Adjusting a data storage address mapping in a maintenance free storage container

• US 9,141,458 B2
• Filed: 04/18/2012
• Issued: 09/22/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 05/09/2011
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Pure Storage, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Cleversafe Incorporated (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Inventors: Grube, Gary W., Markison, Timothy W.
• Primary Examiner(s): GUYTON, PHILIP A
• Application Number:
  US13/450,186
• Publication Number:
  US 20120290877A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,252 Days
• Field of Search: 714/4.2, 714/6.3
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0727 in a storage system, e.g. in a DASD or network based storage system drivers for digital recording or reproducing units G06F3/06; circuits for error detection or correction within digital recording or reproducing units G11B20/18; 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], H04L67/1097
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/076 by exceeding a count or rate limit, e.g. word- or bit count limit
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0775 Content or structure details of the error report, e.g. specific table structure, specific error fields
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0793 Remedial or corrective actions recovery from an exception in an instruction pipeline G06F9/3861; by retry G06F11/1402; for recovering from a failure of a protocol instance or entity H04L69/40
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1092 Rebuilding, e.g. when physically replacing a failing disk

Abstract

A maintenance free storage container includes a plurality of storage servers, wherein the maintenance free storage container allows for multiple storage servers of the plurality of storage servers to be in a failure mode without replacement. The maintenance free storage container further includes a container controller operable to establish a first mapping of a plurality of virtual storage servers to at least some of the plurality of storage servers and facilitate storage of encoded data slices in the at least some of the plurality of storage servers. The container controller is further operable to when evaluation of storage server utilization information triggers an adjustment, adjust the first mapping to produce a second mapping, facilitate storage of new encoded data based on the second mapping, and facilitate modification of storage of the encoded data slices stored in accordance with the first mapping based on the data storage adjustment criteria.

Claims

1. A maintenance free storage container comprises:

a plurality of storage servers, wherein a storage server of the plurality of storage servers includes a plurality of storage devices and a server control module, wherein data is transferred via the plurality of storage servers to storage devices of respective storage servers and the data is retrieved from the storage devices of the respective storage servers, in which the data, prior to storage, is segmented into a plurality of data segments and respective data segments are error encoded to generate a plurality of encoded data slices for storage in the storage devices associated with a first set of the storage servers, and in which a threshold number of encoded data slices of a particular data segment are needed to reconstruct the particular data segment when retrieved, the threshold number of encoded data slices being less than the plurality of encoded data slices generated for the particular data segment, and wherein the maintenance free storage container allows for multiple storage servers of the plurality of storage servers to be in a failure mode without replacement and allows for multiple storage devices of one or more of the plurality of storage servers to be in the failure mode without replacement; and

a container controller operable to;

establish, based on vault registry information for each vault of a plurality of vaults, a first mapping of a plurality of virtual storage servers of a vault of the plurality of vaults to the first set of storage servers based on storage server utilization information and storage server failure information;

facilitate storage of the encoded data slices in the first set of storage servers in accordance with the first mapping;

when, in light of data storage adjustment criteria of the vault registry information, evaluation of the storage server utilization information and the storage server failure information triggers an adjustment of the first mapping, adjust the first mapping in accordance with the data storage adjustment criteria to produce a second mapping of the plurality of virtual storage servers of the vault of the plurality of vaults to a second set of storage servers, wherein a remapping to the second mapping is based on a location of encoded data slices within a segment;

facilitate storage of new encoded data slices in the second set of storage servers based on the second mapping; and

facilitate modification of storage of the encoded data slices stored in accordance with the first mapping based on the data storage adjustment criteria to the second set of storage servers.

2. The maintenance free storage container of claim 1, wherein the container controller is further operable to facilitate modification of storage of the encoded data slices by:

identifying encoded data slices of the encoded data slices stored in accordance with the first mapping for transfer to another maintenance free storage container to produce identified encoded data slices;

facilitating transfer of the identified encoded data slices to the other maintenance free storage container; and

updating the storage server utilization information in accordance with the transferring of the identified encoded data slices.

3. The maintenance free storage container of claim 1, wherein the container controller is further operable to facilitate modification of storage of the encoded data slices by:

identifying encoded data slices of the encoded data slices stored in accordance with the first mapping for overwriting; and

updating the storage server utilization information in accordance with the overwriting of the identified encoded data slices.

4. The maintenance free storage container of claim 1, wherein the container controller is further operable to facilitate modification of storage of the encoded data slices by:

modifying parameters of a dispersed storage coding function based on the data storage adjustment criteria to produce modified parameters; and

facilitating modification of storage of the encoded data slices utilizing the modified parameters.

5. The maintenance free storage container of claim 1, wherein the container controller is further operable to facilitate modification of storage of the encoded data slices by:

identifying encoded data slices of the encoded data slices stored in accordance with the first mapping for transfer from a first storage server of the plurality of storage servers to a second storage server of the plurality of storage servers to produce identified encoded data slices;

facilitating transfer of the identified encoded data slices to the second storage server; and

updating the storage server utilization information in accordance with the transferring of the identified encoded data slices.

6. The maintenance free storage container of claim 1, wherein the container controller is operable to adjust the first mapping by:

reassigning a portion of a dispersed storage network (DSN) address range assigned to a first storage server of the plurality of storage servers to a second storage server of the plurality of storage servers.

