AUTOINITIALIZATION OF CLUSTERED STORAGE

• US 20200136909A1
• Filed: 10/30/2018
• Published: 04/30/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 10/30/2018
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Emc IP Holding Company LLC (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Emc IP Holding Company LLC (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Inventors: Eaton, Matthew, Burns, Michael, Stuart, Nigel, Jean, Matthew
• Granted Patent: US 10,841,163 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/082 the condition being updates or upgrades of network functionality
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0873 Checking configuration conflicts between network elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0886 Fully automatic configuration
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0889 Techniques to speed-up the configuration process
• 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

Techniques are presented for clustering data storage including (a) announcing, using zeroconf, to a local network, a service provided by a DSA and an unreserved state of the DSA, the service being of a clusterable data storage type, (b) receiving a cluster command from a configuration management device connected to the local network, the cluster command directing the DSA to join a storage cluster to present combined storage of the DSA and at least one other DSA, and (c) in response to receiving the cluster command: (1) announcing to the local network via L2 multicasting that the DSA has entered a reserved state using zeroconf, (2) afterwards, performing configuration operations including updating system parameters, resulting in the DSA becoming part of the storage cluster, and (3) while in the reserved state, receiving another cluster command directing the DSA to join another storage cluster, and, in response, refusing the other cluster command.

Claims

1. A method of clustering data storage performed by a data storage apparatus (DSA), the method comprising:

announcing, using zero-configuration networking (zeroconf), to an L2 local network, a service provided by the DSA and an unreserved state of the DSA, the service being of a clusterable data storage type;

receiving a cluster command from a configuration management device connected to the L2 local network, the cluster command directing the DSA to join a storage cluster to present combined storage of the DSA and at least one other DSA on the L2 local network; and

in response to receiving the cluster command;

announcing to the local network via L2 multicasting that the DSA has entered a reserved state using zeroconf;

after announcing that the DSA has entered the reserved state, performing configuration operations including updating system parameters, resulting in the DSA becoming part of the storage cluster; and

while in the reserved state, receiving another cluster command directing the DSA to join another storage cluster, and, in response, refusing the other cluster command.

2. The method of claim 1,

wherein the method further comprises, upon connecting to the L2 local network, obtaining a link-local address assignment using zeroconf;

and

wherein announcing the service provided by the DSA to the L2 local network using zeroconf includes announcing to the local network via L2 multicasting that a device with the obtained link-local address assignment provides the service.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the method further comprises:

receiving, via zeroconf, announcements from other DSAa on the L2 local network that have announced services of the same clusterable storage service type;

recording states of the other DSAa on the L2 local network that have announced services of the same clusterable storage service type as indicated by the received announcements, the recorded states indicating whether or not each of the other DSAs is in a reserved state or an unreserved state; and

prior to receiving the cluster command, sending a list of the other DSAs that are in the unreserved state to the configuration management device via the local network.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein updating system parameters includes setting an L3 address of the DSA through which the combined storage can be accessed.

5. The method of claim 1,

wherein the cluster command further directs the DSA to create the storage cluster;

wherein performing configuration operations further includes creating new parameters for the storage cluster.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the method further comprises:

receiving yet another cluster command, the other cluster command directing the DSA to add yet another DSA on the L2 local network to the storage cluster to present combined storage of the DSA, the at least one other DSA, and the yet other DSA; and

in response to receiving the other cluster command;

announcing to the local network via L2 multicasting that the DSA has entered another reserved state using zeroconf, the other reserved state being an expansion state;

after announcing that the DSA has entered the other reserved state, performing additional configuration operations including further updating system parameters in order for the yet other DSA to become part of the storage cluster; and

while in the other reserved state, receiving still another cluster command, and, in response, refusing the still other cluster command.

7. The method of claim 6,

wherein performing the additional configuration operations results in an error, failing to cause the yet other DSA to become part of the storage cluster;

wherein the method further comprises, in response to the error, announcing to the local network via L2 multicasting that the DSA has entered yet another reserved state using zeroconf, the yet other reserved state being an error state; and

while in the error state, receiving a final cluster command, and, in response, refusing the final cluster command.

8. The method of claim 6 wherein the other cluster command is received from the configuration management device connected to the L2 local network.

9. The method of claim 6 wherein the other cluster command is received from a remote configuration management device not directly connected to the L2 local network, the remote configuration management device being connected to an L3 network.

10. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storage a set of instructions, which, when performed by a data storage computing device (DSCD), cause the DSCD to initiate clustering of data storage by:

announcing, using zero-configuration networking (zeroconf), to an L2 local network, a service provided by the DSCD and an unreserved state of the DSCD, the service being of a clusterable data storage type;

receiving a cluster command from a configuration management device connected to the L2 local network, the cluster command directing the DSCD to join a storage cluster to present combined storage of the DSCD and at least one other DSCD on the L2 local network; and

in response to receiving the cluster command;

announcing to the local network via L2 multicasting that the DSCD has entered a reserved state using zeroconf;

after announcing that the DSCD has entered the reserved state, performing configuration operations including updating system parameters, resulting in the DSCD becoming part of the storage cluster; and

while in the reserved state, receiving another cluster command directing the DSCD to join another storage cluster, and, in response, refusing the other cluster command.

11. The computer program product of claim 10,

wherein the set of instructions, when performed by the DSCD, further causes the DSCD to, upon connecting to the L2 local network, obtain a link-local address assignment using zeroconf;

and

wherein announcing the service provided by the DSCD to the L2 local network using zeroconf includes announcing to the local network via L2 multicasting that a device with the obtained link-local address assignment provides the service.

12. The computer program product of claim 10 wherein the set of instructions, when performed by the DSCD, further causes the DSCD to perform the following operations:

receiving, via zeroconf, announcements from other DSCDa on the L2 local network that have announced services of the same clusterable storage service type;

recording states of the other DSCDa on the L2 local network that have announced services of the same clusterable storage service type as indicated by the received announcements, the recorded states indicating whether or not each of the other DSCDs is in a reserved state or an unreserved state; and

prior to receiving the cluster command, sending a list of the other DSCDs that are in the unreserved state to the configuration management device via the local network.

13. The computer program product of claim 10 wherein updating system parameters includes setting an L3 address of the DSCD through which the combined storage can be accessed.

14. The computer program product of claim 10,

wherein the cluster command further directs the DSCD to create the storage cluster;

wherein performing configuration operations further includes creating new parameters for the storage cluster.

15. The computer program product of claim 14 wherein the set of instructions, when performed by the DSCD, further causes the DSCD to perform the following operations:

receiving yet another cluster command, the other cluster command directing the DSCD to add yet another DSCD on the L2 local network to the storage cluster to present combined storage of the DSCD, the at least one other DSCD, and the yet other DSCD; and

in response to receiving the other cluster command;

announcing to the local network via L2 multicasting that the DSCD has entered another reserved state using zeroconf, the other reserved state being an expansion state;

after announcing that the DSCD has entered the other reserved state, performing additional configuration operations including further updating system parameters in order for the yet other DSCD to become part of the storage cluster; and

while in the other reserved state, receiving still another cluster command, and, in response, refusing the still other cluster command.

16. The computer program product of claim 15,

wherein performing the additional configuration operations results in an error, failing to cause the yet other DSCD to become part of the storage cluster;

wherein the method further comprises, in response to the error, announcing to the local network via L2 multicasting that the DSCD has entered yet another reserved state using zeroconf, the yet other reserved state being an error state; and

while in the error state, receiving a final cluster command, and, in response, refusing the final cluster command.

17. A system for clustering data storage, the system comprising:

an L2 local network;

a configuration management device connected to the L2 local network; and

a data storage apparatus (DSA) connected to the L2 local network, the DSA providing a service of a clusterable data storage type, wherein the DSA is configured to;

announce, using zero-configuration networking (zeroconf), to the L2 local network, the service provided by the DSA and an unreserved state of the DSA;

receive a cluster command from the configuration management device over the L2 local network, the cluster command directing the DSA to join a storage cluster to present combined storage of the DSA and at least one other DSA on the L2 local network; and

in response to receiving the cluster command;

announce to the local network via L2 multicasting that the DSA has entered a reserved state using zeroconf;

after announcing that the DSA has entered the reserved state, perform configuration operations including updating system parameters, resulting in the DSA becoming part of the storage cluster; and

while in the reserved state, receive another cluster command directing the DSA to join another storage cluster, and, in response, refuse the other cluster command.

18. The system of claim 17 wherein the DSA is further configured to:

receive, via zeroconf, announcements from other DSAa on the L2 local network that have announced services of the same clusterable storage service type;

record states of the other DSAa on the L2 local network that have announced services of the same clusterable storage service type as indicated by the received announcements, the recorded states indicating whether or not each of the other DSAs is in a reserved state or an unreserved state; and

prior to receiving the cluster command, send a list of the other DSAs that are in the unreserved state to the configuration management device via the local network.

19. The system of claim 18 wherein the configuration management device is configured to:

send a request via the local network to the DSA to return the list of the other DSAs that are in the unreserved state;

receive, via the local network, the list of the other DSAs that are in the unreserved state from the DSA;

display the list of the other DSAs that are in the unreserved state to a user;

receive, via a user interface, a selection of DSAs in the unreserved state that the user wishes to join the storage cluster, the selection including the DSA and the at least one other DSA; and

sending the cluster command to the DSA in response to receiving the selection from the user interface.