U.S. patent application number 14/556584 was filed with the patent office on 2015-03-26 for computer system and storage management method.
This patent application is currently assigned to Hitachi, Ltd.. The applicant listed for this patent is Hitachi, Ltd.. Invention is credited to Hirokazu IKEDA, ANNA NAITO, Wataru OKADA.
Application Number | 20150089129 14/556584 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 47912556 |
Filed Date | 2015-03-26 |
United States Patent
Application |
20150089129 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
NAITO; ANNA ; et
al. |
March 26, 2015 |
COMPUTER SYSTEM AND STORAGE MANAGEMENT METHOD
Abstract
A storage management system, where when adding a specified area
of storage media to a storage tiered in response to a request from
a host computer, a management computer: obtains storage media
information, including I/O frequency of a data storage area of a
volume(s) as well as performance information and structure
information of the storage media, from the storage apparatus;
identifies one or more storage media, which have not been allocated
to any of the volumes with the I/O performance in excess of the I/O
frequency, on the basis of the structure information of the storage
media so that the data storage area of the volume(s), to which a
specified storage in the storage tiered is allocated, would achieve
a specified I/O performance target; and issues an instruction to
the storage apparatus to create a storage tiered by using the
identified storage media.
Inventors: |
NAITO; ANNA; (Machida,
JP) ; OKADA; Wataru; (Yokohama, JP) ; IKEDA;
Hirokazu; (Yamato, JP) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
Hitachi, Ltd. |
Tokyo |
|
JP |
|
|
Assignee: |
Hitachi, Ltd.
Tokyo
JP
|
Family ID: |
47912556 |
Appl. No.: |
14/556584 |
Filed: |
December 1, 2014 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
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13263285 |
Oct 6, 2011 |
8904121 |
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PCT/JP2011/005355 |
Sep 22, 2011 |
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14556584 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
711/113 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06F 3/0685 20130101;
G06F 3/0665 20130101; G06F 3/0631 20130101; G06F 3/061 20130101;
G06F 13/122 20130101; G06F 13/161 20130101; G06F 3/0676
20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
711/113 |
International
Class: |
G06F 3/06 20060101
G06F003/06 |
Claims
1. A computer system comprising a storage system and a management
computer configured to manage the storage system: wherein the
storage system comprises: a plurality of storage medias providing
storage areas which are managed as a plurality of tiers each of
which with different I/O performance; and a control unit configured
to allocate the storage area from the storage tier to a volume to
store data indicated by a write request from a host, wherein the
management computer comprises: a control unit configured to: obtain
storage media information managing information of structure and I/O
performance of the storage medias, and I/O performance information
of data stored or to be stored in the plurality of storage medias,
identify a storage area of storage media with the lowest I/O
performance from among the storage areas with higher I/O
performance than the obtained I/O performance of the data, on a
basis of the obtained storage media information, and issue an
instruction to the storage system to create the storage tiers by
using the identified storage area of the storage media.
2. The computer system according to the claim 1, wherein the I/O
performance information of data stored or to be stored is input by
the user.
3. The computer system according to the claim 1, wherein the
structure of the storage tiered is calculated by estimating the
IOPS distribution based on the capacity of the storage tiered
requested by the user or lops pattern information defined in
advance.
4. The computer system according to claim 1, wherein the control
unit for the management computer is configured to obtain the I/O
frequency of the data based on designated I/O frequency
distribution.
5. The computer system according to claim 4, wherein when the
capacity of the storage media identified from the structure
information of the storage media is less than the calculated
capacity constituting the storage tiers, the control unit for the
management computer is configured to identify the storage media
with the next lower I/O performance based on the structure
information of the storage media and to calculate a capacity that
satisfies the I/O frequency with the I/O performance.
6. The computer system according to claim 5, wherein when migrating
data in the data storage area of an existing storage tier to the
storage tiers to be newly created for which the creation
instruction has been issued, the control unit for the management
computer is configured to migrate the data, in descending order of
the I/O frequency of the data, to the storage tiers to be newly
created for which the creation instruction has been issued.
7. The computer system according to claim 6, wherein the I/O
frequency distribution corresponding to the I/O frequency
information of the data storage area provided from the storage
apparatus includes the data storage area with higher I/O frequency
than the I/O performance of the storage media, and the control unit
for the management computer is configured to increase that I/O
frequency of the data storage area by a specified value and to
allocate the storage area with the I/O performance equal to or
higher than the I/O performance of the storage media.
8. The computer system according to claim 7, wherein when the
capacity of the data storage area corresponding to the I/O
frequency distribution has already been calculated with regard to
the storage media included in the storage media information, but
the capacity of the data storage area corresponding to the I/O
frequency distribution cannot be satisfied with the storage media
of the storage apparatus, the control unit for the management
computer is configured to display a screen clearly specifying the
storage media of the storage apparatus, which is short of capacity
and cannot satisfy the capacity of the data storage area
corresponding to the I/O frequency distribution of the storage
media, on a display screen.
9. The computer system according to claim 8, wherein when there is
a certain constraint on a tier number representing the performance
of the relevant tier in the storage tiers when creating the storage
tiers which satisfies the I/O frequency distribution, the control
unit for the management computer is configured to select the
storage media which constitute a tier having performance equal to
or higher than that of the tier corresponding to the
constraint.
10. The computer system according to claim 8, wherein when there is
a certain constraint on the number of storage media constituting a
storage tier when creating the storage tiers which satisfy the I/O
frequency distribution, the control unit for the management
computer is configured to select the storage media as many as or
less than the number of tiers corresponding to the constraint.
11. The computer system according to claim 1, wherein the volume is
a virtual volume to which a storage area is allocated when data are
written from the host computer, and the control unit for the
management computer is configured to obtain information indicating
whether a capacity of a pool in which the storage area is allocated
from the host computer to the data storage area of the volume is
increasing or not.
12. The computer system according to claim 11, wherein when the
information of a growth state of the pool indicates that the
capacity is growing, the control unit for the management computer
is configured to obtain only the storage media information of the
storage media whose I/O performance is equal to or higher than the
I/O performance of the storage media constituting the pool.
13. The computer system according to claim 12, wherein when
migrating data of the pool to the storage tiers to be newly created
for which the creation instruction has been issued to the storage
apparatus, the control unit for the management computer is
configured to migrate the data of the pool in descending order of
the I/O frequency of the data to the storage media of a
highest-level tier and to terminate the migration of the data when
all the storage media with higher I/O performance than that of the
storage media of the pool are allocated to the storage tiers.
14. The computer system according to claim 13, wherein when a
capacity of the storage tiers in which data are not stored is
larger than a specified capacity when migrating the data to the
storage tiers, the control unit for the management computer is
configured to migrate data stored in the storage media of the pool
to another volume in the same storage media and to delete the
volume where the data are not stored.
15. The computer system according to claim 11, wherein when the
information of a growth state of the pool indicates growth
completion when migrating the data of the pool to the storage tiers
to be newly created for which the creation instruction has been
issued to the storage apparatus, the control unit for the
management computer is configured to migrate data of an allocated
capacity of the storage media with higher I/O performance than that
of the storage media of the pool in descending order of the I/O
frequency of the data to the storage media of a highest-level tier,
and to migrate data of an allocated capacity of the storage media
with lower I/O performance than that of the storage media of the
pool in ascending order of the I/O frequency to the storage media
of a lower-level tier.
16. The computer system according to claim 1, wherein as triggered
by receipt of a notice that an allocated storage tier in which a
storage area is allocated to the data storage area of the volume or
volumes from the storage apparatus is short of capacity, the
control unit for the management computer is configured to obtain a
specified capacity to be added to the allocated storage tiers, the
storage media information stored in the storage apparatus,
structure information of the allocated storage tiers, and the I/O
frequency distribution of data of the allocated storage tiers from
the storage apparatus and to obtain a policy for adding the
specified capacity to the allocated storage tiers from the host
computer; to calculate a capacity of the data storage area
corresponding to the I/O frequency distribution in ascending order
of the I/O performance of the storage media with respect to the I/O
frequency distribution of the storage tiers obtained by adding the
specified capacity to the allocated storage tiers, to calculate an
additional capacity by subtracting a capacity of an actual
structure of the allocated storage tiers from the capacity of the
storage media constituting the calculated storage tiers, and to
issue instruction to the storage apparatus to create a storage
tiers to which the calculated additional capacity is added.
17. The computer system according to claim 16, wherein when the
capacity of the storage media with low I/O performance is less than
the calculated additional capacity, the control unit for the
management computer is configured to calculate the structure of the
storage pier pool by allocating the capacity of the storage media
with the next lower performance.
18. The computer system according to claim 15, wherein the control
unit for the management computer is configured to: calculate an
ideal capacity of each storage media equivalent to the capacity of
the data storage area corresponding to the I/O frequency
distribution of the storage tiers; calculate a ratio of the ideal
capacity to the storage media with low I/O performance in the I/O
frequency distribution; calculate the capacity of the storage tiers
obtained by adding the additional capacity to the allocated storage
tiers; calculate an ideal structural ratio of the storage tiers
obtained by adding the additional capacity to the allocated storage
tiers; and calculate an ideal additional capacity by subtracting
the capacity of the actual structure of the allocated storage tiers
based on the ideal structure calculated ratio.
19. The computer system according to claim 1, wherein the control
unit for the storage apparatus is configured to manage a
substantive real volume of another storage apparatus connected to
the storage apparatus as an external volume of the storage
apparatus by associating the real volume of the other storage
apparatus with the volume of the storage apparatus; and wherein the
control unit for the management computer is configured to: obtain
the storage media information, including information of the volume
of the storage apparatus and information of the external volume,
and the I/O frequency distribution corresponding to the I/O
frequency information of the data storage area of the volume; and
calculate the capacity of the data storage area corresponding to
the I/O frequency distribution in ascending order of the I/O
performance of the storage media on the basis of the storage media
information and issue an instruction to the storage apparatus to
create the storage tiers by using the calculated capacity of the
storage media.
20. A storage management method for a computer system comprising a
storage system and a management computer configured to manage the
storage system: wherein the storage system comprises: a plurality
of storage medias providing storage areas which are managed as a
plurality of tiers each of which with different I/O performance;
and a control unit configured to allocate the storage area from the
storage tier to a volume to store data indicated by a write request
from a host, wherein the management computer comprises a control
unit, wherein the storage management unit comprises the following
steps executed by the control unit: obtaining storage media
information managing information of structure and I/O performance
of the storage medias, and I/O performance information of data
stored or to be stored in the plurality of storage medias,
identifying a storage area of storage media with the lowest I/O
performance from among the storage areas with higher I/O
performance than the obtained I/O performance of the data, on a
basis of the obtained storage media information, and issuing an
instruction to the storage system to create the storage tiers by
using the identified storage area of the storage media.
Description
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED PATENT APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application is a Continuation of U.S. application Ser.
No. 13/263,285 (National Stage of PCT/JP2011/005355), filed Oct. 6,
2011, incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
TECHNICAL FIELD
[0002] The present invention relates to a computer system and a
storage management method and is suited for use in, for example, a
computer system and storage management method for dynamically
allocating storage areas.
BACKGROUND ART
[0003] Recently, an amount of data dealt by a computer system has
been increasing explosively. Along with an increase of the data
amount, it is necessary to purchase new volumes as needed and add
the volumes to a storage apparatus. The storage apparatus manages a
plurality of hard disk drives (HDDs) by means of a RAID (Redundant
Arrays of Independent/Inexpensive Disks) system. Then, the storage
apparatus logicalizes physical storage areas of the plurality of
hard disk drives and provides them as logical volumes to a host
computer. The host computer accesses the provided logical volumes
and requests reading/writing of data.
