TECHNIQUES FOR OPPORTUNISTIC DATA STORAGE

• US 20140052946A1
• Filed: 08/19/2013
• Published: 02/20/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 08/17/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NetApp, Inc.
• Original Assignee: NetApp, Inc.
• Inventors: Kimmel, Jeffrey S.
• Granted Patent: US 9,489,293 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 711/159
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 12/02 Addressing or allocation; Relocation program address sequencing G06F9/00; arrangements for selecting an address in a digital store G11C8/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0608 Saving storage space on storage systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0631 by allocating resources to storage systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0641 De-duplication techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0679 Non-volatile semiconductor memory device, e.g. flash memory, one time programmable memory [OTP]

Abstract

Techniques for opportunistic data storage are described. In one embodiment, for example, an apparatus may comprise a data storage device and a storage management module, and the storage management module may be operative to receive a request to store a set of data in the data storage device, the request indicating that the set of data is to be stored with opportunistic retention, the storage management module to select, based on allocation information, storage locations of the data storage device for opportunistic storage of the set of data and write the set of data to the selected storage locations. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

Claims

1. An apparatus, comprising:

a data storage device; and

a storage management module to receive a request to store a set of data in the data storage device, the request indicating that the set of data is to be stored with opportunistic retention, the storage management module to select, based on allocation information, storage locations of the data storage device for opportunistic storage of the set of data, and write the set of data to the selected storage locations.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, the storage management module to update the allocation information to indicate that the selected storage locations comprise the set of data.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, the storage management module to discard existing opportunistically stored data from at least one of the selected storage locations based on an opportunistic capacity policy prior to writing the set of data to the selected storage locations.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, the storage management module to discard the existing opportunistically stored data using a block-level granularity.

5. The apparatus of claim 3, the storage management module to discard the existing opportunistically stored data using a byte-level granularity.

6. The apparatus of claim 3, the storage management module to discard the existing opportunistically stored data using a record-level granularity.

7. The apparatus of claim 3, the storage management module to discard the existing opportunistically stored data using an object-level granularity.

8. The apparatus of claim 3, the discarded existing opportunistically stored data comprising least recently used data.

9. The apparatus of claim 3, the opportunistic capacity policy indicating an available capacity for opportunistic storage, the storage management module to discard the existing opportunistically stored data based on a comparison of a size of the set of data with the available capacity for opportunistic storage.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, the storage management module to perform one or more storage reduction operations to reduce an amount of storage space used for storage of the set of data.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, the one or more storage reduction operations comprising at least one of data compression, data de-duplication, and copy-by-reference.

12. The apparatus of claim 1, the storage management module to receive the set of data from an additional data storage and read-cache the data on the data storage device.

13. The apparatus of claim 1, the storage management module to receive the request from an application executing on a processor circuit.

14. The apparatus of claim 1, the storage management module to convert the set of data from opportunistic retention to guaranteed retention.

15. The apparatus of claim 1, the storage management module to convert the set of data from guaranteed retention to opportunistic retention.

16. The apparatus of claim 1, the determined storage locations comprising logical block addresses (LBAs) associated with physical storage locations in the data storage device.

17. The apparatus of claim 1, the storage management module to receive a second request comprising a request to store a second set of data in the data storage device, the request indicating that the second set of data is to be stored with guaranteed retention, the storage management module to determine a guaranteed capacity value indicating an available capacity of the data storage device for guaranteed storage and

when a size of the second set of data is less than or equal to the guaranteed capacity value, write the second set of data to one or more storage locations of the data storage device that are designated for guaranteed storage according to the allocation information.

18. The apparatus of claim 1, the selected storage locations comprising storage locations that may subsequently be reallocated at the discretion of the storage management module, resulting in loss of the set of data.

19. The apparatus of claim 1, communicatively coupled to a display operative to present visual effects based on data stored in the data storage device.

20. A method, comprising:

receiving a request to store a set of data in a data storage device, the request indicating that the set of data is to be stored with opportunistic retention;

selecting, based on allocation information, storage locations of the data storage device for opportunistic storage of the set of data; and

writing the set of data to the selected storage locations.

21. The method of claim 20, comprising updating the allocation information to indicate that the one or more storage locations comprise the set of data.

22. The method of claim 20, comprising discarding existing opportunistically stored data from at least one of the selected storage locations based on an opportunistic capacity policy prior to writing the set of data to the selected storage locations.

23. The method of claim 22, comprising discarding the existing opportunistically stored data using a block-level granularity.

24. The method of claim 22, comprising discarding the existing opportunistically stored data using a byte-level granularity.

25. The method of claim 22, comprising discarding the existing opportunistically stored data using a record-level granularity.

26. The method of claim 22, comprising discarding the existing opportunistically stored data using an object-level granularity.

27. The method of claim 22, the discarded existing opportunistically stored data comprising least recently used data.

28. The method of claim 22, the opportunistic capacity policy indicating an available capacity for opportunistic storage, the method comprising discarding the existing opportunistically stored data based on a comparison of a size of the set of data with the available capacity for opportunistic storage.

29. The method of claim 20, comprising performing one or more storage reduction operations to reduce an amount of storage space used for storage of the set of data.

30. The method of claim 29, the one or more storage reduction operations comprising at least one of data compression, data de-duplication, and copy-by-reference.

