MANAGING STORAGE RESOURCES IN A DISPERSED STORAGE NETWORK

• US 20180121132A1
• Filed: 10/31/2016
• Published: 05/03/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 10/31/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Bukiet, David A., Cilfone, Bart R., Leggette, Wesley B., Motwani, Manish, Resch, Jason K.
• Granted Patent: US 11,169,731 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1076 Parity data used in redundant arrays of independent storages, e.g. in RAID systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0604 Improving or facilitating administration, e.g. storage management
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0647 Migration mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0653 Monitoring storage devices or systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/067 Distributed or networked storage systems, e.g. storage area networks [SAN], network attached storage [NAS]
• 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 for updating storage resources in a dispersed storage network operates to determine a storage utilization factor for a storage pool that includes a set of storage resources when old storage resources are being reallocated to new storage resources. The method continues by denying write type requests during reallocation when the storage utilization factor is at or above a threshold and processing write type requests when the storage utilization factor is at or below the threshold. When the reallocation is complete the storage utilization factor is recalculated.

Claims

1. A method for managing updating of storage resources in a dispersed storage network (DSN), the method comprises:

determining a storage utilization factor for a storage pool that includes a set of storage resources;

(see disclosure)

commence transferring of a first set of encoded data slices from one or more old storage resources of the set of storage resources to one or more new storage resources of the set of storage resources;

while transferring the first set of encoded data slices, receiving a write type request addressing the old storage resources, wherein the write type request is associated with a second set of encoded data slices;

when the storage utilization factor is above a first threshold, denying the write type request, at least until the transferring of the first set of encoded data slices is complete; and

when the storage utilization factor is at or below the first threshold, processing the write type request to store a second set of encoded data slices in the one or more old storage resources of the set of storage resources.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the storage utilization factor is determined at approximately the time the transferring of a first set of encoded data slices from one or more old storage resources of the set of storage resources to one or more new storage resources of the set of storage resources commences.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the storage utilization factor is determined at before the transferring of a first set of encoded data slices from one or more old storage resources of the set of storage resources to one or more new storage resources of the set of storage resources commences.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the storage resources of the set of storage resources are one or more storage units.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the storage units periodically report a current storage capacity of each respective storage unit to one or more processors associated with the DSN.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the storage resources of the set of storage resources are one or more portions of one or more storage units.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprises:

when the storage utilization factor is above a first threshold, denying the write type request by instructing the one or more old storage resources of the set of storage resources to deny the write type request.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprises:

when the storage utilization factor is above a first threshold, denying the write type request by ignoring, by one or more processors associated with the DSN, wherein the one or more old storage resources of the set of storage resources does not receive the write type request.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the storage utilization factor is a maximum usable capacity for the storage pool.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the write type request is at least one of a write request, an overwrite request and an edit request.

11. A computer readable memory comprises:

a first memory element that stores operational instructions that, when executed by a computing device of a dispersed storage network (DSN), causes the computing device to;

determine a storage utilization factor for a storage pool that includes a set of storage resources;

commence transfer of a first set of encoded data slices from one or more old storage resources of the set of storage resources to one or more new storage resources of the set of storage resources;

while transferring the first set of encoded data slices, receive a write type request addressing the old storage resources, wherein the write type request is associated with a second set of encoded data slices;

when the storage utilization factor is above a first threshold, deny the write type request, at least until the transferring of the first set of encoded data slices is complete; and

when the storage utilization factor is at or below the first threshold, process the write type request to store a second set of encoded data slices in the one or more old storage resources of the set of storage resources.

12. A computer readable memory of claim 11, wherein the storage utilization factor is determined at approximately the time the transferring of a first set of encoded data slices from one or more old storage resources of the set of storage resources to one or more new storage resources of the set of storage resources commences.

13. A computer readable memory of claim 11, wherein the storage utilization factor is determined at before the transferring of a first set of encoded data slices from one or more old storage resources of the set of storage resources to one or more new storage resources of the set of storage resources commences.

14. A computer readable memory of claim 11, wherein the storage resources of the set of storage resources are one or more storage units.

15. A computer readable memory of claim 14, wherein the storage units periodically report a current storage capacity of each respective storage unit to one or more processors associated with the DSN.

16. A computer readable memory of claim 11, wherein the storage resources of the set of storage resources are one or more portions of one or more storage units.

17. The computer readable memory of claim 11, further comprises:

when the storage utilization factor is above a first threshold, deny the write type request by instructing the one or more old storage resources of the set of storage resources to deny the write type request.

18. The computer readable memory of claim 11, further comprises:

when the storage utilization factor is above a first threshold, denying the write type request by ignoring, by one or more processors associated with the DSN, wherein the one or more old storage resources of the set of storage resources does not receive the write type request.

19. The computer readable memory of claim 11, wherein the storage utilization factor is a maximum usable capacity for the storage pool.

20. The computer readable memory of claim 11, wherein the write type request is at least one of a write request, an overwrite request and an edit request.