[0004] There is a function called Thin Provisioning as one of
methods for providing logical volumes to a host computer. The thin
provisioning function is a function providing virtualized logical
volumes which do not have physical storage areas (hereinafter
referred to as virtual volumes), to the host computer, and
dynamically allocating the storage areas to the virtual volumes as
triggered by write access by the host computer to the virtual
volumes. The above-described thin provisioning function has the
advantage that the virtual volumes of a larger capacity than that
of storage areas, which can be actually provided, can be provided
to the host computer and an inexpensive computer system can be
configured by reducing the physical storage capacity, which should
be prepared in advance, in a storage apparatus.
[0005] Furthermore, a method for managing each storage area
provided by each of a plurality of kinds of storage media with
different performance, which are mounted in a storage apparatus, as
a plurality of kinds of different storage tiereds is suggested as a
data management method for the storage apparatus equipped with the
above-described thin provisioning function. Also, a technique
called dynamic tiered control to migrate data in a storage tiered
according to access frequency from the host computer is suggested.
For example, storage areas are allocated from a high-speed and
high-performance storage tier to an area where data with high
access frequency is stored; and storage areas are allocated from a
low-speed and low-performance storage tier to an area of the
virtual volumes where data with low access frequency is stored.
Furthermore, Patent Literature 1 discloses a technique of sorting
data according to performance requirements and allocating storage
areas of a high-performance storage tier to an area where data of a
high performance requirement is stored.
[0006] If the above-described dynamic tiered control technique is
used, cost performance for the storage apparatus can be enhanced.
Accordingly, data stored in normal logical volumes are often
managed by migrating such data to a storage tiered. Therefore, a
sizing tool for calculating the structure of an appropriate storage
tiered in accordance with a performance request from a user is
provided.
CITATION LIST
Patent Literature
[0007] [PTL 1]
[0008] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (Kokai) Publication
No. 2007-66259
SUMMARY OF INVENTION
Technical Problem
[0009] However, since Patent Literature 1 calculates the structure
of a storage tiered by using a predefined combination of storage
media, it sometimes results in a higher-cost structure than a case
where storage media actually retained by the user are used.
Furthermore, the structure of the storage tiered calculated by
using the predefined combination of the storage media may sometimes
include storage media, which are not actually retained by the user,
or have a capacity shortage even if the storage media are retained
by the user, so that the requested storage tiered cannot be
created. In this case, it is necessary to purchase new storage
media to replenish the storage media which are not retained by the
user or to overcome the capacity shortage in order to realize the
calculated structure of the storage tiered. So, the problem is that
the storage media retained by the user cannot be utilized
effectively.
[0010] The present invention was devised in consideration of the
above-described circumstances and aims at suggesting a computer
system and storage management method capable of recognizing the
type and capacity of storage media of a storage apparatus, which
are held by a user, and configuring a storage tiered that satisfies
desired performance by using the storage media.
Solution to Problem
[0011] In order to solve the above-described problems, a computer
system including a storage apparatus, a host computer requesting
writing of data to the storage apparatus, and a management computer
for managing the storage apparatus and the host computer, wherein
the storage apparatus, the host computer, and the management
computer are connected to each other via a network, is provided
according to the present invention. The storage apparatus includes
a plurality of kinds of storage media with different I/O
performance, and a control unit for managing storage areas, which
are provided by the plurality of kinds of storage media with the
different I/O performance, as a storage tiered; wherein the control
unit allocates a storage area from the storage tiered to a data
storage area of a volume or volumes storing the data in response to
a request from the host computer to write the data, obtains I/O
frequency information of the data stored in the volume or volumes,
and provides it to the management computer; wherein the management
computer includes a storage unit for storing a pool structure
information table for managing structure information of the storage
tiered and a control unit for managing the structure of the storage
tiered of the storage apparatus; and wherein the control unit
obtains storage media information, including the I/O frequency of
data stored in the volume or volumes, as well as structure
information and the I/O performance of the storage media, from the
storage apparatus, identifies a storage area of storage media with
low I/O performance, which are not allocated to any of the volumes,
from among the storage media with higher I/O performance than the
I/O frequency of the data stored in the volume or volumes, on the
basis of the structure information of the storage media, and issues
an instruction to the storage apparatus to create the storage
tiered by using a storage area of the identified storage media.
[0012] If the above-described configuration is used when adding a
specified area of storage media to a storage tiered in response to
a request from the host computer, the storage media information,
including the I/O frequency of the data storage area of the
volume(s) as well as the performance information and structure
information of the storage media, can be obtained from the storage
apparatus; one or more storage media which have not been allocated
to the volume(s) with the I/O performance in excess of the I/O
frequency can be identified based on the structure information of
the storage media so that the data storage area of the volume(s),
to which a specified storage area in the storage tiered is
allocated, would achieve a specified I/O performance target; an
instruction can be issued to the storage apparatus to create a
storage tiered by using the identified storage media; and the
storage apparatus can create the storage tiered that satisfies the
desired performance, in accordance with the instruction. As a
result, a low-cost storage tiered can be created by effectively
utilizing the storage media in the storage apparatus.
Advantageous Effects of Invention
[0013] According to the present invention, storage media retained
by a user can be utilized effectively and a low-cost storage tiered
can be configured.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
[0014] FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration
of a computer system according to a first embodiment of the present
invention.
[0015] FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a
management computer according to the first embodiment.
[0016] FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a
host computer according to the first embodiment.
[0017] FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a
storage apparatus according to the first embodiment.
[0018] FIG. 5 is a chart showing the content of a storage media
information table according to the first embodiment.
[0019] FIG. 6 is a chart showing the content of an lops information
table according to the first embodiment.
[0020] FIG. 7 is a chart showing the content of a structural ratio
information table according to the first embodiment.
[0021] FIG. 8 is a graph showing IOPS distribution according to the
first embodiment.
[0022] FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating a processing sequence for
structural ratio calculation processing according to the first
embodiment.
[0023] FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating a processing sequence
for processing for calculating an allocated capacity of storage
media according to the first embodiment.
[0024] FIG. 11 is a conceptual diagram showing a storage tiered
creation instruction screen according to the first embodiment.
[0025] FIG. 12 is a conceptual diagram showing a display screen
that presents the structure of a storage tiered according to the
first embodiment.
[0026] FIG. 13 is a conceptual diagram showing a display screen
that prompts a user to purchase storage media according to the
first embodiment.
[0027] FIG. 14 is a conceptual diagram explaining data migration
according to the first embodiment.
[0028] FIG. 15 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration
of a storage apparatus according to a second embodiment of the
present invention.
[0029] FIG. 16 is a flowchart illustrating a processing sequence
for structural ratio calculation processing according to the second
embodiment.
[0030] FIG. 17 is a flowchart illustrating a processing sequence
for the structural ratio calculation processing according to the
second embodiment.
[0031] FIG. 18 is a conceptual diagram showing a storage tiered
switching instruction screen according to the second
embodiment.
[0032] FIG. 19 is a conceptual diagram explaining data migration
according to the second embodiment.
[0033] FIG. 20 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration
of a storage apparatus according to a third embodiment of the
present invention.
[0034] FIG. 21 is a chart showing the content of a storage tiered
information table according to the third embodiment.
[0035] FIG. 22 is a flowchart illustrating a processing sequence
for structural ratio calculation processing according to the third
embodiment.
[0036] FIG. 23 is a flowchart illustrating a processing sequence
for the structural ratio calculation processing according to the
third embodiment.
[0037] FIG. 24 is a flowchart illustrating a processing sequence
for the structural ratio calculation processing according to the
third embodiment.
[0038] FIG. 25 is a conceptual diagram showing an input screen for
advance settings according to the third embodiment.
[0039] FIG. 26 is a conceptual diagram showing a display screen
that presents the structure of storage media to be added according
to the third embodiment.
[0040] FIG. 27 is a conceptual diagram explaining a specific
example of processing for calculating the structure of additional
capacity according to the third embodiment.
[0041] FIG. 28 is a block diagram of a hardware configuration of a
computer system according to a fourth embodiment of the present
invention.
[0042] FIG. 29 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a
storage apparatus according to the fourth embodiment.
[0043] FIG. 30 is a chart showing the content of an external
connection volume information table according to the fourth
embodiment.
[0044] FIG. 31 is a chart showing the content of a storage media
information table according to the fourth embodiment.
[0045] FIG. 32 is a flowchart illustrating a processing sequence
for structural ratio calculation processing according to the fourth
embodiment.
[0046] FIG. 33 is a flowchart illustrating a processing sequence
for structural ratio calculation processing according to the fourth
embodiment.
DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS
[0047] An embodiment of the present invention will be explained in
detail with regard to the drawings. In this embodiment, an
explanation will be given by taking a storage apparatus as an
example of a storage control device. The storage control device can
be distinguished by, for example, checking whether it contains
physical storage devices or not. An example of a storage control
device capable of containing physical storage devices is a storage
apparatus. An example of a storage control device which does not
contain physical storage devices is a switch device. The switch
device can provide a host computer with physical storage devices
belonging to an external storage apparatus as if they were storage
devices in the switch device.
[0048] Incidentally, various kinds of information may sometimes be
explained by using the expression "xxx table"; however, the various
kinds of information may be expressed with a data structure other
than a table. The expression "xxx information" can be also used
instead of "xxx table" in order to indicate that the various kinds
of information do not depend on the data structure. An ID
(identifier) or number will be used to identify the relevant
element in the following explanation, but other kinds of
information (for example, a name) may be used as identification
information.
[0049] A "program" may be used as a subject in the following
explanation in order to describe processing; however, since a
program is executed by a processor (for example, CPU (Central
Processing Unit)) to perform defined processing by using memory
resources (for example, a memory) and/or communication interface
device (for example, a communication port) as necessary, the
subject of the processing may be the processor. Processing
described by using a program as a subject may be processing
executed by a storage apparatus, a controller for the storage
apparatus, or a management computer. The processor may contain a
hardware circuit for executing any part of or the entire processing
executed by the processor. A computer program may be installed from
a program source to each computer. The program source may be, for
example, a program distribution server or storage media.
(1) First Embodiment
(1-1) Outline of this Embodiment
[0050] The outline of this embodiment will be explained. Recently,
an amount of data dealt by a computer system has been increasing
explosively. Along with an increase of the data amount, it is
necessary to purchase new volumes as needed and add the volumes to
a storage apparatus. The storage apparatus manages a plurality of
hard disk drives by means of a RAID system. Then, the storage
apparatus logicalizes physical storage areas of the plurality of
hard disk drives and provides them as logical volumes to a host
computer. The host computer accesses the provided logical volumes
and requests reading/writing of data.
[0051] There is a function called Thin Provisioning as one of
methods for providing logical volumes to a host computer. The thin
provisioning function is a function providing virtualized logical
volumes which do not have physical storage areas (hereinafter
referred to as virtual volumes), to the host computer, and
dynamically allocating the storage areas to the virtual volumes as
triggered by write access by the host computer to the virtual
volumes. The above-described thin provisioning function has the
advantage that the virtual volumes of a larger capacity than that
of storage areas, which can be actually provided, can be provided
to the host computer and an inexpensive computer system can be
configured by reducing the physical storage capacity, which should
be prepared in advance, in a storage apparatus.