31. The method of claim 20, comprising:

receiving the set of data from an additional data storage; and

read-caching the data on the data storage device.

32. The method of claim 20, comprising receiving the request from an application executing on a processor circuit.

33. The method of claim 20, comprising converting the set of data from opportunistic retention to guaranteed retention.

34. The method of claim 20, comprising converting the set of data from guaranteed retention to opportunistic retention.

35. The method of claim 20, the determined storage locations comprising logical block addresses (LBAs) associated with physical storage locations in the data storage device.

36. The method of claim 20, comprising:

receiving a second request comprising a request to store a second set of data in the data storage device, the request indicating that the second set of data is to be stored with guaranteed retention;

determining a guaranteed capacity value indicating an available capacity of the data storage device for guaranteed storage; and

when a size of the second set of data is less than or equal to the guaranteed capacity value, writing the second set of data to one or more storage locations of the data storage device that are designated for guaranteed storage according to the allocation information.

37. The method of claim 20, the selected storage locations comprising storage locations that may subsequently be reallocated at the discretion of storage management circuitry for the data storage device, resulting in loss of the set of data.

38. At least one machine-readable medium comprising a set of instructions that, in response to being executed by storage management circuitry for a data storage device, cause the storage management circuitry to:

receive a request to store a set of data in the data storage device, the request indicating that the set of data is to be stored with opportunistic retention;

select, based on allocation information, storage locations of the data storage device for opportunistic storage of the set of data; and

write the set of data to the selected storage locations.

39. The at least one machine-readable medium of claim 38, comprising instructions that, in response to being executed by the storage management circuitry, cause the storage management circuitry to update the allocation information to indicate that the one or more storage locations comprise the set of data.

40. The at least one machine-readable medium of claim 38, comprising instructions that, in response to being executed by the storage management circuitry, cause the storage management circuitry to discard existing opportunistically stored data from at least one of the selected storage locations based on an opportunistic capacity policy prior to writing the set of data to the selected storage locations.

41. The at least one machine-readable medium of claim 40, comprising instructions that, in response to being executed by the storage management circuitry, cause the storage management circuitry to discard the existing opportunistically stored data using a block-level granularity.

42. The at least one machine-readable medium of claim 40, comprising instructions that, in response to being executed by the storage management circuitry, cause the storage management circuitry to discard the existing opportunistically stored data using a byte-level granularity.

43. The at least one machine-readable medium of claim 40, comprising instructions that, in response to being executed by the storage management circuitry, cause the storage management circuitry to discard the existing opportunistically stored data using a record-level granularity.

44. The at least one machine-readable medium of claim 40, comprising instructions that, in response to being executed by the storage management circuitry, cause the storage management circuitry to discard the existing opportunistically stored data using an object-level granularity.

45. The at least one machine-readable medium of claim 40, the discarded existing opportunistically stored data comprising least recently used data.

46. The at least one machine-readable medium of claim 40, the opportunistic capacity policy indicating an available capacity for opportunistic storage, the at least one machine-readable medium comprising instructions that, in response to being executed by the storage management circuitry, cause the storage management circuitry to discard the existing opportunistically stored data based on a comparison of a size of the set of data with the available capacity for opportunistic storage.

47. The at least one machine-readable medium of claim 38, comprising instructions that, in response to being executed by the storage management circuitry, cause the storage management circuitry to perform one or more storage reduction operations to reduce an amount of storage space used for storage of the set of data.

48. The at least one machine-readable medium of claim 47, the one or more storage reduction operations comprising at least one of data compression, data de-duplication, and copy-by-reference.

49. The at least one machine-readable medium of claim 38, comprising instructions that, in response to being executed by the storage management circuitry, cause the storage management circuitry to:

receive the set of data from an additional data storage; and

read-cache the data on the data storage device.

50. The at least one machine-readable medium of claim 38, comprising instructions that, in response to being executed by the storage management circuitry, cause the storage management circuitry to receive the request from an application executing on a processor circuit.

51. The at least one machine-readable medium of claim 38, comprising instructions that, in response to being executed by the storage management circuitry, cause the storage management circuitry to convert the set of data from opportunistic retention to guaranteed retention.

52. The at least one machine-readable medium of claim 38, comprising instructions that, in response to being executed by the storage management circuitry, cause the storage management circuitry to convert the set of data from guaranteed retention to opportunistic retention.

53. The at least one machine-readable medium of claim 38, the determined storage locations comprising logical block addresses (LBAs) associated with physical storage locations in the data storage device.

54. The at least one machine-readable medium of claim 38, comprising instructions that, in response to being executed by the storage management circuitry, cause the storage management circuitry to:

receive a second request comprising a request to store a second set of data in the data storage device, the request indicating that the second set of data is to be stored with guaranteed retention;

determine a guaranteed capacity value indicating an available capacity of the data storage device for guaranteed storage; and

when a size of the second set of data is less than or equal to the guaranteed capacity value, write the second set of data to one or more storage locations of the data storage device that are designated for guaranteed storage according to the allocation information.

55. The at least one machine-readable medium of claim 38, the selected storage locations comprising storage locations that may subsequently be reallocated at the discretion of the storage management circuitry, resulting in loss of the set of data.