SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR QoS-BASED STORAGE TIERING AND MIGRATION TECHNIQUE

• US 20110197027A1
• Filed: 02/05/2010
• Published: 08/11/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 02/05/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Avago Technologies International Sales Pte Limited (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: LSI Corporation (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Balasubramanian, Sridhar, Fugate, Kenneth J.
• Granted Patent: US 8,230,192 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 711/117
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3409 for performance assessment
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3485 for I/O devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/81 Threshold
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/061 Improving I/O performance
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0647 Migration mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0649 Lifecycle management
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/065 Replication mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0685 Hybrid storage combining heterogeneous device types, e.g. hierarchical storage, hybrid arrays

Abstract

The present invention is directed to a method for providing Quality Of Service (QoS)-based storage tiering and migration in a storage system. The method allows for configurable application data latency thresholds to be set on a per user basis and/or a per application basis so that a storage tiering mechanism and/or a storage migrating mechanism may be triggered for moving application data to a different class of storage.

Claims

1. A method for providing Quality of Service (QoS)-based storage tiering and migration in a storage system, said method comprising:

monitoring an application process when the application process is accessing a first storage tier of the storage system;

based on said monitoring, determining a QoS factor measurement of the application process;

comparing the QoS factor measurement to at least one of;

a first pre-determined QoS factor threshold and a second pre-determined QoS factor threshold; and

when said comparing indicates that the QoS factor measurement is greater than the first pre-determined QoS factor threshold, creating a Point-in-Time (PiT) copy and establishing an access permission of the PiT copy as Read Only, wherein the PiT copy is based upon the first storage tier.

2. A method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

when said comparing indicates that the QoS factor measurement is;

less than the first pre-determined QoS factor threshold; and

greater than the second pre-determined QoS factor threshold, migrating data from the PiT copy to a second storage tier.

3. A method as claimed in claim 2, further comprising:

after the migrating of data from the PiT copy to the second storage tier has completed, setting establishing access permissions of the second storage tier as Read and Write and directing I/O commands to the second storage tier.

4. A method as claimed in claim 3, further comprising:

when said comparing indicates that the QoS factor measurement is;

less than the first pre-determined QoS factor threshold; and

less than the second pre-determined QoS factor threshold, mirroring second storage tier data to the first storage tier.

5. A method as claimed in claim 4, further comprising:

when mirroring of data of the second storage tier data to the first storage tier is synchronized, directing read commands to the second storage tier.

6. A method as claimed in claim 5, further comprising:

when mirroring of the second storage tier data to the first storage tier is synchronized, synchronizing write commands between the first storage tier and the second storage tier.

7. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the QoS factor measurement is based upon a QoS factor of the storage system, said QoS factor being at least one of:

read latency;

write latency;

storage media response time;

idle time;

data pervasiveness;

data localization;

age of data; and

age of application files.

8. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first pre-determined QoS factor threshold is a tier threshold and the second pre-determined QoS factor threshold is a migrate threshold.

9. A computer program product comprising:

a signal bearing medium bearing;

computer-usable code configured for monitoring an application process when the application process is accessing a first storage tier of a storage system;

computer-usable code configured for, based on said monitoring, determining a QoS factor measurement of the application process;

computer-usable code configured for comparing the QoS factor measurement to at least one of;

a first pre-determined QoS factor threshold and a second pre-determined QoS factor threshold; and

computer-usable code configured for, when said comparing indicates that the QoS factor measurement is greater than the first pre-determined QoS factor threshold, creating a Point-in-Time (PiT) copy and establishing an access permission of the PiT copy as Read Only, wherein the PiT copy is based upon the first storage tier.

10. A computer program product as claimed in claim 9, the signal-bearing medium further bearing:

computer-usable code configured for, when said comparing indicates that the QoS factor measurement is;

less than the first pre-determined QoS factor threshold; and

greater than the second pre-determined QoS factor threshold, migrating data from the PiT copy to a second storage tier.

11. A computer program product as claimed in claim 10, the signal-bearing medium further bearing:

computer-usable code configured for, after the migrating of data from the PiT copy to the second storage tier has completed, setting establishing access permissions of the second storage tier as Read and Write and directing I/O commands to the second storage tier.

12. A computer program product as claimed in claim 11, the signal-bearing medium further bearing:

computer-usable code configured for, when said comparing indicates that the QoS factor measurement is;

less than the first pre-determined QoS factor threshold; and

less than the second pre-determined QoS factor threshold, mirroring second storage tier data to the first storage tier.

13. A computer program product as claimed in claim 12, the signal-bearing medium further bearing:

computer-usable code configured for, when mirroring of data of the second storage tier data to the first storage tier is synchronized, directing read commands to the second storage tier.

14. A computer program product as claimed in claim 13, the signal-bearing medium further bearing:

computer-usable code configured for, when mirroring of the second storage tier data to the first storage tier is synchronized, synchronizing write commands between the first storage tier and the second storage tier.

15. A computer program product as claimed in claim 9, wherein the QoS factor measurement is based upon a QoS factor of the storage system, said QoS factor being at least one of:

read latency;

write latency;

storage media response time;

idle time;

data pervasiveness;

data localization;

age of data; and

age of application files.

16. A computer program product as claimed in claim 9, wherein the first pre-determined QoS factor threshold is a tier threshold and the second pre-determined QoS factor threshold is a migrate threshold.

17. A storage system, comprising:

a processor;

a memory, said memory being connected to the processor; and

control programming for executing on the processor, wherein the control programming is configured for;

monitoring an application process when the application process is accessing a first storage tier of the storage system;

based on said monitoring, determining a QoS factor measurement of the application process;

comparing the QoS factor measurement to at least one of;

a first pre-determined QoS factor threshold and a second pre-determined QoS factor threshold; and

when said comparing indicates that the QoS factor measurement is greater than the first pre-determined QoS factor threshold, creating a Point-in-Time (PiT) copy and establishing an access permission of the PiT copy as Read Only, wherein the PiT copy is based upon the first storage tier.

18. A storage system as claimed in claim 17, wherein said control programming is further configured for:

when said comparing indicates that the QoS factor measurement is;

less than the first pre-determined QoS factor threshold; and

greater than the second pre-determined QoS factor threshold, migrating data from the PiT copy to a second storage tier;

after the migrating of data from the PiT copy to the second storage tier has completed, setting establishing access permissions of the second storage tier as Read and Write and directing I/O commands to the second storage tier;

when said comparing indicates that the QoS factor measurement is;

less than the first pre-determined QoS factor threshold; and

less than the second pre-determined QoS factor threshold, mirroring second storage tier data to the first storage tier;

when mirroring of data of the second storage tier data to the first storage tier is synchronized, directing read commands to the second storage tier;

when mirroring of the second storage tier data to the first storage tier is synchronized, synchronizing write commands between the first storage tier and the second storage tier.

19. A storage system as claimed in claim 17, wherein the QoS factor measurement is based upon a QoS factor of the storage system, said QoS factor being at least one of:

read latency;

write latency;

storage media response time;

idle time;

data pervasiveness;

data localization;

age of data; and

age of application files.

20. A storage system as claimed in claim 17, wherein the first pre-determined QoS factor threshold is a tier threshold and the second pre-determined QoS factor threshold is a migrate threshold.