Mechanisms for moving data in a hybrid aggregate
Granted: November 27, 2012
Patent Number:
8321645
At least certain embodiments include a method, system and apparatus for relocating data between tiers of storage media in a hybrid storage aggregate encompassing multiple tiers of heterogeneous physical storage media including a file system to automatically relocate the data between tiers. The hybrid storage aggregate includes one or more volumes, each volume including a volume block number space spanning at least a first-tier of storage media and a second tier of storage media of the…
System and method for on-the-fly elimination of redundant data
Granted: November 20, 2012
Patent Number:
8315984
A system and method for “on-the-fly” de-duplication of data before storing the data in a storage system. A data de-duplication module illustratively cooperates with protocol servers and a file system of a storage operating system executing on the storage system to implement the novel de-duplication technique. The de-duplication module illustratively generates a block store, an index file and a hash table on storage space provided by the storage system. The hash table is utilized for…
Power failure system and method for storing request information
Granted: November 20, 2012
Patent Number:
8316244
A system and method are provided for storing request information in separate memory, in response to the detection of a power failure. This is accomplished by detecting the power failure and, in response, storing the request information in separate memory utilizing a secondary power source. By this feature, the request information is safely stored during a period of power failure. To this end, in various embodiments, the request information may be stored for later use in satisfying…
System and method for enabling a data container to appear in a plurality of locations in a super-namespace
Granted: November 13, 2012
Patent Number:
8312046
A system and method to allow a volume to appear in multiple locations in a super-namespace. A super-namespace is a hierarchy of namespaces within a storage system environment, such as a storage system cluster. The volume can appear in multiple locations in the super-namespace and/or in multiple namespaces within the super-namespace.
Configuration verification, recommendation, and animation method for a disk array in a storage area network (SAN)
Granted: November 13, 2012
Patent Number:
8312130
A system and method for establishing a storage area network (SAN) is described. The method includes providing a predefined template for inputting data associated with a SAN. A first tool may utilize the template to validate an entered SAN configuration based on accessing data in a database. A second tool may utilize the template to generate a valid SAN configuration, based on accessing SAN data in a database, if component data is entered. An animated configuration of a valid SAN is…
Initiation of read-ahead requests
Granted: November 13, 2012
Patent Number:
8312181
Example embodiments provide various techniques for initiating read-ahead requests. A rate at which applications is requesting data from a data storage device is identified. Additionally, a length of time in retrieving or servicing the data from the data storage device is also identified. The identified rate and length of time in retrieving the data are used to determine when read-ahead requests should be sent to pre-fetch data.
System and method for pausing disk drives in an aggregate
Granted: November 13, 2012
Patent Number:
8312214
The present invention provides a system, method, and computer program product for “cooling” selected disks in a set of disks connected to a storage system by reducing access frequency to the selected disks and pausing the disks with the reduced access frequency. Pausing some disks advantageously reduces power consumption by the disks.
Method and system for mounting logical unit numbers (LUNS) of snapshots
Granted: November 13, 2012
Patent Number:
8312231
A computer system and method for caching configuration information for use in mounting and/or unmounting snapshot LUNs of a network-based storage system are disclosed. During a first request to mount a snapshot LUN, a discovery operation is performed at a host system to discover various configuration information used in mounting and unmounting various LUNs of a storage system to a host system. The configuration information is used to process the first request and then the configuration…
Small computer system interface input output (SCSI IO) referral
Granted: November 6, 2012
Patent Number:
8307240
The present invention is a method for communication between an initiator system and a block storage cluster. The method includes receiving a command at a first storage system of a block storage cluster. The command is transmitted by the initiator system to the first storage system via a network and includes a request for data. The method further includes transferring the stored data from the first storage system to the initiator system via the network when data requested in the data…
System and method for providing performance-enhanced rebuild of a solid-state drive (SSD) in a solid-state drive hard disk drive (SSD HDD) redundant array of inexpensive disks 1 (RAID 1) pair
Granted: November 6, 2012
Patent Number:
8307159
The present invention is a method for implementing a storage system. The storage system may include a disk array having a disk drive pair which includes a solid-state disk drive and a hard disk drive. The method may include the step of copying a data subset of a data set from the hard disk drive to a spare solid-state disk drive during a solid-state disk drive rebuild process. The data subset includes a first amount of data and the data set includes a second amount of data, where the…
Circuits, systems, and methods to integrate storage virtualization in a storage controller
Granted: November 6, 2012
Patent Number:
8307044
Methods and systems for improved performance in virtualized storage systems. Features and aspects hereof provide for a virtualization circuit integrated in each storage controller of a storage system. The virtualization circuit is operable to determine whether a request received from an attached host system will be processed locally by the receiving storage controller or will be processed by another storage controller of the storage system. If another storage controller is to process the…
Encryption and compression of data for storage
Granted: October 30, 2012
Patent Number:
8300823
Described is a process for encrypting and compressing data for storage by computing systems. A data stream received by a computing system is separated into data chunks for storage on a storage device using a data layout format. Each data chunk is examined and if possible, compressed to produce a compressed data chunk. Whether or not the data chunk can be compressed, the data chunk is encrypted and stored on the storage device in addition to metadata that describes the data chunk. When…
System and method for performing distributed consistency verification of a clustered file system
Granted: October 30, 2012
Patent Number:
8301673
A system and method for performing a distributed consistency check of a clustered file system. File system functions for loading an inode and/or buffer tree are modified so that in response to either of these functions being invoked, a consistency check is performed. The consistency check verifies both local consistency on a node of the clustered file and a distributed check across the nodes of the storage system.
System and method for non-disruptive check of a mirror
Granted: October 30, 2012
Patent Number:
8301791
A system and method for verifying the consistency of mirrored data sets between source and destination storage systems is provided. A destination verification module sends version information to the source storage system where the source verification module determines whether the source and destination storage systems are utilizing compatible versions of the verification module. If the destination verification module receives an acceptable version from the source, the destination module…
Integrating anti-virus in a clustered storage system
Granted: October 30, 2012
Patent Number:
8302192
A method and system for integrating anti-virus in a clustered storage system. A clustered storage system provides anti-virus scanning with third-party software components. Specifically, the clustered storage system receives a request to access data from a client, retrieves the data from storage, and scans the data for viruses with third party software components that have been previously provided any one of a number of third party software vendors. If the data is free of viruses, the…
System and method for managing data deduplication of storage systems utilizing persistent consistency point images
Granted: October 23, 2012
Patent Number:
8296260
A system and method for managing data deduplication of a storage system utilizing persistent consistency point images (PCPIs). Once a target PCPI of a data transfer is generated, a backup management module of the storage system alerts a data deduplication module to begin deduplication of the data contained within the target PCPI. Once the deduplication procedure has been completed, the active file system of the storage system has been deduplicated, however, the target PCPI remains…
Search and update of attributes in file systems
Granted: October 23, 2012
Patent Number:
8296312
Example embodiments provide various techniques for fast and efficient search of attributes stored in data structures. The attributes are organized following a hierarchical structure of the file system and, in an example, the attributes are stored in a data structure where the hierarchical structure is maintained. As a result, a search within such data structure may follow one or more paths along the hierarchical structure of the file system. Attributes associated with directories and…
Group stamping style asynchronous replication utilizing a loosely-accurate global clock
Granted: October 16, 2012
Patent Number:
8290899
A group stamping style asynchronous replication service utilizes a loosely-accurate global clock in a data backup and recovery storage environment. The storage environment includes a set of source storage systems illustratively embodied as source replication nodes that cooperate to maintain a consistency group that may span multiple geographical sites. The storage environment also includes one or more target storage systems illustratively embodied as target replication nodes configured…
System and method for storing and accessing data using a plurality of probabilistic data structures
Granted: October 16, 2012
Patent Number:
8290972
A system and method are described for storing and accessing data using a plurality of probabilistic data structures. In one embodiment, a plurality of probabilistic data structures are identified, each probabilistic data structure being associated with at least one other probabilistic data structure. The plurality of probabilistic data structures each correspond to a portion of a storage device storing a dataset. The dataset may include a plurality of values, such as a plurality of data…
Method and apparatus for communicating between an agent and a remote management module in a processing system
Granted: October 16, 2012
Patent Number:
8291063
A processing system includes control circuitry to control the processing system, a remote management module to enable remote management of the processing system via a network, and an agent to operate as an intermediary between the remote management module and the control circuitry. The agent and the remote management module are configured to cooperatively implement an abstraction layer through which the agent and the remote management module communicate.
