Raid performance by offloading tasks to expanders
AssigneeSeagate Technology LLC
InventorsIndrajit Zagade, Vishal Thakkar, Prasad Ramchandra Kadam
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Abstract
A RAID storage management system includes a plurality of RAID storage devices and a controller configured to manage the plurality of RAID storage devices. The RAID storage management system also includes at least one expander operatively connected to the controller and operatively connected to the plurality of RAID storage devices. The expander is configured to receive a request from the controller for a RAID operation. The expander is also configured to, upon receiving the request, operate to assist the controller in performing the requested RAID operation.
Claims17
A redundant array of independent disks (RAID) storage management system, comprising:
- a plurality of RAID storage devices;
- a controller configured to manage the plurality of RAID storage devices;
- and
- at least one expander operatively connected to the controller and operatively connected to the plurality of RAID storage devices, the expander configured to:
- receive a request from the controller to at least partially offload a RAID operation from the controller to the expander, and
- upon receiving the request, operate to assist the controller in performing the offloaded RAID operation,
- wherein the controller is configured to operatively monitor progress of offloaded tasks by querying a progress watermark of the offloaded RAID operation, and
- wherein the controller is further configured to communicate I/O operations to a least one of the plurality of RAID storage devices based on the progress watermark in order to manage the plurality of RAID storage devices.
A method of managing a redundant array of independent disks (RAID), comprising:
- receiving a first request to at least partially offload a RAID operation from a controller to at least one expander operatively connected to the controller;
- transmitting a second request to the at least one expander, the second request including instructions for the expander to assist the controller in performing the offloaded RAID operation such that the expander assists the controller in performing the offloaded RAID operation
- receiving a progress watermark of the offloaded RAID operation;
- and
- communicating I/O operations to a least one of the plurality of RAID storage devices based on the received progress watermark in order to manage the plurality of RAID storage devices.
A computer program product for managing a redundant array of independent disks (RAID), the computer program product comprising a computer-readable storage medium having program code embodied therewith, the program code comprising computer-readable program code configured to perform a method, comprising:
- receiving a first request to at least partially offload a RAID operation from a controller to at least one expander operatively connected to the controller;
- transmitting a second request to the at least one expander, the second request including instructions for the expander to assist the controller in performing the offloaded RAID operation such that the expander assists the controller in performing the offloaded RAID operation, and
- using the controller to query a progress watermark of the offloaded RAID operation, and communicating I/O operations to a least one of the plurality of RAID storage devices based on the progress watermark in order to manage the plurality of RAID storage devices,
- wherein the RAID operation includes at least an initialization, rebuild, or copyback operation.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.