Disk loading mechanism and storage device

The present invention relates to a disk mounting mechanism and a storage device, and more particularly to a disk mounting mechanism and a storage device capable of increasing the number of disk devices that can be mounted by utilizing an unused communication path.

Conventionally, in a storage environment, for example, as shown in FIG. 9, higher-level devices 300a and 300b such as a server and a RAID controller and a drive enclosure 400 equipped with HDDs (Hard Disk Drives) 450a to 450d as disk devices have been used. It may be provided.

Further, the drive enclosure 400 has a switch board 410a, 410b and a backplane 420 in addition to the HDDs 450a to 450d. The switch boards 410a and 410b are equipped with a switch chip that organizes the communication paths between the host devices 300a and 300b and the HDDs 450a to 450c, and switches the communication paths between the host devices 300a and 300b and the HDDs 450a to 450c. The backplane 420 is a circuit board for connecting the HDDs 450a to 450c and the switch boards 410a and 410b.

Here, two or more communication paths used for data communication between the host devices 300a and 300b and the HDDs 450a to 450d may be provided on the assumption that a failure occurs on the path. Therefore, the host devices 300a, 300b and HDDs 450a to 450d are provided with a plurality of ports for connecting communication paths. For example, as shown in FIG. 9, the host device 300a has two ports 311a, 312a, and the host device 300b also has two ports 311b, 312b. Further, the HDD 450a has two ports 451a, 452a, the HDD 450b has two ports 451b, 452b, the HDD 450c has two ports 451c, 452c, and the HDD 450d has two ports 451d, 452d.

Further, in order to support a plurality of communication paths provided between the host devices 300a and 300b and the HDDs 450a to 450d, a plurality of ports and slots are also provided on the switch boards 410a and 410b and the backplane 420. That is, as shown in FIG. 9, the switch board 410a has two ports 411a, 412a as ports on the host devices 300a, 300b side, and four ports 413a, 414a, 415a, 416a as ports on the backplane 420 side. Has. Further, the switch board 410b has two ports 411b, 412b as ports on the upper device 300a, 300b side, and has four ports 413b, 414b, 415, 416b as ports on the backplane 420 side. Further, the backplane 420 has two slots 421a and 421b as slots on the switch boat 410a and 410b side, and has four slots 422a to 422d as slots on the drive 450a to 450d side.

On the other hand, there is also a low-priced drive enclosure equipped with a low-cost SATA (Serial Advanced Technology Attachment) drive that has only one port for the purpose of providing a low-priced drive enclosure. When manufacturing this low-priced drive enclosure, it is costly to newly manufacture a dedicated switch board and backplane, so the switch board 410 and backplane 420 with multiple ports and slots as described above are diverted. May be manufactured.

Specifically, as shown in FIG. 10, the low-priced drive enclosure 500 is equipped with a switch board 410a and a backplane 420 diverted from the drive enclosure 400, and low-cost HDDs 550a to 550d. In this way, the drive enclosure 500 can be provided at a low price by using the low-cost HDD 550a to 550d or by diverting the switch board 410a or the backplane 420.

<patcit num="1"><text>Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2008-41050</text></patcit>

<p> However, when an inexpensive drive enclosure is manufactured by using the diversion parts as described above, an unused communication path may occur in the drive enclosure. That is, as shown in FIG. 10, in the drive enclosure 500, the switch board 410a has a plurality of ports 411a to 416a, and the backplane 420 also has a plurality of slots 421a, 421b and 422a to 422d. On the other hand, HDD550a to 550d each have only one port 551a to 551d. Therefore, for example, the communication paths 600a to 600d from slot 421b of the backplane 420 to slots 422a to 422d may be unused.</p><p> The disclosed technology has been made to solve the problems caused by the above-mentioned conventional technology, and is a disk mounting mechanism capable of increasing the number of disk devices that can be mounted by using an unused communication path. The purpose is to provide a storage device.</p>

