Patent Document

BACKGROUND 
       [0001]    The present disclosure relates generally to methods and systems for controlling redundant storage systems, and more specifically, to an improved HyperSwap that supports multiple replication sessions. 
         [0002]    HyperSwap is designed to broaden the continuous availability attributes of z/OS by extending the redundancy to storage systems. HyperSwap provides the ability to transparently switch all primary storage systems with the secondary storage systems for a planned reconfiguration and to perform disk configuration maintenance and planned site maintenance without requiring any applications to be quiesced. In addition, the HyperSwap operation can transparently switch to secondary storage systems in the event of unplanned outages of the primary storage systems. Unplanned HyperSwap support allows production systems to remain active during a disk storage system failure. 
         [0003]    When a HyperSwap trigger events occurs, changes to data on the primary volumes is prevented by issuing command to freeze data across all volumes being mirrored (or replicated). The command to do this is issued for all Logical Subsystems (LSS) pairs that contain HyperSwap managed volumes, also referred to as devices. All I/O to all managed volumes is queued to maintain full data integrity and data consistency across all volumes. The HyperSwap operation then makes the target volumes available to be used and swaps information in internal control blocks to point to the recovered target volumes. When this has completed, all I/O is released and all applications continue to run against the recovered target volumes, thus masking or avoiding a complete disk system outage, with a dynamic ‘busy’ and a redirection of all I/O. 
         [0004]    Many large storage systems host tens of thousands of volumes. Some servers may be accessing volumes in more than one storage system. Currently if one or more volumes in a storage system fail, all managed volumes of the failing storage system are HyperSwapped. This includes volumes on the failing storage subsystem not impacted by the failure, and other physical storage systems also unaffected by the failure. Using traditional HyperSwap to swap all volumes, instead of some subset of affected volumes takes more time to complete and increases the likelihood that a problem will occur during the swap. 
       BRIEF SUMMARY 
       [0005]    According to one embodiment of the present disclosure, a method for managing a multi-session HyperSwap includes monitoring a plurality of HyperSwap sessions between one or more storage systems located at a first location and one or more storage systems located at a second location, wherein at least one of the one or more storage systems located at the first location and at the second location are designated as a primary storage system. The method includes detecting an error event and freezing communications between the storage systems located at the first location and the second location in response to the error event. The method also includes designating either the first location or the second location as a preferred location and modifying the designation of all of storage systems at the preferred location to be primary storage systems in response to the error event. 
         [0006]    According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, a system includes a server and a first location including one or more storage systems in communication with the server, wherein each of the one or more storage systems includes a designation of a primary storage system or a secondary storage system. The system includes a second location including one or more storage systems in communication with the server, wherein each of the one or more storage systems includes the designation of the primary storage system or the secondary storage system. The system also includes one or more links operable for providing communication between the one or more storage systems at the first location and the one or more storage systems at the second location. The server includes a HyperSwap manager for monitoring a plurality of HyperSwap sessions between the one or more storage systems at the first location and the one or more storage systems at the second location. Either the first location or the second location is designated as a preferred location and in response to detecting an error event on the communication link, and the HyperSwap manager changes the designation of all of storage systems at the preferred location to the primary storage systems. 
         [0007]    According to yet another embodiment of the present disclosure, a computer program product for managing a multi-session HyperSwap includes a computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code embodied therewith. The computer readable program code including computer readable program code configured to monitor a plurality of HyperSwap sessions between one or more storage systems located at a first location and one or more storage systems located at a second location, wherein at least one of the one or more storage systems located at the first location and at the second location are designated as a primary storage system. The computer readable program code configured to detect an error event and stop communications between the storage systems located at the first location and the second location in response to the error event. The computer readable program code is also configured to designate either the first location or the second location as a preferred location and modify the designation of all of storage systems at the preferred location to be primary storage systems in response to the error event. 
