Systems and methods for compression of data for block mode access storage
AssigneeInternational Business Machines Corporation
InventorsJonathan AMIT, Noah AMIT, Nadav KEDEM
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Abstract
Systems and methods for creating, reading, and writing compressed data for use with a block mode access storage. The compressed data are packed into plurality of compressed units and stored in a storage logical unit (LU). One or more corresponding compressed units may be read and/or updated with no need of restoring the entire storage logical unit while maintaining de-fragmented structure of the LU.
Claims28
For use with a block mode access storage protocol, a method of creating compressed data for storage in at least one storage logical unit, said method comprising:
- creating in respect to at least one storage logical unit a corresponding virtual logical unit accessible by said block mode access protocol and configured to virtually accommodate raw data, wherein a size of the virtual logical unit corresponds to an estimated size of raw data which, being compressed, would substantially amount to a size of the storage logical unit;
- segmenting the virtual logical unit into one or more virtual storage portions (clusters);
- compressing the raw data accommodated in at least one cluster and thereby generating compressed data to be stored in a respective compressed section within the storage logical unit;
- and
- mapping between the compressed data stored in the compressed section and their virtual accommodation at the virtual logical unit.
For use with a block mode access storage protocol, a system for compressing data for storage in at least one storage logical unit, said system comprising:
- means for creating in respect to at least one storage logical unit a corresponding virtual logical unit accessible by said block mode access protocol and configured to virtually accommodate raw data, wherein a size of the virtual logical unit corresponds to an estimated size of raw data which, being compressed, would substantially amount to a size of the storage logical unit;
- means for segmenting the virtual logical unit into one or more virtual storage portions (clusters);
- means for compressing the raw data accommodated in a cluster and thereby generating compressed data to be stored in a respective compressed section within the storage logical unit;
- and
- means for mapping between the compressed data stored in the compressed section and their virtual accommodation at the virtual logical unit.
The system of claim 41, wherein the system constitutes at least a portion of a storage device operable with at least one block mode access storage protocol.
For use with a block mode access storage protocol, a program storage device readable by machine, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine to perform method steps of creating compressed data for storage in at least one storage logical unit, said method comprising:
- creating in respect to at least one storage logical unit a corresponding virtual logical unit accessible by said block mode access protocol and configured to virtually accommodate raw data, wherein a size of the virtual logical unit corresponds to an estimated size of raw data which, being compressed, would substantially amount to a size of the storage logical unit;
- segmenting the virtual logical unit into one or more virtual storage portions (clusters);
- compressing the raw data accommodated in a cluster and thereby generating compressed data to be stored in a respective compressed section within the storage logical unit;
- and
- mapping between the compressed data stored in the compressed section and their virtual accommodation at the virtual logical unit.
For use with a block mode access storage protocol, a computer program product comprising a computer useable medium having computer readable program code embodied therein of creating compressed data for storage in at least one storage logical unit, said computer program product comprising:
- computer readable program code for causing the computer to create in respect to at least one storage logical unit a corresponding virtual logical unit accessible by said block mode access protocol and configured to virtually accommodate raw data, wherein a size of the virtual logical unit corresponds to an estimated size of raw data which, being compressed, would substantially amount to a size of the storage logical unit;
- computer readable program code for causing the computer to segment the virtual logical unit into one or more virtual storage portions (clusters);
- computer readable program code for causing the computer to compress the raw data accommodated in a cluster and thereby generating compressed data to be stored in a respective compressed section within the storage logical unit;
- and
- computer readable program code for causing the computer to facilitate mapping between the compressed data stored in the compressed section and their virtual accommodation at the virtual logical unit.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.