Patent Abstract:
A local disk system in a local mainframe computer includes one or more local disk units. Data in at least one of the local disk units are backed-up to a designated remote disk unit in a remote disk system. Data transfer between the local disk system and the remote disk system occurs over a fixed block infrastructure to increase data transfer rates. Accordingly, variable-length data received in the local disk system and destined to be backed-up to a remote disk system are first converted to fixed-length data prior to transmission over the fixed block infrastructure. In the remote disk system, fixed-length data received over the fixed block infrastructure are converted back to variable-length format.

Full Description:
[0001]    The present application is a continuation of application Ser. No. 09/774,435, filed Jan. 30, 2001, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. 
     
    
     
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0002]    This invention relates generally to computer systems, and more particularly to methods and associated systems for transferring data between storage systems.  
         DESCRIPTION OF THE BACKGROUND ART  
         [0003]    For back-up purposes, data stored in a disk unit of a local mainframe computer system are copied to a remote storage device to prevent data loss in the event of a disaster such as a disk crash or facility shutdown. U.S. Pat. No. 6,098,129 to Fukuzawa et al. (“Fukuzaw”) discloses a configuration for backing-up data from a mainframe computer system (“mainframe”) to an open computer system. Although Fukuzawa discloses the use of low-cost open computer system storage devices for backing-up mainframe data, Fukuzawa does not disclose the use of another mainframe storage device for back-up.  
           [0004]    Because mainframes are generally more reliable than other types of computer systems, data stored in the disk unit of a mainframe are ideally backed-up to a disk unit of another mainframe. Remote dual copy functions, which involve the backing-up of stored data from one computer system to another in real-time, have been performed between mainframes using the so-called Count-Key-Data (“CKD”) protocol. The CKD protocol allows currently available mainframes to transfer data at a rate of approximately 17 MB/s (mega-bytes/second). To increase the amount of data that can be copied from one mainframe to another within a period of time, it is desirable to obtain a data transfer rate that is faster than what is currently obtainable using the CKD protocol.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0005]    The present invention relates to a method and associated systems for transferring data between mainframe storage devices. While the invention is suitable for remote dual copy functions, the invention may be generally used in applications requiring data transfers.  
           [0006]    In one embodiment of the invention, a local disk system of a local mainframe includes one or more local disk units. For back-up purposes, data in at least one of the local disk units are copied to a designated remote disk unit of a remote disk system. Data transfer between the disk units of the local and remote disk systems occurs over a fixed block infrastructure to increase data transfer rates. Accordingly, variable-length data received in the local disk system and destined to be backed-up to the remote disk system are first converted to fixed-length data prior to transmission over the fixed block infrastructure. In the remote disk system, fixed-length data received over the fixed block infrastructure are converted back to variable-length data.  
           [0007]    In one embodiment of the invention, a method for performing data transfer between a local disk system and a remote disk system includes the steps of receiving variable-length data in the local disk system, converting the variable-length data to fixed-length data, sending the fixed-length data to the remote disk system, and converting the fixed-length data back to variable-length data in the remote disk system. The use of fixed-length data in the just mentioned method increases the data transfer rate between the local and the remote disk systems.  
           [0008]    These and other features and advantages of the present invention will be readily apparent to persons of ordinary skill in the art upon reading the entirety of this disclosure, which includes the accompanying drawings and claims. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0009]    [0009]FIG. 1 shows a schematic diagram of a configuration for performing a remote dual copy function in an embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0010]    [0010]FIG. 2 illustrates the format of a track in Count-Key-Data (CKD) format.  
         [0011]    [0011]FIG. 3 illustrates the conversion of variable-length data to fixed-length data and vice versa in an embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0012]    [0012]FIG. 4 shows a schematic diagram of a configuration for performing a remote dual copy function in another embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0013]    [0013]FIG. 5 illustrates the structure of a copy pair information in an embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0014]    [0014]FIG. 6 illustrates the structure of a segment control block in an embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0015]    [0015]FIGS. 7A and 7B show a method for performing a remote dual copy function in an embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0016]    [0016]FIG. 8A shows a schematic diagram of a configuration for performing a remote dual copy function in another embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0017]    [0017]FIG. 8B illustrates the structure of a segment control block in another embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0018]    [0018]FIGS. 9 and 10 show schematic diagrams of configurations for performing a remote dual copy function in other embodiments of the present invention.  
