Method, device and computer programme product for storage management

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10936499-B2
Application number	US-201916360328-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 21, 2019
Priority date	Apr 28, 2018
Publication date	Mar 2, 2021
Grant date	Mar 2, 2021

Abstract

Techniques perform storage management. Such techniques involve, in response to an operation to be performed on data in a cache page, determining a first cache page reference corresponding to the cache page, the first cache page reference comprising a pointer value indicating the cache page. Such techniques further involve creating, based on the first cache page reference and the operation, a second cache page reference corresponding to the cache page, the second cache page reference comprising the pointer value. Such techniques further involve performing the operation on the data in the cache page via the second cache page reference. One cache page can correspond to a plurality of cache page references. Additionally, copy of data from one cache page to a further cache page can be effectively avoided, so as to enhance input/output performance and utilization rate of storage space.

First claim

We claim:

1. A method for storage management, comprising:
in response to an operation to be performed on data in a cache page, determining a first cache page reference corresponding to the cache page, the first cache page reference comprising a pointer value indicating the cache page;
creating, based on the first cache page reference and the operation, a second cache page reference corresponding to the cache page, the second cache page reference comprising the pointer value; and
performing the operation on the data in the cache page via the second cache page reference.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the first cache page reference corresponding to the cache page comprises:
determining at least one item of the first cache page reference:
an index of a storage device associated with the cache page,
a position on the storage device corresponding to the cache page,
right information of the first cache page reference for accessing the cache page, and
state information of the data.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
in response to a reclaim indication on reclaiming the cache page, determining a number of cache page references corresponding to the cache page; and
in response to the number exceeding a first threshold number, rejecting the reclaim indication, the first threshold number being a finite positive integer.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
in response to a reclaim indication on reclaiming the cache page, determining a number of cache page references corresponding to the cache page; and
in response to the number being equal to a first threshold number, determining right information for accessing the cache page, the first threshold number being a finite positive integer; and
reclaiming the cache page based on the right information for accessing the cache page.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein reclaiming the cache page comprises:
determining right information of a mirrored cache page reference of the first cache page reference for accessing the cache page;
in response to determining the cache page being only accessible by the first cache page reference, reclaiming the cache page.

6. The method of claim 4 , wherein reclaiming the cache page comprises:
in response to determining that the cache page is accessible by the first cache page reference and the second cache page reference, reclaiming the cache page based on the right information of the first cache page reference for accessing the cache page and the right information of a mirrored cache page reference of the first cache page reference for accessing the cache page.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein creating the second cache page reference corresponding to the cache page comprises:
in response that the operation is to store the data to a second position, creating at least one item of the second cache page reference:
an index of a storage device indicated by the second position,
a position on the storage device indicated by the second position,
right information of the second cache page reference for accessing the cache page, and
state information of the data.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
in response to obtaining a flush indication on flushing the data, determining information of write protection of the cache page; and
flushing the data based on the information of write protection.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein flushing the data comprises:
in response to the information of write protection indicating that the cache page is in a non-write protection state, setting the cache page in a write protection state;
flushing the data; and
setting the cache page in a non-write protection state.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
in response to a request to modifying data on the cache page, generating a reply to the request based on a number of cache page references corresponding to the cache page and information indicating access right to the cache page comprised in the cache page, the reply indicating whether the data on the cache page is allowed to be modified.

11. A device for storage management, comprising:
at least one processing unit; and
at least one memory coupled to the at least one processing unit and stored with machine-executable instructions, the instructions, when executed by the at least one processing unit, causing the device to perform actions consisting of:
in response to an operation to be performed on data in a cache page, determining a first cache page reference corresponding to the cache page, the first cache page reference comprising a pointer value indicating the cache page;
creating, based on the first cache page reference and the operation, a second cache page reference corresponding to the cache page, the second cache page reference comprising the pointer value; and
performing the operation on the data in the cache page via the second cache page reference.

12. The device of claim 11 , wherein determining the first cache page reference corresponding to the cache page comprises:
determining at least one item of the first cache page reference:
an index of a storage device associated with the cache page,
a position on the storage device corresponding to the cache page,
right information of the first cache page reference for accessing the cache page, and
state information of the data.

13. The device of claim 11 , wherein the actions further comprise:
in response to a reclaim indication on reclaiming the cache page, determining a number of cache page references corresponding to the cache page; and
in response to the number exceeding a first threshold number, rejecting the reclaim indication, the first threshold number being a finite positive integer.

14. The device of claim 11 , wherein the actions further comprise:
in response to a reclaim indication on reclaiming the cache page, determining a number of cache page references corresponding to the cache page; and
in response to the number being equal to a first threshold number, determining right information for accessing the cache page, the first threshold number being a finite positive integer; and
reclaiming the cache page based on the right information for accessing the cache page.

15. The device of claim 14 , wherein reclaiming the cache page comprises:
determining right information of a mirrored cache page reference of the first cache page reference for accessing the cache page;
in response to determining the cache page being only accessible by the first cache page reference, reclaiming the cache page.

16. The device of claim 14 , wherein reclaiming the cache page comprises:
in response to determining that the cache page is accessible by the first cache page reference and the second cache page reference, reclaiming the cache page based on the right information of the first cache page reference for accessing the cache page and the right information of a mirrored cache page reference of the first cache page reference for accessing the cache page.

17. The device of claim 11 , wherein creating the second cache page reference corresponding to the cache page comprises:
in response that the operation is to store the data to a second position, creating at least one item of the second cache page reference:
an index of a storage device indicated by the second position,
a position on the storage device indicated by the second position,
right information of the second cache page reference for accessing the cache page, and
state information of the data.

18. The device of claim 11 , wh

Assignees

• Emc Ip Holding Co Llc

Inventors

• Jia Ruiyong
• Xu Xinlei
• Yang Lifeng
• Feng Changyu
• Liu Yousheng
• Zhang Xiaobo

Classifications

• G06F11/2089

  Redundant storage control functionality · CPC title

• G06F3/0656

  Data buffering arrangements · CPC title

• G06F12/0815

  Cache consistency protocols · CPC title

• G06F2212/461

  Sector or disk block · CPC title

• G06F2212/1016

  Performance improvement · CPC title