US 7,584,340 B1Granted

System and method for pre-provisioning storage in a networked environment

AssigneeSymantec Operating Corporation

InventorJohn A. Colgrove

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Abstract

System and method for pre-provisioning data storage in a network storage environment. Embodiments may pre-provision more storage than needed and make the spare storage available to two or more hosts in the storage network. Spare storage may be pre-provisioned as part of a pool or pools, and any one of the hosts on the storage network may claim spare storage out of the pool(s) to which it has access on an as-needed basis. Embodiments remove the data center's change control process from the critical path in provisioning additional storage, and do not result in the generation of I/O errors on writes to storage if the pool of spare storage available to a host is exhausted. In one embodiment, a coordinating service on the storage network may coordinate access to the pool of spare storage by the hosts on the storage network.

Claims20

Dependent claims

A method, comprising:

pre-provisioning a plurality of spare addressable storage units in a storage system to a plurality of host systems on a storage network, wherein the storage network is configurable to allow and configurable to not allow access to particular addressable storage units by particular host systems;
wherein said pre-provisioning comprises configuring the storage network so that each spare addressable storage unit is currently accessible to two or more of the plurality of host systems through a storage network fabric;
one of the host systems obtaining exclusive access to one of the spare addressable storage units which the host system is configured to access through the storage network fabric without reconfiguring the storage network to allow or not allow access to particular addressable storage units by particular host systems;
wherein other host systems are prevented from obtaining exclusive access to the spare addressable storage unit, without reconfiguring the storage network to allow or not allow access to particular addressable storage units by particular host systems, after exclusive access to the spare addressable storage unit has been obtained by the host system.

1 more element

A storage network system, comprising:

one or more storage systems comprising a plurality of addressable storage units;
two or more host systems;
a storage network fabric for coupling the storage systems to the host systems, wherein the storage network fabric is configurable to allow and configurable to not allow access to particular addressable storage units by particular host systems;
and
one or more pre-provisioned pools each comprising two or more of a plurality of spare addressable storage units, wherein each spare addressable storage unit is configured to be currently accessible to two or more of the host systems through configuration of the storage network fabric;
wherein each host system is configured to obtain exclusive access to spare addressable storage units in the one or more pools which the host system is currently configured to access through the storage network fabric without reconfiguring the storage network fabric to allow or not allow access to particular addressable storage units by particular host systems;
and
wherein other host systems are prevented from obtaining exclusive access to a spare addressable storage unit in the one or more pools, without reconfiguring the storage network to allow or not allow access to particular addressable storage units by particular host systems, after exclusive access to the spare addressable storage unit has been obtained by one of the host systems.

5 more elements

A system, comprising:

a processor;
and
a memory comprising program instructions, wherein the program instructions are executable by the processor to implement a coordinating service for coordinating access by host systems on a storage network to a plurality of spare addressable storage units in a storage system, wherein the storage network is configurable to allow and configurable to not allow access to particular addressable storage units by particular host systems;
wherein the storage network is configured so that each spare addressable storage unit is currently accessible to two or more of the host systems through a storage network fabric, wherein the coordinating service is configured to, without reconfiguring the storage network to allow or not allow access to particular addressable storage units by particular host systems:
receive requests for exclusive access to spare addressable storage units from the host systems;
for each request, determine if there is a spare addressable storage unit to which the requesting host system has access and to which no other host system has been granted exclusive access;
if there is a spare addressable storage unit available to meet a request:
inform the requesting host system that the host system has exclusive access to the spare addressable storage unit;
and
record that the host system has been granted exclusive access to the spare addressable storage unit so that no other host systems are granted exclusive access to the spare addressable storage unit.

7 more elements

A computer-accessible storage medium comprising program instructions, wherein the program instructions are computer-executable to implement:

coordinating access by host systems on a storage network to a plurality of spare addressable storage units in a storage system, wherein the storage network is configurable to allow and configurable to not allow access to particular addressable storage units by particular host systems, wherein the storage network is configured so that each spare addressable storage unit is currently accessible to two or more of the host systems through a storage network fabric;
for each request for exclusive access to a spare addressable storage unit from a host system, determining if there is a spare addressable storage unit to which the requesting host system has access and to which no other host system has been granted exclusive access;
if there is a spare addressable storage unit available to meet a request, and without reconfiguring the storage network to allow or not allow access to particular addressable storage units by particular host systems:
informing the requesting host system that the host system has exclusive access to the spare addressable storage unit;
and
recording that the host system has been granted exclusive access to the spare addressable storage unit so that no other host systems are granted exclusive access to the spare addressable storage unit.

3 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 11/151,333Filed 13 Jun 2005
Granted: 1 Sep 2009
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification11 codes

G06F 3/0608
Specifically adapted to achieve a particular effect: saving storage space on storage systems
G06F 3/0631
Configuration or reconfiguration of storage systems: by allocating resources to storage systems
G06F 3/0637
Configuration or reconfiguration of storage systems: permissions
G06F 3/067
Adopting a particular infrastructure: distributed or networked storage systems, e.g. storage area networks [SAN], network attached storage [NAS]