Assignment of newly added data storage drives to an original data storage drive partnership group and a new data storage drive partnership group in a mapped RAID (redundant array of independent disks) system

• US 10,592,111 B1
• Filed: 07/28/2017
• Issued: 03/17/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 07/28/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Emc IP Holding Company LLC (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Emc IP Holding Company LLC (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Inventors: Wang, Sheng, Dong, Jibing, Han, Geng, Xu, Xinlei, Gao, Jian, Ree, Sun, Wahl, Michael
• Primary Examiner(s): McCarthy, Christopher S
• Application Number:
  US15/662,742
• Time in Patent Office: 963 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0607 by facilitating the process of upgrading existing storage systems, e.g. for improving compatibility between host and storage device
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0611 in relation to response time
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0619 in relation to data integrity, e.g. data losses, bit errors
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0631 by allocating resources to storage 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: G06F 3/0689 Disk arrays, e.g. RAID, JBOD

Abstract

Technology within a mapped RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) data storage system for avoiding wasted capacity in a hybrid array of data storage drives. Drives from a set of new drives may be added to an original partnership group of drives such that the number of highest capacity drives in the original partnership group remains or is made to be at least as large as a minimum number of drives required to provide RAID data protection. Drives may also be added to the original partnership group such that the number of highest capacity drives in a newly created partnership group is also at least as large as the minimum number of drives required to provide RAID data protection. The minimum required number of drives may be equal to or greater than the total number of drive extents indicated by each RAID extent in a RAID mapping table.

Claims

1. A method of providing RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) data protection for a storage object in a data storage system, wherein the data storage system includes a storage processor and an array of data storage drives communicably coupled to the storage processor, wherein the array of data storage drives includes an original partnership group of data storage drives, the method comprising:

generating a RAID mapping table, wherein the RAID mapping table contains a plurality of RAID extents, wherein each RAID extent contained in the RAID mapping table indicates a predetermined total number of drive extents that each persistently store host data written to the storage object, and wherein each drive extent comprises a contiguous region of non-volatile data storage located on one of the data storage drives, wherein the RAID mapping table contains an original RAID extent group corresponding to the original partnership group, wherein the original RAID extent group contains a plurality of RAID extents, and wherein all RAID extents contained in the original RAID extent group only indicate drive extents that are located on data storage drives that are contained in the original partnership group;

detecting the addition of a set of new data storage drives to the array of data storage drives;

determining a total number of highest capacity data storage drives in the original partnership group;

comparing the total number of highest capacity data storage drives in the original partnership group to a minimum number of data storage drives required to provide RAID data protection for the storage object; and

in response to the total number of highest capacity data storage drives in the original partnership group being at least as large as the minimum number of data storage drives required to provide RAID data protection for the storage object,

i) adding data storage drives from the set of new data storage drives in ascending order of capacity to the original partnership group until a total number of data storage drives in the original partnership group is equal to a maximum partnership group size,

ii) creating a new partnership group made up of those data storage drives in the set of new data storage drives that were not added to the original partnership group, and

iii) creating a new RAID extent group in the RAID mapping table, the new RAID extent group corresponding to the new partnership group, wherein the new RAID extent group contains a plurality of RAID extents, and wherein all RAID extents contained in the new RAID extent group only indicate drive extents that are located on data storage drives that are contained in the new partnership group.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the highest capacity data storage drives in the original partnership group and the highest capacity data storage drives in the set of new data storage drives each have the same capacity, and further comprising, in response to the total number of highest capacity data storage drives in the original partnership group being less than the minimum number of data storage drives required to provide RAID data protection for the storage object:

determining a total number of highest capacity data storage drives in the set of new data storage drives;

comparing a sum of the total number of highest capacity data storage drives in the original partnership group and the total number of highest capacity data storage drives in the set of new data storage drives to double the minimum number of data storage drives required to provide RAID data protection for the storage object;

determining whether a number of new data storage drives can be added to the original partnership group that is equal to a difference between the total number of highest capacity data storage drives in the original partnership group and the minimum number of data storage drives required to provide RAID data protection for the storage object without a total number of data storage drives in the original partnership group exceeding a maximum partnership group size; and

in response to the sum of the total number of highest capacity data storage drives in the original partnership group and the total number of highest capacity data storage drives in the set of new data storage drives being at least as large as double the minimum number of data storage drives required to provide RAID data protection for the storage object, and to a determination that a number of new data storage drives can be added to the original partnership group that is equal to the difference between the total number of highest capacity data storage drives in the original partnership group and the minimum number of data storage drives required to provide RAID data protection for the storage object without the total number of data storage drives in the original partnership group exceeding the maximum partnership group size,

