Constructing virtual storage systems from a variety of components

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12591397-B2
Application number	US-202418821618-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 30, 2024
Priority date	Jul 18, 2019
Publication date	Mar 31, 2026
Grant date	Mar 31, 2026

Abstract

Replication between virtual storage systems includes: constructing a virtual storage system in which the one or more virtual storage devices are coupled to each of one or more virtual storage controllers and replicating a dataset from the virtual storage system to another virtual storage system, where at least one of the virtual storage systems is an on-premises virtual storage system utilizing on-premises physical storage resources.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method comprising:
instantiating one or more virtual storage controllers, wherein the one or more virtual storage controllers are coupled to different components in different virtual storage systems including on-premises virtual storage systems utilizing on-premises physical storage resources and cloud-based virtual storage systems that are created using services offered within a cloud platform environment; and constructing at least one storage system using the one or more virtual storage controllers.

2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
constructing one or more of the different virtual storage systems with virtual drive servers that are implemented using compute instances, wherein the compute instances include cloud-computing instances.

3 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
instantiating the one or more virtual storage controllers as containerized storage controller applications.

4 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
constructing the cloud-based virtual storage systems using resources provided by one or more cloud computing environments; and processing, by the one or more virtual storage controllers, one or more I/O operations using the cloud-based virtual storage systems constructed using the resources provided by the one or more cloud computing environments.

5 . The method of claim 4 , wherein the one or more virtual storage controllers are implemented in respective cloud computing instances of a cloud platform; and wherein one or more virtual storage devices are implemented in respective cloud computing instances of the cloud platform.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the different virtual storage systems include an on-premises virtual storage system created in a virtual environment supported by on-premises physical storage resources.

7 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
migrating a dataset from a virtual storage system to another virtual storage system, wherein at least one of the virtual storage systems is an on-premises virtual storage system utilizing on-premises physical storage resources.

8 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
migrating a dataset from an on-premises virtual storage system to a native environment executing on a physical storage system.

9 . The method of claim 1 further comprising:
instantiating the one or more virtual storage controllers; and
instantiating one or more virtual storage devices each including multiple storage tiers.

10 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
migrating a dataset from an on-premises virtual storage system to a native environment executing on a physical storage system.

11 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
for a virtual storage system of the different virtual storage systems, exposing a first set of interfaces to a first role for the virtual storage system, wherein the first set of interfaces configure a physical environment hosting the virtual storage system; and exposing a second set of interfaces to a second role for the virtual storage system, wherein the second set of interfaces configure virtual components in the virtual storage system.

12 . An apparatus comprising:
a memory; a processing device operably coupled to the memory, configured to:
instantiate one or more virtual storage controllers, wherein the one or more virtual storage controllers are coupled to different components in different virtual storage systems including on-premises virtual storage systems utilizing on-premises physical storage resources and cloud-based virtual storage systems that are created using services offered within a cloud platform environment; and
construct at least one storage system using the one or more virtual storage controllers.

13 . The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the processing device is further configured to:
construct one or more of the different virtual storage systems with virtual drive servers that are implemented using compute instances, wherein the compute instances include cloud-computing instances.

14 . The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the processing device is further configured to:
instant the one or more virtual storage controllers as containerized storage controller applications.

15 . The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the processing device is further configured to:
construct the cloud-based virtual storage systems using resources provided by one or more cloud computing environments; and process, by the virtual storage controllers, one or more I/O operations using the cloud-based virtual storage systems constructed using the resources provided by the one or more cloud computing environments.

16 . The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the processing device is further configured to:
replicate a dataset from an on-premises virtual storage system to a native environment executing on a physical storage system.

17 . The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the processing device is further configured to:
for a virtual storage system of the different virtual storage systems, expose a first set of interfaces to a first role for the virtual storage system, wherein the first set of interfaces configure a physical environment hosting the virtual storage system; and expose a second set of interfaces to a second role for the virtual storage system, wherein the second set of interfaces configure virtual components in the virtual storage system.

18 . A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing instructions that:
instantiate one or more virtual storage controllers, wherein the one or more virtual storage controllers are coupled to different components in different virtual storage systems including on-premises virtual storage systems utilizing on-premises physical storage resources and cloud-based virtual storage systems that are created using services offered within a cloud platform environment; and construct at least one storage system using the one or more virtual storage controllers.

19 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 18 , wherein the processing device is further configured to:
construct one or more of the different virtual storage systems with virtual drive servers that are implemented using compute instances, wherein the compute instances include cloud-computing instances.

20 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 18 , wherein the processing device is further configured to:
instantiate the one or more virtual storage controllers as containerized storage controller applications.

Assignees

• Pure Storage Inc

Inventors

• Karr Ronald
• Botes Par

Classifications

• G06F3/0607

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

• G06F3/0683

  Plurality of storage devices · CPC title

• G06F3/0658

  Controller construction arrangements · CPC title

• G06F3/0647

  Migration mechanisms · CPC title

• G06F3/0632

  by initialisation or re-initialisation of storage systems · CPC title