JP2000149383A - Disk storage device and spindle start control method using for the same, and recording medium on which the control program is recorded - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a disk storage device capable of performing variable control to variations in a margin of a power supply, and shortening a spindle starting time of all physical disks. SOLUTION: In a disk array device 1, physical disks ji are spindle-started at regular time intervals in order of the physical disks a1, a2, a3,..., b1, b2,.... A microprocessor 10 sequentially instructs a physical disk power source control circuit 14 to spindle-start respective groups A, B, C of the physical disks. The microprocessor 10 permanently monitors a current capacity used for each group A, B, C of the physical disks while they are being spindle-started, via a physical disk current capacity monitoring circuit part 15. When the microprocessor 10 detects that the current consumption is increased it cancels once to spindle- start the physical disks, and controls the current consumption not to exceed a threshold value.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a disk storage device, a method for controlling the activation of a spindle used in the disk storage device, and a recording medium on which a control program is recorded, and in particular, a disk storage device comprising a plurality of physical disks collectively constituting one logical disk. Related to the device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a disk storage device of this type, a RAID (Redundant Arrays Of) has been used.
2. Description of the Related Art Inexpensive Disks disk array devices (hereinafter, referred to as logical disks) are known.

In this logical disk, a large number of magnetic disk devices (hereinafter, referred to as physical disks) are mounted, and data from a higher-level device is distributed to each physical disk, thereby improving performance and reliability.

[0004] Regarding this logical disk, "A Ca
se For Redundant Arrays Of
Inexpensive Disks (RAID) "
(Technical Report UBC / CSD
87/391, December 1987).

At present, there are various configurations, such as a configuration in which a logical disk is configured using several physical disks, and a configuration in which a logical disk is configured using tens of physical disks.

On the other hand, as the above disk storage device,
There is an apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 4-121867. In this device, for each of a plurality of floppy disk devices, a motor-on signal corresponding to a spindle motor start instruction, a drive select signal input to a start circuit to select a floppy disk device for starting a spindle, and a spindle motor being started. There is provided a detection circuit for detecting that there is, and a detection signal for issuing an operation invalidation instruction to a start circuit of another floppy disk device when the spindle motor is being started.

In the above apparatus, when instructing to start spindle motors of a plurality of floppy disk drives, first, a motor-on signal and a drive select signal for one floppy disk drive are respectively enabled, and the spindle motor of the corresponding floppy disk drive is activated. Start.

At this time, a detection signal indicating spindle start detection is output as an invalid state from the motor start detection circuit of the floppy disk drive in which the start of the spindle motor has started. This detection signal is input to the startup circuit of another floppy disk drive.The startup circuit of the floppy disk drive that is input with the detection signal disabled is enabled even if the motor-on signal and the drive select signal are enabled. No startup occurs.

As a result, when a plurality of floppy disk devices are connected to the host device, control can be performed so that the spindle motors of the respective floppy disk devices are not started simultaneously.

[0010]

In the above-mentioned conventional disk storage device, in the case of the floppy disk device described in the official gazette, the start-up completion time of the spindle motors of all the devices is “spindle motor start time × number of connected units”. As the number of connected devices increases, the number increases. When this technique is applied to the above-mentioned physical disks, the completion time of the start of the spindle motor of the logical disks connected in several tens of units always requires a long time.

Further, in the floppy disk device disclosed in the publication, since the current capacity of the mounted power supply is not monitored, even if the number of the physical disks changes or the number of the mounted power supplies changes, Spindle activation control suitable for the configuration cannot be performed, resulting in a fixed operation. In particular, when the logical disk is equipped with n + 1 power supplies (having a redundant power supply), the operation must always be the same as the case of n power supplies, and there is an advantage in the power supply margin. There is no operational advantage.

Although not described in the above-mentioned publications, the spindle motors of the respective devices are not started in a completely serial manner, and are started sequentially with a time difference in consideration of the maximum current capacity of the power supply. There is also a way to do it. In other words, this is a method of starting the spindle motor of the next device at a timing that is considered not to exceed the maximum current capacity of the power supply before the start process of the device that started the spindle motor earlier is completed.