[0052] Furthermore, a method for managing each storage area
provided by each of a plurality of kinds of storage media with
different performance, which are mounted in a storage apparatus, as
a plurality of kinds of different storage tiereds is suggested as a
data management method for the storage apparatus equipped with the
above-described thin provisioning function. Also, a technique
called dynamic tiered control to migrate data in a storage tiered
according to access frequency from the host computer is suggested.
For example, storage areas are allocated from a high-speed and
high-performance storage tier to an area where data with high
access frequency is stored; and storage areas are allocated from a
low-speed and low-performance storage tier to an area of the
virtual volumes where data with low access frequency is stored.
Furthermore, a technique of sorting data according to performance
requirements and allocating storage areas of a high-performance
storage tier to an area where data of a high performance
requirement is stored is disclosed.
[0053] If the above-described dynamic tiered control technique is
used, cost performance for the storage apparatus can be enhanced.
Accordingly, data stored in normal logical volumes are often
managed by migrating such data to a storage tiered. Therefore, a
sizing tool for calculating the structure of an appropriate storage
tiered in accordance with a performance request from a user is
provided. This sizing tool estimates IOPS distribution by using a
template of an IPO (I/O per Second) pattern of each application
retained by the sizing tool in advance on the basis of the capacity
of a storage tiered requested by the user and the types of
applications used by the user. The IOPS herein used is a value
indicative of I/O frequency of data, which is the number of I/O
accesses per second to storage media. Furthermore, the IOPS
distribution is information indicative of distribution of pages
sorted in descending order of IOPS information. Then, an
appropriate combination of storage media is selected from a list of
combinations of storage media retained by the sizing tool in
advance and the structure of a storage tiered that realizes
appropriate performance and cost is calculated based on IPOS limit
information of each storage media.
[0054] However, when the structure of the storage tiered is
calculated by using a predefined combination of storage media, it
sometimes results in a higher-cost structure than a case where
storage media actually retained by the user are used. Furthermore,
the structure of the storage tiered calculated by using the
combination of the predefined storage media may sometimes include
storage media, which are not actually retained by the user, or have
a capacity shortage even if the storage media are retained by the
user, so that the requested storage tiered cannot be created. In
this case, it is necessary to purchase new storage media to
replenish the storage media which are not retained by the user or
to overcome the capacity shortage in order to realize the
calculated structure of the storage tiered. So, the problem is that
the storage media retained by the user cannot be utilized
effectively.
[0055] So, in this embodiment, IOPS distribution of an existing
logical volume and the type and capacity of storage media held by
the user are obtained from the storage apparatus; storage media
with the lowest performance is selected; the capacity requiring the
performance of such storage media is calculated; and the calculated
capacity is compared with the capacity of the storage media
retained by the user. If the calculated capacity is equal to or
less than the capacity of the storage media held by the user,
storage media of the calculated capacity is allocated to a storage
tiered from the capacity of the storage media held by the user. On
the other hand, if the calculated capacity is more than the
capacity of the storage media held by the user, the entire capacity
of the storage media held by the user is allocated to a storage
tiered; and regarding the remaining required capacity, storage
media with the next lower performance is selected and the capacity
of such storage media is allocated to the storage tiered. As a
result, a storage tiered that satisfies the desired performance can
be configured by recognizing the type and capacity of the storage
media of the storage apparatus held by the user and using such
storage media.
(1-2) Hardware Configuration of Computer System
[0056] Next, the hardware configuration of a computer system 100
will be explained. Referring to FIG. 1, the computer system 100 is
constituted from a management computer 300, a host computer 500,
and a storage apparatus 600.
[0057] Incidentally, for ease of explanation, FIG. 1 shows the
configuration including one host computer 500 and one storage
apparatus 600; however, the configuration is not limited to the
above configuration and a plurality of host computers and a
plurality of storage apparatuses may be included.
[0058] Furthermore, a management interface 670 for the storage
apparatus 600, a management interface 570 for the host computer
500, and a management interface 499 for the management computer 300
are connected via a specified management network 190. Consequently,
the management computer 300 can communicate with the storage
apparatus 600 and the host computer 500. The management network 190
can be, for example, a LAN (Local Area Network) 190; and if the
management network 190 is a LAN, the management interfaces 400,
570, 670 can be, for example, LAN cards.
[0059] Furthermore, a communication port 680 for the storage
apparatus 600 and a data interface 580 for the host computer 500
are connected via a specified data communication network 200.
Consequently, the storage apparatus 600 can communicate with the
host computer 500 each other. The data communication network 200
can be, for example, a SAN (Storage Area Network) 200; and if the
data communication network 200 is a SAN, the data interface 580 can
be, for example, an HBA (Host Bus Adapter).
[0060] The management computer 300 is a computer device for
maintaining and managing the storage apparatus 600. The host
computer 500 sends a data read/write request to the storage
apparatus 600 connected via the data communication network 200.
Also, the storage apparatus 600 interprets commands sent from the
host computer 500 connected via the data communication network 200
and executes data reading from or data writing to storage media in
the storage apparatus 600.
[0061] A case where a storage tiered is created in the storage
apparatus 600 by using the storage media retained in the storage
apparatus 600 will be explained below. This embodiment can be used
in a case where a new storage tiered is created or a case where an
existing logical volume is migrated to a storage tiered. However,
when a new storage tiered is created, a logical volume that is a
target for obtaining necessary IOPS distribution to calculate the
structure of the storage tiered does not exist. Therefore, it is
necessary to calculate the structure of the storage tiered by
estimating the IOPS distribution based on, for example, the
capacity of the storage tiered requested by the user and IOPS
pattern information defined in advance.
[0062] (1-2-1) Configuration of Management Computer
[0063] Next, the configuration of the management computer 300 will
be explained. Referring to FIG. 2, the management computer 300 is
constituted from, for example, an input device 310, an output
device 320, a processor (indicated as CPU in the drawing) 330, a
disk device 340, a memory 350, and a management interface 400. The
management computer 300 is composed of, for example, a personal
computer or a workstation.
[0064] The input device 310 is a device used by a user such as a
system administrator to issue instructions to the management
computer 300. Examples of the input device 310 can include a
keyboard, a pointing device, a switch, a touch panel, and a
microphone. The output device 320 is a device used by the
management computer 300 to output information to the user such as
the system administrator. Examples of the output device 320 can
include a monitor display, a speaker, and a printer.
[0065] The processor 330 realizes various functions described later
by controlling the operation of the management computer 300 in
accordance with, for example, programs and operation parameters
stored in the memory 350. The disk device 340 is a physical storage
device and examples of the disk device 340 can include HDD and SSD
(Solid State Drive). Regarding the HDD, there are HDD in accordance
with SAS (hereinafter referred to as SAS) and HDD in accordance
with SATA (hereinafter referred to as SATA).
[0066] The memory 350 stores, for example, a structural ratio
calculation program 360, a storage media information table 370, an
IOPS information table 380, and a structural ratio information
table 390. The details of the storage media information table 370,
the IOPS information table 380, and the structural ratio
information table 390 will be explained later.
[0067] The structural ratio calculation program 360 is a computer
program for calculating the structure of the storage media based on
the IOPS distribution in response to a request entered by the user
such as the system administrator to the input device 310.
Specifically speaking, the structural ratio calculation program 360
identifies the structure of the storage media allocated to a
designated logical volume, compares the identified storage media
with information of the storage media actually retained by the
user, creates a storage tiered having the calculated structure, and
issues an instruction to the device management program 630, the
storage media management program 640, and the dynamic tiered
tontrol program 660 for the storage apparatus 600 to execute
processing such as migration of existing data. Processing of the
structural ratio calculation program 360 will be explained later in
detail.
[0068] The management interface 400 is a communication interface
used by the management computer 300 to access the storage apparatus
600 via the management network 190.
[0069] Incidentally, when the CPU executes processing based on the
structural ratio calculation program 360, an explanation will be
given by referring to the structural ratio calculation program 360
as a subject.
[0070] (1-2-2) Configuration of Host Computer
[0071] Next, the configuration of the host computer 500 will be
explained. Referring to FIG. 3, the host computer 500 is
constituted from, for example, an input device 510, an output
device 520, a processor (indicated as CPU in the drawing) 530, a
disk device 540, a memory 550, a management interface 570, and a
data interface 580. The host computer 500 is a computer device
issuing I/O commands.
[0072] The input device 510 is a device used by the user to issue
I/O commands via the host computer 500 to the storage apparatus 500
connected via the host computer 300 and the data interface 580.
Examples of the input device 510 can include a keyboard, a pointing
device, a switch, a touch panel, and a microphone. The output
device 520 is a device used by the management computer 300 to
output information to the user. Examples of the output device 520
can include a monitor display, a speaker, and a printer.
[0073] The processor 530 controls the operation of the host
computer 500 in accordance with, for example, programs and
operation parameters stored in the memory 550. The disk device 540
is a physical storage device and examples of the disk device 540
can include HDD and SSD. Regarding the HDD, there are HDD in
accordance with SAS (hereinafter referred to as SAS) and HDD in
accordance with SATA (hereinafter referred to as SATA).
[0074] The memory 550 stores, for example, an application 560. The
memory 550 may store a plurality of applications.
[0075] The management interface 570 is a communication interface
for accessing the management computer 300 via the management
network 190. The data interface 580 is a communication interface
for accessing the storage apparatus 600 via the data communication
network 200.
[0076] (1-2-3) Configuration of Storage Apparatus
[0077] Next, the configuration of the storage apparatus 600 will be
explained. Referring to FIG. 4, the storage apparatus 600 is
constituted from, for example, a disk controller 605, an existing
volume 700 and volumes 710.
[0078] The disk controller 605 includes a processor (indicated as
CPU in the drawing) 610, a memory 620, a management I/F 670,
communication ports 680, and a disk interface 690.
[0079] The processor 610 realizes various functions described later
by controlling the operation of the storage apparatus 600 in
accordance with, for example, programs and operation parameters
stored in the memory 620. The memory 620 stores, for example, a
device management program 630, a storage media management program
640, an IOPS counter 650, and a dynamic tiered tontrol program
660.
[0080] This embodiment can be used in a case where a new storage
tiered is created or a case where an existing logical volume 700 is
migrated to a storage tiered. However, when a new storage tiered is
created, a logical volume that is a target for obtaining necessary
IOPS distribution to calculate the structure of the storage tiered
does not exist. Therefore, the IOPS distribution is estimated based
on, for example, the capacity of the storage tiered requested by
the user and IOPS pattern information defined in advance. When
estimating the IOPS distribution from the predefined information,
it is unnecessary to provide the IOPS counter 650 in the memory 620
to store an I/O counter.
[0081] The device management program 630 is a computer program for
managing the storage apparatus 600. The device management program
630 accepts I/O from, for example, the host computer 500, sets
various settings to the storage apparatus 600, and collects
information from the storage apparatus 600.
[0082] The storage media management program 640 is a computer
program for managing logical volumes in the storage apparatus 600.
The storage media management program 640, for example, creates or
deletes the volumes 710 in the storage apparatus 600 and collects
various information about the volumes.
[0083] The IOPS counter 650 is a computer program for managing the
number of times of accesses to the existing volume 700 in the
storage apparatus 600. The IOPS counter 650, for example,
calculates an average of the number of times of accesses per second
(IOPS) to the existing volume 700 in the storage apparatus 600.
Furthermore, the IOPS counter 650 increases or decreases the number
of times of accesses to the existing volume 700 in the storage
apparatus 600.
