Storage apparatus and data management method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9904687-B2
Application number	US-201314760289-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 13, 2013
Priority date	Feb 13, 2013
Publication date	Feb 27, 2018
Grant date	Feb 27, 2018

Abstract

The present invention relates to a storage apparatus that executes de-duplication processing. Specifically, a storage apparatus includes a storing apparatus configured to provide a first storage area and a second storage area and a control unit. The control unit determines, on the basis of a result of comparison of a compression ratio of compressed data with a threshold, whether first duplication determination for determining whether data same as the data compressed without being stored in the first storage area is stored in the second storage area is executed or second duplication determination for determining whether data same as the data compressed after being stored in the first storage area is stored in the second storage area is executed. Further, the control unit changes the threshold on the basis of a state of the storage apparatus.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A storage device comprising:
an interface;
a storing apparatus related to a first storage area and a second storage area; and
a control unit configured to determine, on the basis of a result of comparison of a compression ratio of data received via the interface with a threshold, whether first duplication determination for determining whether data same as the data compressed without being stored in the first storage area is stored in the second storage area is executed or second duplication determination for determining whether data same as the data compressed after being stored in the first storage area is stored in the second storage area is executed,
wherein the control unit is configured to change the threshold on the basis of a state of the storage device, and
wherein the control unit is configured to execute the first duplication determination on the compressed data when the compression ratio is smaller than the threshold and execute the second duplication determination on the compressed data when the compression ratio is equal to or larger than the threshold.

2. A storage device according to claim 1 ,
wherein the state of the storage device refers to a remaining capacity of the first storage area, and
wherein the control unit is configured to change the threshold according to the remaining capacity of the first storage area.

3. A storage device according to claim 2 ,
wherein the control unit tends to determine the threshold to be a smaller value as the remaining capacity of the first storage area is larger.

4. A storage device according to claim 2 ,
wherein the control unit tends to determine the threshold to be a larger value as the remaining capacity of the first storage area is smaller.

5. A storage device according to claim 4 ,
wherein the compression ratio is a ratio of a data amount reduced by data compression.

6. A storage device according to claim 5 ,
wherein, when determining whether data same as the compressed data is stored in the second storage area, the control unit is configured to compare a hash value of the compressed data with a hash value of the data stored in the second storage area.

7. A storage device according to claim 1 ,
wherein the state of the storage device refers to a load of the second duplication determination.

8. A storage device according to claim 7 ,
wherein the control unit tends to determine the threshold to be a smaller value as the load of the second duplication determination is larger.

9. A storage device according to claim 1 ,
wherein the state of the storage device refers to a predetermined ratio related to a number of pieces of compressed data de-duplicated in the first duplication determination and a number of pieces of all compressed data.

10. A storage device according to claim 9 ,
wherein the control unit is configured to
reduce the threshold when a ratio of the number of pieces of compressed data de-duplicated in the first duplication determination to the number of pieces of all compressed data is smaller than a predetermined target value,
increase the threshold when the ratio of the number of pieces of compressed data de-duplicated in the first duplication determination to the number of pieces of all compressed data is larger than the predetermined target value, and
maintain the threshold unchanged when the ratio of the number of pieces of compressed data de-duplicated in the first duplication determination to the number of pieces of all compressed data is equal to the predetermined target value.

11. A storage device according to claim 1 ,
wherein the state of the storage device refers to response performance with respect to a host computer.

12. A storage device according to claim 11 ,
wherein the control unit tends to determine the threshold to be a larger value as the response performance is higher.

13. A data management method for data in a storage device, the method comprising:
executing comparison of a compression ratio of compressed data with a threshold;
determining, on the basis of a result of the comparison, whether first duplication determination for determining whether data same as the data compressed without being stored in a first storage area is stored in a second storage area is executed or second duplication determination for determining whether data same as the data compressed after being stored in the first storage area is stored in the second storage area is executed;
changing the threshold on the basis of a state of the storage device; and
executing the first duplication determination on the compressed data when the compression ratio is smaller than the threshold and executing the second duplication determination on the compressed data when the compression ratio is equal to or larger than the threshold.

Assignees

• Hitachi Ltd
• Hitachi Information & Telecommunication Eng Ltd

Inventors

• Arikawa Hidehisa
• Tashiro Naomitsu
• Ogata Mikito

Classifications

• G06F17/30156

  Physics · mapped topic

• G06F3/0641

  De-duplication techniques · CPC title

• G06F3/061

  Improving I/O performance · CPC title

• G06F17/30153 Primary

  Physics · mapped topic

• G06F12/00

  Accessing, addressing or allocating within memory systems or architectures (digital input from, or digital output to record carriers, e.g. to disk storage units, G06F3/06) · CPC title