# US 2021/0278973 A1 · Method of placing volume on closer storage from container

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- Number: US 2021/0278973 A1
- Document ID: US20210278973A1
- Status: Published application
- Kind: A1
- Application number: 16/812,050
- Filed: 2020-03-06
- Published: 2021-09-09
- Earliest claimed: 2020-03-06
- Assignees: Hitachi, Ltd.
- Applicants: Hitachi, Ltd.
- Inventors: Akiyoshi TSUCHIYA; Masanori TAKADA; Hiroyuki OSAKI
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20210278973A1

## CPC

- G06F 3/0611: {in relation to response time}
- G06F 3/0631: {by allocating resources to storage systems}
- G06F 3/0644: {Management of space entities, e.g. partitions, extents, pools}
- G06F 3/0647: {Migration mechanisms}
- G06F 3/0653: {Monitoring storage devices or systems}
- G06F 3/067: {Distributed or networked storage systems, e.g. storage area networks [SAN], network attached storage [NAS]}
- G06F 3/0683: {Plurality of storage devices}
- G06F 9/4881: {Scheduling strategies for dispatcher, e.g. round robin, multi-level priority queues}
- G06F 9/5016: {the resource being the memory}
- G06F: ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING (computer systems based on specific computational models G06N)

## Abstract

Embodiments described herein are directed to volume creation such that the volume is created in the storage system that is closest to the group of servers that the container is likely to be launched. Through such embodiments, the volume can be created or migrated in anticipation to a launch or a relaunch of a container.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A method for storage management in conjunction with computing unit management in a system comprising a plurality of servers and a plurality of storage systems, the method comprising:
for a request of creating a new volume or attaching an existing volume for a computing unit to be launched:
determining, from configuration information, one or more servers from the plurality of servers to which the computing unit is to be launched;
estimating performance for each storage system among at least a subset of the plurality of storage systems connected to the determined one or more servers;
selecting a storage system from the at least the subset of the plurality of storage systems connected to the determined one or more servers based on the estimated performance; and
creating a new volume or migrating an existing volume to the selected storage system.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, further comprising:
for the request involving the creating the new volume for the computing unit to be launched:
selecting the storage system from the at least the subset of the plurality of storage systems that is closest to the one or more servers to which the computing unit is to be launched; creating a volume on the selected storage system.

### Claim 3 (depends on 2)

The method of claim 2, wherein the configuration information comprises computing unit affinity information indicative of a priority for launching the computing unit in some types of units in the system, and
wherein the determining, from the configuration information, the one or more servers from the plurality of servers to which the computing unit is to be launched comprises:
determining a highest priority unit from the computing unit affinity information for the computing unit to be launched; and
selecting the one or more servers associated with the highest priority unit.

### Claim 4 (depends on 2)

The method of claim 2, wherein the selecting the storage system from the at least the subset of the plurality of storage systems comprises:
for each of the determined one or more servers, selecting a closest storage system to the each of the determined one or more servers; and
selecting the storage system from the plurality of storage systems that was selected as the closest storage system a highest number of times.

### Claim 5 (depends on 4)

The method of claim 4, wherein the selecting the closest storage system to the each of the one or more servers is determined based on having a same unit as the each of the one or more servers.

### Claim 6 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, further comprising:
for the request involving attaching the existing volume for the computing unit to be launched:
detecting a change of location of the computing unit to be launched;
determining a necessity for volume migration;
for a determination that the volume migration is necessary:
for the migration of the volume, selecting another storage system from the plurality of storage systems having a shorter latency than a determined latency threshold at a last execution of the computing unit based on estimated input/output (PO) latency when the migration is applied; and
migrating the volume from the storage system currently managing the volume to the selected another storage system.

### Claim 7 (depends on 6)

The method of claim 6, wherein the determining the necessity of the volume migration comprises:
estimating a running time of the launching computing unit;
estimating a migration time for the volume;
for the estimated migration time of the volume exceeding the estimated running time of the computing unit, determining that migration is not necessary.