[0084] The dynamic tiered tontrol program 660 is a computer program
for managing the operation of the storage tiered. The dynamic
tiered tontrol program 660, for example, creates or deletes a
storage tiered in the storage apparatus 600. Furthermore, the
dynamic tiered tontrol program 660 obtains the IOPS from the IOPS
counter 650 and creates IOPS distribution by sorting the IOPS in
descending order of the number of IOPS. The IOPS distribution will
be explained later in detail.
[0085] The management interface 670 is a communication interface
for accessing the management computer 300 and the host computer via
the management network 190. The communication port 680 is a
communication interface for accepting access from the host computer
500 via the data communication network 200.
[0086] The disk interface 690 is an interface used by the disk
controller 605 to access the existing volume 700 or the volume 710.
The existing volume 700 is a volume, such as a physical volume or a
logical volume or a pool, in which data is already stored. Examples
of the physical volume can include various devices capable of
reading/writing data, such as hard disk drives, semiconductor
memory devices, optical disk devices, and magneto-optical disk
devices.
[0087] If the hard disk devices are to be used, for example, FC
(Fibre Channel) disks, SCSI (Small Computer System Interface)
disks, SATA disks, ATA (Attachment) disks, and SAS (Serial Attached
SCSI) disks can be used. Also, storage devices such as flash
memory, FeRAM (Ferroelectric Random Access Memory), MRAM
(Magnetoresistive Random Access Memory), phase change memory
(Ovonic Unified Memory), and RRAM (Resistance RAM) may be used.
[0088] The volume 710 is a physical volume or a logical volume and
is a volume that can be used for a storage tiered. Examples of the
physical volume can be the same storage devices of the existing
volume 700.
(1-3) Structural Ratio Calculation Processing
[0089] Next, structural ratio calculation processing executed by
the structural ratio calculation program 360 of the management
computer 300 will be explained. Before explaining the details of
the structural ratio calculation processing, various kinds of
information stored in the memory 350 for the management computer
300 will be explained.
[0090] The storage media information table 370 is a table for
managing various kinds of information of each storage media in the
storage apparatus 600 and is constituted from a tier order column
3701, a storage media type column 3702, a capacity column 3703, an
IOPS limit column 3704, and a use authority column 3705 as shown in
FIG. 5. The tier order column 3701 stores information indicating
the tier order of the storage media. Specifically speaking, the
tier order according to the size of an IOPS limit for the storage
media is stored. The storage media type column 3702 stores
information indicating the type of the storage media and stores,
for example, "SSD" or "SAS15K." The capacity column 3703 stores
information indicating the capacity of each storage media. The IOPS
limit column 3704 stores information indicating the IOPS limit for
each storage media. The IOPS limit is the maximum number of IOPS
for each page that can be processed by each storage media. The
information stored in the IOPS limit column 3704 may be a
predefined value or a value counted by the IOPS counter 650 after
actual transmission of test I/O by the device management program
630 of the storage apparatus 600 to the volume 710. The use
authority column 3705 stores information indicating the use
authority of each user with respect to each storage media.
[0091] In the environment where the use authority is set to each
storage media, for example, user A can select storage media to use
only from an aggregate of storage media over which the user
authority is granted to user A. For example, user A can select and
use, for example, SSD with a capacity of 20 GB in the tier order 1
and SAS15 with a capacity of 30 GB in the tier order 2. However,
user A cannot select storage media over which the use authority is
granted to only user B (SAS15K with a capacity 20 of GB in the tier
order 2 and SATA50GB in the tier order a) or storage media over
which the use authority is not granted to any user at present
(SAS15K with a capacity of 10 GB in the tier order 2).
[0092] The IOPS information table 380 is a table for managing the
number of IOPS for each page of the existing volume 700 and is
constituted from a page ID column 3801, a number-of-TOPS column
3802, and an allocation state column 3803 as shown in FIG. 6. The
page ID column 3801 stores information for identifying a page of
the existing volume 700. The number-of-TOPS column 3802 stores the
number of IOPS of data stored in each page. The allocation state
column 3803 stores information indicating an allocation state of
the storage media to each page. For example, if the storage media
to be allocated to each page is calculated by the structural ratio
calculation program 360, OK is stored; and if the storage media to
be allocated to each page is not calculated by the structural ratio
calculation program 360, the relevant field remains as a blank
space.
[0093] The structural ratio information table 390 is a table for
managing the structure of a storage tiered and is constituted from
a tier column 3901, a storage media type column 3902, and a
capacity column 3903 as shown in FIG. 7. The tier column 3901
stores information for identifying each tier of the storage tiered.
The storage media type column 3902 stores information indicating
the type of storage media constituting each tier. The capacity
column 3903 stores information indicating the capacity of storage
media to be allocated to each tier. Under this circumstance, the
capacity of the storage media is calculated from a capacity area
defined for an area corresponding to a page(s) storing data and the
number of areas corresponding to a page(s) to which such storage
media is to be allocated. Also, the capacity of the storage media
may include a control area of the data besides a storage area of
the data. FIG. 7 shows that Tier 1 is composed of SSD storage media
and the capacity of Tier 1 is 10 GB; and Tier 2 is composed of
SAS15K storage media and the capacity of Tier 2 is 20 GB.
[0094] Next, the IOPS distribution will be explained. FIG. 8 is a
graph indicating IOPS distribution 1100 and the IOPS distribution
is obtained by sorting pages in descending order of IOPS of data
stored in each page on the basis of the information stored in the
IOPS information table 380 and the storage media information table
370. As shown in FIG. 8, the vertical axis 1110 of the IOPS
distribution 1100 represents the number of I/O per second and the
horizontal axis 1120 represents the page ID and each bar 1130
represents IOPS from the host computer 500 to data stored in the
corresponding page ID.
[0095] As shown in FIG. 8, for example, an IOPS limit (1500) in a
case where the storage media type is SATA is obtained from the
storage media information table 370; a value of that IOPS limit is
plotted on the vertical axis 1110; and a dashed line 1140 is drawn
in the IOPS distribution 1100. The dashed line 1140 makes it
possible to realize the capacity of pages with the IOPS which
requires the storage media having performance of SATA or higher
performance and for which performance of SATA is sufficient.
Furthermore, an IOPS limit (3500) in a case where the storage media
type is SAS is obtained from the storage media information table
370; a value of that IOPS limit is plotted on the vertical axis
1110; and a dashed line 1150 is drawn in the IOPS distribution
1100. The dashed line 1150 makes it possible to realize the
capacity of pages with the IOPS which requires the storage media
having performance of SAS or higher performance and for which
performance of SAS is sufficient. Furthermore, an IOPS limit (5000)
in a case where the storage media type is SSD is obtained from the
storage media information table 370; a value of that IOPS limit is
plotted on the vertical axis 1110; and a dashed line 1160 is drawn
in the IOPS distribution 1100. The dashed line 1160 makes it
possible to realize the capacity of pages with the IOPS which
requires the storage media having performance of SSD or higher
performance and for which performance of SSD is sufficient.
Therefore, the use of the IOPS distribution 1100 makes it possible
to calculate the capacity of the IOPS, for which the performance of
each storage media is sufficient, and identify an ideal structure
of storage media corresponding to the IOPS distribution.
[0096] Next, the details of the structural ratio calculation
processing executed by the structural ratio calculation program 360
will be explained. When a request for creation of a storage tiered
is made in response to input by the user, FIG. 9 shows a processing
sequence executed by the structural ratio calculation program 360
for calculating the structure of the storage tiered with respect to
the requested IOPS distribution.
[0097] The structural ratio calculation processing described below
is executed when an instruction to create a storage tiered is
issued by means of input by the user. The storage tiered creation
instruction is issued via a storage tiered creation instruction
screen 1200. Now, the details of the storage tiered creation
instruction screen 1200 will be explained. Referring to FIG. 11,
the storage tiered creation instruction screen 1200 includes a
radio button 1210 for selecting a method for obtaining the
performance of the storage tiered to be created, a selection box
1220 for selecting an existing volume, an OK button 1230 for
commanding the execution of the processing, and a cancel button
1240 for terminating the screen without executing the
processing.
[0098] The radio button 1210 is mainly used when a storage tiered
is created based on the IOPS distribution obtained from data of the
existing volume 700. If data which should be the basis of the IOPS
distribution does not exist and a storage tiered is newly created,
the IOPS distribution is estimated based on the performance of the
application(s) 560 in the memory 550 for the host computer 500. In
this case, a text box for inputting the capacity of the storage
tiered, a selection box for selecting a performance pattern of the
application, and an add button for increasing input items when
there are a plurality of applications may be included as necessary
items for estimating the IOPS distribution. Furthermore, a screen
by which the user directly creates the IOPS distribution may be
displayed.
[0099] Referring back to FIG. 9, the structural ratio calculation
program 360 firstly obtains the IOPS distribution 1100 of the
existing volume 700 from the storage apparatus 600 (S100).
Specifically speaking, the structural ratio calculation program 360
issues an instruction to the dynamic tiered tontrol program 660 of
the storage apparatus 600 to obtain the IOPS information of the
existing volume 700 and create the IOPS distribution 1100 shown in
FIG. 8. However, if a storage tiered is to be newly created, the
logical volume 710 which is a target to obtain necessary IOPS
distribution for calculating the structure of the storage tiered
does not exists, so that the IOPS distribution is estimated based
on, for example, the capacity of the storage tiered requested by
the user and the predefined IOPS pattern information.
[0100] Subsequently, the structural ratio calculation program 360
refers to the storage media information table 370 and obtains
information of the storage media in the storage apparatus 600
(S110).
[0101] Then, the structural ratio calculation program 360 judges
whether or not the user authority is set to the storage media
obtained in step S110 (S120). If it is determined in step S120 that
the user authority is set to the storage media, the structural
ratio calculation program 360 obtains only information of the
storage media to which the user authority is set (S130).
Specifically speaking, the structural ratio calculation program 360
refers to the use authority column 3705 of the storage media, which
is a target of the storage media information table 370, and obtains
only the storage media which can be used by the user as a storage
tiered. On the other hand, if it is determined in step S120 that
the user authority is not set to the storage media, the structural
ratio calculation program 360 executes processing in step S140.
[0102] Next, the structural ratio calculation program 360
identifies the IOPS in excess of the IOPS limit for the existing
volume 700 in the storage apparatus 600 and increases the number of
IOPS (S140). Specifically speaking, the structural ratio
calculation program 360 refers to the IOPS distribution of the
existing volume 700 obtained in step S100 and identifies the IOPS
in excess of the IOPS limit. The IOPS in excess of the IOPS limit
herein used means, for example, the IOPS in excess of the dashed
line 1140, 1150, 1160 of the IOPS limit for each storage media or
the IOPS in the vicinity of the dashed lines 1140 and so on as
shown in FIG. 8. Then, the structural ratio calculation program 360
issues an instruction to the dynamic tiered tontrol program 660 of
the storage apparatus 600 to increase the number of IOPS of the
identified IOPS.
[0103] Next, the structural ratio calculation program 360 obtains
the storage media with the lowest IOPS limit from among the
information of the storage media obtained in step S110 (S150). This
means that, on the basis that the performance of the storage media
is proportional to the cost of the storage media, a storage tiered
is created with the lowest-cost storage media from among the
storage media in the storage apparatus 600 by selecting the storage
media with the lowest IOPS limit. However, if the performance of
the storage media is not proportional to the cost of the storage
media, the storage media may be selected in accordance with
characteristics of the storage media which satisfy the cost of the
storage media and other requirements.
[0104] Next, the structural ratio calculation program 360
calculates the allocated capacity of the storage media selected in
step S150 (S160). Processing for calculating the allocated capacity
of the storage media in step S160 will be explained later in
detail.