According to this method, the start-up time of all the spindle motors of the physical disk can be considerably shortened, and there is an operational advantage. However, if the retry occurs during the start-up process of the spindle motor on the physical disk, the power margin value may be consumed together with the following physical disk, so that the power margin value must be increased.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems, to perform variable control with respect to a change in power supply margin, and to reduce the start-up time of all physical disks even if the number of mounted disks increases. It is an object of the present invention to provide a disk storage device capable of performing the same, a spindle activation control method used therefor, and a recording medium on which a control program is recorded.

[0015]

A disk storage device according to the present invention is a disk storage device comprising a plurality of disk devices, and a monitoring means for monitoring a power supply current value of the plurality of disk devices during a spindle operation. Limiting means for limiting the spindle drive of the disk device based on the monitoring result of the monitoring means.

A spindle start control method for a disk storage device according to the present invention is a method for controlling a spindle start of a disk storage device comprising a plurality of disk devices, wherein a power supply current value during spindle start for the plurality of disk devices is monitored. And restricting the spindle drive of the disk drive based on the monitoring result.

According to the present invention, there is provided a recording medium on which a spindle start control program for a disk storage device is recorded, wherein the spindle start control program for causing a processor to control the spindle start of the disk device in a disk storage device comprising a plurality of disk devices. Wherein the spindle activation control program causes the processor to monitor a power usage current value during spindle activation for the plurality of disk devices, and based on the monitoring result, the spindle activation of the disk device. Is restricted.

That is, the disk storage device of the present invention comprises:
If a retry process occurs during spindle startup of a large number of physical disks mounted on a logical disk and the current consumption distribution of the logical disk is disturbed, the operation of the logical disk is guaranteed and a normal physical disk that has not been retried In order to prevent the disk from being adversely affected, the power usage current value during the startup of the physical disk spindle is monitored, and the spindle startup of the physical disk is limited so that a current exceeding the maximum current capacity of the power supply does not flow.

That is, in the present invention, the problem of the prior art is
The problem is solved by using a physical disk current capacity monitoring circuit unit mounted on the logical disk to have the microprocessor monitor the current used current value.

When the microprocessor determines that there is a risk of exceeding the power supply margin while the spindle is being started for a large number of physical disks, the spindle start processing for some of the physical disks is cancelled. The operation of the logical disk is guaranteed.

Further, even when the number of physical disks constituting the logical disk or the number of power supplies changes, the microprocessor can change the maximum current capacity threshold value for starting the spindle by changing the power margin. In addition, it is possible to select a power supply having a small maximum current capacity, and to effectively use the power supply margin.

Therefore, it is possible to control the spindle start operation of all the physical disks constituting the logical disk in accordance with the maximum current capacity of the power supply, so that the start of the spindles of all the physical disks can be completed in a short time. It becomes possible.

[0023]

Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a disk array device according to one embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, a disk array device 1 includes a microprocessor 10, an upper-level device-side interface control circuit 11,
Memory 12, data cache 13, physical disk power control circuit 14, physical disk power capacity monitoring circuit 15, power supply 16, disk array data control 1
7, the physical disk-side interface control circuit 18-
i (i = 1, 2, 3,..., n) and the physical disk ji
(J = a, b, c,...).

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the current consumption at the time of starting the spindle of the physical disk A group (physical disks a1 to an) of FIG. 1, and FIG. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a change in a current consumption value when the physical disks b1 to bn in FIG. 1 perform a retry for starting the spindle.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the control operation by the microprocessor 10 of FIG. These FIGS.
The operation of the disk array device 1 according to one embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. Note that the processing operation shown in FIG. 5 is realized by the microprocessor 10 executing a program in the memory 12, and the memory 12 can be a ROM (Read Only Memory), an IC (Integrated Circuit) memory, or the like.

