User-defined failure domains for software-defined storage systems

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10289502-B2
Application number	US-201615062601-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 7, 2016
Priority date	Mar 7, 2016
Publication date	May 14, 2019
Grant date	May 14, 2019

Abstract

Methods, computing systems and computer program products implement embodiments of the present invention that include defining a plurality of failure domains for sets of storage devices in a storage facility, and defining, using the failure domains, one or more limitations for distributing data on the storage devices. Upon identifying a data distribution configuration for a software defined storage system that is compliant with the one or more limitations, the identified data distribution configuration can be presented to a user. The failure domains may include physical failure domains, logical failure domains, or a combination of physical and logical failure domains, and the limitations may include mandatory limitations or a combination of mandatory and non-mandatory limitations. In embodiments including non-mandatory limitations, the data distribution configuration may not comply with all the non-mandatory limitations, and any non-mandatory limitations that are not met can be flagged and presented to the user.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method, comprising:
defining a plurality of failure domains for sets of storage devices in a storage facility;
defining, using the failure domains, one or more limitations for distributing data on the storage devices; wherein the one or more limitations are defined within a plurality of layers arranged in a hierarchal order of importance such that one or more limitations defined in a higher one of the plurality of layers represents one or more mandatory limitations and one or more limitations defined in a lower one of the plurality of layers represents one or more non-mandatory limitations;
identifying a data distribution configuration for a software defined storage system that is compliant with the one or more limitations according to the plurality of layers arranged in the hierarchal order of importance such that a prospective manner in which the data is distributed on the storage devices is determined that conforms to the defined one or more limitations and complies with the defined failure domains; wherein the identifying further includes considering forfeiting an implementation of the one or more non-mandatory limitations which are not able to be met when implementing the one or more mandatory limitations commensurate with complying with the defined failure domains;
presenting the identified data distribution configuration to a user including automatically displaying a distribution of the data among the storage devices which satisfies the one or more limitations of the failure domains prior to implementing the identified data distribution configuration by the user; and
distributing the data among the storage devices to implement the identified data distribution configuration according to the one or more limitations of the failure domains.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein each of the failure domains is selected from a group consisting of a physical failure domain and a logical failure domain.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the data distribution configuration comprises a first data distribution configuration, and comprising identifying a second data distribution configuration that is compliant with the one or more mandatory limitations and the one or more non-mandatory limitations, and presenting the second data distribution configuration to the user.

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the data distribution configuration comprises a first data distribution configuration, and comprising identifying a second data distribution configuration that is compliant with the one or more mandatory limitations and is not compliant with at least one of the one or more non-mandatory limitations, and presenting the second data distribution configuration to the user.

5. The method according to claim 4 , and comprising presenting the at least one of the one or more non-mandatory limitations to the user.

6. An apparatus, comprising:
a memory; and
a processor configured:
to define a plurality of failure domains for sets of storage devices in a storage facility,
to define, in the memory using the failure domains, one or more limitations for distributing data on the storage devices; wherein the one or more limitations are defined within a plurality of layers arranged in a hierarchal order of importance such that one or more limitations defined in a higher one of the plurality of layers represents one or more mandatory limitations and one or more limitations defined in a lower one of the plurality of layers represents one or more non-mandatory limitations,
to identify a data distribution configuration for a software defined storage system that is compliant with the one or more limitations according to the plurality of layers arranged in the hierarchal order of importance such that a prospective manner in which the data is distributed on the storage devices is determined that conforms to the defined one or more limitations and complies with the defined failure domains; wherein the identifying further includes considering forfeiting an implementation of the one or more non-mandatory limitations which are not able to be met when implementing the one or more mandatory limitations commensurate with complying with the defined failure domains,
to present the identified data distribution configuration to a user including automatically displaying a distribution of the data among the storage devices which satisfies the one or more limitations of the failure domains prior to implementing the identified data distribution configuration by the user; and
to distribute the data among the storage devices to implement the identified data distribution configuration according to the one or more limitations of the failure domains.

7. The apparatus according to claim 6 , wherein each of the failure domains is selected from a group consisting of a physical failure domain and a logical failure domain.

8. The apparatus according to claim 6 , wherein the data distribution configuration comprises a first data distribution configuration, and wherein the processor is configured to identify a second data distribution configuration that is compliant with the one or more mandatory limitations and the one or more non-mandatory limitations, and to present the second data distribution configuration to the user.

9. The apparatus according to claim 6 , wherein the data distribution configuration comprises a first data distribution configuration, and wherein the processor is configured to identify a second data distribution configuration that is compliant with the one or more mandatory limitations and is not compliant with at least one of the one or more non-mandatory limitations, and to present the second data distribution configuration to the user.

10. The apparatus according to claim 9 , and wherein the processor is configured to present the at least one of the one or more non-mandatory limitations to the user.

11. A computer program product, the computer program product comprising:
a non-transitory computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code embodied therewith, the computer readable program code comprising:
computer readable program code configured to define a plurality of failure domains for sets of storage devices in a storage facility;
computer readable program code configured to define, using the failure domains, one or more limitations for distributing data on the storage devices; wherein the one or more limitations are defined within a plurality of layers arranged in a hierarchal order of importance such that one or more limitations defined in a higher one of the plurality of layers represents one or more mandatory limitations and one or more limitations defined in a lower one of the plurality of layers represents one or more non-mandatory limitations;
computer readable program code configured to identify a data distribution configuration for a software defined storage system that is compliant with the one or more limitations according to the plurality of layers arranged in the hierarchal order of importance such that a prospective manner in which the data is distributed on the storage devices is determined that conforms to the defined one or more limitations and complies with the defined failure domains; wherein the identifying further includes considering forfeiting an implementation of the one or more non-mandatory limitations which are not able to be met when implementing the one or more mandatory limitations commensurate with complying with the defined failure domains;
computer readable program code configured to present the identified data distribution configuration to a user including automatically displaying a distribution of the data among t

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Barzik Zah
• Chen Lior
• Keller Michael
• Matosevich Rivka M

Classifications

• G06F17/30584

  Physics · mapped topic

• G06F3/0619

  in relation to data integrity, e.g. data losses, bit errors · CPC title

• G06F3/0629

  Configuration or reconfiguration of storage systems · CPC title

• H04L41/0836

  to enhance reliability, e.g. reduce downtime · CPC title

• G06F3/0631

  by allocating resources to storage systems · CPC title