Block-level access to parallel storage

• US 9,778,856 B2
• Filed: 08/30/2012
• Issued: 10/03/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 08/30/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Fan, Bin, Kadav, Asim, Nightingale, Edmund Bernard, Elson, Jeremy E., Rashid, Richard F., Mickens, James W.
• Primary Examiner(s): Chappell, Daniel C
• Assistant Examiner(s): Matin, Tasnima
• Application Number:
  US13/598,990
• Publication Number:
  US 20140068224A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,860 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0613 in relation to throughput
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/064 Management of blocks
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/067 Distributed or networked storage systems, e.g. storage area networks [SAN], network attached storage [NAS]

Abstract

The subject disclosure is directed towards one or more parallel storage components for parallelizing block-level input/output associated with remote file data. Based upon a mapping scheme, the file data is partitioned into a plurality of blocks in which each may be equal in size. A translator component of the parallel storage may determine a mapping between the plurality of blocks and a plurality of storage nodes such that at least a portion of the plurality of blocks is accessible in parallel. Such a mapping, for example, may place each block in a different storage node allowing the plurality of blocks to be retrieved simultaneously and in its entirety.

Claims

1. In a computing environment, a system comprising:

a translator component coupled to a plurality of storage nodes and operative to parallelize input/output operations associated with file data within a binary large object, the plurality of storage nodes being associated with parallel storage of portions of the binary large object and each storage node being operative to serve a portion of the portions within a processing cycle, the translator component further operative to partition the file data into a plurality of blocks of which each block size is equal to the portion size, translate file-level addresses corresponding to offsets in the plurality of blocks into block-level addresses corresponding to an offset in the portion being served by the each storage node, and using the block-level addresses to retrieve the plurality of blocks within the processing cycle when handling the input/output operations.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the translator component further operative to map a byte offset in the file data to a block offset within the portions of the binary large object.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the translator component further operative to map a block sequence to random locations within the portions of the plurality of storage nodes.

4. The system of claim 1 further comprising a plurality of computing devices communicably coupled, within a physical boundary, to a storage node group, wherein the plurality of computing devices and the storage node group communicate data over a full bi-sectional bandwidth network.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the translator component further operative to modify the block size.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the translator component further operative to generate a file data representation comprising the block-level addresses and provide the file data representation to a computing device that uses the file data representation to initiate file system operations over a local area network.

7. In a computing environment, a method comprising:

parallelizing input/output operations associated with file data within a binary large object, a plurality of storage nodes being associated with parallel storage of portions of the binary large object and each storage node being operative to serve a portion of the portions within a processing cycle;

partitioning the file data into a plurality of blocks of which each block size is equal to the portion size;

translating file-level addresses corresponding to offsets in the plurality of blocks into block-level addresses corresponding to an offset in the portion being served by the each storage node; and

using the block-level addresses to retrieve the plurality of blocks within the processing cycle when handling the input/output operations.

8. The method of claim 7 further comprising mapping a byte offset in the file data to a block offset within the portions of the binary large object.

9. The method of claim 7 further comprising mapping a block sequence to random locations within the portions of the plurality of storage nodes.

10. The method of claim 7 wherein a plurality of computing devices are communicably coupled, within a physical boundary, to a storage node group, wherein the plurality of computing devices and the storage node group communicate data over a full bi-sectional bandwidth network.

11. The method of claim 7 further comprising modifying the block size.

12. The method of claim 7 further comprising generating a file data representation comprising the block-level addresses and providing the file data representation to a computing device that uses the file data representation to initiate file system operations over a local area network.

13. One or more computer-readable hardware media having computer-executable instructions stored thereon, which cause a computer to perform steps comprising:

parallelizing input/output operations associated with file data within a binary large object, a plurality of storage nodes being associated with parallel storage of portions of the binary large object and each storage node being operative to serve a portion of the portions within a processing cycle;

partitioning the file data into a plurality of blocks of which each block size is equal to the portion size;

translating file-level addresses corresponding to offsets in the plurality of blocks into block-level addresses corresponding to an offset in the portion being served by the each storage node; and

using the block-level addresses to retrieve the plurality of blocks within the processing cycle when handling the input/output operations.

14. The one or more computer-readable hardware media of claim 13 having further computer-executable instructions that cause the computer to perform further steps comprising:

mapping a byte offset in the file data to a block offset within the portions of the binary large object.

15. The one or more computer-readable hardware media of claim 13 having further computer-executable instructions that cause the computer to perform further steps comprising:

mapping a block sequence to random locations within the portions of the plurality of storage nodes.

16. The one or more computer-readable hardware media of claim 13 wherein a plurality of computing devices are communicably coupled, within a physical boundary, to a storage node group, wherein the plurality of computing devices and the storage node group communicate data over a full bi-sectional bandwidth network.

17. The one or more computer-readable hardware media of claim 13 having further computer-executable instructions that cause the computer to perform further steps comprising:

modifying the block size.

18. The one or more computer-readable hardware media of claim 13 having further computer-executable instructions that cause the computer to perform further steps comprising:

generating a file data representation comprising the block-level addresses and providing the file data representation to a computing device that uses the file data representation to initiate file system operations over a local area network.