Apparatus, system, and method for using multiple criteria to determine collocation granularity for a data source

• US 20060064430A1
• Filed: 09/17/2004
• Published: 03/23/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 09/17/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Cannon, David Maxwell, Kaczmarski, Michael, Jee, Donna
• Granted Patent: US 7,433,901 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1448 Management of the data involved in backup or backup restore
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/10 File systems; File servers
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0605 by facilitating the interaction with a user or administrator
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0608 Saving storage space on storage systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0644 Management of space entities, e.g. partitions, extents, pools
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/067 Distributed or networked storage systems, e.g. storage area networks [SAN], network attached storage [NAS]
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99943 Generating database or data structure, e.g. via user interface
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99955 Archiving or backup

Abstract

An apparatus, system, and method are disclosed for collocating data. A mode module sets a collocation mode of a storage pool. The collocation mode specifies the granularity of the data to be collocated. In one embodiment, an assignment module assigns a source of data to a collocation group. A collocation module collocates the source'"'"'s data to a minimum number of storage pool volumes based on the collocation mode of the storage pool and collocation group assignment of the source.

Claims

1. An apparatus to collocate data, the apparatus comprising:

a mode module configured to set a collocation mode of a storage pool comprising a plurality of storage pool volumes configured to store data, wherein the collocation mode is configured to specify the granularity of data to be collocated;

an assignment module configured to assign a source comprising data to a collocation group; and

a collocation module configured to collocate the source'"'"'s data to a minimum number of storage pool volumes based on the collocation mode of the storage pool and collocation group assignment of the source.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the collocation module is further configured to collocate a node'"'"'s data to a minimum number of storage pool volumes if the collocation mode specifies a node type.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the collocation module is further configured to collocate a storage device'"'"'s data to a minimum number of storage pool volumes if the collocation mode specifies a storage device type.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the collocation module is further configured to collocate the source'"'"'s data to a collocation group'"'"'s storage pool volume if the collocation mode specifies a collocation group type and the source is assigned to the collocation group.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the collocation module is further configured to collocate a node'"'"'s data to a minimum number of storage pool volumes if the collocation mode specifies a collocation group type and the node is not assigned to a collocation group.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the collocation module is further configured to not collocate the source'"'"'s data if the collocation mode does not specify a type.

7. A system to collocate data, the system comprising:

a storage pool comprising a plurality of storage pool volumes configured to store data;

a source comprising data;

a storage manager in communication with the storage pool and the source and comprising;

a mode module configured to set a collocation mode of the storage pool, wherein the collocation mode is configured to specify the granularity of data to be collocated;

an assignment module configured to assign the source to a collocation group; and

a collocation module configured to collocate the source'"'"'s data to the minimum number of storage pool volumes based on the collocation mode of the storage pool and collocation group assignment of the source.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the collocation module is further configured to collocate a node'"'"'s data to a minimum number of storage pool volumes if the collocation mode specifies a node type.

9. The system of claim 7, wherein the collocation module is further configured to collocate the source'"'"'s data to a collocation group'"'"'s storage pool volume if the collocation mode specifies a collocation group type and the source is assigned to the collocation group.

10. The system of claim 7, wherein the collocation module is further configured to collocate a node'"'"'s data to a minimum number of storage pool volumes if the collocation mode specifies a collocation group type and node is not assigned to a collocation group.

11. The system of claim 7, wherein the collocation module is further configured to not collocate the source'"'"'s data if the collocation mode does not specify a type.

12. The system of claim 7, wherein the storage pool is further configured as a hard disk drive.

13. The system of claim 7, wherein the storage pool is further configured as a magnetic tape drive.

14. A signal bearing medium tangibly embodying a program of machine-readable instructions executable by a digital processing apparatus to perform operations to collocate data, the operations comprising:

setting a collocation mode of a storage pool comprising a plurality of storage pool volumes configured to store data, wherein the collocation mode is configured to specify the granularity of data to be collocated;

assigning the source to a collocation group; and

collocating the source'"'"'s data to the minimum number of storage pool volumes based on the collocation mode of the storage pool and collocation group assignment of the source.

15. The signal bearing medium of claim 14, wherein the instructions further comprise operations to collocate a node'"'"'s data to a minimum number of storage pool volumes if the collocation mode specifies a node type.

16. The signal bearing medium of claim 14, wherein the instructions further comprise operations to collocate a storage device'"'"'s data to a minimum number of storage pool volumes if the collocation mode specifies a storage device type.

17. The signal bearing medium of claim 14, wherein the instructions further comprise operations to collocate the source'"'"'s data to a collocation group'"'"'s storage pool volume if the collocation mode specifies a collocation group type and the source is assigned to the collocation group.

18. The signal bearing medium of claim 14, wherein the instructions further comprise operations to collocate a node'"'"'s data to a minimum number of storage pool volumes if the collocation mode specifies a collocation group type and node is not assigned to a collocation group.

19. The signal bearing medium of claim 14, wherein the instructions further comprise operations to not collocate the source'"'"'s data if the collocation mode does not specify a type.

20. The signal bearing medium of claim 14, wherein the instructions further comprise operations to determine the collocation arrangement of the source'"'"'s data using a look-up table configured with the collocation mode of the storage pool and the collocation group assignment of the source as inputs.