OF DATA BY AN INTEGRATED CIRCUIT - A circuit for enabling the transfer of data by an integrated circuit device is described. The circuit comprises a non-volatile memory array coupled to receive a clock signal and having a plurality of memory elements storing data; and a control circuit coupled to the non-volatile memory array, the control circuit enabling uni-directional transfer of data on a plurality of signal lines between the non-volatile memory array and the control circuit in a first mode and bi-directional transfer of data in a second mode; wherein the control circuit controls the transfer of data on the plurality of signal lines between the non-volatile memory array and the control circuit in the first mode on both the rising and falling edges of the clock signal. A method of enabling the transfer of data by an integrated circuit device is also described. | 05-30-2013 |
20130138880 | STORAGE SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR CONTROLLING STORAGE SYSTEM - In a storage system | 05-30-2013 |
20130138881 | Parallel Reed-Solomon RAID (RS-RAID) Architecture, Device, and Method - The parallel RS-RAID data storage architecture can aggregate that data and checksums within each cluster into intermediate or partial sums that are transferred or distributed to other clusters. The use of intermediate data symbols, intermediate checksum symbols, cluster configuration information on the assignment of data storage devices to clusters and the operational status of data storage devices, and the like, can reduce the computational burden and latency for the error correction calculations while increasing the scalability and throughput of the parallel RS-RAID distributed data storage architecture. | 05-30-2013 |
20130138882 | VERIFY BEFORE PROGRAM RESUME FOR MEMORY DEVICES - A method of programming data into a memory device including an array of memory cells is disclosed. The method comprises receiving at least one program command that addresses a number of the memory cells for a programming operation to program data in the memory cells. The at least one program command is executed by iteratively carrying out at least one program/verify cycle to incrementally program the addressed memory cells with the program data. A secondary command may be selectively received after initiating but before completing the programming operation. The programming operation may be selectively resumed by first verifying the memory cells, then carrying out at least one program/verify cycle. | 05-30-2013 |
20130145091 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR UNBALANCED RAID MANAGEMENT - A method for dynamically balancing the allocation of data among a plurality of physical data storage devices having a plurality of RAID devices defined thereon, wherein at least one of the plurality of RAID devices is comprised of at least one of a different type of physical storage device or a different number of physical data storage devices than at least one other of the plurality of RAID devices, includes determining a usage factor unique to each RAID device and balancing data I/O based at least in part on the usage factor. | 06-06-2013 |
20130145092 | MANAGEMENT SYSTEM AND MANAGEMENT METHOD OF STORAGE SYSTEM THAT PERFORMS CONTROL BASED ON REQUIRED PERFORMANCE ASSIGNED TO VIRTUAL VOLUME - A storage system manages a pool to which multiple VVOLs (virtual logical volumes conforming to thin provisioning) are associated, assigns a real area (RA) from any tier in an available tier pattern associated with a write-destination VVOL to a write-destination virtual area (VA), and carries out a reassignment process for migrating data inside this RA to an RA of a different tier than the tier having this RA based on the access status of the RA assigned to the VA. A management system assumes that a specified tier has been removed from the available tier pattern of a target VVOL, predicts the performance of the target VVOL and all the other VVOL associated with the pool to which the target VVOL is associated, determines whether or not there is a VVOL for which the predicted performance is lower than a required performance, and when such a VVOL does not exist, instructs the storage system to remove the specified tier from the available tier pattern of the target VVOL. | 06-06-2013 |
20130145093 | NON-VOLATILE SEMICONDUCTOR MEMORY AND DATA READING METHOD THEREOF - A non-volatile semiconductor memory is provided, including a memory array having a first and a second memory planes, a page buffer, holding data transmitted by pages selected by address information from a memory array; data register, capable of serially outputting data received by the page buffer according to a clock signal. The pages selected by the first and the second memory planes are simultaneously transmitted to the page buffer. The data reading includes: transmitting the data of the second page of the second memory plane from the page buffer to the data register when the data of the first page of the first memory plane is outputted from the data register; transmitting the data of the second page of the first memory plane from the page buffer to the data register when the data of the second page of the second memory plane is outputted from the data register. | 06-06-2013 |
20130151769 | Hard Disk Drive Reliability In Server Environment Using Forced Hot Swapping - An approach is provided to inactivate a selected drive included in a RAID configuration. While inactive, write requests are handled by identifying data blocks to be written to each of the RAID drives. The identification also identifies a data block address corresponding to the data blocks. Data blocks destined to non-selected drives are written to the non-selected drives. The data blocks destined to the selected drive is written to a memory area outside of the RAID configuration. The data block addresses corresponding to the data blocks are also written to the memory area. After a period of time, the selected drive is reactivated. During reactivation, the data block addresses and their corresponding data blocks that were written to the memory area are read from the memory area and each of the data blocks are written to the selected drive at the corresponding data block addresses. | 06-13-2013 |
20130151770 | REMOTE COPY SYSTEM AND REMOTE COPY CONTROL METHOD - A first storage system comprises a first RAID group comprising multiple first storage devices, which constitute the basis of a first logical volume. A second storage system comprises a second RAID group comprising multiple second storage devices, which constitute the basis of a second logical volume. The RAID configuration of the first RAID group and the RAID configuration of the second RAID group are the same, and the type of a compression/decompression function of the respective first storage devices and the type of a compression/decompression function of the respective second storage devices are the same. Compressed data is read from a first storage device without being decompressed with respect to the data inside a first logical volume, and the read compressed data is written to a second storage device, which is in the same location in RAID in the second RAID group as the location in RAID of this first storage device. | 06-13-2013 |
20130151771 | DISK ARRAY DEVICE, CONTROL DEVICE AND DATA WRITE METHOD - A disk array device includes: a plurality of disk devices including a strip that stores divided data or a parity; a control device to divide the stripe for each of the plurality of disk devices into the divided data having a size of the strip and write the divided data; and a memory to store new data that corresponds to the divided data stored in the strip, wherein the control device detects whether or not the new data is discrete and performs a first write operation or a second write operation when the new data is discrete. | 06-13-2013 |
20130159620 | STORAGE SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR CONTROLLING MEMORY IN STORAGE SYSTEM - According to a storage system of a prior art adopting a cluster structure, various types of large-capacity memories were arranged to enhance the access performance, so that the system required a dedicated control circuit, and there was difficulty in realizing cost reduction and improvement of access performance simultaneously. In order to solve the problems, the present invention provides a storage system in which a group of memories is integrated to MPU memories directly coupled to MPUs in respective controller units, wherein each MPU memory is divided into a duplication information area and a non-duplication information area, and attribute information for controlling accesses thereto are provided. Further, each duplication information area is provided with a double master information area capable of referring to a first memory and a second memory and a single master information area capable of referring only to either the first memory or the second memory, and the accesses thereto are performed based on the attribute information. | 06-20-2013 |
20130159621 | INFORMATION PROCESSING APPARATUS, CONTROL METHOD, AND STORAGE MEDIUM - An information processing apparatus connected to a first storage device and a second storage device via a storage control device, the information processing apparatus includes a transfer unit configured to cause the storage control device to transfer to a rebuilding state after the setting unit has set the password for the second storage device. | 06-20-2013 |
20130159622 | CHAINED, SCALABLE STORAGE DEVICES - Described embodiments access data in a chained, scalable storage system. A primary agent of one or more storage devices receives a host request including a logical address from a host coupled to the primary agent. The primary agent determines, based on the logical address, a corresponding physical address in at least one of the storage devices and generates, based on the physical address, a sub-request for each determined physical address in the storage devices. The primary agent sends, via a storage device interface network operable independently of the host, the sub-requests to the storage devices. The storage device interface network is a peer-to-peer network coupling the storage devices to the primary agent. The primary agent receives sub-statuses in response to the sub-requests, and determines an overall status. The primary agent provides the overall status to the host such that the host is coupled to the storage devices without a switch. | 06-20-2013 |
20130166838 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR BALANCING BLOCK ALLOCATION ON DATA STORAGE DEVICES - A modular block allocator includes a front end module and a back end module communicating with each another via an application programming interface (API). The front end module receives cleaner messages requesting dirty buffers associated with the cleaner messages be cleaned. The back end module provides low and high level data structures which are formed by examining bitmaps associated with data storage devices. A stripe set data structure mapping to the low level data structures are formed. The front end module cleans the dirty buffers by allocating data blocks in the high level data structures to the dirty buffers. The low level data structures are used to map the allocated data blocks to the stripe set and when the stripe set is full it is sent to the data storage devices. | 06-27-2013 |
20130166839 | SUB-LUN AUTO-TIERING - Embodiments of the invention include systems and methods for auto-tiering multiple file systems across a common resource pool. Storage resources are allocated as a sub-LUN auto-tiering (SLAT) sub-pool. The sub-pool is managed as a single virtual address space (VAS) with a virtual block address (VBA) for each logical block address of each data block in the sub-pool, and a portion of those VBAs can be allocated to each of a number of file systems. Mappings are maintained between each logical block address in which file system data is physically stored and a VBA in the file system's portion of the virtual address space. As data moves (e.g., is added, auto-tiered, etc.), the mappings can be updated. In this way, multiple SLAT file systems can exploit the full resources of the common SLAT sub-pool and maximize the resource options available to auto-tiering functions. | 06-27-2013 |
20130166840 | DYNAMIC HARD DISK MAPPING METHOD AND SERVER USING THE SAME - A dynamic hard disk mapping method and a server using the same are disclosed. The server includes a first motherboard, a second motherboard, a first disk group corresponding to the first motherboard, and a second disk group corresponding to the second motherboard. In the dynamic hard disk mapping method, at first, a disk redistributing instruction is received and stored. Thereafter, a reset instruction is received and performed. Then, the number of hard disks of the first disk group and the number of hard disks of the second disk group are summed up to obtain a total hard disk number N, wherein N is a positive integer greater than zero. Thereafter, the disk redistributing instruction is read, and a redistribution computation is performed in accordance with the disk redistributing instruction to obtain a third disk group corresponding to the first motherboard and a fourth disk group corresponding to the second motherboard. | 06-27-2013 |
20130166841 | STORAGE SYSTEM AND DATA MANAGEMENT METHOD - A storage system and data management method is provided that improves the reliability and fault tolerance of the hard disks saving data utilizing an AOU function. A storage system comprises a first correlating section for correlating a plurality of RAID groups composed of a plurality of physical disks, and the pool region, a second correlating section for correlating the pool region and the storage regions of the virtual volumes, a first allocation section for allocating first data from the host apparatus to the first storage region of the first RAID group based on write requests from the host apparatus, and a second allocation section for distributing second data from the host apparatus at and allocating the second data to any storage regions of the RAID group, with the exception of the first storage region of the first RAID group allocated by the first allocation section, based on write requests. | 06-27-2013 |
20130166842 | CREATION OF LOGICAL UNITS VIA BORROWING OF ALTERNATIVE STORAGE AND SUBSEQUENT MOVEMENT OF THE LOGICAL UNITS TO DESIRED STORAGE - A computational device receives a request to create a logical unit. Associated with the request is a first type of storage pool in which creation of the logical unit is desired. In response to determining that adequate space is not available to create the logical unit in the first type of storage pool, a determination is made as to whether a first indicator is configured to allow borrowing of storage space from a second type of storage pool. In response to determining that the first indicator is configured to allow borrowing of storage space from the second type of storage pool, the logical unit is created in the second type of storage pool and a listener application is initiated. The listener application determines that free space that is adequate to store the logical unit has become available in the first type of storage pool. The logical unit is moved from the second type of storage pool to the first type of storage pool, in response to determining, via the listener application, that free space that is adequate to store the logical unit has become available in the first type of storage pool. | 06-27-2013 |
20130179634 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR IDLE TIME BACKUP OF STORAGE SYSTEM VOLUMES - Methods and systems for backing up data of a RAID 0 volume. The system includes a plurality of storage devices implementing a logical volume in a Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID) level 0 configuration. The system also includes a storage controller. The storage controller is adapted to manage Input/Output (I/O) operations directed to the RAID 0 volume. The storage controller is further adapted to duplicate data stored on the RAID 0 volume to unused portions of other storage devices during an idle time of the storage controller. | 07-11-2013 |
20130179635 | METHOD AND DEVICE FOR TRIGGERING DATA MIGRATION - The present invention provides a method and device for triggering data migration; the method includes: a host receives a migration object and a target disk, and the migration object includes a specified file or a specified directory or data accessed by a specified application in a storage system; the host resolves a block address of the migration object; and the host sends a migration instruction to a disk array controller in the SAN storage system, to instruct the disk array controller to migrate the migration object from a source disk to the target disk according to the block address of the migration object. The host of the present invention instructs the disk array controller to carry out data migration, and resolves the block address of the migration object, so the storage system can achieve the objective of migrating specified data according to a user requirement. | 07-11-2013 |
20130185503 | METHOD FOR METADATA PERSISTENCE - Providing automatic updating of the mapped and unmapped extents in the metadata disk layout for a transaction. A transaction contains mapped and unmapped extents changes. The mapped extents changes can be anywhere in the metadata data disk area of 10 MB and also the unmapped area. A write journal will be added to every migration. For every migration a transaction is created and that contains mapped and unmapped changes. After reboot write journal will be applied. For providing greater data integrity block level sequence number, block number and CRC is maintained for secondary and primary copy. | 07-18-2013 |
20130185504 | DEMOTING PARTIAL TRACKS FROM A FIRST CACHE TO A SECOND CACHE - A determination is made of a track to demote from the first cache to the second cache, wherein the track in the first cache corresponds to a track in the storage system and is comprised of a plurality of sectors. In response to determining that the second cache includes a the stale version of the track being demoted from the first cache, a determination is made as to whether the stale version of the track includes track sectors not included in the track being demoted from the first cache. The sectors from the track demoted from the first cache are combined with sectors from the stale version of the track not included in the track being demoted from the first cache into a new version of the track. The new version of the track is written to the second cache. | 07-18-2013 |
20130185505 | STORAGE SYSTEM PROVIDING VIRTUAL VOLUMES - Multiple storage area groups into which multiple storage areas provided by multiple storage devices are classified with reference to storage area attributes are managed. The multiple logical volumes to which, in accordance with a write request to at least one address included in multiple addresses in the logical volume, at least one storage area included in the multiple storage areas is allocated are provided. In accordance with the access condition of the at least one address in the logical volume, the data written to the at least one address by the write request is migrated from the at least one storage area included in one of the multiple storage area groups to at least one storage area in another storage area group included in the multiple storage area groups. | 07-18-2013 |
20130185506 | Controlling a Storage System - A method, computer-readable storage medium and computer system for controlling a storage system, the storage system comprising a plurality of logical storage volumes, the method comprising: monitoring, for each of the logical storage volumes, one or more load parameters; receiving, for each of the logical storage volumes, one or more load parameter threshold values; comparing, for each of the logical storage volumes, the first load parameter values of said logical storage volume with the corresponding one or more load parameter threshold values; in case at least one of the first load parameter values of one of the logical storage volumes violates the load parameter threshold value it is compared with, automatically executing a corrective action. | 07-18-2013 |
20130185507 | WRITING ADJACENT TRACKS TO A STRIDE, BASED ON A COMPARISON OF A DESTAGING OF TRACKS TO A DEFRAGMENTATION OF THE STRIDE - Compressed data is maintained in a plurality of strides of a redundant array of independent disks, wherein a stride is configurable to store a plurality of tracks. A request is received to write one or more tracks. The one or more tracks are written to a selected stride of the plurality of strides, based on comparing the number of operations required to destage selected tracks from the selected stride to the number of operations required to defragment the compressed data in the selected stride. | 07-18-2013 |
20130191589 | Systems, Methods, and Computer Program Products Providing Snapshot Data Replication in a Distributed Analytic Computing System - A computer program product having a computer readable medium tangibly recording computer program logic for performing analytics on data at a data node, the computer program product including code to instruct a storage array to create a snapshot of the data, code to access the snapshot, by the data node, as an independent virtual volume, code to receive, at the data node, a command mapping a processing task to the data node, in which the processing task includes analysis on the data, and code to perform the processing task on the data by accessing the data through the snapshot. | 07-25-2013 |
20130191590 | PROCESSOR AGNOSTIC DATA STORAGE IN A PCIE BASED SHARED STORAGE ENVIRONMENT - Disclosed are a system, a method and/or an apparatus of processor agnostic data storage in a PCIE based shared storage environment. In one aspect, a method includes processing a storage based request received at an adapter circuit of a controller device associated with a disk array to direct the storage based request to at least one of a processor of the disk array and a plurality of storage devices of the disk array. The method also includes routing, through an interface circuit of the controller device, the data request in the other format compatible with the storage device directly to at least one storage device of the plurality of storage devices of the disk array coupled to the controller device agnostic to a processor of the disk array to store a data associated with the data request based on a mapping table. | 07-25-2013 |
20130191591 | METHOD FOR VOLUME MANAGEMENT - A computer-readable record medium which contains a volume management program is provided. The volume management program forms a plurality of storage devices into a plurality of layers of volume, and re-arranges a location of a layer where a data block is stored according to its access degree, thereby providing a volume management method having much lower power consumption of the storage devices. | 07-25-2013 |
20130191592 | REDUNDANT ARRAY OF INDEPENDENT DISKS RAID CONTROLLER AND SYSTEM - A redundant array of independent disks (RAID) controller includes a host interface, a processing core and a storage interface. The processing core is connected to a host and a hard disk. The RAID controller includes a halt control pin connected to the processing core and a control signal line in the host. The processing core receives a first level sent through the control signal line by the host when the hard disk is in a standby state, and halt an execution of a program in the processing core according to the first level; receives a second level sent through the control signal line by the host when the host receives a service request, and resume the execution of the program according to the second level; and receive the service request sent by the host and send the received service request to the hard disk to awaken the hard disk. | 07-25-2013 |
20130191593 | STORAGE SYSTEM, STORAGE APPARATUS, AND OPTIMIZATION METHOD OF STORAGE AREAS OF STORAGE SYSTEM - This invention is intended for the purpose of providing the storage system, the storage apparatus, and the storage system by which, even if the storage areas allocated to the virtual volume are managed in management units set by the RAID group, overhead for parity calculation does not become excessive. This invention, by releasing a specific management unit not fully utilized for page allocation from allocation to the virtual volume and migrating the allocated pages belonging to this specific management unit to the other management unit, makes the storage areas of the specific management unit available for the write accesses for the other virtual volumes from the host computer. | 07-25-2013 |
20130191594 | Direct Memory Address for Solid-State Drives - A storage device is provided for direct memory access. A controller of the storage device performs a mapping of a window of memory addresses to a logical block addressing (LBA) range of the storage device. Responsive to receiving from a host a write request specifying a write address within the window of memory-addresses, the controller initializes a first memory buffer in the storage device and associates the first memory buffer with a first address range within the window of memory addresses such that the write address of the request is within the first address range. The controller writes to the first memory buffer based on the write address. Responsive to the buffer being full the controller persists contents of the first memory buffer to the storage device using logical block addressing based on the mapping. | 07-25-2013 |
20130198449 | MULTI-TIER STORAGE SYSTEM CONFIGURATION ADVISER - Embodiments of the invention relate to providing configuration options for optimizing storage extent placement in multi tiered storage systems. In one aspect of the invention, In one embodiment, a configuration adviser provides configuration options for a multi-tiered storage system that includes a number of different storage tiers, each of which include storage devices of a particular storage type. Data access information for storage extents to be stored in the storage system are received. Resource information for available storage tiers in the storage system to place the storage extents on are also received. A cost incurred by the storage system for placing each of the storage extents on each of the storage tiers is determined. Each storage extent is assigned to a particular one of the storage tiers that would incur the lowest cost to the storage system for storing the storage extent. For each storage tier, a minimum number of storage devices are selected, within the assigned storage tier, that would satisfy data access and capacity requirements for all storage extents assigned to that tier. | 08-01-2013 |
20130198450 | SHAREABLE VIRTUAL NON-VOLATILE STORAGE DEVICE FOR A SERVER - Disclosed are a system, a method and/or an apparatus of a shareable virtual non-volatile storage device for a server. In one embodiment, the system includes a server, a storage array, a management processor, and a switching fabric. The storage array includes a storage device coupled with a controller associated with a shared driver to receive a data request from the server at a remote location from the storage array through the switch fabric via a communication link to direct the data request to the storage device coupled with it and transmit data to the server through the switch fabric. A virtual storage device is generated in the server to enable the server to share the shared driver in the storage array with other servers through the switch fabric between the server and the storage array. The server distributes the data across the storage devices through the shared driver. | 08-01-2013 |
20130198451 | ERASE SUSPEND/RESUME FOR MEMORY - An apparatus includes an input/output (I/O) interface configured to couple a controller to an I/O buffer of a memory device. The controller includes an erase module coupled to the I/O interface. The erase module is configured to issue an instruction to the memory device to erase data from the memory device. The controller includes an erase suspend module coupled to the I/O interface. The erase suspend module is configured to determine that an erase operation executing within the electronic memory device satisfies a suspend policy in response to receiving a memory access request to perform an operation on the memory device on which the erase operation is executing. The erase suspend module is further configured to issue a suspend command to the memory device to suspend the erase operation. | 08-01-2013 |
20130198452 | MEMORY CELL OPERATION - The present disclosure includes memory devices and systems having memory cells, as well as methods for operating the memory cells. One or more methods for operating memory cells includes determining age information for a portion of the memory cells and communicating a command set for the portion of the memory cells, the command set including the age information. | 08-01-2013 |
20130205084 | STRIDE BASED FREE SPACE MANAGEMENT ON COMPRESSED VOLUMES - Compressed data is maintained in a plurality of strides of a redundant array of independent disks, wherein a stride is configurable to store a plurality of tracks. A request is received to write one or more tracks, and a determination is made as to whether all of the one or more tracks can be stored in one selected stride of the plurality of strides. In response to determining that all of the one or more tracks can be stored in the one selected stride, the one or more tracks are written in the one selected stride of the plurality of strides. | 08-08-2013 |
20130205085 | PROGRAM SUSPEND/RESUME FOR MEMORY - A memory device includes a memory array with a plurality of memory elements. Each memory element is configured to store data. The device includes an input/output (I/O) buffer coupled to the memory array. The I/O buffer is configured to receive data from an I/O interface of a memory device controller and write the data to the memory array. The device includes a memory control manager coupled to the memory array. The memory control manager is configured to pause a program operation to the memory array in response to receiving a pause command. The memory control manager is also configured to resume the program operation in response to receiving a resume command. | 08-08-2013 |
20130205086 | RAID Array Transformation - Transforming an in-use RAID array from a first array configuration having a first parameter to a second array configuration having a second parameter while preserving the logical data structure. An extent reservation component and data migration component are provided for reading unmigrated data from an area of an array arranged according to the first array configuration and writing the data to an area of the array arranged according to the second array configuration using reserved extents to store first migrated data and using further extents to store second migrated data. A first I/O component for performing I/O according to the first array configuration on unmigrated data prior to its reading by the data migration component is provided along with a second I/O component for performing I/O according to the second array configuration on the first migrated data and the second migrated data after its writing by the data migration component. | 08-08-2013 |
20130219119 | WRITING NEW DATA OF A FIRST BLOCK SIZE TO A SECOND BLOCK SIZE USING A WRITE-WRITE MODE - Apparatuses and methods to write new data of a first block size are provided. A particular method may include writing old data from a destination block of a second block size of a data drive to a first buffer of the second block size. The old data may be written according to address information of the old data and without overwriting the new data in the first buffer. The method may further include writing zeros to a second buffer of the second block size according to the address information of the old data. The zeros written in the second buffer may correspond with the old data written in the first buffer. | 08-22-2013 |
20130219120 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR EXECUTION OF APPLICATIONS IN CONJUNCTION WITH RAID - Systems and methods are disclosed which allow various applications which may utilize a RAID system (or other types of applications) to be executed on the same set of computing devices which implement that RAID system. More particularly, in certain embodiments a virtualization layer may be executed on a data bank. A set of desired application programs may be executed using this virtualization layer, where the context for each instance of the applications executing on the virtualization layer may be stored in a volume kept utilizing the RAID system. | 08-22-2013 |
20130227216 | DATA STORAGE SYSTEM HAVING MULTIPLE CONTROLLER MODULES - A data storage system includes a data storage module having at least a first I/O port and a second I/O port, a first controller module directly connected to the first I/O port, and a second controller module directly connected to the second I/O port. The second controller module is also in communication with the first controller module via a communication link, wherein the first and second controller modules are redundant controllers for the data storage module, and wherein, when the data storage module is controlled by the first controller module, the first controller module writes data to, or reads data from, the data storage module via a direct path to the first I/O port, and writes data to, or reads data from, the data storage module via an indirect path through the communication link and the second controller module to the second I/O port. | 08-29-2013 |
20130227217 | ARCHIVE SYSTEM AND PROCESSING METHOD - In a RAID group using a plurality of recording media readable and writable on both sides, a data configuration such that data on front sides of other disks may be held on back sides of respective double-sided disks is formed and managed, and data for restoration is created from readout data of other data disks than that with failure. | 08-29-2013 |
20130232300 | SYSTEM FOR MAINTAINING COHERENCY DURING OFFLINE CHANGES TO STORAGE MEDIA - A proxy device monitors memory access operations between clients and a storage media. The proxy device stores at least some of the data from the storage media in a faster tiering media and provides the data from the faster tiering media to the clients for certain associated memory access operations. The proxy is also configured to monitor Small Computer System Interface (SCSI) communications between the clients and the storage media and invalidate at least some data in the tiering media when particular SCSI messages in the SCSI communications indicate the tiering media contains data that is out of sync with the data in the storage media. | 09-05-2013 |
20130232301 | System and Method for Mapping a Logical Drive Status to a Physical Drive Status for Multiple Storage Drives Having Different Storage Technologies within a Server - An information handling system includes a backplane, a storage drive, and a board management controller. The board management controller is configured to discover a physical drive status of the drive from a storage enclosure processor, to receive a logical drive status of the drive, to read a backplane bay identification for the drive from a peripheral connector interface express extender or serial attached small computer system interface chipset logical drive number, and to construct a routing table for the drive to map the logical drive status with the physical drive status of the drive. | 09-05-2013 |
20130232302 | STORAGE SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR CONTROLLING THE SAME - Optimum load distribution processing is selected and executed based on settings made by a user in consideration of load changes caused by load distribution in a plurality of asymmetric cores, by using: a controller having a plurality of cores, and configured to extract, for each LU, a pattern showing the relationship between a core having an LU ownership and a candidate core as an LU ownership change destination based on LU ownership management information; to measure, for each LU, the usage of a plurality of resources; to predicate, for each LU based on the measurement results, a change in the usage of the plurality of resources and overhead to be generated by transfer processing itself; to select, based on the respective prediction results, a pattern that matches the user's setting information; and to transfer the LU ownership to the core belonging to the selected pattern. | 09-05-2013 |
20130238852 | MANAGEMENT INTERFACE FOR MULTIPLE STORAGE SUBSYSTEMS VIRTUALIZATION - A storage system comprises: storage subsystems having storage controllers managing virtual volumes, each storage controller managing a plurality of logical volumes and controlling to store data for a virtual volume of the virtual volumes to a logical volume of the logical volumes; and a control module operable, in response to receiving a command commanding a registration of a storage function for a virtual volume, to translate the received command into a translated command commanding a registration of the storage function for a target logical volume of the logical volumes, based on a mapping between the virtual volumes, the logical volumes, and the storage controllers. The storage controller which manages the target logical volume processes the translated command commanding the registration of the storage function for the target logical volume. The control module is provided in at least one of the storage controllers or another computer in the storage system. | 09-12-2013 |
20130238853 | SLIDING-WINDOW MULTI-CLASS STRIPING - A sequence of storage devices of a data store may include one or more stripesets for storing data stripes of different lengths and of different types. Each data stripe may be stored in a prefix or other portion of a stripeset. Each data stripe may be identified by an array of addresses that identify each page of the data stripe on each included storage device. When a first storage device of a stripeset becomes full, the stripeset may be shifted by removing the full storage device from the stripeset, and adding a next storage device of the data store to the stripeset. A class variable may be associated with storage devices of a stripeset to identify the type of data that the stripeset can store. The class variable may be increased (or otherwise modified) when a computer stores data of a different class in the stripeset. | 09-12-2013 |
20130238854 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR AUTOMATICALLY GENERATING A MIRRORED STORAGE CONFIGURATION FOR A STORAGE ARRAY - An information handling system includes a plurality of storage enclosures, a plurality of logical storage units located in each storage enclosure, a controller connected to each of the plurality of logical storage units. The controller is configured to receive data regarding the plurality of logical storage units, and automatically execute an algorithm based on the received logical storage unit data to generate a mirrored storage configuration to be implemented, the mirrored storage configuration defining mirrored pairs of the plurality of logical storage units. | 09-12-2013 |
20130246704 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR OPTIMIZING WRITE ACCESSES IN A STORAGE ARRAY - A method may include storing data in one or more first-type stripes spanning a plurality of N storage resources and having N−1 data strips for storing the data and a parity strip for storing parity information for the data stored to the particular first-type stripe and each of the plurality of storage resources includes one of a data strip or a parity strip of the particular first-type stripe if the data to be stored exceeds a threshold size. If the data to be stored does not exceed a threshold size, the method may include storing the data in a second-type stripe and a third-type stripe each spanning N storage resources, such that each stripe comprises N−1 data strips for storing the data and a metadata strip for storing address information for the corresponding second-type strip or third-type strip. | 09-19-2013 |
20130246705 | BALANCING LOGICAL UNITS IN STORAGE SYSTEMS - Techniques for generating a recommended change to balance a storage system are described in various implementations. A method that implements the techniques may include analyzing a storage system that includes a plurality of logical unit numbers (LUNs) that support asymmetric logical unit access (ALUA) to determine a current state of the storage system, wherein the current state includes LUN distribution information and system performance information. The method may also include evaluating the current state to determine whether the current state is unbalanced based on the LUN distribution information and the system performance information, and in response to determining that the current state is unbalanced, generating a recommended change to balance the storage system. | 09-19-2013 |
20130246706 | STORAGE APPARATUS AND PROGRAM UPDATE METHOD - A storage apparatus and program update method for reducing tediousness and complications of drive inventory management. | 09-19-2013 |
20130246707 | TWO STAGE CHECKSUMMED RAID STORAGE MODEL - A method for writing a logical data block to storage. The method includes receiving a request to write a logical data block to a storage pool, allocating a number of physical log blocks in a RAID log and a parity block for the logical data block, and writing the logical data block and the parity block to the physical log blocks. The number of the physical log blocks are less than a number of disks storing the RAID log. The method further includes allocating space in a physical slab block in a RAID slab for the logical data block, copying data including the logical data block to the space in the physical slab block, and updating, in the RAID slab, a check-sum corresponding to the physical slab block and a parity block that includes the data stripe having the physical slab block based on the data copied. | 09-19-2013 |
20130254480 | STORAGE SYSTEM AND OPERATION METHOD OF A STORAGE SYSTEM - A storage system includes a redundant array of independent disks (RAID), a file subsystem, and a multiple device control unit. The RAID includes a plurality of disks and a bitmap. The file subsystem is used for executing a write command and a trim command. The multiple device control unit does not execute a first synchronization operation on the plurality of disks during the RAID is built, does not execute a second synchronization operation on expansion capacity of the plurality of disks during the RAID is expanded, executes a third synchronization operation on at least one added disk according to the blocks of the plurality of disks occupied by the data during the RAID is reshaped, and/or executes a corresponding operation on at least one added disk according to the blocks of the plurality of disks occupied by the data during the RAID is recovered. | 09-26-2013 |
20130254481 | PRESENTATION OF A READ-ONLY CLONE LUN TO A HOST DEVICE AS A SNAPSHOT OF A PARENT LUN - A method, apparatus, and system of presentation of a read-only clone Logical Unit Number (LUN) to a host device as a snapshot of a parent LUN are disclosed. In one embodiment, a method includes generating a read-write clone LUN of a parent LUN and coalescing an identical data instance of the read-write clone LUN and the parent LUN in a data block of a volume of a storage system. A block transfer protocol layer is modified to refer the read-write clone LUN as a read-only clone LUN, according to the embodiment. Furthermore, according to the embodiment, the read-only clone LUN is presented to a host device as a snapshot of the parent LUN. | 09-26-2013 |
20130254482 | STORAGE SYSTEM - With a RAID group not configured from a plurality of storage devices, a storage area of a storage device is provided directly to a virtual volume instead of providing a logical volume inside the RAID group to the virtual volume. That is, the storage system, upon receiving a write request with respect to a virtual storage area, first, specifies a data redundancy configuration (the number of data partitions and the number of created parities) and a RAID level set to a virtual volume including this virtual storage area. The storage system selects storage devices in the numbers in accordance with the specified RAID level and redundancy configuration for this virtual storage area. The storage system selects, from among the selected storage devices, a storage area that is not allocated to any virtual storage area, and allocates this storage area to this virtual storage area. The storage system partitions the data and writes this data together with the parity to this allocated storage area. | 09-26-2013 |
20130262759 | Minimized Half-Select Current in Multi-State Memories - A multi-state memory system with encoding that minimizes half-select currents. The system includes an array of row and column conductors with a plurality of storage cells each capable of being placed into any of three or more physical states. An encoder is connected to receive data bits for storage and to apply activation signals to the row and column conductors to write information to the storage cells. The encoder is programmed to encode the data bits into entries in an array having one row corresponding with each row conductor and one column corresponding with each column conductor; select entries in the array according to half-select currents of the storage cells; apply a predetermined one-dimensional mapping that increases the value of at most one entry in the array to obtain a mapped array; and write entries of the mapped array into the storage cells. | 10-03-2013 |
20130262760 | RAID DATA STORAGE SYSTEM - A data storage system comprises at least one data storage module, each data storage module having at least a first I/O port and a second I/O port, wherein the data storage module includes a storage medium having at least a first pre-partitioned area and a second pre-partitioned area. The data storage system further comprises a first controller module, which is directly connected to the first I/O port of each data storage module to access the first pre-partitioned area of each data storage module, and a second controller module, which is directly connected to the second I/O port of each data storage module to access the second pre-partitioned area of each data storage module. | 10-03-2013 |
20130262761 | MEMORY DEVICE AND METHOD OF OPERATING THE SAME - A memory device and a method of operating the same are provided. The memory device includes a control logic and a memory cell array. The control logic is configured to receive input information including a plurality of commands, a plurality of addresses, and priority information, and to change an execution sequence of the received commands of the input information according to the priority information. The memory cell array is configured to include a plurality of memory cells, and the memory device is configured to perform an operation on one or more memory cells based on the changed execution sequence. | 10-03-2013 |
20130262762 | STORAGE SYSTEM AND STORAGE CONTROL METHOD - A storage system includes a storage device having a command reordering function and a storage control apparatus that controls access to the storage device. Commands are issued to the storage device for reading or writing data. The storage control apparatus sets an upper limit to write data size or read data size specified in the commands during a predetermined period after a timeout of an issued command, so as to make it less likely for the storage device to postpone some of the issued commands. | 10-03-2013 |
20130262763 | INDICATION OF A DESTRUCTIVE WRITE VIA A NOTIFICATION FROM A DISK DRIVE THAT EMULATES BLOCKS OF A FIRST BLOCK SIZE WITHIN BLOCKS OF A SECOND BLOCK SIZE - A disk drive receives a request to write at least one block of a first block size, wherein the disk drive is configured to store blocks of a second block size that is larger in size than the first block size. The disk drive stores a. plurality of emulated blocks of the first block size in each block of the second block size. The disk drive generates a read error, in response to reading a selected block of the second block size in which the at least block of the first block size is to be written via, an emulation. The disk drive performs a destructive write of selected emulated blocks of the first block size that caused the read error to be generated. The disk drive writes the at least one block of the first block size in the selected block of the second block size. | 10-03-2013 |
20130275671 | CREATING ENCRYPTED STORAGE VOLUMES - Methods and systems for thin provisioned storage. A storage array controller may materialize LUN extents, by filling extents with random data only as necessary at materialization time. Encryption software may recognize operation on a thin provisioned LUN having extents that are pre-filled and/or re-materialized on next use. | 10-17-2013 |
20130275672 | SSD CACHE EXPANSION USING OVERPROVISIONED SPACE - The invention provides for SSD cache expansion by assigning all excess overprovisioned space (OP) above a level of advertised SSD memory to SSD cache. As additional SSD memory is needed to provide the advertised SSD memory, an offsetting portion of the OP is reassigned from excess overprovisioned space to the SSD cache. In this manner, the advertised SSD memory is maintained while continuously allocating all available excess OP to cache. The result is that all of the available SSD memory is allocated to cache, a portion to maintain the advertised SSD memory and the balance as excess OP allocated to cache. This eliminates idle OP in the SSD allocation. | 10-17-2013 |
20130275673 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR VOLUME BASED SNAPSHOT RESTORE - Method and system is provided to perform a plurality of checks before performing a volume based snapshot restore (“VBSR”) operation. The checks may be performed by an application executed at a computing system that interfaces with a storage system. The application may determine if there are any inconsistent LUNS and foreign mapped LUNs. The application may also determine if there are any new LUNs or any new snapshots since the snapshot, which is the basis of the restore operation was created. The application may further determine if there are any backup relationships with respect to a volume that is being restored. The application takes the information and provides a report to a user. The report allows a user to ascertain the consequences of proceeding with the VBSR operation. | 10-17-2013 |
20130275674 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR PERFORMING RECOVERY IN A STORAGE SYSTEM - Method and system for performing recovery for a replicated copy of a storage space presented as a logical object is provided. An attribute associated with the logical object for enabling the recovery is set and when the storage space is replicated the attribute is stored as metadata for the replicated copy of the storage space. Based on the attribute, a clone of the logical object is presented as a writable option to write to the first replicated copy. After the write operation where information is written to the clone, a second replicated copy with the clone information is created. The clone is deleted after the second copy is generated. | 10-17-2013 |
20130275675 | STORAGE CONTROL SYSTEM AND CONTROL METHOD FOR THE SAME - A storage control system judges whether the data pattern of data exchanged with a higher-level device (hereafter “data”) conforms to one or a plurality of write-excluded data patterns comprised in write-excluded data pattern information prepared in advance. If a negative judgment result is obtained, the storage control subsystem stores the data in a logical device formed on a disk storage device. If, on the other hand, a positive judgment result is obtained, the storage control subsystem erases the data without storing in a logical device. | 10-17-2013 |
20130275676 | TILED STORAGE ARRAY WITH SYSTOLIC MOVE-TO-FRONT ORGANIZATION - A tiled storage array provides reduction in access latency for frequently-accessed values by re-organizing to always move a requested value to a front-most storage element of array. The previous occupant of the front-most location is moved backward according to a systolic pulse, and the new occupant is moved forward according to the systolic pulse, preserving the uniqueness of the stored values within the array, and providing for multiple in-flight access requests within the array. The placement heuristic that moves the values according to the systolic pulse can be implemented by control logic within identical tiles, so that the placement heuristic moves the values according to the position of the tiles within the array. The movement of the values can be performed via only next-neighbor connections of adjacent tiles within the array. | 10-17-2013 |
20130282978 | METHODS AND STRUCTURE FOR LUN MASKING IN A SWITCHING DEVICE - Methods and structure for masking of logical unit numbers (LUNs) within a switching device coupled with one or more storage enclosures. Each storage enclosure defines one or more logical volumes each identified by a LUN within the storage enclosures. The switching device gathers LUN definition information regarding each LUN defined by each storage enclosure coupled with the switching device. LUN access permission information may be provided by an administrative node/user defining a level of access permitted or denied for each host system for each LUN for each storage enclosure. The switching device then intercepts a REPORT LUNS command from any host directed to a storage enclosure and responds with only those LUNs to which the requesting host system has permitted access. Further, any other SCSI command intercepted at the switching device directed to a LUN to which the host system does not have access is modified to identify an invalid LUN. | 10-24-2013 |
20130282979 | STORAGE SYSTEM AND STORAGE VIRTUALIZATION METHOD - A storage system comprises multiple primary storage apparatuses each comprising multiple primary logical volumes, which constitute the basis of a primary virtual volume, and multiple secondary storage apparatuses each comprising multiple secondary logical volumes, which constitute the basis of a secondary virtual volume forming a remote copy pair with the primary virtual volume, wherein the primary storage apparatus remote-copies data written in a primary logical volume of the relevant primary storage apparatus to a secondary logical volume of any secondary storage apparatus of the multiple secondary storage apparatuses corresponding to the write destination of this data. | 10-24-2013 |
20130282980 | LUN MANAGEMENT WITH DISTRIBUTED RAID CONTROLLERS - A system and method is described for operating a computer memory system having a plurality of controllers capable of accessing a common set of memory modules. Access to the physical storage of the memory modules may be managed by configuration logical units (LUNs) addressable by the users. The amount of memory associated with each LUN may be managed in units of memory (LMA) from a same free LMA table maintained in each controller of the plurality of controllers. A request for maintenance of a LUN may be received from any user through any controller and results in the association of a free memory area with the LUN, and the remaining controllers perform the same operation. A test for misallocation of a free memory area is performed and when such misallocation occurs, the situation is corrected in accordance with a policy. | 10-24-2013 |
