Abstract: A storage system is adapted for efficiency by defining beforehand a first size, which is the maximum data that can be read at one time, a second size, which is equal to or less than the first size, and a third size, which is a factor of the first size. A controller provides a virtual volume comprising a plurality of virtual pages. Upon receiving a write request, the controller allocates a pool area comprising a plurality of stripes of the first size, stores the write request data in a cache, and when writing the data stored in the cache to the storage device, compresses the data in accordance with the third size unit, selects a storage area in accordance with the second size unit, and writes the compressed data to the selected second size storage area sequentially from the start address of a free area without leaving spaces therebetween.

Abstract: A storage system according to the present invention has a plurality of flash packages equipped with a deduplication function. When a storage controller transmits a write data and a feature value of write data to a flash package, the flash package compares contents of the write data with data having a same feature value as the feature value of the write data. As a result of the comparison, if there is no corresponding data, the write data is stored in the flash memory, but if there is a corresponding data, the new data will not be stored. Thus, a greater number of data can be stored in the flash memory while preventing deterioration of performance.

Abstract: A storage apparatus and data management method capable of utilizing storage resources effectively is proposed. A storage apparatus storing primary data and analysis data obtained based on the primary data as a result of the execution of specified analysis processing by an external computing system is designed so that metadata of the analysis data includes regeneratable attribute information indicating whether or not the corresponding analysis data can be regenerated by means of the analysis processing by the external computing system; and a control unit regularly or irregularly selects the analysis data, which satisfies a specified condition and can be regenerated, based on the metadata for each piece of the analysis data and deletes the selected analysis data from one or more storage devices.

Abstract: A data memory device has a command transfer direct memory access (DMA) engine configured to obtain a command that is generated by an external apparatus to give a data transfer instruction from a memory of the external apparatus; obtain specifics of the instruction; store the command in a command buffer; obtain a command number that identifies the command being processed; and activate a transfer list generating DMA engine by transmitting the command number depending on the specifics of the instruction of the command. The transfer list generating DMA engine is configured to: identify, based on the command stored in the command buffer, an address in the memory to be transferred between the external apparatus and the data memory device; and activate the data transfer DMA engine by transmitting the address to the data transfer DMA engine which then transfers the data to/from the memory based on the received address.

Abstract: A storage system includes: a storage device including a recording medium that stores data and a device controller that executes addition processing involving a change of state of the data with respect to the data; and a storage controller that controls input and output of data for the storage device. The storage controller transmits, to the storage device, determination information that can be utilized by the device controller for determining whether or not to execute the addition processing along with input-output processing relating to input-output target data. The device controller controls execution of the addition processing with respect to the input-output target data based on the determination information transmitted from the storage controller.

Abstract: A storage system 100 includes a storage apparatus 125 and a storage controller 115 configured to control the storage apparatus. The storage controller adds a predetermined flag 425 to every predetermined size of data requested by a host computer to be written to the storage system, and stores the resultant data in a cache memory 278C. Upon detecting a predetermined trigger for saving, the storage controller stores, in a nonvolatile memory 284, data with the flag added thereto out of the data stored in the cache memory. The storage controller detects, as unsaved data information 620, a data size and a storage location for data with no flag added thereto out of the data on the cache memory, and stores the detected unsaved data information in the nonvolatile memory in association with the data with the flag added thereto.

Abstract: A storage apparatus and data management method capable of utilizing storage resources effectively is proposed. A storage apparatus storing primary data and analysis data obtained based on the primary data as a result of the execution of specified analysis processing by an external computing system is designed so that metadata of the analysis data includes regeneratable attribute information indicating whether or not the corresponding analysis data can be regenerated by means of the analysis processing by the external computing system; and a control unit regularly or irregularly selects the analysis data, which satisfies a specified condition and can be regenerated, based on the metadata for each piece of the analysis data and deletes the selected analysis data from one or more storage devices.

Abstract: Among a plurality of microprocessors 12, 32, when the load on a microprocessor 12 which performs I/O task processing of received I/O requests is equal to or greater than a first load, the microprocessor assigns at least an I/O task portion of the I/O task processing to another microprocessor 12 or 32, and the other microprocessor 12 or 32 executes at least the I/O task portion. The I/O task portion is a task processing portion comprising cache control processing, comprising the securing in cache memory 20 of a cache area, which is one area in cache memory 20, for storage of data.

Abstract: A storage system 100 includes a storage apparatus 125 and a storage controller 115 configured to control the storage apparatus. The storage controller adds a predetermined flag 425 to every predetermined size of data requested by a host computer to be written to the storage system, and stores the resultant data in a cache memory 278C. Upon detecting a predetermined trigger for saving, the storage controller stores, in a nonvolatile memory 284, data with the flag added thereto out of the data stored in the cache memory. The storage controller detects, as unsaved data information 620, a data size and a storage location for data with no flag added thereto out of the data on the cache memory, and stores the detected unsaved data information in the nonvolatile memory in association with the data with the flag added thereto.

Abstract: To detect an abnormality of logical and physical addresses, a storage device includes: plural drives each having a storage medium configuring a logical volume provided to a host device; a front end I/F that receives an I/O request including a logical address for identifying a logical storage area of the logical volume, and user data from the host computer; a processor that controls conversion from the logical address into the physical address for identifying a physical storage area of the storage medium; and a back end I/F that controls write/read of user data with respect to the drives based on the physical address. In the drives, data where a first guarantee code obtained based on the physical address and the logical address corresponding to the physical address is added to the user data is stored in the physical storage area designated by the physical address of the storage medium.

