ACCUMULATING ACCESS FREQUENCY AND FILE ATTRIBUTES FOR SUPPORTING POLICY BASED STORAGE MANAGEMENT

• US 20070136308A1
• Filed: 10/02/2006
• Published: 06/14/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Systems, Inc.
• Inventors: Gupta, Gaurav, Chawla, Rajeev, Tsirigotis, Panagiotis, Liu, Zuwei, Wong, Thomas, Iyengar, Anand, Simpkins, Richard, Wong, Chi, Seitz, Matthew, Srikantan, Geetha, Chan, Yu
• Granted Patent: US 8,131,689 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/122 using management policies backup systems G06F11/1446; file migration policies for HSM systems G06F16/185
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/1827 Management specifically adapted to NAS management of storage area networks [SAN] G06F3/067
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/1865 Transactional file systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1095 Replication or mirroring of data, e.g. scheduling or transport for data synchronisation between network nodes
• 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 performing policy-based storage management using data related to access frequency and file attribute accumulation. A switch device provides transparency for transactions between a client and a storage network. The transparency allows objects (e.g., files or directories) to be moved (e.g., migrated) on the storage network without affecting a reference to the object used by the client (e.g., a file handle). A monitoring module generates accumulation data associated with the transactions for use in policy-based management. The accumulation data can describe uses of the file such as how often certain files are accessed, modifications to files such as creations of new directories or files, and other uses.

Claims

1. In a switch device coupled between a client and a storage network to process transaction requests submitted by the client, a method for monitoring transactions related to objects in a storage network, comprising:

receiving a transaction request concerning an object in the storage network;

determining that the transaction request is directed to a file system on the storage monitor that is being monitored and that the transaction is a type of transaction request being monitored;

logging the transaction according to the type of transaction;

periodically processing a plurality of logged transactions to generate accumulation data associated with an object, the accumulation data describing a use of an object; and

applying a policy to the objects based on the accumulation data.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprises:

categorizing the transaction; and

logging the transaction according to the categorization.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein periodically processing the plurality of transactions comprises:

incrementing a count associated with a record for each transaction concerning the record.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein periodically processing the plurality of transactions comprises:

incrementing a type count associated with a record for each type transaction concerning the record.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein periodically processing the plurality of transactions comprises:

incrementing a number of bytes to reflect a total number of bytes for each transaction concerning an object.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein applying the policy comprises:

mapping rules of the policy to commands; and

querying the objects according to the commands

7. The method of claim 1, wherein logging the transaction comprises logging the transaction in a cyclic buffer, and wherein periodically processing the logged transactions comprises periodically processing the logged transactions responsive to the cyclic buffer completing cycle.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the transaction request comprises a NAS file handle.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the transaction request comprises an update to a namespace of a file system on the storage network.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the transaction request comprises an update to data of a file on the storage network.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the transaction request comprises an access to one of a directory or file on the storage network.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

processing the transaction request by sending a command to the storage network and forwarding results of the command to the client.

13. A switch device coupled between a client and a storage network to process transaction requests submitted by the client, comprising:

an I/O monitoring module to receive a transaction request concerning an object in the storage network, and determine whether the transaction request is directed to a file system on the storage monitor that is being monitored;

a transaction categorizing module to determine whether the transaction is a type of transaction request being monitored;

transaction logs to log the transaction according to the type of transaction;

an accumulator module to periodically process a plurality of logged transactions to generate accumulation data associated with an object, the accumulation data describing a use of an object; and

a policy module to apply a policy to the objects based on the accumulation data.

14. The switch device of claim 13, wherein the category transaction module categorizes the transaction, and the transaction logs log the transaction according to the categorization.

15. The switch device of claim 13, wherein the accumulator module increments a count associated with a record for each transaction concerning the record.

16. The switch device of claim 13, wherein the accumulator module increments a type count associated with a record for each type transaction concerning the record.

17. The switch device of claim 13, wherein the accumulator module periodically increments a number of bytes to reflect a total number of bytes for each transaction concerning an object.

18. The switch device of claim 13, further comprising a policy module to map rules of the policy to commands, and query the objects according to the commands

19. The switch device of claim 13, wherein the transaction logs store the transaction in a cyclic buffer, and wherein the accumulator module periodically processing the logged transactions responsive to the cyclic buffer completing cycle.

20. The switch device of claim 13, wherein the transaction request comprises a NAS file handle.

21. The switch device of claim 13, wherein the transaction request comprises an update to a namespace of a file system on the storage network.

22. The switch device of claim 13, wherein the transaction request comprises an update to data of a file on the storage network.

23. The switch device of claim 13, wherein the transaction request comprises an access to one of a directory or file on the storage network.

24. The switch device of claim 13, further comprising a mapping module to process the transaction request by sending a command to the storage network and forwarding results of the command to the client.