20130282981 | STORAGE SYSTEM PROVIDING VIRTUAL VOLUMES - Multiple storage area groups into which multiple storage areas provided by multiple storage devices are classified with reference to storage area attributes are managed. The multiple logical volumes to which, in accordance with a write request to at least one address included in multiple addresses in the logical volume, at least one storage area included in the multiple storage areas is allocated are provided. In accordance with the access condition of the at least one address in the logical volume, the data written to the at least one address by the write request is migrated from the at least one storage area included in one of the multiple storage area groups to at least one storage area in another storage area group included in the multiple storage area groups. | 10-24-2013 |
20130290626 | MELTHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR INSTANTANEOUS ONLINE CAPACITY EXPANSION - The disclosure provides instantaneous, vertical online capacity expansion (OCE) for redundant (e.g., RAID-5, RAID-6) and non-redundant (e.g., RAID-0) arrays. The new OCE technique implements vertical expansion instead of the horizontal expansion techniques implemented in current OCE techniques. The vertical expansion treats any new addition of storage as an extension of the capacity of the preexisting physical drives in order to avoid having to rewrite the data blocks of the original, preexisting storage devices. Vertical RAID expansion is implemented by installing one or more new physical storage devices in a device or partition configuration that corresponds to the physical configuration of the preexisting volume and loading new metadata received through the user interface into the firmware of the RAID controller to define the configuration of the expanded volume. | 10-31-2013 |
20130290627 | Data migration - A method for migrating data in a storage system includes generating a first set of logical disks (LDs), the LDs being mapped to physical storage space in the storage system, generating a temporary virtual volume (VV) mapped to the first set of LDs, generating a second set of LDs mapped to the temporary VV, and migrating data between the second set of LDs and a third set of LDs. | 10-31-2013 |
20130290628 | METHOD AND APPARATUS TO PIN PAGE BASED ON SERVER STATE - A storage system includes plural types of storage devices that define a plurality of virtual volumes and a plurality of logical volumes. A storage controller is configured to manage the plurality of virtual volumes and the plurality of logical volumes, the plurality of virtual volumes defining first storage areas and the plurality of logical volumes defining second storage areas. A second storage area of the plurality of logical volumes is allocated to a first storage area of the plurality of virtual volumes. The storage controller is configured to determine whether data of a first storage area of a swap file is to be stored in the first tier storage device or the second tier storage device based on access information from an application server that manages a swap file information of the swap file. | 10-31-2013 |
20130290629 | STORAGE SYSTEM AND STORAGE APPARATUS - A storage system comprises a first controller and a plurality of storage devices. The plurality of storage devices configure RAID, each of which includes one or more non-volatile memory chips providing storage space where data from a host computer is stored, and a second controller coupled to the non-volatile memory chips. In case where the first controller receives an update request to update first data to second data from the host computer, the second controller in a first storage device of the storage devices is configured to store the second data in an area different from an area where the first data has been stored, in the storage space of the first storage device; generate information that relates the first data and the second data; and generate an intermediate parity based on the first and the second data. | 10-31-2013 |
20130290630 | STORAGE SYSTEM, CONTROL METHOD THEREOF, AND PROGRAM - A RAID control unit forms a redundant configuration of RAID with respect to a physical device including a plurality of disk devices. A cache control unit processes data in page units corresponding to a stripe of the disk devices. A cache area placement unit, when it receives a write request from an upper-level device, places, in a cache memory, a cache area which is provided with a plurality of page areas and has the same size as the stripe area. When new data in the cache memory which is newer than the data in the physical device is to be written back to the storage device, a write-back processing unit generates new parity data by use of an unused area in the cache stripe area, and then writes the new data and the new parity to the corresponding storage devices. | 10-31-2013 |
20130290631 | CONVERTING LUNS INTO FILES OR FILES INTO LUNS IN REAL TIME - A LUN is provided that can store multiple datasets (e.g., data and/or applications, such as virtual machines stored as virtual hard drives). The LUN is partitioned into multiple partitions. One or more datasets may be stored in each partition. As a result, multiple datasets can be accessed through a single LUN, rather than through a number of LUNs proportional to the number of datasets. Furthermore, the datasets stored in the LUN may be pivoted. A second LUN may be generated that is dedicated to storing a dataset of the multiple datasets stored in the first LUN. The dataset is copied to the second LUN, and the second LUN is exposed to a host computer to enable the host computer to interact with the dataset. Still further, the dataset may be pivoted from the second LUN back to a partition of the first LUN. | 10-31-2013 |
20130297871 | Systems, Methods, And Computer Program Products Providing Read Access In A Storage System - A computer program product having a computer readable medium tangibly recording computer program logic for providing data access in a storage system, the computer program product including code to analyze a plurality of data access requests directed to a source volume of the storage system, code to generate a minor volume of the source volume, the minor volume including a subset of data items of the source volume, in which the first subset of data items is selected for the mirror volume based at least in part on data access patterns revealed by analyzing the data access requests, and code to access the minor volume in parallel with accessing the source volume to fulfill read requests from a plurality of hosts. | 11-07-2013 |
20130304987 | DYNAMIC LOAD BALANCING OF DISTRIBUTED PARITY IN A RAID ARRAY - A parity pattern defines a repeated distribution of parity blocks within a distributed parity disk array (“DPDA”). The parity pattern identifies on which disks the parity block or blocks for a stripe are located. When a new disk is added to the DPDA, the parity pattern is modified so that the distribution of parity blocks within the parity pattern is even. Parity blocks within the DPDA are then redistributed to conform with the modified parity pattern. | 11-14-2013 |
20130304988 | SCHEDULING ACCESS REQUESTS FOR A MULTI-BANK LOW-LATENCY RANDOM READ MEMORY DEVICE - Described herein are method and apparatus for scheduling access requests for a multi-bank low-latency random read memory (LLRRM) device within a storage system. The LLRRM device comprising a plurality of memory banks, each bank being simultaneously and independently accessible. A queuing layer residing in storage system may allocate a plurality of request-queuing data structures (“queues”), each queue being assigned to a memory bank. The queuing layer may receive access requests for memory banks in the LLRRM device and store each received access request in the queue assigned to the requested memory bank. The queuing layer may then send, to the LLRRM device for processing, an access request from each request-queuing data structure in successive order. As such, requests sent to the LLRRM device will comprise requests that will be applied to each memory bank in successive order as well, thereby reducing access latencies of the LLRRM device. | 11-14-2013 |
20130311719 | TARGET PATH SELECTION FOR STORAGE CONTROLLERS - A RAID controller attached to a storage network can detect the presence of multiple pathways to the same physical storage device. A path collection module can dynamically maintain all valid pathways to all attached storage devices. A path selection module can automatically and dynamically balance and rebalance desired paths to each storage device so as to simultaneously optimize data flow and provide continuity of I/O service throughout the attached storage network. | 11-21-2013 |
20130318297 | NETWORK STORAGE SYSTEMS HAVING CLUSTERED RAIDS FOR IMPROVED REDUNDANCY AND LOAD BALANCING - A clustered network-based storage system includes a host server, multiple high availability system controller pairs, and multiple storage devices across multiple arrays. Two independent storage array subsystems each include a quorum drive copy and are each controlled by a HA pair, with remote volume mirroring links coupling the separate HA pairs. The host server includes a virtualization agent that identifies and prioritizes communication paths, and also determines capacity across all system nodes. A system storage management agent determines an overall storage profile across the system. The virtualization agent, storage management agent, quorum drive copies and remote volume minoring link all operate to provide increased redundancy, load sharing, or both between the separate first and second arrays of storage devices. | 11-28-2013 |
20130318298 | MEMORY SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR CONTROLLING THE TIMING OF RECEIVING READ DATA - Embodiments of the present invention provide memory systems having a plurality of memory devices sharing an interface for the transmission of read data. A controller can identify consecutive read requests sent to different memory devices. To avoid data contention on the interface, for example, the controller can be configured to delay the time until read data corresponding to the second read request is placed on the interface. | 11-28-2013 |
20130326138 | METHODS FOR MANAGING OWNERSHIP OF REDUNDANT DATA AND SYSTEMS THEREOF - A storage system according to one embodiment includes logic integrated with and/or executable by a hardware processor, the logic being configured to: determine an ownership status for each of a plurality of instances of a file in a first storage tier and in a second storage tier of the storage system; determine locations of the instances of the file in the storage system; determine whether the instances of the file in the first storage tier are being accessed or not being accessed; and assign each of the instances of the file to one of a plurality of indices using the determined ownership status, location, and whether the instances are being accessed. | 12-05-2013 |
20130326139 | STORAGE SYSTEM FOR RESTORING DATA STORED IN FAILED STORAGE DEVICE - A storage system including: a controller; and, a plurality of physical storage devices coupled to the controller and constituting a RAID group; wherein the controller provides one or more logical volumes belonging to the RAID group, each of the one or more logical volumes having a plurality of storage areas; and one or more virtual volumes, wherein, when receiving a write request to a virtual volume of the one or more virtual volumes, the controller is configured to: allocate a storage area in a logical volume to the virtual volume, as an allocated storage area, where reliability of the storage area is used as a criterion in a selection of the storage area for allocation to the virtual volume; and write data to the allocated storage area, wherein, the controller is configured to selectively perform a RAID allocation process to a storage area allocated to a virtual volume. | 12-05-2013 |
20130326140 | CONTROLLING METHODS OF STORAGE CONTROL DEVICE AND VIRTUAL VOLUMES - The storage control device of this invention allocates the physical storage area in RAID groups to virtual volumes in units of chunks including multiple pages. | 12-05-2013 |
20130332674 | CHUNK REDUNDANCY ARCHITECTURE FOR MEMORY - An integrated circuit (IC) includes addressable blocks of memory, and at least one redundant block of memory. A block of memory includes two or more chunks of memory. The IC also includes redundancy control cells. Control circuitry is included to access a first chunk of a redundant block of memory in place of a first remapped chunk one of the addressable blocks of memory, and a second chunk of a redundant block of memory in place of a second remapped chunk one of the addressable blocks of memory, based on the redundancy control cells. | 12-12-2013 |
20130339599 | METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR ADAPTIVE QUEUE DEPTH MANAGEMENT - The invention may be embodied in a multiple-disk data storage system including a controller module that initiates an optimization algorithm to set maximum queue depth of each disk of the data storage system to desired queue depth of each disk. Desired queue depth of each disk may be associated with performance factors including, but not limited to, input/output operations per second (IOPs), average response time, and/or maximum response time of each disk. Desired queue depth of each disk may be further associated with priority rankings of performance factors. | 12-19-2013 |
20130339600 | INTELLIGENT ADAPTER - A network device that includes a storage protocol controller having a port for interfacing with a storage area network (SAN) based storage device and another network device operating within a cluster is provided. The network device also includes a processor executing instructions for managing a local storage device that is configured to operate as a caching device for a computing device. The network device is configured to operate as a host bus adapter and a storage controller for managing storage space at the local storage device and the SAN-based storage device. | 12-19-2013 |
20130339601 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR DYNAMICALLY RESIZING A PARITY DECLUSTERED GROUP - A storage server resizes an array of mass storage devices and distributes data blocks stored in the array of mass storage devices evenly in a declustered organization across the resized array of mass storage devices. Resizing the array of mass storage devices may include adding a new mass storage device to the array or removing a mass storage device from the array. During resizing a data block is moved from one mass storage device to another mass storage device to minimize the imbalance of parity groups shared by the new mass storage devices in the array, as well as minimize the number of data blocks to be moved to uniformly balance the load across the new mass storage device. | 12-19-2013 |
20130339602 | CONFIGURABLE AND SCALABLE STORAGE SYSTEM - The system utilizes a plurality of layers to provide a robust storage solution. One layer is the RAID engine that provides parity RAID protection, disk management and striping for the RAID sets. The second layer is called the virtualization layer and it separates the physical disks and storage capacity into virtual disks that minor the drives that a target system requires. A third layer is a LUN (logical unit number) layer that is disposed between the virtual disks and the host. By using this approach, the system can be used to represent any number, size, or capacity of disks that a host system requires while using any configuration of physical RAID storage. | 12-19-2013 |
20130339603 | METHOD, APPARATUS AND SYSTEM FOR DETERMINING ACCESS TO A MEMORY ARRAY - Techniques and mechanisms for determining a sequence of accessed to a memory array. In an embodiment, a memory array includes multi-level cells and single-level cells interleaved with one another, where bits of the multi-level cells and single-level cells are variously allocated to different logical pages. In another embodiment, requests to access the memory array are ordered according to a sequence of page rounds to avoid an access event which includes a type of successive accessing of adjacent multi-level cells. | 12-19-2013 |
20130346690 | INTRA-DEVICE DATA PROTECTION IN A RAID ARRAY - A system and method for intra-device data protection in a RAID array. A computer system comprises client computers and data storage arrays coupled to one another via a network. A data storage array utilizes solid-state drives and Flash memory cells for data storage. A storage controller within a data storage array is configured to identify a unit of data stored in the data storage subsystem, wherein said unit of data is stored across at least a first storage device and a second storage device of the plurality of storage devices, each of the first storage device and the second storage device storing intra-device redundancy data corresponding to the unit of data; and change an amount of intra-device redundancy data corresponding to the unit of data on only the first storage device. | 12-26-2013 |
20140006708 | SECURE ACCESS TO SHARED STORAGE RESOURCES | 01-02-2014 |
20140006709 | RELAY DEVICE AND RELAY METHOD | 01-02-2014 |
20140013048 | SYNCHRONIZATION OF A DISPERSED RAID GROUP - In a memory system where memory units may be separated from each other so as to operate substantially independently, the coordination of related memory operations between such units may be by synchronization of an epoch of time and the start of an epoch of time with a common synchronization source. The source may be distributed directly to each of the memory modules of a memory unit, or through an intermediate synchronization circuit of a memory unit that is common to the modules. Where the data is stored as a RAID stripe on a plurality of synchronized modules, the read and write or erase operations performed by the modules may be arranged such that the write operations or erase operations may not substantially affect the ability to promptly read the stored data of a RAID stripe. | 01-09-2014 |
20140019683 | DISTRIBUTED STORAGE SYSTEM AND DISTRIBUTED STORAGE METHOD - A distributed storage system comprises a plurality of data storage nodes that store a plurality of object data items in a distributed manner. The plurality of object data items are respectively characterized by a data coordinate and identified by a data identifier. The plurality of data storage nodes are respectively assigned a node coordinate in a space identical to that of the data coordinate. After selecting as first data storage nodes from among the plurality of data storage nodes a plurality of data storage nodes each assigned a node coordinate having a relatively short distance from a data coordinate characterizing each of the plurality of object data items, any of the object data item is respectively stored in a data storage node determined based on a data identifier that identifies the object data item from among the plurality of first data storage nodes. | 01-16-2014 |
20140019684 | Method and Apparatus for Reading and Writing Data in File System - Embodiments of the present invention disclose a method and an apparatus for reading and writing data in a file system, which are applicable to the field of communication technologies. In the embodiments of the present invention, the file system supports file-level redundancy algorithm operations of independent disks; after receiving a file read/write request, the file system determines a read/write location of the data to be read/written in the data strip, sequentially caches the to-be-read/written data information corresponding to at least one data strip, and processes the cached data information of at least one data strip. In this way, after the to-be-read/written data information corresponding to a complete data strip is cached, the data is read/written by using a data strip as a unit, and thereby improving efficiency of reading/writing data. | 01-16-2014 |
20140019685 | Method and Apparatus for Processing RAID Configuration Information and RAID Controller - Embodiments of the present invention relate to a method and an apparatus for processing RAID configuration information, and a RAID controller. The RAID includes a number of hard disks. The method includes detecting whether a new hard disk exists in the plurality of hard disks. When it is detected that the new hard disk exists in the plurality of hard disks, writing the pre-configured RAID configuration information corresponding to its hard disk number to the new hard disk, so that the new hard disk becomes a hard disk in the RAID. | 01-16-2014 |
20140025886 | DISK ARRAY SYSTEM AND CONNECTION METHOD - According to the conventional art disk array system, when a drive box of a first chassis is blocked, all the drive boxes of a second chassis connected subsequently therefrom will be blocked, and the data in the drive boxes arranged subsequently therefrom cannot be recovered based on the RAID configuration. Even if the data could be recovered based on RAID configuration, it is necessary to perform the recovery process based on RAID in all the subsequently arranged drive boxes, according to which the performance is deteriorated. The present system stores a first drive box in a first chassis out of a plurality of chassis, and a second drive box and a third drive box are stored in a second chassis. One of a plurality of expander controllers within the first drive box is connected to an expander controller in the second drive box, and the other expander controller is connected to an expander controller in the third drive box. | 01-23-2014 |
20140025887 | NONVOLATILE MEMORY DEVICE AND RELATED DATA MANAGEMENT METHOD - A method of operating a nonvolatile memory device comprising a plurality of memory blocks comprises storing first data and second data to be stored in a hot memory block of the memory blocks in a first buffer, transferring the first data stored in the first buffer to a second buffer to program the first data in the hot memory block, and generating RAID parity data based on the first and second data, wherein the RAID parity data and the first data form part of the same write stripe. | 01-23-2014 |
20140025888 | STORAGE SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR EFFICIENTLY UTILIZING STORAGE CAPACITY WITHIN A STORAGE SYSTEM - In a storage system | 01-23-2014 |
20140032834 | Managing A Solid State Drive ('SSD') In A Redundant Array Of Inexpensive Drives ('RAID') - Managing a solid state drive (‘SSD’) in a Redundant Array of Inexpensive Drives (‘RAID’), including: detecting, by a RAID engine, a number of cell failures of the SSD exceeding a predetermined threshold; responsive to detecting the number of cell failures of the SSD exceeding the predetermined threshold: redirecting, by the RAID engine, a write of data not originally stored in the RAID to a drive in the RAID other than the SSD; and redirecting, by the RAID engine, writes originally directed to data stored on the SSD to another drive in the RAID, including unmapping the data stored on the SSD. | 01-30-2014 |
20140032835 | MEMORY ARCHITECTURE - A write circuit in a memory array includes a global data line, a switching circuit, and a first local data line coupled with the switching circuit and with a first plurality of memory cells. The global data line is configured to receive data to be written to the memory cell from outside of the memory array. The switching circuit is configured to electrically couple the global data line with the first local data line to transfer the data to be written to a memory cell of the first plurality of memory cells to the first local data line. The memory cell of the first plurality of memory cells is configured to receive data on the first local data line. | 01-30-2014 |
20140032836 | BUFFER FOR RAID CONTROLLER WITH DISABLED POST WRITE CACHE - Enhancing management of controllers in a RAID system when a post-write-cache of a is disabled, by supplying a stripe buffer that stores sequential write requests—and before such requests are actually written in to the physical disc drives. The stripe buffer can temporarily store data, until the data level reaches the stripe buffer size. Thereafter, contents of the stripe buffer can be flushed onto disc. | 01-30-2014 |
20140032837 | STORAGE SYSTEM, STORAGE CONTROL METHOD AND STORAGE CONTROL PROGRAM - In tiered storage subsystems in which pages are automatically allocated to appropriate storage media based on the access frequency in page units, since the number of storage media is not simply proportional to the performance, it was difficult to design in advance a tier configuration satisfying the required performance. According to the present invention, a cumulative curve of I/O distribution is created based on a result of measurement of I/O accesses performed to the storage subsystem, and RAID groups (RG) are allocated sequentially in order from RGs belonging to tiers having higher performances to the cumulative curve of I/O distribution. When either a performance limitation value or a capacity of the RG exceeds the cumulative curve of I/O distribution, a subsequent RG is allocated, and the process is repeated so as to compute the optimum tier configuration. | 01-30-2014 |
20140032838 | COMPUTER SYSTEM, DATA MANAGEMENT APPARATUS, AND DATA MANAGEMENT METHOD - A data management apparatus of a computer system comprises, as a retention rule for volume data, change-time identification information for identifying a point-in-time for changing a logical unit, and migration-destination unit specification information for specifying a migration-destination logical unit. An edge storage apparatus stores first identification information, which enables the identification of volume data in a logical unit, and second identification information, which enables the identification of a logical unit in a storage system after associating the first identification information and the second identification information with each other. A data management apparatus (A1) transfers the volume data from a migration-source logical unit to the migration-destination logical unit conforming to the migration-destination unit specification information subsequent to a point-in-time identified in accordance with the change-time identification information. The edge storage apparatus (B1) associates the second identification information, which enables the identification of the migration-destination logical unit, with the first identification information, and stores the associated information in a storage device. | 01-30-2014 |
20140032839 | STORAGE SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR CONTROLLING STORAGE SYSTEM - According to an aspect of the present invention, provided is a storage system including a plurality of storage devices, a plurality of access control devices, a relay device, and a connection control device. The plurality of access control devices control access to each of the plurality of storage devices. The relay device connects each of the plurality of storage devices to one of the plurality of access control devices. The connection control device instructs, in response to load states of the plurality of access control devices, the relay device to switch an access control device connected to one of the plurality of storage devices so that deviation of loads among the plurality of access control devices is improved. | 01-30-2014 |
20140032840 | REQUESTING CLOUD DATA STORAGE - A method begins by a processing module determining that a data storage request is a cloud data storage request. The method continues with the processing module determining at least one of a cloud storage access reliability indication and a cloud storage data reliability indication for the data storage request. The method continues with the processing module sending the data storage request and the at least one of cloud storage access reliability indication and cloud storage data reliability indication to a cloud storage system. | 01-30-2014 |
20140040544 | LOGICAL VOLUME GROUP DRIVE CONTROL - A volume group power control system and a corresponding method are disclosed. The system is to organize a plurality of drive systems into a plurality of logical volume groups and to store group data identifying each of the plurality of logical volume groups. Each of the logical volume groups includes a plurality of the drive systems. The array controller includes a power management component to monitor activity of each of the plurality of drive systems in each of the plurality of logical volume groups and to deactivate the plurality of drive systems associated with a given one of the plurality of logical volume groups in response to the power management component determining that the plurality of drive systems associated with the given one of the plurality of logical volume groups is substantially inactive. | 02-06-2014 |
20140040545 | CONTROL DEVICE, STORAGE DEVICE, AND COMPUTER-READABLE RECORDING MEDIUM HAVING STORED THEREIN CONTROL PROGRAM - A control device controlling a plurality of disk devices to which a physical storage area is assigned in response to a logical storage area accessed from an upper device includes a processor, and the processor assigns an assignment start location of the logical storage area of the plurality disk devices to respectively different physical locations. | 02-06-2014 |
20140040546 | VIRTUAL DISK DRIVE SYSTEM AND METHOD - A disk drive system and method capable of dynamically allocating data is provided. The disk drive system may include a RAID subsystem having a pool of storage, for example a page pool of storage that maintains a free list of RAIDs, or a matrix of disk storage blocks that maintain a null list of RAIDs, and a disk manager having at least one disk storage system controller. The RAID subsystem and disk manager dynamically allocate data across the pool of storage and a plurality of disk drives based on RAID-to-disk mapping. The RAID subsystem and disk manager determine whether additional disk drives are required, and a notification is sent if the additional disk drives are required. Dynamic data allocation and data progression allow a user to acquire a disk drive later in time when it is needed. Dynamic data allocation also allows efficient data storage of snapshots/point-in-time copies of virtual volume pool of storage, instant data replay and data instant fusion for data backup, recovery etc., remote data storage, and data progression, etc. | 02-06-2014 |
20140040547 | NON-DISRUPTIVE DATA MIGRATION BETWEEN PROCESSING SYSTEMS THAT DO NOT SHARE STORAGE - A technique is disclosed for non-disruptive migration of data between storage on hosts that do not share storage with each other. Aggregate relocation is enabled to operate between the hosts in the absence of shared storage connectivity. The technique includes mirroring an aggregate from storage of a first host to storage of a second host by using a sub-RAID level proxy in each of the first and second hosts to proxy data communications between the hosts. The proxy is used in lieu of the mirroring application in the first host having direct access to the storage devices of the second host. The technique further includes relocating the aggregate from the first host to the second host. | 02-06-2014 |
20140040548 | TECHNIQUE TO AVOID CASCADED HOT SPOTTING - The present invention overcomes the disadvantages of the prior art by providing a technique that stripes data containers across volumes of a striped volume set (SVS) using one of a plurality of different data placement patterns to thereby reduce the possibility of hotspots arising due to each data container using the same data placement pattern within the SVS. The technique is illustratively implemented by calculating a first index value, an intermediate index value and calculating a hash value of an inode associated with a data container to be accessed within the SVS. A final index value is calculated by multiplying the intermediate index value by the hash value, modulo the number of volumes of the SVS. Further, a Locate( ) function may be used to compute the location of data container content in the SVS to which a data access request is directed to ensure consistency of such content. | 02-06-2014 |
20140040549 | STORAGE ARRAY ASSIST ARCHITECTURE - Disclosed is a storage system architecture. An Environmental service module (ESM) is coupled to one or more array controllers. The ESM is configured with a central processing unit and one or more assist functions. The assist functions may include nonvolatile memory. This nonvolatile memory may be used for write caching, mirroring data, and/or configuration data. The assist functions, or the ESM, may be controlled by the array controllers using SCSI or RDMA commands. | 02-06-2014 |
20140047177 | MIRRORED DATA STORAGE PHYSICAL ENTITY PAIRING IN ACCORDANCE WITH RELIABILITY WEIGHTINGS - A mirrored data storage system with a plurality of data storage physical entities (drives) arranged in mirrored pairs in accordance with reliability weightings that have been assigned to each of the drives. Each mirrored pair comprises one drive with at least a median and greater reliability weighting, and one drive with at least a median and lesser reliability weighting. In an example, the assigned reliability weightings are sorted into descending order; with the drives having weightings in the upper half of the sorted order assigned to a first set with greater reliability weighting, and the drives having weightings in the lower half of the sorted order assigned to a second set with lesser reliability weighting. Each mirrored pair has one drive selected from the first set and one drive selected from the second set. | 02-13-2014 |
20140047178 | STORAGE SYSTEM AND STORAGE CONTROL METHOD - A storage system includes: a grouping unit configured to generate one or more storage device sub-groups, each of the storage device sub-groups including a storage device used to store data, from storage devices included in a plurality of storage device groups that respectively include a plurality of storage devices; a selection unit configured to select any of the one or more storage device sub-groups; and a control unit configured to shut off power supply to a non-selected device group, which is a storage device sub-group other than a selected storage device sub-group and included in a storage device group including the selected storage device sub-group, and shut off power supply to storage devices included in a storage device group other than the storage device group including the selected storage device sub-group. | 02-13-2014 |
20140047179 | MANAGEMENT METHOD FOR A VIRTUAL VOLUME ACROSS A PLURALITY OF STORAGES - A first storage system includes a plurality of first storage devices and is coupled to a computer. A second storage system includes a plurality of second storage devices and is coupled to the first storage system. A first controller provides a thin provisioning logical volume (LU) to the computer. A second controller provides an external thin provisioning LU to the first storage system. The first controller provides pool areas associated with the thin provisioning LU, including a first pool area mapped to the external thin provisioning LU, and allocates the first pool area to a first region in the thin provisioning LU to store a write data to the first region in the thin provisioning LU. The second controller allocates at least one of a plurality of pool areas to store the write data to the first region in the thin provisioning LU. | 02-13-2014 |
20140047180 | METHOD, DEVICE, AND SYSTEM FOR DETERMINING DRIVE LETTER - The present disclosure discloses a method for determining a drive letter, including: obtaining a number of a port connecting a redundant array of independent disk RAID controller to an exchange chip and a location number, of a disk, meeting a report condition in each RAID group under the control of the RAID controller, where the location number, of the disk, meeting the report condition is a location number, of a disk, on a preset location after location numbers of all disks included in each RAID group when each RAID group is configured, are sorted according to a preset sequence; and determining a drive letter corresponding to each RAID group according to the number of the port connecting the RAID controller to the exchange chip and the location number, of the disk, meeting the report condition in each RAID group. | 02-13-2014 |
20140059294 | STORAGE SYSTEM AND STORAGE CONTROL METHOD - When a request to write data to a logical storage area realized by a storage area of a first storage apparatus is made in a storage system, a determination section determines whether a write pattern is sequential access or random access. When the write pattern is the sequential access, a control section writes the data to the logical storage area. On the other hand, when the write pattern is the random access, the control section writes the data to a virtual storage area obtained by virtualizing a storage area of a second storage apparatus which is faster in access speed than the first storage apparatus. | 02-27-2014 |
20140059295 | SMART SCALABLE STORAGE SWITCH ARCHITECTURE - A method and system for providing advanced storage features using commodity, consumer-level storage devices is provided. The advanced storage system is a component that is connected between the computer system and one or more physical disk drives. The host interface of the advanced storage system presents itself to the computer system as a virtual disk drive that implements the commands of consumer-level storage hardware that are familiar to the host controller of the computer system. Similarly, the storage device interface of the advanced storage system presents itself to one or more disk drives as a consumer-level host controller, regardless of the actual topology of the physical storage devices that are connected. This system provides a simple way for a user to combine low-cost, consumer-level hardware to add advanced storage features to a computer system. | 02-27-2014 |
20140068181 | ELASTIC CACHE WITH SINGLE PARITY - The invention provides an elastic or flexible SSD cache utilizing a hybrid RAID protocol combining RAID-0 protocol for read data and RAID-5 single parity protocol for write data in the same cache array. Read data may be stored in window sized allocations using RAID-0 protocol to avoid allocating an entire RAID stripe for read cache data. In the same SSD volume, dirty write data is stored in row allocations using RAID-5 protocol to provide single parity for the dirty write data. Read data is typically stored a window from the physical device having the largest number of available windows. Write data is stored in a row including the next available window in each arm, which decouples the window structure of the rows from the stripe configuration of the physical memory devices. | 03-06-2014 |
20140068182 | Storage Virtualization In A Block-Level Storage System - A data storage system that stores data has a logical address space divided into ordered areas and unordered areas. Retrieval of storage system metadata for a logical address is based on whether the address is located in an ordered area or an unordered area. Retrieval of metadata regarding addresses in ordered areas is performed using an arithmetic calculation, without accessing a block storage device. Retrieval of metadata regarding addresses in unordered areas is performed using lookup tables. In some embodiments, a mixture of ordered and unordered areas is determined to permit the data storage system to store its lookup tables entirely in volatile memory. | 03-06-2014 |
20140068183 | SYSTEMS, METHODS, AND INTERFACES FOR ADAPTIVE PERSISTENCE - A storage module may be configured to service I/O requests according to different persistence levels. The persistence level of an I/O request may relate to the storage resource(s) used to service the I/O request, the configuration of the storage resource(s), the storage mode of the resources, and so on. In some embodiments, a persistence level may relate to a cache mode of an I/O request. I/O requests pertaining to temporary or disposable data may be serviced using an ephemeral cache mode. An ephemeral cache mode may comprise storing I/O request data in cache storage without writing the data through (or back) to primary storage. Ephemeral cache data may be transferred between hosts in response to virtual machine migration. | 03-06-2014 |
20140068184 | ASSIMILATION OF FOREIGN LUNS INTO A NETWORK STORAGE SYSTEM - A storage system provides highly flexible data layouts that can be tailored to various different applications and use cases. The system defines several types of data containers, including “regions”, “logical extents” and “slabs”. Each region includes one or more logical extents. Allocated to each logical extent is at least part of one or more slabs allocated to the region that includes the extent. Each slab is a set of blocks of storage from one or more physical storage devices. The slabs can be defined from a heterogeneous pool of physical storage. The system also maintains multiple “volumes” above the region layer. Each volume includes one or more logical extents from one or more regions. A foreign LUN can be assimilated into the system by defining slabs as separate portions of the foreign LUN. Layouts of the extents within the regions are not visible to any of the volumes. | 03-06-2014 |
20140075110 | REPLICATING TRACKS FROM A FIRST STORAGE SITE TO A SECOND AND THIRD STORAGE SITES - Provided are a computer program product, system, and method for replicating tracks from a first storage to a second and third storages. A determination is made of a track in the first storage to transfer to the second storage as part of a point-in-time copy relationship and of a stride of tracks including the target track. The stride of tracks including the target track is staged from the first storage to a cache according to the point-in-time copy relationship. The staged stride is destaged from the cache to the second storage. The stride in the cache is transferred to the third storage as part of a mirror copy relationship. The stride of tracks in the cache is demoted in response to destaging the stride of the tracks in the cache to the second storage and transferring the stride of tracks in the cache to the third storage. | 03-13-2014 |
20140075111 | Block Level Management with Service Level Agreement - A storage management system may create a logical storage unit from blocks of storage provided from multiple storage devices. The storage management system may operate using a service level agreement that defines a preferred or minimum performance standard for accesses to the logical storage unit. The service level agreement may include minimum replications, system performance, and system operation characteristics. As read and write operations are performed against the logical storage unit, the configuration of the logical storage unit may be changed to meet the service level agreement. The storage management system may assess and map the capabilities of all available storage devices for a system, then provision a logical storage unit that may initially meet the target service level agreement. When system performance does not meet the service level agreement, read operations may be striped, alternative storage devices may be used, or the location of replicated blocks may be changed. | 03-13-2014 |
20140075112 | WRITING DATA AVOIDING WRITE CONFLICTS IN A DISPERSED STORAGE NETWORK - A method begins by a by a first device of a dispersed storage network (DSN) sending a set of write revision requests to storage units of the DSN. The method continues with one of the storage units generating a write revision response regarding a potential write conflict issue. The method continues with the first device receiving the write revision responses to produce a set of received write revision responses and interpreting the set of received write revision responses to determine whether a write conflict issue exists. When the write conflict issue exists, the method continues with the first device issuing a set of write roll back requests to the storage units. When the write conflict issue does not exist, the method continues with the first device issuing a set of next phase write requests to the storage units regarding storing revised encoded data slices. | 03-13-2014 |
20140075113 | SEMICONDUCTOR STORAGE DEVICE AND CONTROL METHOD THEREOF - A memory includes a cell array including memory cells storing data, and a write driver writing data to the cells. A write driver performs or does not perform writing of write data according to write mask data input along with the write data. A multiplexer selectively outputs a write protect signal or the write mask data. The write protect signal is fixed to a command prohibiting the write data from being written. The command is included in the write mask data. A write protect controller controls the multiplexer to output the write protect signal when an address of a write protect area in the cell array matches an address of the write data. The write protect controller controls the multiplexer to output the write mask data as it is when the address of the write protect area in the cell array does not match the address of the write data. | 03-13-2014 |
20140075114 | REPLICATING TRACKS FROM A FIRST STORAGE SITE TO A SECOND AND THIRD STORAGE SITES - Provided are a computer program product, system, and method for replicating tracks from a first storage to a second and third storages. A determination is made of a track in the first storage to transfer to the second storage as part of a point-in-time copy relationship and of a stride of tracks including the target track. The stride of tracks including the target track is staged from the first storage to a cache according to the point-in-time copy relationship. The staged stride is destaged from the cache to the second storage. The stride in the cache is transferred to the third storage as part of a mirror copy relationship. The stride of tracks in the cache is demoted in response to destaging the stride of the tracks in the cache to the second storage and transferring the stride of tracks in the cache to the third storage. | 03-13-2014 |
20140075115 | SCHEDULING OF RECONSTRUCTIVE I/O READ OPERATIONS IN A STORAGE ENVIRONMENT - A system and method for effectively scheduling read and write operations among a plurality of solid-state storage devices. A computer system comprises client computers and data storage arrays coupled to one another via a network. A data storage array utilizes solid-state drives and Flash memory cells for data storage. A storage controller within a data storage array comprises an I/O scheduler. The storage controller is configured to receive a read request targeted to the data storage medium, and identify at least a first storage device of the plurality of storage devices which contains data targeted by the read request. In response to either detecting or predicting the first storage device will exhibit variable performance, the controller is configured to generate a reconstruct read request configured to obtain the data from one or more devices of the plurality of storage devices other than the first storage device. | 03-13-2014 |
20140075116 | INFORMATION PROCESSING DEVICE, INFORMATION PROCESSING METHOD, AND INFORMATION STORAGE MEDIUM - Recording failure area information includes information indicating an optical disk having a recording failure area in which data is missing, and indicating a position of the recording failure area in the optical disk, out of the optical disks constituting a disk array. A controller ( | 03-13-2014 |
20140082278 | High Speed Read Access Memory Array with Variation Tolerant Bypass Scheme with Protection Circuit - A memory array for process variation tolerant bypass operation. The memory array may utilize normal read operation data path of a memory I/O module. Accordingly, the speed at which the bypass operation may be executed may be increased. Furthermore, a potential for false read operations introduced by the utilization of the normal read operation data path of the memory I/O module may be reduced using a protect mechanism operable to block the output of false reads from the memory array. | 03-20-2014 |
20140082279 | DISTRIBUTING CAPACITY SLICES ACROSS STORAGE SYSTEM NODES - Various systems and methods are described for configuring a data storage system. In one embodiment, a plurality of actual capacities of a plurality of storage devices of the data storage system are identified and divided into a plurality of capacity slices. The plurality of capacity slices are combined into a plurality of chunks of capacity slices, each having a combination of characteristics of the underlying physical storage devices. The chunks of capacity slices are then mapped to a plurality of logical storage devices. A group of the plurality of logical storage devices is then organized into a redundant array of logical storage devices. | 03-20-2014 |
20140082280 | STORAGE APPARATUS AND CONTROL METHOD - A storage apparatus is disclosed, including a first storage area, a second storage area, and a controller. The controller writes data to the first storage area based on a write request. When the data are written in the first storage area, the controller sequentially writes the data to the second storage area from a beginning of a physical address thereof. The controller outputs the data to a backup apparatus by sequentially reading out the data being written in the second storage area from the beginning of the physical address. | 03-20-2014 |
20140082281 | EXTENSION OF WRITE ANYWHERE FILE SYSTEM LAYOUT - A file system layout apportions an underlying physical volume into one or more virtual volumes (vvols) of a storage system. The underlying physical volume is an aggregate comprising one or more groups of disks, such as RAID groups, of the storage system. The aggregate has its own physical volume block number (pvbn) space and maintains metadata, such as block allocation structures, within that pvbn space. Each vvol has its own virtual volume block number (vvbn) space and maintains metadata, such as block allocation structures, within that vvbn space. Notably, the block allocation structures of a vvol are sized to the vvol, and not to the underlying aggregate, to thereby allow operations that manage data served by the storage system (e.g., snapshot operations) to efficiently work over the vvols. The file system layout extends the file system layout of a conventional write anywhere file layout system implementation, yet maintains performance properties of the conventional implementation. | 03-20-2014 |
20140082282 | MULTI-GRANULARITY PARALLEL STORAGE SYSTEM AND STORAGE - A multi-granularity parallel storage system and memory that support parallel read/write of rows and columns in multiple granularities. The storage system includes a R/W port and a memory. The memory includes W memory blocks and a data gating network. Each of the memory blocks is a 2D array consisting of multiple memory units and each memory row of the 2D array includes W memory units. For each memory block, one memory row can be read/written at a time, W is the nth power of 2, and n is a natural number. The storage system can support parallel read/write of matrix row and column data of different data types at the same time, and thus essentially eliminate the need for a transposition operation in signal processing and improve efficiency of signal processing. | 03-20-2014 |
20140089580 | HANDLING ENCLOSURE UNAVAILABILITY IN A STORAGE SYSTEM - The presently disclosed subject matter includes, inter alia, a storage system and a method of managing allocation of data in case an enclosure in a storage system becomes unavailable. The storage system has a storage space configured as a plurality of RAID groups, each RAID group comprising N parity members. According to one aspect of the disclosed subject matter, responsive to a write request, at least one section allocated to a disk in an unavailable enclosure is identified; at least one temporary RAID group in a spare storage space of the storage system is allocated and data related to the write request is written to the alternative RAID group. | 03-27-2014 |
20140089581 | CAPACITY-EXPANSION OF A LOGICAL VOLUME - Expanding capacity of a logical volume is described. In an example a logical volume is described by a global metadata unit and a plurality of local metadata units. The global metadata unit includes a description of the logical volume, a list of the plurality of local metadata units, and ranges of logical blocks of the logical volume corresponding to the plurality of local metadata units. Each of the local metadata units includes a description of a local RAID set and a range of logical blocks on the local RAID set. When a new drive is to be added to the logical volume to increase capacity, a new local metadata unit is created. The new local metadata unit includes a description of a new local RAID set to be added to the RAID volume and a range of logical blocks on the new drive. The new local metadata unit is added to the global metadata unit to expand the logical volume to incorporate the new local RAID set. | 03-27-2014 |
20140089582 | DISK ARRAY APPARATUS, DISK ARRAY CONTROLLER, AND METHOD FOR COPYING DATA BETWEEN PHYSICAL BLOCKS - According to one embodiment, a disk array controller includes a data copy unit and a physical block replacement unit. The data copy unit copies data from a master logical disk to a backup logical disk in order to set the master logical disk and the backup logical disk in a synchronization status. The physical block replacement unit allocates a third physical block to the backup logical disk, before data is copied from a first physical block allocated to the master logical disk to the backup logical disk, when the allocation is changed to the third physical block instead of a second physical block that is associated with the first physical block and is allocated to the backup logical disk. | 03-27-2014 |
20140095787 | NVS THRESHOLDING FOR EFFICIENT DATA MANAGEMENT - For data management by a processor device in a computing storage environment, a threshold for an amount of Non Volatile Storage (NVS) space to be consumed by any particular logically contiguous storage space in the computing storage environment is established based on at least one of a Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID) type, a number of point-in-time copy source data segments in the logically contiguous storage space, and a storage classification. | 04-03-2014 |
20140095788 | METHOD FOR VIRTUALIZING RAID OF COMPUTER SYSTEM - A method for virtualizing a redundant array of independent disks (RAID) of a computer system is provided. The computer system includes a plurality of storage devices and a central processing unit (CPU). The method includes following steps: establishing a storage device interface via the CPU after the computer system is powered on and a power-on self-test (POST) is executed, wherein the storage device interface integrates the storage devices into at least one RAID according to an array configuration; accessing the storage devices by the CPU via the storage device interface after the RAID is established; determining an access mode of the storage devices by the CPU according to a level of the RAID when the CPU receives an access instruction; and establishing a user interface by the CPU according to a system program of the RAID. | 04-03-2014 |
