Mechanism for providing real time replication status information in a networked virtualization environment for storage management

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9501379-B2
Application number	US-201414251180-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 11, 2014
Priority date	Apr 11, 2014
Publication date	Nov 22, 2016
Grant date	Nov 22, 2016

Abstract

A method for providing real time replication status for a networked virtualization environment for storage management, includes scanning metadata to identify replication status for all virtual disks (vDisks) in the networked virtualization environment, generating replication tasks for vDisks that are identified as under replicated based on the scan, performing the replication tasks, monitoring the progress of the replication tasks and determining the real time replication status of the networked virtualization environment based on the scanned metadata and the monitored progress of the replication tasks.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for providing real time replication status for a networked virtualization environment for storage management, comprising:
scanning metadata to identify replication status for all virtual disks (vDisks) in the networked virtualization environment;
generating replication tasks for vDisks that are identified as under replicated based on the scan;
performing the replication tasks;
monitoring the progress of the replication tasks;
determining the real time replication status of the networked virtualization environment based on the scanned metadata and the monitored progress of the replication tasks; and
identifying the vDisk with the lowest replication factor to determine a number of nodes supportable by the networked virtualization environment to shut down.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein scanning the metadata to identify replication status is performed by each controller VM at each node of the networked virtualization environment for storage management.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein each controller VM scans metadata to identify replication status for each vDisk it is managing.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein scanning metadata to identify replication status is performed periodically.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein scanning metadata to identify replication status is performed in response to a failure of a physical disk in the networked virtualization environment.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein scanning metadata to identify replication status is performed in response to a failure of a software mechanism performing replication for the networked virtualization environment.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein generating replication tasks for vDisks that are identified as under-replicated is performed by each controller VM at each node of the networked virtualization environment for storage management.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein each controller VM generates replication tasks for each under replicated vDisk it is managing.

9. The method of claim 7 , wherein replications tasks are generated for vDisks that are identified as under replicated on a vDisk block basis.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the replication tasks are performed in an order in which they are generated.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein monitoring the progress of the replication tasks is performed by each controller VM at each node of the networked virtualization environment for storage management.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein each controller VM monitors replication tasks for each under replicated vDisk it is managing.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the real time replication status of the networked virtualization environment is provided on a per vDisk basis.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the real time replication status for each vDisk in the networked virtualization environment comprises:
a user VM to which the vDisk belongs;
a total size of the vDisk;
an amount of data within the vDisk that is under replicated; and
a replication factor for the vDisk.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the real time replication status for each vDisk in the networked virtualization environment further comprises:
one or more extent groups associated with the vDisk; and
a replication factor for the one or more extent groups.

16. The method of claim 1 , wherein the real time replication status of the networked virtualization environment comprises a number of node failures or a number of rack failures supportable by the networked virtualization environment.

17. A computer program product embodied on a non-transitory computer readable medium, the non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon a sequence of instructions which, when executed by a processor causes the processor to execute a method for providing real time replication status for a networked virtualization environment for storage management, comprising:
scanning metadata to identify replication status for all virtual disks (vDisks) in the networked virtualization environment;
generating replication tasks for vDisks that are identified as under replicated based on the scan;
performing the replication tasks;
monitoring the progress of the replication tasks;
determining the real time replication status of the networked virtualization environment based on the scanned metadata and the monitored progress of the replication tasks; and
identifying the vDisk with the lowest replication factor to determine a number of nodes supportable by the networked virtualization environment to shut down.

18. The computer program product of claim 17 , wherein scanning the metadata to identify replication status is performed by each controller VM at each node of the networked virtualization environment for storage management.

19. The computer program product of claim 18 , wherein each controller VM scans metadata to identify replication status for each vDisk it is managing.

20. The computer program product of claim 17 , wherein scanning metadata to identify replication status is performed periodically.

21. The computer program product of claim 17 , wherein scanning metadata to identify replication status is performed in response to a failure of a physical disk in the networked virtualization environment.

22. The computer program product of claim 17 , wherein scanning metadata to identify replication status is performed in response to a failure of a software mechanism performing replication for the networked virtualization environment.

23. The computer program product of claim 17 , wherein generating replication tasks for vDisks that are identified as under replicated is performed by each controller VM at each node of the networked virtualization environment for storage management.

24. The computer program product of claim 23 , wherein each controller VM generates replication tasks for each under replicated vDisk it is managing.

25. The computer program product of claim 23 , wherein replications tasks are generated for vDisks that are identified as under replicated on a vDisk block basis.

26. The computer program product of claim 17 , wherein the replication tasks are performed in an order in which they are generated.

27. The computer program product of claim 17 , wherein monitoring the progress of the replication tasks is performed by each controller VM at each node of the networked virtualization environment for storage management.

28. The computer program product of claim 27 , wherein each controller VM monitors replication tasks for each under replicated vDisk it is managing.

29. The computer program product of claim 17 , wherein the real time replication status of the networked virtualization environment is provided on a per vDisk basis.

30. The computer program product of claim 29 , wherein the real time replication status for each vDisk in the networked virtualization environment comprises:
a user VM to which the vDisk belongs;
a total size of the vDisk;
an amount of data within the vDisk that is under replicated; and
a replication factor for the vDisk.

31. The computer program product of claim 30 , wherein the real time replication status for each vDisk in the networked virtualization environment further comprises:
one or more extent groups associated with the vDisk; and
a replication facto

Assignees

• Nutanix Inc

Inventors

• Gill Binny Sher
• Bhattacharyya Manosiz
• Arora Varun Kumar

Classifications

• G06F11/3034 Primary

  where the computing system component is a storage system, e.g. DASD based or network based (digital input from or digital output to record carriers G06F3/06; digital recording or reproducing G11B20/18; for distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS], H04L67/1097) · CPC title

• G06F11/2094 Primary

  Redundant storage or storage space (G06F11/2056 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G06F9/5077

  Logical partitioning of resources; Management or configuration of virtualized resources (specific details on emulation or internal functioning of virtual machines G06F9/455) · CPC title

• G06F3/067

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

• H04L43/06

  Generation of reports · CPC title