Emc IP Holding Company LLC

International Business Machines Corporation

Netapp, Inc.

Emc Corporation

Erez Webman

Yoram Novick

David Alan Burton

Shahar Frank

Robert Louis Morton

Renen Hallak

Irit Yadin-Lempel

Assaf Natanzon

Kirill Shoikhet

Itay Keller

Dvir Koren

Yonatan Shtarkman

Lior Oded Bahat

Alexandr Veprinsky

John S Harwood

Helen S Raizen

Wai Chuen Yim

Olympia Gluck

Mark A O'Connell

Kobi Luz

Gilad Sharaby

Niko Farhi

Yaron Segev

Gabriel G Walder

Ehud Rokach

Nir Milstein

Asaf Porath

Danit Segev

Yael Petruschka

Brad Bowlin

Yigal Eisinger

Tal Sivan

Orly Devor

Eran Borovik

Boaz Palgi

Tal Ben Moshe

Techniques are provided for utilizing snapshot longevity information to manage snapshots in a snapshot-enabled storage system. A snapshot management system generates a snapshot volume tree which comprises snapshots associated with a given storage volume. The snapshot management system obtains a snapshot policy associated with the given storage volume, which comprises a snapshot creation and retention schedule that specifies retention lifespans of the snapshots. The snapshot policy is evaluated to automatically determine and assign respective longevity ranking values for the snapshots within the snapshot volume tree, wherein the longevity ranking value of a given snapshot represents a retention lifespan of the given snapshot as compared to retention lifespans of other snapshots as represented by their respective longevity ranking values. When a snapshot is deleted, the assigned longevity ranking values of the snapshots are utilized to select a snapshot to assume ownership of uniquely-written data that is owned by the deleted snapshot.

Assignment of longevity ranking values of storage volume snapshots based on snapshot policies

An apparatus in an illustrative embodiment comprises at least one processing device comprising a processor coupled to a memory. The apparatus is configured to maintain a snapshot tree data structure having a plurality of volume nodes corresponding to respective ones of (i) a root volume and (ii) multiple snapshots related directly or indirectly to the root volume. The apparatus is further configured to determine a set of data descriptors for a given volume offset, to determine a set of reader volume nodes that are readers of a corresponding data item based at least in part on the set of data descriptors, to adjust one or more of the data descriptors in the set of data descriptors based at least in part on the set of reader volume nodes, and to reclaim storage space previously allocated to the data item responsive to the adjusting of the one or more data descriptors.

Snapshot-enabled storage system implementing algorithm for efficient reclamation of snapshot storage space

A memory management system for a thinly provisioned memory volume in which a relatively larger virtual address range of virtual address blocks is mapped to a relatively smaller physical memory comprising physical memory blocks via a mapping table containing entries only for addresses of the physical memory blocks containing data. The memory management system comprises a snapshot provision unit to take a given snapshot of the memory volume at a given time, the snapshot comprising a mapping table and memory values of the volume, the mapping table and memory values comprising entries only for addresses of the physical memory containing data. The snapshot is managed on the same thin provisioning basis as the volume itself, and the system is particularly suitable for RAM type memory disks.

Snapshot mechanism

A System, Computer program product, and computer-executable method of rebuilding a failed data storage device within a storage architecture including a plurality of protection domains including two or more data storage devices, wherein a RAID protection is generated over volumes provided from the plurality of protection domains, the System, Computer program product, and computer-executable method including receiving a notification of a failed data storage device of the data storage devices within a first protection domain of the plurality of protection domains and rebuilding the failed data storage device using reserved data storage within a first data storage device within the first protection domain.

Fast rebuild using layered RAID

A Computer-executable method, system, and computer program product for managing tiers of data storage in a data storage environment using a data storage system, the Computer-executable method, system, and computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable medium encoded with computer-executable program code for using read signatures in replication, the code configured to enable the execution of initializing a data stack, updating a map of the data stack; and distributing the map of the data stack to a compute node.

Data services for tiered memory

In one aspect, a method includes storing data in a distributed storage environment that includes data servers and configuring each data server to mark a respective bit map for each block of data changed. In another aspect, an apparatus includes electronic hardware circuitry configured to store data in a distributed storage environment that includes data servers and to configure each data server to mark a respective bit map for each block of data changed. In a further aspect, an article includes a non-transitory computer-readable medium that stores computer-executable instructions. The instructions cause a machine to store data in a distributed storage environment that includes data servers and configure each data server to mark a respective bit map for each block of data changed. In each of the aspects above each data server is configured to handle a respective portion of a logical unit.

