Method and apparatus for maintaining inventory of logical volumes stored on storage elements
AssigneeEMC Corporation
InventorDavid Black
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Method and apparatus for keeping and maintaining inventory of logical entities stored in a computer storage system are disclosed. Identifying information for each user of a logical volume is maintained. As a part of the inventory process, this system may verify that the logical volume is still in use, for example by determining when it was last accessed and if a certain time threshold has been exceeded, verifying with the users of the logical entity that logical entity is no longer needed to be stored at its current location.
Claims30
A method of inventorying logical volumes in a computer storage system, the computer storage system comprising a plurality of storage elements coupled together with a communication network, the method comprising steps of:
- for each of a plurality of logical volumes, maintaining information identifying each user of the respective logical volume, wherein the respective logical volume may have multiple users;
- using at least a portion of the information to determine at least one of the users of at least one of the plurality of logical volumes;
- and
- based on the determination of the at least one user made using the at least a portion of the identifying information, verifying that the logical volume is still in use.
A storage element, comprising:
- a storage medium to store logical volumes;
- an access manager module configured to maintain identifying information for each user of the logical volumes stored on the storage medium, wherein the access manager module is configured to maintain information identifying multiple users for each of the logical volumes;
- and
- a verifier module, coupled to the access manager module, that uses at least a portion of the information identifying each user of the logical volumes to determine at least one of the users of at least one of the plurality of logical volumes and, based on the determination of the at least one user made using the at least a portion of the information identifying each user, performs verification that a logical volume is still in use.
storage management facility for a computer system that includes a plurality of storage elements and a plurality of host computers, comprising:
- an access manager module configured to maintain identifying information for each user of the logical volumes stored on the storage medium, wherein the access manager module is configured to maintain information identifying multiple users for each of the logical volumes;
- and
- a verifier module, coupled to the access manager module, that uses at least a portion of the information identifying each user of the logical volumes to determine at least one of the users of at least one of the plurality of logical volumes and, based on the determination of the at least one user made using the at least a portion of the information identifying each user, performs verification that a logical volume is still in use.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.