<p> In order to solve the above-mentioned problems and achieve the object, the disk mounting mechanism disclosed in this case is a disk mounting mechanism that mounts a plurality of disk devices, and is connected to each other and at least one is connected to a higher-level device. The plurality of route control units for switching the communication path between the higher-level device and each of the disk devices are connected to the plurality of route control units, and the communication paths passing through the respective route control units are aggregated. Of a plurality of communication paths integrated in the first slot, the interface unit including the first slot and a plurality of second slots connected to the first slot and connected to the disk device are provided. It has an extension board that allocates one communication path to the disk device connected to the second slot.</p>

<p> According to the disk mounting mechanism and the storage device disclosed in the present case, it is possible to increase the number of disk devices that can be mounted by using an unused communication path.</p>

Examples of the disk mounting mechanism and the storage device disclosed in the present case will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In each of the following examples, as an example of the disk mounting mechanism, a case where the disk mounting mechanism disclosed in the present case is applied to a drive enclosure in which a plurality of HDDs are mounted will be described.

First, an outline of the drive enclosure according to this embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings. The drive enclosure according to this embodiment is a drive enclosure in which the number of disk devices that can be mounted is increased by utilizing an unused communication path existing in a low-priced drive enclosure or the like. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a drive enclosure according to this embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 1, the drive enclosure 2 according to this embodiment corresponds to a disk mounting mechanism, and includes a plurality of switch boards 20a and 20b, a backplane 21, a plurality of HDDs 22a to 22h, and a plurality of expansion boards 23a. Has ~ 23d. The switch boards 20a and 20b are equipped with a switch chip that organizes the communication paths between the host device 1 and each of the HDDs 22a to 22h, and switches these communication paths based on the instructions from the host device 1. As shown in FIG. 1, the switch chip provided on the switch board 20a is referred to as switch 0, and the switch chip provided on the switch board 20b is referred to as switch 1.

The switch boards 20a and 20b each have a plurality of ports. Specifically, the switch board 20a has two ports 201a, 202a as ports on the host device 1 side, and four ports 203a, 204a, 205a, 206a as ports on the HDD 22a to 22h side. Similarly, the switch board 20b has two ports 201b, 202b as ports on the host device 1 side and four ports 203b, 204b, 205b, 206b as ports on the HDD 22a to 22h side. By providing a plurality of ports in this way, the switch boards 20a and 20b connect the host device 1 and the plurality of HDDs 22a to 22h to each other, and switch the communication path according to the instruction from the host device 1. It can be carried out.

Further, the switch board 20a is connected to the host device 1 via the port 201a and is connected to the switch board 20b via the port 202a. That is, the switch board 20a receives instructions and communication data from the host device 1 via the port 201a, and transmits these instructions and communication data to the switch board 20b via the port 202a as needed. In this way, the switch boards 20a and 20b correspond to the route control unit.

The host device 1 corresponds to, for example, a server device or a RAID controller, and mainly accesses HDDs 22a to 22h provided in the drive enclosure 2. The host device 1 has ports 11a and 11b for connecting to the drive enclosure 2, and in this embodiment, the host device 1 is connected to the port 201a of the switch board 20a via the port 11a.

The backplane 21 corresponds to an interface unit. The backplane 21 has a plurality of slots 210a, 210b and 211a to 211d. Slots 210a and 210b are slots for connecting the switch boards 20a and 20b. In this embodiment, the switch board 20a is connected to the slot 210a and the switch board 20b is connected to the slot 210b. Slots 211a to 211d correspond to the first slot, and the communication paths via the switch boards 20a and 20b are aggregated. In this embodiment, slots 211a to 211d are slots for 3.5-inch HDDs.

The expansion boards 23a to 23d are boards that allocate a plurality of communication paths aggregated in the slots 211a to 211d of the backplane 21 to the plurality of HDDs 22a to 22h, and are connected to the slots 211a to 211d, respectively. Specifically, the expansion boards 23a to 23d according to this embodiment are boards capable of connecting two 2.5-inch HDDs to the slots for 3.5-inch HDDs. That is, the expansion board 23a has a connector (not shown) that can be connected to a slot for a 3.5-inch HDD (for example, slot 211 of the backplane 21), and has slots 231a and 232a for a 2.5-inch HDD. .. Similarly, the other expansion boards 23b, 23c, 23d also have connectors (not shown) and slots 231b to 231d and 232b to 232d.

