Hitachi Data Systems Engineering UK Limited

Bluearc UK Limited

Hitachi, Ltd.

Hitachi Vantara Corporation

Hitachi Data Engineering UK Limited

Christopher J Aston

Trevor Edward Willis

Simon L Benham

Geoffrey S Barrall

Mitsuo Hayasaka

Yuko Matsui

Neil Berrington

Mark Stephen Laker

Michael Cooper

Jonathan Meyer

John Winfield

Francesco Lacapra

Fiorenzo Cattaneo

James Gibbs

Daniel Picken

Simon Crosland

Jonathan Smith

Carlo F Garbagnati

Shmuel Shottan

Simon Latimer Benham

Jonathan Mark Smith

Martin A Dorey

Naoki Inoue

Yasuo Hirata

Yukari Hatta

Norimitsu Hayakawa

Ryosuke Matsubara

Hiroyuki Mitome

Hieu Hanh Le

John C Holtom

Sathisha Poojary

Graham Ellement

Simon Carl Johnson

Trevor E Willis

Trevor Willis

In a distributed storage of data objects in a cluster system, a data object is distributed across a group of node apparatuses in units of data blocks. For each child object, the metadata structure of the respective child object is stored to one of the node apparatuses of the group of node apparatuses for managing locations of data blocks of the data object and includes a root metadata node and one or more direct metadata nodes, optionally further including one or more indirect metadata nodes; and the metadata structure of the parent object is distributed across the plural node apparatuses of the group of node apparatuses for managing locations of child objects of the data object and includes, on each node apparatus of the group of node apparatuses, a root metadata node and one or more direct metadata nodes, optionally further including one or more indirect metadata nodes.

Data storage system and process for providing distributed storage in a scalable cluster system and computer program for such data storage system

A storage control system to provide file-level storage and block-level storage services. The storage control system has a computer system including a second I/O unit configured to receive block-level storage related requests, a processor unit, a first memory unit, and a storage unit; and a programmable logic device including a first I/O unit configured to receive file-level storage related requests, an interface unit configured to communicate with the computer system, one or more programmable hardware-implemented processing units and for processing of file-level storage related requests, and a second memory unit. The software components executed on the processor unit include a block-level storage management component and a virtualization management component; and a virtual machine managed by the virtualization management component executes a file-level management component to communicate with the programmable hardware-implemented processing units of the programmable logic device and to manage file-level storage services related to file-level storage related requests.

Storage control system managing file-level and block-level storage services, and methods for controlling such storage control system

A data de-duplication in a distributed storage of data objects in a cluster system, in which plural data objects are distributed across a group of node apparatuses and stored in units of data blocks. Each metadata structure including a root metadata node and one or more direct metadata nodes, and optionally including one or more indirect metadata nodes; and a metadata object is stored for managing de-duplicated data blocks based on a metadata structure of the metadata object wherein at least one direct metadata node of the metadata structure of the metadata object includes a block reference pointing to a de-duplicated data block being associated with two or more data objects. Preferably, each of the metadata structures of the two or more data objects being associated with the de-duplicated data block includes a respective direct metadata node including an object reference to the metadata structure of the metadata object.

Data storage system, process, and computer program for de-duplication of distributed data in a scalable cluster system

The present disclosure relates to a data storage system, and processes and computer programs for such data storage system, for example including processing of: managing one or more metadata tree structures for storing data to one or more storage devices of the data storage system in units of blocks, each metadata tree structure including a root node pointing directly and/or indirectly to blocks, and a leaf tree level having one or more direct nodes pointing to blocks, and optionally including one or more intermediate tree levels having one or more indirect nodes pointing to indirect nodes and/or direct nodes of the respective metadata tree structure; maintaining the root node and/or nodes of at least one tree level of each of at least one metadata structure in a cache memory; and managing I/O access to data based on the one or more metadata structures, including obtaining the root node and/or nodes of the at least one tree level of the metadata structure maintained in the cache memory from the cache memory and obtaining at least one node of another tree level of the metadata structure from the one or more storage devices.

Data storage system, process and computer program for such data storage system for reducing read and write amplifications

The present disclosure relates to storing a data object to one or more storage devices of the data storage system in units of data blocks; storing a metadata structure for the data object including one or more direct metadata nodes, and optionally including a root metadata node and optionally further including one or more indirect metadata nodes, each direct metadata node including block pointers referencing respective data blocks of the respective data object; dividing the data object into plural compression units; compressing each compression unit of the plural compression units to a respective compressed unit associated with the respective compression unit; modifying, for each compression unit, block pointers of the direct metadata node referencing respective data blocks of the respective compression unit on the basis of the associated compressed unit; and managing I/O access to the data object based on the metadata structure of the data object.

