DATA MIGRATION BETWEEN A RAID MEMORY AND A DISPERSED STORAGE NETWORK MEMORY

• US 20140380128A1
• Filed: 09/10/2014
• Published: 12/25/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 02/27/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Pure Storage, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Cleversafe Incorporated (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Inventors: Baptist, Andrew, Grube, Gary W., Markison, Timothy W., Resch, Jason K.
• Granted Patent: US 9,442,800 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 714/770
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0727 in a storage system, e.g. in a DASD or network based storage system drivers for digital recording or reproducing units G06F3/06; circuits for error detection or correction within digital recording or reproducing units G11B20/18; 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], H04L67/1097
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1076 Parity data used in redundant arrays of independent storages, e.g. in RAID systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1092 Rebuilding, e.g. when physically replacing a failing disk
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1096 Parity calculation or recalculation after configuration or reconfiguration of the system
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2211/1028 Distributed, i.e. distributed RAID systems with parity
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0614 Improving the reliability of storage systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0619 in relation to data integrity, e.g. data losses, bit errors
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0631 by allocating resources to storage systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0647 Migration mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/065 Replication mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0665 at area level, e.g. provisioning of virtual or logical volumes
• 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 3/068 Hybrid storage device
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0685 Hybrid storage combining heterogeneous device types, e.g. hierarchical storage, hybrid arrays
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0689 Disk arrays, e.g. RAID, JBOD
• 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

A method begins by a processing module determining to change storage format from a redundant array of independent disks (RAID) format to a dispersed storage network (DSN) format. The method continues with the processing module retrieving the data from a RAID memory that is stored in the RAID format to produce retrieved RAID data. The method continues with the processing module converting stripe-block data of the retrieved RAID data into a plurality of sets of encoded data slices and reprovisioning the RAID memory for storing DSN formatted data to produce reprovisioned memory. The method continues with the processing module outputting the plurality of sets of encoded data slices to at least one of the RAID memory and a DSN memory for storage therein.

Claims

1. A method for execution by a computing device, the method comprises:

determining to change storage format from a redundant array of independent disks (RAID) format to a dispersed storage network (DSN) format;

retrieving data from a RAID memory that is stored in the RAID format to produce retrieved RAID data;

converting stripe-block data of the retrieved RAID data into a plurality of sets of encoded data slices;

reprovisioning the RAID memory for storing DSN formatted data to produce reprovisioned memory; and

outputting at least some encoded data slices of the plurality of sets of encoded data slices to the reprovisioned memory for storage therein.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprises:

outputting at least some other encoded data slices of the plurality of sets of encoded data slices to DSN memory for storage therein.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprises:

outputting a sub-set of each of the plurality of sets of encoded data slices to the DSN memory; and

outputting remaining encoded data slices of each of the plurality of sets of encoded data slices to the reprovisioned memory.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the converting stripe-block data of the retrieved RAID data into a plurality of sets of encoded data slices comprises:

RAID decoding the stripe-block data to produce data;

dispersed storage error encoding the data to produce the plurality of sets of encoded data slices.

5. A computing device comprises:

an interface;

memory; and

a processing module operably coupled to the interface and the memory, wherein the processing module is operable to;

determine to change storage format from a redundant array of independent disks (RAID) format to a dispersed storage network (DSN) format;

retrieve data from a RAID memory that is stored in the RAID format to produce retrieved RAID data;

convert stripe-block data of the retrieved RAID data into a plurality of sets of encoded data slices;

reprovision RAID memory for storing DSN formatted data to produce reprovisioned memory; and

output at least some encoded data slices of the plurality of sets of encoded data slices to the reprovisioned memory for storage therein.

6. The computing device of claim 5, wherein the processing module further functions to:

output at least some other encoded data slices of the plurality of sets of encoded data slices to DSN memory for storage therein.

7. The computing device of claim 5, wherein the processing module further functions to:

output a sub-set of each of the plurality of sets of encoded data slices to the DSN memory; and

output remaining encoded data slices of each of the plurality of sets of encoded data slices to the reprovisioned memory.

8. The computing device of claim 5, wherein the processing module in the converting stripe-block data of the retrieved RAID data into a plurality of sets of encoded data slices further functions to:

RAID decode the stripe-block data to produce data;

dispersed storage error encode the data to produce the plurality of sets of encoded data slices.

