Patent ID: 7840657
Filing Date: 2010-11-23
Classification: G06F,G11B

Abstract:
1. A method for power-managing storage devices in a storage pool, comprising: monitoring, by a management mechanism comprising at least a processor, after initialization, the storage pool to determine whether a storage management policy is satisfied, wherein the storage pool, after initialization, comprises a plurality of powered up storage devices that are each powered up and a powered down storage device that is powered down, wherein no data is read from the powered down storage device while the powered down storage device is powered down, and wherein no data is written to the powered down storage device while the powered down storage device is powered down, wherein the powered down storage device is powered up during initialization of the storage pool and powered down after initialization of the storage pool, and wherein monitoring the storage pool comprises: writing, while monitoring the storage pool and prior to powering up the powered down storage device, a first data block to a first powered up storage device of the plurality of powered up storage devices; powering up the powered down storage device when the aggregate storage utilization level reaches the threshold value to add, as a second powered up storage device, the powered down storage device to the plurality of powered up storage devices; making each of the plurality of powered up storage devices concurrently available for use after the second powered up storage device is added to the plurality of powered up storage devices; writing, after making each of the plurality of powered up storage devices concurrently available for use, a first indirect block to the second powered up storage device, wherein the first indirect block comprises: receiving a request to write a second indirect block to the storage pool, wherein the second indirect block comprises: selecting, for the request, the first powered up storage device based on a storage utilization level of each of the plurality of powered up storage devices; and writing, based on the selecting, the second indirect block to the first powered up storage device, wherein initializing the storage pool and powering down the powered down storage device are performed prior to powering up the powered down storage device.