Data storage system and process for data compression of distributed data in a scalable cluster system and computer program for such data storage system

The data storage system includes one or more storage apparatuses and a file system server connected to the one or more storage apparatuses and to one or more host computers. Write operations are controlled by providing a free space object which stores a plurality of indicators, each indicator being associated with one of a plurality of storage units for storing data units in the one or more storage apparatuses and each indicator indicating whether the associated storage unit is free or used, executing a read-ahead examination which comprises examining a set of indicators of the free space object for identifying one or more used storage units associated with indicators of the set, in particular for observing a fragmentation status of the storage units associated with the indicators of the set, and executing an allocation examination which comprises examining one or more indicators.

Computer program product, method, apparatus and data storage system for controlling write operations in the data storage system

The present disclosure relates to a data storage system, and processes and computer programs for such data storage system, for example including processing of: managing one or more metadata tree structures for storing data to one or more storage devices of the data storage system in units of blocks, each metadata tree structure including a root node pointing directly and/or indirectly to blocks, and a leaf tree level having one or more direct nodes pointing to blocks, and optionally including one or more intermediate tree levels having one or more indirect nodes pointing to indirect nodes and/or direct nodes of the respective metadata tree structure; maintaining the root node and/or nodes of at least one tree level of each of at least one metadata structure in a cache memory; and managing I/O access to data based on the one or more metadata structures.

Available storage locations are identified by searching through a free blocks object non-sequentially. The free blocks object may be logically divided into sections, and the sections may be searched non-sequentially. Each section may be logically divided into a number of sub-sections, and the sub-sections of the various sections may be searched non-sequentially. A new section may be added to the free blocks object, and the added section may be searched until a predetermined threshold or condition is reached, at which point non-sequential searching may begin or resume.

Dynamic write balancing in a data storage system

Embodiments of the present invention allow multiple checkpoints to be taken so that multiple versions of the filesystem, including a working version and at least two checkpoint versions, can be maintained over time. Specifically, at least three 'superblock' root structures are used to manage multiple instantiations of the filesystem. The superblocks are preferably stored in fixed locations within the storage system for easy access, although they may alternatively be stored in other ways. The number of superblocks may be fixed or variable.

Multi-way checkpoints in a data storage system

Apparatus for managing a plurality of root nodes may include a file server coupled to a storage device, wherein a first root node is operable to identify a previous version of an object of a file system and to relate to a plurality of data blocks forming a portion of the object, a second root node is operable to identify a current version of the object and to relate to a data block of the plurality of data blocks and a new data block of the object, and the storage device is operable to store the plurality of data blocks and the new data block. Apparatus for managing a plurality of root nodes alternatively may include a file system board operable to manage a plurality of root nodes, a first root node being operable to identify the a previous version of a file system and to relate to a plurality of data blocks of the file system, and a second root node being operable to identify the a current version of the file system and to relate to a data block of the plurality of data blocks and a new data block of the file system.

Apparatus for managing a plurality of root nodes for file systems

Apparatus includes a file server node having (i) a first interface operable to communicate with a network and receiving a network request via network, (ii) a non-volatile memory operable to temporarily store a request related to the network request received by the first interface, (iii) a second interface operable to be coupled to the storage device for storing the request, and (iv) a non-volatile memory processing module, coupled to the first interface, the non-volatile memory and the second interface, and operable to be coupled to another file server node, so that the request can be sent to the non-volatile memory, the second interface and the another file server node after the non-volatile memory processing module receives the file system request.

File server node with non-volatile memory processing module coupled to cluster file server node

A multi-tiered filesystem integrates multiple types of storage devices into a contiguous filesystem storage space having regions associated with two or more tiers of storage.

Multi-tiered filesystem

A distributed file system and method distributes file system objects across multiple self-contained volumes, where each volume is owned by a unique file system node. Logical links are used to reference a file system object between volumes. Each file system node includes a relocation directory in which is maintained hard links to locally-stored file system objects that are referenced from another file system node using logical links. Various file system operations that involve multiple volumes are performed without having to place a write lock on more than one volume at a time. Various caching schemes allow the various file system nodes to cache file system object data and metadata.

Distributed file system and method

Apparatus for managing plural versions of a root node for an object of a file system manages an update data of a first version of the plural versions of the root node in a status in which (i) data of a second version of the plural versions of the root node is written from the second storage of the file server to the first storage and (ii) a new checkpoint, capable of being used when the object of the file system is recovered, is taken. The apparatus also manages an update data of the second version of the plural versions of the root node in another status in which (iii) data of the first version of the plural versions of the root node is written from the second storage of the file server to the first storage and (iv) a next new checkpoint is taken.

Growing community of inventors

Bucks, United Kingdom

Christopher J Aston