[0105] Subsequently, the structural ratio calculation program 360
creates the storage tiered based on the calculation result in step
S160 (S170). Specifically speaking, the structural ratio
calculation program 360 refers to the structural ratio information
table 390, in which the calculation result in step S160 is
reflected, and issues an instruction to the device management
program 630 of the storage apparatus 600 to create the storage
tiered in accordance with structural ratio information of the
structural ratio information table 390.
[0106] The structural ratio calculation program 360 may present the
structure of the storage tiered to the user before issuing the
instruction to the device management program 630 of the storage
apparatus 600 to create the storage tiered. For example, the
structural ratio calculation program 360 displays a display screen
1300 shown in FIG. 12 and presents the structure of the storage
tiered to the user. The display screen 1300 includes a structure
list 1310 of the storage tiered to be created, an OK button 1320
for executing the storage tiered creation instruction, and a cancel
button 1330 for terminating the screen without executing the
storage tiered creation instruction.
[0107] The content to be displayed on the display screen 1300 may
be designed so that the structure of the storage tiered is
presented based on the structural ratio information table 390 by,
for example, integrating several tiers in accordance with a
constraint(s) of the dynamic tiered control.
[0108] Referring back to FIG. 9, the structural ratio calculation
program 360 copies data to the storage tiered created in step S170
in descending order of the IOPS of the data, starting from the
highest IOPS (S180). Specifically speaking, the structural ratio
calculation program 360 refers to the IOPS distribution obtained in
step S100 and issues an instruction to the device management
program 630 of the storage apparatus 600 to migrate the data to the
created storage tiered in descending order of the IOPS of the data,
starting from the highest IOPS.
[0109] Next, the details of the processing for calculating the
allocated capacity of the storage media in step S160 will be
explained. As shown in FIG. 10, the structural ratio calculation
program 360 obtains the IOPS limit for the storage media selected
in step S150 (S210).
[0110] Next, the structural ratio calculation program 360
calculates the capacity of pages for which the performance of the
selected storage media sufficiently satisfies the IOPS (hereinafter
referred to as the ideal capacity), on the basis of the information
of the IOPS distribution obtained in step S100 and the IOPS limit
for the storage media obtained in step S210 (S220). For example,
assuming that the structural ratio calculation program 360 selects
SATA in step S150, it identifies the capacity of pages (the number
of pages) which requires the storage media with the performance of
SATA and higher performance and for which the performance of SATA
is sufficient, on the basis of the IOPS distribution shown in FIG.
8 and the IOPS limit for SATA as shown with the dashed line
1140.
[0111] Next, the structural ratio calculation program 360 obtains
the capacity of the storage media selected in step S150
(hereinafter referred to as the retained capacity) from among the
information of the storage media retained in the storage apparatus
600 obtained in step S110 (S230).
[0112] Then, the structural ratio calculation program 360 compares
the ideal capacity calculated in step S220 with the retained
capacity obtained in step S230 (S240).
[0113] If it is determined in step S240 that the ideal capacity is
larger than the retained capacity, the structural ratio calculation
program 360 sets the retained capacity as the allocated capacity of
the selected storage media (S250). The case where the ideal
capacity is larger than the retained capacity means that the
capacity of the target storage media in the storage apparatus 600
is less than the ideal capacity of the storage media derived from
the IOPS distribution calculated in step S220.
[0114] If it is determined in step S240 that the retained capacity
is equal to or more than the ideal capacity, the structural ratio
calculation program 360 sets the ideal capacity as the allocated
capacity of the selected storage media (S260). The case where the
retained capacity is equal to or more than the ideal capacity means
that the capacity of the target storage media in the storage
apparatus 600 exceeds the ideal capacity of the storage media
derived from the IOPS distribution calculated in step S220.
[0115] Next, the structural ratio calculation program 360
associates the allocated capacity of the storage media calculated
in step S250 or 260 with the selected storage media and stores them
in the structural ratio information table 390 (S270).
[0116] Then, the structural ratio calculation program 360 stores
"OK," which indicates that the storage media is allocated to the
relevant page, in the allocation state column 3803 of the IOPS
information table 380 with respect to the page to which the
selected storage media is allocated (S280).
[0117] Subsequently, the structural ratio calculation program 360
compares the capacity of the storage media written to the
structural ratio information table 390, that is, a total of the
allocated capacity (hereinafter referred to as the total allocated
capacity) with the desired capacity of the storage tiered
(S290).
[0118] If it is determined in step S290 that the total allocated
capacity is equal to or more than the desired capacity of the
storage tiered, the structural ratio calculation program 360
terminates the allocated capacity calculation processing.
[0119] If it is determined in step S290 that the total allocated
capacity is less than the desired capacity of the storage tiered,
the structural ratio calculation program 360 executes processing in
step S300.
[0120] Subsequently, the structural ratio calculation program 360
judges whether the storage media with the next lower IOPS limit
exists or not (S300). If it is determined in step S300 that the
storage media with the next lower IOPS limit exists, the structural
ratio calculation program 360 selects such storage media (S320) and
repeats the processing in step S210 and subsequent steps. On the
other hand, if it is determined in step S300 that the storage media
with the next lower IOPS limit does not exist, the structural ratio
calculation program 360 presents a screen for prompting the user to
purchase necessary storage media to the user (S310). Specifically
speaking, if there is no storage media with the next lower IOPS
limit next, the structural ratio calculation program 360 identifies
the type and capacity of necessary storage media to calculate the
ideal structure, which satisfies the IOPS distribution, and
presents the screen for prompting the user to purchase such storage
media to the user.
[0121] A method for identifying the necessary storage media in step
310 is to, for example, select the storage media with the lowest
IOPS limit and calculate the ideal capacity, which sufficiently
satisfies the IOPS, of the storage media selected based on the IOPS
limit for such storage media. Next, the retained capacity of the
selected storage media in the storage apparatus 600 is obtained and
the retained capacity is subtracted from the ideal capacity,
thereby calculating necessary capacity to be added. This
calculation is repeated for all the types of storage media and the
additional capacity of all the storage media is calculated. Then,
the structural ratio calculation program 360 displays the
additional capacity of all the storage media as a list of necessary
storage media to be purchased on a display screen 1400 shown in
FIG. 13.
[0122] The display screen 1400 shown in FIG. 13 is a screen for
prompting the user to purchase necessary storage media and displays
a sentence stating "Please purchase the following storage media"
together with the type and capacity of the necessary storage media
to be purchased. FIG. 13 shows that 5 GB of storage media whose
type is SSD needs to be purchased.
[0123] Referring back to FIG. 10, after showing the screen for
prompting the user to purchase the necessary storage media in step
S310, the structural ratio calculation program 360 clears the
content stored in the structural ratio information table 390 and
terminates the processing because it cannot create the storage
tiered which satisfies the IOPS distribution.
[0124] Next, migration from the existing volume 700 to the storage
tiered will be explained. FIG. 14 shows that data of an existing
volume 1520 is migrated to a storage tiered 1510 created by the
above-described structural ratio calculation processing. The
storage tiered 1510 is composed of storage media such as SSD 1530,
SAS 1540, and SATA 1550. Data stored in the existing volume 1520 is
indicated in IOPS distribution 1560 where the data is sorted in
descending order of the IOPS. In this embodiment, data stored in
the existing volume 1520 is migrated sequentially in descending
order of the IOPS to the created storage tiered 1510. The data is
sequentially written to the storage tiered 1510, starting from the
SSD 1530 with the highest performance, by means of the storage
tiered control function; and when the capacity of the SSD 1530
becomes filled with the data, the data is then written to the
storage media of the SAS 1540 with the next higher performance.
Furthermore, when the capacity of the SAS 1540 becomes filled with
the data, the data is then written to the SATA 1550 with the next
higher performance.
(1-4) Advantageous Effect of this Embodiment
[0125] According to this embodiment as described above, when adding
a specified area of storage media to the existing volume 700 in
response to a request from the host computer 500, the management
computer 300: obtains the storage media information, including the
I/O frequency of the data storage area (page) of the existing
volume 700 as well as the performance information and structure
information of the storage media, from the storage apparatus 600;
identifies one or more storage media which have not been allocated
to the existing volume 700 with the I/O performance in excess of
the I/O frequency so that the data storage area of the existing
volume 700 would achieve a specified I/O performance target; and
issues an instruction to the storage apparatus to create a storage
tiered by using the identified storage media. As a result, a
storage tiered that satisfies the desired performance can be
configured by recognizing the type and capacity of the storage
media of the storage apparatus 600 held by the user and using such
storage media.
(2) Second Embodiment
(2-1) Hardware Configuration of Computer System
[0126] Since the configuration of a computer system according to
this embodiment is almost the same as that in the first embodiment,
its detailed explanation has been omitted. Particularly, any
difference in the configuration of this embodiment from that of the
first embodiment will be explained below in detail. This embodiment
describes a case where when switching from an existing virtual
volume pool to a storage tiered, the structure of storage media to
be added to the storage tiered is calculated. Since the
configuration of the management computer 300 and the host computer
500 is almost the same as that in the first embodiment, its
detailed explanation has been omitted.
[0127] (2-1-1) Configuration of Storage Apparatus
[0128] The difference between a storage apparatus 1600 according to
this embodiment and the first embodiment is that the storage
apparatus 1600 is equipped with a virtual volume pool 1700 as shown
in FIG. 15. The thin provisioning function presents a virtual
volume to the host computer 500 as described earlier; and if the
host computer 500 makes write access to the virtual volume, a
storage area is dynamically allocated to the virtual volume. The
virtual volume pool 1700 is a storage area allocated to this
virtual volume and is a pool for a virtual volume(s). Data has
already been written to the virtual volume pool 1700. Furthermore,
the virtual volume pool 1700 is connected to a disk interface 1690.
Since the configuration other than the virtual volume pool 1700 is
the same as that of the first embodiment, its detailed explanation
has been omitted.
(2-2) Structural Ratio Calculation Processing
[0129] Next, processing for calculating the structure of storage
media to be added to the storage tiered when switching from the
existing virtual volume pool 1700 to a new storage tiered will be
explained. The storage media structure calculation processing is
executed by the structural ratio calculation program 360 of the
management computer 300. In the following explanation, the same
step number is assigned to the processing of the same content as
that of the structural ratio calculation processing according to
the first embodiment and its detailed explanation has been
omitted.
[0130] The structural ratio calculation processing according to
this embodiment is executed by, for example, issuance of an
instruction by the administrator to the structural ratio
calculation program 360 of the management computer 300 to create a
storage tiered based on the IOPS distribution of the virtual volume
pool 1700.
[0131] For example, the storage tiered switching instruction is
issued via a storage tiered switching instruction screen 1800. Now,
the details of the storage tiered switching instruction screen 1800
will be explained. As shown in FIG. 18, the storage tiered
switching instruction screen 1800 includes a radio button 1820 for
selecting GROWING and a radio button 1830 for selecting GROWTH
COMPLETED, which are radio buttons for selecting a capacity growth
state of the virtual volume pool to be switched to the storage
tiered, a selection box 1840 for selecting the virtual volume pool
to be switched to the storage tiered, an OK button 1850 for
commanding the execution of the processing, and a cancel button
1860 for terminating the screen without executing the
processing.
[0132] The user checks if the capacity of the target virtual volume
pool 1700 to be switched to the storage tiered is growing or not.