         [0008]    Additional features and advantages are realized through the techniques of the present invention. Other embodiments and aspects of the invention are described in detail herein and are considered a part of the claimed invention. For a better understanding of the invention with the advantages and the features, refer to the description and to the drawings. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0009]    The subject matter which is regarded as the invention is particularly pointed out and distinctly claimed in the claims at the conclusion of the specification. The forgoing and other features, and advantages of the invention are apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which: 
           [0010]      FIG. 1  is a block diagram illustrating one example of a processing system for practice of the teachings herein; 
           [0011]      FIGS. 2A-2D  are block diagrams of a system illustrating the steps of a HyperSwap operation; 
           [0012]      FIGS. 3A-2E  are block diagrams of a system illustrating the steps of a traditional HyperSwap operation with multiple sessions; 
           [0013]    FIGS.  4 A- 4 FD are block diagrams of a system illustrating the steps of a multi-session HyperSwap operation in accordance with an exemplary embodiment; and 
           [0014]      FIG. 5  is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary logical storage system in accordance with an exemplary embodiment. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0015]    Referring to  FIG. 1 , there is shown an embodiment of a processing system  100  for implementing the teachings herein. In this embodiment, the system  100  has one or more central processing units (processors)  101   a,    101   b,    101   c,  etc. (collectively or generically referred to as processor(s)  101 ). In one embodiment, each processor  101  may include a reduced instruction set computer (RISC) microprocessor. Processors  101  are coupled to system memory  114  and various other components via a system bus  113 . Read only memory (ROM)  102  is coupled to the system bus  113  and may include a basic input/output system (BIOS), which controls certain basic functions of system  100 . 
         [0016]      FIG. 1  further depicts an input/output (I/O) adapter  107  and a network adapter  106  coupled to the system bus  113 . I/O adapter  107  may be a small computer system interface (SCSI) or Fibre Connection (FICON®) adapter that communicates with a hard disk  103  and/or tape storage drive  105  or any other similar component. I/O adapter  107 , hard disk  103 , and tape storage device  105  are collectively referred to herein as mass storage  104 . Software  120  for execution on the processing system  100  may be stored in mass storage  104 . A network adapter  106  interconnects bus  113  with an outside network  116  enabling data processing system  100  to communicate with other such systems. A screen (e.g., a display monitor)  115  is connected to system bus  113  by display adaptor  112 , which may include a graphics adapter to improve the performance of graphics intensive applications and a video controller. In one embodiment, adapters  107 ,  106 , and  112  may be connected to one or more I/O busses that are connected to system bus  113  via an intermediate bus bridge (not shown). Suitable I/O buses for connecting peripheral devices such as hard disk controllers, network adapters, and graphics adapters typically include common protocols, such as the Peripheral Components Interface (PCI). Additional input/output devices are shown as connected to system bus  113  via user interface adapter  108  and display adapter  112 . A keyboard  109 , mouse  110 , and speaker  111  all interconnected to bus  113  via user interface adapter  108 , which may include, for example, a Super I/O chip integrating multiple device adapters into a single integrated circuit. 
         [0017]    Thus, as configured in  FIG. 1 , the system  100  includes processing capability in the form of processors  101 , storage capability including system memory  114  and mass storage  104 , input means such as keyboard  109  and mouse  110 , and output capability including speaker  111  and display  115 . In one embodiment, a portion of system memory  114  and mass storage  104  collectively store an operating system such as the z/OS® and AIX® operating systems from IBM Corporation to coordinate the functions of the various components shown in  FIG. 1 . 
         [0018]    With reference now to  FIGS. 2A-2D , diagrams illustrating the steps of a HyperSwap operation are shown. The HyperSwap operation is executed on a server  200  which is capable of communicating with a first storage system  202  at a first site  212  and a second storage system  204  at a second site  214 . The first storage system  202  and the second storage system  204  are also capable of communicating with each other over a link  206 . The storage system and the HyperSwap operation are designed to minimize the data required to be resynchronized to a first storage system  202  after either a planned or unplanned outage of the first storage system  202 . The HyperSwap operation can be used for both planned and unplanned outages when you want to suspend disk mirroring and make use of the second storage system  204 . 
