Policy-based volume caching in a clustered storage system

• US 9,348,712 B1
• Filed: 12/22/2010
• Issued: 05/24/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 12/22/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NetApp, Inc.
• Original Assignee: NetApp, Inc.
• Inventors: Dongre, Rommel D., Narver, Andrew, Eisler, Michael R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Thuong
• Application Number:
  US12/976,803
• Time in Patent Office: 1,980 Days
• Field of Search: 709/244, 709/121, 709/216, 709/219, 709/226, 709/245, 709/223, 370/389, 370/467, 711/3, 711/114, 711/113, 711/118, 711/137
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2087 with a common controller
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3006 where the computing system is distributed, e.g. networked systems, clusters, multiprocessor systems multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46; allocation of resources G06F9/50
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3051 Monitoring arrangements for monitoring the configuration of the computing system or of the computing system component, e.g. monitoring the presence of processing resources, peripherals, I/O links, software programs verification or detection of system hardware configuration G06F11/2247
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3055 Monitoring arrangements for monitoring the status of the computing system or of the computing system component, e.g. monitoring if the computing system is on, off, available, not available error or fault processing without redundancy G06F11/0703; error detection or correction by redundancy in data representation G06F11/08; error detection or correction by redundancy in operation G06F11/14; error detection or correction by redundancy in hardware G06F11/16
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3409 for performance assessment
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 12/00 Accessing, addressing or allocating within memory systems or architectures digital input from, or digital output to record carriers, e.g. to disk storage units, G06F3/06
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 12/0868 Data transfer between cache memory and other subsystems, e.g. storage devices or host systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 12/0871 Allocation or management of cache space
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/25 Integrating or interfacing systems involving database management systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9574 of access to content, e.g. by caching
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/86 Event-based monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2212/154 Networked environment
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2212/284 being distributed
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2212/313 In storage device
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2212/601 Reconfiguration of cache memory
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0631 by allocating resources to storage systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0817 by checking functioning
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/70 Admission control; Resource allocation

Abstract

Described herein is a novel technique for implementing a policy-based caching engine in a storage system cluster (cluster) to automatically implement volume caching at select nodes of the cluster in optimizing cluster performance. The novel caching engine may be implemented in a management console of the cluster storing policy information related to volume caching operations requested by the caching engine. Policy information may include node or cluster attributes, operational events, and a pre-defined cached volume configuration of import to the user. Based on the stored policy information, the caching engine may determine a set of nodes on which to initiate a volume caching operation and generate a request for such operation to be performed on a particular node. Only select nodes in the cluster may thus implement volume caching to thereby conserve processing resources for more critical operations at other select nodes in the cluster.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

after receiving policy information that indicates criteria for volume caching operations in a storage system cluster, determining attribute information of nodes in the storage system cluster, wherein the criteria comprises node attributes, operational events, and a cached volume configuration;

determining, in relation to a first node, that the criteria indicated by the received policy information are satisfied based, at least in part, upon the determined attribute information;

determining, in relation to a second node, that the criteria indicated by the received policy information are satisfied based, at least in part, upon the determined attribute information;

requesting that the first node of the nodes perform a first volume caching operation responsive to determining that the criteria relating to the first node are satisfied based, at least in part, on the attribute information for the first node; and

requesting that the second node of the nodes perform a second volume caching operation responsive to determining that the criteria relating to the second node are satisfied based, at least in part, on the attribute information for the second node.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein

requesting that the first node perform the first volume caching operation comprises requesting that the first node delete a cached volume at the first node, wherein the first subset of the criteria for volume caching corresponds to a delete cached volume operation.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein

requesting that the second node perform the second volume caching operation comprises requesting that the second node create a cached volume at the second node in accordance with a pre-defined configuration from the policy information, wherein the second subset of the criteria for volume caching corresponds to a create cached volume operation.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 further comprising:

determining that the attribute information for a third node of the nodes has changed;

determining that the changed attribute information for the third node satisfies the criteria for volume caching; and