         [0019]    The use of the same reference number in different drawings indicates the same or like components. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0020]    Turning now to FIG. 1, there is shown a schematic diagram of a configuration for performing a remote dual copy function in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. In a local mainframe  10 A, data provided by a host system  11 A are stored in a disk unit  14 A of a disk system  13 A. Host system  11 A, which is the central processing unit of local mainframe  10 A, conventionally reads from and writes to disk unit  14 A using variable-length data commonly referred to as a“record”. The well known Count-Key-Data (“CKD”) protocol provides a format for representing variable-length data in a mainframe. In this embodiment, host system  11 A provides variable-length data to disk system  13 A via a CKD channel  12 A.  
         [0021]    In general, the control software overhead of protocols using variable-length data is higher than that of protocols using fixed-length data (also referred to as “fixed-length blocks or” “fixed blocks”). Thus, variable-length data protocols such as CKD are generally slower than fixed-length data protocols such as the Small Computer Systems Interface (“SCSI”). As a comparison, the data transfer rate of SCSI is 100 MB/s while that of CKD is only 17 MB/S. In the present invention, a fixed block channel  18  (e.g., SCSI channel) is employed to increase the data transfer rate between disk system  13 A and disk system  13 B. As shown in FIG. 1, disk system  13 A includes a conversion function  15 A for converting the variable-length data received from host system  11 A to fixed-length data, which are then transported over channel  18  via a fixed block interface  17 A (e.g., SCSI interface). In remote mainframe  10 B, a fixed block interface  17 B receives the fixed-length data from fixed block interface  17 A. The fixed-length data are provided to disk system  13 B, which includes a disk unit  14 B for storage and a conversion function  15 B for converting the fixed-length data back to variable-length data (and vice versa).  
         [0022]    As is well known, a record stored in a disk unit of a mainframe is located by specifying a cylinder number, a head number, a sector number, and a record number. The cylinder number identifies a magnetic disk in the disk unit while the head number identifies a read/write head. The cylinder number and the head number, together, identify a track, which is a circular region on the magnetic disk where individual records are stored. Each track is further divided into fixed-angled regions commonly known as sectors. A sector provides the general location of a record on a track, and thus facilitates the searching of a record.  
         [0023]    [0023]FIG. 2 shows the format of a track  51  in CKD format. Track  51  includes a Home Address (“HA”)  200 , gaps  204 , and records R 0 , R 1 , R 2 , etc. HA  200  is located at the beginning of track  51  and contains control information for accessing and identifying the track. As shown in FIG. 2, each field in track  51  is separated by a gap  204 . HA  200  and gaps  204  have fixed lengths. Each record further includes a count field  201  (i.e.,  201 A,  201 B . . . ), a key field  202  (i.e.,  202 B, . . . ), and a data field  203  (i.e.,  203 A,  203 B, . . . ). Count field  201  has a fixed length and contains record control information such as the record number, the length of key field  202 , and the length of data field  203 . Key field  202  includes key information for accessing the user or system data stored in data field  203 . When count field  201  indicates that the length of key field  202  is zero, the record does not include a key field. To locate a record, the record number indicated in count field  201  is checked because the record numbers are not necessarily consecutive. That is, record R 1  does not necessarily follow record R 0 , record R 2  does not necessarily follow record R 1 , and so on.  
         [0024]    The conversion of variable-length data to fixed-length data, and vice versa, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention is now described with reference to FIG. 3. As shown in FIG. 3, the contents of a track can be stored in a predetermined number of fixed-length blocks (i.e., fixed blocks) because the length of a track is fixed. Furthermore, the blocks that are in a sector  205  (i.e.,  205 A,  205 B, . . . ) are readily identified because the length of a sector is also fixed. That is, the fixed blocks for a particular sector can be found knowing the position of the sector relative to HA  200 , the number of blocks per sector, and the number of sectors per track. In the example of FIG. 3, the contents of track  51  are stored in fixed blocks  300 A,  300 B,  300 C, etc. Fixed block  300 A is referred to as the“top block” and includes the contents of HA  200 . Thus, the track represented by a set of fixed blocks  300  can be identified by looking up the track number indicated in the HA  200  stored in a fixed block  300 A. The fixed blocks following fixed block  300 A are consecutively arranged to facilitate the conversion of the fixed blocks back into CKD format. That is, fixed block  300 B follows fixed block  300 A, fixed block  300 C follows fixed block  300 B, and so on. Thus, fixed blocks  300 B,  300 C,  300 D, etc. can be consecutively arranged to recreate the CKD formatted data once the matching fixed block  300 A is found.  
