Accumulating access frequency and file attributes for supporting policy based storage management

• US 8,131,689 B2
• Filed: 10/02/2006
• Issued: 03/06/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Systems, Inc.
• Inventors: Tsirigotis, Panagiotis, Srikantan, Geetha, Wong, Thomas K., Wong, Chi Ming, Iyengar, Anand, Chawla, Rajeev, Simpkins, Richard, Liu, Zuwei, Gupta, Gaurav, Seitz, Matthew, Chan, Yu Cheong
• Primary Examiner(s): Rones, Charles
• Assistant Examiner(s): Chojnacki, Mellissa M
• Application Number:
  US11/537,997
• Publication Number:
  US 20070136308A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,982 Days
• Field of Search: 707/1, 707/694, 709/201
• US Class Current: 707/694
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/122 using management policies backup systems G06F11/1446; file migration policies for HSM systems G06F16/185
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/1827 Management specifically adapted to NAS management of storage area networks [SAN] G06F3/067
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/1865 Transactional file systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1095 Replication or mirroring of data, e.g. scheduling or transport for data synchronisation between network nodes
• 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 system and method for performing policy-based storage management using data related to access frequency and file attribute accumulation. A switch device provides transparency for transactions between a client and a storage network. The transparency allows objects (e.g., files or directories) to be moved (e.g., migrated) on the storage network without affecting a reference to the object used by the client (e.g., a file handle). A monitoring module generates accumulation data associated with the transactions for use in policy-based management. The accumulation data can describe uses of the file such as how often certain files are accessed, modifications to files such as creations of new directories or files, and other uses.

Claims

1. A method for monitoring transactions related to objects in a storage network, comprising:

at a switch device coupled between a client and a storage network, identifying which one or more file systems on the storage network to monitor and which one or more types of transaction requests to monitor;

periodically receiving a plurality of received transaction requests each concerning an object in the storage network, the switch device configured to process transaction requests sent by the client;

for each received transaction request, determining that the received transaction request is directed to a file system on the storage network that has been identified as being monitored and that a type of the received transaction request has been identified as being monitored and based on such determination, logging the received transaction request according to the type of the received transaction request;

periodically processing a plurality of such logged transaction requests to generate accumulation data associated with objects to which the logged transaction requests are directed, the accumulation data describing an access, modification or other use of each object;

storing the accumulation data in a records repository;

applying a storage network management policy to the objects based on the accumulation data, wherein applying the policy comprises directing queries based on the policy to the records repository;

wherein the switch device provides a switch file handle to the client for each object, said switch file handle identifying the object independent of physical location, and the switch device maps the switch file handle to a storage network file handle, the storage network file handle identifying the physical location of the object in the storage network, and

wherein each received transaction request sent by the client comprises a selected one of the switch file handles for the object of the received transaction request.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

categorizing each received transaction request; and

logging each received transaction request according to the categorization.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein periodically processing the logged transaction requests comprises:

incrementing a count associated with a record for each logged transaction request concerning the record.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein periodically processing the logged transaction requests comprises:

incrementing a type count associated with a record for each type of logged transaction request concerning the record.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein periodically processing the logged transaction requests comprises:

incrementing a number of bytes to reflect a total number of bytes for each logged transaction request concerning an object.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein applying the policy comprises:

mapping rules of the policy to commands; and

querying the objects according to the commands.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein logging the each received transaction request comprises logging the received transaction request in a cyclic buffer, and wherein periodically processing the logged transaction requests comprises periodically processing the logged transaction requests responsive to the cyclic buffer completing cycle.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein each received transaction request comprises a Network Attached Storage (NAS) file handle.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein each received transaction request comprises an update to a namespace of a file system on the storage network.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein each received transaction request comprises an update to data of a file on the storage network.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein each received transaction request comprises an access to one of a directory or file on the storage network.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

processing each logged transaction request by sending a command to the storage network and forwarding results of the command to the client.

13. A switch device coupled between a client and a storage network to process transaction requests submitted by the client, comprising a processor configured to include or execute

a file handle module to provide a plurality of switch file handles to the client, each switch file handle identifying an object independent of physical location, where the object is physically located in a storage network;

a mapping module to map each switch file handle to a storage network file handle, each storage network file handle identifying the physical location of the object of the storage network file handle in the storage network;

an I/O monitoring module to receive a plurality of transaction requests from the client, each transaction request concerning a one of the objects in the storage network, and determine whether each transaction request is directed to a file system on the storage monitor that has been identified as being monitored, wherein each transaction request comprises a one of the switch file handles;

a transaction categorizing module to determine whether each transaction request is a type of transaction request that has been identified as being monitored;

transaction logs to log each transaction request according to the type of transaction request after a determination has been made that the transaction request is of a type that has been identified as being monitored;

an accumulator module to periodically process a plurality of such logged transaction requests to generate accumulation data associated with objects to which the logged transaction requests are directed, the accumulation data describing an access, modification or other use of each object;

storing the accumulation data in a records repository; and

a policy module to apply a storage network management policy to the objects based on the accumulation data, wherein applying the policy comprises directing queries based on the policy to the records repository.

14. The switch device of claim 13, wherein the category transaction module categorizes each received transaction request, and the transaction logs log each received transaction request to the categorization.

15. The switch device of claim 13, wherein the accumulator module increments a count associated with a record for each logged transaction request concerning the record.

16. The switch device of claim 13, wherein the accumulator module increments a type count associated with a record for each type of logged transaction request concerning the record.

17. The switch device of claim 13, wherein the accumulator module periodically increments a number of bytes to reflect a total number of bytes for each logged transaction request concerning an object.

18. The switch device of claim 13, further comprising a policy module to map rules of the policy to commands, and query the objects according to the commands.

19. The switch device of claim 13, wherein the transaction logs store the received transaction request in a cyclic buffer, and wherein the accumulator module periodically processing the logged transaction requests responsive to the cyclic buffer completing cycle.

20. The switch device of claim 13, wherein each received transaction request comprises a Network Attached Storage (NAS) file handle.

21. The switch device of claim 13, wherein each received transaction request comprises an update to a namespace of a file system on the storage network.

22. The switch device of claim 13, wherein each received transaction request comprises an update to data of a file on the storage network.

23. The switch device of claim 13, wherein each received transaction request comprises an access to one of a directory or file on the storage network.

24. The switch device of claim 13, further comprising a mapping module to process each logged transaction request by sending a command to the storage network and forwarding results of the command to the client.

25. An apparatus for monitoring transactions related to objects in a storage network, comprising:

means for identifying which one or more file systems on the storage network to monitor and which one or more types of transaction requests to monitor;

means for periodically receiving a plurality of received transaction requests each concerning an object in the storage network, the switch device configured to process transaction requests sent by a client;

means for determining for each received transaction request that the received transaction request is directed to a file system on the storage network that has been identified as being monitored and that a type of the received transaction request has been identified as being monitored and a means for logging the received transaction request according to the type of the received transaction request based on such determination;

means for periodically processing a plurality of such logged transaction requests to generate accumulation data associated with objects to which the logged transaction requests are directed, the accumulation data describing an access, modification or other use of each object;

means for storing the accumulation data in a records repository;

means for applying a storage network management policy to the objects based on the accumulation data, wherein applying the policy comprises directing queries based on the policy to the records repository; and

means for providing a switch file handle to the client for each object, said switch file handle identifying the object independent of physical location, and mapping the switch file handle to a storage network file handle, the storage network file handle identifying the physical location of the object in the storage network,

wherein each received transaction request sent by the client comprises a selected one of the switch file handles for the object of the received transaction request.