Providing mobility to virtual storage processors

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9507787-B1
Application number	US-201313837053-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Mar 15, 2013
Priority date	Mar 15, 2013
Publication date	Nov 29, 2016
Grant date	Nov 29, 2016

Abstract

A technique provides mobility to VSPs. The technique involves receiving, by processing circuitry, a VSP move command from a user. The VSP move command specifies a source VSP and a destination. The technique further involves identifying, by the processing circuitry and in response to the VSP move command, multiple source data objects which are configured to store data from the context of the source VSP. The multiple source data objects reside in a source storage pool. The technique further involves, after the multiple source data objects are identified, transforming the multiple source data objects into multiple destination data objects which are configured to store data from the context of a destination VSP at the destination. The multiple destination data objects reside in a destination storage pool which is different from the source storage pool. Such operation effectively provides VSP migration from source to destination.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of providing mobility to virtual storage processors (VSPs), the method comprising:
operating a source VSP on a physical storage processor, the physical storage processor having a first network address, the source VSP having a second network address different from the first network address and providing host access to multiple source data objects via the second network address;
receiving, by processing circuitry, a VSP move command from a user, the VSP move command specifying the source VSP and a destination;
identifying, by the processing circuitry and in response to the VSP move command, the multiple source data objects which are configured to store data from the context of the source VSP, the multiple source data objects residing in a source storage pool; and
after the multiple source data objects are identified, (i) transforming the multiple source data objects into multiple destination data objects which are configured to store data from the context of a destination VSP at the destination, the multiple destination data objects residing in a destination storage pool which is different from the source storage pool, and (ii) providing host access to the multiple source data objects, residing in the destination storage pool, via the second network address,
wherein the physical storage processor on which the source VSP operated is a first physical storage processor, wherein the destination VSP resides on a second physical storage processor having a third network address, and wherein the third network address is different from the first network address and the second network address.

2. A method as in claim 1 wherein transforming the multiple source data objects into the multiple destination data objects includes:
creating a set of replication sessions to replicate the multiple source data objects as the multiple destination data objects.

3. A method as in claim 2 wherein a particular source data object contains a VSP configuration file system having VSP configuration files which store VSP configuration data; and wherein creating the set of replication sessions includes:
establishing a VSP configuration file system replication session to replicate the VSP configuration file system to the destination VSP.

4. A method as in claim 3 wherein a set of source data objects contains a set of user files systems having user files which store host data; and wherein creating the set of replication sessions further includes:
establishing a set of user file system replication sessions to replicate the set of user file systems to the destination VSP, each user file system replication session being a standalone session which is independent of the other user file system replication sessions.

5. A method as recited in claim 3 , further comprising storing the second network address and network settings for a network server in the VSP configuration file system of the source VSP,
wherein establishing the VSP configuration file system replication session to replicate the VSP configuration file system to the destination VSP replicates the second network address and network settings to the destination VSP, and
wherein providing host access to the multiple source data objects via the second network address includes operating the network server at the destination using the second network address.

6. A method as in claim 2 wherein transforming the multiple source data objects into the multiple destination data objects further includes:
terminating the set of replication sessions and activating the destination VSP.

7. A method as in claim 6 wherein terminating the set of replication sessions and activating the destination VSP includes:
deleting the set of replication sessions, configuring the destination VSP to access the multiple destination data objects, and deleting the source VSP.

8. A method as in claim 7 wherein a configuration database holds multiple VSP records corresponding to multiple VSPs; and wherein deleting the set of replication sessions, configuring the destination VSP to access the multiple destination data objects, and deleting the source VSP includes:
updating the configuration database to indicate that the destination VSP is defining an operating environment in place of the source VSP.

9. A method as in claim 1 , further comprising:
prior to receiving the VSP move command, processing host input/output (I/O) requests directed to a particular user file system using the source VSP.

10. A method as in claim 9 , further comprising:
after transforming the multiple source data objects into the multiple destination data objects, processing additional host I/O requests directed to the particular user file system using the destination VSP.

11. A method as in claim 10 wherein processing the additional host I/O requests directed to the particular user file system using the destination VSP includes:
providing, to the user, a perception that the source VSP has migrated from the first physical storage processor to the second physical storage processor.

12. A method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the physical storage processor operates multiple VSPs, wherein each VSP operating on the physical storage processor has its own namespace independent of the namespace of other VSPs running on the physical storage processor, and wherein the multiple VSPs running on the physical storage processor all share a common IO stack within the physical storage processor.

13. A method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the physical storage processor operates multiple VSPs, wherein each VSP operating on the physical storage processor has its own network address and its own namespace independent of the namespace of other VSPs running on the physical storage processor, and wherein the namespace of each VSP is host accessible via the respective network address of that VSP.

14. A method as recited in claim 13 , wherein the physical storage processor has its own namespace independent of the namespace of any of the multiple VSPs, and wherein the namespace of the physical storage processor is host accessible via the first network address.

15. A computer program product having a non-transitory computer readable medium which stores a set of instructions to provide mobility to virtual storage processors (VSPs), the set of instructions, when carried out by computerized circuitry, causing the computerized circuitry to perform a method of:
operating a source VSP on a physical storage processor, the physical storage processor having a first network address, the source VSP having a second network address different from the first network address and providing host access to multiple source data objects via the second network address;
receiving a VSP move command from a user, the VSP move command specifying the source VSP and a destination;
identifying, in response to the VSP move command, the multiple source data objects which are configured to store data from the context of the source VSP, the multiple source data objects residing in a source storage pool; and
after the multiple source data objects are identified, (i) transforming the multiple source data objects into multiple destination data objects which are configured to store data from the context of a destination VSP at the destination, the multiple destination data objects residing in a destination storage pool which is different from the source storage pool, and (ii) providing host access to the multiple source data objects, residing in the destination storage pool, via the second network address,
wherein the physical storage processor on which the source VSP ope

Assignees

• Emc Corp
• Emc Ip Holding Co Llc

Inventors

• Bono Jean-Pierre
• Corniquet Frederic
• De Forest Miles A
• Tummala Himabindu
• Forrester Walter C

Classifications

• G06F3/0604 Primary

  Improving or facilitating administration, e.g. storage management · CPC title

• G06F17/30091 Primary

  Physics · mapped topic

• G06F11/00

  Error detection; Error correction; Monitoring (error detection, correction or monitoring in information storage based on relative movement between record carrier and transducer G11B20/18; monitoring, i.e. supervising the progress of recording or reproducing G11B27/36; in static stores G11C29/00) · CPC title

• G06F16/13 Primary

  File access structures, e.g. distributed indices (arrangements of input from, or output to, record carriers G06F3/06) · CPC title

• G06F16/188

  Virtual file systems · CPC title