i) adding highest capacity data storage drives from the set of new data storage drives to the original partnership group until the total number of highest capacity data storage drives in the original partnership group is equal to the minimum number of data storage drives required to provide RAID data protection for the storage object,

ii) creating a new partnership group made up of those data storage drives in the set of new data storage drives that were not added to the original partnership group, and

iii) creating a new RAID extent group in the RAID mapping table, the new RAID extent group corresponding to the new partnership group, wherein the new RAID extent group contains a plurality of RAID extents, and wherein all RAID extents contained in the new RAID extent group only indicate drive extents that are located on data storage drives that are contained in the new partnership group.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the highest capacity data storage drives in the original partnership group and the highest capacity data storage drives in the set of new data storage drives each have the same capacity, and further comprising, in response to the total number of highest capacity data storage drives in the original partnership group being less than the minimum number of data storage drives required to provide RAID data protection for the storage object and to the sum of the total number of highest capacity data storage drives in the original partnership group and the total number of highest capacity data storage drives in the set of new data storage drives being less than double the minimum number of data storage drives required to provide RAID data protection for the storage object:

comparing the sum of the total number of highest capacity data storage drives in the original partnership group and the total number of highest capacity data storage drives in the set of new data storage drives to the minimum number of data storage drives required to provide RAID data protection for the storage object;

determining whether a number of new data storage drives can be added to the original partnership group that is equal to a difference between the total number of highest capacity data storage drives in the original partnership group and the minimum number of data storage drives required to provide RAID data protection for the storage object without a total number of data storage drives in the original partnership group exceeding a maximum partnership group size; and

in response to the sum of the total number of highest capacity data storage drives in the original partnership group and the total number of highest capacity data storage drives in the set of new data storage drives being at least as large as the minimum number of data storage drives required to provide RAID data protection for the storage object, and to a determination that a number of new data storage drives can be added to the original partnership group that is equal to the difference between the total number of highest capacity data storage drives in the original partnership group and the minimum number of data storage drives required to provide RAID data protection for the storage object without the total number of data storage drives in the original partnership group exceeding the maximum partnership group size,

i) adding data storage drives from the set of new data storage drives in descending order of capacity to the original partnership group until a total number of data storage drives in the original partnership group is equal to a maximum partnership group size,

ii) creating a new partnership group made up of those data storage drives in the set of new data storage drives that were not added to the original partnership group, and

iii) creating a new RAID extent group in the RAID mapping table, the new RAID extent group corresponding to the new partnership group, wherein the new RAID extent group contains a plurality of RAID extents, and wherein all RAID extents contained in the new RAID extent group only indicate drive extents that are located on data storage drives that are contained in the new partnership group.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising, in response to the total number of highest capacity data storage drives in the original partnership group being less than the minimum number of data storage drives required to provide RAID data protection for the storage object and to the sum of the total number of highest capacity data storage drives in the original partnership group and the total number of highest capacity data storage drives in the set of new data storage drives being less than the minimum number of data storage drives required to provide RAID data protection for the storage object:

adding data storage drives from the set of new data storage drives in ascending order of capacity to the original partnership group until a total number of data storage drives in the original partnership group is equal to a maximum partnership group size;

creating a new partnership group made up of those data storage drives in the set of new data storage drives that were not added to the original partnership group; and

creating a new RAID extent group in the RAID mapping table, the new RAID extent group corresponding to the new partnership group, wherein the new RAID extent group contains a plurality of RAID extents, and wherein all RAID extents contained in the new RAID extent group only indicate drive extents that are located on data storage drives that are contained in the new partnership group.

5. The method of claim 3, further comprising, in response to the total number of highest capacity data storage drives in the original partnership group being less than the minimum number of data storage drives required to provide RAID data protection for the storage object and to a determination that a number of new data storage drives cannot be added to the original partnership group that is equal to the difference between the total number of highest capacity data storage drives in the original partnership group and the minimum number of data storage drives required to provide RAID data protection for the storage object without the total number of data storage drives in the original partnership group exceeding the maximum partnership group size:

adding data storage drives from the set of new data storage drives in ascending order of capacity to the original partnership group until a total number of data storage drives in the original partnership group is equal to a maximum partnership group size;

creating a new partnership group made up of those data storage drives in the set of new data storage drives that were not added to the original partnership group; and

