Interconnect congestion control in a storage grid

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9876698-B2
Application number	US-201514682573-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 9, 2015
Priority date	Apr 9, 2015
Publication date	Jan 23, 2018
Grant date	Jan 23, 2018

Abstract

Methods, systems, and computer program product embodiments for controlling congestion in a storage grid, by a processor device, are provided. In a storage grid, a storage request transmit queue length is monitored. Upon reaching at least one of a certain threshold, a watermarked message is transmitted to a receiving node, the receiving node altering storage requests based upon the watermarked message.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for congestion control in a storage grid, by a processor device, comprising:
monitoring a storage request transmit queue length of storage requests submitted by a plurality of nodes, the plurality of nodes arranged in a hierarchy of the storage grid and the storage request transmit queue comprising a queue holding the storage requests unable to be transmitted through a current transmission control protocol/internet protocol (TCP/IP) socket buffer of the storage grid; wherein upon reaching at least one of a certain threshold, a watermarked message indicating a specific one of the plurality of nodes is congested is transmitted to upper layer grid nodes in the hierarchy of the plurality of nodes transmitting the storage requests, the upper layer grid nodes each altering the storage requests based upon the watermarked message by rate limiting the storage requests to the specific one of the plurality of nodes, and rather transmitting the storage requests to neighboring nodes of specific node of the plurality of nodes.

2. The method of claim 1 , further including monitoring the storage transmit request queue length for a plurality of interconnecting links connecting the plurality of nodes, wherein the altered storage requests are based upon the watermarked message pertaining to the plurality of interconnecting links connecting the plurality of nodes.

3. The method of claim 1 , further including a high watermarked message and a low watermarked message.

4. The method of claim 3 , further including transmitting a choked state message to the upper layer grid nodes when the high watermarked message threshold is reached.

5. The method of claim 4 , further including ceasing transmission of the choked state message to the upper layer grid nodes when the low watermarked message threshold is reached.

6. The method of claim 4 , wherein the rate limiting, by the upper layer grid nodes further comprises rate limiting storage input/output (I/O) operations requests to the node transmitting the choked state message.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the watermarked messages are applied to various internal queues related to storage interconnect function.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the storage grid is a Software Defined Storage grid.

9. A system for congestion control in a storage grid, comprising:
a storage grid;
at least one processor device, wherein the processor device:
monitors a storage request transmit queue length of storage requests submitted by a plurality of nodes, the plurality of nodes arranged in a hierarchy of the storage grid and the storage request transmit queue comprising a queue holding the storage requests unable to be transmitted through a current transmission control protocol/internet protocol (TCP/IP) socket buffer of the storage grid; wherein upon reaching at least one of a certain threshold, a watermarked message indicating a specific one of the plurality of nodes is congested is transmitted to upper layer grid nodes in the hierarchy of the plurality of nodes transmitting the storage requests, the upper layer grid nodes each altering the storage requests based upon the watermarked message by rate limiting the storage requests to the specific one of the plurality of nodes, and rather transmitting the storage requests to neighboring nodes of specific node of the plurality of nodes.

10. The system of claim 9 , wherein the processor device monitors the storage transmit request queue length for the plurality of nodes, wherein the altered storage requests are based upon the watermarked message pertaining to the plurality of interconnecting links connecting the plurality of nodes.

11. The system of claim 9 , further including a high watermarked message and a low watermarked message.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the processor device transmits a choked state message to the upper layer grid nodes when the high watermarked message threshold is reached.

13. The system of claim 12 , wherein the processor device ceases transmission of the choked state message to the upper layer grid nodes when the low watermarked message threshold is reached.

14. The system of claim 12 , wherein the rate limiting, by the upper layer grid nodes further includes rate limiting storage input/output (I/O) operations requests to the node transmitting the choked state message.

15. The system of claim 8 , wherein the watermarked messages are applied to various internal queues related to storage interconnect function.

16. The system of claim 8 , wherein the storage grid is a Software Defined Storage grid.

17. A computer program product for congestion control in a storage grid by a processor device, the computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer-readable program code portions stored therein, the computer-readable program code portions comprising:
a first executable portion that monitors a storage request transmit queue length of storage requests submitted by a plurality of nodes, the plurality of nodes arranged in a hierarchy of the storage grid and the storage request transmit queue comprising a queue holding the storage requests unable to be transmitted through a current transmission control protocol/internet protocol (TCP/IP) socket buffer of the storage grid; wherein upon reaching at least one of a certain threshold, a watermarked message indicating a specific one of the plurality of nodes is congested is transmitted to upper layer grid nodes in the hierarchy of the plurality of nodes transmitting the storage requests, the any receiving node upper layer grid nodes each altering the storage requests based upon the watermarked message by rate limiting the storage requests to the specific one of the plurality of nodes, and rather transmitting the storage requests to neighboring nodes of specific node of the plurality of nodes.

18. The computer program product of claim 17 , further including a second executable portion that monitors the storage transmit request queue length for a plurality of interconnecting links connecting the plurality of nodes, wherein the altered storage requests are based upon the watermarked message pertaining to the plurality of interconnecting links connecting the plurality of nodes.

19. The computer program product of claim 17 , further including a high watermarked message and a low watermarked message.

20. The computer program product of claim 19 , further including a second executable portion that transmits a choked state message to the upper layer grid nodes when the high watermarked message threshold is reached.

21. The computer program product of claim 20 , further including a third executable portion that ceases transmission of the choked state message to the upper layer grid nodes when the low watermarked message threshold is reached.

22. The computer program product of claim 20 , wherein the rate limiting, by the upper layer grid node further includes rate limiting storage input/output (I/O) operations requests to the node transmitting the choked state message.

23. The computer program product of claim 17 , wherein the watermarked messages are applied to various internal queues related to storage interconnect function.

24. The computer program product of claim 17 , wherein the storage grid is a Software Defined Storage grid.

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Amit Jonathan
• Barzik Zah
• Drouker Vladislav
• Kalaev Maxim

Classifications

• H04L47/25

  with rate being modified by the source upon detecting a change of network conditions · 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

• H04L43/0882 Primary

  Utilisation of link capacity · CPC title

• H04L47/22

  Traffic shaping · CPC title

• H04L47/11

  Identifying congestion · CPC title