The Research And Implementation Of Storage Area Network Management System

SAN(Storage Area Network) is a good solution for storing and managing the increasing information. But a problem needing to deal with is how to manage SAN efficiently. Without using storage management software, it is impossible for SAN management. Today, Storage management plays a more and more importmant role in whole storage system.Therefore, The Auther makes a research of how to manage SAN and how to design and develop a proper SAN management software. As we know, SAN is a network alike to LAN(Local Area Network) although difference exist between them.By referring to management method of LAN, the Auther gives the primitive principles for SAN management. According to software module programming method and agent technology, by analyzing the architecture of common software system and the special function demand of storage management software, the auther designs a basic storage management software architecture:1) basic software model: Client/Server software model2) the method of deviding software modules: the whole system is deivded two part, one is managent function module;another is common service module. A few submodules are included in every part. The submodules may be implemented as one or more processes.3) communication design among software modules: deviding the communication messages into different types and selecting the optimal IPC(Inter Process Communication) method for each of the types according to the IPC characteristics of OS.Further, the auther designs and develops a SAN management software base on FC-AL (Fibre Channel Arbitrated Loop) . As concerned as functions, the software can provide the following functions such as storage integration, storage sharing, disaster recovery, performance watch, status watch, data replication and central management, etc.The software was designed and implemented according to a perfect set of software engineering specification. Therfore, it has the advantages of stability, robusticity and convenient maintenance. At present, the software has been released oversea, with a good economical benefit returned.With the rapid development and application in all aspects of societyof information technology,more and more information exists in digital form. In the world, the research of SAN management and SAN mnagement software have become a hotspot. However, the kind of research is little done at home. So, There will be large theoretical value and application prospect for carrying out the research.