Patent ID: 7181509
Filing Date: 2007-02-20
Classification: G06F

Abstract:
1. A storage configuration changing apparatus installed in a computer system in which one or more storage devices and one or more client computers using said storage devices are connected via a network, comprising: storage device configuration information storage means for storing configuration information from client computers indicating a configuration of logical disk units within said storage devices; a configuration change schedule including a schedule of a time at which the configuration of at one least logical disk unit is to be changed and new configuration information corresponding to the change to be used to replace corresponding configuration information stored in said storage device configuration information storage means; time management means for calculating, based on a current time and the time at which the configuration of the at least one logical disk unit is to be changed, a time until a change of configuration of the at least one logical disk unit is to occur; configuration change request accepting means for receiving, from said client computers, configuration information change requests from said client computers for the logical disk units in said storage devices or configuration information change schedule change requests; configuration change schedule verifying means for, when a configuration information change schedule change request has been received by said configuration change request accepting means, verifying whether said configuration information change schedule change request received by said configuration change request accepting means can be processed normally at a requested time or not; configuration change schedule management means for receiving, from said configuration change request accepting means, said configuration information change schedule change request, verifying whether said configuration information change schedule change request can be processed normally using said configuration change schedule verifying means or not, changing, when said configuration information change schedule change request can be processed, said configuration change schedule by processing said configuration information change schedule change request and generating a configuration information change request depending on said configuration change schedule and the time calculated by said time management means; and configuration information management means for receiving a configuration information change request from said configuration change request accepting means or from said configuration change schedule management means in order to change a configuration of a logical disk unit and corresponding configuration information stored in said storage device configuration information storage means based on the received configuration information change request, wherein said configuration change schedule management means, upon changing of said configuration change schedule, determines whether said changing of said configuration change schedule causes performance of said at least one logical disk unit to not satisfy a requested performance, wherein said configuration change schedule management means, upon determining that the performance of said at least one logical disk unit does not satisfy the requested performance, raises a priority of a port to which said at least one logical disk unit is coupled and adds information regarding the raised priority of the port to which said at least one logical disk unit is coupled to said configuration change schedule, wherein said configuration change schedule management means, upon raising of the priority of the port to which said at least one logical disk unit is coupled, determines whether the performance of said at least one logical disk unit still does not satisfy the requested performance, and wherein said configuration change schedule management means, upon determining that the performance of said at least one logical disk unit still does not satisfy the requested performance, increases residency time of data of said at least one logical disk unit in cache and adds information regarding the increased residency time in the cache of the data of said at least one logical disk unit to said configuration change schedule.