Network data management protocol redirector

• US 10,481,800 B1
• Filed: 04/28/2017
• Issued: 11/19/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 04/28/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Emc IP Holding Company LLC (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Emc IP Holding Company LLC (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Inventors: Pandian, Ilavarasu, Haidry, Moiz, Koppaka, Sri Harsha, Yuan, Hsing, Nellore, Hymanand, Arora, Mandeep Singh
• Primary Examiner(s): Rubin, Blake J
• Application Number:
  US15/582,449
• Time in Patent Office: 935 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3433 for load management allocation of a server based on load conditions G06F9/505; load rebalancing G06F9/5083; redistributing the load in a network by a load balancer H04L67/1029
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3485 for I/O devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3495 for systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/061 Improving I/O performance
• 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 3/067 Distributed or networked storage systems, e.g. storage area networks [SAN], network attached storage [NAS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0823 characterised by the purposes of a change of settings, e.g. optimising configuration for enhancing reliability for optimising operational conditions of wireless networks H04W24/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1001 for accessing one among a plurality of replicated servers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1008 based on parameters of servers, e.g. available memory or workload monitoring of computer activity G06F11/30
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1023 based on a hash applied to IP addresses or costs
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1097 for distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS]

Abstract

A network attached storage (NAS) cluster can run with a set of heterogeneous hardware nodes, where not all nodes in the cluster have access to the same target connectivities. In one aspect, network data management protocol (NDMP) sessions can be redirected from a first node of the NAS cluster to a second node of the NAS cluster to balance NDMP load across the NAS cluster and improve resource utilization across cluster. Further, the NDMP load can be actively monitored to balance it continuously to increase resource utilization efficiency.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory that stores executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, facilitate performance of operations, comprising;

receiving, from a data management application, request data indicative of a request to initiate a network data management protocol (NDMP) session directed to a first network attached storage node device of network attached storage node devices within a clustered file system, wherein the data management application is a third-party application utilized by a client device to schedule a data transfer operation,

in response to the receiving, determining load data indicative of respective load factors of the network attached storage node devices, the load data comprising a ratio of a first number of NDMP sessions for a second network attached storage node device of the network attached storage node devices to a defined number of NDMP sessions for the second network attached storage node device; and

based on the load data, selecting a second network attached storage node device of the network attached storage node devices to which the NDMP session is to be redirected, wherein as part of a redirection of the NDMP session, the first network attached storage node device forwards feedback data received from the second network attached storage node device to the data management application.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise:

relaying communication data received from the data management application to the second network attached storage node device.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the first network attached storage node device is a master NDMP message communication channel between the data management application and the clustered file system.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the second network attached storage node device comprises a data server that at least one of reads data from or writes the data to a primary storage device of the clustered file system.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein a mover that at least one of reads the data from or writes the data to a tape device is to be implemented via the second network attached storage node device in response to determining that the second network attached storage node device comprises a Fibre-channel card.

6. The system of claim 4, wherein the operations further comprise:

implementing, via the first network attached storage node device, a mover that at least one of reads the data from or writes the data to a tape device in response to determining that the second network attached storage node device does not comprise a Fibre-channel card and that the first network attached storage node device comprises the Fibre-channel card.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the data is transferred between the data server and the mover via a backend network of the clustered file system.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the respective load factors are determined based on resource utilization of the network attached storage node devices.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein a first load factor of the respective load factors that has been assigned to the first network attached storage node device is determined to be greater than a second load factor of the respective load factors that has been assigned to the second network attached storage node device.

16. The system of claim 1, wherein the load data comprises a ratio of:

(i) a sum of a free memory of the second network attached storage node device, an inactive memory of the second network attached storage node device, and a cache memory of the second network attached storage node device to (ii) a maximum memory of the second network attached storage node device.

17. The system of claim 1, wherein the load data comprises a ratio of (i) a sum of a user processor utilization of the second network attached storage node device, and a system processor utilization of the second network attached storage node device to (ii) a maximum processor utilization of the second network attached storage node device.

18. The system of claim 1, wherein the load data comprises a weighting of a processor utilization of the second network attached storage node device, a memory utilization of the second network attached storage node device, and the ratio of the number of NDMP sessions for the second network attached storage node device of the network attached storage node devices to the maximum number of NDMP sessions for the second network attached storage node device.

19. The system of claim 1, wherein the first network attached storage node device redirects the NDMP session to the second network attached storage node device via a first communications channel, and wherein the operations further comprise:

the first network attached storage node device receiving a first data from the second network attached storage node device via a second communications channel that is separate from the first communications channel in response to the first network attached storage node device redirecting the NDMP session; and

the first network attached storage device writing the first data to a secondary storage device.

20. The system of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise:

the second network attached storage node device sending a first data to a third network attached node storage device in response to the first network attached storage node device redirecting the NDMP session; and

the third network attached node storage device writing the first data to a secondary storage device.

10. A method, comprising:

receiving, by a first network attached storage node device of network attached storage node devices within a clustered file system, instruction data from a data management application to perform a network data management protocol (NDMP) session, wherein the first network attached storage node device comprises a processor, and wherein the data management application is a third-party application utilized by a client device to initiate a data transfer operation;

in response to the receiving, analyzing load data indicative of a load associated with the network attached storage node devices, the load data comprising a ratio of a first number of NDMP sessions for a second network attached storage node device of the network attached storage node devices to a defined number of NDMP sessions for the second network attached storage node device; and

based on the analyzing, directing the NDMP session to a second network attached storage node device of the network attached storage node devices, wherein the directing comprises transferring feedback data received from the second network attached storage node device to the data management application.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the directing facilitates hosting, via the second network attached storage node device that has access to a primary storage device of the clustered system, a data server that reads file data stored within the primary storage device and transfers the file data to a mover device via a backend network link, and wherein the mover device is employable to write the information to a secondary storage device.

12. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

tracking a resource utilized by the NDMP session; and

in response to determining that a throttling criterion has been satisfied, reducing a utilization of the resource by the NDMP session.

13. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions that, in response to execution, cause a system comprising a processor to perform operations, comprising:

determining that request data to initiate a network data management protocol (NDMP) session is transmitted from a data management application to a first network attached storage node device of network attached storage node devices within a clustered file system, wherein the data management application is a third-party application employable by a client device to initiate a data transfer operation;

in response to the determining, analyzing load data indicative of a load associated with the network attached storage node devices, the load data comprising a ratio of a first number of NDMP sessions for a second network attached storage node device of the network attached storage node devices to a defined number of NDMP sessions for the second network attached storage node device; and

based on the analyzing, directing the NDMP session to a second network attached storage node device of the network attached storage node devices, wherein the directing comprises transferring feedback data received from the second network attached storage node device to the data management application.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the directing comprises directing communication data received from the data management application to the second network attached storage node device.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the directing comprises directing the NDMP session to the second network attached storage node device in response to determining that the second network attached storage node device does not have access to a port of a Fibre-channel card.