Patent ID: 8489820
Filing Date: 2013-07-16
Classification: G06F

Abstract:
1. A method comprising: allocating a set of solid-state memory for use by a storage server as a secondary cache, wherein the secondary cache is a lower cache level than a main buffer cache of the storage server within a cache hierarchy of the storage server; copying data stored in the main buffer cache to a persistent storage subsystem of the storage server, wherein the secondary cache is not part of the persistent storage subsystem; marking the data in the main buffer cache as clean in response to the data being copied from the main buffer cache to the persistent storage subsystem; and determining whether the main buffer cache contains any clean data and, in response to determining that the main buffer cache contains clean data, copying at least some of the clean data in the main buffer cache to the secondary cache while there is not a need to evict data from the main buffer cache, wherein said copying is not in response to a cache access request or in response to a request to read data from the persistent storage subsystem.