Dynamic Selection of Storage Tiers

• US 20140136782A1
• Filed: 11/13/2012
• Published: 05/15/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 11/13/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Thomas, Nathan Bartholomew
• Granted Patent: US 9,460,099 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 711/117
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/16 File or folder operations, e.g. details of user interfaces specifically adapted to file systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0605 by facilitating the interaction with a user or administrator
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0631 by allocating resources to storage systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0644 Management of space entities, e.g. partitions, extents, pools
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0659 Command handling arrangements, e.g. command buffers, queues, command scheduling
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0664 at device level, e.g. emulation of a storage device or system
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0667 at data level, e.g. file, record or object virtualisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/067 Distributed or networked storage systems, e.g. storage area networks [SAN], network attached storage [NAS]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0685 Hybrid storage combining heterogeneous device types, e.g. hierarchical storage, hybrid arrays
• 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

An operating system is configured to receive a request to store an object that does not specify the location at which the object should be stored. The request might also include an optimization factor and one or more object location factors. The operating system might also generate object location factors or retrieve object location factors from one or more external locations. Object location factors might also be utilized that are based upon properties of the object to be stored. Utilizing the object location factors, and the optimization factor if provided, the operating system dynamically selects an appropriate storage tier for storing the object. The tiers might include a local storage tier, a local network storage tier, a remote network storage tier, and other types of storage tiers. The object is then stored on the selected storage tier. The object may be retrieved from the storage tier at a later time.

Claims

1. A computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable instructions stored thereupon which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to:

execute an operating system configured to store objects at a local storage tier, a local network storage tier, or a remote network storage tier;

receive an unqualified request at the operating system to store an object;

in response to receiving the request to store the object, utilize one or more object location factors to determine whether the object should be stored at the local storage tier, the local network storage tier, or the remote network storage tier; and

cause the object to be stored at the determined storage tier.

2. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the local storage tier comprises one or more memories and mass storage devices of the computer.

3. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 2, wherein the local network storage tier comprises one or more storage systems accessible to the computer by way of a local area network (LAN).

4. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 3, wherein the remote network storage tier comprises one or more storage services accessible to the computer.

5. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 4, wherein the request to store the object comprises the object and data identifying an optimization factor, and wherein the determination as to whether the object should be stored at the local storage tier, the local network storage tier, or the remote network storage tier is based upon the object location factors and the optimization factor.

6. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 5, wherein the request to store the object further comprises one or more of the object location factors.

7. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 6, wherein the object location factors comprise one or more of an object type, an object size, object file attributes, object security requirements, object sharing requirements, data describing historical usage of the object, or the compressibility of the object.

8. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 6, wherein the object location factors comprise one or more of a cost of storing the object at a storage tier, a latency when storing the object or retrieving the object from a storage tier, or available bandwidth to a storage tier.

9. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 6, wherein the operating system is executing in a virtual machine instance.

10. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the virtual machine instance is executing in a distributed execution environment.

11. A computer-implemented method for dynamically selecting a storage tier for storing an object from a plurality of storage tiers, the method comprising performing computer-implemented operations for:

receiving an unqualified request to store an object at an operating system;

in response to the receiving the request, selecting by way of the operating system a storage tier from a plurality of storage tiers for storing the object based upon one or more object location factors; and

causing the object to be stored at the selected storage tier.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 11, wherein the plurality of storage tiers comprises a local storage tier, a local network storage tier, and a remote network storage tier.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 12, wherein the selection of the storage tier for storing the object is based upon the object location factors and an optimization factor.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 13, wherein the request to store the object further comprises one or more of the object location factors.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 13, further comprising:

storing data identifying the object and the storage tier used to store the object;

receiving a request to retrieve the object; and

in response to receiving the request to retrieve the object, utilizing the stored data to identify the storage tier used to store the object, retrieving the object from the identified storage tier, and providing the retrieved object in response to the request to retrieve the object.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 13, wherein the operating system is executing in a virtual machine instance.

17. The computer-implemented method of claim 16, wherein the virtual machine instance is executing in a distributed execution environment.

18. A computer-implemented method for dynamically selecting a storage tier for storing an object, the method comprising performing computer-implemented operations for:

receiving, by an operating system, an unqualified request to store an object;

in response to receiving the request, selecting, by the operating system a local storage location or a network storage location suitable for storing the object based on one or more object location factors; and

causing the object to be stored at the selected storage location.

19. The computer-implemented method of claim 18, wherein the unqualified request comprises a request that does not specify a location for storing the object.

20. The computer-implemented method of claim 18, wherein the local storage location comprises one or more memories and mass storage devices of a computer executing the operating system that receives the unqualified request to store the object.

21. The computer-implemented method of claim 18, wherein the network storage location comprises a storage service accessible to the computer by way of a web service.

22. The computer-implemented method of claim 18, wherein one or more of the object location factors are generated by monitoring communication with the plurality of network storage tiers.

23. The computer-implemented method of claim 18, wherein one or more of the object location factors are retrieved from the storage services.

24. The computer-implemented method of claim 18, wherein the object location factors comprise one or more of an object type, an object size, object file attributes, object security requirements, object sharing requirements, data describing historical usage of the object, the compressibility of the object, a cost of storing the object at a storage location, a latency when storing the object or retrieving the object from a storage location, and available bandwidth to a storage location.