Method for parallel file system upgrade in virtual storage environment

A non-transitory machine-readable medium having instructions stored therein, which when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations for upgrading a file system in a data storage environment, the operations comprising:

• identifying a set of boundaries of a plurality of sets of hard disks in a first block management data structure (BMDS) based on information retrieved from a volume layer, wherein the first BMDS comprises a header and a descriptor table, and includes information describing a storage volume representing the plurality of sets of hard disks, wherein each boundary in the set of boundaries divides continuous offsets in a linear address space of the first BMDS that correspond to different sets of hard disks;
• based on the identified boundaries, identifying a plurality of non-overlapping data black ranges that in aggregate cover the whole storage volume, each data block range corresponding to one of the plurality of sets of hard disks, and comprising a set of data blocks stored on the corresponding set of hard disks, wherein each data block range includes metadata of the corresponding set of hard disks that is stored on the set of data blocks;
• and
• concurrently generating a plurality of second BMDSs, each of the second BMDSs comprising a respective header and a respective descriptor table, and corresponding to one of the data block ranges and its corresponding set of hard disks, including simultaneously retrieving or operating on metadata of different data block ranges in parallel, including reading from or writing to different sets of hard disks in parallel, wherein the plurality of second BMDSs are constructed based on the retrieved metadata, representing an upgraded file system.

A system, comprising:

• a processor;
• and
• a memory coupled to the processor for storing instructions, which when executed from the memory, cause the processor to perform operations for upgrading a file system in a data storage environment, the operations including:
• identifying a set of boundaries of a plurality of sets of hard disks in a first block management data structure (BMDS) based on information retrieved from a volume layer, wherein the first BMDS comprises a header and a descriptor table, and includes information describing a storage volume representing the plurality of sets of hard disks, wherein each boundary in the set of boundaries divides continuous offsets in a linear address space of the first BMDS that correspond to different sets of hard disks;
• based on the identified boundaries, identifying a plurality of non-overlapping data block ranges that in aggregate cover the whole storage volume, each data block range corresponding to one of the plurality of sets of hard disks, and comprising a set of data blocks stored on the corresponding set of hard disks, wherein each data block range includes metadata of the corresponding set of hard disks that is stored on the set of data blocks;
• and
• concurrently generating a plurality of second BMDSs, each of the second BMDs comprising a respective header and a respective descriptor table, and corresponding to one of the data block ranges and its corresponding set of hard disks, including simultaneously retrieving or operating on metadata of different data block ranges in parallel, including reading from or writing to different sets of hard disks in parallel, wherein the plurality of second BMDSs are constructed based on the retrieved metadata, representing an upgraded file system.