Handling data block migration to efficiently utilize higher performance tiers in a multi-tier storage environment

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9671977-B2
Application number	US-201414248115-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 8, 2014
Priority date	Apr 8, 2014
Publication date	Jun 6, 2017
Grant date	Jun 6, 2017

Abstract

In one embodiment, a method for managing data includes receiving migration information that describes movement of data stored to a direct access storage device (DASD) during a data migration operation that causes at least one portion of the data to be moved from a first location in a first tier of a multi-tier file system to a second location in a second tier of the multi-tier file system, determining whether to swap data usage statistics for the second location with data usage statistics for the first location, and swapping the data usage statistics for the second location with the data usage statistics for the first location when the determination is to swap the data usage statistics. Other systems, methods, and computer program products for managing data in a multi-tier file system are described according to more embodiments.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for managing data, the method comprising:
receiving migration information that describes movement of data stored to a direct access storage device (DASD) during a data migration operation that causes at least one portion of the data to be moved from a first location in a first tier of a multi-tier file system to a second location in a second tier of the multi-tier file system;
determining whether to swap data usage statistics for the second location with data usage statistics for the first location; and
swapping the data usage statistics for the second location with the data usage statistics for the first location when the determination is to swap the data usage statistics.

2. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the data migration operation is a defragmentation process.

3. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the data usage statistics for the second location are swapped with the data usage statistics for the first location in response to a determination that the at least one portion of the data was swapped with a second portion of the data and data usage of the second portion of the data in the second location is not accounted for in the data usage statistics for the first location.

4. The method as recited in claim 1 , further comprising:
resetting the data usage statistics for the first location in response to a determination that the second location was unallocated prior to the data migration operation.

5. The method as recited in claim 4 , further comprising:
evicting a second portion of the data from the first tier and reassigning the second portion of the data to a lower tier in response to a determination that the first tier is a higher tier of the multi-tier file system.

6. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the DASD is at least one of a hard disk drive (HDD) and a solid state drive (SSD), wherein the data usage statistics for the second location comprise a number of access requests for data stored to the second location over a certain period of time, wherein the data usage statistics for the first location comprise a number of access requests for data stored to the first location over the certain period of time, and wherein data blocks which are swapped or moved within a same extent do not have data usage statistics thereof swapped in response to usage monitoring being performed on a per-extent basis.

7. The method as recited in claim 1 , further comprising:
performing the data migration operation on the data stored to the DASD;
determining whether the second location was unallocated prior to the data migration operation or whether the at least one portion was swapped with a second portion of the data at the second location during the data migration operation to produce data migration information; and
sending the data migration information indicating whether the second location was unallocated or whether the at least one portion of the data was swapped with the second portion of the data.

8. The method as recited in claim 7 , wherein the data migration information is a list of tuples, each tuple relating to one of the at least one portion of the data and comprising an indicator for the first location, an indicator for the second location, and an indicator of whether the second location was unallocated or whether the at least one portion of the data was swapped with the second portion of the data.

9. A computer program product for managing data, the computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having program code embodied therewith, the program code readable and/or executable by a processor to cause the processor to:
receive migration information that describes movement of data stored to a direct access storage device (DASD) during a data migration operation that causes at least one portion of the data to be moved from a first location in a first tier of a multi-tier file system to a second location in a second tier of the multi-tier file system;
determine whether to swap data usage statistics for the second location with data usage statistics for the first location; and
swap the data usage statistics for the second location with the data usage statistics for the first location when the determination is to swap the data usage statistics.

10. The computer program product as recited in claim 9 , wherein the data usage statistics for the second location are swapped with the data usage statistics for the first location in response to a determination that the at least one portion was swapped with a second portion and the second location is not accounted for in the data usage statistics for the first location.

11. The computer program product as recited in claim 10 , wherein the program code readable and/or executable by the processor further causes the processor to:
evict the second portion from the first tier and reassign the second portion to a lower tier in response to a determination that the first tier is a higher tier of the multi-tier file system,
wherein the data usage statistics for the second location comprise a number of access requests for data stored to the second location over a certain period of time, and
wherein the data usage statistics for the first location comprise a number of access requests for data stored to the first location over the certain period of time.

12. The computer program product as recited in claim 9 , wherein the program code readable and/or executable by the processor further causes the processor to:
reset the data usage statistics for the first location in response to a determination that the second location was unallocated prior to the data migration operation.

13. The computer program product as recited in claim 9 , wherein the program code readable and/or executable by the processor further causes the processor to:
perform, by the processor, the data migration operation on the data stored to the DASD;
determine, by the processor, whether the second location was unallocated prior to the data migration operation or whether the at least one portion was swapped with a second portion at the second location during the data migration operation to produce data migration information; and
send, by the processor, the data migration information indicating whether the second location was unallocated or whether the at least one portion was swapped with the second portion.

14. The computer program product as recited in claim 13 , wherein the data migration information is a list of tuples, each tuple relating to one of the at least one portion and comprising an indicator for the first location, an indicator for the second location, and an indicator of whether the second location was unallocated or whether the at least one portion was swapped with the second portion.

15. The computer program product as recited in claim 13 , wherein the program code readable and/or executable by the processor further causes the processor to:
perform, by the processor, the data migration operation on the data stored to the DASD:
determine, by the processor, whether the second location was unallocated prior to the data migration operation or whether the at least one portion was swapped with a second portion at the second location during the data migration operation to produce data migration information; and
send, by the processor, the data migration information indicating whether the second location was unallocated or whether the at least one portion was swapped with the second portion, wherein the data migration information is a list of tuples, each tuple relating to one of the at least one portion and comprising

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Olson John T
• Patil Sandeep R
• Shiraguppi Riyazahamad M
• Spear Gail A

Classifications

• G06F3/0611

  in relation to response time · CPC title

• G06F3/064

  Management of blocks · CPC title

• G06F3/0685

  Hybrid storage combining heterogeneous device types, e.g. hierarchical storage, hybrid arrays · CPC title

• G06F3/0608

  Saving storage space on storage systems · CPC title

• G06F3/0647 Primary

  Migration mechanisms · CPC title