System and method for providing on-demand high-availability service on a storage cluster

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12393374-B2
Application number	US-202318464820-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 11, 2023
Priority date	Sep 11, 2023
Publication date	Aug 19, 2025
Grant date	Aug 19, 2025

Abstract

A method, computer program product, and computing system for providing on-demand high-availability service on a storage cluster. A new single-node appliance is added to the storage cluster, the storage cluster includes one or more original single-node appliances and an internal remote system configured to facilitate intra-cluster orchestration operation. A remote system object representing the new single-node appliance is generated in the internal remote system. An appliance identifier for the remote system object representing the new single-node appliance is determined. In response to determining that the appliance identifier is a non-zero appliance identifier, an internal remote session between the remote system object and the storage cluster is established. The one or more original single-node appliances and the new single-node appliance are presented as a unified system. Protected storage volumes are provisioned on any of the single-node appliances included in the unified system.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer-implemented method for providing on-demand high-availability service on a storage cluster, comprising:
adding a new single-node appliance to the storage cluster, wherein the storage cluster includes one or more original single-node appliances and an internal remote system configured to facilitate intra-cluster orchestration operations;
generating a remote system object representing the new single-node appliance in the internal remote system;
determining an appliance identifier for the remote system object representing the new single-node appliance;
in response to determining that the appliance identifier for the remote system object representing the new single-node appliance is a non-zero appliance identifier, establishing an internal remote session between the remote system object and the storage cluster;
presenting the one or more original single-node appliances and the new single-node appliance as a unified system; and
provisioning one or more protected storage volumes on any of the single-node appliances included in the unified system, wherein provisioning the one or more protected volumes includes identifying the internal remote session with a matching non-zero appliance identifier.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein provisioning the one or more protected volumes includes selecting a destination appliance to at least partially replicate data onto.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein provisioning the one or more protected volumes includes automatically establishing the internal remote session between single-node appliances in the unified system for a protected volume from the one or more protected volumes.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising:
removing a selected single-node appliance from the storage cluster.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 4 , wherein removing the selected single-node appliance from the storage cluster includes excluding the selected single-node appliance from a list of possible destinations, such that no new protected volumes can be created thereon.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 5 , wherein removing the selected single-node appliance from the storage cluster includes locating and terminating any internal remote sessions to the selected single-node appliance.

7. A computer program product residing on a non-transitory computer- readable medium having a plurality of instructions stored thereon which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:
adding a new single-node appliance to the storage cluster, wherein the storage cluster includes one or more original single-node appliances and an internal remote system configured to facilitate intra-cluster orchestration operations;
generating a remote system object representing the new single-node appliance in the internal remote system;
determining an appliance identifier for the remote system object representing the new single-node appliance;
in response to determining that the appliance identifier for the remote system object representing the new single-node appliance is a non-zero appliance identifier, establishing an internal remote session between the remote system object and the storage cluster;
presenting the one or more original single-node appliances and the new single-node appliance as a unified system; and
provisioning one or more protected storage volumes on any of the single-node appliances included in the unified system, wherein provisioning the one or more protected volumes includes identifying the internal remote session with a matching non-zero appliance identifier.

8. The computer program product of claim 7 , wherein provisioning the one or more protected volumes includes selecting a destination appliance to at least partially replicate data onto.

9. The computer program product of claim 7 , wherein provisioning the one or more protected volumes includes automatically establishing the internal remote session between single-node appliances in the unified system for a protected volume from the one or more protected volumes.

10. The computer program product of claim 7 , wherein operations further comprise:
removing a selected single-node appliance from the storage cluster.

11. The computer program product of claim 10 , wherein removing the selected single-node appliance from the storage cluster includes excluding the selected single-node appliance from a list of possible destinations, such that no new protected volumes can be created thereon.

12. The computer program product of claim 11 , wherein removing the selected single-node appliance from the storage cluster includes locating and terminating any internal remote sessions to the selected single-node appliance.

13. A computing system for providing on-demand high-availability service on a storage cluster, comprising:
a memory; and
a processor configured to:
add a new single-node appliance to the storage cluster, wherein the storage cluster includes one or more original single-node appliances and an internal remote system configured to facilitate intra-cluster orchestration operations;
generate a remote system object representing the new single-node appliance in the internal remote system;
determine an appliance identifier for the remote system object representing the new single-node appliance;
in response to determining that the appliance identifier for the remote system object representing the new single-node appliance is a non-zero appliance identifier, establish an internal remote session between the remote system object and the storage cluster;
present the one or more original single-node appliances and the new single-node appliance as a unified system; and
provision one or more protected storage volumes on any of the single-node appliances included in the unified system, wherein provisioning the one or more protected volumes includes identifying the internal remote session with a matching non-zero appliance identifier.

14. The computing system of claim 13 , wherein provisioning the one or more protected volumes includes selecting a destination appliance to at least partially replicate data onto.

15. The computing system of claim 13 , wherein provisioning the one or more protected volumes includes automatically establishing the internal remote session between single-node appliances in the unified system for a protected volume from the one or more protected volumes.

16. The computing system of claim 13 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
remove a selected single-node appliance from the storage cluster.

17. The computing system of claim 16 , wherein removing the selected single-node appliance from the storage cluster includes excluding the selected single-node appliance from a list of possible destinations, such that no new protected volumes can be created thereon.

Assignees

• Dell Products Lp

Inventors

• Krivenok Dmitry
• Harduf Yuval
• Alkalay Amitai

Classifications

• G06F3/0655

  Vertical data movement, i.e. input-output transfer; data movement between one or more hosts and one or more storage devices · CPC title

• G06F3/0604

  Improving or facilitating administration, e.g. storage management · CPC title

• G06F3/065

  Replication mechanisms · CPC title

• G06F3/067 Primary

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