Emc IP Holding Company LLC

Emc Corporation

Dell Products Inc.

Frederic Corniquet

Jean-Pierre Bono

Walter Forrester

Himabindu Tummala

Miles Aram De Forest

Philippe Armangau

Frank Samuel Caccavale

Sridhar Villapakkam

Ajit Bhagwat

Luc Van Brabant

William C Davenport

Sudhir Srinivasan

John Forecast

John Michael Hayden

Vasudevan Subramanian

Anurag Bhatnagar

Yuanyang Wu

Mukesh Gupta

Priyamrita Ghosh

Thomas Fridtjof Dahl

Hongmei Wang

Pascal Donette

Aju John

Jeffrey A Monin

Jean-Louis Rochette

A method, computer program product, and computer system for receiving, by a computing device, a write request, wherein the write request may be received by a file system of the computing device. Data associated with the write request may be stored in a cache of the file system and a cache of a block storage system corresponding to the file system. A tag associated with the data in the cache of the block storage system may be received by the block storage system. The data in the cache of the block storage system may be freed after flushing the data to persistent storage based upon, at least in part, the tag associated with the data in the cache of the block storage system. As a result, there is optimization for the read path due to no double caching in the block cache.

Systems and methods for cooperative caching between file systems and block storage

Methods, apparatus, and processor-readable storage media for deleting orphan archived files from a storage array using a time-based decision algorithm are provided herein. An example computer-implemented method includes traversing a database of a local storage system to identify a record associated with a stub file, wherein the record is indicative of a time of a client operation, involving the stub file, on a file system of the local storage system; identifying a particular snapshot in a set of available snapshots of the file system; and providing an indication to a cloud storage platform to delete a cloud object corresponding to the stub file in response to determining that the time of the client operation occurred earlier than a snapshot time associated with the particular snapshot in the set.

Deleting orphan archived files from storage array using a time-based decision algorithm

A technique for managing data storage provides multiple physical computing machines and block storage arranged in a NAS (network attached storage) cluster. The physical computing machines run NAS servers, with each NAS server including an FSDB (file system database) that identifies a set of file systems that belong to the NAS server. LUNs (Logical UNits) in the block storage provide backing store for the set of file systems of each NAS server. The NAS cluster manages access to a file system namespace for a set of file systems, including for example Distributed File System (DFS) typically accessed using the Server Message Block (SMB) protocol, by clients of different types, including for example clients using the Network File System (NFS) protocol.

Managing file system namespace in network attached storage (NAS) cluster

A technique for managing data storage provides multiple physical computing machines and block storage arranged in a NAS (network attached storage) cluster. The physical computing machines run NAS servers, with each NAS server including an FSDB (file system database) that identifies a set of file systems that belong to the NAS server. LUNs (Logical UNits) in the block storage provide backing store for the set of file systems of each NAS server. The NAS cluster performs a NAS server cloning operation in which an existing source NAS server is cloned in its entirety to create a separate clone NAS server, the operation automatically cloning all the separate file systems of the source NAS server and related metadata without a need for user involvement on a per-filesystem basis.

Managing NAS server cloning in network attached storage (NAS) cluster

A technique for managing host data in a data storage apparatus having a storage processor (SP) provides virtualized storage processors (VSPs) as substantially self-describing and independent entities. Each VSP has its own namespace, independent of the namespace of any other VSP. Each VSP also has its own network address. Hosts may thus access VSPs directly, without having to include path information relative to the SP on which the VSP is operated. VSPs can thus be moved from one physical SP to another with little or no disruption to hosts, which may continue to access the VSPs on the new SPs using the same paths as were used when the VSPs were running on the original SPs.

Unified datapath processing with virtualized storage processors

Techniques for providing encryption of individual data objects in a data storage system include realizing data objects in the form of container files stored in a set of file systems, and encrypting individual ones of the data objects by encrypting the container files realizing the data objects using encryption keys associated with the individual data objects. By independently encrypting the container files that realize individual data objects, the disclosed system provides per-data object encryption. Each data object may be encrypted differently, e.g. using a different encryption key, even when multiple data objects are hosted over the same storage device or over a shared set of storage devices.

Encrypting data objects in a data storage system

A technique performs replication. The technique involves receiving, by processing circuitry, a virtual storage processor (VSP) replication command from a user. The VSP replication command specifies a source VSP and a destination VSP (e.g., configuration data which defines an operating environment). The technique further involves identifying, by the processing circuitry and in response to the VSP replication command, multiple source data objects which are configured to store data from the context of the source VSP. The technique further involves automatically creating, after the multiple source data objects are identified, multiple replication sessions to replicate the multiple source data objects as multiple destination data objects which are configured to store data from the context of the destination VSP. Once created, the entire lifecycle of the replication session occurs at the VSP level and replication of the internals of the VSP are entirely hidden from the end user.