If the capacity is growing, the user selects the radio button 1820
indicating that the capacity is growing; and if the growth is
completed, the user selects the radio button 1830 indicating the
growth completion. Furthermore, the user selects the target virtual
volume pool to be switched to the storage tiered from the selection
box 1840. The storage tiered switching instruction screen 1800 is
designed so that the virtual volume pool is selected from the
selection box 1840; however, identification information indicating
the virtual volume pool 1700 may be directly entered.
[0133] As shown in FIG. 16, the structural ratio calculation
program 360 obtains the IOPS distribution of the virtual volume
pool 1700 from the storage apparatus 1600 (S400). Specifically
speaking, the structural ratio calculation program 360 issues an
instruction to the dynamic tiered tontrol program 660 of the
storage apparatus 600 to obtain the IOPS information of the virtual
volume pool 1700 and create the IOPS distribution.
[0134] Next, the structural ratio calculation program 360 obtains
the information of the capacity growth state of the virtual volume
pool 1700 from the host computer 500 (S410). The information about
the capacity growth state is information to be obtained in order to
judge whether the structure of an appropriate storage tiered should
be created in accordance with the capacity growth state of the
virtual volume pool 1700 at the time of switching to the storage
tiered, or the structure of an appropriate storage tiered should be
configured in accordance with the operation status such as
extension or deletion of the pool.
[0135] Next, the structural ratio calculation program 360 judges
the growth state of the virtual volume pool 1700 as obtained in
step S410 (S420). If it is determined in step S420 that the
capacity of the virtual volume pool 1700 is growing, the structural
ratio calculation program 360 obtains only information of the
storage media with the IOPS equal to or more than the IOPS limit
for the storage media of the virtual volume pool 1700 (S430). On
the other hand, If it is determined in step S420 that the capacity
of the virtual volume pool 1700 is not growing, that is, the growth
is completed, the structural ratio calculation program 360 obtains
information of all the storage media in the storage apparatus 1600
(S440).
[0136] Next, the structural ratio calculation program 360 issues an
instruction to the dynamic tiered tontrol program 1660 of the
storage apparatus 1600 to identify the IOPS in excess of the IOPS
limit for the storage media of the virtual volume pool 1700 in the
IOPS distribution obtained in step S400 and increase the number of
IOPS (S450).
[0137] Then, the structural ratio calculation program 360 obtains
the storage media with the lowest IOPS limit from among the
information of the storage media obtained in step S110 (S150) and
calculates the allocated capacity of the storage media selected in
step S150 (S160).
[0138] Subsequently, as shown in FIG. 17, the structural ratio
calculation program 360 gives an instruction to the device
management program 1630 of the storage apparatus 1600 to refer to
the structural ratio information table 390 and add storage media
other than the storage media of the virtual volume pool 1700 to the
virtual volume pool 1700, thereby creating the storage tiered
(S500).
[0139] Next, the structural ratio calculation program 360 judges
the growth state of the virtual volume pool 1700 obtained in step
S410 again (S510).
[0140] If the growth state of the virtual volume pool 1700
indicates the growth completion in step S510, the structural ratio
calculation program 360 sorts data according to the performance
requirement and migrates the data by using the dynamic storage
tiered control function that allocates pages of a high performance
tier from data of high performance requirement (S520).
[0141] On the other hand, if the growth state of the virtual volume
pool 1700 indicates in step S510 that the capacity is growing, the
structural ratio calculation program 360 migrates data of the
allocated capacity of the storage media with a higher IOPS limit
than that of the storage media of the virtual volume pool 1700 to
the highest-level tier in descending order of the IOPS of the data
(S530).
[0142] After the completion of step S530, the structural ratio
calculation program 360 identifies data, to which the storage media
with a lower IOPS limit than that of the storage media of the
virtual volume pool 1700 is allocated, and designates migration
destination storage media for such data, thereby migrating the data
(S540).
[0143] Next, in order to delete a storage area equivalent to the
capacity of the added storage media, other than the storage media
of the virtual volume pool 1700, from the virtual volume pool 1700,
the structural ratio calculation program 360 migrates data stored
in the storage media of the virtual volume pool 1700 to other
volumes in the same storage media and deletes the emptied volume(s)
(S550). This is normally the processing executed when the growth
state indicates the growth completion. However, even if the growth
state indicates that the capacity is growing, the screen for
checking whether the relevant volume(s) should be deleted or not
may be presented to the user and then the volume(s) may be
deleted.
[0144] Next, migration executed when switching from the virtual
volume pool 1700 to the storage tiered will be explained. FIG. 19
shows that data of a virtual volume pool 1910 is migrated to a
storage tiered 1920 created by the above-described structural ratio
calculation processing. Furthermore, FIG. 19 shows that the
capacity growth of the virtual volume pool 1910 is completed and,
for example, the storage tiered 1920 constituted from SSD, SAS and
SATA is created by adding SSD and SATA to the virtual volume pool
1910 which is SAS. Then, the data of the virtual volume pool 1910
is migrated to the SSD and SATA of the created storage tiered
1920.
[0145] The data of the virtual volume pool 1910 is sorted in
descending order of the IOPS of the data as described above, which
results in IOPS distribution 1940. Then, the data equivalent to the
allocated capacity of the SSD which is the storage media with a
higher IOPS limit than that of the SAS, that is, the storage media
of the virtual volume pool 1910, is migrated. After the data
migration to the SSD is completed, data to which the SATA (which is
the storage media with a lower IOPS limit than that of the SAS,
that is, the storage media of the virtual volume pool 1910) is
allocated is identified, the storage media which is a data
migration destination is designated for such data, and then the
data is migrated to the SATA. Furthermore, after the completion of
the migration to the SATA, the data stored in the SAS is migrated
to other volumes in the same SAS in order to delete the capacity of
the added SSD and SATA which are the storage media other than the
SAS, that is, the storage media of the virtual volume pool 1910.
Then, a storage tiered 1930 from which the emptied volume(s) has
been deleted is created and switching from the virtual volume pool
1910 to the storage tiered 1930 is completed.
(2-3) Advantageous Effect of this Embodiment
[0146] In this embodiment as described above, when a request is
made by the host computer 500 to switch from a virtual volume pool
to a storage tiered, data can be migrated to that storage tiered by
creating a low-cost storage tiered using the storage media retained
by the user on the basis of the IOPS distribution of the virtual
volume pool.
(3) Third Embodiment
(3-1) Hardware Configuration of Computer System
[0147] Since the configuration of a computer system according to
this embodiment is almost the same as that in the first and second
embodiments, its detailed explanation has been omitted.
Particularly, any difference in the configuration of this
embodiment from that of the first and second embodiments will be
explained below in detail. This embodiment describes a case where
as triggered by the receipt of notice of the capacity depletion of
a storage tiered, the management computer 300 obtains the capacity
to be added to the storage tiered and calculates the structure of
storage media with respect to the additional capacity. Since the
configuration of the management computer 300 and the host computer
500 are almost the same as that in the first and second
embodiments, its detailed explanation has been omitted.
[0148] The difference between a storage apparatus 2000 according to
this embodiment and the first embodiment is that the storage
apparatus 2000 is already equipped with a storage tiered 2100 as
shown in FIG. 20. Data has already written to the storage tiered
2100. The storage tiered 2100 is also connected to a disk interface
2000. In a case of the capacity depletion of the storage tiered
2100, the storage apparatus 2000 notifies the management computer
300 of the depletion. Since the configuration other than the
storage tiered 2100 is the same as that of the first embodiment,
its detailed explanation has been omitted.
[0149] The management computer 300 obtains the capacity of the
storage media of the storage tiered 2100 obtained by a dynamic
tiered tontrol program 2060 of the storage apparatus 2000. The
capacity of the storage media of the storage tiered 2100 is stored
in storage tiered information 2200. The storage tiered information
table 2200 may be created by the management computer 300 based on
information sent from the storage apparatus 2000 or the storage
apparatus 2000 may create the storage tiered 2100 based on
information of the capacity of the storage media and information of
the storage tiered 2100 may be sent to the management computer
300.
[0150] The storage tiered information table 2200 is a table for
managing the capacity of storage media of the storage tiered 2200
and is constituted from a tier column 2210, a storage media type
column 2220, and a capacity column 2230 as shown in FIG. 21. The
tier column 2210 stores information for identifying each tier. The
storage media type column 2220 stores information of the type of
storage media corresponding to each tier. Each tier capacity column
2230 stores information of the capacity of the storage media
corresponding to each tier. Furthermore, a total capacity field
2240 stores the capacity of the entire storage tiered 2100.
(3-2) Structural Ratio Calculation Processing
[0151] Next, processing for calculating the structure of storage
media of the capacity to be added to the existing storage tiered
2200 will be explained. The storage media structure calculation
processing is executed by the structural ratio calculation program
360 of the management computer 300. In the following explanation,
the same step number is assigned to the processing of the same
content as that of the structural ratio calculation processing
according to the first embodiment and its detailed explanation has
been omitted.
[0152] The structural ratio calculation processing according to
this embodiment is executed by, for example, the dynamic tiered
tontrol program 2060 of the storage apparatus 2000 as triggered by
detection of depletion of the capacity of the storage tiered 2100
during monitoring such capacity and transmission of the detected
content to the management computer 300.
[0153] Firstly, the structural ratio calculation program 360
receives the notice from the dynamic tiered tontrol program 2060 of
the storage apparatus 2000, reporting that the capacity of the
storage tiered 2100 has exceeded a specified capacity threshold,
which results in the capacity depletion (S560). Then, the
structural ratio calculation program 360 obtains the additional
capacity of the entire storage tiered from the storage tiered
information table 2200 (S565).
[0154] The specified capacity threshold in step S560 or the
additional capacity to be added to the storage tiered 2100 may be
set in advance by input by the user. For example, the structural
ratio calculation program 360 presents an input screen for the
advance setting of the extension of the storage tiered 2100 to the
user. The user can set the advance setting of the extension of the
storage tiered 2100 via, for example, an input screen 2300 shown in
FIG. 25. The input screen 2300 is used to directly enter a
threshold for the capacity of the storage tiered 2100 or set the
threshold for the capacity by means of another function, so that
whether the capacity of the pool has been depleted or not is
detected on the basis of the threshold and the used capacity. A
policy for the capacity extension may be set in advance and the
structure of storage media with respect to the additional capacity
may be calculated according to the policy.
[0155] As shown in FIG. 25, the input screen 2300 includes a
setting item 2310 for setting a threshold for the capacity of the
storage tiered, a text box 2320 for inputting a threshold value, a
setting item 2330 for setting the capacity extension policy, and
various radio buttons. Examples of the radio buttons include a
radio button 2340 for manually selecting the setting content of the
capacity extension policy, a radio button 2350 for selecting a
structural ratio of the same storage media as that of the storage
tiered in operation, and a radio button 2360 for selecting a method
for designating an application(s) in use and adjusting to the
characteristics of the application(s). The input screen 2300 also
includes, for example, a selection box 2370 for selecting the
application(s), an OK button 1850 for commanding the execution of
the processing, and a cancel button 1860 for terminating the screen
without executing the processing.
[0156] The user can set the threshold for the capacity of the
storage tiered by inputting the threshold to the setting item 2320
on the input screen 2300. Furthermore, the user selects the
capacity extension policy setting method by selecting various radio
buttons. Also, when setting the capacity extension policy according
to the characteristics of the application, the application to be
used is selected from the selection box 2370. The structural ratio
calculation program 360 obtains, for example, the threshold and the
capacity extension policy setting method, which are entered via the
input screen 2300, and calculates the structure of the capacity to
be added to the storage tiered 2100 on the basis of the threshold
and the setting method.