requesting that the third node perform the first volume caching operation in response to determining that the changed attribute information for the third node satisfies the criteria for volume caching.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 further comprising periodically requesting the nodes of the storage system cluster for any updates to the attribute information.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the policy information also indicates a first set of nodes of the nodes.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, wherein the policy information specifies a volume caching operation for each of the first set of nodes, the method further comprising requesting that each of the first set of nodes perform the specified volume caching operation.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the criteria for volume caching are based on at least one of a storage space related threshold, a cluster configuration, and a node configuration.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 further comprising determining from the policy information a list of nodes and a list of node attributes, wherein determining that the first subset of criteria for volume caching and the second subset of criteria for volume caching are satisfied uses the list of nodes and the list of node attributes.

10. A non-transitory computer readable medium having instructions stored therein, the instructions to:

determine attribute information for nodes in a storage system cluster after receiving policy information that indicates criteria for volume caching operations in the storage system cluster, wherein the criteria comprises node attributes, operational events, and a cached volume configuration;

determine which of the criteria for volume caching is satisfied based, at least in part, upon the determined attribute information; and

for the criteria for volume caching that are satisfied, request nodes with attribute information related to satisfaction of the criteria for volume caching to perform a volume caching operation corresponding to the criteria for volume caching.

11. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein the attribute information indicates for each of the nodes:

an amount of available storage space of the node;

a type of storage object supported by the node;

a number of storage devices of the node; and

a workload of the node.

12. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 10, wherein the instructions to request nodes with attribute information related to satisfaction of the criteria for volume caching to perform a volume caching operation corresponding to the criteria for volume caching comprises instructions to request a node to delete a cached volume at the node.

13. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 10, wherein the instructions to request nodes with attribute information related to satisfaction of the criteria for volume caching to perform a volume caching operation corresponding to the criteria for volume caching comprises instructions to request a node to generate a cached volume at the node in accordance with a pre-defined configuration from the policy information.

14. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 10 further having instructions to:

determine that attribute information for a node of the nodes has changed;

determine whether the changed attribute information satisfies the criteria for volume caching; and

request that the node with the changed attribute information perform a volume caching operation corresponding to the criteria for volume caching satisfied by the changed attribute information in response to a determination that the changed attribute information satisfies the criteria for volume caching.

15. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 10 further having instructions to periodically request the nodes of the storage system cluster for attribute information updates.

16. An apparatus comprising:

a processor;

a network interface; and

a computer readable medium having instructions stored thereon, the instructions executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to,

determine attribute information for nodes in a storage system cluster after receiving policy information that indicates criteria for volume caching operations in the storage system cluster, wherein the criteria comprises node attributes, operational events, and a cached volume configuration;

determine which of the criteria for volume caching is satisfied based, at least in part, upon the determined attribute information; and

for criteria for volume caching that are satisfied, request nodes with attribute information related to satisfaction of the subset of criteria for volume caching to perform a volume caching operation corresponding to the criteria for volume caching.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the attribute information indicates for each of the nodes:

an amount of available storage space of the node;

a type of storage object supported by the node;

a number of storage devices of the node; and

a workload of the node.

18. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the instructions executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to request nodes with attribute information related to satisfaction of the criteria for volume caching to perform a volume caching operation corresponding to the criteria for volume caching comprises instructions executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to request a node to delete a cached volume at the node.

19. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the instructions executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to request nodes with attribute information related to satisfaction of the criteria for volume caching to perform a volume caching operation corresponding to the criteria for volume caching comprises instructions executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to request a node to generate a cached volume at the node in accordance with a pre-defined configuration from the policy information.

20. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the computer readable medium further has instructions executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to:

determine that attribute information for a node of the nodes has changed;

determine whether the changed attribute information satisfies the criteria for volume caching; and

request that the node with the changed attribute information perform a volume caching operation corresponding to the criteria for volume caching satisfied by the changed attribute information in response to a determination that the changed attribute information satisfies the criteria for volume caching.

21. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the computer readable medium further has instructions to periodically request the nodes of the storage system cluster for attribute information updates.