Allocation and balancing of storage resources

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2020097184-A1
Application number	US-201916695627-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Nov 26, 2019
Priority date	Feb 3, 2012
Publication date	Mar 26, 2020
Grant date	—

Abstract

A method and technique for allocation and balancing of storage resources includes monitoring, for each of a plurality of storage controllers, an input/output (I/O) latency value based on an I/O latency associated with each storage volume controlled by a respective storage controller. An I/O latency value threshold is determined. Responsive to a change to the I/O latency value exceeding a threshold, storage volume distribution among the storage controllers is rebalanced.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method, comprising:
determining an average storage volume input/output (I/O) latency for each of a plurality of storage volumes; calculating an I/O latency value for each of a plurality of storage controllers based on the average storage volume I/O latency of each storage volume controlled by the respective storage controller; monitoring, for each of the plurality of storage controllers, the respective I/O latency value; determining an I/O latency value threshold; and responsive to a change in the I/O latency value exceeding the I/O latency value threshold, rebalancing storage volume distribution among the storage controllers.

2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising weighting each storage volume based on a quantity of data being processed by the respective storage volume.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein calculating the I/O latency value for each storage controller includes calculating an average I/O latency value for each storage controller.

4 . The method of claim 3 , wherein calculating the average I/O latency for each storage controller comprises:
calculating a weighted average I/O latency value for each storage volume controlled by a respective storage controller; summing the weighted I/O latency values of the storage volumes controlled by the respective storage controller; and dividing the summed I/O latency values by a quantity of the storage volumes controlled by the respective storage controller.

5 . The method of claim 4 , wherein calculating the weighted average I/O latency value for each storage volume comprises calculating the weighted average I/O latency value based on weighting write I/O operations greater than read I/O operations.

6 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining a type of application utilizing one or more of the storage volumes; determining a priority level of the application; and rebalancing the storage volume distribution among the storage controllers based on the type of the application and the priority level of the application.

7 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
analyzing the I/O latency value; determining whether moving one or more storage volumes will lower the I/O latency value; and responsive to determining that moving one or more storage volumes will lower the I/O latency value, migrating at least one storage volume from one storage controller to another storage controller.

8 . A system, comprising:
a plurality of storage controllers each controlling one or more storage volumes; and a processor unit operable to execute a management application, the management application configured to:
determine an average storage volume input/output (I/O) latency for each of the one or more storage volumes;
calculate an I/O latency value for each of the plurality of storage controllers based on the average storage volume I/O latency of each storage volume controlled by the respective storage controller;
monitor, for each of the plurality of storage controllers, the respective I/O latency value;
determine an I/O latency value threshold; and
responsive to a change in the I/O latency value exceeding the I/O latency value threshold, rebalance storage volume distribution among the storage controllers.

9 . The system of claim 8 , wherein the management application is configured to weight each storage volume based on a quantity of data being processed by the respective storage volume.

10 . The system of claim 8 , wherein the management application is configured to calculate an average I/O latency value for each storage controller.

11 . The system of claim 10 , wherein the management application is configured to calculate the average I/O latency for each storage controller by:
calculating a weighted average I/O latency value for each storage volume controlled by a respective storage controller; summing the weighted I/O latency values of the storage volumes controlled by the respective storage controller; and dividing the summed I/O latency values by a quantity of the storage volumes controlled by the respective storage controller.

12 . The system of claim 8 , wherein the I/O latency value for each storage controller includes a weighted average I/O latency value, wherein the weighting is based on a rate of I/O operations.

13 . The system of claim 8 , wherein the management application is configured to:
determine a type of application utilizing one or more of the storage volumes; determine a priority level of the application; and rebalance the storage volume distribution among the storage controllers based on the type of the application and the priority level of the application.

14 . The system of claim 8 , wherein the management application is configured to:
analyze the I/O latency value; determine whether moving one or more storage volumes will lower the I/O latency value; and responsive to determining that moving one or more storage volumes will lower the I/O latency value, migrate at least one storage volume from one storage controller to another storage controller.

15 . A computer program product for storage management, the computer program product comprising:
a non-transitory computer readable medium having computer readable program code embodied therewith, the computer readable program code comprising computer readable program code configured to:
determine an average storage volume input/output (I/O) latency for each of a plurality of storage volumes;
calculate an I/O latency value for each of a plurality of storage controllers based on the average storage volume I/O latency of each storage volume controlled by the respective storage controller;
monitor, for each of the plurality of storage controllers the respective I/O latency value;
determine an I/O latency value threshold; and
responsive to a change in the I/O latency value exceeding the I/O latency value threshold, rebalance storage volume distribution among the storage controllers.

16 . The computer program product of claim 15 , wherein the computer readable program code is configured to weight each storage volume based on a quantity of data being processed by the respective storage volume.

17 . The computer program product of claim 15 , wherein the computer readable program code is configured to calculate an average I/O latency value for each storage controller.

18 . The computer program product of claim 17 , wherein the computer readable program code is configured to calculate the average I/O latency for each storage controller by:
calculating a weighted average I/O latency value for each storage volume controlled by a respective storage controller; summing the weighted I/O latency values of the storage volumes controlled by the respective storage controller; and dividing the summed I/O latency values by a quantity of the storage volumes controlled by the respective storage controller.

19 . The computer program product of claim 18 , wherein the computer readable program code is configured to calculate the weighted average I/O latency value for each storage volume based on weighting a rate of I/O operations.

20 . The computer program product of claim 15 , wherein the computer readable program code is configured to:
determine a type of application utilizing one or more of the storage volumes; determine a priority level of the application; and rebalance the storage volume distribution among the storage controllers based on the type of the application and the priority level of

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Ashok Rohith K
• Brabson Roy F
• Chan Wei L

Classifications

• G06F9/5011

  the resources being hardware resources other than CPUs, Servers and Terminals · CPC title

• G06F3/0611 Primary

  in relation to response time · CPC title

• G06F3/0631 Primary

  by allocating resources to storage systems · CPC title

• G06F3/0665

  at area level, e.g. provisioning of virtual or logical volumes · CPC title

• G06F3/0613

  in relation to throughput · CPC title