System and method for populating a cache using behavioral adaptive policies

• US 8,805,949 B2
• Filed: 01/16/2008
• Issued: 08/12/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 01/16/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NetApp, Inc.
• Original Assignee: NetApp, Inc.
• Inventors: Aviles, Joaquin J., Cree, Mark U., Dahl, Gregory A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Pollack, Melvin H
• Application Number:
  US12/015,250
• Publication Number:
  US 20090182836A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,400 Days
• Field of Search: 709/203, 709/213, 709217-219, 709/226, 709/236, 709/248, 709/249, 718/106, 711/118, 711/122, 707/201
• US Class Current: 709/213
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/08 Configuration management of networks or network elements address allocation H04L61/50
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0893 Assignment of logical groups to network elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0894 Policy-based network configuration management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1001 for accessing one among a plurality of replicated servers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1014 based on the content of a request
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1025 Dynamic adaptation of the criteria on which the server selection is based
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/564 Enhancement of application control based on intercepted application data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/568 Storing data temporarily at an intermediate stage, e.g. caching
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/5682 Policies or rules for updating, deleting or replacing the stored data

Abstract

A method, system and program are disclosed for accelerating data storage in a cache appliance cluster that transparently monitors NFS and CIFS traffic between clients and NAS subsystems and caches files using dynamically adjustable cache policies which populate the storage cache using behavioral adaptive policies that are based on analysis of clients-filers transaction patterns and network utilization, thereby improving access time to the data stored on the disk-based NAS filer (group) for predetermined applications.

Claims

1. A standalone cache unit comprising:

one or more input or output (I/O) ports;

a cache memory to store data at the standalone cache unit;

a packet processor, at the standalone cache unit, coupled to the cache memory and to the one or more I/O ports, the packet processor to inspect network protocol traffic state parameters associated with a data operation request received from a remote client over one or more networks and received on the I/O ports in order to determine whether the request can be serviced by the standalone cache unit based on the inspected network protocol traffic state parameters; and

an adaptive cache control module, at the standalone cache unit, to execute computer-executable instructions in order to perform a data operation corresponding to the request and to automatically control caching operations in the cache memory using (i) a default cache replacement policy, and (ii) a user-specified cache profile that selectively adjusts the default cache replacement policy based on one or more conditions associated with the request.

2. The standalone cache unit of claim 1, where the user-specified cache profile provides preferential access to the cache memory for files from a first user-specified application data set as compared to a second user-specified application data set.

3. The standalone cache unit of claim 1, where the user-specified cache profile provides preferential access to the cache memory for files from a user-specified application data set in accordance with a predetermined schedule so that the preferential access is restricted to a particular period of time.

4. The standalone cache unit of claim 1, where the user-specified cache profile provides preferential access to the cache memory for files from a first client located at a predetermined Internet Protocol (IP) address as compared to a second client located at a different IP address.

5. The standalone cache unit of claim 1, where the user-specified cache profile provides preferential access to the cache memory for files from a predetermined location in a specified networked data storage device as compared to files from another location.

6. The standalone cache unit of claim 1, where the user-specified cache profile provides preferential access to the cache memory for a set of files having a predetermined file path component, the file path component including one or more of a Network Attached Storage (NAS) subsystem, filer, volume, path, directory, name, extension, or size.

7. The standalone cache unit of claim 1, where the default cache replacement policy comprises a least recently used with dual time reference algorithm aided with greedy dual size frequency algorithm.

8. The standalone cache unit of claim 1, where the packet processor executes software that transparently monitors one or more of Network File System (NFS) or Common Internet File System (CIFS) traffic between one or more remote clients and one or more NAS subsystems.

9. A method for adaptively caching data operations, the method being performed by a standalone cache unit and comprising:

receiving, at the standalone cache unit, a request from a remote client to perform a specified data operation at one or more networked data storage devices;

inspecting packet parameters in each TCP/IP stack layer associated with the request to determine whether the request can be serviced by a cache memory located at the standalone cache unit;

in response to determining that the request can be serviced by the standalone cache unit, performing the specified data operation at the cache memory; and

automatically controlling caching operations in the cache memory using (i) a default cache replacement policy, and (ii) a user-specified cache profile that selectively adjusts the default cache replacement policy based on one or more conditions associated with the request.

10. The method of claim 9, where the user-specified cache profile provides preferential access to the cache memory for files from a first user-specified application data set as compared to a second user-specified application data set.

11. The method of claim 9, where the user-specified cache profile provides preferential access to the cache memory for files from a user-specified application data set in accordance with a predetermined schedule so that the preferential access is restricted to a particular period of time.

12. The method of claim 9, where the user-specified cache profile provides preferential access to the cache memory for files from a first client located at a predetermined Internet Protocol (IP) address as compared to a second client located at a different IP address.

13. The method of claim 9, where the user-specified cache profile provides preferential access to the cache memory for files from a predetermined location in a specified networked data storage device as compared to files from another location.

14. The method of claim 9, where the user-specified cache profile provides preferential access to the cache memory for a set of files having a predetermined file path component, as the file path component including one or more of a Network Attached Storage (NAS) subsystem, filer, volume, path, directory, name, extension, or size.

15. The method of claim 9, where the user-specified cache profile provides preferential access to the cache memory for one or more specified remote clients based on one or more predetermined schedules that specify when each remote client has preferential access.

16. The method of claim 9, where the default cache replacement policy comprises a least recently used with dual time reference algorithm aided with greedy dual size frequency algorithm.

17. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by a processor of a standalone cache unit, causes the processor to perform operations comprising:

receiving, at the standalone cache unit, a request from a remote client to perform a specified data operation at one or more networked data storage devices, the one or more networked data storage devices being in communication with the standalone cache unit over one or more networks;

determining whether the request can be serviced by a cache memory located at the standalone cache unit based on one or more parameters associated with the request;

in response to determining that the request can be serviced by the standalone cache unit, performing the specified data operation at the cache memory; and

automatically controlling caching operations in the cache memory using (i) a default cache replacement policy, and (ii) a user-specified cache profile that selectively adjusts the default cache replacement policy based on one or more conditions associated with the request.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17, where the user-specified cache profile provides preferential access to the cache memory for files from a user-specified application data set in accordance with a predetermined schedule so that the preferential access is restricted to a particular period of time.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17, where the user-specified cache profile provides preferential access to the cache memory for files from a first client located at a predetermined Internet Protocol (IP) address as compared to a second client located at a different IP address.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17, where the user-specified cache profile provides preferential access to the cache memory for files from a predetermined location in a specified networked data storage device as compared to files from another location.