System and method for resolving SAN fabric partitions
AssigneeSymantec Operating Corporation
InventorsPrasad Limaye, Anand Das, Amitava Guha
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Systems, methods, apparatus and software can combine information about host access to virtualization functionality and virtualization functionality access to storage, use this information in decisions pertaining to high availability of virtualization in an SAN. Upon detection of the partitioning of a SAN fabric, accessibility information is gathered. That information is analyzed to uncover potential failover scenarios, orchestrate such failovers, and in some cases select best case solutions from among several possible solutions based on access prioritization criteria (e.g., defined priority, maximum access, maximum I/O, etc.).
Claims32
A method comprising:
- receiving information indicating a partition of a storage area network (SAN) fabric into a plurality of subfabrics, wherein the SAN fabric includes a SAN device configured to present a virtual storage device;
- analyzing, in response to the receiving the information indicating the partition, information describing connectivity of the SAN device to at least one of a host computer system, a physical storage device, and another SAN device;
- determining whether the SAN device can continue to present the virtual storage device subsequent to the partition, in response to the analyzing the information describing connectivity of the SAN device;
- and
- allowing the virtual storage device to be accessed by at least one of the host computer system and another host computer system when it is determined that the SAN device can continue to present the virtual storage device.
A system comprising:
- a memory;
- a processor coupled to the memory;
- and
- a storage area network (SAN) fabric repair module wherein at least a portion of the SAN fabric repair module is encoded as instructions stored in the memory and executable on the processor, and wherein the SAN fabric repair module is configured to:
- receive information indicating a partition of an SAN fabric into a plurality of subfabrics, wherein the SAN fabric includes an SAN device configured to present a virtual storage device;
- analyze, in response to receipt of the information indicating the partition, information describing connectivity of the SAN device to at least one of a host computer system, a physical storage device, and another SAN device;
- determine whether the SAN device can continue to present the virtual storage device after the partition of the SAN fabric, in response to analysis of the information describing connectivity of the SAN device;
- and
- allow the virtual storage device to be accessed by at least one of a host computer system and another host computer system when it is determined that the SAN device can continue to present the virtual storage device.
A computer readable storage medium comprising program instructions executable on a processor, wherein the program instructions are operable to implement each of:
- receiving information indicating a partition of a storage area network (SAN) fabric into a plurality of subfabrics, wherein the SAN fabric includes a SAN device configured to present a virtual storage device;
- analyzing, in response to the receiving the information indicating the partition, information describing connectivity of the SAN device to at least one of a host computer system, a physical storage device, and another SAN device;
- determining whether the SAN device can continue to present the virtual storage device subsequent to the partition, in response to the analyzing the information describing connectivity of the SAN device;
- and
- allowing the virtual storage device to be accessed by at least one of the host computer system and another host computer system when it is determined that the SAN device can continue to present the virtual storage device.
An apparatus comprising:
- a network interface means for receiving information indicating a partition of a storage area network (SAN) fabric into a plurality of subfabrics, wherein the SAN fabric includes a SAN device configured to present a virtual storage device;
- a means for analyzing information describing connectivity of the SAN device to at least one of a host computer system, a physical storage device, and another SAN device, in response to receipt of the information indicating the partition;
- a means for determining whether the SAN device can continue to present the virtual storage device subsequent to the partition, in response to analysis of the information describing connectivity of the SAN device;
- and
- a means for allowing the virtual storage device to be accessed by at least one of the host computer system and another host computer system when it is determined that the SAN device can continue to present the virtual storage device.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.