Dynamic data protection within a flash storage system

• US 10,496,556 B1
• Filed: 06/25/2015
• Issued: 12/03/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 06/25/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Pure Storage, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Pure Storage, Inc.
• Inventors: Colgrove, John, Driscoll, Alan S., Hodgson, Steven P., Nagpal, Nitin, Noik, Emanuel G., Roper, John
• Primary Examiner(s): Blust, Jason W
• Application Number:
  US14/751,128
• Time in Patent Office: 1,622 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 12/1491 in a hierarchical protection system, e.g. privilege levels, memory rings
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2212/1052 Security improvement
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2212/262 configured as RAID
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0619 in relation to data integrity, e.g. data losses, bit errors
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/065 Replication mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0688 Non-volatile semiconductor memory arrays

Abstract

Dynamically managing protection groups, including: identifying a protection group of storage resources, the protection group associated with a protection group management schedule that identifies one or more protection group management operations to be performed; detecting a membership change in the protection group; and updating, in dependence upon the change in the protection group, the protection group management schedule.

Claims

1. A method of dynamic data protection within a flash storage system, the method comprising:

identifying, by a storage array controller of the flash storage system, a protection group of computing resources, the protection group associated with a protection group management schedule that identifies one or more protection group management operations to be performed, wherein the protection group specifies access by a host to one or more volumes;

detecting, by the storage array controller, a membership change in the protection group including detecting that one or more volumes have been added or removed from the group of volumes accessible by the host by periodically polling, by the storage array controller, the host to identify volumes accessible by the host; and

responsive to the host gaining or losing access to the one or more volumes by the addition or removal of the one or more volumes from the group of volumes, updating, by the storage array controller in dependence upon the membership change in the protection group, the protection group management schedule including at least one of updating the one or more protection group management operations to include the one or more volumes that have been added to the group of volumes accessible by the host and updating the one or more protection group management operations to exclude the one or more volumes that have been removed from the group of volumes accessible by the host.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein:

the protection group management operations include an operation to take a snapshot of a source group of storage resources in the protection group; and

updating the protection group management schedule includes updating a snapshot schedule in dependence upon the membership change in the protection group.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein:

the protection group management operations include an operation to replicate a target group of storage resources in the protection group; and

updating the protection group management schedule includes updating a replication schedule in dependence upon the membership change in the protection group.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

identifying a plurality of members of the protection group;

copying the plurality of members of the protection group to an existing volume; and

provisioning access to the existing volume.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

identifying a plurality of members of the protection group by accessing a snapshot of the protection group;

copying the plurality of members of the protection group to a new volume; and

provisioning access to the new volume.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one volume in the protection group is associated with multiple protection groups.

7. An apparatus for dynamic data protection within a flash storage system, the apparatus including a computer processor and a computer memory, the computer memory including computer program instructions that, when executed, cause the apparatus to carry out the steps of:

identifying, by a storage array controller of the flash storage system, a protection group of computing resources, the protection group associated with a protection group management schedule that identifies one or more protection group management operations to be performed, wherein the protection group specifies access by a host to one or more volumes;

detecting, by the storage array controller, a membership change in the protection group including detecting that one or more volumes have been added or removed from the group of volumes accessible by the host by periodically polling, by the storage array controller, the host to identify volumes accessible by the host; and

responsive to the host gaining or losing access to the one or more volumes by the addition or removal of the one or more volumes from the group of volumes, updating, la the storage array controller in dependence upon the membership change in the protection group, the protection group management schedule including at least one of updating the one or more protection group management operations to include the one or more volumes that have been added to the group of volumes accessible by the host and updating the one or more protection group management operations to exclude the one or more volumes that have been removed from the group of volumes accessible by the host.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 wherein:

the protection group management operations include an operation to take a snapshot of a source group of storage resources in the protection group; and

updating the protection group management schedule includes updating a snapshot schedule in dependence upon the membership change in the protection group.

9. The apparatus of claim 7 wherein:

the protection group management operations include an operation to replicate a target group of storage resources in the protection group; and

updating the protection group management schedule includes updating a replication schedule in dependence upon the membership change in the protection group.

10. The apparatus of claim 7 further comprising computer program instructions that, when executed, cause the apparatus to carry out the steps of:

identifying a plurality of members of the protection group;

copying the plurality of members of the protection group to an existing volume; and

provisioning access to the existing volume.

11. The apparatus of claim 7 further comprising computer program instructions that, when executed, cause the apparatus to carry out the steps of:

identifying a plurality of members of the protection group by accessing a snapshot of the protection group;

copying the plurality of members of the protection group to a new volume; and

provisioning access to the new volume.

12. A computer program product for dynamic data protection within a flash storage system, the computer program product disposed on a non-transitory computer readable medium, the computer program product including computer program instructions that, when executed, cause a computer to carry out the steps of:

identifying, by a storage array controller of the flash storage system, a protection group of computing resources, the protection group associated with a protection group management schedule that identifies one or more protection group management operations to be performed, wherein the protection group specifies access by a host to one or more volumes;

detecting, by the storage array controller, a membership change in the protection group including detecting that one or more volumes have been added or removed from the group of volumes accessible by the host by periodically polling, by the storage array controller, the host to identify volumes accessible by the host; and

responsive to the host gaining or losing access to the one or more volumes by the addition or removal of the one or more volumes from the group of volumes, updating, by the storage array controller in dependence upon the membership change in the protection group, the protection group management schedule including at least one of updating the one or more protection group management operations to include the one or more volumes that have been added to the group of volumes accessible by the host and updating the one or more protection group management operations to exclude the one or more volumes that have been removed from the group of volumes accessible by the host.

13. The computer program product of claim 12 wherein:

the protection group management operations include an operation to take a snapshot of a target group of storage resources in the protection group; and

updating the protection group management schedule includes updating a snapshot schedule in dependence upon the membership change in the protection group.

14. The computer program product of claim 12 wherein:

the protection group management operations include an operation to replicate a source group of storage resources in the protection group; and

updating the protection group management schedule includes updating a replication schedule in dependence upon the membership change in the protection group.

15. The computer program product of claim 12 further comprising computer program instructions that, when executed, cause the computer to carry out the steps of:

identifying a plurality of members of the protection group;

copying the plurality of members of the protection group to an existing volume; and

provisioning access to the existing volume.

16. The computer program product of claim 12 further comprising computer program instructions that, when executed, cause the computer to carry out the steps of:

identifying a plurality of members of the protection group by accessing a snapshot of the protection group;

copying the plurality of members of the protection group to a new volume; and

provisioning access to the new volume.