The expansion board 23 branches the two communication paths integrated in slot 211 of the backplane 21 into slot 231 and slot 232, respectively. That is, as shown in FIG. 1, the expansion board 23a allocates the communication path via the switch board 20a to the slot 231a and allocates the communication path via the switch board 20b to the slot 232a. Similarly, the expansion board 23b allocates the communication path via the switch board 20a to the slot 231b and allocates the communication path via the switch board 20b to the slot 232b. Further, the expansion board 23c allocates a communication path via the switch board 20a to the slot 231c and allocates a communication path via the switch board 20b to the slot 232c. Further, the expansion board 23d allocates a communication path via the switch board 20a to the slot 231d and allocates a communication path via the switch board 20b to the slot 232d. As described above, these slots 231a to 231d and slots 232a to 232d correspond to the second slot.

HDD22a to 22h are disk devices for storing various data. In this embodiment, HDDs 22a to 22h are 2.5-inch HDDs, which are connected to slots 231a to 231d and slots 232a to 232d of the expansion boards 23a to 23d, respectively. Specifically, the HDD 22a is connected to the slot 231a of the expansion board 23a, and the HDD 22b is connected to the slot 232a. Further, the HDD 22c is connected to the slot 231b of the expansion board 23b, and the HDD 22d is connected to the slot 232b. Further, the HDD 22e is connected to the slot 231c of the expansion board 23c, and the HDD 22f is connected to the slot 232c. In addition, HDD22g is connected to slot 231d of the expansion board 23d, and HDD22h is connected to slot 232d.

Here, a drive enclosure having an unused communication path will be described. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a configuration of a drive enclosure having an unused communication path.

As shown in FIG. 2, the drive enclosure 3 having an unused communication path (hereinafter, simply referred to as drive enclosure 3) is a low-priced version manufactured by diverting the drive enclosure having a plurality of communication paths. It is a drive enclosure and has a switch board 20a, a backplane 21, and a plurality of HDDs 25a to 25d. The switch board 20a and the backplane 21 are the same as the switch board 20a and the backplane 21 included in the drive enclosure 2, and the description thereof will be omitted.

The HDDs 25a to 25d provided in the drive enclosure 3 are low-cost 3.5-inch HDDs each having only one port 250a to 250d. These HDDs 25a to 25d are connected to slots 211a to 211d of the backplane 21, respectively. This drive enclosure 3 has only one switch board 20, and the communication path from slot 210b of the backplane 21 to slots 211a to 211d is unused.

When modifying this drive enclosure 3 to make it drive enclosure 2, first, a switch board 20b is added to slot 210b of the unused backplane 21. Next, the unused port 202a of the switch board 20a and the unused port 201b of the switch board 20b are connected to each other. As a result, a communication path is formed from the host device 1 to each of the HDDs 25a to 25d via the switch board 20a and the switch board 20b.

Subsequently, the 3.5-inch HDDs 25a to 25d are removed from the slots 211a to 211d of the backplane 21, and expansion boards 23a to 23d are attached to these slots 211a to 211d, respectively. Then, 2.5-inch HDDs 22a to 22h are connected to the slots 231a to 231d and 232a to 232d of the expansion boards 23a to 23d, respectively. As a result, the drive enclosure 3 can be used as the drive enclosure 2 according to this embodiment.

At this time, the two communication paths aggregated in the slots 211 of the backplane 21 are branched into the slots 231, 232 of the expansion board 23 by the expansion board 23. Therefore, the host device 1 can communicate with the HDD 22a, 22c, 22e, 22g via the switch board 20a, and the HDD 22b, 22d, 22f, 22h via the switch board 20b added to the slot 210b of the backplane 21. Can communicate with. In this way, the drive enclosure 2 according to this embodiment uses the expansion board 23 to reduce the number of HDDs that could only be mounted in the drive enclosure 3 to eight by using an unused communication path. Can be increased to.

