Emc IP Holding Company LLC

Dell Products Inc.

Joseph G Kanjirathinkal

Peniel Charles

Owen Crowley

Manikandan Sethuraman

Sanjib Mallick

Pramod Kumar Puthanveettil Kurungodan

Shamin P Mohanan

An aspect of the present disclosure relates to using at least one service-level objective (SLO) to control data communications between two or more devices over a network. In embodiments, a notification is received by a source device. The notification can include status information of at least one of a plurality of communication paths between the source device and a target device. A communications control technique can be performed based on the indicated status. The communications control technique can include prioritizing one or more data packets based on a data payload corresponding to each packet. The technique can also include controlling the transmission of one or more data packets based on each data packet's priority.

Controlling storage arraydata transmissions

A power supply manager manages power utilization of a first uninterruptible power source and a second uninterruptible power source. A load balancing service retrieves information that is associated with a first power supply unit and a second power supply unit, and determines a first power source state associated with the first uninterruptible power source and a second power source state associated with the second uninterruptible power source. The service may also set the first power supply unit in an active mode based on the first power source state, and set the second power supply unit in a standby mode based on the second power source state. The service may also transition the first power supply unit from the active mode to standby mode, and the second power supply unit from standby mode to the active mode, based on a power imbalance.

Dynamic load balancing across power supply units

Techniques are provided for path management and failure prediction in a multipath environment using target port power levels. One method comprises obtaining, by a first entity that communicates with a second entity via multiple paths, a transmit power level and/or a receive power level of a target port associated with the second entity; evaluating the transmit power level and/or the receive power level of the target port relative to a threshold; and setting, by the first entity, a path state of one or more paths between the first entity and the target port to a standby state based on the evaluating, wherein the first entity establishes paths between the first entity and one or more other target ports of the second entity in an active state. Existing communications on the one or more paths between the first entity and the target port may be allowed to complete in the standby state.

Path management and failure prediction using target port power levels

An apparatus comprises at least one processing device that is configured to control delivery of input-output operations from a host device to a storage system over selected ones of a plurality of paths through a network. The at least one processing device is further configured to detect a reduction in performance of one or more of the input-output operations over one or more paths of the plurality of paths, to identify a physical initiator component corresponding to the one or more paths, and to notify the storage system about the reduction in performance and the identified physical initiator component. The at least one processing device is also configured to receive a notification from the storage system indicating one or more virtual initiator instances of a plurality of virtual initiator instances corresponding to the identified physical initiator component, and to deactivate the one or more virtual initiator instances.

Host bus adaptor (HBA) virtualization awareness for effective input-output load balancing

A layered-infrastructure blockchain-based system for software license distribution includes a distributed cloud of blockchain full nodes. Each blockchain full node contains a blockchain data structure on which a complete set of license key transactions are recorded. The layered-infrastructure also includes a plurality of storage systems. Each respective storage system contains a blockchain light data structure on which only a subset of license key transactions associated with that respective storage system are recorded. A plurality of hosts connect to the plurality of storage systems. As the hosts connect to the storage systems, license key transactions are generated, such that the license key transactions that are recorded in the blockchain-based system for software license distribution are associated with the connection events between the plurality of hosts and the plurality of storage systems.

Layered-infrastructure blockchain-based system for software license distribution

Switch topology-aware path selection in an information processing system is provided. For example, an apparatus comprises a host device comprising a processor coupled to a memory. The host device is configured to communicate with a storage system over a network with a plurality of switches. The host device is further configured to obtain topology information associated with the plurality of switches in the network, and select a path from the host device to the storage system through one or more of the plurality of switches based at least in part on the obtained topology information.

Input-output path selection using switch topology information

Techniques are provided for storage area network (SAN) connectivity management using switch fabric conditions. One method comprises ranking switches in a SAN that provides connectivity between host devices and storage arrays, wherein the ranking is based on a port utilization metric for a subset of the switches and/or an evaluation of switch performance degradation events associated with one or more of the switches; evaluating an input/output load of a workload executing on a host device; and determining a path between a given host device and a given storage array through the SAN based on the ranking and the evaluated input/output load of the workload. For a workload being deployed on a new host device, the evaluating may comprise determining an application type of the workload. Alternate switches may be identified based on a comparison of a peak load of a given switch and a peak load of an alternate switch for at least one time period.

Storage area network connectivity management using switch fabric conditions

A storage system may manage I/O communications between the storage system and other components on a storage network based on the state information of transceivers (e.g., SFPs) along I/O paths between the storage system and other network components. A storage system may send one or more queries to a switch of a data storage network. The query may request the state information of transceivers within any port on any I/O path through the switch between the storage system and another component on the storage network, for example, a host system or another storage system. The storage system may receive the requested transceiver state information in one or more responses, and manage I/O communications between the storage system and the other network component based on the received transceiver state information. The received state information may include, for each transceiver, an RX power level and/or a TX Power level for the transceiver.

Managing I/O communications based on transceiver state

Path components associated with I/O paths between another network component and a target system may be determined, and the health of target ports on such I/O paths may be determined. Failed I/O communications may be redirected based on the determined path components and the determined health of target ports. In response to a failed I/O communication, it may be determined which of the remaining I/O paths between the host system and the storage system has the least amount of associated path components in common with the failed I/O path, and the I/O communication may be redirected on such I/O path. The redirect I/O path also may be selected based on the health ranking of target ports of the I/O paths.

Redirecting i/o communications based on network topology

Access path management is provided based on one or more path conditions in an information processing system. For example, an apparatus comprises a storage system comprising a processor coupled to a memory. The storage system is configured to communicate over a network with one or more host devices. The storage system is further configured to obtain notification from one of the one or more host devices that a first path through the network between the storage system and the given one of the one or more host devices is at least temporarily unreliable. The storage system is further configured to cause a path state change for the first path from a first state to a second state and a path state change for a second path to the first state.

Access path management based on path condition

A host device is configured to communicate over a network with a storage system. The host device comprises a multi-path input-output (MPIO) driver configured to control delivery of input-output (IO) operations from the host device to the storage system over selected ones of a plurality of paths through the network. The MPIO driver is further configured to identify a plurality of partitions of a storage device of the storage system, the storage device being used for booting a server. The MPIO driver is also configured to monitor an amount of consumed space of each partition, to transmit to the storage system data corresponding to the amount of consumed space of each partition, to process data from the storage system indicating that a size of the storage device has been increased, and to increase a size of one or more of the partitions.

Partition utilization awareness of logical units on storage arrays used for booting

A method in one embodiment comprises detecting one or more storage arrays in an information technology infrastructure, and receiving input-output (IO) operation performance data recorded over a given time period from the one or more storage arrays. The performance data comprises a plurality of IO operation counts, each IO operation count comprising a number of IO operations per time unit for a component of a given storage array. The method also includes analyzing metadata for the IO operation counts to generate a time series comprising the IO operation counts sorted over a plurality of ordered time intervals of the given time period, and identifying a plurality of time blocks within the time series, each of the time blocks comprising a subset of the ordered time intervals. A proposed time interval for performance of a planned maintenance activity is generated based on one or more of the time blocks.

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Cary, NC, United States of America

Joseph G Kanjirathinkal