20140101384 | Storage System - Disclosed is a storage system that suppress occurrence of a bottleneck in the storage system, efficiently uses a bandwidth of hardware, and achieves high reliability. A storage system includes a storage apparatus that stores data, a controller that controls data input/output with respect to the storage apparatus, and an interface that couples the storage apparatus and the controller. The storage apparatus has a plurality of physical ports that are coupled to the interface. The controller logically partitions a storage area of the storage apparatus into a plurality of storage areas and provides the plurality of storage areas, or allocates the plurality of physical ports to the logically partitioned storage areas. | 04-10-2014 |
20140101385 | File Management Method and Hierarchy Management File System - There is provided a file management system and method of creating a hierarchy management file capable of preventing an access performance from dropping when a user accesses to a file. According to the system and method, a server creates file systems in high-speed and low-speed volumes and a file-sharing server virtually integrates those file systems into one system as a pseudo file system. Then, the server moves a file to be moved to the file system created in the low-speed volume in advance, not when an access is made to the file. When a user accesses to the file after that, the user directly accesses to destination without requiring tcopying the file, so that the accessing performance may be prevented from dropping. | 04-10-2014 |
20140108724 | PREVENTING ACCESS LOSS WHEN DEVICE ADAPTER AFFINITY TO A NODE CHANGES - Provided are a computer implemented method, computer program product, and system for maintaining state information. An available node affiliated with an unavailable device adapter and an unavailable node affiliated with an available device adapter are identified, wherein the available node is assigned a first subset of disk arrays, and wherein the unavailable node is assigned a second subset of disk arrays. The available device adapter is affiliated with the available node. First state information of the first node that describes a state of the first subset of disk arrays is updated with second state information of the second node that describes a state of the second subset of disk arrays. Access to the first subset of disk arrays and the second subset of disk arrays is provided through the available node and the available device adapter using the updated first state information. | 04-17-2014 |
20140108725 | SEMICONDUCTOR MEMORY DEVICE - A semiconductor memory device includes a memory cell array configured to include sub memory blocks and a redundancy memory block, data line groups configured to deliver data to be programmed into the sub memory blocks and data read from the sub memory blocks, a redundancy data line group configured to deliver data to be programmed into the redundancy memory block and data read from the redundancy memory block, and switching circuits configured to couple selectively the data line groups to the redundancy data line group. | 04-17-2014 |
20140108726 | ACCELERATOR SYSTEM FOR USE WITH SECURE DATA STORAGE - Data processing and an accelerator system therefore are described. An embodiment relates generally to a data processing system. In such an embodiment, a bus and an accelerator are coupled to one another. The accelerator has an application function block. The application function block is to process data to provide processed data to storage. A network interface is coupled to obtain the processed data from the storage for transmission. | 04-17-2014 |
20140115253 | GLOBAL DATA ESTABLISHMENT FOR STORAGE ARRAYS CONTROLLED BY A PLURALITY OF NODES - A plurality of data arrays are coupled to a plurality of nodes via a plurality of adapters. The plurality of adapters discover the plurality of data arrays during startup, and information about the plurality of data arrays are communicated to corresponding local nodes of the plurality of nodes, wherein the local nodes broadcast the information to other nodes of plurality of nodes. A director node of the plurality of nodes determines which data arrays of the plurality of data arrays are a current set of global metadata arrays, based on the broadcasted information. | 04-24-2014 |
20140122795 | DATA PLACEMENT FOR LOSS PROTECTION IN A STORAGE SYSTEM - Embodiments of the invention relate to data placement for loss protection in a storage system. One embodiment includes constructing multiple logical compartments. Each logical compartment includes a placement policy including a set of storage placement rules for placement of storage symbols into a set of physical storage containers. A first logical compartment of said plurality of logical compartments is container-overlapped with respect to a second logical compartment of said plurality of logical compartments. The first logical compartment is data loss independent with respect to the second logical compartment. Each of multiple storage volumes is associated with a logical compartment. The storage symbols that represent a data stripe are placed onto physical storage containers in conformity with the placement policy associated with the logical compartment containing the data stripe. | 05-01-2014 |
20140122796 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR TRACKING A SEQUENTIAL DATA STREAM STORED IN NON-SEQUENTIAL STORAGE BLOCKS - A process for block-level tracking of a sequential data stream that is sub-divided into multiple parts, and stored, by a file system, within non-sequential storage blocks. The process creates block-level metadata as the sequential data stream is written to the storage blocks, wherein the metadata stores pointers to the non-sequential storage blocks used to store the multiple parts of the sequential data stream. This metadata can subsequently be used by a block-level controller to more efficiently read the sequential data stream back to the file system using read-ahead processes. | 05-01-2014 |
20140122797 | METHOD AND STRUCTURES FOR PERFORMING A MIGRATION OF A LOGICAL VOLUME WITH A SERIAL ATTACHED SCSI EXPANDER - Methods and structure for migrating a logical volume with a Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) expander are provided. The expander comprises a plurality of physical links with associated transceivers (PHYs). The expander further comprises a control unit operable to select a logical volume, and to initiate migration of data from the selected logical volume to a backup logical volume. Further, the expander includes a Serial SCSI Protocol (SSP) target of the expander operable to intercept commands directed to the selected logical volume responsive to the control unit initiating the migration, and an SSP initiator of the expander that is operable to generate commands directed to the backup logical volume based on the intercepted commands, and to provide the intercepted commands to the selected logical volume. | 05-01-2014 |
20140122798 | METHODS AND STRUCTURE ESTABLISHING NESTED REDUNDANT ARRAY OF INDEPENDENT DISKS VOLUMES WITH AN EXPANDER - Methods and structure are provided for provisioning a Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID) volume via an expander that can be used to provision a RAID volume managed by an external RAID controller. The structure includes a Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) expander. The expander comprises physical links with transceivers (PHYs) that directly couple with storage devices, a protocol target and a control unit. The control unit provisions a first RAID volume with multiple storage devices that are directly coupled with the PHYs, and is further masks the storage devices from a SAS domain, by presenting the PHYs directly coupled with the multiple storage devices as a single PHY coupled with a single logical device. The control unit is also operable to provision a portion of a second RAID volume on the logical device in response to the expander receiving a command from a RAID controller. | 05-01-2014 |
20140122799 | STORAGE DEVICE AND POWER SAVING METHOD THEREOF - A storage device includes a plurality of hard disk device sets, a plurality of voltage adjustment units, an information collection unit and a control unit. The hard disk device sets access data respectively to generate corresponding access messages. Each of the hard disk device sets includes at least two hard disk devices. The voltage adjustment units determine whether to provide a plurality of duty voltages to the hard disk device sets, according to a plurality of control signals. The information collection unit receives the access messages generated by the hard disk device sets, and outputs the access messages according to a read command. The control unit generates the read command to receive the access messages, acquires the usage states of the hard disk device sets according to an algorithm and the access messages, and generates the control signals according to the usage states of the hard disk device sets. | 05-01-2014 |
20140129768 | RAID ARRAY TRANSFORMATION IN A POOLED STORAGE SYSTEM - Aspects of the present invention relate to an apparatus and corresponding method that includes reading data from a first portion of an in-use redundant array of independent disks. (RAID), wherein the first portion of the in-use RAID is arranged according to a first array configuration having at least a first parameter. One or more reserved extents in a storage pool is used to store at least a first portion of the data for writing to the in-use RAID. One or more free extents in the storage pool and/or in the in-use RAID is used to store at least a second portion of the data for writing to the in-use RAID. The data is written to a second portion of the in-use RAID. The second portion of the in-use RAID is arranged according to a second array configuration having at least a second parameter. | 05-08-2014 |
20140129769 | SYSTEM FOR DATA MIGRATION FROM A STORAGE TIER ALLOCATED TO A VIRTUAL LOGICAL VOLUME - In recent years, data life cycle management, in which data is relocated from, for example, a new storage sub-system to an older storage sub-system in accordance with how new the data is or the frequency of use of the data, has become important. One technology for achieving data life cycle management is technology for migrating the contents of a storage area (“volume”) of a storage sub-system to another volume without affecting the host computer that uses the volume. In the present invention, when an associated source volume (for example, the source volume in a copy pair association) of a pair of associated volumes is migrated, migration of an associated destination volume (for example, the target volume in the copy pair association) is also controlled. In this way, it is possible to control the migration of a pair (or a group) of associated volumes in accordance with the user's requirements. | 05-08-2014 |
20140129770 | STORAGE SYSTEM USING REAL DATA STORAGE AREA DYNAMIC ALLOCATION METHOD - The present invention aims at preventing the access performance of a distributed memory system by accessing via cross-over ownership a track mapping information formed as a hierarchical memory. In the process of assigning a real data storage area to a virtual volume, at first, a page from a pool is assigned, and thereafter, a track is assigned from said page. The page is composed of multiple tracks into which track data assigned at host write operation timings are stored sequentially from the top. A mapping information of the virtual volume and the page is stored in a control information page that differs from the track data, and the mapping information is stored in the control information page which could only be accessed by a microprocessor having the ownership of the virtual volume. | 05-08-2014 |
20140129771 | Multiple Instances of Mapping Configurations in a Storage System or Storage Appliance - The present invention is directed to a method and software for managing the host-to-volume mappings of a SAN storage system. The host-to-volume mappings of the SAN storage system are represented in mapping configuration components. The active mapping configuration component represents the current host-to-volume mapping for the SAN storage system. Only one mapping configuration component is active at a time. The host-to-volume mappings of the SAN storage system are changed by deactivating the active mapping configuration component and activating an inactive mapping configuration component that represents a different mapping configuration, effecting a repartition, repurpose, disaster recovery, or other business activity. This can be a scheduled task or performed in an on-demand manner. The mapping configuration components are managed and controlled through the management component of the SAN storage system. | 05-08-2014 |
20140136777 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR CONFIGURING A STORAGE ARRAY - There is provided a system and method of configuring a storage array. An exemplary method includes generating information within a storage array controller, the information corresponding to a menu of user options. The exemplary method also includes sending the information from the array controller to a user interface module. The exemplary method also includes sending user instructions comprising a selected menu option from the user interface module to the array controller. The exemplary method also includes executing a configuration task associated with the selected menu option. | 05-15-2014 |
20140136778 | SYSTEM, METHOD, AND COMPUTER PROGRAM PRODUCT FOR IMPLEMENTING A STORAGE ARRAY - A system, method, and computer program product are provided for implementing a storage array. In use, a storage array is implemented utilizing static random-access memory (SRAM). Additionally, the storage array is utilized in a multithreaded architecture. | 05-15-2014 |
20140136779 | Method and Apparatus for Achieving Optimal Resource Allocation Dynamically in a Distributed Computing Environment - A method for achieving optimal use of compute, storage and network resources in a distributed computing system is provided. In one embodiment, a job request associated with a file is submitted. A Job Scheduler in conjunction with a workflow manager determines the best fit for dynamically chunking size of the file. The distributed storage subsystem provides a dynamic view to the compute resources where the job will be run. This knowledge is also used to pre-staging the data by the distributed storage subsystem. Furthermore, keeping a history of the job and their data allows for further improvements in resources and job execution times by being able to skip processing on data that has been done previously. Given the ability to chunk the file dynamically, it is possible to re-balance resources for running the job dynamically to meet its service level agreement. | 05-15-2014 |
20140136780 | COMPUTER SYSTEM, COMPUTER AND METHOD FOR PERFORMING THIN PROVISIONING CAPACITY MANAGEMENT IN COORDINATION WITH VIRTUAL MACHINES - In the computer system, a storage system provides a storage level virtual volume based on thin provisioning technology, to a physical server on which a virtual machine is defined. The storage system releases the area of the logical volume corresponding to the storage level virtual volume accessed by a virtual machine which is specified to be deleted, on the basis of storage level virtual volume conversion information which is managed by the storage system. | 05-15-2014 |
20140136781 | STORAGE SYSTEM - A storage system | 05-15-2014 |
20140143488 | Datastore for Non-Overwriting Storage Devices - The invention pertains to a method and information handling system (IHS) for writing data to non-overwriting storage devices. A set of bands are determined per non-overwriting storage device. Then multiple pools of storage space, to which data can be written, commensurate with the determined bands are provided. A file system configured to manage the determined multiple pools of storage space and be non-WIP is provided, where the provided file system writes data to the multiple pools of storage space. The IHS includes: a non-overwriting storage device, a module for determining a set of bands per non-overwriting storage device, multiple pools of storage space commensurate with the determined set of bands and a file system configured to be non-WIP and configured to manage the multiple pools of storage space. The file system writes data to the multiple pools of storage space. | 05-22-2014 |
20140143489 | CONTROLLER MANAGEMENT OF MEMORY ARRAY OF STORAGE DEVICE USING MAGNETIC RANDOM ACCESS MEMORY (MRAM) - A mass storage device includes a controller configured to communicate with a host. The controller is coupled to a first memory and a second memory, the first and second memories being of different types. The mass storage device includes a storage media partitioned into a plurality of Logical Units (LUNs) based on capabilities and resources of the mass storage device. The mass storage device further includes the first memory and the second memories and a hybrid reserved area spanning at least a portion of the first and second memories. | 05-22-2014 |
20140143490 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR DISTRIBUTED RAID IMPLEMENTATION - Embodiments of the systems and methods disclosed provide a distributed RAID system comprising a set of data banks. More particularly, in certain embodiments of a distributed RAID system each data bank has a set of associated storage media and executes a similar distributed RAID application. The distributed RAID applications on each of the data banks coordinate among themselves to distribute and control data flow associated with implementing a level of RAID in conjunction with data stored on the associated storage media of the data banks. | 05-22-2014 |
20140149662 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR SMART STORAGE INTERCONNECTION IN A HETEROGENEOUS STORAGE ENVIRONMENT - An information handling system is provided. The information handling system includes a plurality of storage subsystems a back-end switch connected to each storage subsystem to communicate information about each of the plurality; and a redundant array of independent disks (RAID) volume. Each storage subsystem includes a RAID engine, a storage drive; and a plurality of input ports and output ports. The RAID volume includes the storage drive on a first storage subsystem of the plurality and the storage drive on a second storage subsystem of the plurality. Methods for providing such a system are also disclosed. | 05-29-2014 |
20140149663 | STORAGE POOLS MANAGEMENT AND/OR PRESENTATION - A method for presenting a plurality of storage resource pools, comprising: grouping a plurality of quotas of a plurality of storage volumes into at least one of a plurality of storage resource pools according to a plurality of storage volume characteristics technically describing said a plurality of quotas; associating between said plurality of storage volume characteristics and said plurality of storage resource pools; and generating a presentation indicative of said association; and wherein said presentation is presented to a user on a display of an electronic device. | 05-29-2014 |
20140149664 | Storage System Capable of Managing a Plurality of Snapshot Families and Method of Operating Thereof - There is provided a storage system comprising a control layer operable to manage a plurality of snapshot families, each family constituted by snapshot family members having hierarchical relations therebetween. The method of operating the storage system comprises searching a cache memory for an addressed data block corresponding to an addressed LBA and associated with an addressed snapshot family and an addressed SF member. In a case of missing the addressed data block in the cache memory, identifying in the cache memory all dirty data blocks corresponding to the addressed LBA and associated with the addressed snapshot family (candidate data blocks); identifying among SF members of the addressed snapshot family a destage owner, and in a case when the identified destage owner is associated with a candidate data block, reading from the cache memory such candidate data block. | 05-29-2014 |
20140149665 | Storage System Capable of Managing a Plurality of Snapshot Families and Method of Operating Thereof - There is provided a storage system comprising a control layer operable to manage a snapshot family (SF) constituted by SF members having hierarchical relations represented by a SF relationship data structure and a method of operating thereof. Upon receiving a command for restoring a writable SF member from a read-only snapshot thereof, the control layer provides a foreground atomic operation. The atomic operation comprises generating a new writable snapshot of the read-only snapshot (a destination SF member), modifying the SF relationship data structure, and re-assigning all logical unit numbers (LUNs) from the writable SF member to be restored to the destination SF member. Upon successful completion of the atomic operation, the control layer sends acknowledgement indicative of successful restoring the writable SF member. The control layer further provides a background process comprising modifying, in correspondence with the provided atomic operation, a SF mapping data structure comprising mappings between logical and physical addresses corresponding to SF members. | 05-29-2014 |
20140149666 | STORAGE SYSTEM AND VIRTUALIZATION METHOD - The storage system of the present invention is able to generate one virtual logical device from different logical devices which exist in each of the different storage control units and remote-copy all or part of the virtual logical device to another logical device. The same virtual identifier is set for a volume of the first storage unit and for a volume of the second storage unit. The path control unit of the host identifies a plurality of volumes which have the same virtual identifier as one virtual volume. A remote copy pair can also be set by a virtual volume and a volume of the third storage unit. The setting of the virtual volume and the setting of the remote copy can be performed by means of an instruction from the management server. | 05-29-2014 |
20140156925 | SELECTION OF ALLOCATION POLICY AND FORMAT FOR VIRTUAL MACHINE DISK IMAGES - A system and method are disclosed for selecting an allocation policy and format for storing a disk image of a virtual machine (VM). In accordance with one embodiment, a computer system that hosts a virtual machine (VM) selects an allocation policy and format for storing the disk image on a particular storage device (e.g., a magnetic hard disk, a Universal Serial Bus [USB] solid state drive, a Redundant Array of Independent Disks [RAID] system, a network attached storage [NAS] array, etc.), where the selection is based on one or more capabilities of the storage device, and on a parameter that indicates a tradeoff between performance and storage consumption. | 06-05-2014 |
20140156926 | AUTOMATED STORAGE PROVISIONING WITHIN A CLUSTERED COMPUTING ENVIRONMENT - The present invention provides an approach for automatic storage planning and provisioning within a clustered computing environment (e.g., a cloud computing environment). The present invention will receive planning input for a set of storage area network volume controllers (SVCs), the planning input indicating a potential load on the SVCs and its associated components. Configuration data for a set of storage components (i.e., the set of SVCs, a set of managed disk (Mdisk) groups associated with the set of SVCs, and a set of backend storage systems) will also be collected. Based on this configuration data, the set of storage components will be filtered to identify candidate storage components capable of addressing the potential load. Then, performance data for the candidate storage components will be analyzed to identify an SVC and an Mdisk group to address the potential load. | 06-05-2014 |
20140156927 | COMPUTING DEVICE SYSTEM AND INFORMATION MANAGING METHOD FOR REARRANGEMENT OF DATA BASED ON ACCESS CHARACTERISTIC RELATED TO A TASK - Technique for decision criterion for determining a transfer destination layer in rearrangement processing. A computer configures rearrangement reference information showing whether an access characteristic related to a task executed on a plurality of host computing devices is considered as a decision criterion for transfer destination determination in rearrangement processing of transferring data between actual storage areas of physical storage devices of different response performance. Storage subsystem refers to the rearrangement reference information and, based on an access characteristic of the plurality of computing devices with respect to the actual storage areas assigned to the plurality of computing devices, executes rearrangement processing of transferring data stored in the actual storage areas to different actual storage areas in the physical storage devices of different response performance. | 06-05-2014 |
20140156928 | Media Aware Distributed Data Layout - A storage system includes a plurality of vdisks, with each vdisk containing a plurality of storage segments, and each segment providing a specific class of service (CoS) for storage. Each vdisk stores files with data and meta data distributed among its storage segments. A storage system includes a memory having multiple classes of service. The system includes an interface for storing a file as blocks of data associated with a class of service in the memory. The interface chooses the class of service for a block on a block by block basis for storage. A file system for storing a file. A file system for storing includes a plurality of vdisks. A method for storing a file. | 06-05-2014 |
20140164694 | DECOUPLED RELIABILITY GROUPS - Methods and apparatuses for updating members of a data storage reliability group are provided. In one exemplary method, a reliability group includes a data zone in a first storage node and a checksum zone in a second data storage node. The method includes updating a version counter associated with the data zone in response to destaging a data object from a staging area of the data zone to a store area of the data zone without synchronizing the destaging with the state of the checksum zone. The method further includes transmitting, from the data zone to the checksum zone, an update message indicating completion of the destaging of the data object, wherein the update message includes a current value of the version counter. | 06-12-2014 |
20140164695 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR STORING AND REBUILDING DATA - According to one exemplary embodiment, a method for storing and rebuilding data computes a corresponding parity after receiving an Input/Output command, and based on the parity, determines whether a final stripe corresponding to the Input/Output command is a full stripe. When the final stripe is a full stripe, a plurality of data and a parity corresponding to the Input/Output command are stored into a main hyper erase unit (HEU) in a disk storage system. When the final stripe is not a full stripe, a final parity is re-computed and written into at least two parity pages of a buffering HEU. | 06-12-2014 |
20140164696 | STORING ROW-MAJOR DATA WITH AN AFFINITY FOR COLUMNS - A method, device, and computer readable medium for striping rows of data across logical units of storage with an affinity for columns is provided. Alternately, a method, device, and computer readable medium for striping columns of data across logical units of storage with an affinity for rows is provided. When data of a logical slice is requested, a mapping may provide information for determining which logical unit is likely to store the logical slice. In one embodiment, data is retrieved from logical units that are predicted to store the logical slice. In another embodiment, data is retrieved from several logical units, and the data not mapped to the logical unit is removed from the retrieved data. | 06-12-2014 |
20140164697 | Mainframe Storage Apparatus That Utilizes Thin Provisioning - Each actual page inside a pool is configured from a plurality of actual tracks, and each virtual page inside a virtual volume is configured from a plurality of virtual tracks. A storage control apparatus of a mainframe system has management information that includes information denoting a track in which there exists a user record, which is a record including user data (the data used by a host apparatus of a mainframe system). Based on the management information, a controller identifies an actual page that is configured only from tracks that do not comprise the user record, and cancels the allocation of the identified actual page to the virtual page. | 06-12-2014 |
20140164698 | Logical Volume Transfer Method and Storage Network System - The present invention transfers replication logical volumes between and among storage control units in a storage system comprising storage control units. To transfer replication logical volumes from a storage control unit to a storage control unit, a virtualization device sets a path to the storage control unit. The storage control unit prepares a differential bitmap in order to receive access requests. When the preparation completes, the virtualization device makes access requests to the storage control unit. The storage control unit hands over the access requests to the storage control unit. The storage control unit performs a process so that the access requests are reflected in a disk device and performs an emergency destage of storing data in a cache memory into disk device. When the emergency destage ends, the storage control unit connects to an external storage control unit and hands over access requests to the external storage control unit. | 06-12-2014 |
20140164699 | EFFICIENTLY ACCESSING AN ENCODED DATA SLICE UTILIZING A MEMORY BIN - A method begins by receiving encoded data slices for storage. At least some of the encoded data slices have different data sizes. The method continues by accessing memory container information of the storage unit that includes a listing of virtual memory containers of the storage unit and, for each virtual memory container, bin identifier information. Each virtual memory contain is divided into bins, where the bins of a virtual memory container are of a substantially similar storage size. At least some of the virtual memory containers have different bin storage sizes. The method continues by mapping encoded data slices to virtual memory containers of the plurality based on data size of the encoded data slices and bin storage sizes of the virtual memory containers. The method continues by storing the encoded data slices in the virtual memory containers based on the mapping. | 06-12-2014 |
20140173195 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR IN-BAND LUN PROVISIONING IN A DATA CENTER NETWORK ENVIRONMENT - A method is provided in one example embodiment and includes instantiating a virtual adapter on a network device connected to a storage array, the virtual adapter capable of communicating with the storage array; determining storage configuration properties for the network device; and provisioning a portion of the storage array to the network device in accordance with the determined storage configuration properties. The method may further comprise associating the network device with a service profile, where the storage configuration properties are specified in the service profile. Still further, the method may comprise configuring the network device in accordance with the associated service profile, where the instantiating is also performed in accordance with the associated service profile. | 06-19-2014 |
20140173196 | RAPID VIRTUAL MACHINE SUSPEND AND RESUME - A method of enabling “fast” suspend and “rapid” resume of virtual machines (VMs) employs a cache that is able to perform input/output operations at a faster rate than a storage device provisioned for the VMs. The cache may be local to a computer system that is hosting the VMs or may be shared cache commonly accessible to VMs hosted by different computer systems. The method includes the steps of saving the state of the VM to a checkpoint file stored in the cache and locking the checkpoint file so that data blocks of the checkpoint file are maintained in the cache and are not evicted, and resuming execution of the VM by reading into memory the data blocks of the checkpoint file stored in the cache. | 06-19-2014 |
20140173197 | METHOD AND STORAGE DRIVE FOR WRITING PORTIONS OF BLOCKS OF DATA IN RESPECTIVE ARRAYS OF MEMORY CELLS OF CORRESPONDING INTEGRATED CIRCUITS - A storage drive includes a first integrated circuit, a second integrated circuit, an interface, an encoder, and a write module. The first integrated circuit includes a first array of memory cells. The second integrated circuit includes a second array of memory cells. The interface is connected to a host. The interface is configured to receive a first block of data transmitted from the host to the storage drive. The encoder is configured to encode the first block of data. The write module is configured to write (i) a first portion of the encoded first block of data to a first row of the first array of memory cells, and (ii) a second portion of the encoded first block of data to a first row of the second array of memory cells. | 06-19-2014 |
20140173198 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DECOMPOSING I/O TASKS IN A RAID SYSTEM - A data access request to a file system is decomposed into a plurality of lower-level I/O tasks. A logical combination of physical storage components is represented as a hierarchical set of objects. A parent I/O task is generated from a first object in response to the data access request. A child I/O task is generated from a second object to implement a portion of the parent I/O task. The parent I/O task is suspended until the child I/O task completes. The child I/O task is executed in response to an occurrence of an event that a resource required by the child I/O task is available. The parent I/O task is resumed upon an event indicating completion of the child I/O task. Scheduling of any child I/O task is not conditional on execution of the parent I/O task, and a state diagram regulates the child I/O tasks. | 06-19-2014 |
20140181398 | Configuring Object Storage System for Input/Output Operations - A method processes input-output commands (IOs) in a storage system. The storage system receives an IO including first and second identifiers. The first identifier is used to direct the IO to the storage system. At the storage system, the method retrieves the second identifier from the IO and translates the second identifier to a logical storage volume identifier. Then, the method executes the IO on storage locations referenced by a logical storage volume corresponding to the logical storage volume identifier. | 06-26-2014 |
20140181399 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROVIDING LONG-TERM STORAGE FOR DATA - A system for storing files comprises a processor and a memory. The processor is configured to break a file into one or more segments; store the one or more segments in a first storage unit; and add metadata to the first storage unit so that the file can be accessed independent of a second storage unit, wherein a single namespace enables access for files stored in the first storage unit and the second storage unit. The memory is coupled to the processor and configured to provide the processor with instructions | 06-26-2014 |
20140181400 | Method for A Storage Device Processing Data and Storage Device - A method and an apparatus for tiered storage processing of data, and a storage device. The method includes: splitting the migration unit into multiple migration subunits when a migration unit of low-tier disks is migrated to high-tier disks, and detecting a data access frequency of each migration subunit respectively; migrating the migration subunit to the low-tier disk when detecting that the data access frequency of the migration subunit is lower than a set threshold; and combining the multiple migration subunits into the migration unit when detecting that the multiple migration subunits are all migrated to the lower-tier disk. The present invention improves usage of storage media, and controls metadata storage resource consumption effectively. | 06-26-2014 |
20140189235 | STEALTH APPLIANCE BETWEEN A STORAGE CONTROLLER AND A DISK ARRAY - A stealth appliance may be coupled between a storage controller and a disk array. The stealth appliance may be configured to receive a request from the storage controller encrypted with a first community-of-interest (COI) key, to decrypt the request with the first COI key, to encrypt the request with a second COI key, and to transmit the encrypted request to the disk array. | 07-03-2014 |
20140189236 | DATA STORAGE METHOD AND STORAGE DEVICE - The embodiments of the present invention provide a data storage method, including: sending a performance level request to a storage device, which is used to query information about performance level of one or more logical unit number LUNs in the storage device; receiving a response sent by the storage device in response to the performance level request, wherein the response comprises the information about performance levels of the LUNs; and obtaining performance levels of the LUNs according to the information about performance levels of the LUNs so that data to be stored is written into a LUN of a corresponding performance level according to a accessing frequency level of the data to be stored comprised in a write-data instruction when the write-data instruction is received. | 07-03-2014 |
20140195733 | Memory Using Voltage to Improve Reliability for Certain Data Types - A method for minimizing soft error rates within caches by configuring a cache with a certain way which is more resistant to soft errors and then using this way to store modified data. In certain embodiments, the memory is made more soft error resistant by increasing a voltage across bitcells of the cache. | 07-10-2014 |
20140195734 | POWER MANAGEMENT - Methods, and apparatus configured to perform such methods, providing peak power management are useful in mitigating excessive current levels within a multi-die package. For example, a method might include generating a clock signal in a particular die of a plurality of dies, counting pulses of the clock signal in a wrap-around counter in each die of the plurality of dies, and pausing an access operation for the particular die of the plurality of dies at a designated point until a value of the wrap-around counter matches an assigned counter value of the particular die. | 07-10-2014 |
20140195735 | Clustered Storage Network - A data storage network is provided. The network includes a client connected to the data storage network; a plurality nodes on the data storage network, wherein each data node has two or more RAID controllers, wherein a first RAID controller of a first node is configured to receive a data storage request from the client and to generate RAID parity data on a data set received from the client, and to store all of the generated RAID parity data on a single node of the plurality of nodes. | 07-10-2014 |
20140201438 | STORAGE SYSTEM, METHOD OF CONTROLLING A STORAGE SYSTEM AND MANAGEMENT SYSTEM FOR STORAGE SYSTEM - An example is a method of controlling a storage system for providing a virtual storage apparatus that includes virtual storage resources associated with real storage resources of real storage apparatus. It includes receiving a virtual storage resource control command of a predetermined type specifying a first virtual storage resource in the virtual storage apparatus and a second virtual storage resource associated with the first virtual storage resource; referring to management information for managing association relations between the virtual storage resources and the real storage resources, to identify a first real storage resource associated with the first virtual storage resource and a first real storage apparatus including the first real storage resource; and selecting a second real storage resource associated with the second virtual storage resource from real storage resources within the first real storage apparatus, or creating the second real storage resource within the first real storage apparatus. | 07-17-2014 |
20140201439 | STORAGE DEVICE AND STORAGE METHOD - According to an embodiment, a storage device includes a plurality of memory nodes and a control unit. Each of the memory nodes includes a storage unit including a plurality of storage areas having a predetermined size. The memory nodes are connected to each other in two or more different directions. The memory nodes constitute two or more groups each including two or more memory nodes. The control unit is configured to sequentially allocate data writing destinations in the storage units to the storage areas respectively included in the different groups. | 07-17-2014 |
20140201440 | EFFICIENT CONNECTION MANAGEMENT IN A SAS TARGET - A method includes pre-configuring a hardware-implemented front-end of a storage device with multiple contexts of respective connections conducted between one or more hosts and the storage device. Storage commands, which are received in the storage device and are associated with the connections having the pre-configured contexts, are executed in a memory of the storage device using the hardware-implemented front-end. Upon identifying a storage command associated with a context that is not pre-configured in the hardware-implemented front-end, software of the storage device is triggered to configure the context in the hardware-implemented front-end, and the storage command is then executed using the hardware-implemented front-end in accordance with the context configured by the software. | 07-17-2014 |
20140208022 | RAID ERASURE CODE APPLIED TO PARTITIONED STRIPE - The disclosure presents examples of a RAID storage system, method and computer program product where a stripe is logically partitioned into two or more sub-stripes and at least one RAID erasure code is applied to each sub-stripe independently of any other of the sub-stripe(s). Consequently, in some of these examples, a larger packet size may be used than if the stripe had not been partitioned. A larger packet size may in some cases allow for accelerated encoding and/or decoding. | 07-24-2014 |
20140208023 | STORAGE SYSTEM AND CONTROL METHOD FOR STORAGE SYSTEM - An exemplary storage system of the invention processes requests to access a primary volume and a plurality of secondary volumes forming pairs with the primary volume. In each of the plurality of secondary volumes, address areas are defined which are respectively associated with address areas of the primary volume. Each of the plurality of secondary volumes stores differential data with respect to data in the primary volume. A controller monitors write accesses to the primary volume and the plurality of secondary volumes, and retains a monitoring result. The controller controls, based on, in the monitoring result, presence/absence of past write accesses to a plurality of areas in the primary volume and areas respectively corresponding to the plurality of areas in the plurality of secondary volumes, accesses to the primary volume. | 07-24-2014 |
20140208024 | System and Methods for Performing Embedded Full-Stripe Write Operations to a Data Volume With Data Elements Distributed Across Multiple Modules - A data storage system and methods for managing data to be transferred between a host and a data volume distributed across solid state storage modules are disclosed. A storage controller couples the host to the data volume and manages data transfers to and from the logical volume. The storage controller receives a set of parameters that define how an array of blocks and chunks of buffered data will be distributed across solid state storage modules. The storage controller receives and buffers data to be stored and transfers the same when the capacity of the buffered data will fill a set of arranged stripes in the defined array in a single write operation. | 07-24-2014 |
20140208025 | RAID CONTROLLER AND COMMAND PROCESSING METHOD THEREOF - A RAID controller includes a first serial interface, a second serial interface, and a control unit. To the first serial interface, a host device is connectable. The second serial interface has a plurality of ports to each of which a storage device capable of executing a command is connectable. The control unit controls the second serial interface so that, when a significant value is written to a predetermined control register which is determined to be unused on a serial interface standard for a type of the command obtained from the host device through the first serial interface among a control register group to which a parameter is written, the value is regarded as port information for specifying the port to which the storage device caused to execute the command is connected, and the command is transferred to the storage device via the port specified by the port information. | 07-24-2014 |
20140215147 | RAID STORAGE REBUILD PROCESSING - A storage management module configured to identify storage volumes to be rebuilt and remaining storage volumes that are not to be rebuilt, calculate rebuild priority information for the identified storage volumes to be rebuilt based on storage information of the identified storage volumes, and generate rebuild requests to rebuild the identified storage volumes to be rebuilt and process host requests directed to the remaining and to be rebuilt storage volumes based on the rebuild priority information and amount of host requests, wherein with relative high amount of host requests, generate relative less rebuild requests but not less than a minimum rebuild traffic percentage or more than a maximum rebuild traffic percentage. | 07-31-2014 |
20140215148 | LIMITING THE EXECUTION OF BACKGROUND MANAGEMENT OPERATIONS IN A DRIVE ARRAY - Limiting the execution of background management operations in a drive array, including: receiving a read instruction to read data from a memory drive in the drive array; determining whether the read instruction is associated with a write instruction to write data to a memory drive in the drive array; responsive to determining that the read instruction is associated with the write instruction, restricting performance of background management operations on the memory drive targeted by the write instruction; determining whether the write instruction has completed; and responsive to determining that the write instruction has completed, removing restrictions associated with the performance of background management operations on the memory drive targeted by the write instruction. | 07-31-2014 |
20140215149 | FILE-SYSTEM AWARE SNAPSHOTS OF STORED DATA - Methods and structure are provided for utilizing file-system aware backups for a Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID) storage system. The backup system comprises a backup storage device that includes one or more Copy-On-Write snapshots of a RAID logical volume that implements a file system. The backup system also comprises a backup controller operable to determine that a write operation is pending for an extent of the logical volume, to access allocation data for the file system to determine whether the extent was allocated to a file of the file system when a snapshot was created, and to copy the extent to the snapshot responsive to determining that the extent was allocated when the snapshot was created. | 07-31-2014 |
20140215150 | Limiting The Execution Of Background Management Operations In A Drive Array - Limiting the execution of background management operations in a drive array, including: receiving a read instruction to read data from a memory drive in the drive array; determining whether the read instruction is associated with a write instruction to write data to a memory drive in the drive array; responsive to determining that the read instruction is associated with the write instruction, restricting performance of background management operations on the memory drive targeted by the write instruction; determining whether the write instruction has completed; and responsive to determining that the write instruction has completed, removing restrictions associated with the performance of background management operations on the memory drive targeted by the write instruction. | 07-31-2014 |
20140215151 | STORAGE SYSTEM - In order to enhance the accuracy of problem analysis in a disk subsystem, the present invention suspends system trace and writing of system trace information to a storage area at the timing of occurrence of a problem. The suspension of system trace and the writing of system trace information to the storage area is executed not only in the disk subsystem where the problem failure has occurred, but also in all the other connected disk subsystems. Then, a maintenance terminal is used to collect dump information including the system trace information. | 07-31-2014 |
20140215152 | EXPANDABLE MULTIMEDIA STORAGE SYSTEM, MULTIMEDIA DISTRIBUTION DEVICE, AND RELEVANT COMPUTER PROGRAM PRODUCT - A multimedia storage system includes a multimedia distribution device and a plurality of storage devices. The multimedia distribution device splits a multimedia file into a plurality of multimedia segments and monitors the operation statuses of the storage devices. The multimedia distribution device further configures each of the multimedia segments to be stored in at least two of the storage devices according to the available storage devices in the multimedia storage system. The storage device comprises a network access device for receiving the multimedia segments and a redundant array of inexpensive disks for storing the received multimedia segments. | 07-31-2014 |
20140215153 | STORAGE SYSTEM, DISK ARRAY APPARATUS AND CONTROL METHOD FOR STORAGE SYSTEM - Provided is a storage system which is configured such that, when high-load processing is carried out by each of at least one of the storage nodes, an access is made in a method in which the access is made asynchronously with other nodes, and a completion of the access is not waited for, and in each of the at least one storage node other than the at least one storage node carrying out the high-load processing, an access is made in a method in which the access is made synchronously with any other one of the at least one storage node other than the storage node carrying out the high-load processing, and a completion of the access is waited for. | 07-31-2014 |
20140215154 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR FILE PROCESSING FROM A BLOCK DEVICE - An example system and method includes an electronic memory configured to store electronic data. The system further includes a controller coupled to an electronic storage device including electronic data storage locations arranged in a consecutive sequence on a storage medium and configured to store electronic data corresponding to electronic files in the electronic storage locations and access the electronic storage locations serially according to the consecutive sequence. The controller may be configured to cause the electronic storage device to serially access and transmit to the electronic memory, according to the consecutive sequence, at least some electronic data, cause the electronic memory to store the electronic data as received so that the electronic data of the file forms a complete file, and cause a processor to access the files from the electronic memory upon all electronic data associated with ones of the files having been stored in the electronic memory. | 07-31-2014 |
20140215155 | FRACTAL LAYOUT OF DATA BLOCKS ACROSS MULTIPLE DEVICES - A system, method, and computer-readable storage medium for mapping block numbers within a region to physical locations within a storage system. Block numbers are mapped within a region according to a fractal-based space-filling curve. If the region is not a 2 | 07-31-2014 |
20140223094 | SELECTIVE RAID PROTECTION FOR CACHE MEMORY - A RAID controller includes a cache memory in which write cache blocks (WCBs) are protected by a RAID-5 (striping plus parity) scheme while read cache blocks (RCBs) are not protected in such a manner. If a received cache block is an RCB, the RAID controller stores it in the cache memory without storing any corresponding parity information. When a sufficient number of WCBs to constitute a full stripe have been received but not yet stored in the cache memory, the RAID controller computes a corresponding parity block and stores the RCBs and parity block in the cache memory as a single stripe. | 08-07-2014 |
20140223095 | MODIFYING A DISPERSED STORAGE NETWORK MEMORY DATA ACCESS RESPONSE PLAN - A dispersed storage network memory includes a pool of storage nodes, where the pool of storage nodes stores a multitude of encoded data files. A storage node obtains and analyzes data access response performance data for each of the storage nodes to produce a modified data access response plan that includes identity of an undesired performing storage node and an alternative data access response for the undesired performing storage node. The storage nodes receive corresponding portions of a data access request for at least a portion of one of the multitude of encoded data files. The undesired performing storage node or another storage node processes one of the corresponding portions of the data access request in accordance with the alternative data access response. | 08-07-2014 |
20140223096 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR STORAGE VIRTUALIZATION - An I/O manager may be configured to service I/O requests pertaining to ephemeral data of a virtual machine using a storage device that is separate from and/or independent of a primary storage resource to which the I/O request is directed. Ephemeral data may be removed from ephemeral storage in response to a removal condition and/or trigger, such as a virtual machine reboot. The I/O manager may manage transfers of ephemeral virtual machine data in response to virtual machines migrating between host computing devices. The I/O manager may be further configured to cache virtual machine data, and/or manage shared file data that is common to two or more virtual machines operating on a host computing device. | 08-07-2014 |
20140223097 | DATA STORAGE SYSTEM AND DATA STORAGE CONTROL DEVICE - A storage system has a plurality of control modules for controlling a plurality of storage devices, which make mounting easier with maintaining low latency response even if the number of control modules increases. A plurality of storage devices are connected to the second interface of each control module using back end routers, so that redundancy for all the control modules to access all the storage devices is maintained. Also the control modules and the first switch units are connected by a serial bus, which has a small number of signals, constituting the interface by using the back panel. By this, mounting on the printed circuit board becomes possible. | 08-07-2014 |
20140237179 | INFORMATION SYSTEM AND DATA TRANSFER METHOD OF INFORMATION SYSTEM - Availability of an information system including a storage apparatus and a host computer is improved. A host system includes a first storage apparatus provided with a first volume for storing data, and a second storage apparatus for storing the data sent from the first storage apparatus. In case of a failure occurring in the first storage apparatus, the host sends the data to be sent to the first storage apparatus to the second storage apparatus. The same identification number is used by the host computer for accessing data stored in the first volume via a first virtual volume and for accessing data stored in a second volume of the second storage system via a second virtual volume. | 08-21-2014 |
