Exposing storage resources with differing capabilities

• US 9,122,397 B2
• Filed: 10/26/2007
• Issued: 09/01/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 10/26/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Emc IP Holding Company LLC (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Original Assignee: EMC Corporation (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Inventors: Oliveira, Fernando, Fridella, Stephen, Dimitrov, Rossen, Eaton, Patrick
• Primary Examiner(s): NGUYEN, PHONG H
• Application Number:
  US11/978,243
• Publication Number:
  US 20090112811A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,867 Days
• Field of Search: 707/103.R, 707/769, 707/812, 707/E17.005, 709/203, 711/206
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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 3/0607 by facilitating the process of upgrading existing storage systems, e.g. for improving compatibility between host and storage device
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0634 by changing the state or mode of one or more devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0653 Monitoring storage devices or systems
• 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]

Abstract

Tracking storage resources includes providing a table containing storage resources along with capabilities and statuses thereof, updating the table in response to a change of status of a storage resource, updating the table in response to a change in capabilities of a storage resource and, in response to an inquiry for a storage resource having a particular capability, searching the table for a storage resource having the particular capability. Tracking storage resources may also include adding an element to the table in response to a new resource being added to the system. The capabilities may include RAID striping, data deduplication, and green operation. The status may be one of: on-line, off-line, and full.

Claims

1. A method of tracking storage resources in a storage system, comprising:

providing a table containing storage resources in the storage system along with capabilities and statuses thereof, wherein the storage system includes a plurality of interconnected file servers and wherein the capabilities correspond to at least one of;

data deduplication and green operation;

providing a resource manager that modifies capabilities of resources and modifies corresponding entries in the table;

the resource manager updating the table in response to a change of status of a storage resource in the storage system;

the resource manager updating the table in response to a change in capabilities of a storage resource in the storage system; and

in response to an inquiry for a storage resource in the storage system having a particular capability, the resource manager searching the table for a storage resource having the particular capability.

2. A method, according to claim 1, further comprising:

adding an element to the table in response to a new resource being added to the storage system.

3. A method, according to claim 1, wherein the status is one of:

on-line, off-line, and full.

4. A method, according to claim 1, wherein the storage resources are disk drives.

5. A method, according to claim 4, wherein the disk drives are managed by data storage servers that present an OSD interface for the disk drives.

6. Computer software, provided in a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, that tracks storage resources in a storage system, the software comprising:

a table that contains storage resources in the storage system along with capabilities and statuses thereof, wherein the storage system includes a plurality of interconnected file servers and wherein the capabilities correspond to at least one of;

data deduplication and green operation;

a resource manager that modifies capabilities of resources and modifies corresponding entries in the table;

executable code that causes the resource manager to update the table in response to a change of status of a storage resource in the storage system;

executable code that causes the resource manager to update the table in response to a change in capabilities of a storage resource in the storage system; and

executable code that causes the resource manager to search the table for a storage resource in the storage system having a particular capability in response to an inquiry for a storage resource having the particular capability.

7. Computer software, according to claim 6, further comprising:

executable code that adds an element to the table in response to a new resource being added to the storage system.

8. Computer software, according to claim 6, wherein the status is one of:

on-line, off-line, and full.

9. Computer software, according to claim 6, wherein the storage resources are disk drives.

10. Computer software, according to claim 9, wherein the disk drives are managed by data storage servers that present an OSD interface for the disk drives.

11. A resource manager that manages storage resources for a storage system, comprising:

a processing device; and

computer-readable memory coupled to the processing device, the computer-readable memory having a table provided in a data structure and containing storage resources in the storage system along with capabilities and statuses thereof, wherein the storage system includes a plurality of interconnected file servers and wherein the capabilities correspond to at least one of;

data deduplication and green operation, the computer-readable memory also having executable code that causes the resource manager to update the table in response to a change of status of a storage resource in the storage system, executable code that causes the resource manager to update the table in response to a change in capabilities of a storage resource in the storage system, and executable code that searches the table for a storage resource in the storage system having a particular capability in response to an inquiry for a storage resource having the particular capability.

12. A resource manager, according to claim 11, wherein the computer-readable memory also contains executable code that adds an element to the table in response to a new resource being added to the storage system.

13. A resource manager, according to claim 11, wherein the status is one of:

on-line, off-line, and full.

14. A resource manager, according to claim 11, wherein the disk drives are managed by data storage servers that present an OSD interface for the disk drives.