Network managed volumes

• US 9,344,235 B1
• Filed: 06/07/2002
• Issued: 05/17/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 06/07/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: DataCore Software Corporation (Flagship Ventures 2004 Fund LLC)
• Original Assignee: DataCore Software Corporation (Flagship Ventures 2004 Fund LLC)
• Inventors: Connolly, Nicholas, Chen, Ye (Tom), Linde, David A., Ghanem, Mohamed, Friedman, Mark, Putra, Roni J., Aral, Ziya A.
• Primary Examiner(s): DENNISON, JERRY B
• Application Number:
  US10/165,746
• Time in Patent Office: 5,093 Days
• Field of Search: 711202-208, 717171-172, 709/219
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0608 Saving storage space on storage systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0631 by allocating resources to storage 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]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0032 Distributed allocation, i.e. involving a plurality of allocating devices, each making partial allocation

Abstract

Disclosed are network managed volumes that enable simplified and more efficient use of information technology assets by allocating physical disk drives as needed. A pool of storage can be defined and populated with physical disks that are accessible in a storage area network. Virtual volumes are created from the storage pool, with each virtual volume being separately allocable to a host device (e.g., client, application server, etc.). Thus, host devices that have been allocated these virtual volumes perceive ownership of the entire volume, without requiring a present allocation of physical storage space having the same characteristics, but with seamless introduction of physical resources as needed.

Claims

1. A method for managing virtual volumes, the method comprising:

defining a storage pool to which one or more physical storage devices is assigned by selection from a plurality of available physical storage devices, the assigned physical storage devices having a total logical size;

defining virtual volumes that are associated to the storage pool;

presenting the virtual volumes to one or more client devices, wherein the virtual volumes have respective logical sizes, and the sum of the logical sizes for the virtual volumes intentionally exceeds the total logical size of the assigned physical storage devices, and wherein the virtual volumes are presented to the client devices without requiring the assigned physical storage devices to have been previously presented to any of the client devices;

defining the storage pool to include a plurality of available chunks each having a chunk size, the chunk size differing from and being larger than a block size used for basic write requests received from the client devices for the virtual volumes, the defining of the storage pool to include the plurality of available chunks occurring separately from the presenting of the virtual volumes to the client devices; and

allocating physical chunks of the chunk size from the plurality of available chunks that are included in the storage pool to dynamically allocate physical resources to the virtual volumes on demand;

wherein managing the virtual volumes is performed independently of the client devices.

2. An apparatus for managing virtual volumes, the apparatus comprising:

a processor; and

a memory, the memory storing program code executable to perform operations comprising

defining a storage pool to which one or more physical storage devices is assigned by selection from a plurality of available physical storage devices, the assigned physical storage devices having a total logical size;

defining virtual volumes that are associated to the storage pool;

presenting the virtual volumes to one or more client devices, wherein the virtual volumes have respective logical sizes, and the sum of the logical sizes for the virtual volumes intentionally exceeds the total logical size of the assigned physical storage devices, and wherein the virtual volumes are presented to the client devices without requiring the assigned physical storage devices to have been previously presented to any of the client devices;

defining the storage pool to include a plurality of available chunks each having a chunk size, the chunk size differing from and being larger than a block size used for basic write requests received from the client devices for the virtual volumes, the defining of the storage pool to include the plurality of available chunks occurring separately from the presenting of the virtual volumes to the client devices; and

allocating physical chunks of the chunk size from the plurality of available chunks that are includes in the storage pool to dynamically allocate physical resources to the virtual volumes on demand, and

wherein managing the virtual volumes is performed independently of the client devices.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein additional physical storage devices are assigned to the storage pool after the virtual volumes associated with the storage pool have been defined and presented to the client devices, and wherein additional allocation of physical chunks to the virtual volumes is performed independently of the client devices.

6. The computer program product of claim 4, wherein additional physical storage devices are assigned to the storage pool after the virtual volumes associated with the storage pool have been defined and presented to the client devices, and wherein additional allocation of physical chunks to the virtual volumes is performed independently of the client devices.

7. The method of claim 2, wherein managing the virtual volumes is also performed independently of the physical storage devices.

9. The computer program product of claim 4, wherein managing the virtual volumes is also performed independently of the physical storage devices.

10. The method of claim 2, wherein the chunk size is at least an order of magnitude larger than the block size.

11. The method of claim 2, wherein the chunk size is at least 128 Mb.

14. The computer program product of claim 4, wherein the chunk size is at least an order of magnitude larger than the block size.

15. The computer program product of claim 4, wherein the chunk size is at least 128 Mb.

16. The method of claim 2, wherein the plurality of available chunks are represented in a sequence and dynamically allocating physical resources to the virtual volumes comprises allocating a non-contiguous series of chunks in the sequence.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein descriptors respectively corresponding to individual ones of the virtual volumes define the non-contiguous series of chunks.

20. The computer program product of claim 4, wherein the plurality of available chunks are represented in a sequence and dynamically allocating physical resources to the virtual volumes comprises allocating a non-contiguous series of chunks in the sequence.

21. The computer program product of claim 20, wherein descriptors respectively corresponding to individual ones of the virtual volumes define the non-contiguous series of chunks.

3. A computer program product, for managing virtual volumes, the computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable medium having program code stored thereon, which when executed performs operations comprising:

defining a storage pool to which one or more physical storage devices is assigned by selection from a plurality of available physical storage devices, the assigned physical storage devices having a total logical size;

defining virtual volumes that are associated to the storage pool;

presenting the virtual volumes to one or more client devices, wherein the virtual volumes have respective logical sizes, and the sum of the logical sizes for the virtual volumes intentionally exceeds the total logical size of the assigned physical storage devices, and wherein the virtual volumes are presented to the client devices without requiring the assigned physical storage devices to have been previously presented to any of the client devices;

defining the storage pool to include a plurality of available chunks each having a chunk size, the chunk size differing from and being larger than a block size used for basic write requests received from the client devices for the virtual volumes, the defining of the storage pool to include the plurality of available chunks occurring separately from the presenting of the virtual volumes to the client devices; and

allocating physical chunks of the chunk size from the plurality of available chunks that are included in the storage pool to dynamically allocate physical resources to the virtual volumes on demand, and

wherein managing the virtual volumes is performed independently of the client devices.

5. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein additional physical storage devices are assigned to the storage pool after the virtual volumes associated with the storage pool have been defined and presented to the client devices, and wherein additional allocation of physical chunks to the virtual volumes is performed independently of the client devices.

8. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein managing the virtual volumes is also performed independently of the physical storage devices.

12. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the chunk size is at least an order of magnitude larger than the block size.

13. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the chunk size is at least 128 Mb.

18. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the plurality of available chunks are represented in a sequence and dynamically allocating physical resources to the virtual volumes comprises allocating a non-contiguous series of chunks in the sequence.

19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein descriptors respectively corresponding to individual ones of the virtual volumes define the non-contiguous series of chunks.