DISTRIBUTED STORAGE NETWORK WITH ALTERNATIVE FOSTER STORAGE APPROACHES AND METHODS FOR USE THEREWITH

• US 20150039936A1
• Filed: 05/27/2014
• Published: 02/05/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 07/31/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Pure Storage, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Cleversafe Incorporated (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Inventors: Kazi, Asimuddin, Resch, Jason K.
• Granted Patent: US 9,451,025 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 714/6.24
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/07 Responding to the occurrence of a fault, e.g. fault tolerance
• 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 11/1448 Management of the data involved in backup or backup restore
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1458 Management of the backup or restore process
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/10 File systems; File servers
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2209/5017 Task decomposition
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2211/1028 Distributed, i.e. distributed RAID systems with parity
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0604 Improving or facilitating administration, e.g. storage management
• 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 3/0646 Horizontal data movement in storage systems, i.e. moving data in between storage devices or systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/065 Replication mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0668 adopting a particular infrastructure
• 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 3/0683 Plurality of storage devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0689 Disk arrays, e.g. RAID, JBOD
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4881 Scheduling strategies for dispatcher, e.g. round robin, multi-level priority queues
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5066 Algorithms for mapping a plurality of inter-dependent sub-tasks onto a plurality of physical CPUs mappping at compile time, see G06F8/451
• 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 includes encoding input data into a plurality of slices. The plurality of slices are sent to a plurality of distributed storage and task execution units for storage, the plurality of distributed storage and task execution units being located at a corresponding plurality of sites A storage failure is detected corresponding to at least one of the plurality of slices corresponding to at least one of the plurality of the distributed storage and task execution units and at least one of the corresponding plurality of sites A foster storage approach is determined. At least one alternative distributed storage and task execution unit is selected in accordance with the foster storage approach. At least one foster slice is generated corresponding to the at least one of the plurality of slices. The at least one foster slice is sent to the at least one alternative distributed storage and task execution unit.

Claims

1. A method for execution by one or more processing modules of one or more computing devices of a dispersed storage network (DSN), the method comprises:

encoding input data into a plurality of slices;

sending the plurality of slices to a plurality of distributed storage and task execution units for storage, the plurality of distributed storage and task execution units being located at a corresponding plurality of sites;

detecting a storage failure corresponding to at least one of the plurality of slices corresponding to at least one of the plurality of the distributed storage and task execution units and at least one of the corresponding plurality of sites;

determining a foster storage approach;

selecting at least one alternative distributed storage and task execution unit in accordance with the foster storage approach;

generating at least one foster slice corresponding to the at least one of the plurality of slices; and

sending the at least one foster slice to the at least one alternative distributed storage and task execution unit.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein determining the foster storage approach includes determining one of:

a performance optimized mode, and a reliability optimized mode.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein, when the foster storage approach corresponds to the performance optimized mode, the at least one alternative distributed storage and task execution unit is selected at the at least one of corresponding plurality of sites.

4. The method of claim 2 wherein, when the foster storage approach corresponds to the reliability optimized mode, the at least one alternative distributed storage and task execution unit is selected at least one alternative site that is disassociated from the corresponding plurality of sites.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

updating slice location information corresponding to the input data when the at least one foster slice is successfully stored in the at least one alternative distributed storage and task execution unit.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein detecting a storage failure corresponding to at least one of the plurality of slices includes at least one of:

detecting a device failure in the at least one of the plurality of the distributed storage and task execution units; and

detecting a communication failure to the at least one of the plurality of the distributed storage and task execution units.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the foster storage approach is determined based on at least one of:

a predetermined mode selection;

a vault identifier, a data type corresponding to the input data, an estimated time of storage of the input data, an estimated frequency of retrieval of the input data, a reliability requirement of the input data, and a retrieval performance requirement of the input data.

