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EP0485110A2 Expired / Lapsed EP ⏱️ 0.0 years remaining

Logical partitioning of a redundant array storage system

Assignee: EMC Corp
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Filing: 1991-10-30
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Granted: —
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Expires: 2011-10-30
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Abstract

Abstract A redundant array storage system that can be configured as a RAID 1, 3, 4, or 5 system, or any combination of these configurations. The invention comprises a configuration data structure for addressing a redundant array storage system, and a method for configuring a redundant array storage system during an initialization process. The redundant array storage system comprises a set of physical storage units which are accessible in terms of blocks numbers. The physical storage units are each configured as one or more logical storage units. Each logical storage unit is addressed in terms of a channel number, storage unit number, starting block number, offset number, and number of blocks to be transferred. Once logical storage units are defined logical volumes are defined as one or more logical storage units, each logical volume having a depth characteristic. After the logical volumes are defined, redundancy groups are defined as one or more logical volumes. A redundancy level is specified for each redundancy group. The redundancy level may be none, one, or two. Logical volumes are addressed by a host CPU by volume number, initial block number, and number of blocks to be transferred. The host CPU also specifies a READ or WRITE operation. The specified volume number, initial block number, and number of blocks to be transferred are then translated into a corresponding channel number, storage unit number, starting block number, offset number, and number of blocks to be transferred. With the present invention, it is possible for a logical volume to span across physical storage units ("vertical partitioning"), comprise only a portion of each such physical storage unit ("horizontal partitioning"), and have definable depth and redundancy characteristics.

Inventors

  • 👤 David Charles Stallmo

Bibliographic Details

Application Number —
Jurisdiction EP
Data Source google_patents
Last Synchronized 2026-10-26 07:14
CPC Classifications
G; G11; G11B; G11B20/00; G11B20/10; G11B20/18; G11B20/1833; G06; G06F; G06F11/00; G06F11/07; G06F11/08; G06F11/10; G06F11/1076; G06F3/00; G06F3/06; G06F3/0601; G06F3/0602; G06F3/0604; G06F3/0607; G06F3/0628; G06F3/0638; G06F3/0644; G06F3/0668; G06F3/0671; G06F3/0683; G06F3/0689; G06F11/16; G06F11/20; G06F11/2053; G06F11/2056; G06F11/2087; G06F2211/00; G06F2211/10; G06F2211/1002; G06F2211/103

Claims Analysis

Total Claims: 16
Claim 1
Independent Claim 34 words
A configurable redundant array storage system comprising a plurality of storage units for storing blocks of data, wherein such blocks are addressable by channel number, storage unit number, starting block number, and offset number.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim 101 words
A configurable redundant array storage system comprising a plurality of storage units for storing blocks of data, at least one controller coupled to the storage units, and at least one central processing unit coupled to the controller, wherein the central processing unit transmits a request to the controller for blocks stored in the plurality of storage units, such request addressing such blocks by volume number, initial block mumber, and number of blocks to be transferred, and the controller translates each request and addresses such blocks in the storage units by channel number, storage unit number, starting block number, and offset number.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim 45 words
A configurable redundant array storage system comprising a pluralitly of storage units for storing blocks of data, wherein at least one storage unit is configured as at least one logical storage unit addressable by channel number, storage unit number, starting block number, and offset number.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim 22 words
The system of claim 3, wherein at least one logical storage unit is configured as a logical volume having a depth characterisitc.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim 17 words
The system of claim 4, wherein at least one logical volume is configured as a redundancy group.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim 15 words
The system of claim 5, wherein each redundancy group has at least one redundancy level.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim 13 words
The system of claim 6, wherein each redundancy group has two redundancy levels.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim 66 words
A configurable redundant array storage system for storing blocks of data, comprising at least one redundancy group for storing such blocks of data, each redundancy group comprising at least one logical volume, each logical volume comprising at least one logical storage unit addressable by channel number, storage unit number, starting block number, and offset number, each logical storage unit comprising part of a physical storage unit.
Claim 9
Independent Claim 37 words
A method for addressing a configurable redundant array storage system comprising a plurality of storage units for storing blocks of data, comprising addressing such blocks by channel number, storage unit number, starting block number, and offset number.
Claim 10
Independent Claim 121 words
A method for addressing a configurable redundant array storage system comprising a plurality of storage units for storing blocks of data, at least one controller coupled to the storage units, and at least one central processing unit coupled to the controller, comprising the steps of: a. transmitting a request from the central processing unit to the controller for blocks stored in the plurality of storage units, such request addressing such blocks by volume number, initial block number, and number of blocks to be transferred; b. translating each request into an address for the plurality of storage units defined by channel number, storage unit number, starting block number, and offset number. c. accessing at least one storage unit by the translated address.
Claim 11
Independent Claim 47 words
A method for configuring a redundant array storage system comprising a plurality of storage units for storing blocks of data, comprising the step of defining within the system at least one logical storage unit addressable by channel number, storage unit number, starting block number, and offset number.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim 33 words
The method of claim 11, further including the step of defining within the system at least one logical volume having a depth characteristic, the logical volume comprising at least one logical storage unit.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim 28 words
The method of claim 12, further including the step of defining within the system at least one redundancy group, the redundancy group comprising at least one logical volume.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim 15 words
The method of claim 13, wherein each redundancy group has at least one redundancy level.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim 13 words
The method of claim 14, wherein each redundancy group has two redundancy levels.
Claim 16
Independent Claim 89 words
A method for configuring a redundant array storage system of physical storage units for storing blocks of data, comprising the steps of: a. defining within the system at least one logical storage unit addressable by channel number, storage unit number, starting block number, and offset number, each logical storage unit comprising part of a physical storage unit; b. defining within the system at least logical volume comprising at least one logical storage unit; c. defining within the system at least one redundancy group comprising at least one logical volume.

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