creating a new RAID extent group in the RAID mapping table, the new RAID extent group corresponding to the new partnership group, wherein the new RAID extent group contains a plurality of RAID extents, and wherein all RAID extents contained in the new RAID extent group only indicate drive extents that are located on data storage drives that are contained in the new partnership group.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the minimum number of data storage drives required to provide RAID data protection for the storage object is greater than the total number of drive extents indicated by each RAID extent in the RAID mapping table;

and

wherein the maximum drive group size is at least twice as large as the minimum number of data storage drives required to provide RAID data protection for the storage object.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the minimum number of data storage drives required to provide RAID data protection for the storage object is equal to the total number of drive extents indicated by each RAID extent in the RAID mapping table;

and

wherein the maximum drive group size is at least twice as large as the minimum number of data storage drives required to provide RAID data protection for the storage object.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein a plurality of unallocated drive extents located on the data storage drives contained in the original partnership group are available as free drive extents to be allocated, in response to detecting a failure of one of the data storage drives contained in the original partnership group, to one or more RAID extents in the original RAID extent group, to replace drive extents located on the failed data storage drive contained in the original partnership group;

and

wherein a plurality of unallocated drive extents located on the data storage drives contained in the new partnership group are available as free drive extents to be allocated, in response to detecting a failure of a data storage drive contained in the new partnership group, to one or more RAID extents in the new RAID extent group, to replace drive extents located on the failed data storage drive contained in the new partnership group.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein drive extents are allocated to RAID extents in the RAID mapping table such that no two drive extents indicated by any single RAID extent are located on the same data storage drive.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the total number of highest capacity data storage drives in the original partnership group comprises:

determining the total capacity of each one of the data storage drives in the original partnership group; and

counting the number of data storage drives having the highest capacity in the original partnership group.

11. A data storage system that provides RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) data protection for a storage object, comprising:

at least one storage processor including processing circuitry and a memory;

an array of data storage drives communicably coupled to the storage processor, wherein the array of data storage drives includes an original partnership group of data storage drives; and

wherein the memory has program code stored thereon, wherein the program code, when executed by the processing circuitry, causes the processing circuitry to;

generate a RAID mapping table, wherein the RAID mapping table contains a plurality of RAID extents, wherein each RAID extent contained in the RAID mapping table indicates a predetermined total number of drive extents that each persistently store host data written to the storage object, and wherein each drive extent comprises a contiguous region of non-volatile data storage located on one of the data storage drives, wherein the RAID mapping table contains an original RAID extent group corresponding to the original partnership group, wherein the original RAID extent group contains a plurality of RAID extents, and wherein all RAID extents contained in the original RAID extent group only indicate drive extents that are located on data storage drives that are contained in the original partnership group,

detect the addition of a set of new data storage drives to the array of data storage drives,

determine a total number of highest capacity data storage drives in the original partnership group,

compare the total number of highest capacity data storage drives in the original partnership group to a minimum number of data storage drives required to provide RAID data protection for the storage object, and

in response to the total number of highest capacity data storage drives in the original partnership group being at least as large as the minimum number of data storage drives required to provide RAID data protection for the storage object,

i) add data storage drives from the set of new data storage drives in ascending order of capacity to the original partnership group until a total number of data storage drives in the original partnership group is equal to a maximum partnership group size,

ii) create a new partnership group made up of those data storage drives in the set of new data storage drives that were not added to the original partnership group, and

iii) create a new RAID extent group in the RAID mapping table, the new RAID extent group corresponding to the new partnership group, wherein the new RAID extent group contains a plurality of RAID extents, and wherein all RAID extents contained in the new RAID extent group only indicate drive extents that are located on data storage drives that are contained in the new partnership group.

12. The data storage system of claim 11, wherein the highest capacity data storage drives in the original partnership group and the highest capacity data storage drives in the set of new data storage drives each have the same capacity, and wherein the program code, when executed by the processing circuitry, in response to the total number of highest capacity data storage drives in the original partnership group being less than the minimum number of data storage drives required to provide RAID data protection for the storage object, further causes the processing circuitry to:

determine a total number of highest capacity data storage drives in the set of new data storage drives;

compare a sum of the total number of highest capacity data storage drives in the original partnership group and the total number of highest capacity data storage drives in the set of new data storage drives to double the minimum number of data storage drives required to provide RAID data protection for the storage object;

