Inter-storage processor storage pool job status communication

• US 9,395,935 B1
• Filed: 01/08/2014
• Issued: 07/19/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 01/08/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Emc IP Holding Company LLC (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Original Assignee: EMC Corporation (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Inventors: Robideau, Brian K., Wu, Yuanjie, Wu, Rongzhang, Fan, Xiao Hua
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Than
• Application Number:
  US14/150,249
• Time in Patent Office: 923 Days
• Field of Search: 711/153, 711/156
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0604 Improving or facilitating administration, e.g. storage management
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0605 by facilitating the interaction with a user or administrator
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0631 by allocating resources to storage systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0644 Management of space entities, e.g. partitions, extents, pools
• 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: G06F 3/0689 Disk arrays, e.g. RAID, JBOD
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/50 Allocation of resources, e.g. of the central processing unit [CPU]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5016 the resource being the memory
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5022 Mechanisms to release resources
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5061 Partitioning or combining of resources

Abstract

Described are methods, systems, and apparatus for communicating the status of storage pool job status between storage processors. A storage pool command is received by the secondary storage processor. The storage pool command is provided, by the secondary storage processor, to the primary storage processor. A storage pool job based on the storage pool command is created by the primary storage processor. The storage pool job is submitted, by the primary storage processor, to a job execution engine, for execution. A storage pool job submission notification is provided, by the primary storage processor, to the secondary storage processor. A storage pool job execution acknowledgement is provided, by the primary storage processor, to the secondary storage processor. The storage pool job is executed by the primary storage processor. One or more storage pool job status notifications are provided, by the primary storage processor, to the secondary storage processor.

Claims

1. A method performed by a storage system comprising a primary storage processor and a secondary storage processor, the method comprising:

receiving, by the secondary storage processor, a storage pool command;

providing, by the secondary storage processor, to the primary storage processor, the storage pool command;

creating, by the primary storage processor, a storage pool job based on the storage pool command;

submitting, by the primary storage processor, to a job execution engine, the storage pool job for execution;

providing, by the primary storage processor, to the secondary storage processor, a storage pool job submission notification;

providing, by the primary storage processor, to the secondary storage processor, a storage pool job execution acknowledgement;

executing, by the primary storage processor, the storage pool job; and

providing, by the primary storage processor, to the secondary storage processor, one or more storage pool job status notifications.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the storage pool command comprises one of a storage pool creation command, a storage pool expansion command, and a storage pool destruction command.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising providing, by the secondary storage processor, to the primary storage processor, via an inter-storage processor communication channel, the storage pool command.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing, by the primary storage processor, to the secondary storage processor, via an inter-storage processor communication channel, the storage pool job execution acknowledgement.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing, by the primary storage processor, to the secondary storage processor, via an inter-storage processor communication channel, the storage pool job submission notification.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising providing, by the primary storage processor, to the secondary storage processor, via persistent storage, the one or more storage pool job status notifications.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the storage pool job execution acknowledgement is provided before executing the storage pool job.

8. A storage system comprising:

a primary storage processor;

a secondary storage processor;

wherein the secondary storage processor is configured to receive a storage pool command; and

provide, to the primary storage processor, the storage pool command; and

wherein the primary storage processor is configured to create a storage pool job based on the storage pool command;

submit to a job execution engine, the storage pool job for execution;

provide, to the secondary storage processor, a storage pool job submission notification;

provide, to the secondary storage processor, a storage pool job execution acknowledgement;

execute the storage pool job; and

provide, to the secondary storage processor, one or more storage pool job status notifications.

9. The storage system of claim 8, wherein the storage pool command comprises one of a storage pool creation command, a storage pool expansion command, and a storage pool destruction command.

10. The storage system of claim 8, further comprising:

an inter-storage processor communication channel; and

wherein the secondary storage processor is further configured to provide, to the primary storage processor, via the inter-storage processor communication channel, the storage pool command.

11. The storage system of claim 8, further comprising:

an inter-storage processor communication channel; and

wherein the primary storage processor is further configured to provide, to the secondary storage processor, via the inter-storage processor communication channel, the storage pool job execution acknowledgement.

12. The storage system of claim 8, further comprising:

an inter-storage processor communication channel; and

wherein the primary storage processor is further configured to provide, to the secondary storage processor, via the inter-storage processor communication channel, the storage pool job submission notification.

13. The storage system of claim 8, further comprising persistent storage, wherein the primary storage processor is further configured to provide, to the secondary storage processor, via the persistent memory, the one or more storage pool job status notifications.

14. The storage system of claim 8, wherein the primary storage processor is further configured to provide the storage pool job execution acknowledgement before executing the storage pool job.

15. A computer program product, tangibly embodied in a non-transitory computer readable storage medium, comprising instructions being operable to cause a storage system to:

receive, by a secondary storage processor, a storage pool command;

provide, by the secondary storage processor, to a primary storage processor, the storage pool command;

create, by the primary storage processor, a storage pool job based on the storage pool command;

submit, by the primary storage processor, to a job execution engine, the storage pool job for execution;

provide, by the primary storage processor, to the secondary storage processor, a storage pool job submission notification;

provide, by the primary storage processor, to the secondary storage processor, a storage pool job execution acknowledgement;

execute, by the primary storage processor, the storage pool job; and

provide, by the primary storage processor, to the secondary storage processor, one or more storage pool job status notifications.

16. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the storage pool command comprises one of a storage pool creation command, a storage pool expansion command, and a storage pool destruction command.

17. The computer program product of claim 15, further comprising instructions being operable to cause the storage system to:

provide, by the secondary storage processor, to the primary storage processor, via an inter-storage processor communication channel, the storage pool command.

18. The computer program product of claim 15, further comprising instructions being operable to cause the storage system to:

provide, by the primary storage processor, to the secondary storage processor, via an inter-storage processor communication channel, the storage pool job execution acknowledgement.

19. The computer program product of claim 15, further comprising instructions being operable to cause the storage system to:

provide, by the primary storage processor, to the secondary storage processor, via an inter-storage processor communication channel, the storage pool job submission notification.

20. The computer program product of claim 15, further comprising instructions being operable to cause the storage system to:

provide, by the primary storage processor, to the secondary storage processor, via persistent storage, the one or more storage pool job status notifications.