Patent Publication Number: US-11385941-B2

Title: System and method for address space slicing with strong CPU core affinity

Description:
BACKGROUND 
     Modern Storage clusters are generally based on multiple central processing unit (CPU) core hardware architecture. Regular IO processing flow may typically involve multiple synchronization/locking actions to provide consistent operations on different common resources/objects. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF DISCLOSURE 
     In one example implementation, a method, performed by one or more computing devices, may include but is not limited to partitioning, by a computing device, resources between a plurality of central processing unit (CPU) cores. A logical block address (LBA) space of a user may be divided into a slice with an affinity to a CPU core of the plurality of CPU cores. IO flow processing may be processed by the CPU core of the plurality of CPU cores associated with the LBA space divided into the slice. 
     One or more of the following example features may be included. The resources may include physical resources and objects. The physical resources and objects may include at least one of memory pools, data pages, and metadata pages. The resources may include logical entities. The logical entities may include a logical unit number (LUN) address. LBA addresses of the LBA address space involved in a same processing IO flow of the IO flow processing may relate to the slice, and wherein the LBA addresses of the LBA address space involved in the same processing IO flow may relate to the slice when the LBA addresses of the LBA address space are related to a same leaf. Dividing may include ignoring a pre-determined number of bits of at least one LBA address of the LBA addresses of the LBA address space. 
     In another example implementation, a computing system may include one or more processors and one or more memories configured to perform operations that may include but are not limited to partitioning resources between a plurality of central processing unit (CPU) cores. A logical block address (LBA) space of a user may be divided into a slice with an affinity to a CPU core of the plurality of CPU cores. IO flow processing may be processed by the CPU core of the plurality of CPU cores associated with the LBA space divided into the slice. 
     One or more of the following example features may be included. The resources may include physical resources and objects. The physical resources and objects may include at least one of memory pools, data pages, and metadata pages. The resources may include logical entities. The logical entities may include a logical unit number (LUN) address. LBA addresses of the LBA address space involved in a same processing IO flow of the IO flow processing may relate to the slice, and wherein the LBA addresses of the LBA address space involved in the same processing IO flow may relate to the slice when the LBA addresses of the LBA address space are related to a same leaf. Dividing may include ignoring a pre-determined number of bits of at least one LBA address of the LBA addresses of the LBA address space. 
     In another example implementation, a computer program product may reside on a computer readable storage medium having a plurality of instructions stored thereon which, when executed across one or more processors, may cause at least a portion of the one or more processors to perform operations that may include but are not limited to partitioning resources between a plurality of central processing unit (CPU) cores. A logical block address (LBA) space of a user may be divided into a slice with an affinity to a CPU core of the plurality of CPU cores. IO flow processing may be processed by the CPU core of the plurality of CPU cores associated with the LBA space divided into the slice. 
     One or more of the following example features may be included. The resources may include physical resources and objects. The physical resources and objects may include at least one of memory pools, data pages, and metadata pages. The resources may include logical entities. The logical entities may include a logical unit number (LUN) address. LBA addresses of the LBA address space involved in a same processing IO flow of the IO flow processing may relate to the slice, and wherein the LBA addresses of the LBA address space involved in the same processing IO flow may relate to the slice when the LBA addresses of the LBA address space are related to a same leaf. Dividing may include ignoring a pre-determined number of bits of at least one LBA address of the LBA addresses of the LBA address space. 
     The details of one or more example implementations are set forth in the accompanying drawings and the description below. Other possible example features and/or possible example advantages will become apparent from the description, the drawings, and the claims. Some implementations may not have those possible example features and/or possible example advantages, and such possible example features and/or possible example advantages may not necessarily be required of some implementations. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is an example diagrammatic view of a slice process coupled to an example distributed computing network according to one or more example implementations of the disclosure; 
         FIG. 2  is an example diagrammatic view of a storage system of  FIG. 1  according to one or more example implementations of the disclosure; 
         FIG. 3  is an example diagrammatic view of a storage target of  FIG. 1  according to one or more example implementations of the disclosure; and 
         FIG. 4  is an example flowchart of a slice process according to one or more example implementations of the disclosure. 
     
