Logical partitioning of a redundant array storage system
US5519844A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventor
Key dates
| Filing date | Mar 21, 1994 |
| Grant date | May 21, 1996 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Mar 21, 2014 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG06F2211/103
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
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 includes 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 includes a set of physical storage units which are accessible in terms of block 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 …
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.