System, method, and computer program product for shared device of storage compacting
AssigneeStorageApps Inc.
InventorsDon Milos, John W. Bates
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A virtual storage system, method and computer program product for providing efficient use of storage resources. The system includes a plurality of host systems, an appliance coupled to each of the host systems and at least one physical storage device coupled to the appliance. The appliance manages the allocation of storage space on the physical storage device to the host systems. The appliance allocates virtual storage space to the host systems. The cumulative amount of virtual storage space allocated to the host systems exceeds the actual storage capacity of the physical storage device. The appliance allocates physical space on the physical storage device on an as needed basis.
Claims28
A virtual storage system for providing efficient use of storage resources, comprising:
- a plurality of host systems;
- an appliance coupled to each of said plurality of host systems;
- and
- at least one physical storage device coupled to said appliance;
- wherein said appliance manages the allocation of physical storage space on said at least one physical storage device to said plurality of host systems, and manages the allocation of virtual storage space to said plurality of host systems, wherein the cumulative amount of virtual storage space allocated to said plurality of host systems exceeds the actual storage capacity of said at least one physical storage device.
A virtual storage system, comprising:
- a plurality of host computers;
- a storage area network (SAN) appliance coupled to each of said plurality of host computers;
- and
- a storage area network (SAN) having a plurality of physical storage devices, said SAN coupled to said SAN appliance,
- wherein said SAN appliance manages the allocation of physical storage space on said SAN to said plurality ofhost computers, and manages the allocation of virtual storage space to said plurality of host computers, wherein the cumulative amount of virtual storage space allocated to said plurality of host computers exceeds the actual storage capacity of said plurality of physical storage devices in said SAN.
A method for providing efficient use of storage resources, comprising the steps of:
- (1) configuring a virtual management device for managing and allocating physical storage space to a plurality of host computers;
- (2) configuring a virtual disk device from the virtual management device for each of the plurality of host computers;
- and
- (3) allocating virtual space to each of the plurality of host computers, wherein the cumulative storage capacity for the virtual disk devices exceeds the amount of physical storage space available.
A method for providing virtual storage using a data propagation framework (DPF), comprising the steps of:
- (1) generating a DPF empty device for a placeholder to forward Small Computer Systems Interface (SCSI) requests;
- (2) placing the DPF empty device onto an existing device chain;
- (3) generating a DPF share device module to manage a share device;
- (4) placing the DPF share device module onto the existing device chain;
- and
- (5) configuring one or more share target device modules as virtual disk devices for a plurality of host computers, wherein each share target device module provides a new device chain that flows from each share target device module down through the DPF empty device, and wherein I/O requests from a host computer are entered via the share target device module and travel down the device chain, wherein the I/O request is processed only by those modules that are designed to understand the I/O request.
A computer program product comprising a computer useable including control logic stored therein, said control logic providing efficient use of storage resources for a virtual storage system, said control logic comprising:
- first configuring means for enabling a processor to configure a virtual management device for managing and allocating physical storage space to a plurality of host computers;
- second configuring means for enabling a processor to configure a virtual disk device from the virtual management device for each of the host computers;
- and
- allocating means for enabling a processor to allocate virtual space to each of the plurality of host computers, wherein the cumulative storage capacity for the virtual disk devices exceeds the amount of physical storage space available.
A storage area network appliance, comprising:
- at least one share device, said at least one share device being a gateway to at least one physical storage device;
- and
- one or more share targets, wherein a plurality of host systems is coupled to said one or more of share targets, wherein said one or more share targets are created by and coupled to said at least one share device as virtual storage devices.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.