7. The maintenance free storage container of claim 1, wherein the container controller is further operable to:

establish, based on second vault registry information of the plurality of vaults, a third mapping of a second plurality of virtual storage servers of a second vault of the plurality of vaults to a third set of storage servers based on the storage server utilization information and the storage server failure information;

facilitate storage of additional encoded data slices to the third set of storage servers in accordance with the third mapping;

when, in light of second data storage adjustment criteria of the second vault registry information, evaluation of the storage server utilization information and the storage server failure information triggers an adjustment of the third mapping, adjust the third mapping in accordance with the second data storage adjustment criteria to produce a fourth mapping of the second plurality of virtual storage servers to a fourth set of storage servers;

facilitate storage of new encoded data slices in the fourth set of storage servers based on the fourth mapping; and

facilitate modification of storage of the additional encoded data slices stored in accordance with the third mapping based on the second data storage adjustment criteria to the fourth set of storage servers.

8. The maintenance free storage container of claim 1, wherein the encoded data slices comprise:

data encoded into the encoded data slices in accordance with a dispersed storage error coding function.

9. A container controller comprises:

an external network interface;

an internal network interface; and

a module operable to;

establish, based on vault registry information of each of a plurality of vaults, a first mapping of a plurality of virtual storage servers of a vault of the plurality of vaults to a first set of storage servers based on storage server utilization information and storage server failure information, wherein a storage server of the plurality of storage servers includes a plurality of storage devices and a server control module, wherein data is transferred via the plurality of storage servers to storage devices of respective storage servers and the data is retrieved from the storage devices of the respective storage devices, in which the data, prior to storage, is segmented into a plurality of data segments and respective data segments are error encoded to generate a plurality of encoded data slices for storage in the storage devices associated with the first set of the storage servers, and in which a threshold number of encoded data slices of a particular data segment are needed to reconstruct the particular data segment when retrieved, the threshold number of encoded data slices being less than the plurality of encoded data slices generated for the particular data segment, and wherein the maintenance free storage container allows for multiple storage servers of the plurality of storage servers to be in a failure mode without replacement and allows for multiple storage devices of one or more of the plurality of storage servers to be in the failure mode without replacement;

facilitate storage of the encoded data slices in the first set of storage servers in accordance with the first mapping;

when, in light of data storage adjustment criteria of the vault registry information, evaluation of the storage server utilization information and the storage server failure information triggers an adjustment of the first mapping, adjust the first mapping in accordance with the data storage adjustment criteria to produce a second mapping of the plurality of virtual storage servers of the vault of the plurality of vaults to a second set of storage servers, wherein a remapping to the second mapping is based on a location of encoded data slices within a segment;

facilitate storage of new encoded data slices in the second set of storage servers based on the second mapping; and

facilitate modification of storage of the encoded data slices stored in accordance with the first mapping based on the data storage adjustment criteria to the second set of storage servers.

10. The container controller of claim 9 is further operable to facilitate modification of storage of the encoded data slices by:

identifying encoded data slices of the encoded data slices stored in accordance with the first mapping for transfer to another maintenance free storage container to produce identified encoded data slices;

facilitating transfer of the identified encoded data slices to the other maintenance free storage container; and

updating the storage server utilization information in accordance with the transferring of the identified encoded data slices.

11. The container controller of claim 9 is further operable to facilitate modification of storage of the encoded data slices by:

identifying encoded data slices of the encoded data slices stored in accordance with the first mapping for overwriting; and

updating the storage server utilization information in accordance with the overwriting of the identified encoded data slices.

12. The container controller of claim 9 is further operable to facilitate modification of storage of the encoded data slices by:

modifying parameters of a dispersed storage coding function based on the data storage adjustment criteria to produce modified parameters; and

facilitating modification of storage of the encoded data slices utilizing the modified parameters.

13. The container controller of claim 9 is further operable to facilitate modification of storage of the encoded data slices by:

identifying encoded data slices of the encoded data slices stored in accordance with the first mapping for transfer from a first storage server of the plurality of storage servers to a second storage server of the plurality of storage servers to produce identified encoded data slices;

facilitating transfer of the identified encoded data slices to the second storage server; and

updating the storage server utilization information in accordance with the transferring of the identified encoded data slices.

14. The container controller of claim 9 is further operable to adjust the first mapping by:

reassigning a portion of a dispersed storage network (DSN) address range assigned to a first storage server of the plurality of storage servers to a second storage server of the plurality of storage servers.

15. The container controller of claim 9 is further operable to:

establish, based on second vault registry information of the plurality of vaults, a third mapping of a second plurality of virtual storage servers of a second vault of the plurality of vaults to a third set of storage servers based on the storage server utilization information and the storage server failure information;

facilitate storage of additional encoded data slices to the third set of storage servers in accordance with the third mapping;

when, in light of second data storage adjustment criteria of the second vault registry information, evaluation of the storage server utilization information and the storage server failure information triggers an adjustment of the third mapping, adjust the third mapping in accordance with the second data storage adjustment criteria to produce a fourth mapping of the second plurality of virtual storage servers to a fourth set of storage servers;

facilitate storage of new encoded data slices in the fourth set of storage servers based on the fourth mapping; and

facilitate modification of storage of the additional encoded data slices stored in accordance with the third mapping based on the second data storage adjustment criteria to the fourth set of storage servers.

16. The container controller of claim 9, wherein the encoded data slices comprise:

data encoded into the encoded data slices in accordance with a dispersed storage error coding function.