Abstract: If resources allocated to a host computer exist in different physical storage nodes within a virtual storage system after performing migration to a storage system, mapping of resources among the physical storage nodes becomes necessary, and if the amount of communication between physical storage nodes that occurs during access to resources exceeds a bandwidth of the connection path, the host I/O performance may be deteriorated compared to the performance before migration. Therefore, when migration is performed from a first physical storage node to a virtual storage system composed of a plurality of second physical storage nodes, a management computer allocates resources of the second physical storage nodes within a range of bandwidth of the transfer path between the second physical storage nodes based on configuration information of the plurality of second physical storage nodes, performance information, and load information of the volume provided by the first physical storage node.

Abstract: A storage control apparatus performs, for each virtual area to which a physical area is allocated, any one of coarse-grained management for managing a correspondence relationship between a virtual area and a physical area in a first size unit, and fine-grained management for managing a correspondence relationship between a virtual area and a physical area in a second size unit smaller than the first size unit. The storage control apparatus manages mapping information that expresses a correspondence relationship between a virtual area and a physical area. The storage control apparatus performs at least one of change of any of fine-grained virtual areas to a coarse-grained virtual area and change of any of coarse-grained virtual areas to a fine-grained virtual area, based on the number of duplication areas of each virtual area and a size of the mapping information.

Abstract: A storage system includes: a storage device including a recording medium that stores data and a device controller that executes addition processing involving a change of state of the data with respect to the data; and a storage controller that controls input and output of data for the storage device. The storage controller transmits, to the storage device, determination information that can be utilized by the device controller for determining whether or not to execute the addition processing along with input-output processing relating to input-output target data. The device controller controls execution of the addition processing with respect to the input-output target data based on the determination information transmitted from the storage controller.

Abstract: As a method for migrating data of a volume adopting a snapshot function to a new storage system, in order to perform migration without depending on a method for compressing snapshot data of a migration source storage system, and without stopping transmission and reception of data between the host computer and the storage system, at first, after migrating data of a volume being the source of snapshot (PVOL), migration is performed sequentially from newer generations. At this time, migration target data of each SVOL is all the data within the migration source storage system. The SVOL data copied to a migration destination storage is compared with one-generation-newer SVOL data within the migration destination storage system, and based on the comparison result, a difference management information is created. If there is difference, a VOL allocation management table is updated, and difference data is stored in the area allocated within the pool.

Abstract: A storage system includes: a storage device including a recording medium that stores data and a device controller that executes addition processing involving a change of state of the data with respect to the data; and a storage controller that controls input and output of data for the storage device. The storage controller transmits, to the storage device, determination information that can be utilized by the device controller for determining whether or not to execute the addition processing along with input-output processing relating to input-output target data. The device controller controls execution of the addition processing with respect to the input-output target data based on the determination information transmitted from the storage controller.

Abstract: A switch unit, which is connected to one or more computers and one or more storage systems, comprises an update function for updating transfer management information (a routing table, for example). The storage system has a function for adding a virtual port to a physical port. The storage system migrates the virtual port addition destination from a first physical port to a second physical port and transmits a request of a predetermined type which includes identification information on the virtual port of the migration target to the switch unit. The transfer management information is updated by the update function of the switch unit so that the transfer destination which corresponds with the migration target virtual port is the switch port connected to the second physical port.

Abstract: A host I/F unit has a management table for managing an MPPK which is in-charge of the control of input/output processing for a storage area of an LDEV, and if a host computer transmits an input/output request for the LDEV, the host I/F unit transfers the input/output request to the MPPK which is in-charge of the input/output processing for the LDEV based on the management table, an MP of the MPPK performs the input/output processing based on the input/output request, and the MP of the MPPK also judges whether the MPPK that is in-charge of the input/output processing for the LDEV is to be changed, and sets the management table so that an MPPK which is different from the MPPK that is in-charge is to be in-charge of the input/output processing for the LDEV.

Abstract: A storage system includes: a storage device including a recording medium that stores data and a device controller that executes addition processing involving a change of state of the data with respect to the data; and a storage controller that controls input and output of data for the storage device. The storage controller transmits, to the storage device, determination information that can be utilized by the device controller for determining whether or not to execute the addition processing along with input-output processing relating to input-output target data. The device controller controls execution of the addition processing with respect to the input-output target data based on the determination information transmitted from the storage controller.

Abstract: A controller receives new data which is data updated from old data, stores the received new data in a memory, reads the old data from a first storage medium group and stores the old data read into the memory, generates transfer data which is used to replicate in the subsidiary storage system new data with less information than the new data on the basis of a difference between the old data and the new data in the memory and transmits the transfer data to the subsidiary storage system, reads the old parity and stores it in the memory, and generates new parity which is parity updated from the old parity on the basis of the old parity in the memory and XOR data which is the exclusive logical sum of the new data and old data in the memory, and stores the new parity in the first storage medium group.

Abstract: The present invention provides a storage system in which each microprocessor is able to execute synchronous processing and asynchronous processing in accordance with the operating status of the storage system. Any one attribute, from among multiple attributes (operating modes) prepared beforehand, is set in each microprocessor in accordance with the operating status of the storage system. The attribute that is set in each microprocessor is regularly reviewed and changed.