[0157] Referring back to FIG. 22, the structural ratio calculation
program 360 obtains the IOPS information and IOPS distribution of
the storage tiered 2100 from the storage apparatus 2000 (S570).
Specifically speaking, the structural ratio calculation program 360
issues an instruction to the dynamic tiered tontrol program 2060 of
the storage apparatus 2000 to obtain the IOPS information of the
storage tiered 2100 and create the IOPS distribution.
[0158] Subsequently, the structural ratio calculation program 360
refers to the storage media information table 370 and obtains
information of the storage media in the storage apparatus 2000
(S110).
[0159] The structural ratio calculation program 360 then judges
whether or not the user authority is set to the storage media
obtained in step S110 (S120). If it is determined in step S120 that
the user authority is set to the storage media, the structural
ratio calculation program 360 obtains only information of the
storage media to which the user authority is set (S130). On the
other hand, if it is determined in step S120 that the user
authority is not set to the storage media, the structural ratio
calculation program 360 executes processing in step S140.
[0160] Then, the structural ratio calculation program 360
identifies the IOPS in excess of the IOPS limit for the existing
volume 700 in the storage apparatus 600 and increases the number of
IOPS (S140). Next, the structural ratio calculation program 360
obtains the storage media with the lowest IOPS limit from among the
information of the storage media obtained in step S110 (S150).
[0161] Next, the structural ratio calculation program 360
calculates the allocated capacity of the storage media selected in
step S150 (S575). The processing for calculating the allocated
capacity of the storage media in step S575 will be explained later
in detail.
[0162] Subsequently, the structural ratio calculation program 360
issues an instruction to a device management program 2030 of the
storage apparatus 2000 to add the additional capacity of the
storage media calculated in step S575 to the storage tiered 2100
(S580).
[0163] The structural ratio calculation program 360 may present the
structure of the storage media to be added to the user before
issuing the instruction to the storage apparatus 2000 to add the
capacity to the storage tiered 2100. For example, the structural
ratio calculation program 360 displays a display screen 2400 shown
in FIG. 26 and presents the structure of the additional capacity of
the storage tiered to the user. The display screen 2400 is a screen
for presenting the storage media to be added to the storage tiered
2100 and the structure of the storage tiered 2100 after the
addition to the user. The display screen 2400 includes a structure
list 2410 of the storage media to be added to the storage tiered
and a structure list 2420 of a storage tiered to be created after
the addition. The display screen 2400 also includes an OK button
2430 for executing addition of the capacity to the storage tiered
and a cancel button 2440 for terminating the screen without
executing the addition of the capacity to the storage tiered.
[0164] The content to be displayed on the display screen 2400 may
be designed so that the structure of the storage tiered is
presented based on the structural ratio information table 390 by,
for example, integrating several tiers in accordance with a
constraint(s) of the dynamic tiered control.
[0165] Referring back to FIG. 22, the capacity growth state may be
detected with respect to the capacity of the storage tiered 2100
and a judgment may be made according to the growth state in step
580 in the same manner as in the second embodiment. When the
capacity growth state of the storage tiered 2100 indicates the
growth completion, the migration processing shown in FIG. 16 and
FIG. 17 is executed after step S580 and excessively allocated
storage media in light of the ideal IOPS distribution are
deleted.
[0166] Next, the details of the processing for calculating the
allocated capacity of the storage media in step S575 will be
explained. As shown in FIG. 23, the structural ratio calculation
program 360 obtains the IOPS limit for the storage media selected
in step S150 from the storage media information obtained in step
S110 (S600).
[0167] Next, the structural ratio calculation program 360
calculates the ideal capacity of pages that sufficiently satisfies
the IOPS of the storage media selected in step S150 on the basis of
the IOPS distribution obtained in step S570 and the TOPS limit for
the storage media obtained in step S610 (hereinafter referred to as
the capacity (A)) (S610).
[0168] Next, the structural ratio calculation program 360
calculates a ratio of the ideal capacity of the selected storage
media to the data capacity of the storage tiered (hereinafter
referred to as the ratio (B)) (S620).
[0169] Then, the structural ratio calculation program 360
calculates the total capacity of the storage tiered and the
additional capacity (hereinafter referred to as the total capacity
(C)) (S630).
[0170] Subsequently, the structural ratio calculation program 360
calculates the ideal capacity of the selected storage media in the
storage tiered 2100 after addition of the capacity (hereinafter
referred to as the ideal capacity (D)) on the basis of the ratio of
the appropriate capacity of the selected storage media to the total
capacity (C) (S640).
[0171] Next, the structural ratio calculation program 360 subtracts
the actual capacity of the storage tiered (hereinafter referred to
as the actual capacity (DE)) from the ideal capacity (D), thereby
calculating an ideal additional capacity (hereinafter referred to
as the ideal additional capacity (F)) (S650).
[0172] Then, the structural ratio calculation program 360
calculates the capacity by adding carry-over capacity to the ideal
additional capacity (F) calculated in step S650 (hereinafter
referred to as the capacity (G)) (S660). The carry-over capacity
herein used means the capacity calculated in step S720 described
later; and when the retained capacity actually retained in the
storage apparatus 2000 is insufficient as compared to the ideal
additional capacity, such shortage is managed as the carry-over
capacity to a lower-level tier.
[0173] Next, the structural ratio calculation program 360 obtains
the retained capacity of the storage media selected in step S150
(hereinafter referred to as the retained capacity (H)) (S670).
[0174] Subsequently, as shown in FIG. 24, the structural ratio
calculation program 360 compares the capacity (G) calculated in
step S660 and obtained by adding the carry-over capacity with the
retained capacity (H) obtained in step S670 (S700).
[0175] If it is determined in step S700 that the capacity (G)
obtained by adding the carry-over capacity to the ideal additional
capacity (F) is equal to or more than the retained capacity (F) of
the storage media, the structural ratio calculation program 360
sets the retained capacity (H) of the storage media as the
allocated capacity (S710). Then, the capacity obtained by
subtracting the retained capacity (H) of the storage media from the
capacity (G) obtained by adding the carry-over capacity to the
ideal additional capacity (F) is set as the carry-over capacity
(hereinafter referred to as the carry-over capacity (I))
(S720).
[0176] On the other hand, if it is determined in step S700 that the
retained capacity (H) of the storage media is larger than the
capacity (G) to which the carry-over capacity is added, the
capacity (G) obtained by adding the carry-over capacity to the
ideal additional capacity (F) is set as the allocated capacity
(S730).
[0177] Next, the structural ratio calculation program 360
associates the allocated capacity of the storage media calculated
in step S720 or step S730 with the selected storage media and
stores them in the structural ratio information table 390
(S740).
[0178] Then, the structural ratio calculation program 360 compares
the capacity of the storage media which is written to the
structural ratio information table 390 with respect to a page(s) to
which the selected storage media is allocated, that is, a total of
the allocated capacity (total allocated capacity), with the
additional capacity requested for the storage tiered 2100 (S750);
and if the total allocated capacity is equal to or more than the
requested additional capacity, the structural ratio calculation
program 360 terminates the processing in step S575 and executes the
processing in step S580 in FIG. 22. On the other hand, if it is
determined in step S750 that the total allocated capacity is less
than the requested additional capacity, the structural ratio
calculation program 360 executes processing in step S760.
[0179] Subsequently, the structural ratio calculation program 360
checks if the storage media with the next lower IOPS limit exists
or not (S760). If it is determined in step S760 that the storage
media with the next lower IOPS does not limit exist, the structural
ratio calculation program 360 identifies the type and capacity of
necessary storage media to satisfy the IOPS distribution, presents
the screen for prompting the user to purchase the storage media
(FIG. 13) to the user (S310), clears the content stored in the
structural ratio information table 390, and terminates the
processing. On the other hand, if it is determined in step S760
that the storage media with the next lower IOPS limit exists, the
structural ratio calculation program 360 selects the storage media
with the next lower IOPS (S770) and repeats the processing in step
S600 and subsequent steps.
[0180] Regarding the method for calculating the ideal structure of
the additional capacity, a calculation method on the basis that the
IOPS distribution after adding the capacity to the storage tiered
2100 is similar to the IOPS distribution of the storage tiered in
operation is used as described above from step S610 to step S650
for calculating the additional capacity of each storage media;
however, the calculation method is not limited to such an example.
For example, the ideal structure of the additional capacity may be
calculated in accordance with the characteristics of the
application(s) in use; and the processing step S610 to step S650
may not be executed as long as the ideal structure of the
additional capacity can be calculated. Furthermore, the order of
processing in step S575 may be different from the order described
earlier by adopting another method.
[0181] Next, a specific example of the above-described processing
for calculating the structure of the additional capacity of the
storage media will be explained. Like the aforementioned structural
ratio calculation processing, the specific example shown in FIG. 27
is also indicated on the basis that the IOPS distribution after
addition of the additional capacity to the storage tiered 2100 is
similar to the IOPS distribution of the storage tiered 2100 in
operation.
[0182] An explanatory diagram 2500 in FIG. 27 describes a case
where, for example, the capacity of SSD is 15 GB, the capacity of
SAS is 55 GB, and the capacity of SATA is 30 GB; and the structural
ratio calculation program 360 receives an instruction to add the
capacity of 50 GB to a storage tiered with a total capacity of 100
GB. In this case, it is assumed that information of the storage
media obtained from the storage apparatus 2000 is also SSD, SAS,
and SATA. The specific example of the structural ratio calculation
processing in a case of calculation of the structure of additional
storage media which is SAS will be explained.
[0183] Firstly, 50 GB of SAS is calculated as the ideal capacity
(A) from the IOPS distribution of the storage tiered 2100 in step
S610 (2510). Next, in step S620, 50% of SAS is calculated as the
ideal capacity ratio (B) (2520). Then, in step S630, 150 GB is
calculated as the total capacity (C) of the storage tiered and the
additional capacity (2530).
[0184] Subsequently, in step S640, 75 GB is calculated as the ideal
capacity (D) of the SAS in the storage tiered 2100 after addition
of the capacity on the basis of the appropriate capacity ratio of
the SAS to the total capacity (C) (2540).
[0185] Next, 55 GB of the SAS is obtained as the actual capacity
(E) of the storage tiered 2100 to be subtracted from the ideal
capacity (D) calculated in step S640 (2550) and 20 GB of the SAS is
calculated as the ideal additional capacity (F) (2560).
[0186] Then, 25 GB of the SAS is calculated as the capacity (G)
obtained by adding 5 GB of the carry-over capacity from the SATA to
the ideal additional capacity (F) calculated in step S650
(2570).
[0187] Next, 23 GB of the SAS is obtained as the retained capacity
(H) of the selected storage media (2580). Then, the capacity (G)
which is 25 GB of the SAS is compared with the retained capacity
(H) which is 23 GB of the SAS; and since the capacity (G) is equal
to or more than the retained capacity (H), the retained capacity
(G) is set as the allocated capacity 23 GB of the SAS (2590).
[0188] Finally, if the capacity (G) is equal to or more than the
retained capacity (H), a value 2 GB obtained by subtracting the
retained capacity (H) from the capacity (G) is calculated as the
capacity (I) to be carried over to the SSD (2600).
(3-3) Advantageous Effect of this Embodiment
[0189] In this embodiment as described above, as triggered by the
reception of the notice of the capacity depletion of the storage
tiered 2100 from the dynamic tiered tontrol program 2060 of the
storage apparatus 2000, the capacity to be added to the storage
tiered 2100 can be obtained and the low-cost structure using the
storage media held by the user can be calculated with respect to
the additional capacity.
