System and method for real-time balancing of user workload across multiple storage systems with shared back end storage

• US 20060112247A1
• Filed: 11/19/2004
• Published: 05/25/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 11/19/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NetApp, Inc.
• Original Assignee: NetApp, Inc.
• Inventors: Ramany, Swaminathan, Yakubov, Vladimir
• Granted Patent: US 7,523,286 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 711/165
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2206/1012 Load balancing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0605 by facilitating the interaction with a user or administrator
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/061 Improving I/O performance
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0635 by changing the path, e.g. traffic rerouting, path reconfiguration
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0647 Migration mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0653 Monitoring storage devices or 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 9/5077 Logical partitioning of resources; Management or configuration of virtualized resources specific details on emulation or internal functioning of virtual machines G06F9/455
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5088 involving task migration
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1001 for accessing one among a plurality of replicated servers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1008 based on parameters of servers, e.g. available memory or workload monitoring of computer activity G06F11/30
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1012 based on compliance of requirements or conditions with available server resources
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1029 using data related to the state of servers by a load balancer
• 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 system and method for real-time load balancing of user workload across a plurality of physical storage systems with shared back-end storage is provided. A load balancing process tracks usage metrics and determines a source and destination physical storage system and a virtual storage system (vfiler) to be migrated.

Claims

1. A method for real-time balancing of workload across a plurality of physical storage systems, the method comprising the steps of:

(a) collecting performance data for each of the plurality of physical storage systems;

(b) computing a set of overall metrics for each of the plurality of physical storage systems;

(c) determining if any of the physical storage systems exceeds one or more predefined thresholds;

(e) looping back to step (a), in response to determining that none of the physical storage systems are exceeding any of the one or more thresholds; and

(f) selecting a virtual storage system for migration from one of the plurality of physical storage systems to a destination storage system in response to determining that at least one of the physical storage systems exceeds one or more predefined threshold.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of selecting further comprises the steps of:

(a) selecting a source physical storage system and a destination physical storage system; and

(b) selecting a virtual storage system for migration.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the step of selecting a virtual storage system for migration further comprises the step of creating a usage table for each virtual storage system associated with the source physical storage system.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the step of creating a usage table further comprises the step of calculating a vfiler ratio (VR).

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of recommending to an administrator that the selected virtual storage system be migrated.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of migrating the selected virtual storage system from the source physical storage system to the destination physical storage system.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the performance data comprises a total number of operations per second and a percentage of processor utilization.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the set of overall metric comprises a processor headroom, a domain headroom, a spindle headroom, a capacity headroom and a total number of operations per second.

9. A system for real-time balancing of workload across a plurality of physical storage systems, the system comprising:

a load balancing process, the load balancing process adapted to;

(a) collect performance data for each of the plurality of physical storage systems;

(b) compute a set of overall metrics for each of the plurality of physical storage systems;

(c) determine if any of the physical storage systems exceeds one or more predefined thresholds;

(e) loop, in response to determining that none of the physical storage systems exceed any of the one or more thresholds, back to action (a);

and

(f) select a virtual storage system for migration from one of the plurality of physical storage systems to a destination storage system in response to determining that at least one of the physical storage systems is exceeding one or more predefined threshold.

10. The system of claim 9 wherein the load balancing process is further adapted to:

(a) select a source physical storage system and a destination physical storage system; and

(b) select a virtual storage system for migration.

11. The system of claim 10 wherein the load balancing process is further adapted to create a usage table for each virtual storage system associated with the source physical storage system.

12. The system of claim 11 wherein the load balancing process is further adapted to calculate a vfiler ratio (VR).

13. The system of claim 9 wherein the load balancing process is further adapted to recommend to an administrator that the selected virtual storage system be migrated.

14. The system of claim 9 wherein the load balancing process is further adapted to migrate the selected virtual storage system from the source physical storage system to the destination physical storage system.

15. The system of claim 9 wherein the performance data comprises a total number of operations per second and a percentage of processor utilization.

16. The system of claim 9 wherein the set of overall metric comprises a processor headroom, a domain headroom, a spindle headroom, a capacity headroom and a total number of operations per second.

17. A system for real-time balancing of workload across a plurality of physical storage systems, the system comprising:

means for collecting performance data for each of the plurality of physical storage systems;

means for computing a set of overall metrics for each of the plurality of physical storage systems;

means for determining if any of the physical storage systems is exceeding one or more predefined thresholds;

means for looping, in response to determining that none of the physical storage systems are exceeding any of the one or more thresholds, back to the means for collecting; and

means for selecting a virtual storage system for migration from one of the plurality of physical storage systems to a destination storage system in response to determining that at least one of the physical storage systems is exceeding one or more predefined threshold.

18. The system of claim 17 wherein the means for selecting further comprises:

means for select a source physical storage system and a destination physical storage system; and

means for select a virtual storage system for migration.

19. The system of claim 18 further comprising means for creating a usage table for each virtual storage system associated with the source physical storage system.

20. The system of claim 17 further comprising means for recommending to an administrator that the selected virtual storage system be migrated.

21. The system of claim 17 further comprising means for migrating the selected virtual storage system from the source physical storage system to the destination physical storage system.

22. A computer readable medium for real-time balancing of workload across a plurality of physical storage systems, the computer readable medium including program instructions for performing the steps of:

(a) collecting performance data for each of the plurality of physical storage systems;

(b) computing a set of overall metrics for each of the plurality of physical storage systems;

(c) determining if any of the physical storage systems exceeds one or more predefined thresholds;

(e) looping back to step (a), in response to determining that none of the physical storage systems are exceeding any of the one or more thresholds; and

(f) selecting a virtual storage system for migration from one of the plurality of physical storage systems to a destination storage system in response to determining that at least one of the physical storage systems exceeds one or more predefined threshold.