Patent ID: 9569455
Date: 2017-02-14
CPC Classifications: G06F

Claim:
1. A method of performing deduplication on a data storage array that stores host data, the method comprising: initially storing a standalone container on the data storage array, the standalone container including container files which are formed by standalone blocks storing the host data and which are hierarchically related to each other; receiving a deduplication command which identifies the standalone container; and in response to the deduplication command, performing a set of deduplication operations to create and store a deduplication container on the data storage array, the deduplication container including container files which are formed by deduplication blocks storing the host data and which are hierarchically related to each other, wherein each of the standalone container and the deduplication container is a lower deck file system in the data storage array, each container file of the standalone container and the deduplication container representing an upper deck file system for a host file system accessible to a respective host computer of a set of host computers; wherein the deduplication command which identifies the standalone container is received from a host computer of the set of host computers.