Methods and systems for trouble shooting performance issues in networked storage systems

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9542115-B1
Application number	US-201514747313-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Jun 23, 2015
Priority date	Jun 23, 2015
Publication date	Jan 10, 2017
Grant date	Jan 10, 2017

Abstract

Methods and systems for managing resources in a storage system are provided. The methods include tracking performance of a plurality of resources used for reading and writing information at storage devices in a networked storage system, each resource represented by a logical object in a hierarchical structure and performance data associated with each logical object is maintained by a processor executing a management application out of a memory device; identifying a root object associated with a resource having a performance issue as indicated by a threshold violation for the resource; selecting a related object associated with a resource similar to the resource of the root object by the management application for comparing performance data of the root object with the related object; and using the comparison to verify that the root object is a root cause of the performance issue.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A machine implemented method, comprising:
tracking performance of a plurality of resources used for reading and writing information at storage devices in a networked storage system, each resource represented by a logical object in a hierarchical structure and performance data associated with each logical object is maintained by a processor executing a management application out of a memory device;
identifying a root object associated with a resource having a performance issue as indicated by a threshold violation for the resource;
selecting a related object associated with another resource based on a performance issue type and a relationship between the related object and the root object by the management application for comparing performance data of the root object with the related object; and
using the comparison to verify that the root object is a root cause of the performance issue.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of resources include a cluster having a plurality of nodes, a plurality of storage devices managed by the plurality of nodes for storing data, a switch connecting the cluster nodes and a plurality of network interface cards for the plurality of nodes used by computing devices to access the storage devices.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein performance of the plurality of resources is indicated by a latency value that provides a delay in processing a workload.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein performance of the plurality of resources is indicated by a number of input/output operations (IOPS) processed by the plurality of resources.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the management application provides a first segment with a listing of physically or logically related objects to the root object with an option to select the related object for comparison with the root object.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the management application provides a second segment where a plurality of related objects are stored but not all of the related objects are made visible on a display device.

7. The method of claim 5 , wherein the management application provides a third segment that displays performance charts for the related object selected using the first segment.

8. A non-transitory, machine readable storage medium having stored thereon instructions for performing a method, comprising machine executable code which when executed by at least one machine, causes the machine to:
track performance of a plurality of resources used for reading and writing information at storage devices in a networked storage system, each resource represented by a logical object in a hierarchical structure and performance Odata associated with each logical object is maintained by a processor executing a management application out of a memory device;
identify a root object associated with a resource having a performance issue as indicated by a threshold violation for the resource;
select a related object associated with another resource based on a performance issue type and a relationship between the related object and the root object by the management application for comparing performance data of the root object with the related object; and
use the comparison to verify that the root object is a root cause of the performance issue.

9. The storage medium of claim 8 , wherein the plurality of resources include a cluster having a plurality of nodes, a plurality of storage devices managed by the plurality of nodes for storing data, a switch connecting the cluster nodes and a plurality of network interface cards for the plurality of nodes used by computing devices to access the storage devices.

10. The storage medium of claim 8 , wherein performance of the plurality of resources is indicated by a latency value that provides a delay in processing a workload.

11. The storage medium of claim 8 , wherein performance of the plurality of resources is indicated by a number of input/output operations (IOPS) processed by the plurality of resources.

12. The storage medium of claim 8 , wherein the management application provides a first segment that provides a listing of physically or logically related objects to the root object with an option to select the related object for comparison with the root object.

13. The storage medium of claim 12 , wherein the management application provides a second segment where a plurality of related objects are stored but not all of the related objects are made visible on a display device.

14. The storage medium of claim 12 , wherein the management application provides a third segment that displays performance charts for the related object selected using the first segment.

15. A system comprising:
a memory containing machine readable medium comprising machine executable code having stored thereon instructions; and a processor module coupled to the memory, the processor module configured to execute the machine executable code to:
track performance of a plurality of resources used for reading and writing information at storage devices in a networked storage system, each resource represented by a logical object in a hierarchical structure and performance data associated with each logical object is maintained by a processor executing a management application out of a memory device;
identify a root object associated with a resource having a performance issue as indicated by a threshold violation for the resource;
select a related object associated with another resource based on a performance issue type and a relationship between the related object and the root object by the management application for comparing performance data of the root object with the related object; and
use the comparison to verify that the root object is a root cause of the performance issue.

16. The system of claim 15 , wherein the plurality of resources include a cluster having a plurality of nodes, a plurality of storage devices managed by the plurality of nodes for storing data, a switch connecting the cluster nodes and a plurality of network interface cards for the plurality of nodes used by computing devices to access the storage devices.

17. The system of claim 16 , wherein performance of the plurality of resources is indicated by a latency value that provides a delay in processing a workload.

18. The system of claim 16 , wherein the management application provides a first segment that provides a listing of physically or logically related objects to the root object with an option to select the related object for comparison with the root object.

19. The system of claim 18 , wherein the management application provides a second segment where a plurality of related objects are stored but not all of the related objects are made visible on a display device.

20. The system of claim 18 , wherein the management application provides a third segment that displays performance charts for the related object selected using the first segment.

Assignees

• Netapp Inc

Inventors

• Hrischuk Curtis
• Roberts David Gilbert
• Pai Ulhas
• Mittal Kushagra
• Smith Peter Adam
• Jha Purushottam

Classifications

• H04L43/045

  for graphical visualisation of monitoring data · CPC title

• G06F3/0604

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

• G06F3/0631 Primary

  by allocating resources to storage systems · CPC title

• H04L67/1097

  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] · CPC title

• G06F3/067

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