PRECEDENCE BASED STORAGE

• US 20110145200A1
• Filed: 12/16/2009
• Published: 06/16/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 12/16/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Teradata US, Inc. (Teradata Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Teradata US, Inc. (Teradata Corporation)
• Inventors: Milby, Gregory Howard
• Granted Patent: US 9,594,527 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/654
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/185 Hierarchical storage management [HSM] systems, e.g. file migration or policies thereof details of archiving G06F16/11
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0622 in relation to access
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0631 by allocating resources to storage systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0689 Disk arrays, e.g. RAID, JBOD

Abstract

Techniques for precedence based storage are presented. Storage for a database is organized into storage pools; collections of pools form storage classes. The storage pools within a particular class are organized in a precedence-based order so that when storage for the database is needed, the storage pools are used in the defined order of precedence. Additionally, each storage pool or storage class can be circumscribed by security limitations, quality of service limitations, and/or backup procedures.

Claims

1. A method implemented in a computer-readable storage medium and executed on a processing device, the method comprising:

identifying, via a processing device, storage pools for use in servicing storage needs of a database; and

acquiring, via the processing device, a precedence order for selecting particular ones of the storage pools in a defined order as storage is needed by the database.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying further includes defining a storage capacity for each storage pool.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein acquiring further includes receiving the precedence order as a list where a first storage pool identified in the list has first priority to service the database when the storage is needed.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein receiving further includes permitting at least two storage pools to be defined on an equal level of precedence within the precedence order.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising, associating the storage pools with a storage class that defines security and other service level requirements for accessing the storage pools of the storage class.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising, integrating the storage pools and precedence order into the storage management features of the database.

7. The method of claim 6 further comprising, following the precedence order, by the storage management features of the database, as new storage is needed by the database.

8. A method implemented in a computer-readable storage medium and executed by a processor, the method comprising:

receiving, via the processor, a request to store data in a file system;

locating, via the processor, storage pools in the file system using a storage class and a table identifier for a database; and

automatically processing, via the processor, the request in a current storage pool associated with the storage class when enough space exists to handle the request and when enough space does not exist obtain an available storage pool to handle the request.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein receiving further includes receiving the request by monitoring actions of the database to detect a user making the request within the database.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein locating further includes obtaining a precedence order list that has the storage pools ordered sequentially where a first storage pool in the list is to be used first when storage is needed for servicing the request if the current storage pool lacks sufficient space to handle the data of the request.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein obtaining further includes identifying notation within the precedence list indicating that at least two storage pools are on a same level of precedence with one another.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein obtaining further includes parsing the precedence list as an extended Structured Query Language (SQL) statement.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein parsing further includes identifying precedence by parsing the SQL statement from left to right.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein parsing further includes noting brackets that identify a particular storage pool in the SQL statement that is to be on a same precedence level as another storage pool.

15. The method of claim 8, wherein automatically processing further includes enforcing security and quality of service limitations on the current storage pool or available storage pool when servicing the request to store the data on the current storage pool or the available storage pool.

16. A processor-implemented system comprising:

a database implemented in a computer-readable storage medium and to execute on a processor; and

a storage pool service implemented in a computer-readable storage medium and to execute on a processor;

the database is configured to include storage pools defined and managed by the storage pool service, the storage pools are distributed over a file system and network and managed by the storage pool service, the storage pool service configured to define collections of storage pools as a storage class and to order the storage pools in a precedence of use order, the storage pool service also configured to handle storage access for the database.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the storage pool service is configured to maintain the precedence of use order as a list having identifiers for each of the storage pools.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the storage pool service is configured to permit two or more storage pools to be on a same or equal level of precedence within the list.

19. The system of claim 16, wherein the storage pool service is configured to selectively enforce security and quality of service requirements against each of the storage pools in the storage class.

20. The system of claim 16, wherein the storage pool service is configured to selectively enforce backup services against each of the storage pools in the storage class.