Data storage management system and method

• US 20040025162A1
• Filed: 07/31/2002
• Published: 02/05/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 07/31/2002
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Ortera Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Ortera Incorporated
• Inventors: Fisk, David C.
• Application Number:
  US10/209,963
• Publication Number:
  US 20040025162A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 718/105
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3414 Workload generation, e.g. scripts, playback
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3447 Performance evaluation by modeling
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3466 Performance evaluation by tracing or monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/81 Threshold
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/86 Event-based monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2206/1012 Load balancing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0613 in relation to throughput
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0631 by allocating resources to storage systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0643 Management of files
• 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 9/5016 the resource being the memory

Abstract

The invention relates to methods and associated systems for managing application workloads and data storage resources. Techniques are disclosed for determining the I/O capacity of a data storage resource for a given workload and allocating resources according to administrator requirements. The invention may be implemented as a transparent layer between the application and the data storage resource, for example, in the file system.

Claims

1. A method of managing a data storage resource comprising:

defining a system of differential equations associated with I/O capacity of a data storage resource; and

mapping I/O demand to I/O capacity according to the system of differential equations.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the system of differential equations is associated with probability distributions of applications associated with the data storage resource.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein mapping I/O demand to I/O capacity comprises spreading an application workload among a plurality of components of the data storage resource.

4. A method of characterizing a data storage resource comprising:

identifying at least one response characteristic of a data storage resource;

determining at least one probability distribution of application workloads associated with the data storage resource; and

determining a response time for at least one of the application workloads according to the at least one response characteristic and the at least one probability distribution.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the at least one response characteristic defines, for the data storage resource, response times relative to load levels.

6. The method of claim 4 wherein the at least one probability distribution defines a percent of I/O activity associated with the data storage resource.

7. The method of claim 4 further comprising determining a utilization level of the data storage resource according to the response time.

8. A method of characterizing a data storage resource comprising:

generating a profile of a data storage resource;

determining a probability distribution of a workload associated with the data storage resource; and

determining a response time for a workload associated with the data storage resource according to the profile and the probability distribution.

9. The method of-claim 8 further comprising determining a utilization level of the data storage resource according to the response time.

10. A method of characterizing a data storage resource comprising:

generating a profile of a data storage resource;

determining a load level of the data storage resource;

determining a probability distribution of a workload associated with the data storage resource; and

determining I/O capacity for a workload associated with the data storage resource according to the profile, the load level and the probability distribution.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein determining I/O capacity further comprises determining I/O capacity according to an arrival rate.

12. A method of allocating a data storage resource comprising:

identifying a plurality of response characteristics of a data storage resource to a plurality of application workloads;

identifying a response time of the data storage resource to at least one of the application workloads; and

spreading the at least one application workload among a plurality of components in the data storage resource in accordance with the response time.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein spreading comprises defining a stripe width of a RAID data storage resource.

14. A method of characterizing a data storage resource comprising:

generating a profile of a data storage resource;

determining a load level of the data storage resource;

determining a probability distribution of a workload associated with the data storage resource;

determining I/O capacity for a workload associated with the data storage resource according to the profile, the load level and the probability distribution;

solving for a parameter according to the profile, the load level, the probability distribution and the I/O capacity.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein the parameter comprises a stripe width.

16. A method of allocating a data storage resource comprising:

monitoring I/O activity;

storing data associated with the monitored I/O activity;

defining at least one response characteristic of a data storage resource according to the stored data;

dividing an application workload among components of the data storage resource based on the stored data and the at least one response characteristic.

17. An encapsulated file system comprising:

at least one data storage resource;

at least one processor executing at least one application and an encapsulation layer process, wherein the encapsulation layer process monitors I/O activity associated with the at least one application and the at least one data storage resource.

18. The system of claim 17 wherein the at least one processor allocates the data storage resource according to the I/O activity.

19. An encapsulated file system comprising:

at least one operating system comprising at least one file system;

at least one virtual node structure associated with a process for modeling application workload; and

at least one virtual node structure associated with a data storage resource.

20. The system of claim 19 wherein, in response to a system call associated with the data storage resource, the at least one operating system invokes the process for modeling application workload.

21. A method of monitoring I/O activity comprising:

processing an I/O request;

redirecting the I/O request to a data monitoring process;

monitoring, by the data monitoring process, I/O activity associated with the I/O request; and

redirecting the I/O request to a data storage resource.

22. The method of claim 21 further comprising allocating a data storage resource to an application workload in response to the monitoring.

23. A workflow name space method comprising:

defining a workflow name space;

identifying at least one application workload associated with a data storage resource; and

associating the at least one application workload with the workflow name space.

24. The method of claim 23 wherein the workflow name space is associated with at least one operational structure of at least one business organization.

25. The method of claim 23 wherein identifying comprises identifying I/O activity associated with the at least one application.