Managing data placement in storage systems

• US 10,082,959 B1
• Filed: 12/27/2011
• Issued: 09/25/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 12/27/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Emc IP Holding Company LLC (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Emc IP Holding Company LLC (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Inventors: Chen, Xiangping, Duprey, Dennis Thomas, Linnell, Thomas E., Tao, Qin
• Primary Examiner(s): Parikh, Kalpit
• Application Number:
  US13/338,140
• Time in Patent Office: 2,464 Days
• Field of Search: 711114
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0608 Saving storage space on storage systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/061 Improving I/O performance
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0631 by allocating resources to storage systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0634 by changing the state or mode of one or more devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0685 Hybrid storage combining heterogeneous device types, e.g. hierarchical storage, hybrid arrays
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0689 Disk arrays, e.g. RAID, JBOD

Abstract

A method is used in managing data placement in storage systems. A portion of an allocated storage space is identified in a data storage system for managing data placement. The allocated storage space includes first and second set of slices. The first set of slices associated with the portion of the allocated storage space in the data storage system is identified. Data of the first set of slices is transferred to the second set of slices of the allocated storage space in the data storage system. The first set of slice is removed from the allocated storage space in the data storage system.

Claims

1. A method for use in managing data placement in storage systems, the method comprising:

identifying a portion of a storage pool for reclaiming the portion as free storage in a data storage system, wherein the storage pool has been reserved for allocating storage upon receiving a storage allocation request, wherein the storage pool includes a set of logical volumes, wherein a logical volume of the set of logical volumes comprises a set of slices, each slice of the set of slices is a logical representation of a subset of physical disk storage;

identifying a portion of physical disk storage associated with the portion of the storage pool identified for reclamation;

identifying a set of slices associated with the portion of the physical disk storage in the data storage system;

determining whether sufficient amount of free storage space is available in the same storage pool for relocating data of the set of slices of the storage pool;

based on the determination, relocating data of the set of slices of the storage pool to another set of slices of the same storage pool in the data storage system based on characteristics of data and storage characteristics of the set of slices and the another set of slices of the storage pool, wherein the portion of the storage pool is reclaimed as free storage by avoiding relocating entire data of the storage pool to another storage pool;

based on the relocation, avoiding allocating storage space from the set of slices upon receiving a new storage allocation request to use a storage space from the storage pool, wherein the new storage allocation request avoids allocating storage space from the set of slices being relocated;

reclaiming the portion of the storage pool as free storage by removing the set of slices from the storage pool in the data storage system;

reclaiming the portion of physical disk storage as free storage, wherein the portion of the physical disk storage includes a storage device; and

reducing size of the storage pool based on the size of the portion of the physical disk storage reclaimed as free storage.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein an auto-tiering policy engine identifies the another set of slices in the storage pool for transferring data of the set of slices.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the auto-tiering policy engine identifies the another set of slices based on temperature information of slices of the storage pool.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the storage pool includes a set of storage objects, wherein a storage object of the set of storage objects includes a disk drive system comprising a plurality of Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks (RAID) systems, each RAID system of the plurality of RAID systems having a first disk drive and a second disk drive.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the portion of the storage pool is a disk drive comprising a plurality of Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks (RAID) systems, each RAID system of the plurality of RAID systems having a first disk drive and a second disk drive.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of slices is reclaimed as free slices.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the storage pool includes a set of storage tiers.

8. A system for use in managing data placement in storage systems, the system comprising:

a data storage system comprising a storage processor and a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, wherein the storage processor is configured to;

identify a portion of a storage pool for reclaiming the portion as free storage in the data storage system, wherein the storage pool has been reserved for allocating storage upon receiving a storage allocation request, wherein the storage pool includes a set of logical volumes, wherein a logical volume of the set of logical volumes comprises a set of slices, each slice of the set of slices is a logical representation of a subset of physical disk storage;

identify a portion of physical disk storage associated with the portion of the storage pool identified for reclamation;

identify a set of slices associated with the portion of the physical disk storage in the data storage system;

determine whether sufficient amount of free storage space is available in the same storage pool for relocating data of the set of slices of the storage pool;

based on the determination, relocate data of the set of slices of the storage pool to another set of slices of the same storage pool in the data storage system based on characteristics of data and storage characteristics of the set of slices and the another set of slices of the storage pool, wherein the portion of the storage pool is reclaimed as free storage by avoiding relocating entire data of the storage pool to another storage pool;

based on the relocation, avoid allocating storage space from the set of slices upon receiving a new storage allocation request to use a storage space from the storage pool, wherein the new storage allocation request avoids allocating storage space from the set of slices being relocated;

reclaim the portion of the storage pool as free storage by removing the set of slices from the storage pool in the data storage system;

reclaim the portion of physical disk storage as free storage, wherein the portion of the physical disk storage includes a storage device; and

reduce size of the storage pool based on the size of the portion of the physical disk storage reclaimed as free storage.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein an auto-tiering policy engine identifies the another set of slices in the storage pool for transferring data of the set of slices.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the auto-tiering policy engine identifies the another set of slices based on temperature information of slices of the storage pool.

11. The system of claim 8, wherein the storage pool includes a set of storage objects, wherein a storage object of the set of storage objects includes a disk drive system comprising a plurality of Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks (RAID) systems, each RAID system of the plurality of RAID systems having a first disk drive and a second disk drive.

12. The system of claim 8, wherein the portion of the a storage pool is a disk drive comprising a plurality of Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks (RAID) systems, each RAID system of the plurality of RAID systems having a first disk drive and a second disk drive.

13. The system of claim 8, wherein the set of slices is reclaimed as free slices.

14. The system of claim 8, wherein the storage pool includes a set of storage tiers.