METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR INTEGRATED STORAGE AND DATA MANAGEMENT USING A HYPERVISOR

• US 20100058335A1
• Filed: 08/28/2008
• Published: 03/04/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 08/28/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NetApp, Inc.
• Original Assignee: NetApp, Inc.
• Inventors: Weber, Bret S.
• Granted Patent: US 8,627,312 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 718/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45575 Starting, stopping, suspending or resuming virtual machine instances
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0611 in relation to response time
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0658 Controller construction arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0683 Plurality of storage devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45533 Hypervisors; Virtual machine monitors
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45558 Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects

Abstract

Methods and systems for integrated data management and block level storage management in a storage system having a controller with a multi-core processor. A hypervisor manages the multi-core processor such that at least one processor is used in a first virtual machine on which a block level storage management process is operable. The first virtual machine may also operate under the control of a real-time operating system. The hypervisor also defines a second virtual machine using one or more other processor cores and operates a data management application process optionally under control of a general purpose operating system. The optional general purpose operating system and the data management application process access storage devices by communicating through the hypervisor with the block level storage management process operable in the first virtual machine.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a plurality of storage devices;

a storage controller coupled to the plurality of storage devices and having a multi-core processor, each processor core operable in parallel;

a hypervisor operable in the storage controller to manage the multiple processor cores and adapted to define a first virtual machine operable on a first processor core and to define a second virtual machine operable on a second processor core;

a block level storage management process operable on the first virtual machine; and

a data management application process operable on the second virtual machine and adapted to communicate with the block level storage management process.

2. The system of claim 1

wherein the multi-core processor comprises an Intel architecture multi-core processor.

3. The system of claim 1 further comprising:

a real-time control operating system operable in the first virtual machine adapted to control operation of the block level storage management process in the first virtual machine.

4. The system of claim 1 further comprising:

a general purpose operating system operable in the second virtual machine to control operation of the data management application process in the second virtual machine.

5. The system of claim 1

wherein the block level storage management process is a Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID) storage management process.

6. The system of claim 1

wherein the hypervisor is a real-time hypervisor, and

wherein the real-time hypervisor is adapted to manage the first virtual machine to provide real-time control and response capabilities to the block level storage management process operable in the first virtual machine.

7. The system of claim 1

wherein the one or more services including one or more of:

Network File System (NFS) service, object storage management service, content addressable storage management service, virtual tape service, storage virtualizing service, storage replication service, storage copy service, storage clustering service, and storage security service.

8. The system of claim 1

wherein the data management application process provides Network File System (NFS) services to attached computing systems

9. A method operable in a system having a multi-core processor coupled to host systems and coupled to storage devices, the method comprising:

booting a real-time hypervisor in the multi-core processor in response to a reset of the multi-core processor;

operating the real-time hypervisor to create a first virtual machine;

operating the first virtual machine to initialize operation of a block level storage management process in the first virtual machine;

operating the real-time hypervisor to create a second virtual machine;

operating the second virtual machine to initialize operation of a data management application in the second virtual machine; and

operating the first virtual machine and the second virtual machine under control of the real-time hypervisor to provide data management application processing and block level storage management processing within the system.

10. The method of claim 9

wherein the step of operating the second virtual machine to initialize further comprises:

operating the real-time hypervisor and the block level storage management process in first virtual machine to provide storage services to the second virtual machine.

11. The method of claim 10

wherein the step of operating the real-time hypervisor and the block level storage management process to provide storage services further comprises:

intercepting in the hypervisor a BIOS INT13 operation during initialization of the data management application in the second virtual machine;

processing the intercepted BIOS INT13 operation in the block level storage management process in the first virtual machine;

returning results of operation of the BIOS INT13 operation from the block level storage management process in the first virtual machine to the data management application in the second virtual machine.

12. The method of claim 9

wherein the step of operating the second virtual machine to initialize further comprises:

booting a general purpose operating system in the second virtual machine, the general purpose operating system including a coupling driver adapted to communicate through the hypervisor with the block level storage management process operable in the first virtual machine,

wherein the step of operating the first and second virtual machines further comprises;

generating, within the data management application, a request for block level storage management operations;

directing the generated request using the coupling driver through the hypervisor to the block level storage management process;

processing the request in the block level storage management process; and

returning results from processing of the request through the hypervisor to the data management application using the coupling driver.

receiving results generated.

13. The method of claim 9

wherein the step of operating the first and second virtual machines further comprises:

operating the data management application in the second virtual machine wherein the data management application provides one or more services to attached host systems, the one or more services including one or more of;

Network File System (NFS) service, object storage management service, content addressable storage management service, virtual tape service, storage virtualizing service, storage replication service, storage copy service, storage clustering service, and storage security service.

14. A storage controller adapted for coupling one or more host system to a plurality of disk drives, the controller comprising:

a multi-core processor, each processor core operable in parallel wherein the multi-core processing system is coupled to the plurality of storage devices;

a hypervisor operable to manage the multiple processors and adapted to define a first virtual machine and to define a second virtual machine;

a real-time operating system operable in the first virtual machine;

a Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID) storage management process operable on the first virtual machine under control of the real-time operating system;

a general purpose operating system operable in the second virtual machine; and

a data management application process operable on the second virtual machine,

wherein the hypervisor further comprises;

a communication path coupling the second virtual machine with the RAID storage management process.

15. The storage controller of claim 14

wherein the communication path comprises a BIOS INT13 simulator to enable the second virtual machine to communicate with the RAID storage management process to boot and initialize the general purpose operating system.

16. The storage controller of claim 15

wherein the communication path further comprises a messaging means coupled between the first virtual machine and the second virtual machine,

wherein the general purpose operating system includes a coupling driver adapted to communicate with the messaging means,

wherein the real-time operating system includes a coupling driver adapted to communicate with the messaging means, and

wherein the data management application is adapted to use the coupling driver in the general purpose operating system to communicate with the RAID storage management process through the coupling driver in the real-time operating system.

17. The storage controller of claim 14

wherein the data management application process is adapted to provide one or more services to attached host systems, the one or more services including one or more of:

Network File System (NFS) service, object storage management service, content addressable storage management service, virtual tape service, storage virtualizing service, storage replication service, storage copy service, storage clustering service, and storage security service.