Patent ID: 8200928
Filing Date: 2012-06-12
Classification: G06F

Abstract:
1. A storage system managing a plurality of asynchronous remote copy procedures between a plurality of first storage control devices and a plurality of second storage control devices, the storage system comprising: the plurality of first storage control devices each having a plurality of first channel adapters for receiving data, a first cache memory for storing data and a plurality of first disk adapters for transferring data to a plurality of first disk drives; and the plurality of second storage control devices each having a plurality of second channel adapters for receiving data, a second cache memory for storing data and a plurality of second disk adapters for transferring data to a plurality of second disk drives, wherein each of the plurality of first storage control devices manages a first logical volume, and receives update data sent from a higher-level device to the first logical volume, and stores the update data to the first logical volume, and transfers the update data with update order information, specifying update order of the update data, to one of the plurality of second storage control devices according to one of the plurality of asynchronous remote copy procedures, wherein each of the plurality of second storage control devices manages a second logical volume corresponding to one of a plurality of the first logical volumes, and receives the update data and the update order information sent from one of the plurality of first storage control devices according to the one of the plurality of asynchronous remote copy procedures, and stores the update data to the second logical volume based on the update order information, wherein each of the plurality of first storage control devices receives a suspend request instructing to suspend the one of the plurality of asynchronous remote copy procedures from the higher-level device, and generates a marker for suspending the one of the plurality of asynchronous remote copy procedure, and transfers the marker to the one of the plurality of second storage control devices, wherein the plurality of second storage control devices includes a grouped plurality of second storage control devices with one of the grouped plurality of second storage control devices being a master second storage control device, each grouped second storage control device of the grouped plurality of second storage control devices receives the marker from the one of the plurality of first storage control devices, and responsive to a polling from the master second storage control device, sending the marker and one of a plurality of update order information currently held by the grouped second storage control device to the master second storage control device, wherein the master second storage control device determines an oldest update data indicated in the plurality of update order information from the grouped plurality of second storage control devices, and uses the oldest update data to decide an update reflection information indicating which update data is to be updated in the grouped plurality of second storage control devices to synchronize updated data across the grouped plurality of second storage control devices, each grouped second storage control device of the grouped plurality of second storage control devices receives information of the marker and the update reflection information, indicating which update data to be updated to the second logical volume, from the master second storage control device, and stores the update data based on the update reflection information, and changes status of the second logical volume to suspend status.