Space recovery with storage management coupled with a deduplicating storage system
First Claim
1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:
- under control of a storage-management server,storing metadata about data objects in a database;
in response to a request to delete one or more data objects stored in data storage, logically deleting the one or more data objects by deleting the metadata about the one or more data objects in the database; and
sending a notification that the one or more data objects have been logically deleted by deleting the metadata about the one or more data objects, wherein the notification provides storage locations within one or more logical storage volumes corresponding to the deleted one or more data objects, wherein each of the one or more data objects are divided into one or more extents; and
under control of a deduplicating storage system that is separate from and coupled to the storage-management server,receiving the notification; and
in response to determining that a sparse file represents the one or more logical storage volumes, recovering the physical space occupied by unused extents without moving data and without forcing updates to storage location information tracked by the storage-management server by nulling out space in the sparse file corresponding to each of the one or more extents.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Provided are techniques for space recovery with storage management coupled with a deduplicating storage system. A notification is received that one or more data objects have been logically deleted by deleting metadata about the one or more data objects, wherein the notification provides storage locations within one or more logical storage volumes corresponding to the deleted one or more data objects, wherein each of the one or more data objects are divided into one or more extents. In response to determining that a sparse file represents the one or more logical storage volumes, physical space is deallocated by nulling out space in the sparse file corresponding to each of the one or more extents.
33 Citations
19 Claims
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1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:
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under control of a storage-management server, storing metadata about data objects in a database; in response to a request to delete one or more data objects stored in data storage, logically deleting the one or more data objects by deleting the metadata about the one or more data objects in the database; and sending a notification that the one or more data objects have been logically deleted by deleting the metadata about the one or more data objects, wherein the notification provides storage locations within one or more logical storage volumes corresponding to the deleted one or more data objects, wherein each of the one or more data objects are divided into one or more extents; and under control of a deduplicating storage system that is separate from and coupled to the storage-management server, receiving the notification; and in response to determining that a sparse file represents the one or more logical storage volumes, recovering the physical space occupied by unused extents without moving data and without forcing updates to storage location information tracked by the storage-management server by nulling out space in the sparse file corresponding to each of the one or more extents. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A computer program product, comprising a:
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a first computer-readable medium storing a first computer readable program, wherein the first computer-readable medium is a member of a set of computer readable media consisting of a semiconductor or solid state memory, a magnetic tape, a removable computer diskette, a rigid magnetic disk, an optical disk, a magnetic storage medium, and volatile and non-volatile memory devices, and wherein the first computer readable program, when executed, causes a storage-management server to; store metadata about data objects in a database; in response to a request to delete one or more data objects stored in data storage, logically delete the one or more data objects by deleting the metadata about the one or more data objects in the database; and send a notification that the one or more data objects have been logically deleted by deleting the metadata about the one or more data objects, wherein the notification provides storage locations within one or more logical storage volumes corresponding to the deleted one or more data objects, wherein each of the one or more data objects are divided into one or more extents; and a second computer-readable medium storing a second computer readable program, wherein the second computer readable program, when executed, causes a deduplicating storage system, that is separate from and coupled to the storage-management server, to; receive the notification; and in response to determining that a sparse file represents the one or more logical storage volumes, recover the physical space occupied by unused extents without moving data and without forcing updates to storage location information tracked by the storage-management server by nulling out space in the sparse file corresponding to each of the one or more extents. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A system, comprising:
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hardware logic at a storage-management server performing operations, the operations comprising; storing metadata about data objects in a database; in response to a request to delete one or more data objects stored in data storage, logically deleting the one or more data objects by deleting the metadata about the one or more data objects in the database; and sending a notification that the one or more data objects have been logically deleted by deleting the metadata about the one or more data objects, wherein the notification provides storage locations within one or more logical storage volumes corresponding to the deleted one or more data objects, wherein each of the one or more data objects are divided into one or more extents; and hardware logic at a deduplicating storage system, that is separate from and coupled to the storage-management server, performing operations, the operations comprising; receiving the notification; and in response to determining that a sparse file represents the one or more logical storage volumes, recovering the physical space occupied by unused extents without moving data and without forcing updates to storage location information tracked by the storage-management server by nulling out space in the sparse file corresponding to each of the one or more extents. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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Specification