Data copy avoidance across a storage

• US 9,734,074 B2
• Filed: 12/17/2014
• Issued: 08/15/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 12/23/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Emc IP Holding Company LLC (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Emc IP Holding Company LLC (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Inventors: Zhang, Long, Hu, Zhipeng, Xiao, Huibing, Jia, Ruiyong, Xue, Lei, Xie, Peng, Gao, Jian
• Primary Examiner(s): Dudek, Jr., Edward
• Assistant Examiner(s): Verderamo, III, Ralph A
• Application Number:
  US14/573,782
• Publication Number:
  US 20150178213A1
• Time in Patent Office: 972 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 12/0868 Data transfer between cache memory and other subsystems, e.g. storage devices or host systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2212/286 Mirrored cache memory
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2212/314 In storage network, e.g. network attached cache
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0608 Saving storage space on storage systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0647 Migration mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/065 Replication mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/067 Distributed or networked storage systems, e.g. storage area networks [SAN], network attached storage [NAS]

Abstract

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to methods and apparatuses for data copy avoidance where after a data access request is received from the first storage node, what is sent by a second storage node to the first storage node is not an address of a second storage space in a second mirrored cache, but an address of a first storage space in a first cache corresponding to the second storage space. In this way, data access may be implemented directly in the first cache on the first storage node, and can reduce data communication across different storage nodes, eliminate potential system performance bottlenecks, and enhance data access performance.

Claims

1. A method for data copy avoidance across storage nodes, the method comprising:

sending a data access request from a first storage node to a second storage node, the data access request comprising an address associated with the second storage node;

receiving, from the second storage node, an address of a first storage space in a first mirrored cache associated with the first storage node, the first storage space being allocated in association with a second storage space in a second mirrored cache associated with the second storage node, and the second storage space being allocated by the second storage node in response to the data access request; and

accessing the first storage space based on the received address.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the data access request is a data write request, and wherein accessing the first storage space comprises:

directly writing the data into the first storage space, such that the data is mirrored from the first storage space to the second storage space; and

receiving a data write complete message from the second storage node, the data write complete message being sent by the second storage node in response to the data being mirrored to the second storage space.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the data access request is a data reading request, and accessing the first storage space comprises:

directly reading the data from the first storage space, the data being mirrored from the second storage space to the first storage space.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the data is mirrored between the second storage space and the first storage space via a common message link (CMI) between the first storage node and the second storage node.

5. An apparatus for data copy avoidance across storage nodes, the apparatus comprising:

a data copy unit configured to

send a data access request from a first storage node to a second storage node, the data access request comprising an address associated with the second storage node;

receive, from the second storage node, an address of a first storage space in a first mirrored cache at the first storage node, the first storage space being allocated in association with a second storage space in a second mirrored cache at the second storage node, and the second storage space being allocated by the second storage node in response to the data access request; and

accessing the first storage space based on the received address.

6. The apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the data access request is a data write request, and further configured to

directly write the data into the first storage space, such that the data is mirrored from the first storage space to the second storage space.

7. The apparatus according to claim 6, further configured to:

receive a data write complete message from the second storage node, the complete message being sent by the second storage node in response to the data being mirrored to the second storage space.

8. The apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the data access request is a data reading request, and further configured to:

read the data from the first storage space, the data being mirrored from the second storage space to the first storage space.

9. The apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the data is mirrored between the second storage space and the first storage space via a common message link (CMI) between the first storage node and the second storage node.

10. A computer program product for data copy avoidance across storage nodes, which computer program product is tangibly stored on a non-transient computer-readable medium and includes a machine-executable instruction which, when being executed, causes a machine to perform

sending a data access request from a first storage node to a second storage node, the data access request comprising an address associated with the second storage node, the data access request comprises at least one of

a data write request, and wherein accessing a first storage space comprises:

directly writing the data into the first storage space, such that the data is mirrored from the first storage space to a second storage space OR a data reading request, and accessing the first storage space comprises directly reading the data from the first storage space, the data being mirrored from the second storage space to the first storage space; and

receiving a data write complete message from the second storage node, the data write complete message being sent by the second storage node in response to the data being mirrored to the second storage space;

receiving, from the second storage node, an address of the first storage space in a first mirrored cache associated with the first storage node, the first storage space being allocated in association with a second storage space in a second mirrored cache associated with the second storage node, and the second storage space being allocated by the second storage node in response to the data access request;

accessing the first storage space based on the received address; and

the data is mirrored between the second storage space and the first storage space via a common message link (CMI) between the first storage node and the second storage node.