Reserving a thin provisioned space in a storage system

• US 8,108,640 B1
• Filed: 04/16/2009
• Issued: 01/31/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 04/16/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NetApp, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Network Appliance Incorporated (NetApp, Inc.)
• Inventors: Holl, James Hartwell II
• Primary Examiner(s): Le, Vu
• Assistant Examiner(s): Yang, Han
• Application Number:
  US12/425,300
• Time in Patent Office: 1,020 Days
• Field of Search: 711/162, 711/173, 711/171, 711/172, 711/163
• US Class Current: 711/162
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1456 Hardware arrangements for backup
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1458 Management of the backup or restore process
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2094 Redundant storage or storage space G06F11/2056 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/84 Using snapshots, i.e. a logical point-in-time copy of the data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0605 by facilitating the interaction with a user or administrator
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/065 Replication mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0665 at area level, e.g. provisioning of virtual or logical volumes
• 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 storage system includes a storage space provisioning system coupled to a primary storage server and a secondary storage server to resize a thin provisioned secondary volume on the secondary storage server. The storage space provisioning system detects data stored on a primary volume that is to be transferred to a secondary volume and obtains a point-in-time copy of the data stored on the primary volume. The storage provisioner determines a maximum transfer size of the data to be transferred using the point-in-time copy, and compares the maximum transfer size to a difference between the thin provisioned size of the secondary volume and a used size of the secondary volume. The storage space provisioning system increases the thin provisioned size of the secondary volume to be greater than the used size of the secondary volume plus the maximum transfer size when the maximum transfer size is greater than the difference.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

detecting, by a storage space provisioning system, data stored on a primary volume that is to be transferred to a secondary volume, wherein the secondary volume has a thin provisioned size;

obtaining a point-in-time copy of the data stored on the primary volume that is to be transferred;

determining a maximum transfer size of the data to be transferred from the point-in-time copy;

comparing the maximum transfer size to a difference between the thin provisioned size of the secondary volume and a used size of the secondary volume; and

increasing the thin provisioned size of the secondary volume to be greater than the used size of the secondary volume plus the maximum transfer size when the maximum transfer size is greater than the difference.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein detecting data stored on a primary volume that is to be transferred to a secondary volume comprises:

monitoring for a request to backup data stored on the primary volume to the secondary volume.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein increasing the thin provisioned size of the secondary volume comprises:

sending instructions to a storage server to increase the thin provisioned size of the secondary volume.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising initiating the data transfer of the data stored on the primary volume to the secondary volume.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein initiating the data transfer comprises receiving a confirmation that the thin provisioned size of the secondary volume was increased.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein increasing the thin provisioned size comprises resizing the thin provisioned size of the secondary volume to be an additional percentage of a sum of the used size of the secondary volume and the maximum transfer size.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein comparing the maximum transfer size to the difference between the thin provisioned size of the secondary volume and the used size of the secondary volume comprises:

obtaining the thin provisioned size of the secondary volume;

obtaining the used size of the secondary volume; and

calculating the difference between the thin provisioned size of the secondary volume and the used size of the secondary volume.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining a point-in-time copy of the data stored on the primary volume that is to be transferred comprises obtaining a point-in-time copy from a primary storage server.

9. A data storage system comprising:

a primary storage server to store data on a primary volume on the primary storage server, wherein the data is to be transferred to a secondary storage server;

a secondary storage server having a secondary volume to store data transferred from the primary volume on the primary storage server to the secondary volume on the secondary storage server, wherein the secondary volume has a thin provisioned size;

a computer comprising a storage space provisioner logically coupled to the primary storage server and the secondary storage server, wherein the storage space provisioner comprises;

a data transfer monitor to detect the data stored on the primary volume that is to be transferred to the secondary volume;

a point-in-time copy obtainer to obtain a point-in-time copy of the data to be transferred;

a transfer size determinator to determine a maximum transfer size of the data to be transferred using the point-in-time copy;

a size comparator to compare the maximum transfer size to a difference between the thin provisioned size of the secondary volume and a used size of the secondary volume; and

a secondary resizer to increase the thin provisioned size of the secondary volume to be greater than the used size of the secondary volume plus the maximum transfer size; and

a database to store the thin provisioned size of the secondary volume, the used size of the secondary volume, the difference between the thin provisioned size of the secondary volume and the used size of the secondary volume, and the maximum transfer size.

10. The data storage system of claim 9, wherein the secondary resizer is to increase the thin provisioned size of the secondary volume by sending instructions to the secondary storage server to increase the thin provisioned size of the secondary volume.

11. The data storage system of claim 9, wherein the secondary resizer is further to initiate the data transfer of the data stored on a primary volume to the secondary volume.

12. The data storage system of claim 11, wherein the secondary resizer is further to receive a confirmation that the thin provisioned size of the secondary volume was increased.

13. The data storage system of claim 9, wherein to increase the thin provisioned size of the secondary volume comprises resizing the thin provisioned size of the secondary volume to be an additional percentage of a sum of the used size of the secondary volume and the maximum transfer size.

14. The data storage system of claim 9, wherein the storage space provisioner further comprises:

a secondary size obtainer to determine the thin provisioned size of the secondary volume and the used size of the secondary volume; and

a size calculator to calculate the difference between the thin provisioned size of the secondary volume and the used size of the secondary volume.

15. A computer system comprising:

a processor coupled to a memory through a bus; and

instructions executed from the memory by the processor to cause the processor

to detect data stored on a primary volume that is to be transferred to a secondary volume, wherein the secondary volume has a thin provisioned size,

to obtain a point-in-time copy of the data stored on the primary volume that is to be transferred,

to determine a maximum transfer size of the data to be transferred using the point-in-time copy,

to compare the maximum transfer size to a difference between the thin provisioned size of the secondary volume and a used size of the secondary volume, and

to increase the thin provisioned size of the secondary volume to be greater than the used size of the secondary volume plus the maximum transfer size when the maximum transfer size is greater than the difference.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein to increase the thin provisioned size of the secondary volume comprises sending instructions to a storage server to increase the thin provisioned size of the secondary volume.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein the processor is further to initiate the data transfer of the data stored on a primary volume to the secondary volume.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the processor is further to receive a confirmation that the thin provisioned size of the secondary volume was increased.

19. The system of claim 15, wherein to increase the thin provisioned size of the secondary volume comprises resizing the thin provisioned size of the secondary volume to be an additional percentage of a sum of the used size of the secondary volume and the maximum transfer size.

20. The system of claim 15, wherein to compare the maximum transfer size to a difference between the thin provisioned size of the secondary volume and a used size of the secondary volume comprises:

obtaining the thin provisioned size of the secondary volume;

obtaining the used size of the secondary volume; and

calculating the difference between the thin provisioned size of the secondary volume and the used size of the secondary volume.

21. A method comprising:

detecting by a storage provisioning system data stored on a primary volume that is to be transferred to a secondary volume, wherein the secondary volume has a thin provisioned size and a used size;

comparing by the storage provisioning system a difference between the thin provisioned size of the secondary volume and the used size of the secondary volume to a maximum transfer size of the data to be transferred, wherein the maximum transfer size is determined from a point-in-time copy of the data to be transferred; and

increasing by the storage provisioning system the thin provisioned size of the secondary volume to be greater than the used size of the secondary volume plus the maximum transfer size if the maximum transfer size is greater than the difference.