Distributed file system that provides scalability and resiliency

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12367184-B2
Application number	US-202418773483-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 15, 2024
Priority date	Jun 7, 2021
Publication date	Jul 22, 2025
Grant date	Jul 22, 2025

Abstract

In various examples, data storage is managed using a distributed storage management system that is resilient. Data blocks of a logical block device may be distributed across multiple nodes in a cluster. The logical block device may correspond to a file system volume associated with a file system instance deployed on a selected node within a distributed block layer of a distributed file system. Each data block may have a location in the cluster identified by a block identifier associated with each data block. Each data block may be replicated on at least one other node in the cluster. A metadata object corresponding to a logical block device that maps to the file system volume may be replicated on at least another node in the cluster. Each data block and the metadata object may be hosted on virtualized storage that is protected using redundant array independent disks (RAID).

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for providing multi-tier protection within a storage cluster, the method comprising:
hosting a file system volume by a file system instance within a distributed block virtualization layer of a distributed file system, wherein the file system instance is deployed on a first node of a plurality of nodes of the storage cluster,
mitigating node failures within the storage cluster by:
distributing a plurality of data blocks of a logical block device that corresponds to the file system volume across the plurality of nodes via the distributed block virtualization layer, wherein each data block of the plurality of data blocks has a location in the storage cluster identified by a block identifier associated therewith; and
replicating each data block of the plurality of data blocks on N of one or more other nodes of the plurality of nodes, wherein N represents a first replication factor; and

mitigating drive failures at a node level within the storage cluster by replicating a metadata object corresponding to the logical block device on M of one or more other nodes of the plurality of nodes, wherein M represents a second replication factor equal to or different from the first replication factor, wherein each data block of the plurality of data blocks and the metadata object is hosted on redundant array of independent disks (RAID)-protected virtualized storage.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising virtualizing storage of the storage cluster into a group of block stores that are globally accessible by each node of the plurality of nodes by providing the distributed block virtualization layer within the distributed file system of the storage cluster.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
detecting a failed node within the plurality of nodes; and
after detection of the failed node, performing self-healing by syncing replicas of data blocks and metadata objects corresponding to the failed node with a healthy node of the plurality of nodes.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising maintaining resiliency even when scaled by:
detecting addition of a new node to the plurality of nodes; and
after detection of the new node, redistributing the plurality of data blocks across a plurality of node block data stores within the distributed block virtualization layer.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the logical block device comprises a logical unit number (LUN) device.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of nodes comprise virtual machines.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of nodes comprise containers or pods of a container orchestration platform.

8. A distributed storage system including a plurality of nodes that form a storage cluster, the distributed storage system comprising:
one or more processors; and
a machine-readable medium having instructions stored thereon that when executed by the one or more processors, cause the distributed storage system to:
host a file system volume by a file system instance within a distributed block virtualization layer of a distributed file system, wherein the file system instance is deployed on a first node of the plurality of nodes,
mitigate node failures within the storage cluster by:
distributing a plurality of data blocks of a logical block device that corresponds to the file system volume across the plurality of nodes via the distributed block virtualization layer, wherein each data block of the plurality of data blocks has a location in the storage cluster identified by a block identifier associated therewith; and
replicating each data block of the plurality of data blocks on N of one or more other nodes of the plurality of nodes, wherein N represents a first replication factor; and

mitigate drive failures at a node level within the storage cluster by replicating a metadata object corresponding to the logical block device on M of one or more other nodes of the plurality of nodes, wherein M represents a second replication factor equal to or different from the first replication factor, wherein each data block of the plurality of data blocks and the metadata object is hosted on redundant array of independent disks (RAID)-protected virtualized storage.

9. The distributed storage system of claim 8 , wherein the instructions further cause the distributed storage system to virtualize storage of the storage cluster into a group of block stores that are globally accessible by each node of the plurality of nodes by providing the distributed block virtualization layer within the distributed file system of the storage cluster.

10. The distributed storage system of claim 8 , wherein the instructions further cause the distributed storage system to:
detect a failed node within the plurality of nodes; and
after detecting the failed node, perform self-healing by syncing replicas of data blocks and metadata objects corresponding to the failed node with a healthy node of the plurality of nodes.

11. The distributed storage system of claim 8 , wherein the instructions further cause the distributed storage system to maintain resiliency even when scaled by:
detecting addition of a new node to the plurality of nodes; and
after detection of the new node, redistributing the plurality of data blocks across a plurality of node block data stores within the distributed block virtualization layer.

12. The distributed storage system of claim 8 , wherein the logical block device comprises a logical unit number (LUN) device.

13. The distributed storage system of claim 8 , wherein the plurality of nodes comprise virtual machines.

14. The distributed storage system of claim 7 , wherein the plurality of nodes comprise containers or pods of a container orchestration platform.

15. A non-transitory machine readable medium storing instructions, which when executed by one or more processors of a distributed storage system including a plurality of nodes that form a storage cluster, cause the distributed storage system to:
host a file system volume by a file system instance within a distributed block virtualization layer of a distributed file system, wherein the file system instance is deployed on a first node of the plurality of nodes,
mitigate node failures within the storage cluster by:
distributing a plurality of data blocks of a logical block device that corresponds to the file system volume across the plurality of nodes via the distributed block virtualization layer, wherein each data block of the plurality of data blocks has a location in the storage cluster identified by a block identifier associated therewith; and
replicating each data block of the plurality of data blocks on N of one or more other nodes of the plurality of nodes, wherein N represents a first replication factor; and

mitigate drive failures at a node level within the storage cluster by replicating a metadata object corresponding to the logical block device on M of one or more other nodes of the plurality of nodes, wherein M represents a second replication factor equal to or different from the first replication factor, wherein each data block of the plurality of data blocks and the metadata object is hosted on redundant array of independent disks (RAID)-protected virtualized storage.

16. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the instructions further cause the distributed storage system to virtualize storage of the storage cluster into a group of block stores that are globally accessible by each node of the plurality of nodes by providing the distributed block virtualization layer within the distributed file system

Assignees

• Netapp Inc

Inventors

• Dronamraju Ravikanth
• Subramanian Ananthan
• Mccarthy Daniel
• Cason Christopher
• Banerjee Arindam

Classifications

• G06F16/182

  Distributed file systems · CPC title

• G06F9/5077

  Logical partitioning of resources; Management or configuration of virtualized resources (specific details on emulation or internal functioning of virtual machines G06F9/455) · CPC title

• G06F11/2023

  Failover techniques · CPC title

• G06F11/1662

  the resynchronized component or unit being a persistent storage device (re-synchronization of failed mirror storage G06F11/2082; rebuild or reconstruction of parity RAID storage G06F11/1008) · CPC title

• G06F11/0751

  Error or fault detection not based on redundancy (power supply failures G06F1/30; network fault management H04L41/06) · CPC title