20140237180 | DETERMINING EFFICIENCY OF A VIRTUAL ARRAY IN A VIRTUALIZED STORAGE SYSTEM - A virtualized storage system comprises at least one host, at least one virtual array, a backend array and a management server. The host requests storage operations to the virtual array, and the virtual array executes storage operations for the host. The backend array, coupled to the virtual array, comprises physical storage for the virtual array. The management server determines the efficiency for the virtual array. The management server determines an input throughput data rate between the host and the virtual array based on storage operations between host and virtual array. The management server also determines an output throughput data rate, from the virtual array to the backend array. The output throughput data rate is based on the storage operations that require access to the backend array. The management server determines the efficiency of the virtual array using the input throughput data rate and the output throughput data rate. | 08-21-2014 |
20140237181 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PREPARING A CACHE REPLACEMENT CATALOG - Methods and systems to intelligently cache content in a virtualization environment using virtualization software such as VMWare ESX or Citrix XenServer or Microsoft HyperV or Redhat KVM or their variants are disclosed. Storage IO operations (reads from and writes to disk) are analyzed (or characterized) for their overall value and pinned to cache if their value exceeds a certain defined threshold based on criteria specific to the New Technology File System (NTFS) file-system. Analysis/characterization of NTFS file systems for intelligent dynamic caching include analyzing storage block data associated with a Virtual Machine of interest in accordance with a pre-determined data model to determine the value of the block under analysis for long term or short term caching. Integer values assigned to different types of NTFS objects in a white list data structure called a catalog that can be used to analyze the storage block data. | 08-21-2014 |
20140237182 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR SERVICING READ AND WRITE REQUESTS USING A CACHE REPLACEMENT CATALOG - Methods and systems to intelligently cache content in a virtualization environment using virtualization software such as VMWare ESX or Citrix XenServer or Microsoft HyperV or Redhat KVM or their variants are disclosed. Storage IO operations (reads from and writes to disk) are analyzed (or characterized) for their overall value and pinned to cache if their value exceeds a certain defined threshold based on criteria specific to the New Technology File System (NTFS) file-system. Analysis/characterization of NTFS file systems for intelligent dynamic caching include analyzing storage block data associated with a Virtual Machine of interest in accordance with a pre-determined data model to determine the value of the block under analysis for long term or short term caching. Integer values assigned to different types of NTFS objects in a white list data structure called a catalog that can be used to analyze the storage block data. | 08-21-2014 |
20140237183 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR INTELLIGENT CONTENT AWARE CACHING - Methods and systems to intelligently cache content in a virtualization environment using virtualization software such as VMWare ESX or Citrix XenServer or Microsoft HyperV or Redhat KVM or their variants are disclosed. Storage IO operations (reads from and writes to disk) are analyzed (or characterized) for their overall value and pinned to cache if their value exceeds a certain defined threshold based on criteria specific to the New Technology File System (NTFS) file-system. Analysis/characterization of NTFS file systems for intelligent dynamic caching include analyzing storage block data associated with a Virtual Machine of interest in accordance with a pre-determined data model to determine the value of the block under analysis for long term or short term caching. Integer values assigned to different types of NTFS objects in a white list data structure called a catalog that can be used to analyze the storage block data. | 08-21-2014 |
20140237184 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR MULTI-TIERED META-DATA CACHING AND DISTRIBUTION IN A CLUSTERED COMPUTER ENVIRONMENT - A system and method caches and distributes meta-data for one or more data containers stored on a plurality of volumes configured as a striped volume set (SVS) and served by a plurality of nodes interconnected as a cluster. The SVS comprises one meta-data volume (MDV) configured to store a canonical copy of certain meta-data, including access control lists and directories, associated with all data containers stored on the SVS, and one or more data volumes (DV) configured to store, at least, data content of those containers. In addition, for each data container stored on the SVS, one volume is designated a container attribute volume (CAV) and, as such, is configured to store (“cache”) a canonical copy of certain, rapidly-changing attribute meta-data, including time stamps and container length, associated with that container. | 08-21-2014 |
20140244927 | STORAGE SYSTEM AND A METHOD FOR ALLOCATING DISK DRIVES TO REDUNDANCY ARRAY OF INDEPENDENT DISKS - A storage system that may include a management module; and multiple disk drives; wherein the management module is arranged to allocate disk drives of the multiple disk drives to disk drive groups, each disk drive group corresponds to at least one redundancy array of independent disks (RAID) group of data in response to at least one out of: locations of the disk drives within disk drive enclosures; and expected or actual temperatures of the disk drives. | 08-28-2014 |
20140244928 | METHOD AND SYSTEM TO PROVIDE DATA PROTECTION TO RAID 0/ OR DEGRADED REDUNDANT VIRTUAL DISK - Disclosed is a system and method for providing redundancy to RAID 0 virtual disks by utilizing any right sized physical disk in the SAS domain. The system and method restore redundancy in a degraded redundant virtual disk. This may be done even in the absence of a configured hot spare. | 08-28-2014 |
20140244929 | OBJECT STORAGE SYSTEM - The storage system exports logical storage volumes that are provisioned as storage objects. These storage objects are accessed on demand by connected computer systems using standard protocols, such as SCSI and NFS, through logical endpoints for the protocol traffic that are configured in the storage system. Logical storage volumes are created from a logical storage container having an address space that maps to storage locations of the physical data storage units. Each of the logical storage volumes so created has an address space that maps to the address space of the logical storage container. A logical storage container may span more than one storage system and logical storage volumes of different customers can be provisioned from the same logical storage container with appropriate security settings. | 08-28-2014 |
20140250269 | DECLUSTERED RAID POOL AS BACKUP FOR RAID VOLUMES - Storage data is distributed across a first plurality of physical disks in a first enclosure using at least one redundant array of independent disks (RAID) technique. This creates a plurality of virtual volumes. This plurality includes at least a first virtual volume and a second virtual volume. The storage data is copied (i.e., backed up) to a second plurality of physical disks in a second enclosure. The storage data in the second enclosure is distributed across the second plurality of physical disks according to a declustered RAID technique. The declustered RAID allocations each correspond to the virtual volumes created in the first enclosure. | 09-04-2014 |
20140250270 | DISTRIBUTEDLY STORING RAID DATA IN A RAID MEMORY AND A DISPERSED STORAGE NETWORK MEMORY - A method begins by a processing module receiving redundant array of independent disks (RAID) data and determining whether to store the RAID data in at least one of a RAID format and in a dispersed storage network (DSN) format. The method continues with the processing module converting at least a portion of the RAID data into at least one set of encoded data slices when the at least a portion of the RAID data is to be stored in the DSN format. The method continues with the processing module outputting the at least one set of encoded data slices to a DSN memory. | 09-04-2014 |
20140250271 | REMOTE COPY SYSTEM AND REMOTE COPY CONTROL METHOD - A first storage system comprises a first RAID group comprising multiple first storage devices, which constitute the basis of a first logical volume. A second storage system comprises a second RAID group comprising multiple second storage devices, which constitute the basis of a second logical volume. The RAID configuration of the first RAID group and the RAID configuration of the second RAID group are the same, and the type of a compression/decompression function of the respective first storage devices and the type of a compression/decompression function of the respective second storage devices are the same. Compressed data is read from a first storage device without being decompressed with respect to the data inside a first logical volume, and the read compressed data is written to a second storage device, which is in the same location in RAID in the second RAID group as the location in RAID of this first storage device. | 09-04-2014 |
20140258610 | RAID Cache Memory System with Volume Windows - The invention may be embodied in a cache memory volume windows data storage system to enable cache memory rebuilds in response to power-on-reset (POR) events. To handle POR events occurring while a flush from the cache memory to the permanent memory is taking place, the storage controller maintains duplicate copy of a volume window bitmap and a volume mark register while a portion of the cache memory unavailable due to the flush event. The second copy of the volume bit map and volume mark register concatenation are used to account for the case where a POR event occurs while the flush is in process. The firmware uses the peer drives and the applicable cache rebuild protocol (e.g., RAID) to rebuild the data for all volume windows that contain data that may have become corrupted due to a POR event occurring during cache memory flush events are in progress. | 09-11-2014 |
20140258611 | SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE AND METHOD OF OPERATING THE SAME - A semiconductor device includes a memory cell array includes a plurality of memory blocks, each of the memory blocks including a plurality of pages, wherein at least one of the plurality of memory blocks functions as a first storage unit to store a plurality of page addresses associated with the plurality of pages. A second storage unit loads a page address stored in the first storage unit. A control circuit is configured to cancel a program operation if an externally inputted page address is less than or equal to the page address loaded into the second storage unit, and perform the program operation and update the second storage unit with the externally inputted page address if the externally input page address is greater than the page address loaded into the second storage unit. | 09-11-2014 |
20140258612 | Mirrored data storage with improved data reliability - A plurality of arrays of storage devices, each providing dual storage device redundancy, is provided. The plurality of arrays of storage devices includes a plurality of mirrored sets of primary storage devices, each including an even number of at least two or more primary storage devices. Each of the mirrored sets of primary storage devices stores a first and a second copy of data. The plurality of arrays of storage devices also includes a secondary storage device, which is a single physical storage device that stores a third copy of the data stored on each of the plurality of mirrored sets of primary storage devices. The secondary storage device has at least the capacity to store the data stored on the plurality of mirrored sets of primary storage devices. Dual storage device redundancy preserves data if data cannot be read from one or two physical storage devices in any array. | 09-11-2014 |
20140258613 | VOLUME CHANGE FLAGS FOR INCREMENTAL SNAPSHOTS OF STORED DATA - Methods and structure are provided for tracking changes to a logical volume over time. One exemplary embodiment is a backup system for a Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID) storage system. The backup system includes a backup storage device that includes Copy-On-Write snapshots of a logical volume of the storage system. The backup system also includes a backup controller. The backup controller is able to maintain flags for the logical volume that indicate whether extents at the logical volume have been modified since a previous snapshot was created, and to move the flags from the logical volume to a new Copy-On-Write snapshot of the volume when the new Copy-On-Write snapshot is created. This preserves information describing which extents of the logical volume changed between the creation of the new snapshot and the previous snapshot. | 09-11-2014 |
20140258614 | SEMICONDUCTOR MEMORY DEVICE - A semiconductor memory device includes a memory cell array having a plurality of memory cells, each memory cell configured to store plural bits of data, and a controller. The controller is configured to execute a write operation on the memory cells such that user data are written in at least one of the plural bits of data and prescribed data are written in the remaining bits of the plural bits of data. As a result, the number of bits of user data stored in the memory cells is less than the number of plural bits of data that each memory cell is configured to store. | 09-11-2014 |
20140258615 | STORAGE CONTROL APPARATUS AND STORAGE SYSTEM COMPRISING MULTIPLE STORAGE CONTROL APPARATUSES - A storage system has multiple disk controller (DKC) units that are coupled to one another in accordance with a coupling mode that satisfies the following (a1) through (a3): (a1) | 09-11-2014 |
20140258616 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR HETEROGENEOUS DATA VOLUME - A method and system is disclosed for providing a heterogeneous data storage comprising a plurality of storage devices of different types with respect to device vendor, model, capacity, performance and/or function. The present invention employs data access mechanisms specific to the type of underlying storage and the type of data to be stored or retrieved, and provides for integrated remote mirroring, disaster recovery and hierarchical storage management (HSM), as well as improved I/O performance and life expectancy of storage disks. A method of writing to and reading from heterogeneous data volume is also disclosed. | 09-11-2014 |
20140258617 | STORAGE APPARATUS AND STORAGE AREA ARRANGEMENT METHOD - This storage apparatus for providing a dynamically expandable virtual volume to a host system to access the virtual volume comprises an allocation unit for configuring a group with a plurality of disks for providing a storage area to be allocated to the virtual volume, and allocating the storage area respectively from a plurality of the groups to the virtual volume; and a storage area arrangement unit for rearranging the storage area in each of the groups being used by the virtual volume to become optimal among each of the groups based on external operation. | 09-11-2014 |
20140281217 | TECHNIQUE FOR RAPIDLY CONVERTING BETWEEN STORAGE REPRESENTATIONS IN A VIRTUALIZED COMPUTING ENVIRONMENT - Embodiments described herein provide a storage conversion technique for rapidly converting between storage representations served by a storage system and presented to a host computer of a virtualized computing environment. The storage representations may include physical storage represented by a sequential set of blocks on disks of the storage system that are presented to the host computer in the form of a logical unit number (LUN) and virtual storage represented by a virtual storage device of the storage system that is presented to a hypervisor of the virtualized computing environment in the form of a virtual disk file. Illustratively, the LUN and virtual disk file may be storage objects (e.g., files) having different (file) types and formats in a volume of the storage system; yet each storage object may be organized as a buffer tree having indirect blocks that contain pointers configured to reference data blocks used to store data. | 09-18-2014 |
20140281218 | STORAGE DEVICE POWERED BY A COMMUNICATIONS INTERFACE - A storage device including a communications interface configured to receive data and power, a plurality of disk drives configured to be powered only by the power received by the communications interface, a controller configured to configure the plurality of disk drives as a redundant array of independent disks, a power regulator configured to transmit the received power from the communications interface to the plurality of disk drives, and a peak current reduction circuit configured to reduce peak current usage by the plurality of disk drives. | 09-18-2014 |
20140281219 | Storage Zoning Tool - A system which semi-automates the assignment of data storage device controllers to data storage devices in a system that contains a plurality of data storage device controllers and a plurality of data storage devices. The object of the invention is to programmatically control which data storage device controllers control which specific data storage devices. The invention eliminates the need for an engineer to travel to a data center to manually reconfigure cables or interconnections between data storage device controllers and data storage devices. | 09-18-2014 |
20140281220 | INFORMATION PROCESSING SYSTEM, AND CONTROL METHOD - A control method for a control device which connects, via a connecting device, each of a plurality of processors that each executes processing to at least one of a plurality of memory devices that each stores data, the control method comprises controlling the connecting device so that a second memory device, which is one of the plurality of memory devices, is connected to the first processor in response to a connect request issued by a first processor, which is one of the plurality of processors, since a predetermined amount of data has been written into a first memory device, which is one of the plurality of memory devices, the control device; and controlling the connecting device so that the first memory device is disconnected from the first processor in response to a disconnect request issued by the first processor after starting to write data into the second memory device. | 09-18-2014 |
20140281221 | DATA PROCESSING - Various embodiments of the present invention relate to a method and apparatus for data copy. Specifically, in one embodiment of the present invention there is provided a method for data copy, comprising: obtaining a data source on which data copy is to be executed; determining a size P of a block extent based on which the data source is divided; dividing the data source into at least one data block based on the size P of the block extent; and copying data from the data source to a data target in the basic unit of the at least one data block; wherein the size P of the block extent is an integral multiple of a size R of a read/write unit supported by underlying architecture. In one embodiment of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus for data copy. | 09-18-2014 |
20140281222 | ANTIHARMONIC DATA COPYING METHOD - A data copying method for one-to-many reproduction apparatus having a data buffer includes steps of: reading multiple data segments from source data into the data buffer, detecting newly connected random access devices, selecting the data segments from the data buffer individually for each of the random access devices, copying the respectively selected data segments into each of the random access devices, and determining whether each of the data segments in the data buffer has been copied into all the random access devices and whether any of the random access devices has stored all the data segments of the source data. Newly connected devices are allowable to improve efficiency. Segment selection prevents multiple devices from writing identical data synchronously and thereby prevents accumulation of identical electromagnetic leakage. Consequently, electromagnetic interference is reduced. | 09-18-2014 |
20140281223 | OPTIMIZED DISK LOAD DISTRIBUTION - A method in a distributed storage (DS) unit begins by the unit receiving one or more data slices to store. The method continues by determining a memory utilization method for the one or more data slices. The method continues when a multiple memory utilization method is determined. The method continues by determining a data slice distribution method. The method continues by storing a plurality of the one or more data slices in the multiple memories using the data slice distribution method and updating a virtual address to physical location table to reflect the storing. | 09-18-2014 |
20140281224 | MODULAR MASS STORAGE SYSTEM - A system for storing data includes a rack, one or more data storage modules coupled to the rack, and one or more data control modules coupled to the rack. The data storage modules may include a chassis, two or more backplanes coupled to the chassis, and one or more mass storage devices (for example, hard disk drives) coupled to the backplanes. The data control modules may access the mass storage devices in the data storage modules. | 09-18-2014 |
20140281225 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DISPERSED STORAGE DATA TRANSFER - The method begins with a processing module determining whether to reconstruct data corresponding to a plurality of data slices when the plurality of data slices is to be transferred from a first type of memory device to a second type of memory device. The method continues with the processing module retrieving the plurality of data slices from a first set of memory devices that are of the first type of memory, reconstructing at least a portion of the data from the plurality of data slice in accordance with a first error coding dispersal function to produce reconstructed data, encoding the reconstructed data in accordance with a second error coding dispersal function to produce a second plurality of data slices, and storing the second plurality of data slices in a second set of memory devices that are of the second type of memory when the data is to be reconstructed. | 09-18-2014 |
20140289462 | PROCESSOR AGNOSTIC DATA STORAGE IN A PCIE BASED SHARED STORAGE ENVIRONMENT - Disclosed are a system, a method and/or an apparatus of processor agnostic data storage in a PCIE based shared storage environment. In one aspect, a method includes processing a storage based request received at an adapter circuit of a controller device associated with a disk array to direct the storage based request to at least one of a processor of the disk array and a plurality of storage devices of the disk array. The method also includes routing, through an interface circuit of the controller device, the data request in the other format compatible with the storage device directly to at least one storage device of the plurality of storage devices of the disk array coupled to the controller device agnostic to a processor of the disk array to store a data associated with the data request based on a mapping table. | 09-25-2014 |
20140289463 | REPLICATION TARGET SERVICE - A data storage service receives commands configured according to a communication protocol, such as a small computer system interface protocol. The commands may be replications of commands sent to a block-level data storage system, such as a storage area network. Data to be written by execution of the commands is persisted using an object-based data storage system. When read commands are received, data blocks can be extracted from the data objects in which they are stored. | 09-25-2014 |
20140289464 | TAPE LIBRARY EMULATION WITH AUTOMATIC CONFIGURATION AND DATA RETENTION - Disk based emulation of tape libraries is provided with features that allow easier management and administration of a backup system and also allow increased flexibility to both archive data on tape at a remote location and also have fast restore access to archived data files. Features include automatic emulation of physical libraries, and the retention and write protection of virtual tapes that correspond to exported physical tapes. | 09-25-2014 |
20140297941 | NON-HOMOGENEOUS DISK ABSTRACTION FOR DATA ORIENTED APPLICATIONS - One embodiment of the system described herein facilitates a virtualized heterogeneous disk that supports differentiated storage service qualities. During operation, the system mounts a plurality of partitions of a heterogeneous disk at different mount points, each mount point corresponding to a level of quality of service (QoS). The system then receives a write command and identifies a QoS level indication associated with the write command. Subsequently, the system selects a partition on the heterogeneous disk with performance parameters matching the identified QoS level and writes data to the selected partition. The heterogeneous disk is an abstraction of a plurality of virtualized storage devices. Furthermore, the heterogeneous disk has a single block address space, and the virtualized storage devices are allowed to have differentiated performance parameters, thereby facilitating differentiated QoS levels in the heterogeneous disk. | 10-02-2014 |
20140297942 | DATA CACHE FOR A STORAGE ARRAY - Embodiments of the present disclosure provide for a storage system that includes an array of disk drives and a controller communicatively coupled to the array of disk drives. The controller includes a dual purpose cache. The controller is configured to perform maintenance operations and host input/output (I/O) operations using the dual purpose cache. | 10-02-2014 |
20140297943 | Data Storage Apparatus - Data Storage Apparatus Anapparatus( | 10-02-2014 |
20140297944 | RECORDING MEDIUM, SYSTEM AND METHOD - A non-transitory computer-readable recording medium has stored therein a program for causing a computer to execute a process. The process includes identifying a data block from among a plurality of data blocks in a first storage for relocation to a second storage, determining an access mode of the identified data block, the access mode including sequential access or random access, and relocating the identified data block to the second storage based on the determined access mode. | 10-02-2014 |
20140297945 | STORAGE APPARATUS AND COPY CONTROL METHOD - A storage apparatus includes a plurality of drives having different response speeds, a memory that stores location information of data stored in the plurality of drives, and a processor operable to execute performing rearrangement of the data among the plurality of drives in accordance with a specific condition, updating the location information of the data whose rearrangement has been performed, and starting copying from data that is used for startup of a host connected to another storage apparatus among a plurality of pieces of data to be copied to the other storage apparatus in accordance with the location information stored in the memory, the other storage device being redundantly configured with the storage apparatus. | 10-02-2014 |
20140297946 | STORAGE SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR MANAGING STORAGE APPARATUSES - A processor of a distribution device included in a storage system is configured to manage an initial write position and a current write position for each of a plurality of storage apparatuses. The initial write position varies for the storage apparatuses. The processor is configured to receive a write request and give an instruction for writing data to each of the storage apparatuses in accordance with the current write position by distributing the write request to each of the storage apparatuses. The processor is configured to manage offset information indicating a write position relative to a top of a storage device corresponding to the current write position for each of the storage apparatuses. The processor is configured to receive a read request and select, based on the offset information, one of the storage apparatuses so as to send the read request to the selected storage apparatus. | 10-02-2014 |
20140297947 | STORAGE SYSTEM, STORAGE APPARATUS, CONTROL METHOD OF STORAGE SYSTEM, AND COMPUTER PRODUCT - A storage system includes a first storage apparatus that stores a first data group selected, based on an access time of each data among plural data; a second storage apparatus that stores a second data group; and a control apparatus that includes a memory unit that stores a Bloom filter in which a property value is registered, and obtained by extracting a property in identification information of each data among the first data group; a processor that is configured to judge whether the property value obtained by extracting the property in the identification information of given data that is to be accessed among the plural data is registered in the Bloom filter; and transmit an access request for the given data to any one among the first storage apparatus and the second storage apparatus, based on results of judgment of whether the property value is registered. | 10-02-2014 |
20140297948 | METHOD FOR PROCESSING DATA - A method for operating a system on a chip comprising a conventional processor unit (CISC, RISC, VLIW, DSP) and an array processor having a multidimensional arrangement of arithmetic units. Operation information for the array processor are stored in a memory shared between the conventional processor and the array processor. At runtime the conventional processor points the array processor to the memory area comprising the operation information. A management unit inside the array processor is autonomously loading the operation information into the array processor | 10-02-2014 |
20140297949 | DISK ARRAY DEVICE - The disk array device includes an allocation control unit that allocates a physical sector to a logical sector, and an erasure control unit that erases data written on a logical sector. The allocation control unit stores a logical sector and a physical sector allocated thereto in a translation table in association with each other, and stores allocation information representing that the physical sector is allocated to the logical sector, in an allocation table. The erasure control unit registers logical disk information specifying a logical disk, to which an erasure request has been made, in an under-erasure table, specifies a physical sector allocated to a logical sector formed in the logical disk to which the erasure request has been made, based on the allocation table and the translation table, and performs erasure processing on the specified physical sector. | 10-02-2014 |
20140297950 | STORAGE SYSTEM, RECORDING MEDIUM STORING DATA REBALANCING PROGRAM, AND DATA REBALANCING METHOD - A storage system includes a plurality of storing devices configured to store data, a cache memory configured to hold data, an access control unit configured to make an access to any one of the plurality of storing devices when an access request for reading of target data or writing of the target data is made from an information processing terminal, and to store the target data in the cache memory, and a writing unit configured to write the target data stored in the cache memory in the storing device which has not stored the target data among the plurality of storing devices. | 10-02-2014 |
20140297951 | ALLOCATING STORAGE UNITS IN A DISPERSED STORAGE NETWORK - A method begins by a processing module detecting a new storage unit within a dispersed storage network DSN. The method continues with the processing module determining to affiliate the new storage unit with a virtual memory vault, where the virtual memory vault is mapped to a set of storage units of the DSN, where data objects are dispersed storage error encoded into pluralities of sets of encoded data slices that are stored in the set of storage units. The method continues with the processing module determining virtual DSN addresses of the virtual memory vault to allocate the new storage unit. The method continues with the processing module updating vault information regarding the virtual memory vault to include the allocation of the virtual DSN addresses to the new storage unit. | 10-02-2014 |
20140297952 | CONFIGURABLE AND SCALABLE STORAGE SYSTEM - The system utilizes a plurality of layers to provide a robust storage solution. One layer is the RAID engine that provides parity RAID protection, disk management and striping for the RAID sets. The second layer is called the virtualization layer and it separates the physical disks and storage capacity into virtual disks that minor the drives that a target system requires. A third layer is a LUN (logical unit number) layer that is disposed between the virtual disks and the host. By using this approach, the system can be used to represent any number, size, or capacity of disks that a host system requires while using any configuration of physical RAID storage. | 10-02-2014 |
20140304469 | DATA STORAGE - Storage drives configured as an m-way mirroring disk array with a primary set with a primary portion on each storage drive member in the array and (m−1) mirror sets with mirror portions on each storage drive member in the array to store duplicated data blocks of the primary set, each of the drives to have a primary portion and at least one mirror portion arranged in a stacked configuration. Generate primary write requests to write the data blocks to one or more of the primary portions of the primary set of the plurality of drives, and generate a corresponding mirroring requests to write the duplicated data blocks to corresponding mirror portions of the mirror sets of the drives, wherein, to preserve data redundancy, the primary portion and the corresponding one or more mirror portions with the duplicated data of the primary portion are to reside on different drives. | 10-09-2014 |
20140304470 | REVERSE MIRRORING IN RAID LEVEL 1 - Disclosed is a reverse mirroring RAID Level I system and method that decreases read access times. By recording mirrored data in a mirrored disk in a reverse order, spindle access time for data to be read from either the primary disk or the mirrored disk is reduced. As such, overall performance of the reverse mirroring technique is increased. | 10-09-2014 |
20140310454 | DATA SET MANAGEMENT - A method of and system for managing a data set stored on units of storage space in a storage facility is disclosed. The method and system may include identifying prospect extents of the data set. The prospect extents may include a first prospect extent stored on a first unit of storage space and a second prospect extent stored on a second unit of storage space. The method and system may include congregating the first prospect extent and the second prospect extent on a destination unit of storage space in the storage facility. | 10-16-2014 |
20140310455 | SYSTEM, METHOD AND COMPUTER PROGRAM PRODUCT FOR DEDUPLICATION AWARE QUALITY OF SERVICE OVER DATA TIERING - A method for ensuring compliance of service levels corresponding to file-system operations in a deduplicated, tiered storage system comprising storage devices of varying performance levels, each of the performance levels being associated with at least one service level, includes performing a deduplication remapping operation so that a data item corresponding to a higher service level, is stored as an original on a higher performance storage tier while duplicates of the data item corresponding to a lower service level exist in lower performance storage tier at least in part as pointers to the data item on the higher performance storage tier. | 10-16-2014 |
20140310456 | FINE-GRAINED CONTROL OF DATA PLACEMENT - Methods, apparatus and computer program products implement embodiments of the present invention that include defining, in a storage system including multiple storage devices, multiple redundant array of independent disks (RAID) configurations for data stored on the storage devices. A first one of the multiple RAID configurations is assigned to a first entry in a partition table having multiple entries, and a second one of the multiple RAID configurations is assigned to a second entry in the partition table, the second one of the multiple RAID configurations independent from the first one of the multiple RAID configurations. | 10-16-2014 |
20140310457 | LOGICAL REGION ALLOCATION WITH IMMEDIATE AVAILABILITY - Methods, apparatus and computer program products implement embodiments of the present invention that enable a computer to receive a request to allocate one or more logical regions to a logical volume, and to verify, in response to the request, an availability on one or more storage devices of a number of physical regions corresponding to the one or more requested logical regions. In response to the verification, the one or more logical regions can be activated for write operations to a cache, so that any data written to the logical regions is stored to the cache. Subsequent to activating the one or more logical regions, one or more actual physical regions can be allocated to the logical volume. Upon allocating the one or more actual physical regions, any data stored in the cache can be destaged to the one or more actual physical regions. | 10-16-2014 |
20140310458 | DATA TRANSFERRING METHOD AND APPARATUS AND STORAGE SYSTEM - A data transferring method, apparatus and storage system is provided. The method includes: acquiring, by an access device, data of a first storage device; transferring, by the access device, the acquired data of the first storage device to a second storage device; performing, by the access device upon receiving a service request during transferring of the data, the service request carrying at least parameter name and operation method of an object to be accessed, corresponding service operations on the first and/or second storage device according to the parameter name and the operation method of the object to be accessed. Data transferring between the first and the second storage device and normal processing of service for outside is achieved through the access device, and thereby step of adding underlayer protocols for achieving access between storage devices is not needed and problem of requiring multiple developments can be avoided. | 10-16-2014 |
20140310459 | Data Storage Architecture Extension System and Method - A data storage architecture extension (DAX) system and method that permits multiple disk drive storage elements to be logically daisy-chained to allow a single host bus adapter (HBA) to view the storage elements as one logical disk drive is disclosed. The system/method may be broadly described as comprising a pass-thru disk drive controller (PTDDC) further comprising a HBA port, a disk drive interface port, pass-thru input port, and a pass-thru output port. The PTDDC intercepts and translates the HBA port input to the requirements of an individual disk drive connected to the drive interface port. Each PTDDC may be daisy-chained to other PTDDCs to permit a plethora of disk drives to be associated with a given HBA, with the first PTDDC providing a presentation interface to the HBA integrating all disk drive storage connected to the PTDDCs. The system/method also permits RAID configuration of disk drives using one or more PTDDCs. | 10-16-2014 |
20140317346 | REDUNDANT ARRAY OF INDEPENDENT DISKS SYSTEMS THAT UTILIZE SPANS WITH DIFFERENT STORAGE DEVICE COUNTS FOR A LOGICAL VOLUME - Methods and structure are provided for defining span sizes for Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID) systems. One embodiment is a RAID controller that includes a control system and a span manager. The control system is able to identify storage devices coupled with the controller and is able to receive input requesting the creation of a RAID logical volume. The span manager is able to define multiple RAID spans to implement the volume, each span comprising one or more of the coupled storage devices, at least one of the spans including a different number of drives than at least one other span. | 10-23-2014 |
20140317347 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR LOGICAL REMOVAL OF PHYSICAL HEADS IN A HARD DISK DRIVE (HDD) - A hard disk drive (HDD) provides for the logical removal of defective physical heads. The HDD includes one or more disks organized into a plurality of regions, each region having a plurality of physical block addresses (PBAs). A number of physical heads are used to read and write information to the disks. A controller is configured to translate logical block addresses (LBAs) received from an external system to PBAs used to access the one or more disks, wherein the controller is configured to logically remove a defective physical head from service by dynamically re-assigning LBAs to each of the plurality of regions while preventing LBAs from being assigned to regions associated with the defective physical head. | 10-23-2014 |
20140317348 | CONTROL SYSTEM, CONTROL APPARATUS, AND COMPUTER-READABLE RECORDING MEDIUM RECORDING CONTROL PROGRAM THEREON - A control system includes: a superordinate apparatus that includes a multi-path driver controlling an access path; and a second control unit that transmits a control signal used for an instruction for setting an access path to a first control unit that is newly connected to be communicable with the superordinate apparatus to the superordinate apparatus. The multi-path driver sets the access path to the first control unit based on the control signal supplied from the second control unit, thereby autonomously setting the access path in a case where a control unit is additionally installed. | 10-23-2014 |
20140317349 | Distributed Storage Time Synchronization Based On Retrieval Delay - A method begins with a processing module receiving a data retrieval request and obtaining a real-time indicator corresponding to when the data retrieval request was received. The method continues with the processing module determining a time-based data access policy based on the data retrieval request and the real-time indicator and accessing a plurality of dispersed storage (DS) units in accordance with the time-based data access policy to retrieve encoded data slices. The method continues with the processing module decoding the threshold number of encoded data slices in accordance with an error coding dispersal storage function when a threshold number of the encoded data slices have been retrieved. | 10-23-2014 |
20140325143 | USING PROTECTION INFORMATION METADATA FIELDS FOR STORING CONFIGURATION INFORMATION - A SCSI command is issued to a mass storage device to read a first block that stores a first portion of a DDF data structure associated with a first volume. The SCSI command instructs the mass storage device not to check at least a first portion of protection information metadata associated with the first block. In response to the SCSI command, a host receives configuration information encoded into the protection information metadata. The host decodes the configuration information encoded into the protection information metadata to determine a first property associated with the first volume. | 10-30-2014 |
20140325144 | PROTECTION INFORMATION INITIALIZATION - M number of physical drives are divided into a plurality of strips. The plurality of strips each has an equal number of blocks on each of the M physical drives. Each of the strips has a first logical block address associated with a first block of the strip. The plurality of strips are grouped across the M physical drives into a plurality of stripes. Each of the stripes is configured use one strip from each of the M physical drives. A first stripe of the plurality of strips has M total strips configured as M−1 data strips and one parity strip. Protection information parity values are calculated for the parity strip in the first stripe using the respective first logical block addresses of the M−1 data strips. | 10-30-2014 |
20140325145 | CACHE REBUILDS BASED ON TRACKING DATA FOR CACHE ENTRIES - Methods and structure are provided for rebuilding cache data from a failed cache device based on tracking data for the failed cache device. The system includes a memory and a cache manager. The memory stores tracking data that correlates entries at a cache with logical block addresses of a logical volume. The cache manager is able to determine that a device implementing the cache has failed and to analyze the tracking data to identify logical block addresses correlated with cache entries from the failed cache device. The cache manager is further able to generate new cache entries at a new cache device, and to populate the new cache entries with data from the identified logical block addresses. | 10-30-2014 |
20140325146 | CREATING AND MANAGING LOGICAL VOLUMES FROM UNUSED SPACE IN RAID DISK GROUPS - Methods and structure are provided for creating and managing unused storage capacity in Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID) systems. One embodiment is a RAID controller that includes a controller operable to create and manage a logical volume out of storage space that would otherwise not be used by a RAID system. The logical volume is then exposed to the host operating system as a logical volume where the storage space can be used as a cache device for a host operating system. | 10-30-2014 |
20140325147 | DEDUPLICATION OF DATA BLOCKS ON STORAGE DEVICES - A storage system comprises a cache for caching data blocks and storage devices for storing blocks. A storage operating system may deduplicate sets of redundant blocks on the storage devices based on a deduplication requirement. Blocks in cache are typically deduplicated based on the deduplication on the storage devices. Sets of redundant blocks that have not met the deduplication requirement for storage devices and have not been deduplicated on the storage devices and cache are targeted for further deduplication processing. Sets of redundant blocks may be further deduplicated based on their popularity (number of accesses) in cache. If a set of redundant blocks in cache is determined to have a combined number of accesses being greater than a predetermined threshold number of accesses, the set of redundant blocks is determined to be “popular.” Popular sets of redundant blocks are selected for deduplication in cache and the storage devices. | 10-30-2014 |
20140325148 | DATA STORAGE DEVICES WHICH SUPPLY HOST WITH DATA PROCESSING LATENCY INFORMATION, AND RELATED DATA PROCESSING METHODS - A method is for operating a data storage device including a plurality of memory chips. The method includes generating state information regarding the plurality of memory chips, storing the generated state information in a memory, receiving an access command from a host, analyzing the state information in response to the access command, and transmitting a response to the host indicative of whether the access command is performed based on the analyzed state information. | 10-30-2014 |
20140325149 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR CONSOLIDATING A PLURALITY OF HETEROGENEOUS STORAGE SYSTEMS IN A DATA CENTER - A system and method for consolidating a plurality of heterogeneous storage systems in a data center comprising collecting data from a plurality of heterogeneous storage devices ( | 10-30-2014 |
20140331008 | CONTROLLING METHODS OF STORAGE CONTROL DEVICE AND VIRTUAL VOLUMES - The storage control device of this invention allocates the physical storage area in RAID groups to virtual volumes in units of chunks including multiple pages. | 11-06-2014 |
20140337572 | NONCONTIGUOUS REPRESENTATION OF AN ARRAY - A system and method for storing a composite array including a reference array and one or more arraylets is provided. A set of contiguous memory locations for a reference array including one or more slots is allocated based on a quantity of bits in a binary representation of a logical array length. Each slot in the reference array corresponds to a position of a bit in the binary representation. For each bit corresponding to a slot that is determined to satisfy a condition, a set of contiguous memory locations is allocated for an arraylet, and a reference from the slot to the arraylet is provided. A largest arraylet having a greatest length of the allocated arraylets is identified, and a slice of adjacent data elements corresponding to a beginning of the logical array is placed into the largest arraylet. | 11-13-2014 |
20140337573 | REDIRECTING DATA FROM A DEFECTIVE DATA ENTRY IN MEMORY TO A REDUNDANT DATA ENTRY PRIOR TO DATA ACCESS, AND RELATED SYSTEMS AND METHODS - Embodiments disclosed include redirecting data from a defective data entry in memory to a redundant data entry prior to data access. Related systems and methods are also disclosed. The memory is configured to receive a memory access request. The received memory access request comprises a data entry address. The memory uses the data entry address to access data stored in a data array in the memory in a first data access path. It is possible that the rows or columns in the memory may be defective as a result of a manufacturing process. In the event that a row or column at the data entry address in the data array is defective, a data entry redirection circuit redirects the memory access request to a redundant row or column in the data array prior to data access. | 11-13-2014 |
20140337574 | MEMORY SYSTEM, SEMICONDUCTOR MEMORY DEVICE AND OPERATING METHOD THEREOF - Disclosed are a memory system, a semiconductor memory device and a method of operating the same. The memory system includes: a memory controller to output a command, address and data; and a semiconductor memory device to store at least one page data in each memory cell in response to the command, the address and the data, the memory controller to separately output first address used for determining the at least one page data from the data and second address used for determining a word line coupled to at least one memory cell. | 11-13-2014 |
20140337575 | TAPE EMULATING DISK BASED STORAGE SYSTEM AND METHOD WITH AUTOMATICALLY RESIZED EMULATED TAPE CAPACITY - A data protection and storage system includes an array of disk drives for data storage. Data is received for storage on the disk drive via an interface that is configured to emulate a tape drive interface. A virtual tape data structure is created and stored on the disk drives. The allocated capacity of the virtual tape is dynamically and transparently alterable in response to data storage demand within the virtual tape. | 11-13-2014 |
20140337576 | SUB-LUN AUTO-TIERING - Embodiments of the invention include systems and methods for auto-tiering multiple file systems across a common resource pool. Storage resources are allocated as a sub-LUN auto-tiering (SLAT) sub-pool. The sub-pool is managed as a single virtual address space (VAS) with a virtual block address (VBA) for each logical block address of each data block in the sub-pool, and a portion of those VBAs can be allocated to each of a number of file systems. Mappings are maintained between each logical block address in which file system data is physically stored and a VBA in the file system's portion of the virtual address space. As data moves (e.g., is added, auto-tiered, etc.), the mappings can be updated. In this way, multiple SLAT file systems can exploit the full resources of the common SLAT sub-pool and maximize the resource options available to auto-tiering functions. | 11-13-2014 |
20140337577 | SUB-LUN AUTO-TIERING - Embodiments of the invention include systems and methods for auto-tiering multiple file systems across a common resource pool. Storage resources are allocated as a sub-LUN auto-tiering (SLAT) sub-pool. The sub-pool is managed as a single virtual address space (VAS) with a virtual block address (VBA) for each logical block address of each data block in the sub-pool, and a portion of those VBAs can be allocated to each of a number of file systems. Mappings are maintained between each logical block address in which file system data is physically stored and a VBA in the file system's portion of the virtual address space. As data moves (e.g., is added, auto-tiered, etc.), the mappings can be updated. In this way, multiple SLAT file systems can exploit the full resources of the common SLAT sub-pool and maximize the resource options available to auto-tiering functions. | 11-13-2014 |
20140337578 | REDUNDANT ARRAY OF INEXPENSIVE DISKS (RAID) SYSTEM CONFIGURED TO REDUCE REBUILD TIME AND TO PREVENT DATA SPRAWL - A RAID system is provided in which, in the event that a rebuild is to be performed for one of the PDs, a filter driver of the operating system of the computer of the RAID system informs the RAID controller of the RAID system of addresses in the virtual memory that are unused. Unused virtual memory addresses are those which have never been written by the OS as well as those which have been written by the OS and subsequently freed by the OS. The RAID controller translates the unused virtual memory addresses into unused physical addresses. The RAID controller then reconstructs data and parity only for the unused physical addresses in the PD for which the rebuild is being performed. This reduces the amount of data and parity that are rebuilt during a rebuild process and reduces the amount of time that is required to perform the rebuild process. In addition, the RAID system is capable of being configured to prevent or reduce data sprawl. | 11-13-2014 |
20140344517 | STORAGE CONTROL DEVICE, STORAGE SYSTEM, AND COMPUTER-READABLE RECORDING MEDIUM STORING CONTROL PROGRAM - A storage control device that controls a physical storage device in a storage system, the storage control device includes: a receiving section configured to receive a command from the storage system including the physical storage device and a virtual storage device, the physical storage device configured to store data in a physical volume, the virtual storage device configured to intervene between a host device and the physical storage device and store data to be transmitted and received between the host device and the physical storage device as a virtual portable volume; a determining section configured to determine a type of the command; and a control section, if the command is an ejection command indicating an outside management of a first physical volume specified by the ejection command, configured to perform data protection setting on the first physical volume. | 11-20-2014 |
20140344518 | APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR PERFORMING DATA TRANSFER BETWEEN STORAGES - An apparatus connected to first and second storages performs data transfer between the first and second storages for a plurality of times with different data sizes, and measures a transfer time defined as a transfer interval time for data transfer of each of the plurality of times. The apparatus identifies a maximum size data indicating a maximum data size for data transfer between the first and second storages, based on the transfer time and the data size for data transfer of each of the plurality of times. When data transfer is performed between the first and second storages, the apparatus divides transfer target data for the data transfer into plural pieces of divided data, based on the maximum size data, and outputs, for each of the plural pieces of divided data, a data transfer request for requesting the apparatus to perform data transfer between the first and second storages. | 11-20-2014 |