         [0025]    As can be appreciated by persons of ordinary skill in the art reading the present disclosure, fixed blocks  300  are suitable for transportation using a fixed block protocol such as SCSI. For example, each fixed block  300  can be assigned a unique SCSI logical block address (LBA) because the number of fixed blocks in a track and the number of tracks in a disk unit are fixed. Thus, assuming that each track has 100 fixed blocks, an LBA of  3521  may be used to identify the 22nd block in the 35th track.  
         [0026]    [0026]FIG. 4 shows a schematic diagram of a configuration  150  for performing a remote dual copy function in another embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 4, a local host system  102 , which is the central processing unit of a local mainframe  100 , provides CKD formatted data to a local disk system  104  via a CKD interface  119 A. Local disk system  104  further includes disk units  112 A (i.e.,  112 A- 1 ,  112 A- 2  . . . ) where data are stored, and a local disk control unit  106  for controlling disk units  112 A.  
         [0027]    Local disk control unit  106  includes a cache memory  113 A where data that are in transit or frequently accessed are temporarily stored before being written to a disk unit  112 A. Data in cache memory  113 A are organized in segments (i.e., segments  116 A- 1 ,  116 A- 2 , . . . ), with each segment having enough space to hold the entire contents of a single track.  
         [0028]    Local disk control unit  106  also includes a mainframe read/write process  108 A for processing disk read and write commands received from local host system  102 , a data send process  109  for sending data to remote mainframe  101 , and a disk unit read/write process  111 A for transferring data between disk units  112 A and cache memory  113 A. In this disclosure, the term “process” includes hardware, software, and/or firmware for performing the indicated function. All of the just mentioned processes can access a shared memory  114 A, which contains multiple copy pair information  117 A (i.e.,  117 A- 1 ,  117 A- 2 , . . . ) and segment control blocks  118 A (i.e.,  118 A- 1 ,  118 A- 2 , . . . ). A CKD/FBA conversion function  115 A, which is generally available to all processes of local disk control unit  106 , is called by read/write process  108 A to convert CKD formatted data to fixed blocks and vice versa. In one embodiment, CKD/FBA conversion function  115 A employs the technique described in connection with FIG. 3.  
         [0029]    A copy pair information  117 A identifies a disk unit in remote mainframe  101  that is designated as a back-up of a disk unit in local mainframe  100 . FIG. 5 shows the structure of a copy pair information  117 A. Referring to FIG. 5, a local storage system address  400  specifies a local disk system in local mainframe  100  (e.g., local disk system  104 ). A disk unit address  401  specifies a disk unit in the local disk system. Similarly, a remote storage system address  402  and a disk unit address  403  specify a remote disk system in remote mainframe  101  (e.g., remote disk system  105 ) and a disk unit in the remote disk system, respectively. The contents of the disk unit specified in disk unit address  401  are copied to the disk unit specified in disk unit address  403  during a remote dual copy function.  
         [0030]    In configuration  150  shown in FIG. 4, each segment control block  118 A contains information relating to a corresponding segment  116 A stored in cache memory  113 A. FIG. 6 shows the structure of a segment control block  118 A in configuration  150 . A disk unit address  500  specifies a disk unit  112 A where storage space is allocated for the segment  116 A. As mentioned, a segment  116 A has enough space to hold the entire contents of the allocated track. If cache memory  113 A is organized in terms of fixed blocks, as is the case in configuration  150 , a segment  116 A has enough space to hold all the fixed blocks of a track. A top block address  501  indicates the top block address of the track for which a segment  116 A is allocated, and can thus be used to locate the segment  116 A.  
         [0031]    As shown in FIG. 6, a segment control block  118 A also includes a block bitmap  502 , a remote write bitmap  503 , and a local write bitmap  504 . Each bit of bitmaps  502 ,  503 , and  504  corresponds to a block of the segment  116 A identified by top block address  501 . Accordingly, the number of bits of each of the just mentioned bitmaps is equal to the number of blocks in a segment  116 A. Each bit of block bitmap  502  indicates whether the corresponding block is in cache memory  113 A; i.e., when a bit of block bitmap  502  is ON, the block which corresponds to that bit is in a segment  116 A in cache memory  113 A. The bits of remote write bitmap  503  indicate whether the corresponding blocks need to be written to a disk unit in remote disk system  105 . That is, when a bit of remote write bitmap  503  is ON, the block which corresponds to that bit is to be transmitted to remote disk system  105  of remote mainframe  101 . Similarly, each bit of local write bitmap  504  indicates whether the corresponding block needs to be written to a disk unit of local disk system  104 .  