Next, a method of recognition from the host device 1 in the drive enclosure 2 according to this embodiment will be described. FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining how the drive enclosure 2 according to the present embodiment is recognized by the host device 1.

When the drive enclosure 2 according to this embodiment is connected, the host device 1 recognizes that the two cascade-connected drive enclosures are connected. That is, as shown in FIG. 3, in the host device 1, the drive enclosure 2'including the switch board 20a is connected to its own device, and the drive enclosure 2'' including the switch board 20b is cascaded to the drive enclosure 2'. Recognize that it has been done.

Specifically, the drive enclosure 2'has a switch board 20a, a backplane 21, and HDDs 22a, 22c, 22e, 22g to which a communication path via the switch board 20a is assigned. Further, the drive enclosure 2'' has a switch board 20b, a backplane 21, and HDDs 22b, 22d, 22f, 22h to which a communication path via the switch board 20b is assigned by the expansion boards 23a to 23d. The drive enclosure 2'and the drive enclosure 2'' are connected to each other via port 202a and port 201b, respectively.

In this way, the drive enclosure 2 is recognized by the host device 1 as two drive enclosures 2'and 2'' cascade-connected. Therefore, the host device 1 and the drive enclosure 2 can realize data communication between the added HDD 22b, 22d, 22f, 22h and the host device 1 without performing special control. The communication path provided between the host device 1 and each of the HDDs 22a to 22h will be described below. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of an actual communication path according to this embodiment, and FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of a communication path recognized by the host device 1 according to this embodiment.

For example, as shown in FIG. 4, the communication path 50 between the host device 1 and the HDD 22b reaches the HDD 22b in order from the host device 1 via the switch board 20a, the switch board 20b, the backplane 21, and the expansion board 23b. .. Specifically, this communication path 50 passes through the port 11a of the host device 1 the port 201a of the switch board 20a the port 202a the port 201b of the switch board 20b the port 203b the slot 210b of the backplane 21 and the backplane 21. It leads to slot 211b. Then, the communication path 50 is branched into the slot 232b of the expansion board 23b by the expansion board 23b connected to the slot 211b, and reaches the HDD 22b connected to the slot 232b.

On the other hand, as described above, the host device 1 recognizes that the drive enclosure 2'and the drive enclosure 2'' are connected to its own device when the drive enclosure 2 is connected. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 5, it is recognized that the communication path 50 between the host device 1 and the HDD 22b reaches the HDD 22b mounted on the drive enclosure 2'' via the drive enclosure 2'from the host device 1. Will be done. In this way, in the drive enclosure 2 according to this embodiment, even when the HDD 22 is connected to an unused communication path using the expansion board 23, a new network configuration is simply added from the host device 1. Since it is recognized, it can be used without changing the internal control of the host device 1 or the drive enclosure 3.

As described above, according to the drive enclosure 2 according to the first embodiment, it exists in a low-priced drive enclosure or the like by using an expansion board that branches a plurality of communication paths integrated in the slot 211 of the backplane 21. It is possible to increase the number of HDD 22s installed by using the unused communication path. Moreover, even if the number of HDDs 22 installed is increased by cascading the switch boards 20, the host device 1 simply recognizes that a new network configuration has been added, so the host device 1 and drive It is not necessary to change the internal control of the enclosure 3.

Further, according to the drive enclosure 2 according to the first embodiment, two virtual drive enclosures 2'and 2'' can be prepared in one housing, so that the cost and space saving of the entire system can be reduced. realizable. Further, it is expected that the volumetric utilization efficiency will be improved when the small drive is mounted in the slot for the large drive.

Next, the second embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings. In the second embodiment, it is possible to prevent the host device 1 from malfunctioning when an abnormality occurs in a common part such as a power supply or a fan provided in the drive enclosure 2. FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining how each switch board reports an abnormality of power supply N to a higher-level device, and FIG. 7 is a diagram for recognizing a higher-level device when an abnormality of power supply N is reported from each switch board. It is a figure to do. The same components as those already described are designated by the same reference numerals, and the description thereof will be omitted.