20140351505 | PROVIDING DATA ATTRIBUTES TO A STORAGE MANAGER TO USE TO SELECT A STORAGE TIER TO USE FOR A DATA SET MANAGEMENT OPERATION - Provided are a computer program product, system, and method for an application to provide data attributes to a storage manager to use to select a storage tier to use for a data set management operation. Each storage tier has storage devices with different storage attributes. The application determines data attributes of a data set for which a data set management operation is to be performed based on an application intended usage of the data set. The application sends the determined data attributes and a data set management command to the storage controller to cause the storage controller to use the determined data attributes to select one of the storage tiers of storage devices for performing the data set management operation specified by the data set management command. | 11-27-2014 |
20140351506 | EFFICIENT STORAGE OF SMALL RANDOM CHANGES TO DATA ON DISK - The embodiments described herein provide a system and method for efficiently storing small, random modifications or changes to data on one or more storage devices, such as disks, of storage servers coupled to a host computer in a network environment. Illustratively, the data is stored in a region of a byte-addressable, persistent memory of the host computer and is replicated (i.e., copied) as changed data of the region on the disks at the granularity at which it was modified, e.g., at the byte-addressable granularity. To that end, each storage server employs a data structure (e.g., a Fibonacci array) that is configured to efficiently accumulate the small, random data changes into one or more large blocks of changed data for storage on the disks in a manner that realizes the streaming bandwidth of the disk. | 11-27-2014 |
20140351507 | Systems and Methods including an Application Server in an Enclosure with a Communication Link to an External Controller - A system including a first array of storage drives in communication with a storage controller, the storage controller providing virtualized storage with the first array of storage drives; an application server running a storage warehouse application and communicatively coupled to a host device and the storage controller; and a communication port expander providing expansion slots to a first enclosure, wherein the first array of storage drives, the application server, and the communication port expander are contained in the first enclosure separate from the controller, further wherein the controller controls the first array of storage drives and is in communication with the first array of storage drives through the communication port expander. | 11-27-2014 |
20140351508 | OFFLOADING RAID UPDATE OPERATIONS TO DISK CONTROLLERS - An improved technique involves performing computations for partial stripe updates in a RAID at individual disk controllers rather than at the RAID controller. When a RAID controller receives a request to update old payload data at a block in a particular disk with update data, it sends the update data to the controller of that particular disk. The disk controller reads internally old data from the block, computes the difference between new and old data, replaces the old data on disk with the new data, and returns the difference to the RAID controller. The RAID controller computes difference values of the parity data from the difference values of the payload data received from the disk controllers. It then sends these difference values to the controllers of disks storing parity data. A controller of a disk storing parity data reads internally the corresponding data block, adds to it the difference value, and writes the result back to disk. | 11-27-2014 |
20140351509 | DISK ARRAY SYSTEM AND DATA PROCESSING METHOD - A disk array system and a data processing method are provided. The data processing method is applied to the disk array system. The disk array system is a redundancy array of independent disk 0 (RAID 0) system The disk array system includes a plurality of disks. The data processing method includes: receiving a reading command; determining whether to divide the reading command to a plurality of reading command segments according to the reading command; and assigning the reading command to a corresponding disk of the disks to read data stored in the corresponding disk accordingly when it is determined that the reading command is not divided. | 11-27-2014 |
20140351510 | DISK ARRAY SYSTEM AND DATA PROCESSING METHOD - A disk array system and a data processing method are provided. The data processing method is applied to the disk array system. The disk array system includes a first disk and a second disk The data processing method includes: receiving a reading command, wherein the reading, command includes a data starting address; determining to assign the reading command to the first disk or the second disk according to the data starting address of the reading command. and a stripe size; and reading corresponding data according to the reading command from the first disk or the second disk which receives the reading command. | 11-27-2014 |
20140351511 | Queuing Received Write Blocks for Reducing File Fragmentation - A method and apparatus for queuing FBNs of received write blocks for a file to a queuing data structure for assigning LBNs to the FBNs is described herein. A queuing data structure may comprise a modified binary search tree, such as a modified red-black search tree. Each node of a queuing data structure may comprise a base field for storing a base FBN and a range field for storing a range value comprising X bits. The range field of a single node may represent a range of two or more FBNs (“FBN range”), the FBN range being based on the base FBN. Each FBN in the FBN range may have a corresponding bit in the range field, the base FBN corresponding to a “base bit” in the range field. The value of the corresponding bit in the range field may indicate whether the FBN has been received. | 11-27-2014 |
20140351512 | CAPACITY EXPANSION METHOD AND DEVICE - 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. | 11-27-2014 |
20140351513 | STORAGE APPARATUS AND CONTROL METHOD THEREOF - The storage system includes a plurality of storage devices. A storage controller is configured to manage a plurality of pages in a pool provided by at least one of the plurality of storage devices, to provide a virtual storage area to a host by allocating one or more pages from the pool dynamically, in which the virtual storage area is formed with a data area and a control information area. The storage controller is further configured to expand the virtual storage area on a unit basis, where the unit is a set of a given size area of the data area and a given size area of the control information area. In response to a write request from the host, the storage controller is configured to store data into the data area and to store control information for accessing to the data into the control information area. | 11-27-2014 |
20140359212 | COMPUTER SYSTEM AND DATA INPUT/OUTPUT METHOD - A storage apparatus includes multiple ports communicable with a server, multiple processor cores and multiple LUs (Logical Units). For each port, a port responsible core, which is a processor core to accept an I/O request received by the port, is specified. For each LU, an LU responsible core, which is a processor core responsible for I/O, is specified. The LU responsible core may be dynamically changed. The server periodically acquires identification information about the LU responsible cores from the storage apparatus. When transmitting an I/O request, the server selects a non-cross call path, which is such a path that the LU responsible core and the port responsible core are the same processor core, from among multiple paths to an I/O destination LU, which is an LU specified by the transmission target I/O request, and transmits the transmission target I/O request via the selected path. | 12-04-2014 |
20140359213 | DIFFERENCING DISK IMPROVED DEPLOYMENT OF VIRTUAL MACHINES - Determining host machines on which to place a virtual machine. The method includes determining that a virtual machine to be deployed to a host will use a differencing disk chain based off of one or more base disks. One or more hosts are identified having the one or more base disks already available to the one or more hosts. One of the one or more hosts is selected at which to place the virtual machine based on the one or more hosts having the one or more base disks already available to the one or more hosts. The virtual machine is placed at the selected host. | 12-04-2014 |
20140359214 | VARIABLE UPDATING DEVICE AND VARIABLE UPDATING METHOD - A procedure, which is performed by a processor of a variable updating device, includes: (a) judging whether or not the cache set is a cache set selected in advance; (b) in a case in which the corresponding cache set is judged to be the cache set selected in advance, judging which of (1) a hit and (2) a miss has occurred; and (c) carrying out a first processing that, in a case in which it is judged that the miss has occurred, updates a miss variable that expresses a number of times that misses have occurred and stores the address information in the storage portion, and a second processing that, in a case in which it is judged that the hit has occurred, updates a hit variable that expresses a number of times that hits have occurred. | 12-04-2014 |
20140359215 | STORAGE SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR CONTROLLING STORAGE SYSTEM - An information processing device includes a processor. The processor is configured to allocate a plurality of allocation unit areas to a virtual volume from a first storage device and a second storage device. The processor is configured to generate evaluation information related to access for each of a plurality of divided areas into which each of the plurality of allocation unit areas is divided. The processor is configured to determine based on the generated evaluation information, when allocation to the virtual volume is changed from a first allocation unit area of the first storage device to a second allocation unit area of the second storage device, a first data transfer order of transferring data in divided area units from the first allocation unit area to the second allocation unit area. The processor is configured to transfer the data in accordance with the first data transfer order. | 12-04-2014 |
20140359216 | CONFIRMED DIVERT BITMAP TO SYNCHRONIZE RAID FIRMWARE OPERATIONS WITH FAST-PATH HARDWARE I/O PROCESSING - A storage controller system is provided for the monitoring of fast path processing of I/Os to a storage device where the storage controller system allows for processing of I/Os to be monitored through the use of counters in a storage controller based upon the type of I/O issued to the storage controller as well as the conditions associated with the I/O, while providing a bitmap and associated divert bits and counters to monitor the processing of the I/Os in the storage controller. Methods for monitoring the processing of I/Os issued to the storage controller are also provided where the processing of the I/Os is based upon the type fast path I/Os issued to the storage controller and the conditions associated with the issued I/Os while providing a bitmap and associated divert bits and counters to monitor the processing of the I/Os in the storage controller, are also disclosed. | 12-04-2014 |
20140359217 | SYNCHRONOUS EXTENT MIGRATION PROTOCOL FOR PAIRED STORAGE - Extent migration is provided in a data storage environment configured for synchronous replication between a primary and secondary pair of storage entities, each having tiered storage devices. In one embodiment, by way of example only, a migration instruction is sent, by the primary storage entity, to the secondary storage entity, the migration instruction including a relative priority based on a primary ordered heat map of the tiered storage devices of the primary storage entity. The relative priority is used against a secondary ordered heat map of the tiered storage devices of the secondary storage entity to perform the extent migration, regardless of whether the primary and secondary storage entities are identical. | 12-04-2014 |
20140359218 | Distributed Storage Method, Apparatus, and System - A distributed data storage method, apparatus, and system. The method includes: splitting a data file to generate K data slices, splitting each data slice of the K data slices to generate M data blocks for each data slice, and performing check coding on the M data blocks by using a redundancy algorithm to generate N check blocks; determining, by using a random algorithm, a first physical storage node corresponding to one block of the M data blocks and the N check blocks, and determining at least M+1 different physical storage nodes based on the determined first physical storage node and according to a first rule-based sorting manner; and storing at least M+1 blocks of the M data blocks and the N check blocks onto the at least M+1 different storage nodes, where K, M, and N are integers. | 12-04-2014 |
20140365726 | MEMORY SYSTEM MANAGEMENT - A memory system and a method for managing the system is described. The system is configured such a plurality of system controllers, which may be RAID controllers, receive requests from the external environment and distribute the requests to a plurality of memory modules such that data may be stored in the memory modules. A global sequence number is assigned to the data of a data stripe so that the operations related to the data stripe are performed in an ordered manner so that the data remains consistent. A plurality of system controllers may comprise a domain and access a plurality of memory controllers and a plurality of domains may include at least one common memory module. A plurality of groups of controllers may communicate with a switch or with a representative controller so as to coordinate the assignment of global sequence numbers. | 12-11-2014 |
20140365727 | STORAGE CONTROL DEVICE AND ACCESS CONTROL METHOD - A storage control device includes a processor. The processor is configured to receive commands requesting access to a first storage. The processor is configured to detect, among the received commands, a monitoring command requesting access for monitoring to the first storage. The processor is configured to restrict access to the first storage in response to the detected monitoring command. | 12-11-2014 |
20140365728 | PARALLEL BLOCK ALLOCATION FOR DECLUSTERED LOGICAL DISKS - In a method for allocating space on a logical disk, a computer receives an allocation request to allocate a number of requested logical disk extents. The computer selects one of a first group having an array of logical disk extents and a second group having an array of logical disk extents. The computer selects a group having a number of free logical disk extents that is greater than or equal to the number of requested logical disk extents. The logical disk extents in the array of the first group and in the array of the second group correspond to disk blocks on a logical disk. The logical disk spans one or more physical random access disks. The computer locks the selected group to prevent allocating a logical disk extent other than in response to the allocation request. | 12-11-2014 |
20140372695 | DISPERSED STORAGE PROCESSING UNIT AND METHODS WITH DATA AGGREGATION FOR USE IN A DISPERSED STORAGE SYSTEM - A new data block to be stored in the dispersed storage system is received. When it is determined that a previous data segment contains sufficient space for the new data block, the previous data segment is retrieved from a plurality of dispersed storage units. A revised data segment is generated by aggregating the new data block with at least one existing data block of the previous data segment. A plurality of slices are generated for the revised data segment. The plurality of slices are stored in the plurality of dispersed storage units. | 12-18-2014 |
20140372696 | HANDLING WRITE REQUESTS FOR A DATA ARRAY - A data array has multiple ways, each way having entries for storing data values. In response to a write request, an updated data value having a target address may be stored in any of a corresponding set of entries comprising an entry selected from each way based on the target address. An update queue stores update information representing pending write requests. Update information is selected from the update queue for a group of pending write requests corresponding to different ways, and these write requests are performed in parallel so that updated values are written to entries of different ways. | 12-18-2014 |
20140372697 | Storage Device Management of Unrecoverable Logical Block Addresses for RAID Data Regeneration - A host processing system includes a processor, a RAID controller, and a data storage device coupled to the RAID controller and operable to detect first unrecoverable data at a first logical block address (LBA) of the data storage device, log the first LBA in an unrecoverable LBA table of the data storage device, provide the unrecoverable LBA table to the RAID controller, and in response to receiving a write to the first LBA, remove the first LBA from the unrecoverable LBA table. | 12-18-2014 |
20140372698 | STORAGE DEVICE AND GLOBAL GARBAGE COLLECTION METHOD OF DATA STORAGE SYSTEM INCLUDING THE SAME - A storage device includes at least one nonvolatile memory device; and a memory controller configured to control the nonvolatile memory device, wherein the memory controller includes, at least one processor configured to control an overall operation of the memory controller; a buffer memory configured to store input/output data according to a control of the processor when an input/output request from an external device occurs; an error correction circuit configured to detect and correct an error of the input/output data; a garbage collector configured to selectively generate a first global garbage collection command in response to the input/output request and configured to perform a global garbage collection according to a second global garbage collection command received from the external device; and a storage interface configured to transmit the first global garbage collection command to another storage device. | 12-18-2014 |
20140379981 | APPLICATION DISCOVERY USING STORAGE SYSTEM SIGNATURES - Exemplary embodiments of the present invention disclose a method and system for identifying one or more applications stored on a storage system that is shared by one or more computer systems. In a step, an exemplary embodiment accesses the storage system. In another step, an exemplary accesses one or more file tables associated with the storage system. In another step, an exemplary embodiment analyzes the one or more file tables and one or more files on the storage system that are associated with the one or more applications to identify the one or more applications. In another step, an exemplary embodiment analyzes the one or more file tables and the one or more files to identify a respective dependency of the one or more applications. | 12-25-2014 |
20140379982 | SEMICONDUCTOR MEMORY DEVICE AND MEMORY SYSTEM INCLUDING THE SAME - A semiconductor memory device and a memory system including the same are provided. The semiconductor memory device, includes a memory cell array including a plurality of memory cells, a read and write circuit configured to store read data by sensing data stored in the plurality of memory cells and output the read data to input/output data lines in response to data read control signals, in a read operation, and an output controller configured to control the data read control signals so that activation intervals of the data read control signals generated in a cache read operation of the read operation are longer than those generated in a normal read operation of the read operation. | 12-25-2014 |
20140379983 | STORAGE SYSTEM, CONTROL APPARATUS, AND CONTROL METHOD - A storage system includes: a library-apparatus that is configured to store a plurality of portable-recording-media and to write and read data by using the stored portable-recording-media; a storage-apparatus; and a control-apparatus configured to control access to a plurality of logical-volumes by using the storage-apparatus as a first-storage and using a storage-area provided by the plurality of portable-recording-media as a second-storage, wherein, upon receiving a request for copying a first-logical-volume of the plurality of logical-volumes, the control-apparatus copies the first-logical-volume to an unused first-recording-medium included in the plurality of portable-recording media and having the same identification-number as an identification-number of the first-logical-volume, when copying to the first-recording-medium is possible, and selects an unused second-recording-medium from the plurality of portable-recording-media, generates a second-logical-volume in which the identification-number of the first-logical-volume is changed to the same identification-number as an identification-number of the second-recording-medium, and copies the generated second-logical-volume to the second-recording-medium, when copying to the first-recording-medium is not possible. | 12-25-2014 |
20140379984 | ANTI-TIMEOUT METHOD AND DATA PROCESSING SYSTEM - An anti-timeout method applied to a data processing system is provided. The data processing system includes a disk module. The anti-timeout method includes following steps: setting a total volume of the disk module into a plurality of virtual disk volumes, wherein each of the virtual disk volumes includes an instruction temporary storing queue for temporarily storing operating instructions corresponding to each virtual disk volume; selecting one of the instruction temporary storing queues and processing the operating instructions stored in the selected instruction temporary storing queue; calculating a continuous operating, value of continuous processing of the selected instruction temporary storing queue; and selecting another one of the instruction temporary storing queues if the continuous operating value exceeds a predetermined threshold value. | 12-25-2014 |
20150012701 | REDUNDANT ARRAY OF INDEPENDENT DISKS (RAID) SYSTEM BACKUP MANAGEMENT - Disclosed herein are RAID backup management systems and methods. According to an aspect, a method may include identifying portions of data in each of multiple storage units of a RAID system. The method may also include backing up data in the identified portions to a hot spare. Further, the method may include allocating storage space in the hot spare for the backup based on detection of errors among the storage units. | 01-08-2015 |
20150012702 | REDUNDANT ARRAY OF INDEPENDENT DISKS VOLUME CREATION - Methods and structure for automatic creation of Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID) volumes are provided. The system comprises A RAID controller that includes a memory and a processor. The memory stores information describing storage devices of a storage system. The processor is able to receive a request to generate a RAID volume, to access the memory to identify a first group of storage devices that each have a first storage capacity, and to determine an expected size of a volume implemented by the first group. The processor is further able to access the memory to identify a second group of storage devices that each have a second storage capacity, to determine an expected size of a volume implemented by the first group and the second group, and to select one or more of the groups to create the requested volume based on the expected sizes. | 01-08-2015 |
20150012703 | METHOD TO OPTIMIZE PROVISIONING TIME WITH DYNAMICALLY GENERATED VIRTUAL DISK CONTENTS - Distribution of middleware binary includes: receiving a request to deploy a workload with middleware service(s); selecting a base operating system (OS) image to host the middleware service(s); determining locations of binary file(s) for the middleware service(s) in a repository on a storage system; cloning a virtual disk containing the base OS image on the storage system; and copying the binary file(s) from the locations in the repository into the cloned virtual disk on the storage system. The binary file(s) are copied onto the virtual disk directly on the storage system, without the need to traverse a network interface. The base OS image is augmented with the binary files just prior to the deployment of the virtual machine (VM). | 01-08-2015 |
20150012704 | STORAGE SYSTEM - A storage system includes a first storage apparatus including a first logical volume and a second storage apparatus including a second logical volume. The first and second logical volumes are set as a High Availability pair and associated with a virtual volume. When receiving a write request to the virtual volume, the storage system manages storage area in the first logical volume regarding to the write request as storage area during data duplication, writes data in duplicate, in order from the first logical volume to the second logical volume. When receiving a read request to the virtual volume, the first storage apparatus waits for completion of the data duplication and reads data from the first logical volume if the storage area is during the data duplication, and the first storage apparatus reads data from the first logical volume if the storage area is not during the data duplication. | 01-08-2015 |
20150019807 | LINEARIZED DYNAMIC STORAGE POOL - The present technology provides a two step process for providing a linearized dynamic storage pool. First, physical storage devices are abstracted. The physical storage devices used for the pool are divided into extents, grouped by storage class, and stripes are created from data chunks of similar classified devices. A virtual volume is then provisioned from and the virtual volume is divided into virtual stripes. A volume map is created to map the virtual stripes with data to the physical stripes, linearly mapping the virtual layout to the physical capacity to maintain optimal performance. | 01-15-2015 |
20150019808 | HYBRID STORAGE CONTROL SYSTEM AND METHOD - Disclosed are a hybrid storage control system and method. Hard disk arrays are divided into a solid-state hard disk array and a disk-type hard disk array according to a type, and the solid-state hard disk array is used as a default data read source, thereby improving a data read speed of the system without reducing security performance of the system. In addition, sequential write is adopted for a manner of writing data into a normal hard disk, so that disk head seeking is not required in a write operation, and the speed of writing the data into the normal hard disk matches the speed of writing the data in a solid-state hard disk, thereby further improving a data write speed. The present invention is applicable to various storage systems including both a solid-state hard disk and a disk-type hard disk. | 01-15-2015 |
20150019809 | PROVIDING REDUNDANCY IN A VIRTUALIZED STORAGE SYSTEM FOR A COMPUTER SYSTEM - A method for providing redundancy in a virtualized storage system for a computer system is provided. The method includes determining first set of first logical addresses to provide a virtual storage volume, A redundancy schema is then selected to provide redundancy data for primary data stored in the first set of first logical addresses. A second set of second logical addresses is determined to provide logical storage for the primary data and for the redundancy data. The first set of first logical addresses and the second set of second logical addresses are then mapped and a set of physical address es is selected from a set of physical storage elements. Mapping between the second set of second logical addresses and the set of physical addresses is then performed to provide physical storage for the primary data and the redundancy data stored in the virtual storage volume. | 01-15-2015 |
20150019810 | WRITING ADJACENT TRACKS TO A STRIDE, BASED ON A COMPARISON OF A DESTAGING OF TRACKS TO A DEFRAGMENTATION OF THE STRIDE - Compressed data is maintained in a plurality of strides of a redundant array of independent disks, wherein a stride is configurable to store a plurality of tracks. A request is received to write one or more tracks. The one or more tracks are written to a selected stride of the plurality of strides, based on comparing the number of operations required to destage selected tracks from the selected stride to the number of operations required to defragment the compressed data in the selected stride. | 01-15-2015 |
20150032953 | CONFIGURATION OF A PHYSICAL CONTROL UNIT TO SUPPORT MULTIPLE LOGICALCONTROL UNITS FOR DIFFERENT TAPE DRIVE TYPES IN A MAINFRAME NATIVE TAPE ATTACHMENT STORAGE SYSTEM - Method embodiments for facilitating configuration of a physical control unit to support multiple logical control units are provided. Each logical control unit supports communication with a single tape drive model type up to a maximum number of drives. A customer obtains a number N of logical control units through purchase, lease or other legitimate avenues. Based on the number of tape drive model types L and the number of tape drives for each type Q | 01-29-2015 |
20150032954 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR PRESENTING AND MANAGING STORAGE SHARES - Method and system for presenting storage shares in a virtual environment having a plurality of virtual machines are provided. A hierarchical data structure is maintained by a storage provider interfacing with a storage system that manages storage space for the storage shares. The data structure stores information for a storage pool based on the storage space and information for a storage volume sub-unit that is based on the storage pool. The storage provider assigns a storage share to a management console either based on the storage pool or the storage volume sub-unit. The management console then presents the storage share to a virtual machine from among the plurality of virtual machines. | 01-29-2015 |
20150032955 | STORAGE CONTROL APPARATUS AND STORAGE CONTROL METHOD - A storage control apparatus including a storage unit and a processor. The processor is configured to set an issuable number with respect to a logical volume on basis of a configuration of storage devices constituting the logical volume and performance of the storage devices. The issuable number is a number of requests issuable to the logical volume during a unit time period. The processor is configured to receive a request requesting access to the logical volume. The processor is configured to accumulate the received request in the storage unit. The processor is configured to issue requests accumulated in the storage unit to the logical volume while limiting a number of issued requests during the unit time period to a range of the issuable number. | 01-29-2015 |
20150032956 | Method and Apparatus for Enhancing Storage Reliability Using Double Link Redundancy Protection - A storage device for improving data integrity using a double link RAID scheme is disclosed. The storage device, in one aspect, includes multiple storage blocks, a group of next pointers, and a group of previous pointers. The storage blocks are organized in a sequential order wherein each block is situated between a previous block and a next block. The storage block is a non-volatile memory capable of storing information persistently. Each of the next pointers is assigned to one block to point to the next block. Each of the previous pointers is assigned to one block to indicate the previous block. In one embodiment, a faulty block can be identified in response to a set of next pointers and previous pointers. | 01-29-2015 |
20150032957 | WRITING ADJACENT TRACKS TO A STRIDE, BASED ON A COMPARISON OF A DESTAGING OF TRACKS TO A DEFRAGMENTATION OF THE STRIDE - Compressed data is maintained in a plurality of strides of a redundant array of independent disks, wherein a stride is configurable to store a plurality of tracks. A request is received to write one or more tracks. The one or more tracks are written to a selected stride of the plurality of strides, based on comparing the number of operations required to destage selected tracks from the selected stride to the number of operations required to defragment the compressed data in the selected stride. | 01-29-2015 |
20150032958 | SCHEDULING OF RECONSTRUCTIVE I/O READ OPERATIONS IN A STORAGE ENVIRONMENT - A system and method for effectively scheduling read and write operations among a plurality of solid-state storage devices. A computer system comprises client computers and data storage arrays coupled to one another via a network. A data storage array utilizes solid-state drives and Flash memory cells for data storage. A storage controller within a data storage array comprises an I/O scheduler. The storage controller is configured to receive a read request targeted to the data storage medium, and identify at least a first storage device of the plurality of storage devices which contains data targeted by the read request. In response to either detecting or predicting the first storage device will exhibit variable performance, the controller is configured to generate a reconstruct read request configured to obtain the data from one or more devices of the plurality of storage devices other than the first storage device. | 01-29-2015 |
20150039825 | Federated Tiering Management - Apparatus and methods are described for dynamically moving data between tiers of mass storage devices responsive to at least some of the mass storage devices providing information identifying which data are candidates to be moved between the tiers. | 02-05-2015 |
20150039826 | SUB-LUN AUTO-TIERING - Embodiments of the invention include systems and methods for auto-tiering multiple file systems across a common resource pool. Storage resources are allocated as a sub-LUN auto-tiering (SLAT) sub-pool. The sub-pool is managed as a single virtual address space (VAS) with a virtual block address (VBA) for each logical block address of each data block in the sub-pool, and a portion of those VBAs can be allocated to each of a number of file systems. Mappings are maintained between each logical block address in which file system data is physically stored and a VBA in the file system's portion of the virtual address space. As data moves (e.g., is added, auto-tiered, etc.), the mappings can be updated. In this way, multiple SLAT file systems can exploit the full resources of the common SLAT sub-pool and maximize the resource options available to auto-tiering functions. | 02-05-2015 |
20150039827 | DISTRIBUTED STORAGE NETWORK WITH REPLICATION CONTROL AND METHODS FOR USE THEREWITH - A method includes encoding input data into a plurality of slices. The plurality of slices are sent to a first plurality of distributed storage and task execution units for storage, the first plurality of distributed storage and task execution units being located at a corresponding first plurality of sites. Write slice data is received from the first plurality of distributed storage and task execution units. The method determines when replication is to be applied to the plurality of slices. When replication is to be applied to the plurality of slices, a second plurality of distributed storage and task execution units are selected, a plurality of replicated slices corresponding to the plurality of slices are generated, and the plurality of replicated slices are sent to the second plurality of distributed storage and task execution units. | 02-05-2015 |
20150039828 | TIME-BASED STORAGE WITHIN A DISPERSED STORAGE NETWORK - A method begins by a dispersed storage (DS) processing obtaining estimated future availability information for storage units and organizing a plurality of sets of encoded data slices into a plurality of group-sets of encoded data slices. For each of the plurality of group-sets of encoded data slices, the method continues with the DS processing module estimating an approximate storage completion time to produce a plurality of approximate storage completion times. The method continues with the DS processing module establishing a time-availability pattern for writing the plurality of group-sets of encoded data slices to the storage units based on the estimated future availability information and the plurality of approximate storage completion times. The method continues with the DS processing module sending the plurality of group-sets of encoded data slices to at least some of the storage units for storage therein in accordance with the time-availability pattern. | 02-05-2015 |
20150039829 | METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR IMPLEMENTING EXCHANGE MANAGEMENT FOR VIRTUALIZATION OF STORAGE WITHIN A STORAGE AREA NETWORK - Methods and apparatus for managing exchanges in a network device of a storage area network are disclosed. In a first “host-side” exchange initiated by an initiator and between the initiator and the network device, one or more frames are received from an initiator and/or sent to the initiator. At least one of the frames pertains to access of a virtual storage location of a virtual storage unit representing one or more physical storage locations on one or more physical storage units of the storage area network. One or more “disk-side” exchanges between the network device and one or more targets (i.e., physical storage units) are initiated in response to the first exchange. In the disk-side exchanges, one or more frames are sent from the network device to one of the targets and/or received from the target. Exchange information for the host-side exchange and the associated disk-side exchanges are updated throughout the exchanges. | 02-05-2015 |
20150039830 | VIRTUAL APPLIANCE DEPLOYMENT - A method, article of manufacture, and apparatus for efficiently processing information. In some embodiments, this includes determining a physical appliance to virtualize, creating a virtual appliance based on the physical appliance, and storing the virtual appliance in a storage array. In some embodiments, creating the virtual appliance includes creating the virtual appliance from a template | 02-05-2015 |
20150046646 | Virtual Network Disk Architectures and Related Systems - In accordance with one embodiment a disk drive device comprising: a disk drive; at least one Ethernet port; at least one powerful low power processor capable of running storage protocols; and one or more Ethernet circuits, wherein one or more of the Ethernet ports provide a power transmission medium which powers the disk drive. | 02-12-2015 |
20150046647 | APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR MANAGING DATA STORAGE - Provided are an apparatus and method for managing data storage. A first log structured array stores data in a storage device. A second log structured array in the storage device stores metadata for the data in the first log structured array, wherein the second log structured array storing the metadata for the first log structured data storage system is nested within the first log structured array, and wherein the first and second log structured arrays comprise separate instances of log structured arrays. Address space is allocated in the second log structured array for metadata when the allocation of address space is required for metadata for data stored in the first log structured array. | 02-12-2015 |
20150052299 | APPARATUSES AND METHODS FOR PROVIDING DATA TO A CONFIGURABLE STORAGE AREA - Apparatuses and methods for providing data to a configurable storage area are disclosed herein. An example apparatus may include an extended address register including a plurality of configuration bits indicative of an offset and a size, an array having a storage area, a size and offset of the storage area based, at least in part, on the plurality of configuration bits, and a buffer configured to store data, the data including data intended to be stored in the storage area. A memory control unit may be coupled to the buffer and configured to cause the buffer to store the data intended to be stored in the storage area in the storage area of the array responsive, at least in part, to a flush command. | 02-19-2015 |
20150052300 | DATA STORAGE MANAGEMENT - A method of managing a plurality of storage devices. The method comprises at a first device connected to the plurality of storage devices via a switch, receiving an indication of a plurality of logical disks, each logical disk being provided by a respective one of the plurality of storage devices. Each logical disk comprises a plurality of logical blocks. Data representing a virtual disk is generated, the virtual disk comprising a plurality of virtual blocks, each virtual block being provided by a logical block. Access is provided to the virtual disk to a second device different to the first device. A first virtual block is selected, the first virtual block being provided by a first logical block, and a re-mapping operation is performed after which the first virtual block is provided by a second logical block different to the first logical block. | 02-19-2015 |
20150052301 | MIRRORING MULTIPLE WRITEABLE STORAGE ARRAYS - Systems, methods, and computer program products for mirroring dual writeable storage arrays are provided. Various embodiments provide configurations including two or more mirrored storage arrays that are each capable of being written to by different hosts. When commands to write data to corresponding mirrored data blocks within the respective storage arrays are received from different hosts at substantially the same time, write priority for writing data to the mirrored data blocks is given to one of the storage arrays based on a predetermined criterion or multiple predetermined criteria. | 02-19-2015 |
20150058554 | Systems, Methods, and Computer Program Products Implementing Hybrid File Structures for Data Storage - Systems, methods, and computer program products implementing hybrid file structures for data storage are provided. One embodiment of a method performed in a computer-based storage system includes writing a file as data blocks in an array of storage devices. The method includes associating the data blocks with metadata related to at least one location in the array of storage devices for later access to the data blocks. The file is represented as a hierarchical data structure having a plurality of nodes. A first portion of nodes has a first span type, and a second portion of nodes has a second span type. The data structure includes a buftree. The first span type includes a fixed-span type. The second span type includes a variable-span type. | 02-26-2015 |
20150058555 | Virtual Disk Blueprints for a Virtualized Storage Area Network - Techniques are described for storing a virtual disk in an object store comprising a plurality of physical storage devices housed in a plurality of host computers. A profile is received for creation of the virtual disk wherein the profile specifies storage properties desired for an intended use of the virtual disk. A virtual disk blueprint is generated based on the profile such that that the virtual disk blueprint describes a storage organization for the virtual disk that addresses redundancy or performance requirements corresponding to the profile. A set of the physical storage devices that can store components of the virtual disk in a manner that satisfies the storage organization is then determined. | 02-26-2015 |
20150058556 | LOG DATA STORE THAT STORES DATA ACROSS A PLURALITY OF STORAGE DEVICES USING NON-DISJOINT LAYERS - Storing data records within a log data store is provided. The log data store that stores data records within a plurality of successive non-disjoint layers inserted across a plurality of different types of data storage devices associated with a data processing system is generated. A first non-disjoint layer of the plurality of successive non-disjoint layers is inserted within a main memory device. A set of intermediate non-disjoint layers of the plurality of successive non-disjoint layers is inserted within a set of storage-class memory devices. A last non-disjoint layer of the plurality of successive non-disjoint layers is inserted within a hard disk drive. A size of each successive non-disjoint layer in the plurality of successive non-disjoint layers is increased exponentially. The data records are organized into the plurality of successive non-disjoint layers of the log data store inserted across the plurality of different types of data storage devices. | 02-26-2015 |
20150058557 | Performance Improvements in Input / Output Operations Between a Host System and an Adapter-Coupled Cache - A modified or host driver operable on a host computer communicates with a host interface of a PCIe adapter. A controller memory space is managed by the kernel space of the host operating system. The modified driver entirely avoids the overhead associated with making a copy from the application or user space to a separate kernel space managed by the operating system in the host computer. The modified driver uses a base address register to identify the location of the cache storage in the controller memory space. The size of the cache store is communicated to the modified driver upon a power on initialization of the PCIe adapter and the host computer. A memory map managed by the modified driver identifies cache storage locations as an offset from the base address register. | 02-26-2015 |
20150058558 | MULTI-PATH MANAGEMENT - The invention discloses a multi-path management method and system for managing paths over which an IO is routed from a host to multiple logical volumes (LUNs) of a storage system, wherein the multiple LUNs of the storage system are mapped to the host, and the method comprises: grouping LUNs with the same paths between the host and the storage system into a group of LUNs; and using one path selection thread for all of LUNs in the group of LUNs to manage the same paths. The method and system lower the amount of work for path management and the amount of required resources. | 02-26-2015 |
20150058559 | NETWORK STORAGE SYSTEMS HAVING CLUSTERED RAIDS FOR IMPROVED REDUNDANCY AND LOAD BALANCING - A clustered network-based storage system includes a host server, multiple high availability system controller pairs, and multiple storage devices across multiple arrays. Two independent storage array subsystems each include a quorum drive copy and are each controlled by a HA pair, with remote volume mirroring links coupling the separate HA pairs. The host server includes a virtualization agent that identifies and prioritizes communication paths, and also determines capacity across all system nodes. A system storage management agent determines an overall storage profile across the system. The virtualization agent, storage management agent, quorum drive copies and remote volume mirroring link all operate to provide increased redundancy, load sharing, or both between the separate first and second arrays of storage devices. | 02-26-2015 |
20150058560 | WRITING ADJACENT TRACKS TO A STRIDE, BASED ON A COMPARISON OF A DESTAGING OF TRACKS TO A DEFRAGMENTATION OF THE STRIDE - Compressed data is maintained in a plurality of strides of a redundant array of independent disks, wherein a stride is configurable to store a plurality of tracks. A request is received to write one or more tracks. The one or more tracks are written to a selected stride of the plurality of strides, based on comparing the number of operations required to destage selected tracks from the selected stride to the number of operations required to defragment the compressed data in the selected stride. | 02-26-2015 |
20150058561 | INCREASED DESTAGING EFFICIENCY FOR SMOOTHING OF DESTAGE TASKS BASED ON SPEED OF DISK DRIVES - For increased destaging efficiency by smoothing destaging tasks to reduce long input/output (I/O) read operations in a computing environment, the ramp up of the destaging tasks is adjusted based on speed of disk drives when smoothing the destaging of storage tracks between a desired number of destaging tasks and a current number of destaging tasks by calculating destaging tasks according to one of a standard time interval and a variable recomputed destaging task interval. | 02-26-2015 |
20150058562 | SYSTEM SOFTWARE INTERFACES FOR SPACE-OPTIMIZED BLOCK DEVICES - Interfaces to storage devices that employ storage space optimization technologies, such as thin provisioning, are configured to enable the benefits gained from such technologies to be sustained. Such an interface may be provided in a hypervisor of a virtualized computer system to enable the hypervisor to discover features of a logical unit number (LUN), such as whether or not the LUN is thinly provisioned, and also in a virtual machine (VM) of the virtualized computer system to enable the VM to discover features of a virtual disk, such as whether or not the virtual disk is thinly provisioned. The discovery of these features enables the hypervisor or the VM to instruct the underlying storage device to carry out certain operations such as an operation to deallocate blocks previously allocated to a logical block device, so that the storage device can continue to benefit from storage space optimization technologies implemented therein. | 02-26-2015 |
20150067251 | Consolidated Parity Generation for Duplicate Files on a File Based RAID File System - Consolidated parity generation may be provided. First, content from a linear feed may be received. The content may comprise content data. Next, parity data corresponding to the content data may be calculated. A plurality of content copies may then be saved. Each of the plurality of content copies may comprise a copy of the content data and a copy of the calculated parity data. | 03-05-2015 |
20150067252 | COMMUNICATING OUTSTANDING MAINTENANCE TASKS TO IMPROVE DISK DATA INTEGRITY - A computer receives data from a storage device. The computer identifies a state value of the storage device and at least one maintenance task included in the received data. The computer generates a set of instructions for limiting the workload of a storage device executing maintenance tasks. According to the generated instructions, the computer limits the workload placed on the storage device. | 03-05-2015 |
20150067253 | INPUT/OUTPUT REQUEST SHIPPING IN A STORAGE SYSTEM WITH MULTIPLE STORAGE CONTROLLERS - Systems and methods presented herein provide for input/output shipping between storage controllers in a storage system. One storage system comprises a plurality of logical volumes, a host driver operable to process input/output requests to the logical volumes, and a plurality of storage controllers coupled between the server and the logical volumes. A first of storage controllers is operable to receive an input/output request from the host driver for one of the logical volumes, and transfer a command to a second of the storage controllers to retrieve the data of the input/output request. The second storage controller processes the command from the first storage controller, and retrieves the data associated with the input/output request. | 03-05-2015 |
20150067254 | Multi-Interface Memory With Access Control - Subject matter disclosed herein relates to a memory device, and more particularly to a multi-channel memory device and methods of selecting one or more channels of same. | 03-05-2015 |
20150067255 | APPARATUS, SYSTEM, AND METHOD FOR MAINTAINING A CONTEXT STACK - An apparatus, system, and method are disclosed for maintaining a context stack. A monitor module monitors a stack size after each monitor interval for a stack of a plurality of contexts. Each context defines communications between a process and a data set and comprises a pathway for communicating with the data set and a process identifier. A stack module deallocates a context that satisfies a stack policy from the stack if the stack size is within a buffer threshold of a maximum threshold. | 03-05-2015 |
20150067256 | STORAGE SYSTEM - A computer system is provided which includes a host computer having a volume, a storage apparatus including a storage media, the storage apparatus providing a RAID group configured by the storage media, a logical volume configured by the RAID group, a pool configured by the logical volume, and a virtual volume allocated from the pool and corresponding to the volume of the host computer. The computer system also includes a management server to store performance information regarding the logical volume and/or RAID group and mapping information regarding a relationship among components of the computer system in view of logical and physical connections. The management server determines whether a correspondence relationship exists among the components by referring to the performance information, and outputs a relationship among the components based on the determination of the correspondence relationship and the mapping information. | 03-05-2015 |
20150067257 | FAST ACCESSIBLE COMPRESSED THIN PROVISIONING VOLUME - A computerized data storage system includes at least one storage device including a nonvolatile writable medium; a cache memory and a data management controller and a storage port. The storage port is operable to receive a request to read data, and, in response to the request to read data, to send the data stored in the data storing area of the cache memory. The storage port is further operable to receive a request to write data, and, in response to the request to write data, to send the write data to the data storing area of the cache memory. The storage system further includes a thin provisioning controller operable to provide a virtual volume, and a capacity pool. The storage system further includes a data compression controller and a data decompression controller. | 03-05-2015 |
20150074348 | STORAGE CONTROL APPARATUS, CONTROL METHOD, AND COMPUTER PRODUCT - A storage control apparatus includes a memory unit configured to store assignment information that includes assignment states of memory areas of storage units in a system in which switches that connect the storage units with storage control apparatuses that control the storage units are cascade-connected to each other; and a control unit configured to group the storage control apparatuses and the storage units directly connected to the switches, and to provide based on the assignment information, rearrangement control of memory areas assigned in the storage units belonging to each group. | 03-12-2015 |
20150074349 | MANAGEMENT SYSTEM CALCULATING STORAGE CAPACITY TO BE INSTALLED/REMOVED - A storage apparatus coupled to a host device comprises a virtual volume which is a virtual logical volume configured of multiple virtual areas and a pool configured of multiple actual area groups of different performances. A controller manages pool status information which is the information showing which actual area is allocated to which virtual area and access load related to the virtual areas. A management system of the storage apparatus, with reference to the pool status information at multiple points of time from past to present and an access load threshold which is equal to or larger than 1, estimates the used capacity of each actual area group at points of time in the future, calculates the installed/removed amount of each actual area group which is the difference between the estimated used capacity and the current storage capacity, and performs the processing based on the calculated result. | 03-12-2015 |