8. A dispersed storage and task (DST) processing unit comprises:

at least one module, when operable within a computing device, that causes the computing device to;

encode input data into a plurality of slices;

send the plurality of slices to a plurality of distributed storage and task execution units for storage, the plurality of distributed storage and task execution units being located at a corresponding plurality of sites;

detect a storage failure corresponding to at least one of the plurality of slices corresponding to at least one of the plurality of the distributed storage and task execution units and at least one of the corresponding plurality of sites;

determine a foster storage approach;

select at least one alternative distributed storage and task execution unit in accordance with the foster storage approach;

generate at least one foster slice corresponding to the at least one of the plurality of slices; and

send the at least one foster slice to the at least one alternative distributed storage and task execution unit.

9. The DST processing unit of claim 8 wherein determining the foster storage approach includes determining one of:

a performance optimized mode, and a reliability optimized mode.

10. The DST processing unit of claim 9 wherein, when the foster storage approach corresponds to the performance optimized mode, the at least one alternative distributed storage and task execution unit is selected at the at least one of corresponding plurality of sites.

11. The DST processing unit of claim 9 wherein, when the foster storage approach corresponds to the reliability optimized mode, the at least one alternative distributed storage and task execution unit is selected at least one alternative site that is disassociated from the corresponding plurality of sites.

12. The DST processing unit of claim 8 the at least one module, when operable within a computing device, further causes the computing device to:

update slice location information corresponding to the input data when the at least one foster slice is successfully stored in the at least one alternative distributed storage and task execution unit.

13. The DST processing unit of claim 8 wherein detecting a storage failure corresponding to at least one of the plurality of slices includes at least one of:

detecting a device failure in the at least one of the plurality of the distributed storage and task execution units; and

detecting a communication failure to the at least one of the plurality of the distributed storage and task execution units.

14. The DST processing unit of claim 8 wherein the foster storage approach is determined based on at least one of:

a predetermined mode selection;

a vault identifier, a data type corresponding to the input data, an estimated time of storage of the input data, an estimated frequency of retrieval of the input data, a reliability requirement of the input data, and a retrieval performance requirement of the input data.

15. A computer readable storage medium comprises:

at least one memory section that stores operational instructions that, when executed by one or more processing modules of one or more computing devices of a dispersed storage network (DSN), causes the one or more computing devices to;

encode input data into a plurality of slices;

send the plurality of slices to a plurality of distributed storage and task execution units for storage, the plurality of distributed storage and task execution units being located at a corresponding plurality of sites;

detect a storage failure corresponding to at least one of the plurality of slices corresponding to at least one of the plurality of the distributed storage and task execution units and at least one of the corresponding plurality of sites;

determine a foster storage approach;

select at least one alternative distributed storage and task execution unit in accordance with the foster storage approach;

generate at least one foster slice corresponding to the at least one of the plurality of slices; and

send the at least one foster slice to the at least one alternative distributed storage and task execution unit.

16. The computer readable storage medium of claim 15 wherein determining the foster storage approach includes determining one of:

a performance optimized mode, and a reliability optimized mode.

17. The computer readable storage medium of claim 16 wherein, when the foster storage approach corresponds to the performance optimized mode, the at least one alternative distributed storage and task execution unit is selected at the at least one of corresponding plurality of sites.

18. The computer readable storage medium of claim 16 wherein, when the foster storage approach corresponds to the reliability optimized mode, the at least one alternative distributed storage and task execution unit is selected at least one alternative site that is disassociated from the corresponding plurality of sites.

19. The computer readable storage medium of claim 15 wherein detecting a storage failure corresponding to at least one of the plurality of slices includes at least one of:

detecting a device failure in the at least one of the plurality of the distributed storage and task execution units; and

detecting a communication failure to the at least one of the plurality of the distributed storage and task execution units.

20. The computer readable storage medium of claim 15 wherein the foster storage approach is determined based on at least one of:

a predetermined mode selection;

a vault identifier, a data type corresponding to the input data, an estimated time of storage of the input data, an estimated frequency of retrieval of the input data, a reliability requirement of the input data, and a retrieval performance requirement of the input data.