Data I/O system using a plurality of mirror volumes

1. A data I/O system comprising:

a plurality of storage devices; and

a controller which controls said storage devices, wherein said controller includes:

a read/write unit, responsive to the subsequent receipt of a read request and a write request, for reading data stored in said storage devices and writing data in said storage devices;

a logical volume management unit configured to map between a logical image of the data storage of a host processor (logical volume) and an actual space in said storage devices;

a volume management unit configured to manage an active primary production volume (P-VOL) and a secondary mirror volume (S-VOL) group including multiple S-VOLS created as mirror images of said primary volume; and

an S-VOL restoring unit configured to restore the data of a first S-VOL belonging to the S-VOL group with the data of a second S-VOL belonging to the S-VOL group depending on the type of an error that happens in the first S-VOL;

wherein said controller further includes:

an access management unit configured to render at least one of said S-VOLs belonging to an S-VOL group read-only as at least one Read-only (RO) S-VOL and rendering at least one of said S-VOLs belonging to an S-VOL group read-and-writable as at least one Read-and-Writable (RW) S-VOL; and

an increments management unit configured to store updates that have occurred in a Read-and-Writable (RW) S-VOL since a P-VOL and the RW S-VOL were separated in an increments-volume,

wherein said S-VOL restoring unit recovers a RW S-VOL belonging to the S-VOL group by replacing the RW S-VOL with the at least one Read-only (RO) S-VOL that has been updated by data of the increments-volume of the RW S-VOL as an error happens in the RW S-VOL.

2. A data I/O system according to claim 1 , wherein said S-VOL restoring unit recovers an S-VOL belonging to the S-VOL group by copying data of the at least one Read-only (RO) S-VOL to said S-VOL as an error happens in said S-VOL.

3. A data I/O system according to claim 1 , wherein said S-VOL restoring unit recovers an S-VOL belonging to the S-VOL group by replacing the S-VOL with said at least one Read-only (RO) S-VOL as an error happens in said S-VOL.

4. A data I/O system according to claim 1 , wherein said controller further includes:

a monitoring unit configured to monitor frequencies of accesses to said at least one Read-only (RO) S-VOL, wherein said S-VOL restoring unit restores the data of an S-VOL belonging to the S-VOL group by copying the data of said at least one RO S-VOL with the lowest access frequency as an error happens in said S-VOL.

5. A data I/O system according to claim 1 , wherein said controller further includes:

a monitoring unit configured to monitor frequencies of accesses to the at least one Read-only (RO) S-VOL,

wherein said S-VOL restoring unit recovers an S-VOL belonging to the S-VOL group by replacing the S-VOL with said at least one RO S-VOL with the lowest access frequency as an error happens in said S-VOL.

6. A data I/O system according to claim 1 , wherein said controller further includes:

a monitoring unit configured to monitor frequencies accesses to the at least one Read-only (RO) S-VOL; and

wherein said S-VOL restoring unit recovers a RW S-VOL belonging to the S-VOL group by replacing the RW S-VOL with the at least one RO S-VOL with the lowest access frequency that has updated by data of the increments-volume of the RW S-VOL as an error happens in the RW S-VOL.

7. A data I/O system according to claim 6 ,

wherein said controller further includes a spare SVOL management unit configured to manage a spare S-VOL created as a mirror image of a S-VOL belonging to the S-VOL group and to which read/write accesses are forbidden,

wherein said S-VOL restoring unit recovers the S-VOL where an error has happened by using said spare S-VOL instead of said RO S-VOL.

8. A data I/O system according to claim 6 further comprising a plurality of the storage devices,

wherein said S-VOL restoring unit replaces a storage device where a hardware error has happened and forms an S-VOL with another hardware device.

9. A data I/O system according to claim 7 further comprising a plurality of the storage devices,

wherein said S-VOL restoring unit replaces a storage device where a hardware error has happened and forms an S-VOL with another hardware device.

10. A data I/O system according to claim 1 ,

wherein said storage devices are disk drives,

wherein said controller further includes a communication adapter communicating with a data processing system issuing read and write requests.

11. A method of controlling a data I/O system which includes:

a plurality of storage devices;

a read/write unit, responsive to the subsequent receipt of a read request and a write request, for reading data stored in said storage devices and writing data in said storage devices; and

a logical volume management unit configured to map between a logical image of the data storage of a host processor (logical volume) and an actual space in said storage devices;

said method comprising:

managing an active primary production volume (PVOL) and a secondary mirror volume (S-VOL) group including multiple S-VOLs created as mirror images of said primary volume;

restoring the data of a first S-VOL belonging to the S-VOL group with the data of a second S-VOL belonging to the S-VOL group depending on the type of an error that happens in the first S-VOL;

rendering at least one of said S-VOLs belonging to an S-VOL group read-only as at least one Read-only (RO) S-VOL and rendering at least one of said S-VOLs belonging to an S-VOL group read-and-writable as at least one Read-and-Writable (RW) S-VOL;

storing updates that have occurred in a Read-and-Writable (RW) S-VOL since a P-VOL and the RW S-VOL were separated in an increments-volume; and

recovering a RW S-VOL belonging to the S-VOL group by replacing the SW S-VOL with the at least one Read-only (RO) S-VOL that has been updated by data of the increments-volume of the RW S-VOL as an error happens in the RW S-VOL.

12. A method according to claim 11 , further comprising:

recovering an S-VOL belonging to the S-VOL group by copying data of the at least one Read-only (RO) S-VOL to said S-VOL as an error happens in said S-VOL.

13. A method according to claim 11 , further comprising:

recovering an S-VOL where a drive error has happened by replacing the S-VOL with said at least one RO S-VOL.

14. A method according to claim 11 , further comprising:

monitoring frequencies of accesses to said at least one Read-only (RO) S-VOL,

restoring the data of an S-VOL belonging to the S-VOL group by copying the data of said at least one RO S-VOL with the lowest access frequency as an error happens in said S-VOL.

15. A method according to claim 11 , further comprising:

monitoring frequencies of accesses to the at least one Read-only (RO) S-VOL,

recovering an S-VOL belonging to the S-VOL group by replacing the S-VOL with the at least one RO S-VOL with the lowest access frequency as an error happens in said S-VOL.

16. A method according to claim 11 , further comprising:

monitoring frequencies accesses to the at least one Read-only (RO) S-VOL; and

recovering a RW S-VOL belonging to the S-VOL group by replacing the RW S-VOL with the at least one RO S-VOL with the lowest access frequency that has updated by data of the increments-volume of the RW S-VOL as an error happens in the RW S-VOL.

17. A method according to claim 16 , further comprising:

managing a spare S-VOL created as a mirror image of a S-VOL belonging to the S-VOL group and to which read/write accesses are forbidden, recovering the S-VOL where an error has happened by using said spare S-VOL instead of said at least one RO S-VOL.

18. A method according to claim 16 , further comprising:

replacing a storage device where a hardware error has happened and forms an S-VOL with another hardware device.