### Claim 8 (depends on 6)

The method of claim 6, wherein the determining the necessity of the volume migration comprises:
estimating input/output (I/O) latency when migration is not applied;
for the estimated input/output latency when migration is not applied being equal to or longer than the determined latency threshold at the last execution of the computing unit, determining that migration of the volume is necessary.

### Claim 9 (depends on 6)

The method of claim 6, wherein the selecting another storage system from the plurality of storage systems for the migration of the volume based on the estimated I/O latency when the migration is applied comprises:
selecting the another storage system from the plurality of storage systems having the estimated I/O latency when the migration is applied being less than the determined latency threshold at the last execution of the computing unit and having a smallest estimated I/O latency among the plurality of storage systems.

### Claim 10

A non-transitory computer readable medium, storing instructions for storage management in conjunction with computing unit management in a system comprising a plurality of servers and a plurality of storage systems, the instructions comprising:
for a request of creating a new volume or attaching an existing volume for a computing unit to be launched:
determining, from configuration information, one or more servers from the plurality of servers to which the computing unit is to be launched;
estimating performance for each storage system among at least a subset of the plurality of storage systems connected to the determined one or more servers;
selecting a storage system from the at least the subset of the plurality of storage systems connected to the determined one or more servers based on the estimated performance; and
creating a new volume or migrating an existing volume to the selected storage system.

### Claim 11 (depends on 10)

The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 10, the instructions further comprising:
for the request involving the creating the new volume for the computing unit to be launched:
selecting the storage system from the at least the subset of the plurality of storage systems that is closest to the one or more servers to which the computing unit is to be launched;
creating a volume on the selected storage system.

### Claim 12 (depends on 11)

The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 11, wherein the configuration information comprises computing unit affinity information indicative of a priority for launching the computing unit in some types of units in the system, and
wherein the determining, from the configuration information, the one or more servers from the plurality of servers to which the computing unit is to be launched comprises:
determining a highest priority unit from the computing unit affinity information for the computing unit to be launched; and
selecting the one or more servers associated with the highest priority unit.

### Claim 13 (depends on 11)

The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 11, wherein the selecting the storage system from the at least the subset of the plurality of storage systems comprises:
for each of the determined one or more servers, selecting a closest storage system to the each of the determined one or more servers; and
selecting the storage system from the plurality of storage systems that was selected as the closest storage system a highest number of times.

### Claim 14 (depends on 13)

The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 13, wherein the selecting the closest storage system to the each of the one or more servers is determined based on having a same unit as the each of the one or more servers.

### Claim 15 (depends on 10)

The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 10, the instructions further comprising:
for the request involving attaching the existing volume for the computing unit to be launched:
detecting a change of location of the computing unit to be launched;
determining a necessity for volume migration;
for a determination that the volume migration is necessary:
for the migration of the volume, selecting another storage system from the plurality of storage systems having a shorter latency than a determined latency threshold at a last execution of the computing unit based on estimated input/output (I/O) latency when the migration applied; and
migrating the volume from the storage system currently managing the volume to the selected another storage system.

### Claim 16 (depends on 15)

The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the determining the necessity of the volume migration comprises:
estimating a running time of the launching computing unit;
estimating a migration time for the volume;
for the estimated migration time of the volume exceeding the estimated running time of the computing unit, determining that migration is not necessary.

### Claim 17 (depends on 15)

The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the determining the necessity of the volume migration comprises:
estimating input/output (I/O) latency when migration is not applied;
for the estimated input/output latency when migration is not applied being equal to or longer than the determined latency threshold at the last execution of the computing unit, determining that migration of the volume is necessary.

### Claim 18 (depends on 15)

The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the selecting another storage system from the plurality of storage systems for the migration of the volume based on the estimated I/O latency when the migration is applied comprises:
selecting the another storage system from the plurality of storage systems having the estimated I/O latency when the migration is applied being less than the determined latency threshold at the last execution of the computing unit and having a smallest estimated I/O latency among the plurality of storage systems.