Abstract:
Provided are a method, system, and program for maintaining data in a first cache and second cache, wherein a backup cache maintains a backup copy of data in the first cache, and wherein the first cache is used to cache a first set of data in a storage system and the second cache is used to cache a second set of data in the storage system. An unavailable state of the first cache is detected. In response to detecting the unavailable state, requests to the first set of data are blocked and at least one space in the second cache is allocated for data in the backup cache. Requests to the first set of data are allowed to proceed after the at least one space is allocated in the second cache and before the data in the backup cache is copied to the at least one allocated space in the second cache. The data from the backup cache is copied to the allocated at least one space in the second cache after the requests to the first set of data are allowed to proceed.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0001]    1. Field of the Invention  
           [0002]    The present invention relates to a method, system, and program for restoring data in cache.  
           [0003]    2. Description of the Related Art  
           [0004]    Computing systems often include one or more host computers (“hosts”) for processing data and running application programs, direct access storage devices (DASDs) for storing data, and a storage controller for controlling the transfer of data between the hosts and the DASD. Storage controllers, also referred to as control units or storage directors, manage access to a storage space comprised of numerous hard disk drives connected in a loop architecture, otherwise referred to as a Direct Access Storage Device (DASD). Hosts may communicate Input/Output (I/O) requests to the storage space through the storage controller.  
           [0005]    To maintain availability in the event of a failure, many storage controllers known in the prior art provide redundant hardware clusters. Each hardware cluster comprises a processor complex, cache, non-volatile storage (NVS), such as a battery backed-up Random Access Memory (RAM), and separate power supply to provide connection paths to the attached storage. The NVS in one cluster would backup write data from the cache in the other cluster so that if one cluster fails, the write data in the cache of the failed cluster is stored in the NVS of the surviving cluster. After one cluster fails, all Input/Output (I/O) requests would be directed toward the surviving cluster. When both clusters are available, each cluster may be assigned to handle I/O requests for specific logical storage devices configured within the physical storage devices.  
           [0006]    In the event of a failure of one of the clusters, a failover will occur to have the surviving cluster handle all I/O requests previously handled by the failed cluster so that access to the storage system managed by the storage controller remains available. As part of the failover process, the surviving cluster remains online and all the cached data for the failed cluster, i.e., the write data to the logical devices assigned to the failed cluster that was backed up in the NVS of the surviving cluster, is copied (also known as restored) from the NVS in the surviving cluster to the cache of the surviving cluster. Thus, after failover, the cache and NVS in the surviving cluster buffer writes that were previously directed to the failed cluster. During this restore/failover process, host I/O requests directed to logical devices previously assigned to the failed cluster are delayed until all writes to such logical devices in the NVS in the surviving cluster are restored/copied to the cache in the surviving cluster.  
           [0007]    This restore process can take thirty seconds or more. Such a delay is often deemed unacceptable for storage controllers used in critical data environments where high availability is demanded. For instance, the systems used by large banks or financial institutions cannot tolerate delayed access to data for periods of several seconds, let alone thirty seconds or more.  
           [0008]    For these reasons, there is a need in the art for improved techniques for handling data recovery in a manner that minimizes the time during which I/O requests to the storage are delayed.  
         SUMMARY OF THE DESCRIBED IMPLEMENTATIONS  
         [0009]    Provided are a method, system, and program for maintaining data in a first cache and second cache, wherein a backup cache maintains a backup copy of data in the first cache, and wherein the first cache is used to cache a first set of data in a storage system and the second cache is used to cache a second set of data in the storage system. An unavailable state of the first cache is detected. In response to detecting the unavailable state, requests to the first set of data are blocked and at least one space in the second cache is allocated for data in the backup cache. Requests to the first set of data are allowed to proceed after the at least one space is allocated in the second cache and before the data in the backup cache is copied to the at least one allocated space in the second cache. The data from the backup cache is copied to the allocated at least one space in the second cache after the requests to the first set of data are allowed to proceed.  
           [0010]    In further implementations, the data copied from the backup cache to the allocated at least one space in the second cache may comprise data that was stored in the first cache when the first cache failed.  
           [0011]    Still further, a request for data for which space is allocated in the second cache may be received after requests to the first set of data are allowed to proceed. A determination is then made as to whether the requested data is in the allocated space in the second cache, wherein the data is copied from the backup cache to the allocated space in the second cache when the data is determined to not be in the allocated space.  
