Patent ID: 7895396
Filing Date: 2011-02-22
Classification: G06F,H04L

Abstract:
1. A computer system, comprising: a host computer including a host processor, a memory and a host interface; a plurality of disk drives; and a storage controller coupled to the plurality of disk drives for reading/writing data from/to the plurality of disk drives, the storage controller comprising: at least one interface connected to the host interface of the host computer through an external storage area network (SAN); a cache memory storing data read from the plurality of disk drives and storing data to be written to the plurality of disk drives; and a plurality of processors connected to the at least one interface and the cache memory through an internal network, and each of a plurality of processor groups, including two or more of the plurality of processors, causing the at least one interface to transfer data, received from the host computer, from the at least one interface to the cache memory, and each of the plurality of processor groups causing the at least one interface to transfer data, to be transferred to the host computer, from the cache memory to the at least one interface, wherein: the host computer transmits an access request to the storage controller; the at least one interface stores a routing information, including identifications of the plurality of processor groups and a plurality of logical unit numbers (LUNs) each identifying a logical volume storing data to be controlled to transfer by at least one of the plurality of processor groups, extracts a network address and a logical unit number from the access request upon reception of the access request from the host computer, specifies one of the plurality of processor groups which processes the access request based on the routing information, and transfers the access request to the specified processor group so that the specified processor group causes the at least one interface to transfer data of the access request between the at least one interface and the cache memory, and the storage controller transmits a processing result of the access request to the host computer.