Determining efficiency of a virtual array in a virtualized storage system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9262083-B2
Application number	US-201414261546-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 25, 2014
Priority date	Oct 6, 2011
Publication date	Feb 16, 2016
Grant date	Feb 16, 2016

Abstract

A virtualized storage system comprises at least one host, at least one virtual array, a backend array and a management server. The host requests storage operations to the virtual array, and the virtual array executes storage operations for the host. The backend array, coupled to the virtual array, comprises physical storage for the virtual array. The management server determines the efficiency for the virtual array. The management server determines an input throughput data rate between the host and the virtual array based on storage operations between host and virtual array. The management server also determines an output throughput data rate, from the virtual array to the backend array. The output throughput data rate is based on the storage operations that require access to the backend array. The management server determines the efficiency of the virtual array using the input throughput data rate and the output throughput data rate.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising a plurality of instructions, which when executed by a processor, determine an efficiency of a virtual array, the instructions to:
determine an input throughput data rate between at least one host and a virtual array based on storage operations between the host and the virtual array;
determine an output throughput data rate, from the virtual array to a backend array, of the storage operations, wherein the output throughput data rate is based on the storage operations that require access to the backend array, wherein the backend array comprises physical storage units; and
determine an efficiency between the input throughput data rate and the output throughput data rate so as to measure the efficiency of the virtual array.

2. The non-transitory computer readable medium as set forth in claim 1 , wherein the instructions to determine an efficiency between the input throughput data rate and the output throughput data rate comprises instructions to:
query each host coupled with the virtual array to determine a throughput data rate for the corresponding host;
aggregate the throughput data rates for the hosts to obtain the input throughput data rate;
query each physical storage unit coupled with the virtual array to determine a throughput data rate for the corresponding physical storage unit to obtain the output throughput data rate; and
determine the efficiency by generating a product of the input throughput data rate and the inverse function of the output throughput data rate.

3. The non-transitory computer readable medium as set forth in claim 2 , wherein the instructions to determine the efficiency comprises instructions to determine the efficiency as a percentage of storage operations that do not require access to the backend array.

4. The non-transitory computer readable medium as set forth in claim 1 , further comprising instructions to:
display the efficiency of a virtual array on a screen of a computer as a tool to manage the physical storage units, wherein:
a high efficiency indicates that the output throughput data rate is low and the physical storage units does not require a high level of performance; and
a low efficiency indicates that the output throughput data rate is high and the physical storage units require a high level of performance.

5. The non-transitory computer readable medium as set forth in claim 1 , further comprising instructions to:
display the efficiency of a virtual array on a screen of a computer as a tool to manage the virtual array, wherein a low efficiency indicates that the virtual array is not optimized for maximum efficiency.

6. The non-transitory computer readable medium as set forth in claim 1 , further comprising instructions to:
display the efficiency of a virtual array on a screen of a computer as a tool to manage the virtual array, wherein a high efficiency and a high maximum throughput data rate indicate that the physical storage units require a high level of performance.

7. The non-transitory computer readable medium as set forth in claim 1 , further comprising instructions to:
determine, an efficiency for each of a plurality of virtual arrays; and
display the efficiency of each virtual array on a screen of a computer so as to permit comparison of efficiencies between one or more virtual arrays for analysis and troubleshooting.

8. The non-transitory computer readable medium as set forth in claim 2 , wherein:
the instructions to query each host comprises instructions to execute a function call on an application program interface to each host to obtain the throughput data rates; and
the instructions to query each physical storage unit in the backend array comprises instructions for executing a function call on an application program interface to each physical storage unit to obtain the throughput data rates.

9. A device comprising:
a processor; and
a computer readable storage medium comprising program code executable by the processor to cause the device to:
determine an input throughput data rate between at least one host and a virtual array based on storage operations between the host and the virtual array;
determine an output throughput data rate, from the virtual array to a backend array, of the storage operations, wherein the output throughput data rate is based on the storage operations that require access to the backend array, wherein the backend array comprises physical storage units; and
determine an efficiency between the input throughput data rate and the output throughput data rate so as to measure the efficiency of the virtual array.

10. The device as set forth in claim 9 , wherein the program code further comprises program code executable by the processor to cause the device to:
query each host coupled with the virtual array to determine a throughput data rate for the corresponding host;
aggregate the throughput data rates for the hosts to obtain the input throughput data rate;
query each physical storage unit in the backend array coupled with the virtual array to determine a throughput data rate for the corresponding physical storage unit to obtain the output throughput data rate; and
determine the efficiency by generating a product of the input throughput data rate and the inverse function of the output throughput data rate.

11. The device as set forth in claim 9 , wherein the program code further comprises program code executable by the processor to cause the device to determine the efficiency as a percentage of the storage operations that do not require access to the backend array.

12. The device as set forth in claim 9 , wherein the program code further comprises program code executable by the processor to cause the device to:
display the efficiency of a virtual array on a screen of a computer as a tool to manage the physical storage units, wherein:
a high efficiency indicates that the output throughput data rate is low and the physical storage units does not require a high level of performance; and
a low efficiency indicates that the output throughput data rate is high and the physical storage units require a high level of performance.

13. The device as set forth in claim 9 , wherein the program code further comprises program code executable by the processor cause the device to:
display the efficiency of a virtual array on a screen of a computer as a tool to manage the virtual array, wherein a low efficiency indicates that the virtual array is not optimized for maximum efficiency.

14. The device as set forth in claim 9 , wherein the program code further comprises program code executable by the processor cause the device to:
display the efficiency of a virtual array on a screen of a computer as a tool to manage the virtual array, wherein a high efficiency and a high maximum throughput data rate indicate that the physical storage units require a high level of performance.

15. The device as set forth in claim 9 , wherein the program code further comprises program code executable by the processor cause the device to:
determine, an efficiency for each of a plurality of virtual arrays; and
display the efficiency of each virtual array on a screen of a computer so as to permit comparison of efficiencies between one or more virtual arrays for analysis and troubleshooting.

16. The device as set forth in claim 9 , wherein:
the program code executable by the processor to cause the device to query, each host comprises program code executable by the processor to cause the device to execute a function call on an application program in

Assignees

• Netapp Inc

Inventors

• Gilboa Ran
• Kleinman Barry S
• Sergeev Anton

Classifications

• G06F3/0665

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

• G06F3/0613 Primary

  in relation to throughput · CPC title

• G06F3/0646

  Horizontal data movement in storage systems, i.e. moving data in between storage devices or systems · CPC title

• G06F2201/815

  Virtual · CPC title

• G06F11/3442

  for planning or managing the needed capacity · CPC title