20150081964 | MANAGEMENT APPARATUS AND MANAGEMENT METHOD OF COMPUTING SYSTEM - Tier management is performed immediately in response to the priority level of an object. A priority level is determined for each of two or more objects included in a specific computer program. A physical memory area is extracted that is a relocation target for each of the two or more objects. Using a management apparatus, a specific physical memory area is selected from the physical memory areas that are relocation targets based on the priority level for each of the objects. The management apparatus instructs a storage apparatus to allocate data stored in the selected specific physical memory area to the physical memory area in a specific storage tier. | 03-19-2015 |
20150081965 | DATA MANAGEMENT SYSTEM AND DATA MANAGEMENT METHOD - A storage system assigns a real area from a pool to a virtual area in a virtual volume, and stores data into the real area. The pool comprises a plurality of real areas based on a plurality of types of storage devices with different characteristics, and the plurality of real areas are managed as a plurality of tiers depending on the characteristics of the storage devices. Moreover, the storage system moves the data from one tier to another tier in the pool, for each real area. | 03-19-2015 |
20150081966 | DENSE TREE VOLUME METADATA ORGANIZATION - In one embodiment, a node coupled to one or more storage devices executes a storage input/output (I/O) stack having a volume layer. The volume layer manages volume metadata embodied as mappings from offsets of a logical unit (LUN) to extent keys associated with storage locations for extents on the one or more storage devices. Volume metadata is maintained as a dense tree metadata structure representing successive points in time. The dense tree metadata structure has multiple levels, wherein a top level of the dense tree metadata structure represents newer volume metadata changes and descending levels of the dense tree metadata structure represent older volume metadata changes. The node accesses a latest version of changes to the volume metadata by searching from the top level to the descending levels in the dense tree metadata structure. | 03-19-2015 |
20150081967 | MANAGEMENT OF STORAGE READ REQUESTS - A storage controller to receive from a host multiple read requests to read sets of data blocks from a data storage device. The storage controller to determine whether the read requests include non-continuous addresses associated with a set of non-requested data blocks between sets of requested data blocks and a gap of a number of non-requested data blocks is less than a pre-defined threshold. If the read requests have non-continuous addresses and a gap of a number of non-requested data blocks is less than the pre-defined threshold, then generate a single read request to retrieve from a storage device the non-requested and requested data blocks, and directly write the retrieved requested data blocks to a host buffer, and write the retrieved non-requested data blocks to a cache memory on a storage controller. | 03-19-2015 |
20150081968 | DECOMMISSIONING VIRTUAL APPLIANCES - A method, article of manufacture, and apparatus for efficiently processing information. In some embodiments, this includes selecting a service to terminate, determining a virtual appliance associated with the service, and decommissioning the virtual appliance. In some embodiments, the virtual appliance may be deleted from the storage array. | 03-19-2015 |
20150081969 | STORAGE APPARATUS AND CONTROL METHOD THEREOF, AND RECORDING MEDIUM - To distribute a load on storage devices by distributing accesses to the storage devices in a storage apparatus. The storage apparatus includes one or more storage groups that are configured with one or more storage devices and provide specific storage spaces included in the one or more storage devices as first physical storage spaces by associating the specific storage spaces, and a storage controller that configures a second storage space by associating a plurality of first logical storage spaces associated with the first physical storage spaces and provides an external apparatus with a logical disk, to which the configured second logical storage space is allocated, as a storage space. | 03-19-2015 |
20150081970 | Storage System Control Using a Multi-Path Expander - Apparatus and method for controlling the storage of data in a multi-device storage system. In some embodiments, a storage system includes an expander coupled to a controller via multiple parallel data channel pathways, and a plurality of data storage devices coupled to the expander. The expander includes a control circuit adapted to selectively disable at least one but less than all of the multiple parallel data channel pathways. | 03-19-2015 |
20150081971 | STORAGE SYSTEM AND STORAGE CONTROL METHOD - A storage system is provided with a memory region, a cache memory region, and a processor. The memory region stores the time relation information that indicates a time relationship of a data element that has been stored into the cache memory region and that is to be written to the logical region and a snapshot acquisition point of time to the primary volume. The processor judges whether or not the data element that has been stored into the cache memory region is a snapshot configuration element based on the time relation information for the data element that is to be written to a logical region of a write destination that conforms to the write request that specifies the primary volume and that has been stored into the cache memory region. In the case in which the result of the judgment is positive, the processor saves the data element to the secondary volume for holding a snapshot image in which the snapshot configuration element is a configuration element, and a data element of a write target is then stored into the cache memory region. | 03-19-2015 |
20150089130 | DYNAMICALLY ALLOCATING TEMPORARY REPLACEMENT STORAGE FOR A DRIVE IN A RAID ARRAY - One embodiment provides a system, including: one or more processors; a network interface for communication with a remote bank of available storage; a redundant array of independent disks (RAID) operatively coupled to the one or more processors; and a memory operatively coupled to the one or more processors and storing instructions executable by the one or more processors to: ascertain at least one unavailable hard disk drive (HDD) of the RAID; determine an available remote storage target; dynamically update a storage destination for data to be stored from the at least one unavailable HDD of the RAID to the available remote storage target; and send the data over the network interface to the available remote storage target. Other embodiments are described and claimed. | 03-26-2015 |
20150089131 | DATA STORAGE UNIT WITH INTERNAL STORAGE AREA NETWORK SWITCH MODULE AND REDUNDANT DATA STORAGE SYSTEM INCLUDING SUCH DATA STORAGE UNIT - The invention discloses a data storage unit and a redundant data storage system including such data storage unit. The data storage unit of the invention includes an internal storage area network (SAN) switch module, a storage server module and a storage device. The internal SAN switch module includes a first external transmission interface and a first internal transmission interface. The storage server module includes a second external transmission interface and a second internal transmission interface. The storage server module is respectively connected to the storage device and the first internal transmission interface through the second internal transmission interface. The internal SAN switch module is connected to the storage device through the first internal transmission interface. | 03-26-2015 |
20150089132 | DYNAMIC STORAGE VOLUME CONFIGURATION BASED ON INPUT/OUTPUT REQUESTS - A storage system includes a plurality hard disk drives and a plurality of solid-state drives and a storage controller operable to manage the hard disk drives and solid-state drives as a plurality of logical volumes, and categorize input/output requests to the logical volumes into types based on sizes of the input/output requests (e.g., smaller and larger). The storage controller is also operable to reconfigure the logical volumes from the hard disk drives and the solid-state drives based on the types of the input/output requests to the logical volumes. A first of the reconfigured logical volumes occupies a first portion of at least one of the solid-state drives and a first portion of at least one of the hard disk drives. The storage controller is further operable to direct the first type of the input/output requests to the first portion of the solid-state drive occupied by the first reconfigured logical volume. | 03-26-2015 |
20150089133 | DATA STORAGE SYSTEM AND CONTROL METHOD THEREOF - The present disclosure discloses a data storage system and a control method thereof. The data storage system includes a plurality of data storage devices, a temporary memory device and an expander. The control method includes: detecting, by the expander, if a flag is in a first status after the expander is restarted; sending, by the expander, a first command to all the data storage devices if the first status is detected. The first status indicates that all the data storage devices are ready for linking and operation. | 03-26-2015 |
20150089134 | CORE IN-MEMORY SPACE AND OBJECT MANAGEMENT ARCHITECTURE IN A TRADITIONAL RDBMS SUPPORTING DW AND OLTP APPLICATIONS - Techniques are provided for managing in-memory space and objects. In one embodiment, a set of in-memory objects are maintained within an area in volatile memory that is accessible to a database server. An in-memory object in this context includes a set of one or more in-memory segments where each respective in-memory segment includes a set of in-memory extents and each respective in-memory extent is a contiguous chunk of memory from the area in volatile memory that is accessible to the database server. The area in volatile memory is managed as a set of stripes, where each stripe is a contiguous chunk of in-memory extents. Stripe control blocks are used to locate free in-memory extents for allocation and registration with an in-memory segment. | 03-26-2015 |
20150089135 | INFORMATION PROCESSING SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR CONTROLLING DATA ACCESS TO STORAGE DEVICES - An information processing system includes a plurality of storage devices and an information processing device. Each of the plurality of storage devices is configured to store therein both of block data and meta data. The information processing device includes a first processor. The first processor is configured to write first meta data to a first storage device from among the plurality of storage devices. The first processor is configured to write first block data corresponding to the first meta data to a second storage device from among the plurality of storage devices. The second storage device is different from the first storage device. | 03-26-2015 |
20150089136 | INTERFACE FOR MANAGEMENT OF DATA MOVEMENT IN A THIN PROVISIONED STORAGE SYSTEM - A computational device receives a request to copy a source logical block of a thin provisioned source logical unit to a target logical block of a thin provisioned target logical unit, wherein in thin provisioned logical units physical storage space is allocated in response to a write operation being performed but not during creation of the thin provisioned logical units. The computational device generates metadata that stores a correspondence between the source logical block and the target logical block, while avoiding allocating any physical storage space for the target logical block in the thin provisioned target logical unit. | 03-26-2015 |
20150095568 | STORAGE SYSTEM AND STORAGE DEVICE CONFIGURATION REPORTING - A storage environment includes a storage system and a reporting device. The storage system may operate in a first configuration utilizing only internal storage and may operate in a second configuration utilizing only external storage. The reporting device determines the operating configuration of the storage system and generates a report comprising at least one field identifying the storage system and at least one field identifying the operating configuration of the storage system. The storage system may also include a managed disk group that may operate in a first configuration comprising only internal storage and may operate in a second configuration comprising only external storage. The reporting device may determine the operating configuration of the managed disk group and generates a report including at least one field identifying the managed disk group and at least one field identifying the operating configuration of the managed disk group. | 04-02-2015 |
20150095569 | CONTINUOUS RECORDING MULTICHANNEL DISK-BASED DATA LOGGING - Continuous recording multichannel disk-based data logging apparatus. The apparatus includes a plurality of disk drives and an interface including a plurality of parallel inputs. The interface is responsive to data at the inputs to write the data on an active plurality of the disk drives, at least one disk drive being idle. The interface is responsive to a user request for data on one of the active disk drives to substitute an idle disk drive into the active plurality in place of that one, to read the requested data, and to cause that one to become idle. | 04-02-2015 |
20150095570 | DATA MIRRORING CONTROL APPARATUS AND METHOD - A data mirroring control apparatus includes a command distributing unit configured to transmit a first write command to a plurality of mirroring storage devices, the first write command including an instruction for data requested by a host to be written; and a memory lock setting unit configured to set a memory lock on the data requested by the host to be written among data stored in a host memory and configured to release the memory lock on the data after the data with the memory lock is written to the plurality of mirroring storage devices. | 04-02-2015 |
20150095571 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR PERFORMING STORAGE OPERATIONS IN A COMPUTER NETWORK - Methods and systems are described for performing storage operations on electronic data in a network. In response to the initiation of a storage operation and according to a first set of selection logic, a media management component is selected to manage the storage operation. In response to the initiation of a storage operation and according to a second set of selection logic, a network storage device to associate with the storage operation. The selected media management component and the selected network storage device perform the storage operation on the electronic data. | 04-02-2015 |
20150095572 | STORAGE CONTROL APPARATUS AND STORAGE CONTROL METHOD - An operation controller stops the operation of two or more storage devices among a plurality of storage devices constituting one or more logical storage areas. When writing of data to a stopped storage device among the storage devices constituting each logical storage area is requested, an access controller performs control to maintain data redundancy in each logical storage area by working storage devices among the storage devices constituting each logical storage area and by a spare storage device that is different from the storage devices constituting each logical storage area, by writing the data in the spare storage device instead of the storage device to which the writing is requested. | 04-02-2015 |
20150095573 | FILE PROCESSING METHOD AND STORAGE DEVICE - A file processing method and a storage device are disclosed. In the method, a storage device receives T files that are to be stored in the RAID, and determines a sequence number of a check block in a stripe of the RAID. The storage device repeatedly obtains a data block of the K | 04-02-2015 |
20150100725 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR IMPROVED COMMUNICATION IN A STORAGE NETWORK - A system and method of improved communication in a storage network includes a storage node. The storage node includes a control unit and a plurality of local ports coupled to the control unit and configured to couple the storage node to a storage network. The control unit is configured to discover port addresses of other storage nodes in the storage network, select a first port pair including a first source port selected from the local ports and a first destination port selected from remote ports associated with the port addresses of a first one of the other storage nodes, open a first connection between the first source port and the first destination port, determine whether a less desirable notice associated with the first port pair is received, and when the less desirable notice is received, record the first port pair as being less desirable. | 04-09-2015 |
20150100726 | DISPERSED STORAGE SYSTEM WITH WIDTH DISPERSAL CONTROL AND METHODS FOR USE THEREWITH - A method for execution by one or more processing modules of a dispersed storage network (DSN) includes storing a set of encoded data slices in an original plurality of storage units of the DSN associated as a current generation of a storage vault. The method determines whether to increase a width dispersal parameter of the storage vault. When the width dispersal parameter of the storage vault is to be increased, the original plurality of storage units are updated to include at least one additional storage unit to generate an updated plurality of storage units associated as a next generation of the storage vault. The set of encoded data slices are stored in the updated plurality of storage units of the DSN associated as the next generation of the storage vault. | 04-09-2015 |
20150100727 | MIGRATION OF ENCODED DATA SLICES IN A DISPERSED STORAGE NETWORK - A method includes a processing module of a storage unit of a dispersed storage network (DSN) monitoring input/output (IO) rates of a plurality of disk drives, where access requests for encoded data slices occur at varying rates. The method continues with the processing module determining that the IO rate of a disk drive is exceeding a desired maximum IO rate and identifying a pending access request for an encoded data slice stored in the disk drive. The method continues with the processing module evaluating disk drive processing rates of other storage units that are storing other encoded data slices of a set of encoded data slices that includes the encoded data slice to determine whether the encoded data slice is needed to satisfy the pending access request. When the encoded data slice is needed, the method continues with the processing module migrating the encoded data slice to another disk drive. | 04-09-2015 |
20150100728 | STORAGE SYSTEM HAVING A PLURALITY OF FLASH PACKAGES - A storage system | 04-09-2015 |
20150100729 | FILE PROCESSING METHOD AND APPARATUS, AND STORAGE DEVICE - A file processing method and a storage device for storing a file in a redundant array of independent disks (RAID) are disclosed. In this method, the storage device divides received F files into multiple data blocks, and obtains a first matrix with T rows according to the multiple data blocks. Data blocks belonging to one file are located in one row of the first matrix. The storage device then writes a stripe, which consists of data blocks in each column in the first matrix and a check block that is obtained by computing according to the data blocks in the column, into the RAID. By using the file processing method, the storage device can write one file into one disk of the RAID while ensuring security of file storage, thereby achieving a better energy saving effect when the file is read. | 04-09-2015 |
20150106562 | SECURE DATA ERASURE SYSTEM - An erasure system and method for sorting, tracking, and erasing a plurality of data storage devices using enterprise hardware and software designed for data storage. The erasure system may include a server, drive arrays having receptacles for communicably coupling with the data storage devices, and a drive array controller configured for communicably coupling the server with the drive arrays. The server may receive specification information regarding each of the drive arrays and each of the data storage devices in the receptacles of the drive arrays for erasure and logging purposes. Then the server may overwrite each of the data storage devices according to the DoD 5220.22-M standard, thereby erasing the data storage devices. The server may also create log files corresponding to each of the data storage devices, including information like time, date, and if the erasure of the data storage device is complete or has failed. | 04-16-2015 |
20150106563 | EFFICIENT SUPPORT FOR DRIVES WITH DIFFERENT SECTOR ALIGNMENTS IN A RAID LAYOUT - In one embodiment, a method includes receiving an input/output (I/O) request for data that starts or ends at a location other than a physical sector boundary of the device. The method further includes reading, starting at a first physical sector boundary before a beginning location specified in the I/O request and ending at a second physical sector boundary after an ending location specified in the request. | 04-16-2015 |
20150106564 | STORAGE SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR REDUCING ENERGY CONSUMPTION - A system and method that include configuring local disk drives of a local storage system so that at any given point of time, a first part of the local disk drives operate in a low power state and a second part of the local disk drives operate in an active state; and in response to a read request of a data portion on a local disk drive of the local disk drives: determining whether the local disk drive currently operates in the low power state; reading the data portion from the local disk drive, if the local disk drive does not currently operate in the low power state; if the local disk drive currently operates in the low power state, enquiring if a remote mirror disk drive that stores a copy of the data portion currently operates in the low power state; wherein the remote mirror disk drive is comprised in a remote storage system that is coupled to the local storage system; and if the remote mirror disk drive does not currently operate in the low power state, requesting from the remote storage system to read the copy of the data portion from the remote minor disk drive. | 04-16-2015 |
20150106565 | STORAGE CONTROLLING APPARATUS, INFORMATION PROCESSING APPARATUS, AND COMPUTER-READABLE RECORDING MEDIUM HAVING STORED THEREIN STORAGE CONTROLLING PROGRAM - A storage controlling apparatus includes a processor. The processor estimates, when a new virtual machine is to be produced, an access frequency to a new virtual disk to be allocated to the new virtual machine based on an access frequency to an existing virtual disk allocated to an existing virtual machine produced from master information on which the new virtual machine is based, and temporarily reserves, when the estimated access frequency exceeds a first threshold value, a plurality of successive allocation unit regions in a physical disk for the new virtual disk. | 04-16-2015 |
20150113217 | STORAGE APPARATUS AND COMMAND CONTROL METHOD - A storage apparatus which contains a plurality of microprocessors includes a virtual queue which stores a virtual command which is used in the storage apparatus; a real queue which stores a real command based on an actual communication protocol; a first pointer which is updated when the virtual command is stored in the virtual queue; a second pointer which is updated when the first pointer is updated; a checking unit which detects an update to the first pointer and updates the second pointer; and a controller. Upon detecting that the second pointer has been updated by the checking unit, the controller references the second pointer and the first pointer, and, after reading the virtual command stored in the virtual queue and converting the virtual command to the real command, stores the real command in the real queue. | 04-23-2015 |
20150113218 | Distributed Data Processing Method and Apparatus - The distributed data processing method includes receiving storage information of a logical volume; receiving a data reading or writing command sent by the user, and determining a first storage information according to the data reading or writing command and the storage information of the logical volume; determining a data processing node corresponding to each group of four-tuple storage information according to the tree identifier and the data block identifier in each group of four-tuple information; and sending, by the cluster client processing apparatus, a data processing command to the data processing node corresponding to each group of four-tuple information. The distributed data processing method and apparatus avoid a resource consumption problem brought by a need for global setting or Bitmap reading/writing in a distributed storage system, and improve data processing efficiency. | 04-23-2015 |
20150121000 | INDEPENDENTLY SELECTIVE TILE GROUP ACCESS WITH DATA STRUCTURING - Embodiments of the present disclosure include data structuring techniques and configurations for memory access. In one embodiment, an apparatus includes a plurality of tiles, a plurality of blocks, wherein individual tiles of the plurality of tiles and individual blocks of the plurality of blocks each include a plurality of tile blocks having memory elements and wherein the plurality of tile blocks are accessible for read or write according to a tile address to identify a tile of the plurality of tiles and a block address to identify a block of the plurality of blocks and a data restructuring module configured to modify, based on the tile address, an order of data to be read from or written to the tile blocks. Other embodiments may be described and/or claimed. | 04-30-2015 |
20150121001 | STORAGE CONTROL DEVICE AND STORAGE CONTROL METHOD - A storage control device that is any of a plurality of storage control devices configured to control access to a plurality of storages included in a storage system, includes: a processor; and a memory which stores a plurality of instructions, which when executed by the processor, cause the processor to execute: executing, depending on a first bias for accessing a plurality of storage regions included in the plurality of storages, a first configuration change which corrects the first bias based on configuration information identifying a configuration of the storage system; and executing, depending on a second bias for accessing the plurality of storages, a second configuration change which corrects the second bias based on the configuration information after changing the first configuration, or executing, depending on a third bias for loading the plurality of storage control devices, a third configuration change which corrects the third bias. | 04-30-2015 |
20150121002 | RAID CONFIGURATION MANAGEMENT DEVICE AND RAID CONFIGURATION MANAGEMENT METHOD | 04-30-2015 |
20150121003 | Storage controllers - A storage array controller provides a method and system for autonomously issuing trim commands to one or more solid-state storage devices in a storage array. The storage array controller is separate from any operating system running on a host system and separate from any controller in the solid-state storage device(s). The trim commands allow the solid-state storage device to operate more efficiently. | 04-30-2015 |
20150121004 | COMPUTER REALIZING HIGH-SPEED ACCESS AND DATA PROTECTION OF STORAGE DEVICE, COMPUTER SYSTEM, AND I/O REQUEST PROCESSING METHOD - In a computer, a logical partition for calculation in which an OS and an application operate and a logical partition for storage for providing a storage function are constructed. In the logical partition for calculation, a device corresponding to a storage device is provided, while the logical partition for storage provides a volume. A memory space that can be shared by the both logical partitions is prepared, and management information describing a sorting destination or a sorting method of an I/O request issued by an application is provided in the memory. If the logical partition for calculation receives an I/O request from the application, the partition refers to the management information and sorts the I/O request to the storage device or the logical partition for storage. The logical partition for storage processes the received I/O request by the storage function and transmits the result to the storage device. | 04-30-2015 |
20150121005 | MANAGEMENT METHOD OF VIRTUAL STORAGE SYSTEM AND REMOTE COPY SYSTEM - Exemplary embodiments provide techniques of managing storage systems including remote copy systems and improving the manageability by automating complicated operations. In one embodiment, a computer comprises a memory and a controller. The controller is operable to: manage a virtual volume to be provided for a server; manage a plurality of logical volumes provided from a plurality of storage systems; manage a condition to be required of the virtual volume, the condition relating to a location in which data to be sent to the virtual volume is stored; manage location information of each of the plurality of logical volumes, the location information of a logical volume being defined based on a location of the logical volume; and control to map the virtual volume to a logical volume of the plurality of logical volumes, based on the condition of the virtual volume and the location information of the logical volumes. | 04-30-2015 |
20150127902 | Self Destroying LUN - A data handling system having a physical storage device and a storage controller responsible for provisioning, managing, and servicing logical unit numbers (LUNs) with self-destruction properties on the physical storage device is disclosed. For a given LUN, the storage controller creates a profile including self-destruction properties, such as a LUN destruction date, and associates the profile with the LUN. The profiles may be independent of file format and content of any associated data and the LUN destruction date may be a function of the last access date of the associated data. The storage controller monitors the LUN destruction date associated with each LUN and determines the last access date of any associated data. The storage controller marks a LUN having a past-due LUN destruction date, notifies a user of an approaching LUN destruction date, and destroys any past-due LUNs. | 05-07-2015 |
20150127903 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR OPTIMIZING WRITE ACCESSES IN A STORAGE ARRAY - A method may include storing data in one or more first-type stripes spanning a plurality of N storage resources and having N−1 data strips for storing the data and a parity strip for storing parity information for the data stored to the particular first-type stripe and each of the plurality of storage resources includes one of a data strip or a parity strip of the particular first-type stripe if the data to be stored exceeds a threshold size. If the data to be stored does not exceed a threshold size, the method may include storing the data in a second-type stripe and a third-type stripe each spanning N storage resources, such that each stripe comprises N−1 data strips for storing the data and a metadata strip for storing address information for the corresponding second-type strip or third-type strip. | 05-07-2015 |
20150127904 | ASSIGNING DEVICE ADAPTORS TO USE TO COPY SOURCE EXTENTS TO TARGET EXTENTS IN A COPY RELATIONSHIP - Provided are a computer program product, system, and method for assigning device adaptors to use to copy source extents in source ranks to target extents in target ranks in a copy relation. A determination is made of an order of the target ranks in the copy relation. Target ranks in the copy relation are selected according to the determined order. For each selected target rank, indication is made in a device adaptor assignment data structure of a source device adaptor and target device adaptor of the device adaptors to use to copy the source rank to the selected target rank indicated in the copy relation, wherein indication is made for the selected target ranks according to the determined order. The source ranks are copied to the selected target ranks using the source and target device adaptors indicated in the device adaptor assignment data structure. | 05-07-2015 |
20150134901 | USING DETERMINISTIC LOGICAL UNIT NUMBERS TO DYNAMICALLY MAP DATA VOLUMES - Methods, apparatus and computer program products implement embodiments of the present invention that include storing one or more data volumes to a small computer system interface storage device, and receiving a request to map a given data volume to a host computer. One or more attributes of the given data volume are identified, and using the identified one or more attributes, a unique logical unit number (LUN) for the given data volume is generated. The given data volume is mapped to the host computer via the unique LUN. In some embodiments, the generated LUN includes one of the one or more attributes. In additional embodiments, the generated LUN includes a result of a hash function using the one or more attributes. In storage virtualization environments, the data volume may include secondary logical units, and mapping the given data volume to the host may include binding the SLU to the host. | 05-14-2015 |
20150134902 | USING DETERMINISTIC LOGICAL UNIT NUMBERS TO DYNAMICALLY MAP DATA VOLUMES - Methods, apparatus and computer program products implement embodiments of the present invention that include storing one or more data volumes to a small computer system interface storage device, and receiving a request to map a given data volume to a host computer. One or more attributes of the given data volume are identified, and using the identified one or more attributes, a unique logical unit number (LUN) for the given data volume is generated. The given data volume is mapped to the host computer via the unique LUN. In some embodiments, the generated LUN includes one of the one or more attributes. In additional embodiments, the generated LUN includes a result of a hash function using the one or more attributes. In storage virtualization environments, the data volume may include secondary logical units, and mapping the given data volume to the host may include binding the SLU to the host. | 05-14-2015 |
20150134903 | THICK AND THIN DATA VOLUME MANAGEMENT - Methods, apparatus and computer program products implement embodiments of the present invention that include configuring one or more storage devices as a plurality of physical storage units, each of the physical storage units having a storage granularity, and configuring, on the one or more storage devices, a thin provisioned storage pool having a physical number of the physical storage units and a logical number of logical storage units, the physical number being less than the logical number. Upon receiving a request to create a thick data volume having a requested number of the physical storage units, an available number of the physical storage units that are available in the thin provisioned pool can be identified. Upon determining that the requested number is less than the available number, the requested number of the physical storage units can be allocated, from the thin provisioned storage pool, to the thick data volume. | 05-14-2015 |
20150134904 | THICK AND THIN DATA VOLUME MANAGEMENT - Methods, apparatus and computer program products implement embodiments of the present invention that include configuring one or more storage devices as a plurality of physical storage units, each of the physical storage units having a storage granularity, and configuring, on the one or more storage devices, a thin provisioned storage pool having a physical number of the physical storage units and a logical number of logical storage units, the physical number being less than the logical number. Upon receiving a request to create a thick data volume having a requested number of the physical storage units, an available number of the physical storage units that are available in the thin provisioned pool can be identified. Upon determining that the requested number is less than the available number, the requested number of the physical storage units can be allocated, from the thin provisioned storage pool, to the thick data volume. | 05-14-2015 |
20150134905 | STORAGE APPARATUS, METHOD OF CONTROLLING STORAGE APPARATUS, AND NON-TRANSIENT COMPUTER-READABLE STORAGE MEDIUM STORING PROGRAM FOR CONTROLLING STORAGE APPARATUS - A storage apparatus is provided, including a first storage device; a second storage device having an access speed higher than an access speed of the first storage device; a monitor that monitors a write access load for the first storage device; a comparator that compares the write access load for the first storage device monitored by the monitor, with a load threshold; and a switch that causes write access target data to be written into the first and second storage devices, when it is determined by the comparator that the write access load for the first storage device does not exceed the load threshold, while causing the write access target data to be written into the first storage device, when it is determined by the comparator that the write access load for the first storage device exceeds the load threshold. | 05-14-2015 |
20150134906 | Transmitting Data by Means of Storage Area Network - In the technical field of data storage and access, the invention relates to the technique of data transmission using a storage area network (SAN) in a magnetic disk storage device environment, including a method for transmitting data over a SAN in such an environment, including: determining a logical volume accessible to a server of the magnetic disk storage device; obtaining information on a logical volume accessible to a client of the magnetic disk storage device, which is determined by the client; establishing a corresponding relationship between the logical volume accessible to the server and the logical volume accessible to the client; receiving a request for using the logical volume of the magnetic disk storage device from the client; and informing the client of an available logical volume by utilizing the corresponding relationship so that a data access to the available logical volume is performed by the client over the SAN. | 05-14-2015 |
20150134907 | CASCADE ORDERING - A system and computer program product of handling multiple backup processes have been provided. The system comprises receiving one or more instructions initiating a plurality of backup processes from a single source storage volume to a plurality of target storage volumes, adding each target storage volume to a cascade of target storage volumes from the source storage volume, the target storage volumes added to the cascade in an order inversely proportional to the copy rate of the respective backup process such that a first target storage volume added to the cascade of target storage volumes has a slowest copy rate, a next added target storage volume to the cascade of target storage volumes has a faster copy rate than an immediately prior added target storage volume, and a most recent target storage volume added to the cascade of target storage volumes has a fastest copy rate. | 05-14-2015 |
20150134908 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR DE-DUPLICATION IN STORAGE SYSTEMS - In accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure, a storage system may include a storage array comprising one or more storage resources, a processor communicatively coupled to the storage array, and a de-duplication module comprising instructions embodied on a computer-readable medium communicatively coupled to the processor. The de-duplication module may be configured to, when read and executed by the processor: generate a fingerprint for an item of data stored on the storage array; identify a partition for the fingerprint; associate the partition with a hardware instance selected from a plurality of hardware instances, wherein each particular hardware instance comprises one or more information handling resources; and query the selected hardware instance to determine if the fingerprint exists on the hardware instance. | 05-14-2015 |
20150143041 | STORAGE CONTROL APPARATUS AND CONTROL METHOD - A storage control apparatus includes a plurality of control units that each controls access to one or more first storage areas among a plurality of first storage areas allocated to one or more storage media, and a storage unit configured to store information, for each of the control units, on one or more second storage areas to which unit storage areas reserved in the corresponding one or more first storage areas are allocated. When one of the control units receives an access request to a unit storage area reserved in a first storage area different from the corresponding one or more first storage areas, the one of the control units provides information on the control unit that controls access to the different first storage area as an access path to the unit storage area. | 05-21-2015 |
20150149719 | FLEXIBLE DATA STORAGE SYSTEM - Methods and systems for managing and locating available storage space in a system comprising data files stored in a plurality of storage devices and configured in accordance with various data storage schemes (mirroring, striping and parity-striping). A mapping table associated with each of the plurality of storage devices is used to determine the available locations and amount of available space in the storage devices. The data storage schemes for one or more of the stored data files are changed to a basic storage mode when the size of a new data file configured in accordance with an assigned data storage scheme exceeds the amount of available space. The configured new data file is stored in accordance with the assigned data storage scheme in one or more of the available locations and the locations of the new data file are recorded. | 05-28-2015 |
20150293708 | Connectivity-Aware Storage Controller Load Balancing - A system and method for connectivity-aware assignment of volumes among the storage controllers of a storage system is provided. In some embodiments, during a discovery phase, a connectivity metric is determined from a device discovery command. The connectivity metric is recorded into a data structure that identifies a plurality of hosts and a plurality of storage controllers of a storage system. In response to the determining of the connectivity metric, a storage controller ownership of a first volume is changed to improve connectivity between a host of the plurality of hosts and the first volume. In some such embodiments, a storage controller ownership of a second volume is changed to balance load among the plurality of storage controllers, and the discovery phase is, in part, a response to the change in the storage controller ownership of the second volume. | 10-15-2015 |
20150293717 | MODULAR BLOCK-ALLOCATOR FOR DATA STORAGE SYSTEMS - A modular block allocator receives a cleaner message requesting dirty buffers associated with an Mode be cleaned. The modular block allocator provides at least one bucket cache comprising a plurality of buckets, wherein each bucket represents a plurality of free data blocks. The dirty buffers are cleaned by allocating the data blocks of one of the buckets to the dirty buffers. The allocated data blocks are mapped to a stripe set and when the stripe set is full, the stripe set is sent to a storage system. In one embodiment of the invention, a modular block allocator includes a front end module and a back end module communicating with each other via an application programming interface (API). The front end module contains write allocation policies that define how blocks are laid out on disk. The back end module creates data structures for execution of the policies. | 10-15-2015 |
20150293856 | Disk Array Flushing Method and Disk Array Flushing Apparatus - A disk array flushing method and a disk array flushing apparatus. The method includes acquiring a sequence, which is according to physical addresses of logical units, of the logical units in a same redundant array of independent disks (RAID) group in a disk array, and sequentially flushing, according to the sequence of the logical units, concurrent flushing input-outputs (IOs) of the RAID group to the logical units in the RAID group. According to the disk array flushing method and the disk array flushing apparatus, by uniformly scheduling logical units in a single RAID group and performing flushing according to a sequence of physical addresses, it takes less time for a magnetic arm to jump back and forth for addressing, and influences between RAID groups are prevented by means of independent control over the RAID groups, thereby improving flushing efficiency of a disk array, and increasing throughput of the disk array. | 10-15-2015 |
20150301753 | STORAGE VIRTUALIZATION DEVICE AND METHOD FOR CONTROLLING THE STORAGE VIRTUALIZATION DEVICE - A first storage virtualization device operates in a system in which instructions requested by host computers are assigned to a plurality of storage virtualization devices. The first storage virtualization device includes an interface and a processor. The interface receives a write instruction assigned to the first storage virtualization device, data to be written by the write instruction, and operation statuses of other storage virtualization devices in the system. The processor calculates index values which represent loads when the first storage virtualization device processes the write instruction. The processor selects a second storage virtualization device for the purpose of requesting that it execute the write instruction by use of the operation statuses when the index values are greater than thresholds. The processor transmits the write instruction and the data to the second storage virtualization device. | 10-22-2015 |
20150301757 | STORAGE APPARATUS AND STORAGE CONTROL METHOD - From unit storage areas each having a certain size in a first storage device, an extraction unit extracts, at certain time intervals, a monitored area formed by consecutive unit storage areas having been accessed at least a predetermined number of times that is greater than zero and being similar to each other in the number of times of access. When detecting movement between the positions of same-sized monitored areas among the extracted monitored areas over time, a prediction unit determines a predicted storage area predicted to be accessed in the storage area of the first storage device on the basis of the direction of the movement between the positions of the same-sized monitored areas, and performs a control operation so that the content of the predicted storage area is copied to a second storage device that provides faster access than the first storage device. | 10-22-2015 |
20150301758 | METADATA FOR DATA STORAGE ARRAY - A data storage array may be made up of several storage devices, each of which may contain array metadata that may allow portions of the storage array to be used. A system may have a file system manager that may receive and respond to file system commands and a storage device manager that may store data on the several storage devices. Array metadata defining where data is stored within the storage array is stored on each device within the array. A policy engine may identify data to be stored on the array and determine if the data contains array metadata or other types of data and may store the data on every device, devices having specific characteristics, two or more devices, or one device. | 10-22-2015 |
20150301759 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR SHARING STORAGE RESOURCE - Embodiments of the present invention provide a method and a system for sharing a storage resource, where storage resources of a hard disk and a storage array are divided into multiple storage partitions and the multiple storage partitions form a shared storage resource pool, a read-write control module is allocated to each storage partition, and global partition information is generated to record a correspondence between each storage partition in the shared storage resource pool and the read-write control module. The embodiments of the present invention implement fast and simple integration of heterogeneous storage resources, and therefore can efficiently use various storage resources, save cost, and avoid a resource waste. | 10-22-2015 |
20150309733 | EFFICIENCY SETS IN A DISTRIBUTED SYSTEM - Disclosed are systems, computer-readable mediums, and methods for efficiency sets in a distributed system. A first efficiency set is determined for a first volume of data. Determining the first efficiency set includes selecting block identifiers for data blocks of the first volume, where each block identifier is used to access a particular data block corresponding to the first volume. Determining the first efficiency set further includes applying a mask to the selected block identifiers to mask at least one bit of each selected block identifier. The first efficiency set is compared to a second efficiency set for a second data store, and based on the comparison, an amount of unique data blocks of the first volume is approximated. | 10-29-2015 |
20150309746 | EFFICIENCY SETS IN A DISTRIBUTED SYSTEM - Disclosed are systems, computer-readable mediums, and methods for efficiency sets in a distributed system. A first efficiency set is determined for a first volume of data. Determining the first efficiency set includes selecting block identifiers for data blocks of the first volume, where each block identifier is used to access a particular data block corresponding to the first volume. Determining the first efficiency set further includes applying a mask to the selected block identifiers to mask at least one bit of each selected block identifier. The first efficiency set is compared to a second efficiency set for a second data store, and based on the comparison, an amount of unique data blocks of the first volume is approximated. | 10-29-2015 |
20150309747 | REPLICATING TRACKS FROM A FIRST STORAGE SITE TO A SECOND AND THIRD STORAGE SITES - Provided are a computer program product, system, and method for replicating tracks from a first storage to a second and third storages. A determination is made of a track in the first storage to transfer to the second storage as part of a point-in-time copy relationship and of a stride of tracks including the target track. The stride of tracks including the target track is staged from the first storage to a cache according to the point-in-time copy relationship. The staged stride is destaged from the cache to the second storage. The stride in the cache is transferred to the third storage as part of a mirror copy relationship. The stride of tracks in the cache is demoted in response to destaging the stride of the tracks in the cache to the second storage and transferring the stride of tracks in the cache to the third storage. | 10-29-2015 |
20150309749 | METHOD FOR SELECTIVELY PERFORMING A SECURE DATA ERASE TO ENSURE TIMELY ERASURE - A method and computer program product are provided to ensure a timely secure data erase by determining an erasure deadline for each physical volume of a plurality of physical volumes and calculating a remaining time for each physical volume. The remaining time is calculated for each physical volume by comparing a current date to the erasure deadline of each physical volume respectively. A secure data erase is performed on the plurality of physical volumes in an order based on the calculated remaining time, where the secure data erase is performed on the physical volume with a shortest calculated remaining time first. | 10-29-2015 |
20150317081 | ADAPTIVE SYSTEM PROVISIONING - A method includes determining a plurality of configuration entries based on received provisioning requests and further based on provisioning system resource utilization data. Each configuration entry includes a corresponding virtual system template, and a corresponding number of virtual systems to be provisioned. The method also includes provisioning the corresponding number of virtual systems for a first configuration entry in the plurality of configuration entries. The corresponding number of virtual systems are provisioned based on the corresponding virtual system template for the first configuration entry. The method additionally includes storing the provisioned virtual systems in a resource pool and processing a provisioning request utilizing a pre-provisioned virtual system stored in the resource pool. | 11-05-2015 |
20150324126 | STORAGE SYSTEM WITH VIRTUAL VOLUME HAVING DATA ARRANGED ASTRIDE STORAGE DEVICES, AND VOLUME MANAGEMENT METHOD - A virtual LU astride a plurality of storage devices is a virtual volume composed of a plurality of partial volumes. Functions of the storage system, Zoning information of a SAN and a host group information of the virtual volume are inherited to a partial volume created for each physical device. When a page granularity data migration is executed, volume or data are migrated to other storage devices without depending on the relationship between a physical port and the physical device. When a host IO request is received when migration is on-going, response processing is performed by synchronizing storage devices within the range of migration data. The host IO request related to the page being migrated sends a partial complete response including information for re-routing the request to a path of the appropriate data migration destination device capable of issuing the IO. | 11-12-2015 |
20150324135 | AUTOMATIC STORAGE SYSTEM CONFIGURATION BASED ON WORKLOAD MONITORING - Storage system workload data associated with a storage system is analyzed. The workload data comprises indications of input and output operations associated with the storage system. A storage system configuration is determined based, at least in part, on said analyzing of the storage system workload data. An implementation plan comprising one or more operations for implementing the storage system configuration is generated. | 11-12-2015 |
20150324136 | STORAGE SYSTEM HAVING FIFO STORAGE AND RESERVED STORAGE - An apparatus having first-in-first-out storage and reserved storage is disclosed. In one or more embodiments, the apparatus includes memory circuitry having first-in-first-out storage and reserved storage. The first-in-first-out storage and the reserved storage include an array of data elements having contiguous addresses across the first-in-first-out storage and the reserved storage. The memory circuitry includes a first-in-first-out pointer for referencing an index corresponding to a data element of the array of data elements of the first-in-first-out storage to be read and a read pointer mapped to the first-in-first-out pointer and for referencing a memory location of the data element to be read. The read pointer is mapped such that the read pointer does not reference a plurality of data elements stored in the reserved storage. | 11-12-2015 |