         [0019]    As illustrated best in  FIG. 2A , during normal operation the server  200  utilizes the first storage system  202  at the first site  212 , which is recognized as the primary storage system in the pair. The first storage system  202  at the first site  212  is synchronized with the second storage system  204  at the second site  214  via link  206 . As shown best in  FIG. 2B , once an error event, also referred to as a HyperSwap trigger event, occurs the synchronization process between the storage systems  202 ,  204  at the first site  212  and the second site  214  is suspended, the server  200  ceases communication with the first storage system  202  at the first site  212 , the server  200  begins communication with the second storage system  204  at the second site  214  and the second storage system  204  becomes recognized as the primary storage system in the pair. While the synchronization process between the storage systems  202 ,  204  at the first site  212  and the second site  214  is suspended, the storage system at the second site  214  may track all changes that are made to the data. A HyperSwap may be triggered by events other than purely a storage failure. For example, a Hyperswap may be triggered by a failure of the links from the server  200  to the storage systems  202 ,  204 . In addition, if the server  200  is connected to the storage systems  202 ,  204  through a switch, then the failure of one (or more likely more than one) switch, may make the storage inaccessible. 
         [0020]    As illustrated best in  FIG. 2C , when the first site  212  becomes available again, the changed data from the second storage system  204  at the second site  214  is synchronized to the first storage system  202  at the first site  212  via link  206 . Only data which is known to have changed via tracking needs to be copied from the second site  214  to the first site  212 , accordingly, the HyperSwap operation eliminates a full recopy of all data on all disk storage systems. When the data synchronization is complete, the session becomes enabled again for planned and unplanned HyperSwap events. 
         [0021]    At some point the customer will want the first site  212  to again become the primary site and initiate a planned HyperSwap back. As illustrated best in  FIG. 2D , the synchronization process between the storage systems at the second site  214  and the first site  212  is suspended, the server  200  ceases communication with the second storage system  204  at second site  214 , and the communication paths from the server  200  to the first site  212  and from first site  212  to the second site  214  are reestablished and the storage system at the first site  212  is restored as the primary storage system the pair. Accordingly, the HyperSwap operation eliminates a full recopy of all data on all disk storage systems. Currently the HyperSwap operation does not support multiple sessions, e.g., the swapping of a subset of affected volumes rather than all volumes in a storage system, due to the risk of a specific problem that is discussed in more detail with reference to  FIGS. 3A-3E . 
         [0022]    Referring now to  FIGS. 3A-3E , diagrams of a system  300  illustrating the steps of a traditional HyperSwap operation with multiple sessions are shown. The HyperSwap operation is performed by a server  301  which is capable of communication with one or more storage systems,  302 ,  304  at a first site  312  and with one or more storage systems  306 ,  308  at a second site  314 . As shown, the solid lines between server  301  and storage systems  302 ,  304  indicate that the server  301  is actively communicating with the storage systems  302 ,  304  and the dashed lines between server  301  and storage systems  306 ,  308  indicate that the server  301  is not actively communicating with the storage systems  306 ,  308  but that a physical and logical link between them exists. Each of the storage systems  302 ,  304 ,  306 ,  308  may contain one or more logical storage systems (LSSs)  303 ,  305 ,  307 ,  309 , respectively. In addition, the LSSs  303 ,  305  at the first site  312  are capable of communicating with the LSSs  307 ,  309  at the second site  314  via one or more communications links  310 . Each of the LSSs  303  may contain one or more volumes  316 , as shown in  FIG. 5 . All of the primary volumes and secondary volumes in an LSS pair ( 303 - 307 ) communicate with each other using the communication link(s) assigned to that LSS pair ( 310 ). 
         [0023]    As shown in  FIG. 3A , the system  300  includes a first HyperSwap session including volumes in LSS  303  in storage system  302  synchronizing, or replicating, from the first site  312  with volumes in LSS  307  in storage system  306  at the second site  314 . The system  300  also includes a second HyperSwap session including volumes in LSS  305  in storage system  304  synchronizing, or replicating, from the first site  312  with volumes in LSS  309  in storage system  308  at the second site  314 . As illustrated, the storage systems  302 ,  304  that are in communication with the server  301  and are designated as the primary storage systems and the storage systems  306 ,  308  being replicated, or synchronized, from the primary storage systems are designated as the secondary storage systems. 