           [0012]    In yet further implementations, after allowing requests to the first set of data to proceed, a determination is made of allocated spaces in the second cache that do not have the data for which the space is allocated, wherein the data is copied from the backup cache to the determined allocated spaces in the second cache.  
           [0013]    Described implementations provide techniques for restoring data from a backup cache to a cache in a manner that minimizes the time during which requests for data are not allowed to proceed. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0014]    Referring now to the drawings in which like reference numbers represent corresponding parts throughout:  
         [0015]    [0015]FIG. 1 illustrates a computing environment in which aspects of the invention are implemented;  
         [0016]    [0016]FIG. 2 illustrates an architecture of a cache utilized with implementations of the invention; and  
         [0017]    [0017]FIG. 3 illustrates information in a cache directory in accordance with implementations of the invention;  
         [0018]    FIGS.  4 - 7  illustrate logic to restore data in a cache as a result of a failover in accordance with implementations of the invention; and  
         [0019]    [0019]FIG. 8 illustrates an architecture of computing components in the network environment, such as the hosts and storage controller, and any other computing devices. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
       [0020]    In the following description, reference is made to the accompanying drawings which form a part hereof and which illustrate several embodiments of the present invention. It is understood that other embodiments may be utilized and structural and operational changes may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.  
         [0021]    [0021]FIG. 1 illustrates a computing architecture in which aspects of the invention are implemented. One or more hosts  2   a ,  2   b  . . .  2   n  are in data communication with a storage system  4 , such as a DASD or any other storage system known in the art, via a storage controller  6 . The host  2  may be any computing device known in the art, such as a server, mainframe, workstation, personal computer, hand held computer, laptop, telephony device, network appliance, etc. The storage controller  6  and host system(s)  2  communicate via a network  8 , which may comprise a Storage Area Network (SAN), Local Area Network (LAN), Intranet, the Internet, Wide Area Network (WAN), etc. The storage system  4  may be comprised of hard disk drives, tape cartridge libraries, optical disks, or any suitable non-volatile storage medium known in the art. The storage system  4  may be arranged as an array of storage devices, such as a Just a Bunch of Disks (JBOD), DASD, Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID) array, virtualization device, etc. The storage controller  6  may comprise any storage controller or server known in the art, such as the IBM Enterprise Storage Server (ESS) or any other storage controller known in the art.** In certain implementations, the storage space in the storage controller  4  is configured as a plurality of logical devices (LD)  10   a ,  10   b  . . .  10   n.    
         [0022]    The storage controller  6  includes two separate clusters  20   a ,  20   b  of hardware components to provide redundancy for improved availability. Each cluster  20   a ,  20   b  may be maintained on a separate power boundary, and includes a processor complex  22   a ,  22   b , a cache  24   a ,  24   b , and a non-volatile storage unit (NVS)  26   a ,  26   b . The NVS  26   a ,  26   b  may comprise a battery backed-up RAM or any other type of non-volatile or volatile backup cache used to backup data in cache. The hosts  2   a ,  2   b  . . .  2   n  would submit application I/O requests directed to a target logical device (LD)  10   a ,  10   b  . . .  10   n , including write data, to the cluster  20   a ,  20   b  to which the target logical device (LD)  10   a ,  10   b  . . .  10   n  is assigned. The NVS  26   a ,  26   b  in one cluster  20   a ,  20   b  is used to backup write data in the cache  24   b ,  24   a  in the other cluster  20   b ,  20   a , e.g., NVS  26   a  backs up write data in cache  24   b.    
         [0023]    [0023]FIG. 2 illustrates further details of the components of the caches  24   a ,  24   b . The caches  24   a ,  24   b  are comprised of a cache manager  30 , which may comprise hardware or software logic, that manages cache operations and a cache directory  32  that includes information on each track or data unit in the cache memory  34 . In certain implementations, the cache directory  32  includes an entry for each track maintained in the cache memory  34 . FIG. 3 illustrates the information maintained in each entry  50  in the cache directory  32 . Each cache directory entry  50  includes the cache memory location  52  in which the track is stored, the target track identifier (ID)  54 , and a restore flag  56 . The track ID  52  would identify the track and may include the location of the track in the physical storage device in the storage  4 , e.g., cylinder, head, drive, etc. The cache directory entries  50  may include additional information known in the art, such as destage and stage flags, indicating whether to destage or stage the track between the cache and storage.  
