Storage Control System for Seamless Resource Sharing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current storage control systems in compound storage systems face challenges in sharing storage resources, maintaining process continuity, load balancing, and capacity virtualization across multiple storage systems, especially during system additions, removals, and failures.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a switch-based architecture that allows multiple storage systems to share a storage box, with each system having a switch for coupling to the storage box, enabling notification and migration of storage areas based on performance and function, and utilizing a capacity virtualization function to allocate storage resources efficiently across systems.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If multiple storage systems share a storage box via switch-based architecture, then storage resource sharing and capacity virtualization are improved, but system complexity and difficulty of managing configuration changes increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a storage management server as an intermediary that centralizes the management of storage resources and configuration changes. This server coordinates between multiple storage systems and the shared storage box, handling namespace management, capacity allocation, and migration orchestration. By placing this intermediary layer, the patent reduces the complexity that would otherwise exist in direct peer-to-peer multi-system sharing, while maintaining improved storage resource sharing capabilities.
Solution Approach 2:
The storage management server performs multiple functions including namespace management, capacity virtualization, load balancing, and migration coordination. This multi-functional approach consolidates what would otherwise require separate management mechanisms for each function, reducing overall system complexity while enabling comprehensive storage resource sharing across multiple systems.
2Adaptability or versatility
If storage systems are added or removed from the compound storage system, then system adaptability and flexibility are improved, but maintaining process continuity and load balancing becomes more difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements preliminary actions by pre-configuring namespace objects and capacity pools in the storage management server before storage systems are added or removed. When configuration changes occur, the server has pre-established namespace structures and capacity allocations ready to be quickly reassigned, ensuring process continuity. The server also maintains pre-computed load balancing policies that can be immediately applied when systems join or leave the compound storage system.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements dynamic load balancing and namespace management that automatically adjusts when storage systems are added or removed. The storage management server continuously monitors system status and dynamically reallocates namespace objects and capacity pools to maintain optimal load distribution. This dynamic approach ensures process continuity by automatically adapting the storage configuration without manual intervention or service interruption.
3Productivity
If capacity virtualization is implemented to allocate storage resources efficiently, then storage utilization is improved, but the complexity of managing namespace and capacity allocation increases
Solution Approach 1:
The storage management server acts as an intermediary that abstracts the complexity of namespace and capacity allocation from the actual storage systems. It maintains namespace objects that represent logical storage units and capacity pools that represent physical storage resources. The server handles all namespace registration, capacity allocation, and mapping between logical and physical storage, reducing the perceived complexity for individual storage systems while enabling efficient capacity virtualization and high storage utilization.
Data Source
AI summary
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.