         [0032]    Referring to FIG. 4, a fixed block interface  120 A transports fixed blocks to remote mainframe  101  over a fixed block infrastructure  121 . In one embodiment, interface  120 A is a SCSI interface, and infrastructure  121  is a SCSI infrastructure that includes SCSI cables, line drivers, adapters, repeaters, etc. To process the fixed blocks received over infrastructure  121 , remote disk system  105  includes components that mirror those of local disk system  104 . That is, remote disk system  105  also has a data receive process, a mainframe read/write process, a CKD/FBA conversion function, a cache memory, a shared memory, a disk unit read write process, and a CKD interface that are similar to those in remote disk system  105 . In the present disclosure (including in FIG. 4), the same or like components are labeled with the same reference numeral. For example, shared memory  114 A of local disk system  104  is similar to shared memory  114 B of remote disk system  105 .  
         [0033]    A method for performing a remote dual copy function in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention is now described with reference to FIG. 7A, FIG. 7B, and FIG. 4. Referring to FIG. 7A, a remote dual copy function is initiated when read/write process  108 A receives a Define Extent command from local host system  102  (step  701 ). As is conventional, the Define Extent command includes information for processing forthcoming Locate and Read/Write commands such as cache memory utilization mode etc. After receiving the Define Extent command, read/write process  108 A then receives a Locate Command (step  702 ). As is conventional, the Locate command specifies a record to access by providing a cylinder number, a head number, a sector number, and a record number. The cylinder number and the head number, together, identify a particular track in a disk unit. To determine if there is a segment  116 A allocated for the track specified in the Locate command, read/write process  108 A checks the top block addresses  501  of the segment control blocks  118 A (step  703 ). Note that read/write process  108 A may utilize CKD/FBA conversion function  115 A to convert CKD formatted data to fixed blocks and vice versa.  
         [0034]    If a segment  116 A is allocated for the track, read/write process  108 A checks the block bitmap  502  of the corresponding segment control block  118 A to determine if fixed blocks belonging to the sector specified in the Locate command are in cache memory  113 A (step  704 ).  
         [0035]    If the blocks corresponding to the sector number are not in cache memory  113 A or if a segment  116 A is not allocated for the track specified in the Locate Command, a segment  116 A and corresponding segment control block  118 A are created for the track (step  706 ). Thereafter, the contents of the track are loaded from the disk unit  112 A specified in the Locate command to disk unit read/write process  111 A (step  707 ), converted to fixed blocks (step  708 ), and then stored in cache memory  113 A in the allocated segment  116 A (step  709 ).  
         [0036]    Once it is established that the contents of the track are in cache memory  113 A, read/write process  108 A finds a record in a disk unit  112 A where write data from a forthcoming Write command is to be written (step  705 ). Subsequently, read/write process  108 A receives the Write command that goes with the previously received Define Extent and Locate commands (step  710 ). Read/write process  108  converts the write data that accompany the write command from CKD format to fixed blocks (step  711 ), stores the converted write data to cache memory (step  712 ), and then sets the corresponding bits in remote write bitmap  503  and local write bitmap  504  (step  713 ). At a later time, disk unit read/write process  111 A conventionally writes the fixed blocks identified in local write bitmap  504  to their respective disk units  112 A.  
         [0037]    Continuing with step  714  shown in FIG. 7B, data send process  109  checks the bits of the remote write bitmaps  503  in shared memory  114 A to find the fixed blocks that need to be sent to remote disk system  105 . Data send process  109  uses the information in a copy pair information  117 A to determine the remote disk unit designated to receive the fixed blocks (step  715 ). Data send process  109  sends the fixed blocks to remote disk system  105  via fixed block interface  120 A and over fixed block infrastructure  121  (step  716 ). Because fixed block interface  120 A, fixed block interface  120 B, and infrastructure  121  are based on SCSI in this embodiment, each fixed block is assigned a unique logical block address.  