         [0024]    In describing the logic of FIGS.  4 - 7 , cluster  20   a  will be described as the failed cluster and cluster  20   b  as the surviving cluster. Notwithstanding, the failover logic described in FIGS.  4 - 7  is capable of being executed by both processor complexes  22   a ,  22   b  in both clusters  20   a ,  20   b  in the storage controller  6  so that failover can occur to both the clusters  20   a ,  20   b  in the event the other cluster  20   b ,  20   a  fails.  
         [0025]    [0025]FIG. 4 illustrates logic executed by the processor complexes  22   a ,  22   b  in the surviving cluster  20   a ,  20   b  during a failover to initiate (at block  100 ) a cache restore process. Upon initiating failover in the event of a failure of cluster  20   a , the surviving processor complex  22   b  in the surviving cluster  20   b  blocks host  2   a ,  2   b  . . .  2   n  I/O requests directed to logical devices  10   a ,  10   b  . . .  10   n  assigned to the failed cluster  20   a . Access may be blocked by returning failure to the I/O requests or queuing the I/O request to delay processing until the restore operation completes. The surviving processor complex  22   b  then scans (at block  104 ) the surviving NVS  26   b  to determine the tracks in the surviving NVS  26   b , which includes tracks stored in the failed cache  20   a  when the cluster  20   a  failed. As mentioned, the surviving NVS  26   b  would maintain a backup copy of the data that was in the failed cache  24   a . For each determined track, the surviving processor complex  22   b  then calls (at block  106 ) the cache manager  30  for the surviving cache  24   b  in the surviving cluster  20   b  to allocate an entry in the cache memory  34  for the determined track. With this call, the cache manager  30  creates an entry in the cache directory  32  for the determined track without actually copying the track over from the surviving NVS  26   b  to the surviving cache  24   b . The surviving processor complex  22   b  then ends the restore and allows (at block  108 ) the hosts  2   a ,  2   b  . . .  2   n  to issue I/O requests to the logical devices (LDs)  10   a ,  10   b  . . .  10   n  previously assigned to the failed cluster  20   a , where such logical devices  10   a ,  10   b  . . .  10   n  are now reassigned to the surviving cluster  20   b.    
         [0026]    With the logic of FIG. 4, hosts  2   a ,  2   b  . . .  2   n  are permitted access to the logical device  10   a ,  10   b  . . .  10   n  previously assigned to the failed cluster  20   a  immediately after space in the surviving cache  24   b  is allocated for the tracks in the surviving NVS  26   b , which stores the tracks that were in the failed cache  24   a  when the failure occurred. This cache allocation process takes substantially less time than the substantially longer time needed to copy/restore tracks from the failed cache  24   b  in the surviving NVS  26   b  to the surviving cache  24   b . In fact, the restore process described herein can take one second or less. In this way, the hosts  2   a ,  2   b  . . .  2   n  are allowed access to the logical devices  10   a ,  10   b  . . .  10   n  previously assigned to the failed cache  24   a  relatively quickly, and without having to wait for the tracks to be copied from the surviving NVS  26   b  to the surviving cache  24   b . Further, after failover, the surviving cache  24   b  and NVS  26   b  are used to buffer writes for all the logical devices  10   a ,  10   b  . . .  10   n  previously handled by both clusters  20   a ,  20   b.    
         [0027]    After the space is allocated in the surviving cache for the tracks to restore at block  108  and host I/O requests directed to the logical devices  10   a ,  10   b  . . .  10   n  previously assigned to the failed cluster  20   a  are allowed to proceed, the surviving processor complex  22   b  then performs a loop at blocks  110  through  116  for each entry, i.e., track, in the cache directory  32 . If the restore flag  56  (FIG. 3) for entry i is set to “on”, then the surviving processor complex  22   b  calls (at block  114 ) the cache manager  30  for the surviving cache  24   b  to restore the track at entry i in the surviving cache memory  34  from the surviving NVS  26   b . If the restore flag  56  is not “on” or after calling the cache manager  30  at block  114 , control proceeds (at block  116 ) to consider the next entry in the cache directory  32 . In this way, a background operation is performed to restore the tracks from the surviving NVS to the surviving cache during normal I/O operations. At the completion of the logic at blocks  110 - 116 , all the tracks from the surviving NVS have been copied back into the surviving cache. In certain implementations, the background restore task executed at blocks  110 - 116  may be performed at a low task priority to minimize interference with higher priority requests to the recovered cache, such as host I/O requests.  
