Efficient I/O request handling

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10613890-B2
Application number	US-201715835753-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 8, 2017
Priority date	Dec 9, 2016
Publication date	Apr 7, 2020
Grant date	Apr 7, 2020

Abstract

A method of efficient message transmission includes a hypervisor receiving a first input/output (I/O) request from a ring buffer; receiving a second I/O request from the ring buffer; receiving an absence of further I/O requests from the ring buffer; comparing an aggregate size of a first message and the second I/O request to a maximum transmission unit, wherein the first message comprises the first I/O request and a first protocol overhead; generating a combined message, in response to the aggregate size of the first message and the second I/O request being less than the maximum transmission unit. The combined message comprises the first I/O request, the second I/O request, and the first protocol overhead; and forwarding the combined message to an I/O target.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
receiving a first input/output (I/O) request and a second I/O request from a ring buffer;
receiving an absence of further I/O requests within a pre-determined amount of time from a receipt of the second I/O request;
generating a combined message, in response to an aggregate size of a first message and the second I/O request being less than a maximum transmission unit, wherein the combined message comprises the first message and the second I/O request, wherein the first message comprises the first I/O request and a first protocol overhead; and
forwarding the combined message to an I/O target.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
forwarding the first message to the I/O target, in response to the aggregate size of the first message and the second I/O request being greater than the maximum transmission unit; and
forwarding a second message to the I/O target, the second message comprising the second I/O request and a second protocol overhead.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the absence of further I/O requests within the pre-determined amount of time from the receipt of the second I/O request is indicated by setting a flag.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first protocol overhead comprises a metadata group and a network routing information group.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining whether the first I/O request is a first read request; and
determining whether the second I/O request is a second read request,
wherein the combined message is generated in response to:
the first I/O request being the first read request; and
the second I/O request being the second read request.

6. The method of claim 2 , further comprising:
determining whether the first I/O request is a first write request; and
determining whether the second I/O request is a second write request,
wherein the combined message is forwarded to the I/O target in response to:
the first I/O request being the first write request; or
the second I/O request being the second write request.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the combined message is sent to the I/O target via a TCP.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the combined message is sent to the I/O target via a multipath TCP.

9. A apparatus comprising:
a processor having programmed instructions that, upon execution, cause the processor to:
receive a first I/O request and a second I/O request;
receive an absence of further I/O requests within a pre-determined amount of time from a receipt of the second I/O request;
generate a combined message, in response to an aggregate size of a first message and the second I/O request being less than a maximum transmission unit, wherein the combined message comprises and the second I/O request, wherein the first message comprises the first I/O request and a protocol overhead; and
forward the combined message to an I/O target.

10. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the processor further has programmed instructions that, upon execution, cause the processor to:
forward the first message to the I/O target, in response to the aggregate size of the first message and the second I/O request being greater than the maximum transmission unit; and
forward a second message to the I/O target, the second message comprising the second I/O request and a second protocol overhead.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the absence of further I/O requests within the pre-determined amount of time from the receipt of the second I/O request is indicated by setting a flag.

12. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the first protocol overhead comprises a metadata group and a network routing information group.

13. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the processor further has programmed instructions that, upon execution, cause the processor to:
determine whether the first I/O request is a first read request; and
determine whether the second I/O request is a second read request,
wherein the combined message is generated in response to:
the first I/O request being the first read request; and
the second I/O request being the second read request.

14. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the processor further has programmed instructions that, upon execution, cause the processor to:
determine whether the first I/O request is a first write request; and
determine whether the second I/O request is a second write request,
wherein the first message is forwarded in response to:
the first I/O request being the first write request; or
the second I/O request being the second write request.

15. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the combined message is sent to the I/O target via a TCP.

16. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the combined message is sent to the I/O target via a multipath TCP.

17. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon that, upon execution by a computing device, causes the computing device to perform operations comprising:
receiving a first I/O request and a second I/O request;
receiving an absence of further I/O requests within a pre-determined amount of time from a receipt of the second I/O request;
generating a combined message, in response to an aggregate size of a first message and the second I/O request being less than a maximum transmission unit, wherein the combined message comprises the first message and the second I/O request, wherein the first message comprises the first I/O request and a first protocol overhead; and
forwarding the combined message to an I/O target.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 17 , further comprising:
forwarding the first message to the I/O target, in response to the aggregate size of the first message and the second I/O request being greater than the maximum transmission unit; and
forwarding a second message to the I/O target, the second message comprising the second I/O request and a second protocol overhead.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 17 , wherein the absence of further I/O requests within the pre-determined amount of time from the receipt of the second I/O request is indicated by setting a flag.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 17 , wherein the first protocol overhead comprises a metadata group and a network routing information group.

21. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 17 , further comprising:
determining whether the first I/O request is a first read request; and
determining whether the second I/O request is a second read request,
wherein the combined message is generated in response to:
the first I/O request being the first read request; and
the second I/O request being the second read request.

22. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 17 , further comprising:
determining whether the first I/O request is a first write request; and
determining whether the second I/O request is a second write request,
wherein the combined message is forwarded to the I/O target in response to:
the first I/O request being the first write request; or
the second I/O request being the second write request.

23. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 17 , wherein the combined message is sent to the I/O target via a TCP.

24. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 17 , wherein the combined message is sent to t

Assignees

• Nutanix Inc

Inventors

• Franciosi Felipe
• Crossley Malcolm
• Cui Miao

Classifications

• G06F13/14

  Handling requests for interconnection or transfer · CPC title

• G06F9/45558 Primary

  Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects · CPC title

• G06F2009/45579

  I/O management, e.g. providing access to device drivers or storage · CPC title

• H04L69/04

  Protocols for data compression, e.g. ROHC · CPC title

• H04L67/00

  Network arrangements or protocols for supporting network services or applications (user-to-user messaging H04L51/00; network arrangements, protocols or services for supporting real-time applications in data packet communications networks H04L65/00) · CPC title