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Managing relocation of slices in storage systems

  • US 9,817,766 B1
  • Filed: 12/28/2012
  • Issued: 11/14/2017
  • Est. Priority Date: 12/28/2012
  • Status: Active Grant
First Claim
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1. A method for use in managing data relocation in storage systems, the method comprising:

  • evaluating metadata of each slice of a set of slices of a storage tier in a data storage system for migrating the set of slices from the storage tier to another storage tier, wherein the metadata of each slice of the set of slices is included in a slice map, wherein the slice map includes a set of slice map entries for the set of slices, each slice map entry of the set of slice map entries including the metadata for a respective slice of the set of slices and an empty slice indicator for the respective slice of the set of slices, wherein the empty slice indicator for a slice indicates whether the slice includes user data, wherein the empty slice indicator for a slice is updated to indicate the slice as an empty slice upon provisioning of the slice to a logical volume, wherein the empty slice indicator for an empty slice is subsequently updated upon receiving a first request to write user data to the empty slice, wherein an empty slice indicates a slice that is provisioned to a logical volume and does not include user data, wherein the data storage system includes a first storage tier and a second storage tier configured such that performance characteristics associated with the first storage tier is superior to the second storage tier; and

    based on the evaluation, avoiding copying contents of a slice of the set of slices to a destination slice upon determining that the slice is an empty slice, wherein metadata of the destination slice is updated to indicate that the slice has been migrated to the destination slice without having to copy contents of the slice.

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