determine whether a number of new data storage drives can be added to the original partnership group that is equal to a difference between the total number of highest capacity data storage drives in the original partnership group and the minimum number of data storage drives required to provide RAID data protection for the storage object without a total number of data storage drives in the original partnership group exceeding a maximum partnership group size; and

in response to the sum of the total number of highest capacity data storage drives in the original partnership group and the total number of highest capacity data storage drives in the set of new data storage drives being at least as large as double the minimum number of data storage drives required to provide RAID data protection for the storage object, and to a determination that a number of new data storage drives can be added to the original partnership group that is equal to the difference between the total number of highest capacity data storage drives in the original partnership group and the minimum number of data storage drives required to provide RAID data protection for the storage object without the total number of data storage drives in the original partnership group exceeding the maximum partnership group size,

i) add highest capacity data storage drives from the set of new data storage drives to the original partnership group until the total number of highest capacity data storage drives in the original partnership group is equal to the minimum number of data storage drives required to provide RAID data protection for the storage object,

ii) create a new partnership group made up of those data storage drives in the set of new data storage drives that were not added to the original partnership group, and

iii) create a new RAID extent group in the RAID mapping table, the new RAID extent group corresponding to the new partnership group, wherein the new RAID extent group contains a plurality of RAID extents, and wherein all RAID extents contained in the new RAID extent group only indicate drive extents that are located on data storage drives that are contained in the new partnership group.

13. The data storage system of claim 11, wherein the highest capacity data storage drives in the original partnership group and the highest capacity data storage drives in the set of new data storage drives each have the same capacity, and wherein the program code, when executed by the processing circuitry, in response to the total number of highest capacity data storage drives in the original partnership group being less than the minimum number of data storage drives required to provide RAID data protection for the storage object and to the sum of the total number of highest capacity data storage drives in the original partnership group and the total number of highest capacity data storage drives in the set of new data storage drives being less than double the minimum number of data storage drives required to provide RAID data protection for the storage object, further causes the processing circuitry to:

compare the sum of the total number of highest capacity data storage drives in the original partnership group and the total number of highest capacity data storage drives in the set of new data storage drives to the minimum number of data storage drives required to provide RAID data protection for the storage object;

determine whether a number of new data storage drives can be added to the original partnership group that is equal to a difference between the total number of highest capacity data storage drives in the original partnership group and the minimum number of data storage drives required to provide RAID data protection for the storage object without a total number of data storage drives in the original partnership group exceeding a maximum partnership group size; and

in response to the sum of the total number of highest capacity data storage drives in the original partnership group and the total number of highest capacity data storage drives in the set of new data storage drives being at least as large as the minimum number of data storage drives required to provide RAID data protection for the storage object, and to a determination that a number of new data storage drives can be added to the original partnership group that is equal to the difference between the total number of highest capacity data storage drives in the original partnership group and the minimum number of data storage drives required to provide RAID data protection for the storage object without the total number of data storage drives in the original partnership group exceeding the maximum partnership group size,

i) add data storage drives from the set of new data storage drives in descending order of capacity to the original partnership group until a total number of data storage drives in the original partnership group is equal to a maximum partnership group size,

ii) create a new partnership group made up of those data storage drives in the set of new data storage drives that were not added to the original partnership group, and

iii) create a new RAID extent group in the RAID mapping table, the new RAID extent group corresponding to the new partnership group, wherein the new RAID extent group contains a plurality of RAID extents, and wherein all RAID extents contained in the new RAID extent group only indicate drive extents that are located on data storage drives that are contained in the new partnership group.

14. The data storage system of claim 13, wherein the program code, when executed by the processing circuitry, in response to the total number of highest capacity data storage drives in the original partnership group being less than the minimum number of data storage drives required to provide RAID data protection for the storage object and to the sum of the total number of highest capacity data storage drives in the original partnership group and the total number of highest capacity data storage drives in the set of new data storage drives being less than the minimum number of data storage drives required to provide RAID data protection for the storage object, further causes the processing circuitry to:

add data storage drives from the set of new data storage drives in ascending order of capacity to the original partnership group until a total number of data storage drives in the original partnership group is equal to a maximum partnership group size;

create a new partnership group made up of those data storage drives in the set of new data storage drives that were not added to the original partnership group; and

create a new RAID extent group in the RAID mapping table, the new RAID extent group corresponding to the new partnership group, wherein the new RAID extent group contains a plurality of RAID extents, and wherein all RAID extents contained in the new RAID extent group only indicate drive extents that are located on data storage drives that are contained in the new partnership group.