In the disk array device 1, the spindles of the physical disks ji are started at regular time intervals in the order of the physical disks a1, a2, a3,..., B1, b2,. Here, in one embodiment of the present invention, the physical disks a1 to an, b1 to bn, c1
~ Cn is divided into groups A, B, and C, and a fixed time interval is set so as not to exceed the power supply maximum current capacity, thereby starting the spindle for each of the groups A, B, and C. And

Each group A, B, C of the physical disk ji
The current consumption when the spindle is started has a waveform as shown in FIG. 2 in the case of the group A as an example. The microprocessor 10 is provided for each of the groups A, B,
Startup of spindle C is performed by the physical disk power control circuit unit 14.
(Steps S1 and S2 in FIG. 5).

Physical disk ji constituting a logical disk
The current consumption of each of the groups A, B, and C when the spindle is started has a waveform as shown in FIG. At this time, the microprocessor 10 controls each group A, B,
The current capacity used by C while the spindle is running is constantly monitored via the physical disk current capacity monitoring circuit unit 15 (step S3 in FIG. 5).

The current capacity in use by the A group of the physical disks a1 to an is represented by Σian [A], and the physical disks b1 to
The current capacity in use in the B group of bn is Σibn
[A], assuming that the current capacity being used in the C group of the physical disks c1 to cn is $ icn [A], the microprocessor 10 has the total current capacity I [A used as the logical disk for starting the spindle of the physical disk ji. ] Is monitored as a value of the formula: I [A] = Σian [A] + Σibn [A] + Σicn [A] (1)

When the microprocessor 10 activates the groups A, B, and C of the physical disk ji by the spindle as shown in FIG. 3, the physical disk b1
Consider a case where a retry has been performed on the startup of the spindle of the physical disk itself in several units of the B group of .about.bn.

In this case, the current is supposed to be consumed in the order as shown in FIG. 3; however, several physical disks in the B group consume the current at the time of starting the spindle at the same time timing as the C group. become. At this time,
Depending on the number of physical disks to be retried, as shown in FIG. 4, the maximum current capacity Imax [A] of the power supply of the logical disk may be exceeded,
The microprocessor 10 calculates the current value I expressed by the equation (1).
[A] is a control current margin Imax with respect to the maximum current capacity Imax [A] of the power supply 16 mounted on the logical disk.
α [A] is set, and whether or not the difference does not exceed the value obtained by subtracting the margin current value is monitored by using the following formula (Imax−Iα) [A]> (Σian + Σibn + Σicn) [A] (2) .

As shown in FIG. 4, the microprocessor 10 controls the threshold value (Im) of the current consumption as a logical disk.
ax-Iα) When it is detected from [A] that the current consumption has increased (step S4 in FIG. 5), all or some of the physical disks c1 to cn of the C group for which the spindle activation was last instructed are executed. The activation of the spindle is temporarily canceled, and control is performed so that the current consumption becomes equal to or lower than the threshold (step S5 in FIG. 5).

Thereafter, the microprocessor 10 does not exceed the threshold value of the current consumption even if the spindle activation of the B group of the physical disks b1 to bn has been completed or the C group of the physical disks c1 to cn has been activated. If it is determined that the physical disks c1 to cn
The spindle activation of the group can be resumed (steps S6, S7, S8 in FIG. 5).

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a disk array device according to another embodiment of the present invention. In the drawing, a disk array device 2 according to another embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 1 differs from the disk array device 1 shown in FIG. 1 in that n + 1 power supplies 21-1 to 21- (n + 1) are provided. It has the same configuration, and the same components are denoted by the same reference numerals. The operation of the same component is the same as that of the embodiment of the present invention.

The microprocessor 10 has a logical disk j
If i has n + 1 power supplies and has a redundant power supply, failure detection signals of the power supplies 21-1 to 21- (n + 1) are input, and when a failure occurs, the number of power supplies is recognized. It is configured to be able to.

At this time, the microprocessor 10
It is determined that the maximum current capacity of 1-1 to 21- (n + 1) has become smaller, the threshold value Imax [A] is reduced, and the spindle start operation of all the physical disks ji is performed based on the new threshold value. Act to limit.

When the failed power supply is replaced again and returns to normal, the microprocessor 10 operates to return to the initial threshold value Imax [A] by knowing the change of the power supply failure detection signal.

