Patent ID: 7418550
Filing Date: 2008-08-26
Classification: G06F

Abstract:
1. A method associated with RAID storage subsystems including a first subsystem that includes hardware support for RAID level 6 storage management and including a second subsystem that includes hardware support for RAID level 5 storage management but does not include hardware support for RAID level 6 storage management, the method comprising: physically moving a RAID level 6 volume from the first subsystem to the second subsystem; migrating the RAID level 6 logical volume to a RAID level 5 configuration for use in the second subsystem wherein the migration is performed within the second subsystem wherein the logical volume remains accessible by the second subsystem to process I/O requests during the process of migration and wherein I/O requests relating to portions of the logical volume already migrated are processed using the RAID level 5 storage management hardware support of the second subsystem and wherein I/O requests relating to portions of the logical volume not yet migrated are processed by software emulation of RAID level 6 storage management within the second subsystem; operating the migrated logical volume in the second subsystem as a RAID level 5 logical volume following completion of migration; and flagging the migrated logical volume to indicate that the migrated logical volume has been migrated from a RAID level 6 logical volume to a RAID level 5 logical volume.