Metadata for managing I/O and storage for a virtualization environment
First Claim
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1. A method for performing lock free processing of metadata for storage devices in a virtualization system, comprising:
- identifying a metadata structure hierarchy with a plurality of levels including at least a first level corresponding to a virtual storage unit and a mapping between portions of the virtual storage unit to contiguous physical storage, and a second level corresponding to information describing the physical storage;
reading from the metadata structure in a first order from the first level to the second level without locking; and
writing to the metadata structure in a second order from the second level to the first level without locking, wherein the second order is opposite of the first order.
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Abstract
Disclosed is an improved approach for using advanced metadata to implement an architecture for managing I/O operations and storage devices for a virtualization environment. According to some embodiments, a Service VM is employed to control and manage any type of storage device, including directly attached storage in addition to networked and cloud storage. The advanced metadata is used to track data within the storage devices. A lock-free approach is implemented in some embodiments to access and modify the metadata.
190 Citations
44 Claims
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1. A method for performing lock free processing of metadata for storage devices in a virtualization system, comprising:
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identifying a metadata structure hierarchy with a plurality of levels including at least a first level corresponding to a virtual storage unit and a mapping between portions of the virtual storage unit to contiguous physical storage, and a second level corresponding to information describing the physical storage; reading from the metadata structure in a first order from the first level to the second level without locking; and writing to the metadata structure in a second order from the second level to the first level without locking, wherein the second order is opposite of the first order. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A storage system comprising storage devices in a virtualization system, comprising:
a processor to handle computing instructions to access the storage devices; and
computer readable medium comprising metadata for the virtualization system, wherein the metadata comprises a metadata structure hierarchy with a plurality of levels including at least a first level corresponding to a virtual storage unit and a mapping between portions of the virtual storage unit to contiguous physical storage, and a second level corresponding to information describing the physical storage, in which lock-free access of the metadata is implemented by the processor reading from the metadata structure in a first order from the first level to the second level without locking and writing to the metadata structure in a second order from the second level to the first level without locking, wherein the second order is opposite of the first order.- View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27)
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28. A computer program product embodied on a non-transitory computer usable medium, the computer readable medium having stored thereon a sequence of instructions which, when executed by a processor causes the processor to execute a method for performing lock free processing of metadata for storage devices in a virtualization system, the method comprising:
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identifying a metadata structure hierarchy with a plurality of levels including at least a first level corresponding to a virtual storage unit and a mapping between portions of the virtual storage unit to contiguous physical storage, and a second level corresponding to information describing the physical storage; reading from the metadata structure in a first order from the first level to the second level without locking; and writing to the metadata structure in a second order from the second level to the first level without locking, wherein the second order is opposite of the first order. - View Dependent Claims (29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44)
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Specification