TECHNIQUES FOR DYNAMICALLY ADJUSTING OVER-PROVISIONING SPACE OF A FLASH CONTROLLER BASED ON WORKLOAD CHARACTERISTICS

• US 20170242592A1
• Filed: 02/19/2016
• Published: 08/24/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 02/19/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: CAMP, CHARLES J., FISHER, TIMOTHY J., FRY, AARON D., IOANNOU, NIKOLAS, PARNELL, THOMAS, PLETKA, ROMAN A., TOMIC, SASA
• Granted Patent: US 10,592,110 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/00 Error detection; Error correction; Monitoring error detection, correction or monitoring in information storage based on relative movement between record carrier and transducer G11B20/18; monitoring, i.e. supervising the progress of recording or reproducing G11B27/36; in static stores G11C29/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3034 where the computing system component is a storage system, e.g. DASD based or network based digital input from or digital output to record carriers G06F3/06; digital recording or reproducing 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 11/3442 for planning or managing the needed capacity
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 12/0246 in block erasable memory, e.g. flash memory
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2212/1036 Life time enhancement
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2212/1044 Space efficiency improvement
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2212/1052 Security improvement
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2212/214 Solid state disk
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2212/262 configured as RAID
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2212/401 Compressed data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2212/7201 Logical to physical mapping or translation of blocks or pages
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2212/7202 Allocation control and policies
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2212/7205 Cleaning, compaction, garbage collection, erase control
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2212/7206 Reconfiguration of flash memory system
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2212/7208 Multiple device management, e.g. distributing data over multiple flash devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0605 by facilitating the interaction with a user or administrator
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0608 Saving storage space on storage systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0616 in relation to life time, e.g. increasing Mean Time Between Failures [MTBF]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0631 by allocating resources to storage systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0653 Monitoring storage devices or systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0688 : Non-volatile semiconductor memory arrays

Abstract

A technique for adapting over-provisioning space in a storage system includes determining one or more workload characteristics in the storage system. Over-provisioning space in the storage system is then adjusted to achieve a target write amplification for the storage system, based on the workload characteristics.

Claims

1. A method of adapting over-provisioning space in a storage system, comprising:

determining, by a controller, a data reduction ratio in the storage system;

determining, by the controller, one or more workload characteristics in the storage system; and

adjusting by the controller, based on the workload characteristics and the data reduction ratio, over-provisioning space in the storage system to achieve a target write amplification for the storage system and thereby improve performance of the storage system.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the workload characteristics include one or more of a dynamic read/write ratio, a dynamic write amplification, and a dynamic write access distribution experienced by the storage system.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the data reduction ratio is based on at least one of a dynamic data compression ratio and a dynamic data deduplication ratio experienced by the storage system.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the storage system is a thin provisioned storage system.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the target write amplification is increased for read-dominated workloads.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the target write amplification is decreased for write-dominated workloads.

3. (canceled)

8. A storage system, comprising:

a flash controller memory; and

a flash controller coupled to the flash controller memory, wherein the flash controller is configured to;

determine a data reduction ratio in the storage system;

determine one or more workload characteristics in the storage system; and

adjust, based on the workload characteristics and the data reduction ratio, over-provisioning space in the storage system to achieve a target write amplification for the storage system and thereby improve performance of the storage system.

9. The storage system of claim 8, wherein the workload characteristics include one or more of a dynamic read/write ratio, a dynamic write amplification, and a dynamic write access distribution experienced by the storage system.

11. The storage system of claim 8, wherein the data reduction ratio is based on at least one of a dynamic data compression ratio and a dynamic data deduplication ratio experienced by the storage system.

12. The storage system of claim 8, wherein the storage system is a thin provisioned storage system.

13. The storage system of claim 8, wherein the target write amplification is increased for read-dominated workloads.

14. The storage system of claim 8, wherein the target write amplification is decreased for write-dominated workloads.

10. (canceled)

15. A computer program product, the computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith, the program instructions executable by a storage system to cause the storage system to:

determine a data reduction ratio in the storage system;

determine one or more workload characteristics in the storage system; and

adjust, based on the workload characteristics and the data reduction ratio, over-provisioning space in the storage system to achieve a target write amplification for the storage system and thereby improve performance of the storage system.

16. The program product of claim 15, wherein the workload characteristics include one or more of a dynamic read/write ratio, a dynamic write amplification, and a dynamic write access distribution experienced by the storage system.

18. The program product of claim 15, wherein the data reduction ratio is based on at least one of a dynamic data compression ratio and a dynamic data deduplication ratio experienced by the storage system.

19. The program product of claim 15, wherein the storage system is a thin provisioned storage system.

20. The program product of claim 15, wherein the target write amplification is increased for read-dominated workloads, and wherein the target write amplification is decreased for write-dominated workloads.

17. (canceled)