         [0024]    In the event that the server  301  executes a HyperSwap operation on one but not both sessions at the same time, replication for the second session may be going from storage system  304  at the first site  312  to storage system  308  at the second site  314 , while replication for the first session is going from storage system  306  at the second site  314  to storage system  302  at the first site  312 , as illustrated in  FIG. 3B . When this situation occurs, some of the primary volumes are located at the first site  312  and some are located at the second site  314 . Once an error event, such as a failure of the communications link  310 , is detected all of the HyperSwap sessions are disabled. In this case, as illustrated in  FIG. 3C , if one of the links  310  between the first site  312  and the second site  314  becomes suspended such that one of more LSS pairs  303 - 307  or  305 - 309  can no longer mirror their volumes, the HyperSwap operation will suspend all links  310  between the first site  312  and the second site  314  in the corresponding session to assure that the volumes at the secondary sites are data consistent. Data consistency may be assured by preventing any volumes in the HyperSwap session from copying to the secondary site unless all volumes in the HyperSwap session are copying. In this case, replication is no longer occurring from the primary volumes to the secondary volumes and the server  301  is updating only the primary volumes in storage systems  304 ,  306 . The link between the first site  312  and the second site  314  can become suspended for various reasons, for example the link between the first site  312  and the second site  314  can be severed. Although the example shows that the HyperSwap sessions include only volumes and LSSs in a single storage system, it will be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art that volumes and LSSs from multiple storage systems may be included in a HyperSwap session and different volumes or LSSs from a single storage system can be included in separate HyperSwap sessions. 
         [0025]    A problem may occur when a link failure is the first failure detected of an entire site failure. When this happens, if writes occur to the volumes after replication is suspended, and then shortly thereafter one of the sites goes down, neither site will have a point-in-time consistent, or data consistent, copy of the data. Accordingly, as illustrated in  FIGS. 3D and 3E , no matter which site goes down after the link failure, the server  301  can not be brought up at the surviving the site because at least some subset of the data at that site is no longer current, and therefore all data is not point-in-time consistent. In order to avoid this problem, the server  301  currently only allows one HyperSwap replication session to be active at a given time. 
         [0026]    Many disasters are rolling disasters and while the disaster may appear to be an instantaneous blackout of the entire site, the disaster actually takes time to “roll across the floor.” For example the replication links may fail first, and HyperSwap may detect this condition, freeze (or suspend) all other replication links, and resume I/O, all before the storage systems and processors are impacted by the blackout a split-second later. 
         [0027]    Referring now to  FIGS. 4A-4F , diagrams of a system  400  illustrating the steps of a multi-session HyperSwap operation in accordance with an exemplary embodiment are shown. The multi-session HyperSwap operation may be performed by a HyperSwap manager  415  located on a server  401  which is capable of communication with one or more storage systems  402 ,  404  at a first site  412  and with one or more storage systems  406 ,  408  at a second site  414 . The HyperSwap manager  415  also includes a designating of either the first site  412  or the second site  414  as a preferred site. Each of the storage systems  402 ,  404 ,  406 ,  408  may contain one or more LSSs  403 ,  405 ,  407 ,  409 , respectively. In addition, the storage systems  402 ,  404  at the first site  412  are capable of communicating with the storage systems  406 ,  408  at the second site  414  via communications link  410 . 
         [0028]    As shown in  FIG. 4A , the system  400  includes a first session including storage system  402  synchronizing, or replicating, from the first site  412  with storage system  406  at the second site  414 . The system  400  also includes a second session including storage system  404  synchronizing, or replicating, from the first site  412  with storage system  408  at the second site  414 . As illustrated, the storage systems  402 ,  404  that are in communication with the server  401  are designated as the primary storage systems and the storage systems  406 ,  408  being replicated, or synchronized, from the primary storage systems are designated as the secondary storage systems. In addition, the first site  412  is designated as the preferred site. 