20150324143 | STORAGE SYSTEM INCLUDING MULTIPLE STORAGE APPARATUSES AND POOL VIRTUALIZATION METHOD - A plurality of storage apparatuses including a first and second storage apparatus, wherein said first storage apparatus is configured to have a first virtual volume composed of a plurality of virtual segments, at least said second storage apparatus is configured to have a pool composed of a plurality of real pages, each storage apparatus is configured to manage a virtual pool comprising one or more pools including at least said pool, said virtual pool is composed of a plurality of virtual pages, each virtual page corresponding to any real page, and said first storage apparatus is configured to receive a write command that specifies an address belonging to an unallocated virtual segment, allocate a free virtual page to said unallocated virtual segment, and write data to the real page corresponding to the allocated virtual page, even when said first storage apparatus does not have a pool composed of real pages. | 11-12-2015 |
20150324145 | STORAGE SYSTEM AND DATA MANAGEMENT METHOD - A storage apparatus includes a plurality of storage devices, and a control unit for providing a predetermined storage area of the plurality of storage devices to the host computer as a virtual volume group including one or more virtual volumes. The control unit configures one or more data sets having one or more redundancy levels from the plurality of storage devices, provides a storage area of a storage pool including the plurality of data sets to a part of a storage area of the virtual volume, limits a combination of the storage devices configuring the data sets to be assigned to the virtual volume to a given number of combinations of two combinations or more, uniformly distributes the storage devices, and uses a given number of different combinations of the storage devices to be assigned to the virtual volume in units of the virtual volume group. | 11-12-2015 |
20150331614 | USING QUEUES CORRESPONDING TO ATTRIBUTE VALUES ASSOCIATED WITH UNITS OF WORK AND SUB-UNITS OF THE UNIT OF WORK TO SELECT THE UNITS OF WORK AND THEIR SUB-UNITS TO PROCESS - Provided are a computer program product, system, and method for using queues corresponding to attribute values associated with units of work and sub-units of the unit of work to select the units of work and their sub-units to process. There are a plurality of work unit queues, each associated with different work unit attribute values that are associated with units of work, wherein the work unit queues include records for units of work to process having work unit attribute values associated with the work unit attribute values of the work unit queues. There are a plurality of work sub-unit queues, wherein each are associated with different work sub-unit attribute values that are associated with sub-units of work. Records are added for work sub-units of a unit of work to the work sub-unit queues, and records are selected from the work sub-unit queues to process the sub-units of work. | 11-19-2015 |
20150331621 | UNCOORDINATED DATA RETRIEVAL ACROSS MULTIPLE-DATA-STORAGE-DEVICES ENCLOSURES - In at least one embodiment, a method of operating a multiple-data-storage-devices enclosure is disclosed. The method includes: receiving a first read request from a first requester device for a first requested data fragment; identifying a first target data storage device storing the first requested data fragment based at least partly on the first read request; activating, independently of receiving the first read request, only a subset of data storage devices in the enclosure, wherein the subset includes the first target data storage device; retrieving, based at least partly on the first read request and in response to activating the subset, the first requested data fragment from the first target data storage device; and transmitting the first requested data fragment to the first requester device. | 11-19-2015 |
20150331630 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR SIMULTANEOUSLY ACHIEVING CAPACITY BALANCING AND DATA STRIPING IN A STORAGE ARRAY - Described herein are methods, systems and machine-readable media for migrating data between storage devices of a storage array. A metric is used to measure the optimality of candidate data migrations, the metric taking into account capacity balance and proper data striping. Candidate migrations are evaluated against the metric. The candidate migration that ranks as the best migration according to the metric may be carried out. This process of evaluating candidate migrations and carrying out the best candidate migration may be iterated until data is properly distributed among the storage devices of the storage array. | 11-19-2015 |
20150339072 | RAID DEVICES, SYSTEMS, AND METHODS - The invention is directed to a storage device utilizing laptop storage drives and rackmount server adapted to use the same. The storage device includes a body and drive software. The drive and internal portions of the body are adapted to form contact fits. The software of the storage device provides an electronic interface that permits operations of advantageous RAID configurations. | 11-26-2015 |
20150339074 | ASSIGNING DEVICE ADAPTORS TO USE TO COPY SOURCE EXTENTS TO TARGET EXTENTS IN A COPY RELATIONSHIP - Provided are a computer program product, system, and method for assigning device adaptors to use to copy source extents in source ranks to target extents in target ranks in a copy relation. A determination is made of an order of the target ranks in the copy relation. Target ranks in the copy relation are selected according to the determined order. For each selected target rank, indication is made in a device adaptor assignment data structure of a source device adaptor and target device adaptor of the device adaptors to use to copy the source rank to the selected target rank indicated in the copy relation, wherein indication is made for the selected target ranks according to the determined order. The source ranks are copied to the selected target ranks using the source and target device adaptors indicated in the device adaptor assignment data structure. | 11-26-2015 |
20150339149 | TECHNIQUES FOR PERFORMING VIRTUAL MACHINE SOFTWARE UPGRADES USING VIRTUAL DISK SWAPPING - In one embodiment, a computer system creates a first template VM that includes a first OS VMDK and a first software binary VMDK, and clones the first template VM to create a linked clone VM. The linked clone VM executes a guest OS by accessing the first OS VMDK and a software application by accessing the first software binary VMDK. The computer system further creates a second template VM that includes a second software binary VMDK, where the second software binary VMDK includes one or more upgrades to the software application that are not included in the first software binary VMDK. The computer system then detaches the first software binary VMDK from the linked clone VM and attaches the second software binary VMDK to the linked clone VM. The linked clone VM thereafter executes the software application by accessing the second software binary VMDK. | 11-26-2015 |
20150347043 | CLUSTER CONSISTENT LOGICAL STORAGE OBJECT NAMING - A clustered storage environment can distribute responsibility for naming virtual disks to nodes of the clustered storage environment. The clustered storage environment maintains a list of names in a structure that is visible to cluster member nodes responsible for naming the virtual disks. As the cluster member nodes discover mass storage devices (e.g., storage arrays) in the clustered storage environment, the nodes determine identifiers of the mass storage devices. For each mass storage device, the nodes use the mass storage device identifier to establish a namespace for virtual disks of the corresponding mass storage device. The nodes can then provide consistent, exclusive names for the virtual disks throughout the cluster that are manageable names. | 12-03-2015 |
20150347045 | Data Integrity Monitoring Among Sysplexes with a Shared Direct Access Storage Device (DASD) - System and method embodiments for monitoring data integrity among multiple sysplexes that share data sets on a DASD are provided. The virtual volume record (VVR) for each data set on DASD is configured with additional access fields that provide such information as the access mode (serial or multi-access), whether multiple systems have opened the data set, the names of an original sysplex and any additional sysplexes to open the data set, the names of the opening systems in each sysplex, job name and time stamp and a usage counter for each sysplex. Additional access logic in the OS on each system defines specific actions to be taken by the system OS when executing an “open” or “close” including reading and updating information in the additional access fields and generating error, warning or information messages to diagnostic logs. This allows serialization to be enforced among the sysplexes and for error messages to be issued for any system outside the original sysplex that tries to open the data set. This also enables allowing multiple sysplexes to have a data set open at the same time and to issue messages to that effect. | 12-03-2015 |
20150347047 | MULTILAYERED DATA STORAGE METHODS AND APPARATUS - A system, method, and apparatus for providing multilayered storage are disclosed. An example apparatus includes a virtual storage node and a data services node. The virtual storage node includes a first physical storage device including a first storage pool configured to have a first storage configuration and partitioned into individually addressable logical unit numbers (“LUs”) and a second storage pool configured to have a second storage configuration and partitioned into individually addressable LUs. The data services node includes a service pool configured to have a data services configuration specifying how data is stored to a logical volume from the virtual storage node, the logical volume including at least a first set of LUs from the first storage pool and second of LUs from the second storage pool. | 12-03-2015 |
20150347196 | Lockless Waterfall Thread Communication - Systems and methods are disclosed for communicating state information of a session between a plurality of processing threads in a hierarchy. The session is passed down through the hierarchy, with one or more threads processing the session at each level of the hierarchy. An example method includes reading a first pointer of a first processing thread and comparing the first pointer to a second pointer of a second processing thread. The second processing thread is dependent on the first processing thread. The method also includes in response to determining that the first pointer does not match the second pointer, processing a set of configuration items in a session. The method further includes after processing the set of configuration items in the session, updating the second pointer of the second processing thread to match the first pointer of the first processing thread. | 12-03-2015 |
20150355837 | BLOCK-LEVEL PREDICTIVE DATA MIGRATION - A method for migrating data in a tiered storage architecture is disclosed. In one embodiment, such a method includes tracking the temperature of data blocks in a tiered storage architecture, where the temperature indicates the frequency the data blocks are accessed. Heat maps are generated that indicate the temperature of the data blocks across different time intervals. These heat maps are compared to identify temperature patterns that may occur over time. The temperature patterns, in turn, may be used to predict when selected data blocks will change in temperature. Data blocks may be migrated between tiers of the tiered storage architecture in anticipation of the predicated changes in temperature. A corresponding system and computer program product are also disclosed. | 12-10-2015 |
20150355857 | STORAGE DEVICE AND DATA MANAGEMENT METHOD - Regardless of which of the multiple storage subsystems provided with the same identification information is accessed from a plurality of host computers, multiple volumes provided with the same identification information among the storage subsystems are subjected to extent exclusion sharing. Therefore, a multiplex volume provided with the same identification information among the plurality of storage subsystems and a first storage subsystem for processing input/output requests by the channel command to the multiplex volume are provided, wherein if the channel command received from the host computer or via a control unit of a second storage subsystem is an input/output request of the multiplex volume, a control unit of the first storage subsystem determines the access authority regarding an extent range of the multiplex volume designated by the channel command, based on information on whether an input/output processing regarding the extent range is already executed based on another request. | 12-10-2015 |
20150355862 | TRANSPARENT ARRAY MIGRATION - A method for migrating data from a first storage array to a second storage array is provided. The method includes configuring the second storage array to forward requests to the first storage array and configuring a network so that second storage array assumes an identity of the first storage array. The method includes receiving a read request at the second storage array for a first data stored within the first storage array and transferring the first data through the second storage array to a client associated with the read request. The method is performed without reconfiguring the client. A system for migrating data is also provided. | 12-10-2015 |
20150355863 | DISTRIBUTING CAPACITY SLICES ACROSS STORAGE SYSTEM NODES - Various systems and methods are described for configuring a data storage system. In one embodiment, a plurality of actual capacities of a plurality of storage devices of the data storage system are identified and divided into a plurality of capacity slices. The plurality of capacity slices are combined into a plurality of chunks of capacity slices, each having a combination of characteristics of the underlying physical storage devices. The chunks of capacity slices are then mapped to a plurality of logical storage devices. A group of the plurality of logical storage devices is then organized into a redundant array of logical storage devices. | 12-10-2015 |
20150355864 | STORAGE SYSTEM AND STORAGE CONTROL METHOD - A storage system includes: a storage device including a recording medium that stores data and a device controller that executes addition processing involving a change of state of the data with respect to the data; and a storage controller that controls input and output of data for the storage device. The storage controller transmits, to the storage device, determination information that can be utilized by the device controller for determining whether or not to execute the addition processing along with input-output processing relating to input-output target data. The device controller controls execution of the addition processing with respect to the input-output target data based on the determination information transmitted from the storage controller. | 12-10-2015 |
20150363126 | LOGICAL ZONE MAPPING - A mass data storage system includes a plurality of communicatively coupled storage resources that are each controlled by one of a plurality of distinct storage controllers. Each of the storage resources are mapped to one or more logical zones, and the logical zones each apply an associated storage condition to data stored therein. | 12-17-2015 |
20150363127 | EXTENDED FILE ATTRIBUTES FOR REDUNDANT DATA STORAGE - A mass data storage system includes a data manager that selects a subset of storage resources for storage of a data file and generates location metadata for the data file defining positions of each storage resource in the selected subset of storage resources. According to one implementation, the data manager further defines an extended file attribute associated with the location metadata. | 12-17-2015 |
20150363128 | COMPUTER SYSTEM AND MANAGEMENT SYSTEM AND MANAGEMENT METHOD OF STORAGE SYSTEM - A management system manages at least a storage system. The management system decides two or more logical storage devices configuring a logical volume to be provided to an application. The management system decides two or more MPs that undertake processes on the two or more logical storage devices, respectively. The management system allocates the decided two or more MPs to the decided two or more logical storage devices such that one MP is allocated to one logical storage device. | 12-17-2015 |
20150363129 | STORAGE SYSTEM - A storage control apparatus performs, for each virtual area to which a physical area is allocated, any one of coarse-grained management for managing a correspondence relationship between a virtual area and a physical area in a first size unit, and fine-grained management for managing a correspondence relationship between a virtual area and a physical area in a second size unit smaller than the first size unit. The storage control apparatus manages mapping information that expresses a correspondence relationship between a virtual area and a physical area. The storage control apparatus performs at least one of change of any of fine-grained virtual areas to a coarse-grained virtual area and change of any of coarse-grained virtual areas to a fine-grained virtual area, based on the number of duplication areas of each virtual area and a size of the mapping information. | 12-17-2015 |
20150363137 | Configurable And Scalable Storage System - The system utilizes a plurality of layers to provide a robust storage solution. One layer is the RAID engine that provides parity RAID protection, disk management and striping for the RAID sets. The second layer is called the virtualization layer and it separates the physical disks and storage capacity into virtual disks that mirror the drives that a target system requires. A third layer is a LUN (logical unit number) layer that is disposed between the virtual disks and the host. By using this approach, the system can be used to represent any number, size, or capacity of disks that a host system requires while using any configuration of physical RAID storage. | 12-17-2015 |
20150363220 | VIRTUAL COMPUTER SYSTEM AND DATA TRANSFER CONTROL METHOD FOR VIRTUAL COMPUTER SYSTEM - A computer has an adapter which is coupled to storage devices; the adapter transmits data and receives data, and measures the transfer amount of data that has been transmitted and received, and the number of I/O accesses, for each virtual computer; a virtualization part, on the basis of the transfer amount of the data, and the number of I/O accesses, acquired from the adapter, computes an upper limit for the data transfer amount and an upper limit for the number of I/O accesses for each virtual computer and reports to the virtual computers; and the virtual computers retain the data to transfer to and to receive from the storage devices in a queue, and the virtual computers control data to output from the queue so as not to exceed the upper limit of the data transfer amount or the number of I/O accesses. | 12-17-2015 |
20150370492 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR ADAPTIVE OFFLOADING OF MASS STORAGE DATAMOVEMENT - A method for adaptive offloading of data movement from a computer system includes identifying performance results from a plurality of SCSI extended copy (XCOPY) operations associated with a storage unit, each XCOPY operation of the plurality of XCOPY operations including one or more parameters. The method also includes selecting, based on the identified performance results, one or more XCOPY parameters for the storage unit from the plurality of XCOPY operations. The method further includes forming an XCOPY operation associated with the storage unit, the XCOPY operation including the one or more selected XCOPY parameters. The method also includes transmitting the XCOPY operation to the storage unit. | 12-24-2015 |
20150370494 | REDUNDANT STORAGE SYSTEM - A redundant storage system which can automatically recover RAID data by crossing different JBODs includes: at least one server, at least one SAS switch, and at least two storage devices; each of the at least one server includes an interface card, and each of the at least one server is connected to the at least one SAS switch through a SAS port of the interface card; each of the at least two storage devices is connected to the at least one SAS switch through a SAS interface; each of the at least two storage devices includes at least one physical disk; physical disks respectively included in different storage devices constitute a RAID group. | 12-24-2015 |
20150370495 | RANGE-BASED DATA DEDUPLICATION - Deduplicated data storage is provided by presenting a virtual volume mapped by a translation table to a physical volume of a physical data storage system. The translation table maps sets of ranges of duplicate data blocks of the virtual volume to corresponding individual ranges of shared data blocks of the physical volume. A hash table for identifying duplicate data is indexed by a portion of a hash value calculated from newly written data blocks, and has entries each identifying an address alignment of the corresponding data block. In operation, existing entries are replaced with new entries for colliding data blocks having better address alignment, promoting wider address-space separation of the entries. Upon occurrence of a hit in the hash table, a range of data blocks are compared to maximize a size of a region to be identified by the translation table as duplicate data. | 12-24-2015 |
20150370497 | PERFORMANCE RULES AND STORAGE UNITS - Disclosed herein are techniques for managing the performance of a storage system. A subset of a plurality of storage units is associated with a rule that specifies a number of input and output transactions and a number of bits per time unit. The associations are adjusted in accordance with a performance policy and changes in the subset of the plurality of storage units. | 12-24-2015 |
20150370501 | CONVERGED SYSTEM AND STORAGE SYSTEM MIGRATION METHOD - A converged system and migration method capable of preventing system performance degradation with respect to data transfer is proposed. A first calculation node continues executing I/O processing in response to an I/O request from an application; and, upon execution of the I/O processing, the first calculation node issues an I/O processing event notice indicating a transfer status of data on which the I/O processing has been executed. When receiving a migration command from a migration management unit, a second calculation node judges whether or not data stored in a first I/O node is data which should be transferred, based on the I/O processing event notice; and then transfers the data, which should be transferred, to a third calculation node. | 12-24-2015 |
20150370504 | STORAGE DEVICE CONTROL SYSTEM AND STORAGE DEVICE CONTROL APPARATUS - According to an embodiment, a storage device control apparatus manages a plurality of storage devices. The storage device control apparatus includes a communication unit and an access controller. The communication unit is configured to receive a first storage device number and a first storage device stripe number. The first storage device number and the first storage device stripe number are obtained by an external host computer from a result of division performed by the external host computer on the basis of a stripe number and the number of storage devices. The access controller is configured to access a location identified by the first storage device stripe number in a first storage device identified by the first storage device number. | 12-24-2015 |
20150378616 | ADJUSTING TIMING OF STORING DATA IN A DISPERSED STORAGE NETWORK - A method begins by a processing module of a dispersed storage network (DSN) unit of a plurality of DSN units sending a write request to DSN memory, where the write request includes a range of DSN addresses. The method continues with the DSN unit receiving an error message indicating that another DSN unit of the plurality of DSN units has current write permission to the DSN memory to the range of DSN addresses. The method continues with the DSN unit performing a scoring function using one or more properties of the range of DSN addresses and one or more properties of each of at least some of the plurality of DSN units to produce a scoring resultant, interpreting the scoring resultant to determine a re-write requesting protocol for resending the write request to the DSN memory, and resending the write request in accordance with the re-write requesting protocol. | 12-31-2015 |
20150378621 | ENHANCED DATA VERIFY IN DATA STORAGE ARRAYS - To provide enhanced operation of data storage devices and systems, various systems, methods, and software are provided herein. In a first example, a data storage system is configured to provide at least a portion of a first data storage device as a verification cache for a storage region of a second data storage device, write data for storage in the verification cache of the first data storage device and write the data for storage in the storage region of the second data storage device. The data storage system is configured to perform a verification process on the data written to the storage region after a verification trigger condition has been met. The data storage system is configured to transfer portions of the data that fail to pass the verification process from the verification cache to supersede the one or more parts of the data in the storage region. | 12-31-2015 |
20150378622 | MANAGEMENT OF DATA OPERATIONS - In response to receipt of host data operation requests associated with logical unit numbers (LUNs) of storage devices, send host data operation commands to the LUNs associated with the storage devices. Upon entering a background time period, allowing completion of host data operations associated with the host data operations commands sent to the storage devices. During the background time period, store in a storage queue any host data operation commands during the background time period and not send any host data operation commands to LUNs associated with the storage device, instead send background data operation commands to LUNs associated with the devices. Upon expiration of the background time period, retrieve host data operations commands previously stored on the storage queue, and send the retrieved host data operation commands to the LUNs associated with the storage devices, and not sending background data operation commands to LUNs associated with the devices. | 12-31-2015 |
20150378624 | PROVISIONING APPLICATIONS IN A HETEROGENEOUS VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENT - Systems, methods, and software described herein provision application volumes for a plurality of virtual machines. In one example, a method of provisioning volumes for attachment to virtual machines includes provisioning an application in a virtual volume of a first virtual drive format, and identifying one or more alternative virtual drive formats for the application. The method further includes duplicating the application in the virtual volume to one or more additional virtual volumes corresponding to the one or more alternative virtual drive formats. The method also includes storing the virtual volume and the one or more additional virtual volumes in separate storage repositories, wherein each of the storage repositories is associated with one or more virtual machines and a particular virtual drive format. | 12-31-2015 |
20150378625 | MIGRATING ENCODED DATA SLICES IN A DISPERSED STORAGE NETWORK - A method begins by a processing module of a dispersed storage network (DSN) identifying a change in DSN memory of the DSN. For a set of encoded data slices effected by the change, the method continues with the processing module ascertaining updated properties of the DSN memory and performing an updating scoring function using properties of DSN access information and the updated properties of the DSN memory to produce an updated storage scoring resultant. The method continues with the processing module utilizing the updated storage scoring resultant to identify an updated set of storage units affiliated with a given storage pool of a plurality of storage pools of the DSN memory and sending at least one data migration request to at least one storage unit of the updated set of storage units regarding migration of at least one encoded data slice of the set of encoded data slices. | 12-31-2015 |
20150378626 | ACCESSING DATA WHILE MIGRATING STORAGE OF THE DATA - A method begins by a plurality of storage units of a dispersed storage network (DSN) receiving updated properties of DSN memory. The method continues with a first storage unit and a second storage unit establishing a migration pairing and establishing a storage migration mechanism for migrating storage of data between the first and second storage units. While migrating the storage of data using the storage migration mechanism, the method continues with the first or the second storage unit receiving a data access request regarding data effected by the migrating the storage of data, determining status of the migrating storage of data, and determining which of the first and second storage units is to process the data access request based on the status to produce a determined storage unit. The method continues with the determined storage unit processing the data access request. | 12-31-2015 |
20150378635 | EFFECTIVE RANGE PARTITION SPLITTING IN SCALABLE STORAGE - A method for load balancing includes determining a reference key within a partition key range of a partition of scalable storage, the partition key range being divided into buckets that have boundaries defining sub ranges of the partition key range. The reference key is determined based on traffic values that correspond to tracked traffic within the buckets. The traffic values are updated based on additional traffic within the buckets and the boundaries are adjusted based on the updated traffic values. A reference key speed is determined that corresponds to a rate of change of a distribution of the tracked traffic with respect to the reference key. Reference key drop-off time may be determined for reference keys. Reference keys can be utilized to determine where to split the partition and reference key speed and reference key drop-off time can be utilized to determine whether or not to split the partition. | 12-31-2015 |
20150378637 | STORAGE DEVICE AND METHOD FOR CONFIGURING RAID GROUP - A storage subsystem capable of satisfying conditions such as storage capacity and access performance requested by users and to enable expansion of storage drives that are not in RAID group (RG) units is provided at a low cost. The storage subsystem includes a first storage drive for storing data sent from a host computer, a second storage drive having a property that differs from the first storage drive for storing data sent from the host computer, and a processor for controlling the first storage drive and the second storage drive, wherein a processor receives RG configuration requirements from the host computer and determines whether an RG satisfying the RG configuration requirements can be configured, and if the processor determines that an RG can be configured, the first storage drive and the second storage drive are combined to configure the RG. | 12-31-2015 |
20160004447 | CLUSTERED RAID ASSIMILATION MANAGEMENT - In one embodiment, a node of a cluster is coupled to a storage array of storage devices. The node executes a storage input/output (I/O) stack having a redundant array of independent disks (RAID) layer that organizes the storage devices within the storage array as a plurality of RAID groups. Configuration information is stored as a cluster database. The configuration information identifies the RAID groups associated with the storage devices. Each RAID group is associated with a plurality of segments and each segment has a different RAID configuration. | 01-07-2016 |
20160004466 | CONVERGENCE OF MULTIPLE APPLICATION PROTOCOLS ONTO A SINGLE STORAGE PLATFORM - An administrator provisions a virtual disk in a remote storage platform and defines policies for that virtual disk. A virtual machine writes to and reads from the storage platform using any storage protocol. Virtual disk data within a failed storage pool is migrated to different storage pools while still respecting the policies of each virtual disk. Snapshot and revert commands are given for a virtual disk at a particular point in time and overhead is minimal. A virtual disk is cloned utilizing snapshot information and no data need be copied. Any number of Zookeeper clusters are executing in a coordinated fashion within the storage platform, thus increasing overall throughput. A timestamp is generated that guarantees a monotonically increasing counter, even upon a crash of a virtual machine. Any virtual disk has a “hybrid cloud aware” policy in which one replica of the virtual disk is stored in a public cloud. | 01-07-2016 |
20160004467 | BACKGROUND MIGRATION OF VIRTUAL STORAGE - Described is a technology by which a virtual hard disk is migrated from a source storage location to a target storage location without needing any shared physical storage, in which a machine may continue to use the virtual hard disk during migration. This facilitates use the virtual hard disk in conjunction with live-migrating a virtual machine. Virtual hard disk migration may occur fully before or after the virtual machine is migrated to the target host, or partially before and partially after virtual machine migration. Background copying, sending of write-through data, and/or servicing read requests may be used in the migration. Also described is throttling data writes and/or data communication to manage the migration of the virtual hard disk. | 01-07-2016 |
20160004480 | STORAGE SYSTEM WITH VIRTUAL DISKS - An administrator provisions a virtual disk in a remote storage platform and defines policies for that virtual disk. A virtual machine writes to and reads from the storage platform using any storage protocol. Virtual disk data within a failed storage pool is migrated to different storage pools while still respecting the policies of each virtual disk. Snapshot and revert commands are given for a virtual disk at a particular point in time and overhead is minimal. A virtual disk is cloned utilizing snapshot information and no data need be copied. Any number of Zookeeper clusters are executing in a coordinated fashion within the storage platform, thus increasing overall throughput. A timestamp is generated that guarantees a monotonically increasing counter, even upon a crash of a virtual machine. Any virtual disk has a “hybrid cloud aware” policy in which one replica of the virtual disk is stored in a public cloud. | 01-07-2016 |
20160004481 | STORAGE SYSTEM WITH VIRTUAL DISKS - An administrator provisions a virtual disk in a remote storage platform and defines policies for that virtual disk. A virtual machine writes to and reads from the storage platform using any storage protocol. Virtual disk data within a failed storage pool is migrated to different storage pools while still respecting the policies of each virtual disk. Snapshot and revert commands are given for a virtual disk at a particular point in time and overhead is minimal. A virtual disk is cloned utilizing snapshot information and no data need be copied. Any number of Zookeeper clusters are executing in a coordinated fashion within the storage platform, thus increasing overall throughput. A timestamp is generated that guarantees a monotonically increasing counter, even upon a crash of a virtual machine. Any virtual disk has a “hybrid cloud aware” policy in which one replica of the virtual disk is stored in a public cloud. | 01-07-2016 |
20160011778 | Method and System for Writing to and Reading from Computer Readable Media | 01-14-2016 |
20160011787 | STORAGE DEVICE AND METHOD, AND STORAGE MEDIUM | 01-14-2016 |
20160011791 | STORAGE CONTROL APPARATUS, STORAGE SYSTEM, AND PROGRAM | 01-14-2016 |
20160011796 | ACCESS ROUTE SWITCHING METHOD IN DISK ARRAY SYSTEM | 01-14-2016 |
20160011803 | MIGRATION OF NEWLY ALLOCATED DATA TO A STORAGE TIER | 01-14-2016 |
20160011804 | SELF-STEERING POINT-TO-POINT STORAGE PROTOCOL | 01-14-2016 |
20160011805 | STORAGE SYSTEM AND MANAGEMENT COMPUTER | 01-14-2016 |
20160019001 | THICK AND THIN DATA VOLUME MANAGEMENT - Methods, apparatus and computer program products implement embodiments of the present invention that include configuring one or more storage devices as a plurality of physical storage units, each of the physical storage units having a storage granularity, and configuring, on the one or more storage devices, a thin provisioned storage pool having a physical number of the physical storage units and a logical number of logical storage units, the physical number being less than the logical number. Upon receiving a request to create a thick data volume having a requested number of the physical storage units, an available number of the physical storage units that are available in the thin provisioned pool can be identified. | 01-21-2016 |
20160019003 | VALIDATION OF STORAGE ARRAYS BASED ON INFORMATION STORED IN GLOBAL METADATA - A director node of a plurality of nodes determines a plurality of data arrays, where the plurality of data arrays have been discovered at boot time. The director node determines global metadata information, based on reading boot sectors of at least one of the plurality of data arrays discovered at boot time. A determination is made from the global metadata information as to how many data arrays had been previously configured. In response to determining that the plurality of data arrays discovered at boot time is not equal in number to the previously configured data arrays, the director node determines that all configured data arrays have not been discovered. | 01-21-2016 |
20160019005 | STORAGE SYSTEM - A storage system has a management computer and a storage device, where the storage device is connected to an external storage device and includes a first processor, a storage medium on which a plurality of logical storage devices is based, and a plurality of ports. The management computer includes a memory and a second processor, the memory storing port information, path information between host and storage device indicating the association between a host computer and the plurality of logical storage devices and ports, and path information between storage devices indicating the association between the external storage device and the plurality of logical storage devices and ports. The second processor executes band accommodation processing on either a path between host and storage device or a path between storage devices on the basis of the port information, the path information between host and storage device, and the path information between storage devices. | 01-21-2016 |
20160026405 | STORING DATA IN A DISPERSED STORAGE NETWORK - A method begins by a computing device generating a set of write requests regarding a set of encoded data slices and sending the set of write requests to a set of storage units, where each write request includes an encoded data slice, a corresponding slice name, and a transaction number. The method continues with each of at least some of the storage units generating a write response that includes the transaction number and a list of revision levels corresponding to the slice name. The method continues with the computing device receiving the write responses from the at least some of the storage units, determining a most current revision level based on the lists of revision levels and generating a set of write commit messages, where a write commit message includes the transaction number and a new revision level for the set of encoded data slices. | 01-28-2016 |
20160034209 | METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR STORING INFORMATION THAT FACILITATESTHE RECONSTRUCTION OF AT LEAST SOME OF THE CONTENTS OF ASTORAGE UNIT ON A STORAGE SYSTEM - The failure of a storage unit in a storage array of a storage system may render the storage unit unresponsive to any requests. Any writes to the storage system that occur during the failure of the storage unit will not be reflected on the failed unit, rendering some of the failed unit's data stale. Assuming the failed unit's data is not corrupted but is just stale, a partial rebuild may be performed on the failed unit, selectively reconstructing only data that is needed to replace the stale data. Described herein are techniques for storing information that identifies the data that needs to be rebuilt. When the storage unit fails, the segment identifier associated with the last data segment written to the storage system may be stored. Upon the storage unit recovering, the storage system can rebuild only those data segments whose identifier is greater than the stored segment identifier. | 02-04-2016 |
20160034214 | MIRRORING, IN MEMORY, DATA FROM DISK TO IMPROVE QUERY PERFORMANCE - Techniques are provided for maintaining data persistently in one format, but making that data available to a database server in more than one format. For example, one of the formats in which the data is made available for query processing is based on the on-disk format, while another of the formats in which the data is made available for query processing is independent of the on-disk format. Data that is in the format that is independent of the disk format may be maintained exclusively in volatile memory to reduce the overhead associated with keeping the data in sync with the on-disk format copies of the data. | 02-04-2016 |
20160034215 | INDICATION OF A DESTRUCTIVE WRITE VIA A NOTIFICATION FROM A DISK DRIVE THAT EMULATES BLOCKS OF A FIRST BLOCK SIZE WITHIN BLOCKS OF A SECOND BLOCK SIZE - A disk drive receives a request to write at least one block of a first block size, wherein the disk drive is configured to store blocks of a second block size that is larger in size than the first block size. The disk drive stores a plurality of emulated blocks of the first block size in each block of the second block size. The disk drive generates a read error, in response to reading a selected block of the second block size in which the at least block of the first block size is to be written via an emulation. The disk drive performs a destructive write of selected emulated blocks of the first block size that caused the read error to be generated. The disk drive writes the at least one block of the first block size in the selected block of the second block size. | 02-04-2016 |
20160034222 | VIRTUAL DRIVE MAPPING - The automatic mapping of a set of physical drives to virtual drives is disclosed. Given a maximum set of n physical servers, S | 02-04-2016 |
20160034223 | AVOIDING LONG ACCESS LATENCIES IN REDUNDANT STORAGE SYSTEMS - Avoiding long access latencies in redundant storage systems is disclosed, including: determining a first device associated with a request is in a slow access period; and reconstructing data associated with the request from one or more other devices comprising a redundant storage system in which the first device and the one or more other devices are included. | 02-04-2016 |
20160041764 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR TRANSFORMING AN IN-USE RAIDARRAY INCLUDING MIGRATING DATA USING RESERVEDEXTENTS - A system is provided for transforming an in-use RAID array from a first array configuration having a first parameter to a second array configuration having a second parameter while preserving a logical data structure of the RAID array. The system includes an extent reservation component, and a data migration component for reading unmigrated data from an area of an array arranged according to the first array configuration and writing the data to an area of the array arranged according to the second array configuration using reserved extents to store migrated data. The system also includes a first I/O component for performing I/O according to the first array configuration on unmigrated data prior to its reading by the data migration component, and a second I/O component for performing I/O according to the second array configuration on the migrated data after writing the migrated data. | 02-11-2016 |
20160041765 | STORAGE DEVICE CONTROL SYSTEM AND STORAGE DEVICE CONTROL APPARATUS - According to an embodiment, a storage device control apparatus manages a plurality of storage devices. The storage device control apparatus includes a communication unit and an access controller. The communication unit is configured to notify an external host computer of the number of the plurality of storage devices. The communication unit is configured to receive a first number that identifies a first storage device and a first address in the first storage device. The first number and the first address are obtained by the computer on the basis of an address in the plurality of storage devices and the number of the plurality of storage devices. The access controller is configured to access a location identified by the first address in a first storage device identified by the first number. | 02-11-2016 |
20160041776 | STORAGE SYSTEM AND CACHE CONTROL METHOD - A first storage apparatus, on the basis of management information representing data existing in a virtual cache area, when a first data conforming to a read request exists in the virtual cache area, determines whether the first data is stored in a first cache area of the first storage apparatus. The first storage apparatus, when the first data is not stored in the first cache area, acquires the first data from a second cache area of a second storage apparatus, and transmits the first data to a host computer. The first storage apparatus, when the first data is associated with the first cache area on the basis of a degree of importance, notifies the second storage apparatus to that effect, and change an apparatus in charge of a cache of the first data of the management information from the second storage apparatus to the first storage apparatus. The first storage apparatus, when the first data is associated with the second cache area, notifies the second storage apparatus to that effect, and deletes the first data. | 02-11-2016 |
20160041778 | MANAGING DATA WITHIN A STORAGE DEVICE BASED ON FILE SYSTEM METADATA - Commands associated with one or more logical block addresses are received via a host interface of a storage device. Based on a timing and sequence of the commands, an extent of a file that contains the logical block addresses is determined, the file being stored on the storage device. The logical block addresses are managed internally as a unitary data structure based on determining an association between the logical block addresses and the file. | 02-11-2016 |
20160048342 | REDUCING READ/WRITE OVERHEAD IN A STORAGE ARRAY - Techniques, systems, and devices are disclosed for reducing data read/write overhead in a storage array, such as a redundant array of independent disks (RAID), by dynamically configuring stripe sizes in disk drives. In one aspect, each disk drive is configured with multiple stripe sizes based on statistical file sizes of incoming data traffic. For example, a preconfigured disk drive can include a set of different stripe sizes wherein a stripe size is consistent with the size of a common file type in the historical or predicted data traffic. Moreover, the allocation of disk space for each stripe size may be consistent with the composition percentage of the associated file type in the historical or predicted data traffic. As a result, reads/writes of large data files in the storage array predominantly take place on a single disk drive rather than on multiple drives, thereby reducing read/write overheads. | 02-18-2016 |
20160048346 | Data Storage Device - The object of the invention is to provide a data storage device which is extremely effective, scalable, and with fast access to the data. At least two front components ( | 02-18-2016 |
20160048348 | VIRTUAL DEFRAGMENTATION OF A STORAGE - Virtual defragmentation of a storage. In one example embodiment, a method for virtual defragmentation of a storage includes various steps. For example, the method includes intercepting a move command directed to a storage during a defragmentation of the storage. The move command specifies an actual location of a block and a defrag location for the block in the storage. The method also includes updating a virtual defragmentation map to record the actual location of the block and the defrag location for the block. The method further includes preventing the block from being moved to the defrag location. The method also includes allowing file system metadata of the storage to be updated to falsely reflect that the block has been moved to the defrag location. | 02-18-2016 |
20160048356 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR DISTRIBUTED RAID IMPLEMENTATION - Embodiments of the systems and methods disclosed provide a distributed RAID system comprising a set of data banks. More particularly, in certain embodiments of a distributed RAID system each data bank has a set of associated storage media and executes a similar distributed RAID application. The distributed RAID applications on each of the data banks coordinate among themselves to distribute and control data flow associated with implementing a level of RAID in conjunction with data stored on the associated storage media of the data banks. | 02-18-2016 |
20160056840 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR ARRANGING NUMERIC DATA FOR COMPRESSION - A computer-implemented method for arranging numeric data for compression is described. The method is implemented using a computing device in communication with a memory and a measurement device. The method includes receiving, by the computing device and from the measurement device, numeric data that includes a sequence of numbers, each number including at least a first byte followed by a second byte. The method additionally includes arranging the first bytes into a first contiguous set, arranging the second bytes into a second contiguous set, and storing the first contiguous set and the second contiguous set in a file in the memory, such that the first contiguous set is contiguous with the second contiguous set. | 02-25-2016 |
20160062651 | CACHE MANAGEMENT FOR SEQUENTIAL WRITE STORAGE - Embodiments of the invention relate to cache management of sequential write storage. Cache states of cache blocks in cache storage are tracked. The tracking incudes creating a migration candidate list that organizes the cache blocks into virtual volumes. Based on determining that a cache migration threshold has been reached, at least a subset of the cache blocks are selected from the migration candidate list for migration. The selected cache blocks are ordered into a sequential order based on the migration candidate list. At least a subset of the selected cache blocks are migrated in the sequential order, the migrating including writing contents of the selected cache blocks to the sequential write storage. | 03-03-2016 |
20160062658 | STORAGE CONTROL APPARATUS AND STORAGE MEDIUM STORING STORAGE CONTROL PROGRAM - A storage control apparatus, that controls a storage apparatus that includes a storage drive in which a plurality of logical volumes are set, includes a storage unit that stores load information for each of the plurality of logical volumes, and a control unit that determines to-be-rebuilt volumes, which are targets to be rebuilt, from the plurality of logical volumes, sequentially selects a logical volumes for which a volume-specific taken time is estimated, determines, for each selected logical volume, a volume-specific start time at which a rebuild will be started, estimates, by using the volume-specific start time and the load information about the selected logical volume, the volume-specific taken time for rebuilding the selected logical volume, and totals the volume-specific taken time estimated for each selected logical volume to calculate a total taken time taken for rebuilding the to-be-rebuilt volumes. | 03-03-2016 |
20160062674 | DATA STORAGE ARCHITECTURE FOR STORING METADATA WITH DATA - Technology is disclosed for a data storage architecture for providing enhanced storage resiliency for a data object. The data storage architecture can be implemented in a single-tier configuration and/or a multi-tier configuration. In the single-tier configuration, a data object is encoded, e.g., based on an erasure coding method, to generate many data fragments, which are stored across many storage devices. In the multi-tier configuration, a data object is encoded, e.g., based on an erasure coding method, to generate many data segments, which are sent to one or more tiers of storage nodes. Each of the storage nodes further encodes the data segment to generate many data fragments representing the data segment, which are stored across many storage devices associated with the storage node. The I/O operations for rebuilding the data in case of device failures is spread across many storage devices, which minimizes the wear of a given storage device. | 03-03-2016 |
20160062687 | STORAGE CONTROL APPARATUS, STORAGE CONTROL SYSTEM, AND CONTROL METHOD - A storage control apparatus includes: a processor configured to execute a program for controlling access to a logical volume allocatable to a higher-level apparatus; and a storage configured to store the program, wherein the processor performs operations to: sets a value of identification information indicating whether notification of allocation to the higher-level apparatus is available in accordance with an order of recognition of a plurality of logical volumes to be allocated to the higher-level apparatus by the higher-level apparatus; and notifies the higher-level apparatus of information concerning one or more logical volumes of the plurality of logical volumes corresponding to the identification information. | 03-03-2016 |
20160070478 | STORAGE CONTROL DEVICE AND STORAGE CONTROL METHOD - A storage control device includes a processor to extract a first path to be subjected to load distribution of I/O access from among the first paths connecting virtual disks to a higher-level device in response to scale-out of a storage system based on performance information for the first paths, set a new first path that connects the higher-level device to a new virtual disk having the same space as a virtual disk to which the extracted first path is connected, set a new second path that connects the new virtual disk to an added memory device, use the extracted first path to read existing data stored in the virtual disk connected to the extracted first path, and use the new first path to write and read new data to be written to the new virtual disk as differential data to the existing data. | 03-10-2016 |
20160070480 | TECHNIQUE FOR QUANTIFYING LOGICAL SPACE TRAPPED IN AN EXTENT STORE - A technique quantifies logical storage space trapped in an extent store due to overlapping write requests associated with volume metadata managed by the volume layer. The volume metadata is illustratively organized as a multi-level dense tree metadata structure, wherein each level of the dense tree metadata structure (dense tree) includes volume metadata entries for storing the volume metadata. When a level of the dense tree is full, the volume metadata entries of the level are merged with a next lower level of the dense tree in accordance with a merge operation. Illustratively, the technique may be invoked during the merge operation to examine the volume metadata entries at each level of the dense tree involved in the merge and determine the LBA range overlap of the entries. To that end, the technique may include an algorithm configured to calculate the overlapping space per level and then aggregate the overlapping space of all levels involved in the merge operation to arrive at a result that quantifies the logical storage space trapped in the extent store. | 03-10-2016 |