         [0038]    In remote disk system  105 , a data receive process  110  receives the fixed blocks via a fixed block interface  120 B (step  717 ). Data receive process  110  then checks the top block addresses of segment control blocks  118 B to determine if there is a segment  116 B allocated for each received fixed block (step  718 ). If a segment  116 B is not allocated, a segment  116 B and a corresponding segment control block  118 B are created for the fixed block (step  719 ). Data receive process  110  then stores the fixed blocks in their respective segments  116 B (step  720 ). Thereafter, data receive process  110  sets the corresponding bits in the block bitmap and local write bitmap of the segment control block  118 B (step  721 ), and notifies data send process  109  that the fixed blocks have been received and processed in remote disk system  105  (step  723 ). In response, data send process  109  resets the corresponding bits in the remote write bitmap  503  in local disk system  104 . At a later time, disk unit read/write process  111 B in remote disk system  105  conventionally writes the fixed blocks identified in the local write bitmap of the segment control block  118 B to their respective disk units  112 B.  
         [0039]    [0039]FIG. 8A shows a schematic diagram of a configuration  250  for performing a remote dual copy function in another embodiment. In contrast to configuration  150 , cache memory  213  (i.e.,  213 A,  213 B), segment  216  (i.e.,  216 A,  216 B), and segment control block  218  (i.e.,  218 A,  218 B) of the mainframes in configuration  250  are configured to process CKD formatted data. That is, each segment  216  of a cache memory  213  has enough space to hold the records of a single track in CKD format.  
         [0040]    In configuration  250 , each segment  216  has a corresponding segment control block  218 . FIG. 8B shows the structure of a segment control block  218  in configuration  250 . As shown in FIG. 8B, a disk unit address  800  specifies a disk unit  112  where storage space is allocated for the segment  216 . A track address  801  contains the address of the track allocated for the segment  216 .  
         [0041]    A segment control block  218  further includes a record bitmap  802 , a remote write record bitmap  803 , and a local write record bitmap  804 . Each bit of the just mentioned bitmaps corresponds to a record stored in the corresponding segment  216 . Accordingly, the number of bits of each of the just mentioned bitmaps is equal to the maximum number of records in a track.  
         [0042]    Record bitmap  802  indicates whether a record is in a segment  216 . When a bit of record bitmap  802  is ON, the record that corresponds to that bit is in a corresponding segment  216 .  
         [0043]    Remote write record bitmap  803  indicates whether a record in the corresponding segment  216  needs to be written to a disk unit in the remote disk system (which is identified in a copy pair information  117  similar to that used in configuration  150 ). When a bit in remote write record bitmap  803  is on, the record that corresponds to that bit is transmitted to the remote disk system.  
         [0044]    Local write record bitmap  804  indicates whether a record in the corresponding segment  216  needs to be written to a disk unit in the local disk system. When a bit of local write record bitmap  804  is on, the record that corresponds to that bit is written to a disk unit in the local disk system.  
         [0045]    In configuration  250 , CKD formatted data from local host system  102  are not converted to fixed blocks until the data are ready to be transmitted to remote disk system  105 . Accordingly, data send process  109  calls CKD/FBA conversion function  115 A to convert the CKD formatted data to fixed blocks before handing the data to fixed block interface  120 A. In remote disk system  105 , data receive process  110  calls CKD/FBA conversion function  115 B to convert the fixed blocks received over fixed block infrastructure  121  back to CKD format.  
         [0046]    As is evident from the foregoing, configuration  250  and configuration  150  are similar except for the use of CKD formatted data in the cache memory of configuration  250 . Persons of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the present invention can be employed regardless of the cache memory management scheme. For example, FIG. 9 shows a configuration  350  where the local disk system uses a fixed block cache management scheme similar to that used in the local disk system of configuration  150 , whereas the remote disk system uses a CKD cache management scheme similar to that used in the remote disk system of configuration  250 . Similarly, FIG. 10 shows a configuration  450  where the local disk system uses a CKD cache management scheme similar to that used in the local disk system of configuration  250 , whereas the remote disk system uses a fixed block cache management scheme similar to that used in the remote disk system of configuration  150 .  
         [0047]    A method and associated systems for transferring data between storage systems for mainframe computers have been disclosed. While specific embodiments have been provided, it is to be understood that these embodiments are for illustration purposes and not limiting. Many additional embodiments will be apparent to persons of ordinary skill in the art reading this disclosure. For example, while the invention is suitable for use in remote dual copy functions, the invention is not so limited and may be generally used in applications requiring data transfer between storage systems. Thus, the present invention is limited only by the following claims.

Technology Classification (CPC): 6