15. The data storage system of claim 13, wherein the program code, when executed by the processing circuitry, in response to the total number of highest capacity data storage drives in the original partnership group being less than the minimum number of data storage drives required to provide RAID data protection for the storage object and to a determination that a number of new data storage drives cannot be added to the original partnership group that is equal to the difference between the total number of highest capacity data storage drives in the original partnership group and the minimum number of data storage drives required to provide RAID data protection for the storage object without the total number of data storage drives in the original partnership group exceeding the maximum partnership group size, further causes the processing circuitry to:

add data storage drives from the set of new data storage drives in ascending order of capacity to the original partnership group until a total number of data storage drives in the original partnership group is equal to a maximum partnership group size;

create a new partnership group made up of those data storage drives in the set of new data storage drives that were not added to the original partnership group; and

create a new RAID extent group in the RAID mapping table, the new RAID extent group corresponding to the new partnership group, wherein the new RAID extent group contains a plurality of RAID extents, and wherein all RAID extents contained in the new RAID extent group only indicate drive extents that are located on data storage drives that are contained in the new partnership group.

16. The data storage system of claim 15, wherein the minimum number of data storage drives required to provide RAID data protection for the storage object is greater than the total number of drive extents indicated by each RAID extent in the RAID mapping table;

and

wherein the maximum drive group size is at least twice as large as the minimum number of data storage drives required to provide RAID data protection for the storage object.

17. The data storage system of claim 15, wherein the minimum number of data storage drives required to provide RAID data protection for the storage object is equal to the total number of drive extents indicated by each RAID extent in the RAID mapping table;

and

wherein the maximum drive group size is at least twice as large as the minimum number of data storage drives required to provide RAID data protection for the storage object.

18. The data storage system of claim 15, wherein a plurality of unallocated drive extents located on the data storage drives contained in the original partnership group are available as free drive extents to be allocated, in response to detection of a failure of one of the data storage drives contained in the original partnership group, to one or more RAID extents in the original RAID extent group, to replace drive extents located on the failed data storage drive contained in the original partnership group;

and

wherein a plurality of unallocated drive extents located on the data storage drives contained in the new partnership group are available as free drive extents to be allocated, in response to detection of a failure of a data storage drive contained in the new partnership group, to one or more RAID extents in the new RAID extent group, to replace drive extents located on the failed data storage drive contained in the new partnership group.

19. The data storage system of claim 18, wherein drive extents are allocated to RAID extents in the RAID mapping table such that no two drive extents indicated by any single RAID extent are located on the same data storage drive.

20. A non-transitory computer readable medium for providing RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) data protection for a storage object in a data storage system, wherein the data storage system includes a storage processor and an array of data storage drives communicably coupled to the storage processor, wherein the array of data storage drives includes an original partnership group of data storage drives, the non-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructions stored thereon that when executed on processing circuitry in the storage processor perform the steps of:

generating a RAID mapping table, wherein the RAID mapping table contains a plurality of RAID extents, wherein each RAID extent contained in the RAID mapping table indicates a predetermined total number of drive extents that each persistently store host data written to the storage object, and wherein each drive extent comprises a contiguous region of non-volatile data storage located on one of the data storage drives, wherein the RAID mapping table contains an original RAID extent group corresponding to the original partnership group, wherein the original RAID extent group contains a plurality of RAID extents, and wherein all RAID extents contained in the original RAID extent group only indicate drive extents that are located on data storage drives that are contained in the original partnership group;

detecting the addition of a set of new data storage drives to the array of data storage drives;

determining a total number of highest capacity data storage drives in the original partnership group;

comparing the total number of highest capacity data storage drives in the original partnership group to a minimum number of data storage drives required to provide RAID data protection for the storage object; and

in response to the total number of highest capacity data storage drives in the original partnership group being at least as large as the minimum number of data storage drives required to provide RAID data protection for the storage object,

i) adding data storage drives from the set of new data storage drives in ascending order of capacity to the original partnership group until a total number of data storage drives in the original partnership group is equal to a maximum partnership group size,

ii) creating a new partnership group made up of those data storage drives in the set of new data storage drives that were not added to the original partnership group, and

iii) creating a new RAID extent group in the RAID mapping table, the new RAID extent group corresponding to the new partnership group, wherein the new RAID extent group contains a plurality of RAID extents, and wherein all RAID extents contained in the new RAID extent group only indicate drive extents that are located on data storage drives that are contained in the new partnership group.