9. A computer readable storage device comprises:

a first memory section for storing operational instructions that, when executed by a computing device, causes the computing device to;

determine to change storage format from a redundant array of independent disks (RAID) format to a dispersed storage network (DSN) format;

a second memory section for storing operational instructions that, when executed by a computing device, causes the computing device to;

retrieve data from a RAID memory that is stored in the RAID format to produce retrieved RAID data;

a third memory section for storing operational instructions that, when executed by a computing device, causes the computing device to;

convert stripe-block data of the retrieved RAID data into a plurality of sets of encoded data slices;

a fourth memory section for storing operational instructions that, when executed by a computing device, causes the computing device to;

reprovision the RAID memory for storing DSN formatted data to produce reprovisioned memory; and

a fifth memory section for storing operational instructions that, when executed by a computing device, causes the computing device to;

output at least some encoded data slices of the plurality of sets of encoded data slices to the reprovisioned memory for storage therein.

10. The computer readable storage device of claim 9 further comprises:

a sixth memory section for storing operational instructions that, when executed by a computing device, causes the computing device to;

output at least some other encoded data slices of the plurality of sets of encoded data slices to DSN memory for storage therein.

11. The computer readable storage device of claim 9 further comprises:

a seventh memory section for storing operational instructions that, when executed by a computing device, causes the computing device to;

output a sub-set of each of the plurality of sets of encoded data slices to the DSN memory; and

output remaining encoded data slices of each of the plurality of sets of encoded data slices to the reprovisioned memory.

12. The computer readable storage device of claim 9 wherein the third memory section stores further operational instructions that, when executed by the computing device, cause the computing device to convert stripe-block data of the retrieved RAID data into a plurality of sets of encoded data slices by:

RAID decoding the stripe-block data to produce data;

dispersed storage error encoding the data to produce the plurality of sets of encoded data slices.

13. A computer readable storage device comprises:

a first memory section for storing operational instructions that, when executed by a computing device, causes the computing device to;

determine whether to convert data between a redundant array of independent disks (RAID) format and a dispersed storage network (DSN) format;

a second memory section for storing operational instructions that, when executed by the computing device, causes the computing device to;

when the data is to be converted from the RAID format to the DSN format, retrieve the data from the RAID memory to produce retrieved RAID data;

a third memory section for storing operational instructions that, when executed by the computing device, causes the computing device to;

convert stripe-block data of the retrieved RAID data into a plurality of sets of encoded data slices; and

a fourth memory section for storing operational instructions that, when executed by the computing device, causes the computing device to;

output the plurality of sets of encoded data slices to at least one of the RAID memory and a DSN memory for storage therein.

14. The computer readable storage device of claim 13, wherein the first memory section for stores further operational instructions that, when executed by the computing device, causes the computing device determine whether to convert the data from the RAID format to the DSN format by at least one of:

determining when an access frequency of the data compares favorably to an access threshold;

determining when an access speed for the data compares favorably to an access speed threshold;

determining when a capacity of the RAID memory compares favorably to a capacity threshold; and

receiving a data conversion command.

15. The computer readable storage device of claim 13 further comprises:

a fifth memory section for storing operational instructions that, when executed by the computing device, causes the computing device to;

send a delete data message to the RAID memory requesting the RAID memory to delete the data.

16. The computer readable storage device of claim 13 further comprises:

a sixth memory section for storing operational instructions that, when executed by the computing device, causes the computing device to;

send an overwrite message to the RAID memory such that the RAID memory overwrites the data with at least some of the plurality of sets of encoded data slices.

17. The computer readable storage device of claim 13, wherein the fourth memory section stores further operational instructions that, when executed by the computing device, causes the computing device output the plurality of sets of encoded data slices by:

outputting at least one set of the plurality of sets of encoded data slices to the DSN memory; and

outputting at least one other set of the plurality of sets of encoded data slices to a RAID memory.

18. The computer readable storage device of claim 13, wherein the fourth memory section stores further operational instructions that, when executed by the computing device, causes the computing device output the plurality of sets of encoded data slices by:

outputting a sub-set of each of the plurality of sets of encoded data slices to the DSN memory; and

outputting remaining encoded data slices of each of the plurality of sets of encoded data slices to a RAID memory.

19. The computer readable storage device of claim 13 further comprises:

a seventh memory section for storing operational instructions that, when executed by the computing device, causes the computing device to;

when the data is to be converted from the DSN format to the RAID format, retrieve the plurality of sets of encoded data slices from the DSN memory;

decode the plurality of sets of encoded data slices to produce recovered DSN data;

convert the recovered DSN data into RAID data; and

output the RAID data to the RAID memory.