Incremental backup in a distributed block storage environment

In one aspect, a method includes generating a plurality of protection domains of software-defined storage, generating a volume in each protection domain and exposing the volumes as devices in a storage architecture which generates a RAID protection over the exposed volumes. In another aspect, an apparatus includes electronic hardware circuitry configured to generate a plurality of protection domains of software-defined storage, generate a volume in each protection domain and expose the volumes as devices in a storage architecture which generates a RAID protection over the exposed volumes. In a further aspect, an article includes a non-transitory computer-readable medium that stores computer-executable instructions. The instructions cause a machine to generate a plurality of protection domains of software-defined storage, generate a volume in each protection domain and expose the volumes as devices in a storage architecture which generates a RAID protection over the exposed volumes.

Forming a protection domain in a storage architecture

A method of managing a distributed storage space. The method comprises mapping a plurality of replica sets to a plurality of storage managing modules installed in a plurality of computing units, each of the plurality of storage managing modules manages access of at least one storage consumer application to replica data of at least one replica of a replica set from the plurality of replica sets, the replica data is stored in at least one drive of a respective the computing unit, allocating at least one time based credit to at least one of each storage managing module and the replica data, iteratively renewing the time based credit as long a failure of at least one of the storage managing module, and the at least one drive and the replica data is not detected plurality of storage managing.

Methods and systems of managing a distributed replica based storage

A CAS data storage system with one or more source CAS data storage spaces and one or more destination CAS data storage spaces, and a communication line therebetween, receives input data at the source storage space for local storage and for replication to the destination CAS storage space. CAS metadata is used in the replication procedure between the two separate CAS storage spaces. Thus, data at the source storage space is used to form an active buffer for transfer to the destination storage space, the active buffer holding a hash result of the respective data item and a storage address. The system detects whenever there is more than one data item in said active buffer sharing a same storage address and upon such detection transfers a respective hash result of only the last of the data items.

Replication techniques with content addressable storage

A device for scalable block data storage and retrieval uses content addressing. Data storage devices store data blocks, and are connected over a network to computing modules. The modules comprise control modules and data modules and carry out content addressing for both storage and retrieval. The network defines separate control paths via the control modules and data paths via the data modules.

Scalable block data storage using content addressing

A disk array memory system comprises: a plurality of disks in a disk array for storage of content data and parity data in stripes, content data in a same stripe sharing parity bits of said parity data, each disk having a spare disk capacity including at least some of a predefined array spare capacity, said array spare capacity providing a dynamic space reserve over said array to permit data recovery following a disk failure event; a cache for caching content data prior to writing to said disk array; and a controller configured to select a stripe currently having a largest spare stripe capacity, for a current write operation of data from said cache, thereby to write all said data of said current write operation on a same stripe, thereby to maximize sharing of parity bits per write operation and minimize separate parity write operations.

Data protection in a random access disk array

A group stamping style asynchronous replication service utilizes a loosely-accurate global clock in a data backup and recovery storage environment. The storage environment includes a set of source storage systems illustratively embodied as source replication nodes that cooperate to maintain a consistency group that may span multiple geographical sites. The storage environment also includes one or more target storage systems illustratively embodied as target replication nodes configured to service the consistency group. The group stamping style service utilizes the loosely-accurate global clock to provide consistent replication of a storage space, e.g., a target storage space, of the consistency group.

Group stamping style asynchronous replication utilizing a loosely-accurate global clock

An advanced clock synchronization technique is adapted for use with a replication service in a data backup and recovery storage environment. The storage environment includes a plurality of source storage systems and target storage systems, wherein the source storage systems are illustratively embodied as source replication nodes. The advanced clock synchronization technique establishes a software-only, loosely-accurate global clock based on a timestamp and an associated error boundary. Notably, the timestamp and its error boundary are used as global clock information to enable synchronization (i.e., ordering of storage requests) among the source replication nodes and/or the target storage systems, thereby ensuring consistent replication of the storage requests on the target storage systems.

Advanced clock synchronization technique

A system and method enhances performance of a log adapted for use with a storage system. The log is illustratively organized into a plurality of regions, wherein each region comprises one or more entries and wherein each region is allocated to a consistency collection. As used herein, a consistency collection is defined as a set of one or more data containers among which it is desired to maintain transaction consistency, i.e., atomicity of updates of a transaction to those containers. Each entry of the region is adapted to store an update of data from a source, e.g., an application executing on the storage system. Thus, the consistency collection may comprise multiple data containers associated with one or more applications configured to maintain the atomicity of transaction updates to the collection of containers.

Growing community of inventors

Petach-Tikva, Israel

Erez Webman