Method and system for automatic management of storage space

• US 7,933,936 B2
• Filed: 09/28/2005
• Issued: 04/26/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 06/10/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Network Appliance Incorporated (NetApp, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Network Appliance Incorporated (NetApp, Inc.)
• Inventors: Hamilton, Eric, Aggarwal, Himanshu
• Primary Examiner(s): LeRoux; Etienne P
• Assistant Examiner(s): Jacob; Ajith
• Application Number:
  US11/238,882
• Publication Number:
  US 20060282485A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,036 Days
• Field of Search: 707/206, 707/812
• US Class Current: 707/812
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1448 Management of the data involved in backup or backup restore
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/128 Details of file system snapshots on the file-level, e.g. snapshot creation, administration, deletion use of snapshots for error detection or correction G06F11/14, G06F11/16
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/1727 Details of free space management performed by the file system saving storage space on storage systems G06F3/0608; management of blocks in storage devices G06F3/064
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2003/0697 device management, e.g. handlers, drivers, I/O schedulers
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/84 Using snapshots, i.e. a logical point-in-time copy of the data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0601 Interfaces specially adapted for storage systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0608 Saving storage space on storage systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0614 Improving the reliability of storage systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/065 Replication mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0689 Disk arrays, e.g. RAID, JBOD

Abstract

A system and method are provided to manage storage space. The method comprises detecting a free storage space threshold condition for a storage volume and automatically applying a space management technique to achieve a free storage space threshold condition. Space management techniques comprise deleting selected backup data (e.g., persistent consistency point images) and automatically increasing the size of the storage volume.

Claims

1. A method to automatically manage storage space, the method comprising:

storing, by a storage system, a plurality of volumes, wherein each volume has an autodelete policy and an autosize policy that are disabled and the policies are operable to be enabled for individual volumes;

configuring, by the storage system, the autodelete policy and the autosize policy for the plurality of volumes, wherein the autodelete policy and the autosize policy for a volume are not dependent on the autodelete policies and the autosize policies for other volumes in the plurality of volumes, and wherein configuring the autodelete policy and the autosize policy for an individual volume comprises

enabling one of the autodelete policy and the autosize policy as a first policy for the individual volume, and

enabling the other of the autodelete policy and the autosize policy as a second policy for the individual volume;

configuring a trigger value for the first policy and a trigger value for the second policy for each of the individual volume, wherein the trigger value for the first policy and the trigger value for the second policy for the individual volume are not dependent on the trigger values for first policies and second policies for other volumes in the plurality of volumes;

determining that the trigger value for a first policy for the individual volume is reached;

automatically initiating the first policy for the individual volume;

determining that the first policy for the individual volume fails to reclaim a target amount of free space in the individual volume;

automatically initiating the second policy for the individual volume in response to determining that the first policy for the individual volume fails to reclaim a target amount of free space; and

notifying a user if the second policy for the individual volume fails to reclaim a target amount of free space in the individual volume.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the autodelete function comprises deleting selected backup data in the individual volume.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the autosize function comprises automatically increasing available space inside the individual volume.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the one of the autodelete policy and the autosize policy is set as the first policy based on a user preference.

16. The method of claim 2, wherein the selected backup data is selected according to commitment level criteria for the selected backup data.

17. The method of claim 2, wherein deleting the selected backup data is performed after determining that no backup data is in the process of being deleted.

5. A method to manage storage space, the method comprising:

storing, by a storage system, a plurality of volumes, where each volume has an autodelete policy and an autosize policy that are disabled and the policies are operable to be enabled for individual volumes;

enabling, by the storage system, an autodelete function as a first automatic storage management policy for one of the plurality of storage volumes and an autosize function as a second automatic storage management policy for the particular storage volume, wherein the autodelete function and the autosize function for the particular storage volume are not dependent on autodelete functions and autosize functions for other storage volumes in the plurality of storage volumes;

automatically detecting that a trigger condition for the autodelete function for the particular storage volume is met;

automatically identifying a snapshot, which is inside the particular storage volume, to be deleted, in response to detecting that the trigger condition corresponding to the autodelete function is met, the identification to achieve a free storage threshold set for the particular storage volume, wherein the free storage threshold corresponds to the particular storage volume;

automatically initiating the first automatic storage management policy for deleting the identified snapshot;

determining that deleting the identified snapshot fails to achieve the free storage threshold that corresponds to the particular storage volume;

automatically initiating the autosize function for the particular storage volume in response to determining that initiating the first automatic storage management policy on the particular storage volume fails to achieve the free storage threshold that corresponds to the particular storage volume; and

notifying a user if the autosize function for the particular volume fails to reclaim a target amount of free space in the particular volume.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the identifying of the snapshot inside the particular storage volume comprises identifying the snapshot according to commitment level criteria for the snapshot.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the identifying of the snapshot inside the particular storage volume is performed after determining that no backup data is in the process of being deleted.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein the free storage threshold is a percent value of storage space available in the storage volume.

9. The method of claim 5, wherein the trigger condition is associated with a percentage of the free storage threshold.

10. The method of claim 5, wherein the storage volume is a flexible volume.

11. The method of claim 5, wherein the storage volume is a traditional volume.

18. The method of claim 6, wherein the commitment level criteria comprise multiple levels of commitment for the snapshot.

12. A system to automatically manage storage space, the system comprising:

a repository to store backup data as a plurality of volumes, where each volume has an autodelete policy and an autosize policy that are disabled and the policies are operable to be enabled for individual volumes;

a processor, coupled to the repository through a bus and further coupled to a memory, wherein the processor executes instructions from the memory that cause the processor

to enable an autodelete function as a first automatic storage management policy for one of the plurality of storage volumes and an autosize function as a second automatic storage management policy for the particular storage volume, wherein the autodelete function and the autosize function for the particular storage volume are not dependent on autodelete functions and autosize functions for other storage volumes in the plurality of storage volumes;

to automatically detect that a trigger condition corresponding to the autodelete function for the particular storage volume;

to automatically identify a snapshot, which is inside the particular storage volume, to be deleted, in response to detecting that the trigger condition corresponding to the autodelete function is met, the identification to achieve a free storage threshold set for the particular storage volume, wherein the free storage threshold corresponds to the particular storage volume;

to automatically initiate the first automatic storage management policy to delete the snapshot;

to determine that deleting the snapshot fails to achieve the free storage threshold that corresponds to the particular storage volume;

to automatically initiate the autosize function for the particular storage volume in response to determining that initiating the first automatic storage management policy on the particular storage volume fails to achieve the free storage threshold that corresponds to the particular storage volume; and

to notify a user if the autosize function for the particular volume fails to reclaim a target amount of free space in the particular volume.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to apply commitment level criteria the snapshot in order to identify the snapshot to be deleted.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to identify the snapshot to be deleted responsive to a determination that no backup data is in the process of being deleted.

15. The system of claim 12, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to determine whether a target storage space that corresponds to the particular storage volume has been achieved responsive to the deleting of the identified snapshot.