         [0029]    In the event that the server  401  executes a HyperSwap operation on one but not both sessions at the same time, replication for the second session may be going from storage system  404  at the first site  412  to storage system  408  at the second site  414 , while replication for the first session is going from storage system  406  at the second site  414  to storage system  402  at the first site  412 , as illustrated in  FIG. 4B . When this situation occurs, some of the primary volumes are located at the first site  412  and some are located at the second site  414 . In this case, as illustrated in  FIG. 4C , if one of the links  410  between the first site  412  and the second site  414  becomes suspended such that one of more LSS pairs  403 - 407  or  404 - 408  can no longer mirror their volumes, the HyperSwap manager  415  will suspend all links  410  between the first site  412  and the second site  414  across all sessions to assure that the volumes at the secondary site are data consistent. Additionally, the HyperSwap manager  415  will also reassign all volumes at the preferred to be primary volumes, as shown in  FIG. 4D . Since at the time the error was detected, the primary and secondary volumes for all HyperSwap sessions are identical copies of each other, the server  401  can use either the volumes at the first site  412  or at the second site  414  as primary volumes and be assured of no data loss. Once the HyperSwap manager  415  reassigns all volumes at the preferred to be primary volumes, the server  401  may resume updating the primary volumes. 
         [0030]    A detected error event can be an error on the communications link or a disk failure at a secondary site, in addition the source or type of the error event may not be known at the primary site. If the problem causing the link failure was actually the first error detected of an entire site failure of the non-preferred site  414 , then there is no impact on the preferred site  412  and the workload continues to run unaffected, as illustrated in  FIG. 4E . However, if the link failure is the first failure detected of an entire site failure of the preferred site  412 , as illustrated in  FIG. 4F , then systems at the non-preferred site  414  can be restarted using the secondary volumes at the non-preferred site  414 . Some data may be lost, since the non-preferred site  414  was no longer receiving updates from the preferred site  412 , however the data will at least be point-in-time consistent and therefore recoverable. If the link failure is no more than that, and both sites remain operational, then all systems at the preferred site  412  will continue unaffected by the failure. 
         [0031]    In an exemplary embodiment, in addition to allowing a user to select which site is the preferred site, the user may allow the HyperSwap manager  415  on the server  401  to automatically determine a preferred site when the freeze trigger, or error event, is detected. The HyperSwap manager  415  may be designed to select the site that will most likely result in the quickest failover, based upon a set of attributes which may include storage technology, number of primary LSSs at each site, and number of primary volumes at each site. In another embodiment, the HyperSwap manager  415  may be designed to select the site that will be the preferred site based on the distance between the server  401  and the site. In one example the distance between the first site  412  and the second site  414  could be up to two hundred kilometers, if the server  401  is located at the first site  412 , the preferred site should be  412 , since the speed of light can noticeably impact the response time of I/O requests at these distances. In exemplary embodiments, the distance between the server  401  and the first and second sites  412 ,  414  may be determined based up on a command response time.. 
         [0032]    In another exemplary embodiment, the HyperSwap manager  415  may monitor the status of all HyperSwap sessions both active and inactive in the system  400 , and may override the user&#39;s designation of a preferred site. In one embodiment, the preferred site may be overridden if the HyperSwap manager  415  determines that replication is not active for one or more replication sessions, and the primary volumes for all of these sessions could only be moved to the non-preferred site. For example, consider that some storage systems at the preferred site are down, but all storage systems at the non-preferred site are working. In this case it makes sense to designate the preferred site to be the site where all storage controllers are working. By overriding the user selected preferred site in this case, swapping over to a site that does not have access to all primary volumes is avoided. 
         [0033]    In exemplary embodiments, the multi-session HyperSwap operation allows users to define multiple HyperSwap sessions while still maintaining the data integrity and ability to recover at a remote site, should a link failure precede a total site, or storage system, failure. 
         [0034]    The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises” and/or “comprising,” when used in this specification, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one more other features, integers, steps, operations, element components, and/or groups thereof. 
         [0035]    The corresponding structures, materials, acts, and equivalents of all means or step plus function elements in the claims below are intended to include any structure, material, or act for performing the function in combination with other claimed elements as specifically claimed. The description of the present invention has been presented for purposes of illustration and description, but is not intended to be exhaustive or limited to the invention in the form disclosed. Many modifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention. The embodiment was chosen and described in order to best explain the principles of the invention and the practical application, and to enable others of ordinary skill in the art to understand the invention for various embodiments with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated 
         [0036]    While the preferred embodiment to the invention had been described, it will be understood that those skilled in the art, both now and in the future, may make various improvements and enhancements which fall within the scope of the claims which follow. These claims should be construed to maintain the proper protection for the invention first described.

Technology Category: g