(4) Fourth Embodiment
(4-1) Hardware Configuration of Computer System
[0190] In this embodiment, a storage tiered is newly created based
on the IOPS distribution of an existing logical volume in a storage
apparatus in the same manner as in the first embodiment. In this
embodiment, an externally connected storage apparatus exists
besides storage media in the storage apparatus; and the structure
of the storage tiered is calculated by externally connecting a
logical volume in this external storage apparatus and using storage
media information of the externally connected volume. The external
connection herein used means a function that associates a logical
volume, which is provided by another storage apparatus (external
storage apparatus) connected to one storage apparatus, with a
logical volume or a virtual volume provided by the one storage
apparatus. In the following explanation, associating a logical
volume of another storage apparatus with a logical volume of its
own storage apparatus may be sometimes explained simply as external
connection.
[0191] As shown in FIG. 28, a computer system 2700 according to
this embodiment is constituted from, for example, a first storage
apparatus 2730, a second storage apparatus 2740, a management
computer 300, and a host computer 500.
[0192] A management interface 2780 for the second storage apparatus
2740 is connected to the management computer via a specified
management network (for example, LAN) 190. Consequently, the
management computer 300 can communicate with the second storage
apparatus 2740. Incidentally, if the management network 190 is a
LAN, each management interface 2780 can be, for example, a LAN
card.
[0193] Furthermore, a communication port 2810 of the second storage
apparatus 2740 is connected to the host computer 500 via a
specified data communication network (for example, SAN) 200.
Consequently, the second storage apparatus 2740 can communicate
with the host computer 500.
[0194] Since the configuration of the management computer 300 and
the host computer 500 according to this embodiment is the same as
that of the management computer 300 and the host computer 500
according to the first embodiment, its detailed explanation has
been omitted.
(4-2) Configuration of Storage Apparatus
[0195] Next, the configuration of the first storage apparatus 2730
and the second storage apparatus 2740 will be explained. Since the
first storage apparatus 2730 and the second storage apparatus 2740
have almost the same configuration, only the configuration of the
first storage apparatus 2730 will be explained.
[0196] As shown in FIG. 29, the first storage apparatus 2730 is
constituted from, for example, a disk controller 2905, volumes
3030, an existing volume 3040, and an external connection volume
3050. In the following explanation, particularly the difference in
the configuration from the storage apparatus 600 according to the
first embodiment will be explained in detail.
[0197] A memory 2920 for the disk controller 2905 stores, for
example, a device management program 2930, a storage media
management program 2940, an external connection program 2950, an
IOPS counter 2960, a dynamic tiered tontrol program 2970, and an
external connection volume information table 2980.
[0198] Since the device management program 2930, the device
management program 2930, the storage media management program 2940,
the IOPS counter 2960, and the dynamic tiered tontrol program 2970
have almost the same functions as those of the device management
program 630, the storage media management program 640, the IOPS
counter 650, and the dynamic tiered tontrol program 660 according
to the first embodiment, its detailed explanation has been
omitted.
[0199] After receiving an instruction from the structural ratio
calculation program 360 of the management computer 300, the
external connection program 2950 detects a storage apparatus which
can be externally connected to the first storage apparatus 2730,
obtains volume information of the detected storage apparatus, and
externally connects that storage apparatus to the first storage
apparatus 2730.
[0200] The external connection volume information table 2980 is a
table for managing information of an externally connected logical
volume(s) and is constituted from a storage column 2981, a storage
media type column 2982, a capacity column 2983, and an laps limit
column 2984 as shown in FIG. 30. The storage column 2981 stores an
identifier or name of a storage apparatus which can be externally
connected to the first storage apparatus 2730 and in which a
logical volume that can be externally connected exists. The storage
media type column 2982 stores information indicating the type of
storage media of logical volumes which can be externally connected
and belongs to each storage apparatus. However, there may be a case
where the storage media type cannot be identified, depending on a
storage apparatus to be externally connected. So, if the storage
media type cannot be recognized, a hyphen is stored in the storage
media type column 2982.
[0201] Furthermore, the capacity column 2983 stores the capacity of
each storage media. The IOPS limit column 2984 stores the maximum
number of IOPS per page that can be processed by each storage
media. The IOPS limit may be a predefined value or a value counted
by the IOPS counter 2960 after actual transmission of test I/O by
the device management program 2930 to the external connection
volume 3050. Furthermore, external connection volume information
3100 may be information of logical volumes existing in the storage
apparatus which can be externally connected when extending the
capacity, or information of an external connection volume(s)
already mapped in the first storage apparatus. However, if the
external connection volume information 3100 is the information of
the logical volume(s) existing in the storage apparatus which can
be externally connected, the information of the already mapped
external connection volume(s) can be obtained at the same time when
obtaining the storage media information in the storage
apparatus.
[0202] Next, a storage media information table 3200 of the
management computer 300 will be explained. The storage media
information table 3200 is almost the same as the storage media
information table 370 shown in FIG. 1, but the difference between
them is that the storage media information table 3200 also stores
information about externally connected volumes. In other words, the
storage media information table 3200 is information obtained by
integrating the external connection volume information table 3100
of the above-described first storage apparatus 2730 with the
storage media information of the first storage apparatus 2730.
[0203] The storage media information table 3200 is constituted from
a tier order column 3210, a storage media type column 3220, a
capacity column 3230, an IOPS limit column 3240, an externally
connected storage media type column 3250, and a use authority
column 3260 as shown in FIG. 31.
[0204] The tier order column 3210 stores information indicating the
tier order of storage media. The storage media type column 3220
stores information indicating the type of the storage media, for
example, "SSD" or "SAS15K." The capacity column 3230 stores
information indicating the capacity of each storage media. The IOPS
limit column 3240 stores information indicating the IOPS limit for
each storage media. The IOPS limit is the maximum number of IOPS
per page which can be processed by each storage media. The
information stored in the IOPS limit column 3704 may be a
predefined value or a value counted by the IOPS counter 2960 after
actual transmission of test I/O by the device management program
2930 of the first storage apparatus 2730 to the existing volume
3040. The externally connected storage media type column 3250
stores the type of storage media of the externally connected
volume. However, there may be a case where the storage media type
cannot be identified, depending on a storage apparatus to be
externally connected. So, if the storage media type cannot be
recognized, a hyphen is stored in the externally connected storage
media type column 3250. The use authority column 3705 stores
information indicating the use authority of each user over each
storage media. In the environment where the use authority is set to
each storage media, for example, user A can select storage media to
use only from an aggregate of storage media over which the user
authority is granted to user A. Regarding an external connection
volume, it is mapped to the first storage apparatus 2730 and the
use authority is then set to that external connection volume.
(4-3) Structural Ratio Calculation Processing
[0205] Next, processing for calculating the structure of the
storage tiered based on the IOPS distribution when the storage
media information including a volume(s) which can be externally
connected is included. The storage media structure calculation
processing is executed by the structural ratio calculation program
360 of the management computer 300. In the following explanation,
the same step number is assigned to the processing of the same
content as that of the structural ratio calculation processing
according to the first embodiment and its detailed explanation has
been omitted.
[0206] The structural ratio calculation processing according to
this embodiment is executed by, for example, the administrator
giving an instruction to the structural ratio calculation program
360 of the management computer 300 to create a storage tiered based
on the IOPS distribution of the existing volume 3040.
[0207] As shown in FIG. 32, the structural ratio calculation
program 360 firstly obtains the IOPS distribution of the existing
volume 3040 from the first storage apparatus 2730 (S100). Next, the
structural ratio calculation program 360 refers to the storage
media information table 3200 and obtains the storage media
information of the first storage apparatus 2730 (S110).
[0208] Next, the structural ratio calculation program 360 checks
with the external connection program 2950 of the first storage
apparatus 2730 if any volume that can be externally connected
exists in the second storage apparatus 2740 which can be externally
connected (S810).
[0209] If it is determined in step S810 that a volume which can be
externally connected exists in the second storage apparatus 2740,
the structural ratio calculation program 360 obtains information of
the storage media which can be externally connected (S820). Then,
the structural ratio calculation program 360 stores the information
obtained in step S820 in the storage media information table of the
first storage apparatus 2730 (S830). On the other hand, if it is
determined in step S810 that a volume which can be externally
connected does not exist in the second storage apparatus 2740, the
structural ratio calculation program 360 executes the processing in
step S120.
[0210] Then, the structural ratio calculation program 360 judges
whether the user authority is set to the storage media obtained in
step S110 and step S810 (S120). If it is determined in step S120
that the user authority is set to the storage media, the structural
ratio calculation program 360 obtains only information of the
storage media to which the user authority is set (S130). On the
other hand, if it is determined in step S120 that the user
authority is not set to the storage media, the structural ratio
calculation program 360 executes the processing in step S140.
[0211] Next, the structural ratio calculation program 360
identifies the IOPS in excess of the IOPS limit for the existing
volume 700 in the storage apparatus 600 and increases the number of
IOPS (S140). Then, the structural ratio calculation program 360
obtains the storage media with the lowest IOPS limit from among the
information of the storage media obtained in step S110 (S150).
Subsequently, the structural ratio calculation program 360
calculates the allocated capacity of the storage media selected in
step S150 (S160).
[0212] Then, the structural ratio calculation program 360 judges
whether an external connection volume is included in the structural
ratio information table 390 or not (S900). If it is determined in
step S900 that an external connection volume is included in the
structural ratio information table 390, the volume which can be
externally connected is externally connected to the first storage
apparatus 2730 (S910). If it is determined in step S900 that an
external connection volume is not included in the structural ratio
information table 390, the structural ratio calculation program 360
executes the processing in step S170.
[0213] Next, the structural ratio calculation program 360 creates a
storage tiered based on the calculation result in step S160 (S170).
Then, the structural ratio calculation program 360 copies data in
descending order of the IOPS of the data, starting from the highest
IOPS, to the storage tiered created in step S170 (S180).
Incidentally, if there is a specified constraint(s) on the tier
number representing the performance of the relevant tier in the
storage tiered for the processing for creating the storage tiered
which satisfies the above-described I/O frequency distribution, the
structural ratio calculation program 360 may construct a tier with
the performance equivalent to or higher than that of the tier
number corresponding to the relevant constraint. Furthermore, If
there is a specified constraint(s) on the number of storage media
constituting a storage tier with respect to the processing for
creating the storage tiered which satisfies the above-described I/O
frequency distribution, the structural ratio calculation program
360 may select the storage media as many as or less than the number
of storage media corresponding to the constraint.
(4-4) Advantageous Effect of this Embodiment
[0214] If the host computer 500 issues a request to create a
storage tiered and a volume which can be externally connected is
included in the storage media held by the user, a low-cost storage
tiered can be created according to this embodiment as described
above.
INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY
[0215] The present invention can be applied to a wide variety of
computer systems that configure a storage tiered by using storage
media held by a user.
REFERENCE SIGNS LIST
[0216] 100 Computer system [0217] 190 Management network [0218] 200
Data communication network [0219] 300 Host computer [0220] 310
Input device [0221] 320 Output device [0222] 330 Processor [0223]
340 Disk device [0224] 350 Memory [0225] 360 Structural ratio
calculation program [0226] 370 Storage media information table
[0227] 380 IOPS information table [0228] 390 Structural ratio
information table [0229] 600 Storage apparatus [0230] 605 Disk
controller [0231] 610 Processor [0232] 620 Memory [0233] 630 Device
management program [0234] 640 Storage media management program
[0235] 650 Counter [0236] 660 Dynamic tiered control program
* * * * *