Storage system providing hierarchical levels of storage functions using virtual machines

A non-transitory machine readable medium having stored thereon instructions for performing a method comprising machine executable code which when executed by at least one machine causes the machine to:

• obtain hierarchy configuration parameters comprising a total number of the plurality of servers and a number of storage transaction servers, storage virtual machines (VMs), storage access servers, and storage access VMs to be produced;
• divide the plurality of servers into a first pool of the plurality of servers and a second pool of the plurality of servers based on the total number of the plurality of servers;
• assign the first pool of the plurality of servers to a first hierarchical level and the second pool of the plurality of servers to a second hierarchical level based on the number of storage transaction servers and the number of storage access servers to be produced, wherein the first hierarchical level is assigned to provide storage transaction functions comprising receiving storage access requests from client devices, generating storage operations based on the storage access requests, and sending the storage operations to the second hierarchical level and the second hierarchical level is assigned to provide storage access functions comprising receiving the storage operations from the first hierarchical level and interfacing with one or more storage devices in order to execute the storage operations;
• and
• request a hypervisor executing on each of the first pool of the plurality of servers to produce and deploy one or more of the number of storage transaction VMs that execute on the first pool of the plurality of servers and implement a storage operating system to perform one or more storage functions based on the storage transaction functions assigned to the first hierarchy level and another hypervisor executing on each of the second pool of the plurality of servers to produce one or more of the number of storage access VMs that execute on the second pool of the plurality of servers and implement the storage operating system to perform another one or more storage functions based on the storage access functions assigned to the second hierarchy level.

A server computing device, comprising:

• a memory containing machine readable medium comprising machine executable code having stored thereon instructions for performing a method of providing hierarchical levels of storage functions;
• and
• a processor coupled to the memory, the processor configured to execute the machine executable code to cause the processor to:
• obtain hierarchy configuration parameters comprising a total number of the plurality of servers and a number of storage transaction servers, storage virtual machines (VMs), storage access servers, and storage access VMs to be produced;
• divide the plurality of servers into a first pool of the plurality of servers and a second pool of the plurality of servers based on the total number of the plurality of servers;
• assign the first pool of the plurality of servers to a first hierarchical level and the second pool of the plurality of servers to a second hierarchical level based on the number of storage transaction servers and the number of storage access servers to be produced, wherein the first hierarchical level is assigned to provide storage transaction functions comprising receiving storage access requests from client devices, generating storage operations based on the storage access requests, and sending the storage operations to the second hierarchical level and the second hierarchical level is assigned to provide storage access functions comprising receiving the storage operations from the first hierarchical level and interfacing with one or more storage devices in order to execute the storage operations;
• and
• request a hypervisor executing on each of the first pool of the plurality of servers to produce and deploy one or more of the number of storage transaction VMs that execute on the first pool of the plurality of servers and implement a storage operating system to perform one or more storage functions based on the storage transaction functions assigned to the first hierarchy level and another hypervisor executing on each of the second pool of the plurality of servers to produce one or more of the number of storage access VMs that execute on the second pool of the plurality of servers and implement the storage operating system to perform another one or more storage functions based on the storage access functions assigned to the second hierarchy level.