STORAGE DEVICE MANAGEMENT IN COMPUTING SYSTEMS

• US 20160092140A1
• Filed: 09/25/2014
• Published: 03/31/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 09/25/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Santaniello, Mark, Khessib, Badriddine, Caulfield, Laura, Sharma, Bikash
• Granted Patent: US 9,785,374 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 12/00 Accessing, addressing or allocating within memory systems or architectures digital input from, or digital output to record carriers, e.g. to disk storage units, G06F3/06
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0611 in relation to response time
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0616 in relation to life time, e.g. increasing Mean Time Between Failures [MTBF]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0647 Migration mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0683 Plurality of storage devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0688 Non-volatile semiconductor memory arrays
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5088 involving task migration
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1008 based on parameters of servers, e.g. available memory or workload monitoring of computer activity G06F11/30
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1097 for distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS]

Abstract

Various techniques of managing storage devices in a computing system are described in this application. In one embodiment, a method includes receiving an input containing consumption data representing consumption of a storage device in one of the processing units and determining if the storage device in one of the processing units is consumed excessively. In response to determining that the storage device is consumed excessively, an indicator may be generated to indicate a potential program migration from the one of the processing units to another one of the processing units in the computing system.

Claims

1. A computing device having a processor and a memory containing instructions that when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform a process comprising:

receiving an input from a first processing unit of a computing system, the first processing unit executing one or more application programs with a processor, wherein the input containing data representing a number of operations previously performed by a storage device of the first processing unit;

determining if the number of operations of the storage device of the first processing unit is excessive in relation to a target threshold; and

in response to determining that the number of operations of the storage device of the first processing unit is excessive, migrating one or more of the application programs from the first processing unit to a second processing unit in the computing system.

2. The computing device of claim 1 wherein the one or more application programs includes one or more virtual machines, and wherein migrating one or more of the application programs includes migrating one or more of the virtual machines from the first processing unit to the second processing unit.

3. The computing device of claim 1 wherein the process performed by the processor further includes calculating the target threshold based on an endurance of the storage device and a time that the storage device is in service.

4. The computing device of claim 1 wherein the number of operations previously performed by the storage device includes an accumulated number of reads, writes, and/or erases previously committed to the storage device, and wherein determining if the number of operations to the storage device of the first processing unit is excessive includes determining if the number of reads, writes, and/or erases previously committed to the storage device is above the target threshold.

5. The computing device of claim 1 wherein:

the number of operations previously performed by the storage device includes an accumulated number of writes previously committed to the storage device; and

the process performed by the processor further includes;

calculating a percentage of excess in the number of writes previously committed to the storage device based on an expected number of writes; and

comparing the calculated percentage of excess to the target threshold.

6. The computing device of claim 1 wherein:

the number of operations previously performed by the storage device includes an accumulated number of writes previously committed to the storage device; and

the process performed by the processor further includes;

calculating a percentage of excess in the number of writes previously committed to the storage device based on an expected number of writes;

determining if the calculated percentage of excess is larger than the target threshold; and

in response to determining that the percentage of excess is larger than the target threshold, indicating that the number of operations to the storage device of the first processing unit is excessive.

7. The computing device of claim 1 wherein:

the number of operations previously performed by the storage device includes an accumulated number of writes previously committed to the storage device; and

the process performed by the processor further includes;

calculating a percentage of excess in the number of writes previously committed to the storage device based on an expected number of writes;

determining if the calculated percentage of excess is larger than the target threshold; and

in response to determining that the percentage of excess is not larger than the target threshold, performing at least one of

indicating that the number of operations to the storage device of the first processing unit is not excessive;

or

marking the processing unit as suitable as a migrate target.

8. A controller for managing storage devices, comprising:

a processor and a memory containing instructions that when executed by the processor, cause the processor to provide;

a storage device interface module configured to receive an input from a plurality of processing units in a computing system, the input containing data representing a consumption of one or more storage devices in the individual processing units in the computing system; and

a storage device control module operatively coupled to the storage device interface module, the storage device control module being configured to;

determine whether one of the storage devices is consumed excessively relative to other storage devices in the processing units; and

in response to determining that the one of the storage devices is consumed excessively relative to the other storage devices in the processing units, generate an indicator of potential program migration from the processing unit corresponding to the one of the storage devices to another one of the processing units in the computing system.

