Methods and systems for facilitating communications with storage

• US 10,628,086 B2
• Filed: 05/02/2017
• Issued: 04/21/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 11/16/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Calder, Bradley Gene, Edwards, Andrew James, Wang, Ju, Arafeh, Samer, Engineer, Anu, Zuo, Yue
• Primary Examiner(s): Chan, Wing F
• Assistant Examiner(s): Woo, Andrew
• Application Number:
  US15/584,562
• Publication Number:
  US 20170235525A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,085 Days
• Field of Search: 709227, 709229
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 15/161 Computing infrastructure, e.g. computer clusters, blade chassis or hardware partitioning casings, cabinets, racks or drawers for data centers H05K5/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/06 Digital input from, or digital output to, record carriers , e.g. RAID, emulated record carriers or networked record carriers
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0604 Improving or facilitating administration, e.g. storage management
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0626 Reducing size or complexity of storage systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0644 Management of space entities, e.g. partitions, extents, pools
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0661 Format or protocol conversion arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0664 at device level, e.g. emulation of a storage device or system
• 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 3/0686 Libraries, e.g. tape libraries, jukebox

Abstract

Cloud computing platforms having computer-readable media that perform methods for facilitating communications with storage. A request having a first-interface format to access storage is intercepted. The first interface format of the request supports access to a virtual hard drive (VHD). The request is translated to a blob request having a blob interface format. The blob interface format of the blob request supports access to a plurality of blobs of data in a blob store. The blob request is communicated to a blob interface such that the blob request is executed in managing the plurality of blobs.

Claims

1. A method for facilitating communications with storage, the method comprising:

intercepting a request having a first-interface format associated with an application programming interface (API), wherein the API and the first interface format of the request supports access to a storage resource;

translating the request to a blob request having a blob interface format, wherein the blob interface format of the blob request supports access to a plurality of blobs of data in a blob store, wherein the plurality of blobs are directly accessible through a blob interface for blob requests and the plurality of blobs are accessible by translating requests to blob requests and redirecting the requests away from the storage resource; and

communicating the blob request that is translated to have the blob interface format to the blob interface such that the blob request is executed in managing the plurality of blobs.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the request is generated to function with the API for communicating with the storage resource.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the API is a legacy interface for communicating with the storage resource.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the request is an input/output (I/O) request.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the storage resource is mounted by an application.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the storage resource is mounted for access to the plurality of blobs based on a time-limited lease associated with an application.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the time-limited lease is renewable for the application to maintain access to the plurality of blobs.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the request is generated at a client device running an application via a cloud computing platform.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the client device includes storage information comprising configuration settings that facilitate access to a blob server.

10. A system for facilitating communications with storage, the system comprising:

one or more hardware processors and memory storing computer-executable instructions and components embodied thereon that, when executed, by the one or more hardware processors, cause the hardware processors to execute an application configured for;

generating a request directed to a storage resource, the request having a first interface format associated with an application programming interface (API), wherein the API and the first-interface format of the request support access to the storage resource;

a driver configured for;

intercepting the request from the application running on a virtual machine;

translating the request to a blob request having a blob interface format, wherein the blob interface format of the blob request supports access to a plurality of blobs of data in a blob store, wherein the plurality of blobs are directly accessible through a blob interface for blob requests and the plurality of blobs are accessible by translating requests to blob requests and redirecting the requests away from the storage resource; and

communicating the blob request that is translated to have the blob interface format to the blob interface such that the request is executed in managing the plurality of blobs.

11. The system of claim 10, further comprising:

a blob server configured for;

storing the plurality of blobs in the blob store that are exposed via the storage resource to the application; and

receiving via the blob interface the request for access to the plurality of blobs, wherein the request is communicated as the blob request upon translation by the driver.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the blob server further comprises one or more snapshots of the plurality of blobs, wherein the one or more snapshots are created via the blob interface to allow additional applications to concurrently read data stored in the plurality of blobs.

13. The system of claim 10, further comprising:

an input/output (I/O) redirection component configured for;

redirecting the request from the storage resource to the driver.

14. The system of claim 10, wherein the driver is further configured for:

translating the request to the blob request, wherein translating the blob request comprises;

accessing a drive library to locate a drive command;

identifying the drive command that interprets the request; and

converting the request based on the drive command to the blob request; and

communicating the blob request to the blob interface wherein communicating the blob request comprises;

locating a blob on a blob server;

transmitting the blob request through the blob interface to the blob store on the blob server; and

reporting information associated with the blob request to the application.

15. The system of claim 10, wherein the driver is further configured for managing a plurality of time-limited leases associated with the storage resource, wherein the plurality of time-limited leases are renewable.

16. One or more hardware computer storage media storing computer-useable instructions that, when used by one or more computing devices, cause the one or more computing devices to perform a method for facilitating communications with storage, the method comprising:

intercepting a request having a first-interface format that is different from a blob interface format, wherein the first-interface format of the request supports access to a storage resource, wherein the request is directed to the storage resource;

translating the request to a blob request having the blob interface format, wherein the blob interface format of the blob request supports access to a plurality of blobs that store data in a blob store, wherein the plurality of blobs are directly accessible through a blob interface for blob requests and the plurality of blobs are accessible by translating requests to blob requests and redirecting the requests away from the storage resource; and

communicating the blob request that is translated to have the blob interface format to the blob interface such that the blob request is executed in managing the plurality of blobs.

17. The media of claim 16, wherein translating the request comprises:

accessing a drive library to locate a drive command;

identifying the drive command that interprets the request; and

converting the request based on the drive command to the blob request.

18. The media of claim 16, wherein communicating the blob request to the blob interface further comprises:

locating a blob on a blob server;

transmitting the blob request through the blob interface to the blob store on the blob server; and

reporting information associated with the blob request to an application.

19. The media of claim 16, wherein managing the plurality of blobs comprises reading and writing data records on a blob server.

20. The media of claim 16, wherein a snapshot of the plurality of blobs is created via the blob interface to allow additional applications to concurrently read the data stored in the plurality of blobs.