Volume stacking model

• US 6,629,202 B1
• Filed: 11/29/1999
• Issued: 09/30/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 11/29/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Cabrera, Luis Felipe, van Ingen, Catharine, Kusters, Norbert P.
• Primary Examiner(s): Kim, Matthew
• Assistant Examiner(s): Anderson, Matthew D.
• Application Number:
  US09/451,219
• Time in Patent Office: 1,401 Days
• Field of Search: 711/114, 711/202, 711/122, 711/134, 710/20, 714/6
• US Class Current: 711/114
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2087 with a common controller
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0614 Improving the reliability of storage systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0665 at area level, e.g. provisioning of virtual or logical volumes
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0689 Disk arrays, e.g. RAID, JBOD

Abstract

Systems and methods for creating and maintaining a stacked volume using one more volumes or extents of a storage subsystem is disclosed. The systems and methods define a hierarchy of operations and components that process operations. The hierarchy includes plex operations for an entire volume, mapping operations that concatenate volumes and/or extents, plex operations for a volume or extent that is a sub-component of a stacked volume. The hierarchy also includes striping operations that create and maintain storage volume stripes comprising sub-volumes and/or extents. In addition, the hierarchy includes configuration operations that operate directly on a storage volume through a hardware or software volume provider. Together, the hierarchy defined allows a flexible, extensible mechanism to build stacked volumes that provide for increase performance, fault tolerance, and/or aggregate volume size, while elimination volume combinations that can cause performance problems.

Claims

1. A computerized system comprising:

a computer comprising a processor, a memory, and a computer-readable medium operatively coupled together;

an operating environment executed by the processor from the computer-readable medium;

a logical volume manager executed by the processor from the computer-readable medium and under the control of the operating environment;

a configuration component operating under the control of the logical volume manager;

a striping component operating under the control of the logical volume manager;

a mapping component operating under the control of the logical volume manager; and

wherein the configuration component, the striping component and the mapping component create a stacked volume.

2. The computerized system of claim 1, further comprising a first plex component operating under the control of the logical volume manager.

3. The computerized system of claim 2, wherein the first plex component is operative to copy a volume of a stacked set of volumes managed by the logical volume manager.

4. The computerized system of claim 2, further comprising a second plex component operating under the control of the logical volume manager.

5. The computerized system of claim 4, wherein the second plex component is operative to copy a stacked set of volumes managed by the logical volume manager.

6. A computerized method for creating a logical volume, the method comprising:

defining a configuration for at least one disk subsystem, said defining operative to create a plurality of configured volumes;

defining a striped volume from the plurality of configured volumes; and

concatenating the striped volume with at least one other volume to create a mapped volume.

7. The computerized method of claim 6, further comprising creating a plex of the mapped volume.

8. The computerized method of claim 6, further comprising creating a plex of the striped volume.

9. The computerized method of claim 6, wherein defining a configuration comprises providing data related to the intended use of the logical volume.

10. The computerized method of claim 9, wherein the data related to the intended use of the logical volume comprises an intended access pattern.

11. The computerized method of claim 9, wherein the data related to the intended use of the logical volume comprises a desired fault tolerance.

12. A computerized method for creating a stacked volume comprising:

receiving a logical volume operation request;

passing the request to a mapping component;

passing the request to a striping component; and

passing the request to a configuration component.

13. The computerized method of claim 12, further comprising passing the request to a first plex component.

14. The computerized method of claim 13, further comprising passing the request to a second plex component.

15. The computerized method of claim 12, wherein the request is a request to change the size of a logical volume.

16. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing a method for creating a logical volume, the method comprising:

defining a configuration for at least one disk subsystem, said defining operative to create a plurality of configured volumes;

defining a striped volume from the plurality of configured volumes; and

concatenating the striped volume with at least one other volume to create a mapped volume.

17. The computer-readable medium of claim 16, further comprising creating a plex of the mapped volume.

18. The computer-readable medium of claim 16, further comprising creating a plex of the striped volume.

19. The computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein defining a configuration comprises providing data related to the intended use of the logical volume.

20. The computer-readable medium of claim 19, wherein the data related to the intended use of the logical volume comprises an intended access pattern.

21. The computer-readable medium of claim 19, wherein the data related to the intended use of the logical volume comprises a desired fault tolerance.

22. A computer-readable medium having computer executable instructions for performing a method for creating a stacked volume comprising:

receiving a logical volume operation request;

passing the request to a mapping component;

passing the request to a striping component; and

passing the request to a configuration component.

23. The computer-readable medium of claim 22, further comprising passing the request to a first plex component.

24. The computer-readable medium of claim 23, further comprising passing the request to a second plex component.

25. The computer-readable medium of claim 22, wherein the request is a request to change the size of a logical volume.