Block priority information

• US 10,452,315 B2
• Filed: 09/24/2014
• Issued: 10/22/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 09/24/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP (Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Company)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP (Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Company)
• Inventors: Mills, Mark, M, Kishore Kumar, Srivilliputtur Mannarswamy, Sandya
• Primary Examiner(s): Krofcheck, Michael
• Application Number:
  US15/500,001
• Publication Number:
  US 20170242627A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,854 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1076 Parity data used in redundant arrays of independent storages, e.g. in RAID systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2211/1059 Parity-single bit-RAID5, i.e. RAID 5 implementations
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2211/1088 Scrubbing in RAID systems with parity
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0617 in relation to availability
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/064 Management of blocks
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0643 Management of files
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/065 Replication mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0659 Command handling arrangements, e.g. command buffers, queues, command scheduling
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0689 Disk arrays, e.g. RAID, JBOD

Abstract

Example implementations relate to a storage system. An example implementation includes a storage system including a controller coupled to a storage medium. The controller is to receive block priority information from a file system via a communication agent. The block priority information and the file system are associated with the storage medium. Based on the block priority information, the controller is to selectively perform an operation on the storage medium. The operation includes a reconstruction operation, a data scrubbing operation, and a data migration operation.

Claims

1. A storage system comprising:

a controller; and

a storage medium coupled to the controller, wherein the storage medium includes a first storage device and a second storage device, and wherein the controller is to;

transmit a reconstruction notification to a file system via a communication agent;

receive block priority information from the file system via the communication agent, wherein the block priority information and the file system are associated with a logical volume of the first storage device, and wherein the block priority information includes allocated logical block information and prioritized content location information; and

selectively perform a reconstruction operation on the logical volume of the first storage device, the reconstruction operation comprises reconstructing the logical volume in the second storage device based on the block priority information;

wherein a buffer replacement policy is to be modified by the file system to increase a likelihood of the second storage device maintaining an association with a buffer pool during the reconstruction operation.

2. The storage system of claim 1, wherein the allocated logical block information is indicative of an allocation status of a logical block in the logical volume, and wherein the allocation status includes allocated and unallocated.

3. The storage system of claim 2, wherein when the allocation status is allocated, the controller is to perform the reconstruction operation on the logical block, and wherein the allocation status is unallocated, the controller is to skip the reconstruction operation on the logical block.

4. The storage system of claim 1, wherein the logical volume includes a first allocated logical block and a second allocated logical block, wherein the first allocated logical block includes first content having a first priority, wherein the second allocated logical block includes second content having a second priority that is lower than the first priority, and wherein the prioritized content location information includes a first block number associated with the first allocated logical block and a second block number associated with the second allocated logical block.

5. The storage system of claim 4, wherein the first content corresponds to metadata of the file system, and wherein the second content corresponds to non-metadata of the file system.

6. The storage system of claim 5, wherein the controller is to perform the reconstruction operation on the first allocated logical block prior to the second allocated logical block.

7. The storage system of claim 1, wherein the storage medium further includes a third storage device, and wherein the controller is to redirect an input/output (I/O) request associated with the second storage device to the third storage device during the reconstruction operation.

8. The storage system of claim 1, wherein the block priority information further includes a first block number having a first priority and a second block number having a second priority, wherein the second priority is lower than the first priority, and wherein the controller is further to:

determine a first scrubbing frequency and a second scrubbing frequency based on the block priority information, wherein the second scrubbing frequency is lower than the first scrubbing frequency;

perform a first data scrubbing operation on a first logical block associated with the first block number according to the first scrubbing frequency; and

perform a second data scrubbing operation on a second logical block associated with the second block number according to the second scrubbing frequency;

wherein the first priority is determined based on content of the first logical block.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the control is further to:

monitor a reliability parameter of the first storage device of the storage medium; and

when the reliability parameter exceeds a threshold, selectively transfer content of the first storage device to the second storage device based on the block priority information.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the allocation logical block information is indicative of an allocation status of a logical block in the first storage device, wherein the allocation status includes allocated and unallocated, and wherein the controller is further to:

when the allocation status is allocated, transfer content of the logical block to the second storage device; and

when the allocation status is unallocated, skip transferring the content of the logical block to the second storage device.

11. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions that when executed cause a controller of a storage system to:

transmit a reconstruction notification to a file system via a communication agent;

receive block priority information from the file system via the communication agent, wherein the block priority information and the file system are associated with a logical volume of a first storage device of the storage system, and wherein the block priority information includes allocated logical block information and prioritized content location information; and

selectively perform a reconstruction operation on a logical volume of the first storage device, the reconstruction operation comprising reconstructing the logical volume in the second storage device based on the block priority information;

wherein a buffer replacement policy is to be modified by the file system to increase a likelihood of the second storage device maintaining an association with a buffer pool during the reconstruction operation.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the allocated logical block information is indicative of an allocation status of a logical block in the logical volume, and wherein the allocation status includes allocated and unallocated.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 12, wherein the instructions when executed further cause the controller of the storage system to:

when the allocation status is allocated, perform the reconstruction operation on the logical block; and

when the allocation status is unallocated, skip the reconstruction operation on the logical block.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the logical volume includes a first allocated logical block and a second allocated logical block, wherein the first allocated logical block includes first content having a first priority, wherein the second allocated logical block includes second content having a second priority that is lower than the first priority, and wherein the prioritized content location information includes a first block number associated with the first allocated logical block and a second block number associated with the second allocated logical block.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 14, wherein the instructions when executed further cause the controller of the storage system to perform the reconstruction operation on the first allocated logical block prior to the second allocated logical block.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the prioritized content location information includes a first block number associated with a first logical block and a second block number associated with a second logical block,

wherein the instructions when executed further cause the controller of the storage system to:

determine a first scrubbing frequency and a second scrubbing frequency based on the block priority information, wherein the second scrubbing frequency is lower than the first scrubbing frequency;

perform a first data scrubbing operation on a first logical block associated with the first block number according to the first scrubbing frequency; and

perform a second data scrubbing operation on a second logical block associated with the second block number according to the second scrubbing frequency; and

wherein the first priority is determined based on content of the first logical block.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the instructions when executed further cause the controller of the storage system to:

monitor a reliability parameter of the first storage device of the storage system; and

when the reliability parameter exceeds a threshold, selectively transfer content of the first storage device to the second storage device based on the block priority information.

18. A method, comprising:

transmit, by a controller associated with a storage medium, a reconstruction notification to a file system via a communication agent;

receive, at the controller, block priority information from the file system via the communication agent, wherein the block priority information and the file system are associated with a logical volume of a first storage device, and wherein the block priority information includes allocated logical block information and prioritized content location information; and

selectively perform, by the controller, a reconstruction operation on the logical volume of the first storage device, the reconstruction operation comprises reconstructing the logical volume in the second storage device based on the block priority information;

wherein a buffer replacement policy is to be modified by the file system to increase a likelihood of the second storage device maintaining an association with a buffer pool during the reconstruction operation.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the logical volume includes a first allocated logical block and a second allocated logical block, wherein the first allocated logical block includes first content having a first priority, wherein the second allocated logical block includes second content having a second priority that is lower than the first priority, wherein the prioritized content location information includes a first block number associated with the first allocated logical block and a second block number associated with the second allocated logical block, wherein the first content corresponds to metadata of the file system, and wherein the second content corresponds to non-metadata of the file system, the method further comprising:

performing, by the controller, the reconstruction operation on the first allocated logical block prior to the second allocated logical block.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein the block priority information includes a first block number associated with a first logical block and a second block number associated with a second logical block, the method further comprising:

determining, by the controller, a first scrubbing frequency and a second scrubbing frequency based on the block priority information, wherein the second scrubbing frequency is lower than the first scrubbing frequency;

performing, by the controller, a first data scrubbing operation on a first logical block associated with the first block number according to the first scrubbing frequency; and

performing, by the controller, a second data scrubbing operation on a second logical block associated with the second block number according to the second scrubbing frequency.

21. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

monitoring, by the controller, a reliability parameter of the first storage device of the storage medium; and

when the reliability parameter exceeds a threshold, selectively transfer, by the controller, content of the first storage device to the second storage device based on the block priority information.