Method for managing storage devices, electronic device and computer-readable medium

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11157172-B2
Application number	US-202016836362-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 31, 2020
Priority date	Apr 24, 2019
Publication date	Oct 26, 2021
Grant date	Oct 26, 2021

Abstract

Techniques for managing storage devices involve: combining storage devices in a redundant array of independent disks (RAID) into a group of devices in an order of physical storage capacities; determining a first number of device sets based on a number of devices in the group and a threshold number of devices to be divided into each set, the number of the devices being greater than the threshold number; selecting at least one capacity promotion set from the group, each capacity promotion set including a second number of devices having a same physical capacity, the second number being equal to a sum of a width of the RAID and a number of devices in each set that is reserved; and forming the first number of sets by combining each of capacity promotion set and devices in the group other than each capacity promotion set.

First claim

We claim:

1. A method of managing storage devices, comprising:
combining storage devices in a redundant array of independent disks into a group of storage devices in an order of physical capacities of the storage devices;
determining a first number of sets of storage devices based on a number of the storage devices in the group and a threshold number of storage devices to be divided into each of the sets, the number of the storage devices being greater than the threshold number;
selecting at least one capacity promotion set from the group of storage devices, each of the at least one capacity promotion set comprising a second number of storage devices having a same physical capacity, the second number being equal to a sum of a width of the redundant array of independent disks and a number of storage devices in each of the sets that are reserved; and
forming the first number of sets by combining each of the at least one capacity promotion set and other storage devices in the group of storage devices than the at least one capacity promotion set;

wherein forming the first number of sets comprises:
forming a plurality of groups of candidate sets by combining each of the at least one capacity promotion set with the other storage devices in the group of storage devices than the at least one capacity promotion set, each of the groups of candidate sets comprising the first number of candidate sets;
determining an effective capacity of each of the groups of candidate sets; and
determining one of the plurality of groups of candidate sets that has a maximum effective capacity as the first number of sets.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining one of the plurality of groups of candidate sets that has a maximum effective capacity as the first number of sets comprises:
in response to determining that a first group of candidate sets and a second group of candidate sets in the plurality of groups of candidate sets both have the maximum effective capacity, selecting a first set having a maximum effective capacity from the first group of candidate sets and a second set having a maximum effective capacity from the second group of candidate sets; and
in response to an effective capacity of the first set being greater than an effective capacity of the second set, determining the first group of candidate sets as the first number of the sets.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the group of storage devices at least comprises a first subgroup of storage devices having a first physical capacity and a second subgroup of storage devices having a second physical capacity, the first physical capacity being different from the second physical capacity; and
selecting the at least one capacity promotion set from the group of storage devices comprises: for each of the first subgroup of storage devices and the second subgroup of storage devices,
in response to a number of storage devices in a respective subgroup of storage devices being above the second number, selecting the second number of storage devices from the respective subgroup of storage devices as one of the at least one capacity promotion set.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining one of the plurality of groups of candidate sets that has the maximum effective capacity as the first number of sets includes:
using a first storage device dividing option over a second storage device dividing option in response to evaluating the first storage device dividing option and the second storage device dividing option, the first storage device dividing option including a first redundant array of independent disks (RAID) resiliency set (RRS) and a second RRS, the second storage device dividing option including a third RRS and a fourth RRS, and the first RRS having a greatest effective capacity among the second RRS, the third RRS, and the fourth RRS.

5. A method of managing storage devices, comprising:
combining storage devices in a redundant array of independent disks into a group of storage devices in an order of physical capacities of the storage devices;
determining a first number of sets of storage devices based on a number of the storage devices in the group and a threshold number of storage devices to be divided into each of the sets, the number of the storage devices being greater than the threshold number;
selecting at least one capacity promotion set from the group of storage devices, each of the at least one capacity promotion set comprising a second number of storage devices having a same physical capacity, the second number being equal to a sum of a width of the redundant array of independent disks and a number of storage devices in each of the sets that are reserved; and
forming the first number of sets by combining each of the at least one capacity promotion set and other storage devices in the group of storage devices than the at least one capacity promotion set;

wherein:
the group of storage devices at least comprises a first subgroup of storage devices having a first physical capacity and a second subgroup of storage devices having a second physical capacity, the first physical capacity being different from the second physical capacity; and
selecting the at least one capacity promotion set from the group of storage devices comprises: for each of the first subgroup of storage devices and the second subgroup of storage devices,
in response to a number of storage devices in a respective subgroup of storage devices being above the second number, selecting the second number of storage devices from the respective subgroup of storage devices as one of the at least one capacity promotion set.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein combining storage devices in the redundant array of independent disks into the group of storage devices in the order of physical capacities of the storage devices comprises:
combining the storage devices in the redundant array of independent disks into the group of storage devices in a descending order of the physical capacities of the storage devices.

7. An electronic device, comprising:
at least one processor; and
a memory coupled to the processor, the memory storing computer programs which, when executed by the processor, cause the electronic device to perform acts comprising:
combining storage devices in a redundant array of independent disks into a group of storage devices in an order of physical capacities of the storage devices;
determining a first number of sets of storage devices based on a number of the storage devices in the group and a threshold number of storage devices to be divided into each of the sets, the number of the storage devices being greater than the threshold number;
selecting at least one capacity promotion set from the group of storage devices, each of the at least one capacity promotion set comprising a second number of storage devices having a same physical capacity, the second number being equal to a sum of a width of the redundant array of independent disks and a number of storage devices in each of the sets that are reserved; and
forming the first number of sets by combining each of the at least one capacity promotion set and other storage devices in the group of storage devices than the at least one capacity promotion set;

wherein forming the first number of sets comprises:
forming a plurality of groups of candidate sets by combining each of the at least one capacity promotion set with the other storage devices in the group of storage devices than the at least one capacity promotion set, each of the groups of candidate sets comprising the first number of candidate sets;
determining an effective capacity of each of the groups of candidate sets; and
determining one of the plurality of groups of candidate sets that has a maximum ef

Assignees

• Emc Ip Holding Co Llc

Inventors

• Tang Haiying
• Han Geng
• Yang Lifeng

Classifications

• G06F11/1076

  Parity data used in redundant arrays of independent storages, e.g. in RAID systems · CPC title

• G06F12/0646

  Configuration or reconfiguration · CPC title

• G06F3/0689 Primary

  Disk arrays, e.g. RAID, JBOD · CPC title

• G06F3/0631

  by allocating resources to storage systems · CPC title

• G06F3/0607 Primary

  by facilitating the process of upgrading existing storage systems, e.g. for improving compatibility between host and storage device · CPC title