In addition to the switch boards 20a and 20b, backplane 21, HDD 22a to 22h and expansion boards 23a to 22d described above, the drive enclosure 2 is provided with a power supply for the drive enclosure 2 and a fan for cooling the inside of the drive enclosure 2. May be done. For example, as shown in FIG. 6, the drive enclosure 2 is provided with two power supplies 100a and 100b and one fan 110.

In such a case, the switch boards 20a and 20b may manage the power supplies 100a and 100b and the fan 110. Specifically, the switch boards 20a and 20b have a reporting means for reporting to the host device 1 an abnormality that has occurred in common parts such as the power supplies 100a and 100b and the fan 110 provided in the drive enclosure 2. That is, for example, when an abnormality occurs in the power supply 100b, the switch boats 20a and 20b detect the abnormality and report it to the host device 1 via a communication path. Upon receiving the report, the host device 1 displays, for example, on a display (not shown) provided in the host device 1 that an abnormality has occurred in the power supply 100b.

In this embodiment, the common part means a part common to the virtual drive enclosures 2'and 2'' recognized by the host device 1. Specifically, the common parts in this embodiment are the backplane 21, the expansion boards 23a to 23d, the power supplies 100a and 100b, and the fan 110.

However, in the drive enclosure 2 according to the present embodiment, when an abnormality occurs in these common parts, a report that the abnormality has occurred is made to the higher-level device 1 from the two switch boards 20a and 20b, so that the higher-level device 1 may cause a malfunction. That is, the host device 1 recognizes that the drive enclosure 2 is two virtual drive enclosures 2'and 2'' cascaded as described above. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 7, when an abnormality occurs in the power supply 100b, the host device 1 that receives the report from the switch boards 20a and 20b actually has an abnormality in one power supply 100b. , Drive enclosures 2'and 2'', respectively, recognize that an error has occurred in the two power supplies provided, which may cause a malfunction.

Therefore, in the drive enclosure 2 according to the present embodiment, when an abnormality occurs in a common part, only one switch board 20 reports the abnormality to the host device 1 by using a reporting means. For example, when an abnormality occurs in the power supply 100b, the two switch boards 20a and 20b do not report the abnormality to the host device 1, but only the switch board 20a reports the abnormality.

As described above, in the drive enclosure 2 according to the second embodiment, when an abnormality occurs in a common part, only one switch board 20 out of a plurality of switch boards 20a and 20b makes the report. There is no risk of 1 malfunctioning.

The switch board 20 that reports an abnormality in the common portion may be a switch board (here, the switch board 20a) provided in the drive enclosure 3 having an unused communication path. As a result, a switch board (here, switch board 20b) having a function of not reporting an abnormality occurring in a common part may be connected to an unused slot 210b of the drive enclosure 3, and the configuration of the drive enclosure 3 is used as it is. can do.

Further, the switch board 20b that does not report the abnormality of the common part may report the abnormality to the higher-level device 1 when the abnormality occurs in the part other than the common part. That is, for example, when an abnormality occurs in the HDD 22b, 22d, 22f, 22h, the switch board 20b reports to the host device 1 by the reporting means.

By the way, the drive enclosure 2 described in each of the above embodiments may be a storage device. Hereinafter, such a case will be described with reference to the drawings. In this embodiment, a RAID device will be used as an example of the storage device. FIG. 8 is a diagram for explaining the configuration of the RAID device according to this embodiment. The same components as those already described are designated by the same reference numerals, and the description thereof will be omitted.

As shown in FIG. 8, the RAID device 4 as a storage device has an access control unit 27 in addition to various devices included in the drive enclosure 2. The access control unit 27 controls the entire RAID device 4, and in particular, controls access to a plurality of HDDs 22a to 22h in response to an instruction from the host device 1. The access control unit 27 is interposed between the host device 1 and the switch board 20a. Specifically, the access control unit 27 has two ports 271,272, is connected to the host device 1 via the port 271, and is connected to the switch board 20a via the port 272.

