Managing recall delays within hierarchical storage

• US 10,552,081 B1
• Filed: 10/02/2018
• Issued: 02/04/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 10/02/2018
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Steinhauer, Sabine U., Mueller, Frank, Lautenbach, Frank, Mueller-Wicke, Dominic
• Primary Examiner(s): Warren, Tracy A
• Application Number:
  US16/150,088
• Time in Patent Office: 490 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/1827 Management specifically adapted to NAS management of storage area networks [SAN] G06F3/067
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0611 in relation to response time
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0647 Migration mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0653 Monitoring storage devices or systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0685 Hybrid storage combining heterogeneous device types, e.g. hierarchical storage, hybrid arrays
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0686 Libraries, e.g. tape libraries, jukebox
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/01 Protocols
• 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 computer-implemented method according to one embodiment includes identifying, at a client device, a request for data by an application of the client device, sending, from the client device to a first server, the request for the data, suspending a performance of actions on the data by the application of the client device, and presenting a status of a recall of the data to the application of the client device.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

identifying, at a client device, a request for data by an application of the client device;

sending, from the client device to a first server, the request for the data;

suspending a performance of actions on the data by the application of the client device;

receiving progress information for a recall of the data via a message buffer of a network file system (NFS) protocol error code; and

presenting the progress information to the application of the client device.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the request for data is identified by a network file system (NFS) client running within the client device.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a first notification from the first server that the data is being recalled from a second server to the first server, the second server including hierarchical storage management (HSM) server; and

receiving a second notification from the first server that the recall of the data has been completed and the data is currently stored at the first server; and

removing the suspension of the performance of actions on the data by the application of the client device in response to receiving the second notification, including sending a SIGCONT operation from the client device to application of the client device;

wherein suspending the performance of actions on the data is performed in response to receiving the first notification, and includes issuing a SIGSTOP operation to prevent the application from performing further actions on the data.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein in response to determining that the data is not currently stored at the client device, an NFS client at the client device sends the request for the data to an NFS server at the first server to retrieve the data from the first server.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein in response to receiving a notification from the first server that the data is being recalled from a second server to the first server, an NFS client on the client device issues a SIGSTOP operation to prevent the application from performing further actions on the data.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the NFS protocol error code is a NFS4ERR DELAY that is enhanced to include the message buffer.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein progress information is sent from an NFS server to an NFS client utilizing an updated communications protocol.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein progress information is added as metadata to the data.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein progress information added as metadata to the data includes a duration of the recall, a location within tiered storage where the data is located, a type of storage in which the data is located, and a position of the data within tiered storage.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein progress information added as metadata to the data is updated one or more times during the recall of the data.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising receiving a notification from the first server that a recall of the data has been completed, and the data is currently stored at the first server.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 11, further comprising removing a suspension of the performance of actions on the data by the application of the client device, in response to receiving the notification.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 11, further comprising sending the data to the application of the client device.

14. A computer program product for managing recall delays within hierarchical storage, the computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith, wherein the computer readable storage medium is not a transitory signal per se, the program instructions executable by a processor to cause the processor to perform a method comprising:

identifying, by the processor at a client device, a request for data by an application of the client device;

sending, by the processor from the client device to a first server, the request for the data;

suspending, by the processor, a performance of actions on the data by the application of the client device;

receiving, by the processor, progress information for a recall of the data via a message buffer of a network file system (NFS) protocol error code; and

presenting, by the processor, the progress information a status of a recall of the data to the application of the client device.

15. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

receiving, at a first server, a request for data from a client device;

determining that the data has been migrated from the first server to a second server separate from the first server;

initiating a recall of the data from the second server to the first server;

identifying recall information associated with the recall of the data;

calculating a recall duration, based on the recall information; and

sending the recall duration and the recall information from the first server to the client device via a message buffer of a network file system (NFS) protocol error code.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 15, wherein it is determined that the data has been migrated in response to identifying that only a stub associated with the data is stored at the first server.

17. The computer-implemented method of claim 15, wherein the recall information includes metadata describing a tier on which the data is located, a type of storage used to store the data at the tier, whether the storage is mounted, and a position of the data within the storage.

18. The computer-implemented method of claim 15, wherein an HSM client on the first server calculates the recall duration, based on a comparison of the recall information to historic recall information associated with historical recall durations.

19. The computer-implemented method of claim 15, wherein the recall duration and the recall information are sent from an NFS server at the first server to and NFS client at the client device, utilizing an updated communications protocol.

20. The computer-implemented method of claim 15, further comprising:

receiving updated recall information at the first server from the second server during the recall;

re-calculating the recall duration, based on the updated recall information; and

sending the re-calculated recall duration and the updated recall information from the first server to the client device.