Systems and methods for operating a storage system

• US 10,261,690 B1
• Filed: 05/03/2016
• Issued: 04/16/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 05/03/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Pure Storage, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Pure Storage, Inc.
• Inventors: Shalev, Ori
• Primary Examiner(s): Rojas, Midys
• Assistant Examiner(s): Doan, Khoa D
• Application Number:
  US15/145,737
• Time in Patent Office: 1,078 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0605 by facilitating the interaction with a user or administrator
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0635 by changing the path, e.g. traffic rerouting, path reconfiguration
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0647 Migration mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0653 Monitoring storage devices or systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0658 Controller construction arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0659 Command handling arrangements, e.g. command buffers, queues, command scheduling
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/067 Distributed or networked storage systems, e.g. storage area networks [SAN], network attached storage [NAS]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0683 Plurality of storage devices

Abstract

A method of operating a storage system is disclosed. The method includes determining a storage cluster among storage arrays of the storage system. Each storage array includes at least two controllers and at least one storage shelf. The at least two controllers are configured to function as both a primary controller for a first storage array and a secondary controller for a second storage array.

Claims

1. A method of operating a storage system, comprising:

determining a storage cluster among storage arrays of the storage system, wherein each storage array comprises at least two controllers and at least one storage shelf;

configuring the at least two controllers to function as both a primary controller for a first storage array and a secondary controller for a second storage array;

monitoring forwarded I/O requests; and

reducing a number of relay events for one or more I/O requests by reassigning at least one of the at least two controllers to handle a request that is assigned to another controller, responsive to the monitoring.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the secondary controller is shared by multiple primary controllers.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the secondary controller is shared by more than one storage component.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

accessing global metadata; and

forwarding I/O requests based on the global metadata.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving an I/O request at a controller of a first array;

determining the I/O request is associated with a controller of a second array; and

forwarding the I/O request to the second controller of the second array.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the reducing the number of relay events for one or more I/O requests comprises modifying the storage cluster.

7. A storage system, comprising:

a storage cluster that comprises storage arrays of the storage system, wherein each storage array comprises;

at least two controllers;

at least one storage shelf, wherein each of the at least two controllers are configurable to function as both a primary controller for a first storage array and a secondary controller for a second storage array;

a monitoring component that monitors forwarded I/O requests; and

a relay event reducing component that, responsive to the monitoring, reduces a number of relay events for one or more I/O requests by reassigning at least one of the at least two controllers to handle a request that is assigned to another controller, responsive to the monitoring.

8. The storage system of claim 7 wherein the secondary controller is shared by multiple primary controllers.

9. The storage system of claim 7 wherein the secondary controller is shared by more than one storage array.

10. The storage system of claim 7 further comprising:

a global metadata accessing component that accesses global metadata; and

an I/O forwarding component that forwards I/O requests based on the global metadata.

11. The storage system of claim 7 wherein an I/O request that is received at a first controller is forwarded to a second controller if it is determined that the I/O request is associated with the second controller.

12. The storage system of claim 7 wherein the relay event reducing component reduces the number of relay events for one or more I/O requests by modifying the storage cluster.

13. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having program instructions

stored thereon, which when executed by at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to perform a method comprising:

determining a storage cluster among storage arrays of a storage system, wherein each storage array comprises at least two controllers and at least one storage shelf;

configuring each of the at least two controllers to function as both a primary controller for a first storage array and a secondary controller for a second storage array;

monitoring forwarded I/O requests; and

reducing a number of relay events for one or more I/O requests by reassigning at least one of the at least two controllers to handle a request that is assigned to another controller, responsive to the monitoring.

14. The medium of claim 13 wherein the secondary controller is shared by multiple primary controllers.

15. The medium of claim 13 wherein the secondary controller is shared by more than one storage array.

16. The medium of claim 13 wherein the method further comprises:

accessing global metadata; and

forwarding I/O requests based on the global metadata.

17. The medium of claim 13 wherein the method further comprises:

receiving an I/O request at a controller of a first array;

determining the I/O request is associated with a controller of a second array; and

forwarding the I/O request to the second controller of the second array.