Controlling preemptive work balancing in data storage

A data processing system comprising:

• a host computer;
• and, a storage network control apparatus operable to present virtualized storage to the host computer and comprising:
• a monitoring component to monitor input/output (I/O) activity for virtual storage logical units over time;
• an analysis component for identifying a repeating instance of peak I/O activity for a virtual storage logical unit over time and for generating a predictive signature therefrom;
• a detecting component for identifying an instance of the predictive signature;
• and,
• responsive to the detecting component, a migration component for migrating data mapped by the virtual storage logical unit across additional real storage units to improve the I/O performance of the virtual storage logical unit prior to a recurrence of the repeating instance of peak I/O activity.

An article of manufacture comprising:

• a computer-readable medium;
• and, means in the medium for:
• monitoring I/O activity for virtual storage logical units over time;
• identifying a repeating instance of peak I/O activity for a virtual storage logical unit over time and generating a predictive signature therefrom;
• identifying an instance of the predictive signature;
• and,
• migrating data mapped by the virtual storage logical unit across additional real storage units to improve the I/O performance of the virtual storage logical unit prior to a recurrence of the repeating instance of peak I/O activity.