As described above, the microprocessor 10 monitors the current used current value by using the physical disk current capacity monitoring circuit unit 15 of the disk array device 1, and
By restricting the start of the spindle of the physical disk ji so that a current larger than the maximum current capacity of 6, 21-1 to 21- (n + 1) does not flow, a retry process occurs during the start of the spindle of the physical disk ji, Even if the current consumption distribution of the logical disk is disturbed, the operation of the logical disk is guaranteed,
In addition, there is no adverse effect on a normal physical disk that has not been retried.

When the microprocessor 10 determines that there is a risk of exceeding the power supply margin while the spindle start is being performed on the physical disk ji, the spindle start processing of some of the physical disks is cancelled. The operation of the logical disk is guaranteed.

Further, even when the number of physical disks ji or the number of power supplies 16, 21-1 to 21- (n + 1) changes, the maximum current capacity threshold value for starting the spindle by changing the power margin is set to micro. Processor 1
0 changes, the mounted power supplies 16, 21-1 to 2
1- (n + 1) having a small maximum current capacity can be selected, and its power margin can be used effectively.

Accordingly, the spindle start operation of all the physical disks ji is performed by the power supplies 16, 21-1 to 21- (n + 1).
Can be controlled according to the maximum current capacity of the physical disks ji, so that the spindle activation of all the physical disks ji can be completed in a short time.

[0042]

As described above, according to the present invention, in a disk storage device including a plurality of disk devices,
By monitoring the power supply current value during spindle startup for a plurality of disk devices and restricting the disk device spindle startup based on the monitoring result, variable control can be performed for changes in power supply margin. However, even if the number of mounted disks increases, there is an effect that the start-up time of all physical disks can be reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a disk array device according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing current consumption when a spindle of a physical disk A group (physical disks a1 to an) in FIG. 1 is started.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing current consumption at the time of spindle startup of each physical disk of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a change in a current consumption value when physical disks b1 to bn in FIG. 1 perform a retry for starting a spindle.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a control operation by the microprocessor of FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a disk array device according to another embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1, 2 Disk array device 10 Microprocessor 11 Host device side interface control circuit unit 12 Memory 13 Data cache 14 Physical disk power control circuit unit 15 Physical disk power capacity monitoring circuit unit 16, 21-1 to 21- (n + 1) Power supply 17 Disk array data control section 18-1 to 18-n Physical disk side interface control circuit section a1 to an, b1 to bn, c1 to cn Physical disk

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A disk storage device comprising a plurality of disk devices, wherein a monitoring means for monitoring a power supply current value during a spindle activation of the plurality of disk devices;
Limiting means for limiting activation of the spindle of the disk device based on a monitoring result of the monitoring means. 2. The disk drive according to claim 1, wherein the limiting unit detects that the power usage current value exceeds a predetermined value from a monitoring result of the monitoring unit. 2. The disk storage device according to claim 1, wherein the processing is canceled. 3. The disk storage device according to claim 2, wherein the predetermined value is variable according to the number of at least one of the disk device and the power supply. 4. A spindle start control method for a disk storage device comprising a plurality of disk devices, comprising: a step of monitoring a power use current value during a spindle start of the plurality of disk devices; Limiting the spindle activation of the disk drive. 5. The method according to claim 5, wherein the step of restricting the spindle activation includes a step during the spindle activation when it is detected from the monitoring result of the power supply current value that the power supply current value exceeds a predetermined value. 5. The spindle activation control method according to claim 4, wherein the spindle activation process of the disk device is canceled. 6. The spindle activation control method according to claim 5, wherein said predetermined value is made variable according to the number of at least one of said disk device and power supply. 7. A disk storage device comprising a plurality of disk devices, a recording medium storing a spindle activation control program for causing a processor to control a spindle activation of said disk device, wherein said spindle activation control program is A recording method for recording a spindle start control program, comprising: causing a processor to monitor a power use current value during a spindle start for the plurality of disk devices, and restricting the spindle start of the disk device based on the monitoring result. Medium.