Automatically creating multiple replication sessions in response to a single replication command entered by a user

A data storage system has one or more processing nodes, each processing node comprising memory coupled to processing circuitry, the one or more processing nodes running a set of virtualized filesystem managers (VFMs) having a shared namespace. The set of VFMs includes (a) a master VFM for managing a configuration filesystem stored on the persistent storage, the configuration filesystem storing configuration information for the set of VFMs and (b) a slave VFM for remotely mounting the configuration filesystem from the master VFM, the slave VFM obtaining details of its configuration from the remotely-mounted configuration filesystem, the slave VFM sharing the shared namespace with the set of VFMs, the shared namespace including a set of filesystems, each filesystem of the shared namespace being managed by a single VFM, and each filesystem of the shared namespace being accessible by the remote host through any of the VFMs of the set of VFMs.

Techniques for distributing access to filesystems through multipe filesystem management nodes

A technique for managing data storage operations in a data storage system having a file-based front end system and a block-based back end array includes provisioning a set of storage resources on the array for use exclusively with one or more virtualized storage processors (VSPs), where each VSP identifies multiple file systems. In response to a management command to perform a data storage operation on a VSP, the back-end array performs the specified operation on the provisioned set of storage resources. Thus, the back-end array performs the data operation exclusively on the VSP (or on multiple VSPs) and therefore on all of its constituent file systems as one.

Leveraging array operations at virtualized storage processor level

A technique provides mobility to VSPs. The technique involves receiving, by processing circuitry, a VSP move command from a user. The VSP move command specifies a source VSP and a destination. The technique further involves identifying, by the processing circuitry and in response to the VSP move command, multiple source data objects which are configured to store data from the context of the source VSP. The multiple source data objects reside in a source storage pool. The technique further involves, after the multiple source data objects are identified, transforming the multiple source data objects into multiple destination data objects which are configured to store data from the context of a destination VSP at the destination. The multiple destination data objects reside in a destination storage pool which is different from the source storage pool. Such operation effectively provides VSP migration from source to destination.

Providing mobility to virtual storage processors

A multi-core processor of a network attached storage system processes requests from host computers for services of a file system service. Each core maintains endpoints of respective connection-layer connections to the hosts to affine respective streams of network traffic with the core, and dynamically and preferentially assigns execution threads of the core to process file system service requests of the streams affined with the core. Each core also co-operates with the other cores to dynamically and non-preferentially (a) assign execution threads of the core to process file system service requests of the streams affined with the other cores, and (b) assign execution threads of the other cores to process file system service requests of the streams affined with the core, promoting efficient use of the cores for the processing workload of the file system service.

Multi-core storage processor assigning other cores to process requests of core-affined streams

A technique performs virtual storage processor (VSP) failover. The technique involves accessing, by a first physical storage processor of the data storage apparatus, a VSP to create an operating environment for a host file system from the first physical storage processor. The technique further involves, after accessing the VSP to create the operating environment for the host file system from the first physical storage processor, detecting a failure of the first physical storage processor. The technique further involves accessing, in response to detecting the failure of the first physical storage processor and by a second physical storage processor of the data storage apparatus, the VSP to re-create the operating environment for the host file system from the second physical storage processor.

Virtual storage processor failover

A technique for managing access to files by different data storage systems includes a data storage system generating an E-FSID (export FSID) for a file system in addition to a conventional FSID and providing the E-FSID in file handles that the data storage system generates for providing clients with access to the file system. The E-FSID is shared between/among different data storage systems, with each data storage system including data for cross-referencing the E-FSID to a respective local FSID for the file system. Because the E-FSID for a file is the same across different data storage systems, file handles continue to work after failover, migration, and other transitions.

Preserving file handles when moving file system operation between storage processors

A technique provides virtual storage processor (VSP) mobility with induced file system format migration. The technique involves receiving a command specifying (i) a source VSP which includes source file systems which store data in a source file system format, (ii) a destination, and (iii) a destination file system format. The technique further involves forming, in response to the command, a destination VSP which includes destination file systems. The technique further involves copying, while the source VSP is accessed by a set of host computers, data from the source file systems of the source VSP to the destination file systems of the destination VSP. The destination file systems store the copied data in the destination file system format. The technique further involves synchronizing, after the data is copied from the source file systems to the destination file systems, state changes between the source VSP and the destination VSP.

Providing virtual storage processor (VSP) mobility with induced file system format migration

A technique performs virtual storage processor (VSP) load balancing. The technique involves receiving a VSP move command to load balance a particular VSP from a source physical storage processor to a destination physical storage processor. The technique further involves relinquishing, by the source physical storage processor, access to a set of VSP definitions that define the particular VSP. The technique further involves obtaining, by the destination physical storage processor, access to the set of VSP definitions that define the particular VSP, the particular VSP being load balanced from the source physical storage processor to the destination physical storage processor upon the destination physical storage processor obtaining access to the set of VSP definitions that define the particular VSP.

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Le Pecq, France

Frederic Corniquet