         [0028]    [0028]FIG. 5 illustrates logic implemented in the cache manager  30  of the surviving cache  24   b  to allocate space in the surviving cache  24   b  for a requested track upon receiving (at block  150 ) a call from the surviving processor complex  20   b  to allocate a track in the surviving cache  24   b  at block  106  in FIG. 4. In response to the call, the cache manager  30  scans (at block  152 ) the cache directory  32  to find an entry for an available location in the surviving cache memory  34  to allocate to the requested track. After locating an available entry in the cache directory  32 , the cache manager  30  of the surviving cache  24   b  would add (at block  154 ) the track ID  54  (FIG. 3) of the requested track to the located cache entry  50 . The restore flag  56  for the located entry would also be set to “on”, indicating that the requested track is not in cache but that space in the surviving cache  24   b  is allocated for the requested track for use when the track is restored from the surviving NVS  26   b.    
         [0029]    [0029]FIG. 6 illustrates logic implemented in the cache manager  30  to restore a track in response to call from the surviving processor complex  22   b  at block  112  in FIG. 4. Upon receiving (at block  170 ) the call to restore a requested track, the cache manager  30  of the surviving cache  24   b  determines (at block  172 ) the entry in the cache directory  32  allocated to the requested track to restore. The cache manager  30  then causes (at block  174 ) the copying of the requested track from the surviving NVS  26   b  to the location in the surviving cache memory  34  indicated at the cache location  52  in the determined entry  50 . The restore flag  56  is then set (at block  176 ) to “off” indicating that the requested track, which was previously stored in the failed cache  24   a , is now restored into the allocated location in the surviving cache  24   b.    
         [0030]    [0030]FIG. 7 illustrates logic implemented in the cache manager  30  for the surviving cache  24   b  to process requests for tracks in the cache memory  34 . In response to receiving (at block  200 ) a request for a track in the surviving cache  24   b , the cache manager  30  determines (at block  202 ) the entry  50  (FIG. 3) for the requested track in the cache directory  32 . If (at block  204 ) the restore flag  56  for the determined entry is not “on”, indicating that the track is in the cache memory  34  and does not need to be restored from the surviving NVS  26   b , then the cache manager  30  provides (at block  206 ) the I/O request access to the track in cache  24   b  to read or update. However, if the restore flag  56  is “on”, then the cache manger  30  causes (at block  208 ) the copying of the requested track in the surviving NVS  26   b  to the cache location  52  in the surviving cache  24   b  indicated in the determined entry  50 . The restore flag  56  in the determined entry  50  is then set (at block  210 ) “off” indicating that the track has been restored. After restoring the track from the surviving NVS  26   b  to the surviving cache  24   b , control proceeds to block  206  to provide the I/O request access to the requested track. In this way, a track is restored in cache either through the background recovery process at blocks  108  through in FIG. 4 or restored in response to a host request for access to a track allocated in cache but not yet restored according to the logic of FIG. 7.  
         [0031]    With the described implementations, the tracks in the surviving NVS do not need to be restored to the surviving cache before hosts are allowed access to the logical devices previously assigned to the failed cluster. Instead, I/O requests are only delayed for a minimal period of time, e.g., less than second, while space is allocated in the surviving cache for tracks in the surviving NVS, which at the time of failure includes those tracks that were stored in the failed cache. The described implementations provide a failover cache restore process that ensures that hosts have access to the most recent data through the cache and at the same time avoids the cost of lengthy cache restore operations that are unacceptable for certain users that require high availability for critical data.  