Further, in the present embodiment, the switch boards 20a and 20b have a reporting means as described in the second embodiment. That is, when an abnormality occurs in the common portion provided in the RAID device 4, the switch boards 20a and 20b report the abnormality to the access control unit 27 by the reporting means. At this time, as in the second embodiment, only one switch board 20a out of the two switch boards 20a and 20b reports to the access control unit 27. As a result, it is possible to prevent the access control unit 27 from malfunctioning.

As described above, not only one switch board 20a reports to the access control unit 27, but when two switch boards 20a and 20b receive a report, the access control unit 27 performs one of the switches. It may be determined that an abnormality has occurred based only on the report from the board 20. That is, as shown in FIG. 8, when an abnormality occurs in the power supply 100b, which is a common part, the two switch boards 20a and 20b report to the access control unit 27 that the abnormality has occurred by the reporting means. To do. Then, when the report is received from each of the switch boards 20a and 20b, the access control unit 27 ignores the report from the switch board 20b and determines that an abnormality has occurred in the power supply 100b based on the report from the switch board 20a. This also prevents the access control unit 27 from malfunctioning.

As described above, according to the RAID device 4 according to the third embodiment, the HDD 22 is mounted by using the unused communication path existing in the low-priced drive enclosure or the like as in the drive enclosure 2 according to the first embodiment. You can increase the number. Further, according to the RAID device 4 according to the third embodiment, as in the drive enclosure 2 according to the second embodiment, there is no possibility that the access control unit 27 will malfunction even if an abnormality occurs in the common portion.

Although some of the embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail with reference to the drawings, these are examples, and various embodiments are described based on the knowledge of those skilled in the art, including the embodiments described in the disclosure column of the invention. It is possible to carry out the present invention in another modified or improved form.

For example, in each of the above embodiments, the drive enclosure 2 and the RAID device 4 are provided with two switch boards 20a and 20b, but the number of switch boards 20 may be two or more. Similarly, the number of HDDs 22a to 22h is not limited to each of the above embodiments.

Further, in each of the above embodiments, the expansion board 23 has a connector (not shown) that can be connected to a 3.5-inch slot and slots 231,232 for a 2.5-inch HDD, but the slots 231,232 have a 3.5-inch HDD. It may be a slot for.

<figref num="1">It is a figure which shows the structure of the drive enclosure which concerns on Example 1. FIG.</figref><figref num="2">It is a figure which shows an example of the structure of the drive enclosure which has an unused communication path.</figref><figref num="3">It is a figure for demonstrating the way of being recognized from the higher-order apparatus of the drive enclosure which concerns on Example 1. FIG.</figref><figref num="4">It is a figure which shows an example of the actual communication path which concerns on Example 1. FIG.</figref><figref num="5">It is a figure which shows an example of the communication path recognized by the higher-order apparatus which concerns on Example 1. FIG.</figref><figref num="6">It is a figure for demonstrating how each switch board reports an abnormality of a power source to a higher level device.</figref><figref num="7">It is a figure for demonstrating the method of recognizing the higher-order device when an abnormality of a power source is reported from each switch board.</figref><figref num="8">It is a figure for demonstrating the configuration of the RAID apparatus which concerns on Example 3. FIG.</figref><figref num="9">It is a figure for demonstrating the structure of the conventional drive enclosure.</figref><figref num="10">It is a figure for demonstrating the configuration of the low-priced drive enclosure configured by diverting the drive enclosure of FIG.</figref>

Code description

1 Upper device 2 drive enclosure (disk mounting mechanism) 3 Drive enclosure with unused communication path 4 RAID device (storage device) 20a, 20b switch board 21 backplane 22 ~ 22h HDD (disk device) 23a ~ 23d Expansion board 211a ~ 211d slot (first slot) 231a ~ 231d slot (second slot) 232a ~ 232d slot (second slot)