US 2013/0254482 A1 · STORAGE SYSTEM

Abstract

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.

Claims14

Dependent claims

A storage system coupled to a host apparatus, the storage system comprising:

a controller;
and
a plurality of storage devices including a first type of storage devices and a second type of storage devices, an attribute of the first type of storage devices being different from an attribute of the second type of storage devices,
the controller configured to:
manage at least a pool including a plurality of real pages, each of which is included in one of the plurality of storage devices;
provide a virtual volume to the host apparatus, the virtual volume including a plurality of virtual pages, to each of which a portion of the pool is allocated in accordance with a write command;
distribute data written in a first virtual page to a first group of real pages, the first group of real pages being included in a portion of the pool allocated to the first virtual page, the first group of real pages making up a redundant array and being selected from different storage devices of the first type of storage devices;
and
migrate data stored in the first group of real pages to the second type of storage devices so that each real page of the first group belongs to the second type of storage devices according to an access status of the first virtual page.

6 more elements

A method in a storage system coupled to a host apparatus and having a controller and a plurality of storage devices including a first type of storage devices and a second type of storage devices, an attribute of the first type of storage devices being different from an attribute of the second type of storage devices, the method comprising the steps of:

managing, by the controller, at least a pool including a plurality of real pages, each of which is included in one of the plurality of storage devices;
providing, by the controller, a virtual volume to the host apparatus, the virtual volume including a plurality of virtual pages, to each of which a portion of the pool is allocated in accordance with a write command;
distributing, by the controller, data written in a first virtual page to a first group of real pages, the first group of real pages being included in a portion of the pool allocated to the first virtual page, the first group of real pages making up a redundant array and being selected from different storage devices of the first type of storage devices;
and
migrating, by the controller, data stored in the first group of real pages to the second type of storage devices so that each real page of the first group belongs to the second type of storage devices according to an access status of the first virtual page.

2 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Storage system

Life of this patent

Storage system

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims14