High availability storage access using quality of service based path selection in a storage area network environment

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10459640-B2
Application number	US-201815923445-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 16, 2018
Priority date	Sep 29, 2017
Publication date	Oct 29, 2019
Grant date	Oct 29, 2019

Abstract

A method, a computing device, and a non-transitory machine-readable medium for performing a multipath selection based on a determined quality of service for the paths. An example method includes a host computing device periodically polling a storage system for path information including an indication of a recommended storage controller. The host computing device periodically determines a quality of service information corresponding to a plurality of paths between the host computing device and a storage volume of the storage system, where at least one of the plurality of paths including the recommended storage controller. The host computing device identifies a fault corresponding to a path of the plurality of paths that routes I/O from the host computing device to the storage volume. The host computing device re-routes the I/O from the path to a different path of the plurality of paths, where the different path is selected for the re-routing based on the quality of service information and the path information.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
periodically polling, by a host computing device, a storage system for path information including an indication of a recommended storage controller;
periodically determining, by the host computing device, quality of service information corresponding to a plurality of paths between the host computing device and a storage volume of the storage system, at least one of the plurality of paths including the recommended storage controller;
identifying, by the host computing device, a fault corresponding to a path of the plurality of paths that routes input/output (I/O) between the host computing device and the storage volume; and
re-routing, by the host computing device, the I/O from the path corresponding to the fault to a different path of the plurality of paths, wherein the different path is selected for the re-routing based on the quality of service information and the path information.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the quality of service information comprises a response time measurement corresponding to communications between the host computing device and the storage system.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the quality of service information comprises a throughput measurement corresponding to communications between the host computing device and the storage system.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein a manner of selecting the recommended storage controller is specified by a user when provisioning the storage volume on the storage system.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the recommended storage controller is assigned ownership of the storage volume by the storage system.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the recommended storage controller is assigned ownership of the storage volume based on host connectivity information that is determined by the storage system.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the recommended storage controller is assigned ownership of the storage volume based on the storage system determining that there are at least a threshold number of paths between the host computing device and the recommended storage controller.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
assigning, by the storage system, ownership of the storage volume to a non-owning storage controller that received a plurality of the I/O that was routed through one or more non-owning storage controllers including the non-owning storage controller for more than a threshold duration of time.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
ranking the plurality of paths based on the path information and the quality of service information.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the storage volume comprises a namespace and the host computing device communicates the I/O with the storage volume via a Non-Volatile Memory Express (NVMe) protocol.

11. A computing device comprising:
a memory containing machine-readable medium comprising machine executable code having stored thereon instructions for performing a multipath selection method; and
a processor coupled to the memory, the processor configured to execute the machine executable code to cause the processor to:
periodically poll a storage system for path information including an indication of a recommended storage controller;
periodically determine quality of service information corresponding to a plurality of paths between a host computing device and a storage volume of the storage system, at least one of the plurality of paths including the recommended storage controller;
identify a fault corresponding to a path of the plurality of paths that routes input/output (I/O) between the host computing device and the storage volume; and
re-route the I/O from the path corresponding to the fault to a different path of the plurality of paths, wherein the different path is selected for the re-routing based on the quality of service information and the path information.

12. The computing device of claim 11 , wherein the quality of service information comprises at least one of a response time measurement or a throughput measurement.

13. The computing device of claim 11 , wherein the recommended storage controller is assigned ownership of the storage volume by the storage system.

14. The computing device of claim 11 , wherein the storage system performs operations comprising:
assigning ownership of the storage volume to a non-owning storage controller that received a plurality of the I/O that was routed through one or more non-owning storage controllers including the non-owning storage controller for more than a threshold duration of time.

15. The computing device of claim 11 , wherein the storage volume comprises a namespace and the host computing device communicates the I/O with the storage volume via a Non-Volatile Memory Express (NVMe) protocol.

16. A non-transitory machine-readable medium having stored thereon instructions for performing a method comprising machine executable code that when executed by at least one machine, causes the machine to:
periodically poll a storage system for path information including an indication of a recommended storage controller;
periodically determine quality of service information corresponding to a plurality of paths between a host computing device and a storage volume of the storage system, at least one of the plurality of paths including the recommended storage controller;
identify a fault corresponding to a path of the plurality of paths that routes input/output (I/O) between the host computing device and the storage volume; and
re-route the I/O the path corresponding to the fault to a different path of the plurality of paths, wherein the different path is selected for the re-routing based on the quality of service information and the path information.

17. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 16 , wherein the quality of service information comprises at least one of a response time measurement or a throughput measurement.

18. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 16 , wherein the recommended storage controller is assigned ownership of the storage volume by the storage system.

19. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 16 , wherein the storage system performs operations comprising:
assigning ownership of the storage volume to a non-owning storage controller that received a plurality of the I/O that was routed through one or more non-owning storage controllers including the non-owning storage controller for more than a threshold duration of time.

20. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 16 , wherein the storage volume comprises a namespace and the host computing device communicates the I/O with the storage volume via a Non-Volatile Memory Express (NVMe) protocol.

Assignees

• Netapp Inc

Inventors

• Parnell Joey
• Schremmer Steven
• Thompson Brandon
• Jibbe Mahmoud K

Classifications

• G06F11/20

  using active fault-masking, e.g. by switching out faulty elements or by switching in spare elements · CPC title

• G06F3/0611

  in relation to response time · CPC title

• G06F11/3409

  for performance assessment · CPC title

• G06F11/2092

  Techniques of failing over between control units · CPC title

• G06F3/0617 Primary

  in relation to availability · CPC title