Multi-tiered filesystem
First Claim
Patent Images
1. In a storage system having a plurality of storage devices, wherein different storage devices may be associated with different storage characteristics, a multi-tiered filesystem method comprising:
- aggregating storage from the plurality of storage devices into a storage pool having a plurality of storage tiers, the storage tiers having different storage characteristics;
allocating storage from a plurality of the storage tiers for a multi-tiered filesystem;
aggregating the allocated storage into a contiguous filesystem storage space such that at least two regions of the contiguous filesystem storage space are associated with different storage tiers; and
for storing a particular quantum of data;
selecting a storage tier for the quantum of data;
allocating, from the contiguous filesystem storage space, at least one block of storage from at least one region associated with the selected storage tier; and
storing the quantum of data in the at least one allocated storage block, wherein the storage system is operable to store user data associated with a user file into at least one storage device forming a lower storage tier in the storage pool and to store user metadata for managing the user file into at least one storage device forming a higher storage tier in the storage pool based on the types of the storage devices and the type of the user data and the user metadata;
the user metadata stored in the higher storage tier separately from the user data stored in the lower storage tier.
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Abstract
A multi-tiered filesystem integrates multiple types of storage devices into a contiguous filesystem storage space having regions associated with two or more tiers of storage.
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Citations
39 Claims
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1. In a storage system having a plurality of storage devices, wherein different storage devices may be associated with different storage characteristics, a multi-tiered filesystem method comprising:
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aggregating storage from the plurality of storage devices into a storage pool having a plurality of storage tiers, the storage tiers having different storage characteristics; allocating storage from a plurality of the storage tiers for a multi-tiered filesystem; aggregating the allocated storage into a contiguous filesystem storage space such that at least two regions of the contiguous filesystem storage space are associated with different storage tiers; and for storing a particular quantum of data; selecting a storage tier for the quantum of data; allocating, from the contiguous filesystem storage space, at least one block of storage from at least one region associated with the selected storage tier; and storing the quantum of data in the at least one allocated storage block, wherein the storage system is operable to store user data associated with a user file into at least one storage device forming a lower storage tier in the storage pool and to store user metadata for managing the user file into at least one storage device forming a higher storage tier in the storage pool based on the types of the storage devices and the type of the user data and the user metadata;
the user metadata stored in the higher storage tier separately from the user data stored in the lower storage tier. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A file storage system comprising:
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a plurality of storage devices including storage devices associated with different storage characteristics; and a file server operably coupled to the plurality of storage devices, the file server configured to aggregate storage from the plurality of storage devices into a storage pool having a plurality of storage tiers, the storage tiers having different storage characteristics;
allocate storage from a plurality of the storage tiers for a multi-tiered filesystem;
aggregate the allocated storage into a contiguous filesystem storage space such that at least two regions of the contiguous filesystem storage space are associated with different storage tiers; and
for storing a particular quantum of data;select a storage tier for the quantum of data; allocate, from the contiguous filesystem storage space, at least one storage block of storage from at least one region associated with the selected storage tier; and store the quantum of data in the at least one allocated storage block, wherein the file server is operable to store user data associated with a user file into at least one storage device forming a lower storage tier in the storage pool and to store user metadata for managing the user file into at least one storage device forming a higher storage tier in the storage pool based on the types of the storage devices and the type of the user data and the user metadata the user metadata stored in the higher storage tier separately from the user data stored in the lower storage tier. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32)
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33. In a storage system having a storage pool including disk storage representing a lower storage tier and solid state storage device representing a higher storage tier, a method for converting a single-tiered filesystem into a multi-tiered filesystem, the single-tiered filesystem storing filesystem metadata and user files in disk storage, the method comprising:
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allocating solid state storage for the filesystem from the storage pool; aggregating the allocated solid state storage and the disk storage into a contiguous filesystem storage space such that at least two regions of the contiguous filesystem storage space are associated with different storage tiers; and upon creation of a new user file by the filesystem; storing user metadata associated with the new user file in the solid state storage; and storing user data associated with the new user file in the disk storage, wherein at least one user file remains stored entirely in disk storage and wherein the storage system is operable to store the user data associated with the new user file into the disk storage forming the lower storage tier in the storage pool and to store the user metadata for managing the new user file into the solid state storage forming the higher storage tier in the storage pool based on the types of the storage devices and the type of the user data and the user metadata, the user metadata stored in the higher storage tier separately from the user data stored in the lower storage tier. - View Dependent Claims (34, 35, 36, 37)
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38. A file server comprising:
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a storage pool including storage from at least two tiers of storage devices, the storage tiers having different storage characteristics; and a plurality of multi-tiered filesystems, each multi-tiered filesystem including storage from a plurality of the storage tiers aggregated into a contiguous filesystem storage space such that at least two regions of the contiguous filesystem storage space are associated with different storage tiers, wherein the file server is operable to store user data associated with a user file into at least one storage device forming a lower storage tier in the storage pool and to store user metadata for managing the user file into at least one storage device forming a higher storage tier in the storage pool based on the types of the storage devices and the type of the user data and the user metadata so that the user metadata can be stored in the higher storage tier separately from the user data stored in the lower storage tier. - View Dependent Claims (39)
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Specification