Systems and methods for providing heterogeneous storage systems

• US 20080155191A1
• Filed: 12/21/2006
• Published: 06/26/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 12/21/2006
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: EMC Corporation (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Original Assignee: EMC Corporation (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Inventors: Anderson, Robert J., Richards, David W., Dire, Nate E., Schack, Darren P., Passey, Aaron J., Godman, Peter J., Fachan, Neal T.
• Application Number:
  US11/643,719
• Publication Number:
  US 20080155191A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 711/114
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1076 Parity data used in redundant arrays of independent storages, e.g. in RAID systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2056 by mirroring
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2211/1004 Adaptive RAID, i.e. RAID system adapts to changing circumstances, e.g. RAID1 becomes RAID5 as disks fill up
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2211/1023 Different size disks, i.e. non uniform size of disks in RAID systems with parity
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2211/1028 Distributed, i.e. distributed RAID systems with parity
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2211/103 Hybrid, i.e. RAID systems with parity comprising a mix of RAID types

Abstract

Embodiments of the present invention provide systems and methods for using heterogeneous containers where the available space on the containers is of two or more different sizes. In some embodiments, the heterogeneous containers may store some data under one protection scheme and other data under one or more other data protection schemes.

Claims

1. A storage system comprising:

a plurality of n storage containers, x₁, x₂, to x_n, configured to store logical data and data protection data, wherein;

n is greater than 1;

the size of x₁≦

the size of x₂≦

. . . the size of x_n-1≦

the size of x_n and the size of x₁<

the size of x_n;

the plurality of n storage containers utilize more than ((n−

m)*size of x₁) for storing logical data, where m is the number of failed storage containers the system can handle; and

the logical data and data protection data may include striped data and mirrored data.

2. The storage system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of n storage containers store at least one non-mirrored stripe of data.

3. The storage system of claim 1, wherein the storage container is node of a distributed system.

4. The storage system of claim 1, wherein the storage container is a locally accessed disk drive.

5. The storage system of claim 1, wherein the storage container includes at least one of a drive, a node, a disk, a cluster, an object, a drive partition, a virtual volume, a volume, and a drive slice.

6. The storage system of claim 1, wherein the storage containers are configured to be dynamically configured.

7. The storage system of claim 1, wherein the storage containers include a plurality of data protection schemes on the same containers.

8. A storage system comprising:

a plurality of n storage containers, x₁, x₂, to x_n, configured to store logical data and data protection data, wherein;

n is greater than 1;

the size of x₁≦

the size of x₂≦

. . . the size of x_n-1≦

the size of x_n and the size of x₁<

the size of x_n;

the plurality of n storage containers utilize more than ((n−

m)*size of x₁) for storing logical data, where m is the number of failed storage containers the system can handle; and

the storage containers are locally accessed disk drives.

9. The storage system of claim 8, wherein the logical data and data protection data may include striped data and mirrored data.

10. The storage system of claim 8, wherein the plurality of n storage containers store at least one non-mirrored stripe of data.

11. The storage system of claim 8, wherein the storage containers are configured to be dynamically configured.

12. The storage system of claim 8, wherein the storage containers include a plurality of data protection schemes on the same containers.

13. A storage system comprising:

a plurality of n storage containers, x₁, x₂, to x_n, configured to store logical data and data protection data, wherein;

n is greater than 1;

the size of x₁≦

the size of x₂≦

. . . the size of x_n-1≦

the size of x_n and the size of x₁<

the size of x_n;

the plurality of n storage containers utilize more than (n*size of x₁) for storing physical data; and

the logical data and data protection data may include striped data and mirrored data.

14. The storage system of claim 13, wherein the plurality of n storage containers store at least one non-mirrored stripe of data.

15. The storage system of claim 13, wherein the storage container is node of a distributed system.

16. The storage system of claim 13, wherein the storage container is a locally accessed disk drive.

17. The storage system of claim 13, wherein the storage container includes at least one of a drive, a node, a disk, a cluster, an object, a drive partition, a virtual volume, a volume, and a drive slice.

18. The storage system of claim 13, wherein the storage containers are configured to be dynamically configured.

19. The storage system of claim 13, wherein the storage containers include a plurality of data protection schemes on the same containers.

20. A method of storing data on heterogeneous storage containers, the method comprising:

receiving a total number of storage containers;

receiving a minimum number of protection blocks;

determining a first protection scheme;

storing a first plurality of stripes of data across all of the storage containers at the first protection until the smallest container of all of the storage containers is full;

determining a second protection scheme; and

storing a second plurality of stripes of data across the non-full storage containers at the second protection until the smallest container of the non-full storage containers is full.

21. The method of claim 20 further comprising

determining a third protection scheme;

and

storing a third plurality of stripes of data across the non-full storage containers at the second protection until the smallest container of the non-full storage containers is full.