Hewlett-packard Development Company, L.P.

Hewlett-packard Company

Rodger Daniels

Lee L Nelson

David Kiyoshi Umberger

Mohamed Belhadj

Brian Patterson

Andrew Dallmann

James Michael Reuter

Susan Spence

Guillermo Navarro

Brian S Bearden

Christopher Stroberger

Aaron Lindemann

Marc Edward LeFevre

Randy Matthews

Xia Xu

Charles E Christian, Jr

Michael Padovano

Michael G Byrnes

Laura Clemens

Donald R Fraser

Chia Wood

Deborah Levinson

In a storage system, at least three storage sites are arranged in a full mirroring relationship using a virtual connection between instances of a storage group on two of the sites whereby no user data is transmitted.

Data mirroring using a virtual connection

Exemplary storage network architectures, data architectures, and methods for creating and using snapdifference files in storage networks are described. One exemplary method may be implemented in a processor in a storage network. The method comprises detecting a failure in a source volume, and in response to the failure: terminating communication with one or more applications that generate I/O requests to the source volume; refreshing the source volume; copying a backup data set to the source volume, and while the backup data set is being copied: activating a new snapdifference file; restarting communication with one or more applications that generate I/O requests to the source volume; and recording I/O operations to the source volume in the snapdifference file.

Recovery operations in storage networks

Exemplary storage network architectures, data architectures, and methods for data restore operation are disclosed. In one embodiment, a storage device comprises a processor, a memory module communicatively connected to the processor, and logic instructions in the memory module which, when executed by the processor, configure the processor to receive a signal that identifies a source volume and a first target snapshot that represents a point in time copy of the source volume, update metadata to define an restore relationship between the first target snapshot and the source volume, execute a background copy process between the first target snapshot and the source volume, and manage input/output operations during the background copy process to permit input/output operations to the source volume during the background copy process.

Concurrent data restore and background copy operations in storage networks

Exemplary storage network architectures, data architectures, and methods for creating and using snapdifference files in storage networks are described. One exemplary method may be implemented in a processor in a storage network. The method comprises receiving a request to execute a snapclone operation; generating, in response to the received service request, a snapclone copy of a source disk volume contemporaneous with the generation of the snapclone file, opening a first snapdifference file; and recording I/O operations to the source disk volume in the snapdifference file. The methods described herein may be embodied as logic instructions on a computer-readable medium.

Copy operations in storage networks

Improved host I/O performance and availability of a storage array during rebuild is obtained by prioritizing I/O requests. In one embodiment, rebuild I/O requests are given priority over host I/O requests when the storage array is close to permanently losing data (for example, failure of one more particular disk in the storage array would result in data loss). Rebuild I/O requests continue to have priority over host I/O requests until the storage array is no longer close to permanently losing data, at which point host I/O requests are given priority over rebuild I/O requests.

Host I/O performance and availability of a storage array during rebuild by prioritizing I/O requests

A storage device is configured with one or more processes that receive, process, and pass on jobs from a source. The number of jobs received by a process is compared with the number of jobs completed and/or passed on by the process. If the number of jobs that are received is disproportionate to the number of jobs completed and/or passed on by the process, a hang may exist and a corrective action, such as resetting, may be performed along with a request for all or some of the jobs to be resent.

Process job flow analysis

Multiple storage devices are monitored to detect failure of a storage device. Upon detection of a storage device failure, a determination is made regarding whether a first data reconstruction technique is available. If a first data reconstruction technique is available, the data is reconstructed from the failed storage device using the first data reconstruction technique. If the first data construction technique is not available, the data is reconstructed from the failed storage device using a second data reconstruction technique.

Method and apparatus for selecting among multiple data reconstruction techniques

Virtual storage systems and virtual storage system operational methods are described. According to one aspect, a virtual storage system includes a physical storage space configured to store data, a virtual storage space adapted to provide a representation of data stored within the physical storage space to a host, a memory configured to store a plurality of pointers utilized to implement addressing intermediate the physical storage space and the virtual storage space, and a controller configured to extract selected ones of the pointers from the memory and to provide the selected pointers in another storage location different than the memory at a first moment in time and to extract the selected pointers from the another storage location and to provide the selected pointers in the memory at a second moment in time subsequent to the first moment in time.

Virtual storage systems and virtual storage system operational methods

Virtual storage systems and virtual storage system operational methods are described. According to one aspect, a virtual storage system includes a virtual storage space including a plurality of virtual storage locations, a physical storage space including a plurality of physical storage locations configured to store data, a memory configured to store a plurality of activated pointers which associate a plurality of virtual storage locations with a plurality of the physical storage locations, and a controller configured to deactivate at least some of the activated pointers including extracting the deactivated pointers from the memory, to access a request pertaining to selected data associated with at least one of the deactivated pointers, to activate the deactivated pointers including providing the deactivated pointers in the memory providing reactivated pointers, and to modify at least one of the reactivated pointers responsive to the request.

A system and method for managing a RAID data storage array is provided having a plurality of data storage disks and a RAID controller respectively coupled to each of the data storage disks, and a user interface coupled to the RAID controller, wherein the RAID controller is configured to store pointers corresponding to data within the storage disks, wherein the RAID controller is further configured to anticipate a data modification operation from the user interface and to selectively copy a block of data from one RAID level to a different RAID level storage location within the storage array responsive to a protective status and the anticipating. Also provided is a RAID controller configured to selectively copy data to a different RAID level within a storage array responsive to the anticipation of a data modification operation and a protective status.

Managing a data storage array, a data storage system, and a raid controller

Host I/O performance and availability of a storage array during rebuild by prioritizing I/O request

A method of managing data in a hierarchical data storage system employing data redundancy schemes includes prioritizing a data rebuild based on a most vulnerable data redundancy scheme in the storage system. A data storage system embodying this rebuild prioritization method is also described. Prioritizing the data rebuild includes enabling a rebuild of the most vulnerable data redundancy scheme prior to enabling a rebuild of any other data redundancy scheme in the system. The most vulnerable data redundancy scheme is determined by comparing a probability of losing data that can be prevented by a rebuild for each data redundancy scheme with respect to the potential for one or more next storage device failures in the data storage system. The probability of losing data for each data redundancy scheme is determined by considering characteristics associated with the storage system and disk drives in the storage system, including number of storage devices, mean time between failure, mean time or calculated time to rebuild, and failure dependencies.

Growing community of inventors

Boise, ID, United States of America

Rodger Daniels