Methods and apparatus for migrating thin provisioning volumes between storage systems

摘要

Multiple storage systems have capability to provide thin provisioning volumes to host computers and capability to transfer (import/export) management information regarding thin provisioning between storage systems. Moreover, at least one of the storage systems posses capability to provide storage area of other storage system as own storage area virtually via connection to the other storage system (i.e. external storage). Target storage system achieves efficient migration and unifying storage resource pool by importing or referring the management information obtained from source storage system and by utilizing the source storage system as external storage. One implementation involves method and process for migration of thin provisioning volumes using chunks having same length between source storage system and destination storage system. In this implementation, storage resource pool is unified by importing management information from the source storage system, and automated page-based relocation is performed to adjust actual location of data.

主权项

1. A storage system configured as a destination storage system for a migration, the storage system coupled to another storage system, the storage system comprising:
a plurality of storage disks; a storage controller configured to: manage a pool volume having a storage area provided by the plurality of the storage disks, manage a virtual volume as a thin provisioned volume having one or more segments of a first size to which one or more chunks in the pool volume are allocated when the storage controller writes to the one or more segments, wherein, when data, stored in a source virtual volume managed by the another storage system as another thin provisioned volume having one or more segments of a second size different from the first size, is migrated to the virtual volume, the storage controller is further configured to: obtain mapping information of the source virtual volume from the another storage system configured as a source storage system for the migration; check the obtained mapping information to determine whether another chunk in another pool volume managed by the another storage system has been allocated to a source segment of the source virtual volume, recognize a destination segment, corresponding to the source segment, in the virtual volume based on a size of the destination segment and a size of the source segment, and read the data stored in the source segment to store the data in the recognized destination segment of the virtual volume, if the another chunk has been allocated to the another segment.