       Additional Implementation Details  
       [0032]    The described techniques for restoring data in cache may be implemented as a method, apparatus or article of manufacture using standard programming and/or engineering techniques to produce software, firmware, hardware, or any combination thereof. The term “article of manufacture” as used herein refers to code or logic implemented in hardware logic (e.g., an integrated circuit chip, Programmable Gate Array (PGA), Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), etc.) or a computer readable medium, such as magnetic storage medium (e.g., hard disk drives, floppy disks, tape, etc.), optical storage (CD-ROMs, optical disks, etc.), volatile and non-volatile memory devices (e.g., EEPROMs, ROMs, PROMs, RAMs, DRAMs, SRAMs, firmware, programmable logic, etc.). Code in the computer readable medium is accessed and executed by a processor complex. The code in which preferred embodiments are implemented may further be accessible through a transmission media or from a file server over a network. In such cases, the article of manufacture in which the code is implemented may comprise a transmission media, such as a network transmission line, wireless transmission media, signals propagating through space, radio waves, infrared signals, etc. Thus, the “article of manufacture” may comprise the medium in which the code is embodied. Additionally, the “article of manufacture” may comprise a combination of hardware and software components in which the code is embodied, processed, and executed. Of course, those skilled in the art will recognize that many modifications may be made to this configuration without departing from the scope of the present invention, and that the article of manufacture may comprise any information bearing medium known in the art.  
         [0033]    In the described implementations, certain operations were described as performed by the processor complexes  22   a ,  22   b  and cache manager  32 . In alternative implementations, certain operations described as performed by the processor complexes may be performed by the cache manager and vice versa.  
         [0034]    The described implementations for cache restore were described for use with systems deployed in a critical data environment where high availability is paramount. However, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the cache recovery operations described herein may apply to storage systems used for non-critical data where high availability is not absolutely necessary.  
         [0035]    In the described implementations, the restore process was described as occurring in the context of a cluster failure and subsequent failover. In alternative implementations, the described restore process may be used for events other than a failover. For instance, if the administrator wants to take one cluster offline for repair or for any other reason, then the described restore process may be used to quickly transfer all I/O requests to one cluster that will remain online. Still further, the failure that causes the failover may comprise a failure of the entire cluster or a part of the cluster, such as any one of the processor complex, cache or storage unit.  
         [0036]    In the described implementations, dual clusters were provided and cache data was recovered from a backup NVS in another cluster. In alternative implementations, the storage system may have only one cluster and the cache data may be restored from that single NVS in the single cluster. In still further implementations, there may be more than two clusters as shown and cache data may be restored from an NVS in the same cluster as the cache or in any of the other clusters. Further, the NVS may comprise any non-volatile storage that is used to backup data in the cache, such as write data.  
         [0037]    The illustrated logic of FIGS.  4 - 7  show certain events occurring in a certain order. In alternative implementations, certain operations may be performed in a different order, modified or removed. Morever, steps may be added to the above described logic and still conform to the described implementations. Further, operations described herein may occur sequentially or certain operations may be processed in parallel. Yet further, operations may be performed by a single processing unit or by distributed processing units.  
         [0038]    The variable n is used to denote any integer variable for certain of the described elements and may indicate a same or different integer value when used in different instances.  
         [0039]    [0039]FIG. 8 illustrates one implementation of a computer architecture  300  of the network components, such as the hosts and storage controller shown in FIG. 1. The architecture  300  may include a processor  302  (e.g., a microprocessor), a memory  304  (e.g., a volatile memory device), and storage  306  (e.g., a non-volatile storage, such as magnetic disk drives, optical disk drives, a tape drive, etc.). The storage  306  may comprise an internal storage device or an attached or network accessible storage. Programs in the storage  306  are loaded into the memory  304  and executed by the processor  302  in a manner known in the art. The architecture further includes a network card  308  to enable communication with a network. An input device  310  is used to provide user input to the processor  302 , and may include a keyboard, mouse, pen-stylus, microphone, touch sensitive display screen, or any other activation or input mechanism known in the art. An output device  312  is capable of rendering information transmitted from the processor  302 , or other component, such as a display monitor, printer, storage, etc.  
         [0040]    The foregoing description of various implementations of the invention has been presented for the purposes of illustration and description. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise form disclosed. Many modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teaching. It is intended that the scope of the invention be limited not by this detailed description, but rather by the claims appended hereto. The above specification, examples and data provide a complete description of the manufacture and use of the composition of the invention. Since many embodiments of the invention can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, the invention resides in the claims hereinafter appended.