Monitoring of storage units in a dispersed storage network

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2018316569-A1
Application number	US-201816029898-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jul 9, 2018
Priority date	Apr 2, 2014
Publication date	Nov 1, 2018
Grant date	—

Abstract

A method for distributed monitoring of storage units of a dispersed storage network (DSN) including a plurality of sets of storage units. A managing unit of the DSN obtains configuration information relating to the DSN storage resources and selects a target storage unit to be monitored. The managing unit also determines a number of other storage units to be used in monitoring the target storage unit. Selection of the monitoring storage units includes determining, for each of a plurality of storage units of the DSN, an estimated failure correlation level with the target storage unit. Based at least in part on this information, the determined number of storage units are selected and assigned to monitor the target storage unit. The managing unit subsequently receives status information, relating to the target storage unit, from the monitoring storage units.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method for execution by one or more processing modules of one or more computing devices of a dispersed storage network (DSN), the DSN having storage resources including a plurality of sets of storage units, the method comprises:
obtaining DSN configuration information relating to the storage resources; selecting a target storage unit for monitoring; determining a number of monitoring storage units to monitor the target storage unit; for each of a plurality of storage units, determining an estimated failure correlation level with the target storage unit; selecting monitoring storage units based, at least in part, on the estimated failure correlation levels and the number of monitoring storage units; and assigning the monitoring storage units to monitor the target storage unit.

2 . The method of claim 1 further comprises:
receiving, from at least one of the monitoring storage units, unit status information that includes monitoring results relating to the target storage unit.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the DSN configuration information includes at least one of:
site location information relating to storage units of the plurality of sets of storage units; power source information; network configuration information; an indication of the number of sets of storage units; a mapping of storage units to the plurality of sets of storage units; a rebuilding capability level of one or more storage units; a foster encoded data slice storage capability level of one or more storage units; storage capacity level information relating to one or more storage units; or storage utilization level information relating to one or more storage units.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein obtaining the DSN configuration information includes at least one of:
performing a lookup operation; accessing at least a portion of DSN registry information; receiving the DSN configuration information from a differing computing device of the DSN; or initiating a query and receiving a query response.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein selecting a target storage unit for monitoring includes at least one of:
identifying a next storage unit from a list of storage units to be monitored; detecting a new storage unit; determining that a storage unit is not being monitored; determining that a timeframe has elapsed since a previous monitoring of a storage unit; interpreting an error message associated with a storage unit; or receiving a request from a storage unit.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein determining a number of monitoring storage units to monitor the target storage unit is based on at least one of:
a DSN activity level; an expected failure rate level of storage units of the plurality sets of storage units; a monitoring table maintained by the DSN; or a predetermination.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein determining an estimated failure correlation level is based, at least in part, on the DSN configuration information.

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein selecting monitoring storage units includes:
ranking the storage units of the plurality of storage units based on the estimated failure correlation levels; and selecting the number of storage units associated with a least amount of failure correlation as the selected monitoring storage units.

9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein assigning the monitoring storage units includes issuing storage unit status information to the selected monitoring storage units, wherein the storage unit status information includes a monitoring assignment request relating to the target storage unit.

10 . The method of claim 9 , wherein the monitoring assignment request includes at least one of:
an identifier of the target storage unit; identifiers of the monitoring storage units; a frequency of reporting schedule; or a threshold for reporting status information.

11 . The method of claim 9 , wherein the monitoring assignment request includes a type of monitoring indicator indicating one or more types of monitoring, the one or more types of monitoring including at least one of:
sending a periodic ping to the target storage unit and receiving a ping response from the target storage unit; sending data to the target storage unit and receiving a response from the target storage unit; exchanging security information with the target storage unit; obtaining performance information from the target storage unit; or initiating a test involving the target storage unit and analyzing responsive test results.

12 . A computing device of a group of computing devices of a dispersed storage network (DSN), the DSN having storage resources including a plurality of sets of storage units, the computing device comprises:
a network interface; a local memory; and a processing module operably coupled to the network interface and the local memory, wherein the processing module operates to:
obtain, via the network interface, DSN configuration information relating to the storage resources;
select a target storage unit for monitoring;
determine a number of monitoring storage units to monitor the target storage unit;
for each of a plurality of storage units, determine an estimated failure correlation level with the target storage unit;
select monitoring storage units based, at least in part, on the estimated failure correlation levels and the number of monitoring storage units; and
assign, via the network interface, the monitoring storage units to monitor the target storage unit.

13 . The computing device of claim 12 , wherein the processing module further operates to:
receive, from at least one of the monitoring storage units via the network interface, unit status information that includes monitoring results relating to the target storage unit.

14 . The computing device of claim 12 , wherein the DSN configuration information includes at least one of:
site location information relating to storage units of the plurality of sets of storage units; power source information; network configuration information; an indication of the number of sets of storage units; a mapping of storage units to the plurality of sets of storage units; a rebuilding capability level of one or more storage units; a foster encoded data slice storage capability level of one or more storage units; storage capacity level information relating to one or more storage units; or storage utilization level information relating to one or more storage units.

15 . The computing device of claim 12 , wherein obtaining the DSN configuration information includes at least one of:
performing a lookup operation; accessing at least a portion of DSN registry information; receiving the DSN configuration information from a differing computing device of the DSN; or initiating a query and receiving a query response.

16 . The computing device of claim 12 , wherein selecting a target storage unit for monitoring includes at least one of:
identifying a next storage unit from a list of storage units to be monitored; detecting a new storage unit; determining that a storage unit is not being monitored; determining that a timeframe has elapsed since a previous monitoring of a storage unit; interpreting an error message associated with a storage; or receiving a request from a storage unit.

17 . The computing device of claim 12 , wherein determining a number of monitoring storage units to monitor the target storage unit is based on at least one of:
a DSN activity level; an expected failure r

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Cilfone Bart R
• Resch Jason K
• Motwani Manish
• Leggette Wesley B

Classifications

• H04L43/0817

  by checking functioning · CPC title

• H04L41/0806

  for initial configuration or provisioning, e.g. plug-and-play · CPC title

• H04L43/10

  Active monitoring, e.g. heartbeat, ping or trace-route · CPC title

• H04L41/06

  Management of faults, events, alarms or notifications · CPC title

• H04L41/14 Primary

  Network analysis or design · CPC title