Adjustment of volume synchronization

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9996267-B2
Application number	US-201514823365-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 11, 2015
Priority date	Aug 11, 2015
Publication date	Jun 12, 2018
Grant date	Jun 12, 2018

Abstract

Embodiments of the present invention provide systems and methods for adjusting synchronization rates of volumes. Volumes and their copies (i.e., mirrored volumes) provide physical or virtual storage on a data storage medium. Depending on the function (i.e., the purpose) of mirrored volumes, a certain synchronization rate is recommended. Embodiments of the present invention provide systems and methods for an automatic dynamic adjustment of individual synchronization rates by adapting to changes in system workloads in order to avoid degradation of user-driven input/output (IO) and to efficiently achieve nearly 100% synchronization for all mirrored volumes.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for adjusting synchronization rates, the method comprising the steps of:
copying, by one or more processors, a set of volumes from a storage pool into a target pool;
responsive to copying the set of volumes from the storage pool into the target pool, generating, by one or more processors, a set of mirrored volumes;
configuring, by one or more processors, the set of mirrored volumes based on a set of properties describing each mirrored volume of the set of mirrored volume;
evaluating, by one or more processors, a system performance at a device level, a storage pool level, and a volume level;
predicting, by one or more processors, impending input/output (IO) changes;
synchronizing, by one or more processors, one or more mirrored volumes of the set of mirrored volumes based on synchronization rates, wherein each of the one or more mirrored volumes is a permanent mirror volume or a non-permanent mirror volume;
adjusting, by one or more processors, the synchronization rates of the one or more mirrored volumes based on the impending input/output (IO) changes by retrieving a historic system performance level at the device level, the storage pool level, and the volume level, wherein searches for non-permanent mirror volumes and permanent mirror volumes lead to the decrease of the synchronization rates of low priority, non-permanent mirror volumes and the increase of the synchronization rates of high priority, permanent mirror volumes;
re-evaluating, by one or more processors, a new system performance, in response to adjusting the synchronization rates of the one or more mirrored volumes;
re-adjusting, by one or more processors, the synchronization rates of the set of mirrored volumes wherein, a decrease in the new system performance in comparison to a collected baseline performance leads to an increase in the synchronization rates of the one or more mirrored volumes, and an increase in the new system performance in comparison to the collected baseline performance leads to a search for available mirrored volumes; and
responsive to generating the set of mirrored volumes, simultaneously adjusting, by one or more processors, the synchronization rates of at least two mirrored volumes of the set of mirrored volumes.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein configuring the set of mirrored volumes based on the set of properties describing the each of the mirrored volumes of the set of mirrored volumes, comprises:
defining, by one or more processors, a set of purpose values;
reconfiguring, by one or more processors, a set of mirrored volume relationships by dropping a term from the set of properties; and
ranking, by one or more processors, the set of mirrored volumes, based on a pair of properties associated with the each mirrored volume of the set of mirrored volumes.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein evaluating the system performance at the device level, the storage pool level, and the volume level, comprises:
recording, by one or more processors, a current system workload at the system level, the storage pool level, and the volume level;
setting, by one or more processors, the collected baseline performance as a performance baseline; and
comparing, by one or more processors, the performance baseline to the recorded current system workload.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein predicting the impending IO changes, comprises:
retrieving, by one or more processors, the historic system performance data at the device level, the storage pool level, and the volume level.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein adjusting the synchronization rates of the one or more mirrored volumes based on the impending IO changes, comprises:
searching, by one or more processors, the set of mirrored volumes for unsynchronized permanent mirror volumes of the permanent mirror volumes and unsynchronized non-permanent mirror volumes of the non-permanent mirror volumes;
decreasing, by one or more processors, the synchronization rates of the non-permanent mirror volumes of the set of mirrored volumes, wherein the non-permanent mirror volumes have a low priority; and
increasing, by one or more processors, the synchronization rates of the permanent mirror volumes of the set of mirrored volumes, wherein the permanent mirror volumes have a high priority.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein re-evaluating the new system performance in response to adjusting the synchronization rates of the one or more mirrored volumes, comprises:
collecting, by one or more processors, data associated with the new system performance at the system level, the storage pool level, and the volume level;
determining, by one or more processors, a current workload of the system in response to increasing or decreasing the synchronization rates of the one or more mirrored volumes;
evaluating, by one or more processors, the new system performance in response to increasing or decreasing the synchronization rates of the one or more mirrored volumes in comparison to the collected baseline performance;
responsive to determining the system performance has decreased, increasing, by one or more processors, the synchronization rates of the one or more mirrored volumes; and
responsive to determining the system performance has not decreased, searching, by one or more processors, for the available mirrored volumes of the set of mirrored volumes.

7. A computer program product for adjusting synchronization rates, the computer program product comprising:
a computer readable storage medium and program instructions stored on the computer readable storage medium, the program instructions comprising:
program instructions to copy a set of volumes from a source pool into a target pool;
responsive to copying the set of volumes from the source pool into the target pool, program instructions to generate a set of mirrored volumes;
program instructions to configure the set of mirrored volumes based on a set of properties describing each mirrored volume of the set of mirrored volume;
program instructions to evaluate a system performance at a device level, a storage pool level, and a volume level;
program instructions to predict impending input/output (IO) changes;
program instructions to synchronize one or more mirrored volumes of the set of mirrored volumes based on synchronization rates, wherein each of the one or more mirrored volumes is a permanent mirror volume or a non-permanent mirror volume;
program instructions to adjust the synchronization rates of the one or more mirrored volumes based on the impending input/output (IO) changes by retrieving a historic system performance level at the device level, the storage pool level, and the volume level, wherein searches for non-permanent mirror volumes and permanent mirror volumes lead to the decrease of the synchronization rates of low priority, non-permanent mirror volumes and the increase of the synchronization rates of high priority, permanent mirror volumes;
program instructions to re-evaluate a new system performance, in response to adjusting the synchronization rates of the one or more mirrored volumes;
program instructions to re-adjust the synchronization rates of the set of mirrored volumes wherein, a decrease in the new system performance in comparison to a collected baseline performance leads to an increase in the synchronization rates of the one or more mirrored volumes, and an increase in the new system performance in comparison to the collected baseline performance leads to a search for available mirrored volumes; and
responsive to generating the set of mirrored volumes, program instructions to simultaneously adjust the synchronization rates of at least two mirrored volumes of the set of mirrored volumes.

8. The computer program product

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Byrd Stephen A
• Colbeck Scott J

Classifications

• G06F3/0668

  adopting a particular infrastructure · CPC title

• G06F3/0617

  in relation to availability · CPC title

• G06F3/065 Primary

  Replication mechanisms · CPC title

• G06F3/067

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

• G06F3/0605 Primary

  by facilitating the interaction with a user or administrator · CPC title