Data compression for having one direct connection between host and port of storage system via internal fabric interface

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11294570-B2
Application number	US-202016742955-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 15, 2020
Priority date	Jan 15, 2020
Publication date	Apr 5, 2022
Grant date	Apr 5, 2022

Abstract

Data compression is performed on a storage system for which one or more host systems have direct access to data on the storage system. The storage system may compress the data for one or more logical storage units (LSUs) having data stored thereon, and may update compression metadata associated with the LSUs and/or the data portions thereof to reflect that the data is compressed. In response to a read request for a data portion received from a host application executing on the host system, compression metadata for the data portion may be accessed. If it is determined from the compression metadata that the data portion is compressed, the data compression metadata for the data portion may be further analyzed to determine how to decompress the data portion. The data portion may be retrieved and decompressed, and the decompressed data may be returned to the requesting application.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of executing a read operation comprising:
on a host system, receiving a read request from an application executing on the host system, the read request specifying a read operation to perform on a data portion stored on the storage system;
the host system accessing compression metadata corresponding to the data portion;
the host system reading a compressed version of the data portion from the storage system; and
the host system decompressing the compressed version to produce an uncompressed version of the data portion, and wherein the host system and the storage system are separate physical systems, wherein the host system includes a storage system interface that is directly connected, over at least one direct connection from a port of the storage system interface, to an internal fabric of the storage system, and wherein the host system reads the compressed version of the data portion directly from the storage system over the one direct connection between the storage system interface of the host system and the internal fabric of the storage system.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
the host system determining whether the data portion is compressed from the compression metadata.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the storage system sets a flag within the compression metadata for the data portion indicating that the data portion is stored on the storage system in compressed form.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
the host system determining a location of the data portion on the storage system by sending a metadata read instruction to the storage system.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the metadata read instruction is sent, over the one direct connection and the internal fabric, from the host system to a global memory of the storage system independent of any director of the storage system.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the host system accesses the compression metadata by sending a metadata read instruction, over the one direct connection and the internal fabric, to a global memory of the storage system independent of any director of the storage system.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the host system reads the compressed version of the data portion by sending a data read instruction, over the one direct connection and the internal fabric, to a global memory or a physical storage device of the storage system independent of any director of the storage system.

8. A system comprising:
one or more processors; and
a memory comprising code thereon that, when executed, performs a method of executing a read operation including:
on a host system, receiving a read request from an application executing on the host system, the read request specifying a read operation to perform on a data portion stored on the storage system;
the host system accessing compression metadata corresponding to the data portion;
the host system reading a compressed version of the data portion from the storage system; and
the host system decompressing the compressed version to produce an uncompressed version of the data portion, and wherein the host system and the storage system are separate physical systems, wherein the host system includes a storage system interface that is directly connected, over at least one direct connection from a port of the storage system interface, to an internal fabric of the storage system, and wherein the host system reads the compressed version of the data portion directly from the storage system over the one direct connection between the storage system interface of the host system and the internal fabric of the storage system.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the method further comprises:
the host system determining whether the data portion is compressed from the compression metadata.

10. The system of claim 8 , wherein the storage system sets a flag within the compression metadata for the data portion indicating that the data portion is stored on the storage system in compressed form.

11. The system of claim 8 , wherein the method further comprises:
the host system determining a location of the data portion on the storage system by sending a metadata read instruction to the storage system.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the metadata read instruction is sent, over the one direct connection and the internal fabric, from the host system to a global memory of the storage system independent of any director of the storage system.

13. The system of claim 8 , wherein the host system accesses the compression metadata by sending a metadata read instruction, over the one direct connection and the internal fabric, to a global memory of the storage system independent of any director of the storage system.

14. The system of claim 8 , wherein the host system reads the compressed version of the data portion by sending a data read instruction, over the one direct connection and the internal fabric, to a global memory or a physical storage device of the storage system independent of any director of the storage system.

15. Computer-readable media having software stored thereon defining a method of executing a read operation, the software comprising:
executable code that controls a host system to receive a read request from an application executing on the host system, the read request specifying a read operation to perform on a data portion stored on the storage system;
executable code that controls a host system to access compression metadata corresponding to the data portion;
executable code that controls a host system to read a compressed version of the data portion from the storage system; and
executable code that controls a host system to decompress the compressed version to produce an uncompressed version of the data portion, and wherein the host system and the storage system are separate physical systems, wherein the host system includes a storage system interface that is directly connected, over at least one direct connection from a port of the storage system interface, to an internal fabric of the storage system, and wherein the host system reads the compressed version of the data portion directly from the storage system over the one direct connection between the storage system interface of the host system and the internal fabric of the storage system.

16. The computer-readable media of claim 15 , wherein the software further comprises: executable code that controls the host system to determine whether the data portion is compressed from the compression metadata.

17. The computer-readable media of claim 15 , wherein the storage system sets a flag within the compression metadata for the data portion indicating that the data portion is stored on the storage system in compressed form.

18. The computer-readable media of claim 15 , wherein the software further comprises:
executable code that controls the host system to determine a location of the data portion on the storage system by sending a metadata read instruction to the storage system.

19. The computer-readable media of claim 18 , wherein the metadata read instruction is sent, over the one direct connection and the internal fabric, from the host system to a global memory of the storage system independent of any director of the storage system.

20. The computer-readable media of claim 15 , wherein the host system accesses the compression metadata by sending a metadata read instruction, over the one direct connection and the internal fabric, to a global memory of the storage system independent of

Assignees

• Emc Ip Holding Co Llc

Inventors

• Wigmore Ian
• Benhanokh Gabriel
• Don Arieh
• Tringale Alesia A

Classifications

• G06F9/544

  Buffers; Shared memory; Pipes · CPC title

• G06F3/067 Primary

  Distributed or networked storage systems, e.g. storage area networks [SAN], network attached storage [NAS] · CPC title

• G06F3/0659

  Command handling arrangements, e.g. command buffers, queues, command scheduling · CPC title

• G06F3/0608 Primary

  Saving storage space on storage systems · CPC title

• G06F3/0638

  Organizing or formatting or addressing of data · CPC title