Systems and methods of hierarchical storage management, such as global management of storage operations

• US 20080228785A1
• Filed: 10/31/2007
• Published: 09/18/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 12/22/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CommVault Systems Incorporated
• Original Assignee: CommVault Systems Incorporated
• Inventors: Kottomtharayil, Rajiv, Kavuri, Srinivas
• Granted Patent: US 7,831,566 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/100
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/10 File systems; File servers

Abstract

A system and method for setting global actions in a data storage system is described. In some examples, the system determines a policy based on information from the system, and implements that policy to the system. In some examples, the system adds or modifies global filters based on information from the system.

Claims

1. A method in a computing system for performing an action in a hierarchical data storage system, the method comprising:

creating a report, the report containing information related to a number of running storage operations and a number of idle storage operations of the data storage system;

retrieving information about a state of the hierarchical data storage system;

identifying one or more actions to be performed, wherein the actions to be performed are based on information in the created report; and

selecting one or more of the identified actions based on the retrieved information about the state of the hierarchical data storage system.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the data storage system comprises two or more data storage cells, each data storage cell containing a separate data storage resource capable of performing storage operations in the data storage system.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more identified actions comprises moving jobs from a queue at running data storage resources to a queue at idle data storage resources.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more identified actions comprises reorganizing the data storage resources for future data storage operations.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the created report comprises information related to a maximum usage factor for the data storage resources.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the created report comprises information related to delayed storage operations at one or more of the data storage resources.

7. A system for redistributing data to resources in a hierarchical data storage system, the system comprising:

two or more data storage resources, wherein the data storage resources comprise;

a first storage cell that performs a first number of data storage jobs during a data storage operation, wherein a storage cell is configured to transfer data from a source to a destination; and

a second storage cell, different from the first storage cell, that performs a second number of data storage jobs during the data storage operation; and

a server configured to control at least in part the two or more data storage resources, wherein the server includes;

a comparison component that compares the performed first number of jobs to the performed second number of jobs; and

a redistribution component that redistributes jobs from the first storage cell to the second storage cell based on the comparison.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the comparison component creates a report that includes results of a statistical analysis performed on the first storage cell and the second storage cell.

9. The system of claim 7, wherein the comparison component determines a mean number of jobs performed at the storage cells.

10. The system of claim 7, wherein the comparison component determines a median number of jobs performed at the storage cells.

11. The system of claim 7, wherein the comparison component determines a mean number of jobs waiting to be performed at the storage cells.

12. The system of claim 7, wherein the comparison component determines a median number of jobs waiting to be performed at the storage cells.

13. The system of claim 7, wherein the comparison component further comprises a storage operation component that compares the performance of the storage cells during the data storage operation to a performance of the storage cells during a previous data storage operation.

14. The system of claim 7, wherein the comparison component further comprises a storage operation component that compares the performance of the storage cells during the data storage operation to an average performance of the storage cells during previous data storage operations.

15. A method of selecting data storage resources from a group of data storage resources in a data storage system managed by a global storage management server, the method comprising:

sampling at least some of the data storage resources performing a certain storage operation, wherein the sampling determines data transfer loads on the data storage resources;

determining a job usage factor for each of the data storage resources, wherein the job usage factor relates to storage performance of a data storage resource during the certain storage operation;

comparing the determined job usage factors at the global storage management server to form at least in part a global view of an overall storage performance of the data storage system during the certain storage operation; and

selecting data storage resources of the data storage system for a future storage operation based on the compared usage factors;

wherein the data storage resources are connected via a network arranged hierarchically within the data storage system.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein determining the job usage factor for each of the data storage resources comprises determining a mean number of jobs transferred during the certain storage operation.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein determining the job usage factor for each of the data storage resources comprises determining a median number of jobs transferred during the certain storage operation.

18. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

determining a job delay factor for each of the data storage resources, wherein the job usage factor relates to a lack of storage performance of a data storage resource during the certain storage operation;

comparing the determined job delay factors at the global storage management server to form at least in part the global view of the overall storage performance of the data storage system during the certain storage operation; and

selecting the data storage resources of the data storage system for a future storage operation based on the compared delay factors.

19. A system of transferring data from a source to a destination, the system comprising:

a server connected to two or more storage modules actively transferring data from the source to the destination, wherein the server;

generates a report related to data transfer performance of the two or more storage modules, wherein the report indicates results of a quantitative comparison of data transfer performances between the two or more storage modules;

determines an action to initiate based on the generated report, wherein the action is initiated at least in part at the two or more storage modules; and

assigns at least part of the determined action at the two or more storage modules; and

a data transfer modification component, wherein the data transfer modification component modifies the active transfer of data from the source to the destination.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the report comprises results of a quantitative comparison of job usage between the two or more storage modules.

21. The system of claim 19, wherein the report comprises results of a quantitative comparison of job delay between the two or more storage modules.

22. The system of claim 19, wherein the quantitative comparison relates to queuing theory.

23. The system of claim 19, wherein the quantitative comparison relates to the M/M/1 model of queuing theory.

24. The system of claim 19, wherein the quantitative comparison of data transfer performances between the two or more storage modules compares a number of jobs at each storage module with a number of storage modules.

25. A system for defining a filter policy in a hierarchical data storage system, the system comprising:

two or more data storage resources, wherein the data storage resources comprise;

a first storage cell that performs a first number of data storage jobs during a data storage operation, wherein a storage cell is configured to transfer data from a source to a destination; and

a second storage cell, different from the first storage cell, that performs a second number of data storage jobs during the data storage operation; and

a server configured to assign a filter policy to the first storage cell and the second storage cell, wherein the server comprises;

a comparison component that compares the performed first number of jobs to the performed second number of jobs; and

a filter assignment component that assigns the filter policy to the first storage cell and the second storage cell based on the comparison.

26. The system of claim 25, wherein assigning the filter policy includes assigning a global filter policy that applies to all storage cells within the hierarchical data storage system.

27. The system of claim 25, wherein assigning the filter policy includes assigning a first filter policy that applies to the first storage cell and assigning a second filter policy at least partially different than the first filter policy to the second storage cell.

28. The system of claim 25, further comprising:

an interface component, wherein the interface component presents the assigned filter policy to an administrator of the hierarchical data storage system.