Migration of hot and cold data between high-performance storage and low-performance storage at block and sub-block granularities

• US 9,665,291 B2
• Filed: 02/26/2014
• Issued: 05/30/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 12/31/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Lin, Yu, Liang, Shangdong
• Primary Examiner(s): Rutz, Jared
• Assistant Examiner(s): Ayash, Marwan
• Application Number:
  US14/190,264
• Publication Number:
  US 20140181400A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,189 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0608 Saving storage space on storage systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0611 in relation to response time
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0613 in relation to throughput
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0647 Migration mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0649 Lifecycle management
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0665 at area level, e.g. provisioning of virtual or logical volumes
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0673 Single storage device
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0685 Hybrid storage combining heterogeneous device types, e.g. hierarchical storage, hybrid arrays
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0689 Disk arrays, e.g. RAID, JBOD

Abstract

A method and an apparatus for tiered storage processing of data, and a storage device. The method includes: splitting the migration unit into multiple migration subunits when a migration unit of low-tier disks is migrated to high-tier disks, and detecting a data access frequency of each migration subunit respectively; migrating the migration subunit to the low-tier disk when detecting that the data access frequency of the migration subunit is lower than a set threshold; and combining the multiple migration subunits into the migration unit when detecting that the multiple migration subunits are all migrated to the lower-tier disk. The present invention improves usage of storage media, and controls metadata storage resource consumption effectively.

Claims

1. A method for a storage device to migrate hot and cold data between high-performance storage and low-performance storage at block and sub-block granularities, wherein the storage device comprises a first storage disk set and a second storage disk set, wherein the first storage disk set includes a plurality of storage disks with high performance, and wherein the second storage disk set includes a plurality of storage disks with low performance, the method comprising:

monitoring an access frequency of a block stored in the second storage disk set, wherein the block includes multiple sub-blocks;

determining that the access frequency of the block has reached a first access threshold value;

moving the block to the first storage disk set after the access frequency of the block reaches above the first access threshold value;

obtaining an access frequency for each of the multiple sub-blocks after the block is moved to the first storage disk set, wherein the multiple sub-blocks are independently accessible, wherein each of the multiple sub-blocks has an access frequency that is independent from access frequencies of other sub-blocks and the access frequency of the block;

separating the block into the multiple sub-blocks when the access frequency of at least one of the multiple sub-blocks falls below a second access threshold value;

moving the at least one of the multiple sub-blocks to the second storage disk set; and

combining all of the multiple sub-blocks into the block after each of the multiple sub-blocks is moved to the second storage disk set when the access frequency of each of the multiple sub-blocks falls below the second access threshold value.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising creating a mapping between the block and each of the multiple sub-blocks.

3. The method according to claim 1, further comprising storing a physical address of the block after the block is moved to the first storage disk set.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein moving the block to the first storage disk set comprises:

determining whether the first storage disk set includes a storage unit having a size that is greater than a size of the block; and

moving the block to the storage unit when the first storage disk includes the storage unit having the size that is greater than the size of the block.

5. A storage device configured to migrate hot and cold data between high-performance storage and low-performance storage at block and sub-block granularities, comprising:

a processor;

a first storage disk set comprising a plurality of storage disks with high performance;

a second storage disk set comprising a plurality of storage disks with low performance;

a communication interface coupled to the processor; and

a communication bus coupled to the processor, the first storage disk set, and the second storage disk set,

wherein the processor is configured to;

communicate with the communication interface through the communication bus;

obtain an access frequency of a block stored at the second storage disk set, wherein the block includes multiple sub-blocks;

move the block to the first storage disk set when the access frequency of the block reaches the first access threshold value,

obtain an access frequency of each of the multiple sub-blocks after the block is moved to the first storage disk set, wherein the multiple sub-blocks are independently accessible, wherein each of the multiple sub-blocks has an access frequency that is independent from access frequencies of other sub-blocks, and wherein the access frequency of each of the multiple sub-blocks is independent from the access frequency of the block;

separate the block into the multiple sub-blocks when the access frequency of at least one of the multiple sub-blocks is less than a second access threshold value;

move the at least one of the multiple sub-blocks to the second storage disk set; and

combine each of the multiple sub-blocks into the block after each of the multiple sub-blocks is moved to the second storage disk set when the access frequency of each of the multiple sub-blocks fall below the second access threshold value.

6. The device according to claim 5, wherein the processor is further configured to create a mapping between the block and each of the multiple sub-blocks.

7. The device according to claim 5, wherein the processor is further configured to store a physical address of the block after the block is moved to the first storage disk set.

8. The device according to claim 5, wherein the processor is further configured to:

determine whether the first storage disk set includes a storage unit having a size that is greater than a size of the block; and

move the block to the storage unit based on the determination.