Claims
- 1. A method for storage management comprising:
detecting insertion of a disk drive of a volume group in an array storage subsystem; reading all configuration information from a configuration information area on the disk drive; performing a pre-merge operation to present the configuration information to a user; and allowing importation of volumes identified in the configuration information in response to detecting insertion of the last disk drive of the volume group associated with the disk drive.
- 2. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of reading includes:
reading configuration information regarding a volume group associated with the disk drive; reading configuration information regarding volumes associated with the volume group; and reading configuration information regarding pseudo volumes, wherein all configuration information is read as an atomic operation.
- 3. The method of claim 1 further comprising:
receiving input from a user requesting import of volumes identified in the configuration information; and importing the identified volumes into the array storage system.
- 4. The method of claim 3 wherein the step of importing includes:
merging the configuration information with other configuration information previously known to the array storage system.
- 5. The method of claim 1 further comprising:
receiving input from a user requesting import of all volumes of a volume group identified in the configuration information; and importing the identified volumes into the array storage system.
- 6. The method of claim 5 wherein the step of importing includes:
merging the configuration information with other configuration information previously known to the array storage system.
- 7. The method of claim 1 further comprising:
registering a listener client process to await receipt of an event indicating the detection of insertion of a disk drive; and signaling a disk insertion event to all registered listener client processes in response to the detection of insertion of a disk drive.
- 8. A method for storage management comprising:
detecting insertion of a disk drive in the array storage system; reading configuration information from the inserted disk drive; and performing a pre-merge operation to present the configuration information regarding volumes to a user of the array storage system.
- 9. The method of claim 8 further comprising:
detecting insertion of a last disk drive of a volume group in the array storage system; and allowing a user to import volumes identified in the configuration information in response to detecting insertion of the last disk drive.
- 10. The method of claim 8 further comprising:
providing storage management control as multiple hierarchical layers of control, wherein a first layer of the storage management control receives notification of detection of the disk drive insertion and wherein the step of performing a pre-merge includes: notifying higher layers of the storage management control of the detected disk drive insertion; and reading of other configuration data from the inserted disk drive by at least one layer of the storage management control.
- 11. The method of claim 10 wherein the step of performing a pre-merge further includes:
detecting within a layer of the storage management control that the inserted disk drive is the last disk drive of a volume group identified in the other configuration data; and allowing a user to enter a merge request to import identified volumes of the volume group identified in the other configuration data.
- 12. The method of claim 11 further comprising:
merging the other configuration data associated with the identified volumes with other configuration data for other volumes known to the storage management control.
- 13. A system for storage management comprising:
means for detecting insertion of a disk drive of a volume group in an array storage subsystem; means for reading all configuration information from a configuration information area on the disk drive; means for performing a pre-merge operation to present the configuration information to a user; and means for allowing importation of volumes identified in the configuration information in response to detecting insertion of the last disk drive of the volume group associated with the disk drive.
- 14. The system of claim 13 wherein the means for reading includes:
means for reading configuration information regarding a volume group associated with the disk drive; means for reading configuration information regarding volumes associated with the volume group; and means for reading configuration information regarding pseudo volumes, wherein all configuration information is read as an atomic operation.
- 15. The system of claim 13 further comprising:
means for receiving input from a user requesting import of volumes identified in the configuration information; and means for importing the identified volumes into the array storage system.
- 16. The system of claim 15 wherein the means for importing includes:
means for merging the configuration information with other configuration information previously known to the array storage system.
- 17. The system of claim 13 further comprising:
means for receiving input from a user requesting import of all volumes of a volume group identified in the configuration information; and means for importing the identified volumes into the array storage system.
- 18. The system of claim 17 wherein the means for importing includes:
means for merging the configuration information with other configuration information previously known to the array storage system.
- 19. The system of claim 13 further comprising:
means for registering a listener client process to await receipt of an event indicating the detection of insertion of a disk drive; and means for signaling a disk insertion event to all registered listener client processes in response to the detection of insertion of a disk drive.
- 20. A computer readable storage medium tangibly embodying program instructions for a method for storage management, the method comprising:
detecting insertion of a disk drive of a volume group in an array storage subsystem; reading all configuration information from a configuration information area on the disk drive; performing a pre-merge operation to present the configuration information to a user; and allowing importation of volumes identified in the configuration information in response to detecting insertion of the last disk drive of the volume group associated with the disk drive.
- 21. The medium of claim 20 wherein the method step of reading includes:
reading configuration information regarding a volume group associated with the disk drive; reading configuration information regarding volumes associated with the volume group; and reading configuration information regarding pseudo volumes, wherein all configuration information is read as an atomic operation.
- 22. The medium of claim 20 wherein the method further comprises:
receiving input from a user requesting import of volumes identified in the configuration information; and importing the identified volumes into the array storage system.
- 23. The method of claim 22 wherein the method step of importing includes:
merging the configuration information with other configuration information previously known to the array storage system.
- 24. The medium of claim 20 wherein the method further comprises:
receiving input from a user requesting import of all volumes of a volume group identified in the configuration information; and importing the identified volumes into the array storage system.
- 25. The medium of claim 24 wherein the method step of importing includes:
merging the configuration information with other configuration information previously known to the array storage system.
- 26. The medium of claim 20 wherein the method further comprises:
registering a listener client process to await receipt of an event indicating the detection of insertion of a disk drive; and signaling a disk insertion event to all registered listener client processes in response to the detection of insertion of a disk drive.
RELATED PATENTS
[0001] This patent application is related to co-pending, commonly owned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 02-5989 entitled METHODS AND STRUCTURE FOR IMPROVED VOLUME MIGRATION BETWEEN STORAGE ARRAY SUBSYSTEMS, filed Mar. 24, 2003 and hereby incorporated by reference and hereinafter referred to as the “sibling” patent application.