20160070482 | ADJUSTING STORAGE CAPACITY IN A COMPUTING SYSTEM - Adjusting storage capacity in a computing system that includes a computing device configured to send access requests to a storage device characterized by a first storage capacity, including: reducing data; determining, in dependence upon an amount of storage capacity saved by reducing the data, an updated storage capacity for the storage device; and exporting an updated storage capacity to the computing device. | 03-10-2016 |
20160070490 | STORAGE CONTROL DEVICE AND STORAGE SYSTEM - A storage control device includes a processor. The processor is configured to acquire history information on access to multiple logical volumes which are configured using multiple storage devices. The processor is configured to determine from among the multiple logical volumes, on basis of the acquired history information, a preferred logical volume on which restoration processing is preferentially performed. The processor is configured to restore the preferred logical volume stored in a first storage device to be restored among the multiple storage devices into a spare storage device other than the multiple storage devices using restoration data read from the multiple storage devices except for the first storage device. | 03-10-2016 |
20160070491 | INFORMATION PROCESSOR, COMPUTER-READABLE RECORDING MEDIUM IN WHICH INPUT/OUTPUT CONTROL PROGRAM IS RECORDED, AND METHOD FOR CONTROLLING INPUT/OUTPUT - An I/O controller simultaneously performs first I/O control on a plurality of storing devices, which configure a redundant system, in accordance with a first I/O request from an upper application. An response processor outputs, when the response processor receives a process completion notification from a first storing device that is one of the plurality of storing devices as a result of the first I/O control simultaneously performed on the plurality of storing devices, a completion response representing completion of a process related to the first I/O request to the upper application. This configuration makes it possible to rapidly respond to the I/O control of the upper application with a process completion and to reduce the time length occupied by the I/O control of the upper application. | 03-10-2016 |
20160070492 | STORAGE SYSTEM - A method for storing a data segment in a storage tier of a storage unit comprising at least two storage tiers includes receiving the data segment to be stored including metadata; receiving metadata of data segments stored in the storage unit; and determining the storage tier to store the received data segment to and a protection level dependent on the metadata received and dependent on the metadata of the received data segment. | 03-10-2016 |
20160070497 | METHOD AND APPARATUS TO CHANGE TIERS - Systems and methods directed to changing tiers for a storage area that utilizes thin provisioning. Systems and methods check the area subject to a tier change command and change the tier based on the tier specified in the tier change command, and the tier presently associated with the targeted storage area. The pages of the systems and methods may be further restricted to one file per page. | 03-10-2016 |
20160077743 | SHARED-BANDWIDTH MULTIPLE TARGET REMOTE COPY - In one embodiment, a method is provided for sharing bandwidth in a data processing system having a plurality of locations. The method includes splitting data into a plurality of data elements. The method also includes sending, from a sender, each one of the plurality of data elements to a different location selected from the plurality of locations. The method further includes sending a message from the sender to each of the locations receiving one of the data elements, where the message is sent from the sender separate from the data elements. The message includes information about the data elements, and for each location receiving one of the data elements, an address of the location. The message includes all of the addresses of all of the locations of the plurality of locations receiving one of the data elements of the data. | 03-17-2016 |
20160077750 | DATA SET MANAGEMENT - Provided are a computer program product, system, and method for an application to provide for, in one embodiment, using hierarchical storage management to respond to a request to delete a data set by migrating the data set to another storage tier in a storage system before deleting the data set from its current location. As a result, the data set is stored on another tier to provide an opportunity to reverse the decision to delete the data set. In one embodiment, a temporary interval of time is provided to reverse the deletion decision and restore the data set from the migrated data set, before the data set is permanently deleted. | 03-17-2016 |
20160077752 | Fibre Channel Storage Array Methods for Handling Cache-Consistency Among Controllers of an Array and Consistency Among Arrays of a Pool - Storage arrays, systems and methods for operating storage arrays for maintaining consistency in configuration data between processes running on an active controller and a standby controller of the storage array are provided. One example method includes executing a primary process in user space of the active controller. The primary process is configured to process request commands from one or more initiators, and the primary process has access to a volume manager for serving data input/output (I/O) requests and non-I/O requests. The primary process has primary access to the configuration data and includes a first logical unit (LU) cache for storing the configuration data. The method also includes executing a secondary process in user space of the standby controller. The secondary process is configured to process request commands from one or more of the initiators, wherein the secondary process does not have access to the volume manger. The secondary process has a second LU cache for storing the configuration data, and the second LU cache is used by the secondary process for responding to non-I/O requests. The method includes receiving, at the primary process, an update to the configuration data and sending, by the primary process, the update to the configuration data to the secondary process for updating the second LU cache. When the primary process receives an acknowledgement from the secondary process that the update to the configuration data was received, then the updates to the configuration data are committed to the first LU cache of the active controller. | 03-17-2016 |
20160077755 | Storage Array Reservation Forwarding - A method is provided for a destination storage system to handle SCSI-3 reservations. The method includes discovering a volume on a source storage system when the source storage system exports the volume to the destination storage system, exporting the volume to host computer systems, locally registering keys for first paths to the destination storage system, and registering with the source storage system the keys for second paths to the source storage system. When one of the host computer systems requests to reserve the volume, the method includes locally reserving the volume for paths to the destination storage system with registered keys and performing reservation forwarding to request the source storage system to reserve the volume for paths to the source storage system with registered keys. | 03-17-2016 |
20160077763 | DYNAMIC RECONFIGURATION OF STORAGE SYSTEM - A storage system is dynamically reconfigured. The storage system includes storage pools that each include one or more storage disks. Storage pools to be expanded are determined as target storage pools. For the target storage pools, source storage disks to be moved into the target storage pools are determined from other storage pools than the target storage pools in the storage system. The source storage disks are migrated to the respective target storage pools. | 03-17-2016 |
20160085443 | APPARATUS, SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR DETERMINING COMPARISON INFORMATION BASED ON MEMORY DATA - Techniques and mechanisms for determining comparison information at a memory device. In an embodiment, the memory device receives from a memory controller signals that include or otherwise indicate an address corresponding to a memory location of the memory device. Where it is determined that the signals indicate a compare operation, the memory device retrieves data stored at the memory location, and performs a comparison of the data to a reference data value that is included in or otherwise indicated by the received signals. The memory device sends to the memory controller information representing a result of the comparison. In another embodiment, a memory controller provides signals to control a compare operation by such a memory device. | 03-24-2016 |
20160085454 | PERFORMING ASYNCHRONOUS DISCARD SCANS WITH STAGING AND DESTAGING OPERATIONS - A controller receives a request to perform staging or destaging operations with respect to an area of a cache. A determination is made as to whether one or more discard scans are being performed or queued for the area of the cache. In response to determining that one or more discard scans are being performed or queued for the area of the cache, the controller avoids satisfying the request to perform the staging or the destaging operations or a read hit with respect to the area of the cache. | 03-24-2016 |
20160085463 | STORAGE SYSTEM HAVING A CHANNEL CONTROL FUNCTION USING A PLURALITY OF PROCESSORS - Storage system: wherein processor number information includes at least one logical unit number and at least one processor number of storage nodes; wherein transfer list index/processor number information includes a processor number for identifying a processor from among processors of the plurality of storage nodes, and index information for identifying a transfer list including instruction which the processor sends to the protocol processor; wherein a local router determines a first processor from among the processors of the plurality of storage nodes which is to be a transfer destination of a write request based on processor number information in response to the write request from the host computer through the protocol processor; wherein the first processor generates and sends to the protocol processor a first transfer list which includes instruction for processing, and generates first index information which is an index of the first transfer list upon receiving the write request. | 03-24-2016 |
20160085469 | STORAGE SYSTEM - A method for storing a data segment in a storage tier of a storage unit comprising at least two storage tiers includes receiving the data segment to be stored including metadata; receiving metadata of data segments stored in the storage unit; and determining the storage tier to store the received data segment to and a protection level dependent on the metadata received and dependent on the metadata of the received data segment. | 03-24-2016 |
20160092109 | PERFORMANCE OF DE-CLUSTERED DISK ARRAY - Embodiments of the present invention relate to a method and apparatus for improving performance of a de-clustered disk array by making statistics on a number and types of active input/output (I/O) requests of each of the plurality of physical disks; dividing the plurality of physical disks at least into a first schedule group and a second schedule group based on the statistic number and types of the active I/O requests of the each physical disk for a predetermined time period, the first schedule group having a first schedule priority, the second schedule group having a second schedule priority higher than the first schedule priority; and selecting, in a decreasing order of the schedule priority, a physical disk for schedule from one of the resulting schedule groups thereby preventing too many I/O requests from concentrating on some physical disks and thereby improve overall performance of a de-clustered RAID. | 03-31-2016 |
20160103624 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR RAID MANAGEMENT, REALLOCATION, AND RESTRIPPING - The present disclosure relates to systems and methods for RAID Restriping. One method includes selecting an initial RAID device for migration based on at least one score, creating an alternate RAID device, moving data from the initial RAID device to the alternate RAID device, and removing the initial RAID device. The method may be performed automatically by the system or manually. The method may be performed periodically, continuously, after every RAID device migration, upon addition of disk drives, and/or before removal of disk drives, etc. One system includes a RAID subsystem and a disk manager configured to automatically calculate a score for each RAID device, select a RAID device based on the relative scores of the RAID devices, create an alternate RAID device, move data from the selected RAID device to the alternate RAID device, and remove the selected RAID device. | 04-14-2016 |
20160110129 | ASSIGNING LOCK RESOURCES TO OBJECTS - Embodiments of the present disclosure provide a method and apparatus for assigning lock resources to objects by obtaining a first alternative lock for the object, and determining first correlations between the object and each of one or more other objects when the first alternative lock has been assigned to the one or more other objects, wherein in response to determining that each of the first correlations is lower than a predetermined threshold, assign the first alternative lock to the object, and may maximize the possibility of parallel execution and reduce the time waiting for lock resources, thereby avoiding lock contention. | 04-21-2016 |
20160117103 | Primary Data Storage System with Quality of Service - The invention is directed to a primary data storage system for use in a computer network in which a network allows user computers to transfer data to/from the primary data storage system. In one embodiment, the primary data storage system allows an administrator of the computer network to define two or more volumes on the primary data storage system and define quality of service goals for each volume. The primary data storage system operates so as allocate resources within the primary data storage system to the volumes based upon criticality and performance goals specified for each of the volumes. | 04-28-2016 |
20160117107 | High Performance Hadoop with New Generation Instances - The present invention is generally directed to a distributed computing system comprising a plurality of computational clusters, each computational cluster comprising a plurality of compute optimized instances, each instance comprising local instance data storage and in communication with reserved disk storage, wherein processing hierarchy provides priority to local instance data storage before providing priority to reserved disk storage. | 04-28-2016 |
20160117120 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR OPTIMIZING WRITE ACCESSES IN A STORAGE ARRAY - A method may include storing data in one or more first-type stripes spanning a plurality of N storage resources and having N−1 data strips for storing the data and a parity strip for storing parity information for the data stored to the particular first-type stripe and each of the plurality of storage resources includes one of a data strip or a parity strip of the particular first-type stripe if the data to be stored exceeds a threshold size. If the data to be stored does not exceed a threshold size, the method may include storing the data in a second-type stripe and a third-type stripe each spanning N storage resources, such that each stripe comprises N−1 data strips for storing the data and a metadata strip for storing address information for the corresponding second-type strip or third-type strip. | 04-28-2016 |
20160117121 | LOGICAL BLOCK ADDRESSES USED FOR EXECUTING HOST COMMANDS - A logical block address space of a storage compute device is reserved for use in executing commands from a host. The logical block address space is not mapped to a physical address space. First data is received at a first portion of the logical block address space, the first data causing a computation to be performed by the storage compute device. Second data is sent to the host via a second portion of the logical block address space, the second data describing a result of the computation. | 04-28-2016 |
20160117126 | Distributed Object Storage System Comprising Low Power Storage Nodes - A storage node for a distributed object storage system, comprising a control board configured to receive a parameter for setting predetermined allowable temperature ranges through a serial port, and sending a signal through said serial port for indicating one or more of said measurements of temperatures lies outside said predetermined allowable ranges. The control board is further configured to receive a parameter for controlling the switching on or off the storage elements through said serial port by sending a signal through said serial port to indicate which storage elements is switched on or off. | 04-28-2016 |
20160117127 | COMPOUND STORAGE SYSTEM AND STORAGE CONTROL METHOD TO CONFIGURE CHANGE ASSOCIATED WITH AN OWNER RIGHT TO SET THE CONFIGURATION CHANGE - One or more storage systems are connected to one or more storage boxes comprising multiple storage devices. Multiple storage areas provided by one or more storage boxes include an allocated area, which is a storage area that is allocated to a virtual volume, and an empty area, which is a storage area that is not allocated to any logical volume. Multiple owner rights corresponding to multiple storage areas are set in one or more storage systems. A storage system having an empty area owner right changes an empty area to the allocated area by allocating the empty area. In a case where a configuration change (a relative change in the number of storage boxes with respect to the number of storage systems) is performed, a first storage system that exists after the configuration change sets, in the first storage system, either more or fewer owner rights than the owner rights, which have been allocated to the first storage system before the configuration change. | 04-28-2016 |
20160117133 | PARITY LOGS FOR RAID SYSTEMS WITH VARIABLE CAPACITY MEDIA - Embodiments of the invention provide parity logs for raid systems with variable-capacity media. In one embodiment, a system includes a first set of data storage media devices having variable capacity. The storage devices include a data portion of a parity data set for storing write data being striped to the first. The system further includes a second set of data storage media devices having variable capacity. The second set includes a linear address space of blocks for storing a parity portion of the parity data set. The linear address space is written in a log form. The first and second sets comprise at least one array in a RAID configuration. The system writes the parity portion of the parity data set to the second set, which enables each storage device among the first set to be written to full capacity. | 04-28-2016 |
20160124657 | DETERMINISTICALLY SHARING A PLURALITY OF PROCESSING RESOURCES - A method for deterministic sharing of a plurality of processing resources with respect to one or more distributed network actionable items begins by the plurality of processing resources executing a scoring function using one or more properties of the one or more distributed network actionable items and one or more properties of each of the plurality of processing resources to produce a plurality of scoring resultants. The method continues with each of the plurality of processing resources independently determining a first priority processing resource of the plurality of processing resources based on a corresponding one of the plurality of scoring resultants for a first distributed network actionable item of the one or more distributed network actionable items. The method continues with the first priority processing resource assuming by responsibility for the first distributed network actionable item and executing one or more functions regarding the first distributed network actionable item. | 05-05-2016 |
20160124661 | DISK ARRAY DEVICE, DISK CONTROL DEVICE, SOLID STATE DRIVE, DISK CONTROL METHOD, AND RECORDING MEDIUM - A disk array device is provided that enables distinction between an UNMAPPED state of LBA in a SSD and abnormality of data. The disk array device includes a solid state drive that provides status information indicating whether a physical region constituting a unit to be deleted is allocated to a logical block addressing, and control means which, upon receipt of zero data in which values of data and a trailer are all zero from the solid state drive, transmits the data to a host apparatus in accordance with the status information provided. | 05-05-2016 |
20160124666 | COMPUTER SYSTEM AND MANAGEMENT METHOD FOR COMPUTER SYSTEM - A computer system, having: a storage apparatus having: a storage volume constructed by a physical resource; a host computer having a storage volume assigned from the storage apparatus; management computers having: a first management computer configured to manage the storage apparatus; and a second management computer configured to manage the host computer, the second management computer including: first template information for identifying a change that occurs in the host configuration information; and management subject resource relationship information, the first management computer being configured to notify, before the management operation accompanying the configuration change is carried out for the storage apparatus, the second management computer of a change that occurs in the storage configuration information, the second management computer being configured to identify the change that occurs in the host configuration information based on the change that occurs in the storage configuration information notified by the first management computer. | 05-05-2016 |
20160132239 | MANAGEMENT OF EXTENT CHECKING IN A STORAGE CONTROLLER DURING COPY SERVICES OPERATIONS - A storage controller receives a request to avoid extent conflict checking from a host application executing in a host that is coupled to the storage controller. In response to receiving a request, a host I/O process that executes in the storage controller to satisfy I/O requests from the host application opportunistically releases a track of an extent to a copy services process at an earliest point in time when the track of the extent is longer needed by the host I/O process and is needed by the copy services process. | 05-12-2016 |
20160132254 | STORAGE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM, MANAGEMENT DEVICE AND METHOD THEREFOR - A storage management method, includes steps: detecting sizes of shared storage spaces of all terminal devices joined in a sharing system; dividing the all terminal devices into a number of device groups randomly; classifying the terminal devices of each group into a number of kinds of terminal devices according to the sizes of the shared storage spaces of the terminal devices of each device group; mapping the shared storage spaces of each kind of terminal device of each device group to one corresponding virtual disk of one row of a virtual disk array card; and determining a size of a file to be stored when receiving a storing request, and selecting a virtual disk with size nearest to and greater than or equal to that of the file from one row randomly, and storing the file into the terminal devices mapping to the selected virtual disk. | 05-12-2016 |
20160132258 | Enhanced Reconstruction in an Array of Information Storage Devices by Physical Disk Reduction without Losing Data - An information handling system and method provide for receiving a request to remove a selected physical disk from a disk group realizing a virtual disk in a redundant array data storage subsystem, determining whether removal of the selected physical disk is feasible, and, when feasible, removing the selected physical disk from the disk group without deleting the virtual disk realized by the disk group and reconstructing the virtual disk to be realized by the disk group using only the proposed number of physical disks, wherein the proposed number of physical disks is less than an initial number of physical disks of the disk group. | 05-12-2016 |
20160132261 | STORAGE SYSTEM WHICH MAKES BACKUPS OF INPUT DATA - An image forming apparatus (storage system) has a first and a second HDD, and a temporary storage unit. The apparatus divides input data into a first and a second divided data pieces and writes the first and the second divided data pieces in the temporary storage unit. The apparatus transfers the written first divided data piece to the first HDD and transfers the written second divided data piece to the second HDD. The apparatus copies the transferred first and second divided data pieces into the temporary storage unit. The apparatus makes a backup of the copied first divided data piece in the second HDD, and makes a backup of the copied second divided data piece in the first HDD. | 05-12-2016 |
20160132262 | DATA BACKUP PRIORITIZATION - A method for prioritizing data backup requests includes assigning priority values to a plurality of parameters, each parameter being associated with a plurality of data backup requests. The data backup requests can be sorted according to a primary parameter based on the priority values to prioritize the data backup requests. The data backup requests can also be sorted according to a secondary parameter when at least two of the data backup requests have a same primary parameter priority value. | 05-12-2016 |
20160132263 | STORING DATA ACROSS A PLURALITY OF STORAGE NODES - Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for storing data on storage nodes. In one aspect, a method includes receiving a file to be stored across a plurality of storage nodes each including a cache. The is stored by storing portions of the file each on a different storage node. A first portion is written to a first storage node's cache until determining that the first storage node's cache is full. A different second storage node is selected in response to determining that the first storage node's cache is full. For each portion of the file, a location of the portion is recorded, the location indicating at least a storage node storing the portion. | 05-12-2016 |
20160132272 | INFORMATION PROCESSING APPARATUS, COMMUNICATION METHOD AND INFORMATION PROCESSING SYSTEM - An information processing apparatus, among a plurality of information processing apparatuses, to which one of pieces of local data is assigned, the pieces of local data having been obtained by dividing global data shared by the plurality of information processing apparatuses, includes: a storage unit that includes a first storage area sectioned into prescribed units, and stores local data; a processor that executes a process including: detecting a plurality of continuous sections to which the target local data is to be written in a second storage area that is sectioned into the prescribed units in the different information processing apparatus, on the basis of storage area information that identifies data to which the target local data corresponds in the global data; and extracting as many pieces of local data as specified by the number of the continuous sections and transmitting the data to the different information processing apparatus. | 05-12-2016 |
20160139816 | DATA PROCESSING APPARATUS AND DATA PROCESSING METHOD - A data processing apparatus for accessing a plurality of memories is provided. The data processing apparatus includes a function control circuitry and an address generation circuitry. The function control circuitry is utilized to record a first memory address where a first function is implemented after the first function is implemented and to determine which one of the plurality of memories is a target memory according to the first memory address. The address generation circuitry is utilized to output the first memory address to the target memory. In addition, the function control circuitry is configured to determine the target memory in the same processing cycle in which the address generation circuitry is configured to output the first memory address. | 05-19-2016 |
20160139820 | PERFORMANCE-BASED GROUPING OF STORAGE DEVICES IN A STORAGE SYSTEM - A computer determines an intrinsic read speed and an intrinsic write speed associated with a first disk and a second disk. The computer receives a request to read a portion of data, wherein the portion of data is stored redundantly on both the first and second disk. The computer identifies a first latency associated with reading the portion of data from the first disk, where the first latency is based on at least the intrinsic read speed and the intrinsic write speed associated with the first disk. The computer identifies a second latency associated with reading the portion of data form the second disk, wherein the second latency is based on at least the intrinsic read speed and the intrinsic write speed associated with the second disk. The computer determines that the first latency exceeds the second latency. The computer selects the second disk to read the portion of data. | 05-19-2016 |
20160139834 | Automatic Configuration of Local Storage Resources - A management controller is provided for provisioning a server with local storage. The management controller receives a service profile that includes a set of local storage criteria. The management controller associates the first service profile with a physical server, and directs a storage controller to create one or more virtual drives that conform to the set of local storage criteria. The management controller provides local storage for the physical server from the virtual drive. | 05-19-2016 |
20160139835 | Elastic File System Management in Storage Cloud Environments - A mechanism is provided in a data processing system for elastic data storage management in a storage network. A data storage system manager in the data processing system monitors remaining free space of a plurality of data storage systems. The data storage system manager determines a rate of change of remaining free space of each data storage system. Responsive to determining that the remaining free space or rate of change of remaining free space of at least one data storage exceeds a threshold, the data storage system manager determines an amount to expand or shrink a given data storage system in the storage network. The data storage system manager configures data storage allocation to expand or shrink the given data storage system by the determined amount. | 05-19-2016 |
20160139836 | UNIFIED SNAPSHOT STORAGE MANAGEMENT - An illustrative approach to managing snapshots streamlines how and when snapshots are generated in a storage management system, such that fewer snapshots may be generated without diminishing the scope of data protection. A novel unified-snapshot storage policy may govern snapshots for any number of subclients. A unified-snapshot job based on the unified-snapshot storage policy enables the illustrative storage management system to automatically discover relevant components and generate at most one snapshot per target logical unit number (“LUN”) in a storage array. Each snapshot may comprise the data of any number of subclients and/or clients in the storage management system. Accordingly, one unified-snapshot job may yield a minimum but sufficient number of snapshots comprising data of all subclients associated with the governing unified-snapshot storage policy. An enhanced storage manager may manage the unified-snapshot jobs. One or more enhanced media agents and/or data agents may participate in the unified-snapshot jobs and in subsequent cataloguing of the snapshots. | 05-19-2016 |
20160139838 | N-WAY MERGE TECHNIQUE FOR UPDATING VOLUME METADATA IN A STORAGE I/O STACK - A three-way merge technique efficiently updates metadata in accordance with a three-way merge operation managed by a volume layer of a storage input/output (I/O) stack executing on one or more nodes of a cluster. The metadata is embodied as mappings from logical block addresses (LBAs) of a logical unit (LUN) accessible by a host to durable extent keys, and is organized as a multi-level dense tree. The mappings are organized such that a higher level of the dense tree contains more recent mappings than a next lower level, i.e., the level immediately below. The three-way merge operation is an efficient (i.e., optimized) way of updating the volume metadata mappings of the dense tree by merging the mapping content of all three levels in a single iteration, as opposed to merging the content of the first level with the content of the second level in a first iteration of a two-way merge operation and then merging the results of the first iteration with the content of the third level in a second iteration of the operation. | 05-19-2016 |
20160139844 | IMPERSONATING SCSI PORTS THROUGH AN INTERMEDIATE PROXY - Methods, apparatus and computer program products implement embodiments of the present invention that include ascertaining, by a first storage system, a respective port identifier for each of one or more host ports defined to the first storage system for a logical volume stored on a second storage system. Examples of the port identifiers include WWPN and iSCSI iQN identifiers. A respective unique identifier is assigned to each of the ascertained one or more host ports, and for each of the one or more host ports, the respective port identifier and the assigned respective unique identifier are conveyed to the second storage system. Upon receiving, from one of the one or more host ports, an input/output (I/O) request for the logical volume, I/O request with the respective unique identifier of the one of the one or more host ports is conveyed to the second storage system. | 05-19-2016 |
20160147465 | USING GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION INFORMATION TO PROVISION A TARGET STORAGE FOR A SOURCE DEVICE - Provided are a computer program product, system, and method for using geographical location information to provision one or more target storages for a source device. A determination is made of a geographical location of the source device and of geographical locations of the target storages. A determination is made of one of the target storages whose distance from the source device based on the geographical locations of the source device and the target storages satisfies at least one distance requirement. A configuration procedure is initiated to configure the source device and the determined target storage to have the source data backed-up from the source device to the target storage over the network. | 05-26-2016 |
20160154587 | MAPPING OF LOGICAL VOLUMES TO HOST CLUSTERS | 06-02-2016 |
20160154595 | DATA ARCHIVE SYSTEM | 06-02-2016 |
20160154596 | MULTIPLE ENDIANNESS COMPATIBILITY | 06-02-2016 |
20160154599 | SAVING LOG DATA USING A DISK SYSTEM AS PRIMARY CACHE AND A TAPE LIBRARY AS SECONDARY CACHE | 06-02-2016 |
20160162209 | DATA STORAGE CONTROLLER - A data storage controller for controlling data storage in a storage environment comprising at least one of: a backend storage system of a first type in which data volumes are stored on storage devices physically associated with respective machines; and a backend storage system of a second type in which data volumes are stored on storage devices virtually associated with respective machines, the controller comprising: a configuration data store including configuration data which defines for each data volume at least one primary mount, wherein a primary mount is a machine with which the data volume is associated; a volume manager connected to access the configuration data store and having a command interface configured to receive commands to act on a data volume; and a plurality of convergence agents, each associated with a backend storage system and operable to implement a command received from the volume manager by executing steps to control its backend storage system, wherein the volume manager is configured to receive a command which defines an operation on the data volume which is agnostic of, and does not vary with, the backend storage system type in which the data volume to be acted on is stored, and to direct a command instruction to a convergence agent based on the configuration data for the data volume, wherein the convergence agent is operable to act on the command instruction to execute the operation in its back end storage system. | 06-09-2016 |
20160170639 | SCALING PERFORMANCE FOR RAID STORAGE CONTROLLERS BY PREDICTIVELY CACHING DATA FOR HOST WRITE REQUESTS | 06-16-2016 |
20160170660 | FINE-GRAINED CONTROL OF DATA PLACEMENT | 06-16-2016 |
20160170661 | MULTIDIMENSIONAL PARTITIONED STORAGE ARRAY AND METHOD UTILIZING INPUT SHIFTERS TO ALLOW MULTIPLE ENTIRE COLUMNS OR ROWS TO BE ACCESSED IN A SINGLE CLOCK CYCLE | 06-16-2016 |
20160170662 | PERFORMANCE-BASED GROUPING OF STORAGE DEVICES IN A STORAGE SYSTEM | 06-16-2016 |
20160170673 | PROCESSING INPUT/OUTPUT REQUESTS USING PROXY AND OWNER STORAGE SYSTEMS | 06-16-2016 |
20160170685 | Method and System for Improving Cache Performance of a Redundant Disk Array Controller | 06-16-2016 |
20160179403 | STORAGE CONTROLLER, STORAGE DEVICE, STORAGE SYSTEM, AND SEMICONDUCTOR STORAGE DEVICE | 06-23-2016 |
20160179405 | DATA STORAGE RESOURCE ASSIGNMENT | 06-23-2016 |
20160182498 | SEPARATED USE MOBILE DEVICES | 06-23-2016 |
20160188211 | OPTIMIZING THIN PROVISIONING IN A DATA STORAGE SYSTEM THROUGH SELECTIVE USE OF MULTIPLE GRAIN SIZES - A data storage system includes a pre-cache and a plurality of storage devices across which a data storage array is distributed. In response to receipt of a write request specifying a logical address and write data, the data storage system buffers the write request among a plurality of write requests in the pre-cache without provisioning in the data storage array a physical extent corresponding to the logical address. A management node analyzes the plurality of write requests buffered in the pre-cache. In response to the analyzing identifying a first pattern of write requests, the management node provisions, in the data storage array, a first physical extent having a smaller grain size and destages the write data to the first physical extent. In response to the analyzing identifying a second pattern of write requests, the management node provisions a second physical extent having a larger grain size and destages the write data from the pre-cache to the second physical extent. | 06-30-2016 |
20160188225 | Storage controlling system and storage controlling apparatus - A storage controlling system, coupled to a storage apparatus including storage disk devices, receives writing target data, generates a parity in units of parity generation of a given length for the data, and stores the data and parity into the devices. The system includes a cache memory and controller. The controller includes: a reception section receiving a writing instruction including the writing target data and information for specifying a target sector to write the data to; a decision section deciding whether processing target data is held in the cache memory, the processing target data including at least one unit of parity generation that includes sector data stored in the sector and fraction data other than the sector data; and a writing processing section updating, when the processing target data is in the cache memory, the data based on the instruction and outputting the post-update data as the writing target data to the apparatus. | 06-30-2016 |
20160188229 | REDUCING INPUT/OUTPUT (I/O) OPERATIONS FOR CENTRALIZED BACKUP AND STORAGE - Techniques are described for reducing I/O operations and storage capacity requirements for centralized backup storage systems. A central server optimizes the collection and centralization of backup data from a number of endpoint devices for backup purposes. The central server utilizes a single instance store and a persistent files cache to minimize the number of backup copies for each non-unique file, reduce storage usage, network traffic, memory footprint and CPU cycles required to identify and process non-unique data. For each file in the single instance store, the server tracks the source device of that file until a threshold number of devices have been reached. Once the file reaches the threshold number of sources, the file is marked as persistent and its hash value is placed in the persistent files cache. Thereafter, all pointer creation and reference counting for that file cease. | 06-30-2016 |
20160188241 | LUN MANAGEMENT WITH DISTRIBUTED RAID CONTROLLERS - A system and method is described for operating a computer memory system having a plurality of controllers capable of accessing a common set of memory modules. Access to the physical storage of the memory modules may be managed by configuration logical units (LUNs) addressable by the users. The amount of memory associated with each LUN may be managed in units of memory (LMA) from a same free LMA table maintained in each controller of the plurality of controllers. A request for maintenance of a LUN may be received from any user through any controller and results in the association of a free memory area with the LUN, and the remaining controllers perform the same operation. A test for misallocation of a free memory area is performed and when such misallocation occurs, the situation is corrected in accordance with a policy. | 06-30-2016 |
20160188487 | REDUNDANT DISK ARRAY USING HETEROGENEOUS DISKS - A redundant disk array method includes allocating identically sized logical blocks of storage units together to form a stripe on each of several data storage devices, at least two of the logical blocks in the stripe being located on different data storage devices, generating a lookup table representing a mapping between a logical location of each logical block in the stripe and a physical location of the respective logical block on the corresponding data storage device, and electronically writing data to the physical locations of each logical block in the stripe, the physical locations being obtained from the lookup table. In some cases, at least two of the data storage devices are heterogeneous, and at least two of the data storage devices have a different total number of logical blocks. | 06-30-2016 |
20160196065 | ORDERING OF PARALLEL DATA STORAGE BASED ON DIE PROGRAMMING DURATIONS | 07-07-2016 |
20160196077 | STORAGE SYSTEM HAVING A CHANNEL CONTROL FUNCTION USING A PLURALITY OF PROCESSORS | 07-07-2016 |
20160196078 | MESH TOPOLOGY STORAGE CLUSTER WITH AN ARRAY BASED MANAGER | 07-07-2016 |
20160196089 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ADAPTIVE DATA TRANSFERS WITH LIMITED RESOURCES | 07-07-2016 |
20160196090 | RECOGNIZING HARD DISK MOVEMENT | 07-07-2016 |
20160202911 | EFFICIENT STORAGE TIERING | 07-14-2016 |
20160202920 | System and Method for Providing Consistent Metadata for RAID Solutions | 07-14-2016 |
20160202924 | DIAGONAL ORGANIZATION OF MEMORY BLOCKS IN A CIRCULAR ORGANIZATION OF MEMORIES | 07-14-2016 |
20160202928 | Virtual Tape Library | 07-14-2016 |
20160203080 | MULTI-NODE CACHE COHERENCY WITH INPUT OUTPUT VIRTUALIZATION | 07-14-2016 |
20160253092 | I/O PERFORMANCE IN RESILIENT ARRAYS OF COMPUTER STORAGE DEVICES | 09-01-2016 |
20160253108 | MULTI-DEVICE STORAGE WITH CONSOLIDATED CHANNEL AND CONTROL CIRCUITRY | 09-01-2016 |
20160253109 | PEER TO PEER VOLUME EXTENSION IN A SHARED STORAGE ENVIRONMENT | 09-01-2016 |
20160253114 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR OPTIMIZING DATA STORAGE IN HETEROGENEOUS ENVIRONMENT | 09-01-2016 |
20160378339 | REDUCING STRESS ON RAIDS UNDER REBUILD - A method for reducing stress on a RAID under rebuild is disclosed herein. In one embodiment, such a method includes performing the following actions while the RAID is undergoing a rebuild process: (1) redirect writes intended for the RAID to a temporary storage area located on a same primary storage system as the RAID, and (2) redirect reads intended for the RAID to a secondary storage system configured to store a copy of data in the RAID. The method is further configured to perform the following actions upon completing the rebuild process: (3) update the rebuilt RAID to reflect writes made to the temporary storage area during the rebuild process, and (2) redirect reads and writes to the rebuilt RAID. A corresponding system and computer program product are also disclosed. | 12-29-2016 |
20160378348 | METHODS AND APPARATUS TO MANAGE INTER-VIRTUAL DISK RELATIONS IN A MODULARIZED VIRTUALIZATION TOPOLOGY USING VIRTUAL HARD DISKS - Methods, apparatus and articles of manufacture are disclosed to manage inter-virtual disk relations in a modularized virtualization topology using virtual hard disks. An example method includes, in response to a request to access a first virtual hard disk in a virtual computing environment, determining, with a machine, whether an inter-virtual hard disk rule associated with a second virtual hard disk is invoked and whether a condition of the inter-virtual hard disk rule is satisfied. The example method also includes identifying, with the machine, a response action if the inter-virtual hard disk rule is invoked and the condition is satisfied, and executing the response action with the machine. | 12-29-2016 |
20160378353 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DYNAMICALLY ALLOCATING STORAGE RESOURCES TO COMPUTE NODES - Provided are a method, system, computer readable storage medium, and switch for configuring a switch to assign partitions in storage devices to compute nodes. A management controller configures the switch to dynamically allocate partitions of at least one of the storage devices to the compute nodes based on a workload at the compute node. | 12-29-2016 |
20160378356 | ALIGNING MEMORY ACCESS OPERATIONS TO A GEOMETRY OF A STORAGE DEVICE - Aligning memory access operations to a geometry of a storage device, including: receiving, by a storage array controller, information describing the layout of memory in the storage device; determining, by the storage array controller, a write size in dependence upon the layout of memory in the storage device; and sending, by the storage array controller, a write request addressed to a location within the memory unit in dependence upon the layout of memory in the storage device. | 12-29-2016 |
20160378360 | METHODS AND APPARATUS TO ENFORCE LIFE CYCLE RULES IN A MODULARIZED VIRTUALIZATION TOPOLOGY USING VIRTUAL HARD DISKS - Methods, apparatus and articles of manufacture are disclosed to enforce life cycle rules in a modularized virtualization topology using virtual hard disks. An example method includes, in response to a request to access a first virtual hard disk in a virtual computing environment, identifying, with a processor, a life cycle stage. The example method also includes determining, with the processor, whether a condition associated with the life cycle stage applies to the first virtual hard disk. The example method also includes refusing, with the processor, to mount, refusing to dis-mount, mounting or dis-mounting the first virtual hard disk if the condition is satisfied. | 12-29-2016 |
20160378363 | Dynamic Transitioning of Protection Information in Array Systems - A system, method, and computer program product is described for providing dynamic enabling and/or disabling of protection information (PI) in array systems during operation. A storage system receives a request to transition a volume from PI disabled to PI enabled during regular operation. The storage system synchronizes and purges the cache associated with the target volume. The storage system initiates an immediate availability format (IAF-PI) process to initialize PI for the associated data blocks of the volume's storage devices. The storage system continues receiving I/O requests as the IAF-PI process sweeps through the storage devices. The storage system inserts and checks PI for the write data as it is written to the storage devices. The storage system inserts PI for requested data above the IAF-PI boundary and checks PI for requested data below the IAF-PI boundary. The transition remains an online process that avoids downtime. | 12-29-2016 |
20160378364 | DATA MANAGEMENT FOR OBJECT BASED STORAGE - An object based storage cluster includes at least one Data Storage Device (DSD) with a plurality of media portions for storing data. Media mapping information is received from the at least one DSD with the media mapping information indicating addresses assigned to each media portion of the plurality of media portions. Each media portion of the plurality of media portions is identified as a separate Object Storage Device (OSD) in the object based storage cluster using the media mapping information. | 12-29-2016 |
20160378371 | HOST-SIDE ACCELERATION FOR IMPROVED STORAGE GRID PERFORMANCE - Various embodiments for data management in a storage grid, by a processor device, are provided. In one embodiment, a method comprises directing data Input/Output (I/O) operations from a host to an owning node according to a Logical Block Address (LBA) without a static assignment of ownership, notwithstanding any relationship between the host and the storage grid. | 12-29-2016 |
20160378376 | MANAGING STORAGE ARRAY CONFIGURATION - Embodiments of the present disclosure provide a method and a device of managing storage array configuration by storing a basic configuration information of a user drive onto a system drive; storing an extended configuration information of the user drive onto the user drive, and in response to a change of the storage array, creating a new disk array group or updating a disk array group according to the basic configuration information and the extended configuration information. | 12-29-2016 |
20160378385 | DISK DEVICE AND CONTROL METHOD - According to one embodiment, a magnetic disk device includes a disk including a first region and a second region, a head configured to record write data to the disk, a buffer configured to store the write data up to a first capacity, and a controller configured to obtain a first processing amount based on a time to save the write data to the first region by the head and a second processing amount improved by saving the write data from the buffer to the first region, compare the first processing amount with the second processing amount, and determine whether the write data should be saved to the first region, based on a result of the comparison between the first processing amount and the second processing amount. | 12-29-2016 |
20160378386 | LOW POWER STORAGE ARRAY WITH METADATA ACCESS - A computer system for low power storage array with metadata access includes sequentially writing data to a currently active disk drive in a storage array and storing metadata relating to the writes in a preallocated portion of the currently active disk drive, determining when the currently active disk drive is nearing full capacity, activating a next disk drive and cloning the stored metadata from the preallocated portion of the currently active disk drive to a preallocated portion of the next disk drive. When the currently active disk drive is full, sequentially writing data to the next disk drive. | 12-29-2016 |
20160378394 | SHIFTING A DEFRAG OPERATION IN A MIRRORED SYSTEM - A method for defragmenting volumes in a mirrored system. The method includes suspending one or more updates from being mirrored from a first set of tracks on a first server to a second set of tracks on a second server. A defragmenting process is performed on the second server. The defragmentation process stores a before and after mapping of the second set of tracks, wherein the before and after mapping includes information identifying at least one track of the second set of tracks and a corresponding first location of the respective track before the defragmenting and a second location of the respective track after the defragmenting. The method further includes, upon the defragment process completion, relocating at least one track of the first set of tracks on the first server according to the stored before and after mapping of the corresponding second set of tracks on the second server. | 12-29-2016 |
20160378405 | SCHEDULING STORAGE UNIT MAINTENANCE TASKS IN A DISPERSED STORAGE NETWORK - A method for execution by a dispersed storage and task (DST) execution unit includes generating low-load prediction data, which includes selecting a time period corresponding to a predicted low-load, based on a plurality of historical load samplings. Maintenance task scheduling data is generated based on the low-load prediction data. Generating the maintenance task scheduling data includes assigning a maintenance task to a scheduled time that is within the time period corresponding to the predicted low-load. The maintenance task is executed at the scheduled time. | 12-29-2016 |
20160378773 | DATA MOVER PERMITTING DATA TRANSFER WITHOUT TRANSFERRING DATA BETWEEN APPLICATION AND OPERATING SYSTEM - In a computer system with a disk array that has physical storage devices arranged as logical storage units and is capable of carrying out hardware storage operations on a per logical storage unit basis, data movement operations can be carried out on a per-file basis. A data mover software component for use in a computer or storage system enables cloning and initialization of data to provide high data throughput without moving the data between the kernel and application levels. | 12-29-2016 |
20170235500 | CALCULATING CUTOVER TIME IN A COPY-FREE TRANSITION OF STORAGE OBJECTS | 08-17-2017 |
20170235503 | MANAGING INPUT/OUTPUT ('I/O') QUEUES IN A DATA STORAGE SYSTEM | 08-17-2017 |
20170235507 | VIRTUALIZED FILE SERVER BACKUP TO CLOUD | 08-17-2017 |
20180024757 | Accelerator Resource Allocation and Pooling | 01-25-2018 |
20180024936 | Adapting Cache Processing Using Phase Libraries And Real Time Simulators | 01-25-2018 |
20190146686 | PEER TO PEER VOLUME EXTENSION IN A SHARED STORAGE ENVIRONMENT | 05-16-2019 |
20190146692 | SUPPORTING MPIO FOR LOGICAL VOLUME BACKED VIRTUAL DISKS | 05-16-2019 |
20190146702 | TECHNIQUES FOR DYNAMICALLY ALIGNING A PARTITION WITH A BLOCK SIZE BOUNDARY | 05-16-2019 |
20220137839 | FLEXIBLE DEPROVISIONING OF DISTRIBUTED STORAGE - Flexible deprovisioning of distributed storage is disclosed. For example, an orchestrator executes on a processor to measure a current storage demand factor based on a current count of service guests and a storage capacity of a plurality of storage nodes. A projected storage demand factor is calculated by (i) adjusting the current count of service guests with a timing factor resulting in a projected count, and (ii) combining the projected count with a storage class associated with the service guests. The orchestrator determines that the projected storage demand factor is lower than the current storage demand factor, and in response requests termination of a first storage node of the plurality of storage nodes based on the first storage node lacking an active communication session with the service guests. Cancel termination of the first storage node based on an association between the first storage node and a second storage node. | 05-05-2022 |
20220137884 | TEMPORARY DATA STORAGE IN DATA NODE OF DISTRIBUTED FILE SYSTEM - Proposed are concepts for providing resilience (i.e., fault tolerance) for the temporary data needs of a distributed file system. Such concepts may, for instance, provide a virtual storage layer in a data node of a distributed file system. The virtual storage layer may provide resilience for the temporary data needs of a Massively Parallel Processing (MPP) SQL on Hadoop engine. | 05-05-2022 |