Computer system, storage system and method for extending volume capacity

Abstract

The object of the present invention is to prevent distribution of a storage range to a volume from an inappropriate disk drive comparing with use of the volume as a result of an automatic extension of a volume capacity. A computer system has a storage system including a physical storage device, a host computer, and a management computer. The storage system includes a plurality of kinds of physical storage devices physically dividing into two segments or more the volume and records as constitution information the correspondence between each segment and the volume using the segment. And the storage system records the kind of physical storage device to be allocated to the volume and selects the physical storage device according to the kind of stored physical storage device for allocation of the segment when the host computer performs an I/O access to the volume.

1 . A computer system having a storage system including a physical storage device, a host computer connected to the storage system via a network to read/write data in a volume, and a management computer having an interface for connecting the management computer to the storage system and to the host computer via the network and for receiving a structure change directive from a user, 
 wherein the storage system includes a plurality of kinds of physical storage devices physically dividing into two segments or more the volume as a storage region used by the host computer for allocation and records as constitution information the correspondence between each segment and the volume using the segment, and the storage system records the kind of physical storage device to be allocated to the volume and selects the physical storage device according to the kind of stored physical storage device for allocation of the segment when the host computer performs an I/O access to the volume.    
   
   
       2 . The computer system according to  claim 1 , 
 wherein the physical storage device is a disk drive.    
   
   
       3 . The computer system according to  claim 1 , 
 wherein the physical storage device is an FC disk and/or an S-ATA disk.    
   
   
       4 . The computer system according to  claim 1 , 
 wherein the storage system receives the kind of physical storage device to be allocated to the volume from the management computer for recording.    
   
   
       5 . The computer system according to  claim 1 , 
 wherein the storage system receives the characteristic assigned to the physical volume from the management computer and records the kind of physical storage device corresponding to the characteristic as a kind of physical storage device to be allocated to the physical volume.    
   
   
       6 . The computer system according to  claim 5 , 
 wherein the characteristic assigned to the physical volume is a hint value.    
   
   
       7 . The computer system according to  claim 6 , 
 wherein the hint value is given by digitizing reliability, cost, recording speed, failure rate, or RAID level.    
   
   
       8 . The computer system according to  claim 1 , 
 wherein the storage system has a physical storage device management table on which the kind of physical storage device is recorded and creates a volume characteristic list on which the characteristic of the physical storage device is recorded from the physical storage device management table for selection of the physical storage device to be allocated to the physical volume.    
   
   
       9 . The computer system according to  claim 1 , 
 wherein the storage system has an access quantity recorded from the host computer corresponding to each segment while the management computer has a recorded permissible range of the access quantity corresponding to each segment of the physical storage device of the storage system and transmits the data of the physical volume allocated to the segment with the access quantity exceeding the permissible range to the storage system so as to transfer the data to a kind of physical storage device corresponding to an access state.    
   
   
       10 . The computer system according to  claim 1 , 
 wherein the storage system has a permissible range of access quantity for each segment and records the access quantity from the host computer for each segment for transferring the data of the physical volume allocated to the segment with the access quantity exceeding the permissible range to a kind of physical storage device corresponding to an access state.    
   
   
       11 . A computer system having a storage system including a physical storage device and a plurality of host computers connected to the storage system via a network for reading/writing data in a physical volume, 
 wherein the storage system includes a plurality of physical storage devices physically dividing into two segments or more the volume as a storage region used by the host computer for allocation and has a switch for changing network circuits between the storage system and a plurality of host computers, the switch making the host computer using the storage region in the storage device to recognize one or more volumes as one virtual volume, and wherein the storage system records the correspondence between each volume and the virtual volume using the volume as constitution information and allocates the volume to the virtual volume according to the correspondence between the recorded volume and virtual volume prior to performing an I/O access to the volume.    
   
   
       12 . A storage system being connected to a management computer having an interface for receiving a constitution change directive from a host computer reading/writing data in a volume and a user via a network and including a logical storage device, 
 wherein the storage system includes a plurality of kinds of physical storage devices physically dividing into two segments or more the volume as a storage region used by the host computer for allocation and records as constitution information the correspondence between each segment and the volume using the segment, and the storage system records the kind of physical storage device to be allocated to the volume and selects the physical storage device according to the kind of stored physical storage device for allocation of the segment when the host computer performs an I/O access to the volume.    
   
   
       13 . The storage system according to  claim 12 , 
 wherein the storage system receives the characteristic assigned to the physical volume from the management computer and records the kind of physical storage device corresponding to the characteristic as a kind of physical storage device to be allocated to the physical volume.    
   
   
       14 . The storage system according to  claim 12 , 
 wherein the storage system records a permissible range of access quantity for each segment and the access quantity from the host computer for each segment for transferring the data of the physical volume allocated to the segment with the access quantity exceeding the permissible range to a kind of physical storage device corresponding to an access state.    
   
   
       15 . A method for extending volume capacity of a computer system including a physical storage device dividing into a plurality of segments a volume as a storage region used by a host computer for allocation and that has a storage system which records as constitution information the correspondence between each segment and the volume using the segment and dynamically allocates the segment to the volume in response to an I/O access from the host computer to the volume, the host computer connected to the storage system via a network for reading/writing data in the volume, and a management computer being connected to the storage system and the host computer via the network and having an interface for receiving the constitution change directive from a user, 
 wherein the computer system records to the storage system the kind of a plurality of physical storage devices to be allocated to a volume and selects the physical storage device for selecting the segment according to the kind of recorded physical storage device when the host computer performs an I/O access to the volume.    
   
   
       16 . The method for extending a volume capacity of a computer system according to  claim 15 , 
 wherein the computer system receives the kind of physical storage device to be allocated to the volume from the management computer and records the kind of the physical storage device to the storage system.    
   
   
       17 . The method for extending a volume capacity of a computer system according to  claim 15 , 
 wherein the computer system has an access quantity recorded from the host computer corresponding to each segment, records the permissible range of the access quantity corresponding to each segment of the physical storage device of the storage system to the management computer, and transmits the data of the physical volume allocated to the segment with the access quantity exceeding the permissible range from the management computer to the storage system so as to transfer the data to a kind of physical storage device corresponding to an access state.    
   
   
       18 . The method for extending a volume capacity of a computer system according to  claim 15 , 
 wherein the computer system records a permissible range of access quantity for each segment to the storage system and the access quantity from the host computer for each segment to the storage system and transfers the data of the physical volume allocated to the segment with the access quantity exceeding the permissible range to a kind of physical storage device corresponding to an access state.