Dynamic block-level compression utilization

A computer program product for more efficiently utilizing data compression in block-level storage systems, the computer program product comprising a computer-readable medium having computer-usable program code embodied therein, the computer-usable program code configured to perform the following when executed by at least one processor:

• receive, by a storage system, I/O operations from a host system;
• determine, by the storage system at a selected interval, a compression rate of data associated with the I/O operations;
• update, by the storage system, an average compression rate with the compression rate determined at the selected interval;
• determine, by the storage system, whether the average compression rate is above a threshold;
• if the average compression rate is above the threshold, compress data associated with the I/O operations;
• and
• if the average compression rate is not above the threshold, not compress data associated with the I/O operations.

A system for more efficiently utilizing data compression in block-level storage systems, the system comprising:

• at least one processor;
• at least one memory device coupled to the at least one processor and storing instructions for execution on the at least one processor, the instructions causing the at least one processor to:
• receive, by a storage system, I/O operations from a host system;
• determine, by the storage system at a selected interval, a compression rate of data associated with the I/O operations;
• update, by the storage system, an average compression rate with the compression rate determined at the selected interval;
• determine, by the storage system, whether the average compression rate is above a threshold;
• if the average compression rate is above the threshold, compress data associated with the I/O operations;
• and
• if the average compression rate is not above the threshold, not compress data associated with the I/O operations.