9. The controller of claim 8 wherein the determination whether the one of the storage devices is consumed excessively includes:

calculating an average rate of consumption of all storage devices in the processing units of the computing system; and

determining a variation of rate of consumption for the one of the storage devices from the calculated average rate of consumption.

10. The controller of claim 8 wherein the determination whether the one of the storage devices is consumed excessively includes:

calculating an average rate of consumption of all storage devices in the processing units of the computing system;

determining a variation of rate of consumption for the one of the storage devices from the calculated average rate of consumption;

determining if the variation of rate of consumption is greater than a threshold; and

in response to determining that the variation of rate of consumption is greater than the threshold, indicating that the one of the storage devices is consumed excessively relative to the other storage devices in the processing units.

11. The controller of claim 8 wherein the determination whether the one of the storage devices is consumed excessively relative to other storage devices in the processing units includes:

calculating an average rate of consumption of all storage devices in the processing units of the computing system;

determining a percentage of variation for the one of the storage devices from the calculated average rate of consumption;

determining if the percentage of variation is greater than a threshold; and

in response to determining that the percentage of variation is greater than the threshold, indicating that the one of the storage devices is consumed excessively relative to the other storage devices in the processing units.

12. A method of managing storage devices in a computing system having a plurality of processing units individually having a processor and one or more storage devices, the method comprising:

receiving an input containing consumption data representing consumption of a storage device coupled to one of the processing units;

determining if the storage device coupled to the one of the processing units is consumed excessively based on an expected consumption rate of the storage device; and

in response to determining that the storage device is consumed excessively, generating an indicator of potential program migration from the one of the processing units to another one of the processing units in the computing system.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein determining if the storage device in the one of the processing units is consumed excessively includes:

calculating a consumption variation based on the received consumption data and the expected consumption of the storage device;

determining if the calculated consumption variation associated with the storage device is above a threshold; and

in response to determining that the calculated consumption variation is above the threshold, indicating that the storage device is consumed excessively.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein calculating the consumption variation of the storage device includes calculating at least one of a difference between the received consumption data and the expected consumption of the storage device or a percentage of excess consumption above the expected consumption of the storage device.

15. The method of claim 13 wherein calculating the consumption variation of the storage device includes calculating the expected consumption based on a life endurance of the storage device and a time in service of the storage device.

16. The method of claim 13 wherein calculating the consumption variation of the storage device includes:

calculating an expected remaining endurance of the storage device by multiplying a life endurance of the storage device and a time in service of the storage device; and

calculating a percentage of excess consumption based on the calculated remaining endurance and the data representing the consumption of the storage device.

17. The method of claim 12 wherein generating the indicator includes generating an indicator of migrating a virtual machine hosted on the processing unit to be hosted on another processing unit of the computing system.

18. The method of claim 12 wherein:

generating the indicator includes generating an indicator of migrating a virtual machine hosted on the processing unit to be hosted on another processing unit of the computing system; and

the method further includes, in response to the generated indicator,

selecting the another processing unit of the computing system; and

automatically migrating the virtual machine from the processing unit to the selected another processing unit.

19. The method of claim 12 wherein:

generating the indicator includes generating an indicator of migrating a virtual machine hosted on the processing unit to be hosted on another processing unit of the computing system; and

the method further includes, in response to the generated indicator,

selecting the another processing unit of the computing system based at least on a physical proximity of the another processing unit to the processing unit; and

automatically migrating the virtual machine from the processing unit to the selected another processing unit.

20. The method of claim 12 wherein:

generating the indicator includes generating an indicator of excess consumption of the storage device; and

the method further includes, in response to the generated indicator,

selecting a storage device coupled to another processing unit of the computing system; and

allowing the processor of the processing unit to access the selected storage device of the another processing unit.