    
    
     Like reference symbols in the various drawings indicate like elements. 
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     System Overview 
     In some implementations, the present disclosure may be embodied as a method, system, or computer program product. Accordingly, in some implementations, the present disclosure may take the form of an entirely hardware implementation, an entirely software implementation (including firmware, resident software, micro-code, etc.) or an implementation combining software and hardware aspects that may all generally be referred to herein as a “circuit,” “module” or “system.” Furthermore, in some implementations, the present disclosure may take the form of a computer program product on a computer-usable storage medium having computer-usable program code embodied in the medium. 
     In some implementations, any suitable computer usable or computer readable medium (or media) may be utilized. The computer readable medium may be a computer readable signal medium or a computer readable storage medium. The computer-usable, or computer-readable, storage medium (including a storage device associated with a computing device or client electronic device) may be, for example, but is not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. More specific examples (a non-exhaustive list) of the computer-readable medium may include the following: an electrical connection having one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory), an optical fiber, a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), an optical storage device, a digital versatile disk (DVD), a static random access memory (SRAM), a memory stick, a floppy disk, a mechanically encoded device such as punch-cards or raised structures in a groove having instructions recorded thereon, a media such as those supporting the internet or an intranet, or a magnetic storage device. Note that the computer-usable or computer-readable medium could even be a suitable medium upon which the program is stored, scanned, compiled, interpreted, or otherwise processed in a suitable manner, if necessary, and then stored in a computer memory. In the context of the present disclosure, a computer-usable or computer-readable, storage medium may be any tangible medium that can contain or store a program for use by or in connection with the instruction execution system, apparatus, or device. 
     In some implementations, a computer readable signal medium may include a propagated data signal with computer readable program code embodied therein, for example, in baseband or as part of a carrier wave. In some implementations, such a propagated signal may take any of a variety of forms, including, but not limited to, electro-magnetic, optical, or any suitable combination thereof. In some implementations, the computer readable program code may be transmitted using any appropriate medium, including but not limited to the internet, wireline, optical fiber cable, RF, etc. In some implementations, a computer readable signal medium may be any computer readable medium that is not a computer readable storage medium and that can communicate, propagate, or transport a program for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device. 
     In some implementations, computer program code for carrying out operations of the present disclosure may be assembler instructions, instruction-set-architecture (ISA) instructions, machine instructions, machine dependent instructions, microcode, firmware instructions, state-setting data, or either source code or object code written in any combination of one or more programming languages, including an object oriented programming language such as Java®, Smalltalk, C++ or the like. Java® and all Java-based trademarks and logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of Oracle and/or its affiliates. However, the computer program code for carrying out operations of the present disclosure may also be written in conventional procedural programming languages, such as the “C” programming language, PASCAL, or similar programming languages, as well as in scripting languages such as Javascript, PERL, or Python. The program code may execute entirely on the user&#39;s computer, partly on the user&#39;s computer, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the user&#39;s computer and partly on a remote computer or entirely on the remote computer or server. In the latter scenario, the remote computer may be connected to the user&#39;s computer through a local area network (LAN) or a wide area network (WAN), or the connection may be made to an external computer (for example, through the internet using an Internet Service Provider). In some implementations, electronic circuitry including, for example, programmable logic circuitry, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) or other hardware accelerators, micro-controller units (MCUs), or programmable logic arrays (PLAs) may execute the computer readable program instructions/code by utilizing state information of the computer readable program instructions to personalize the electronic circuitry, in order to perform aspects of the present disclosure. 
     In some implementations, the flowchart and block diagrams in the figures illustrate the architecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementations of apparatus (systems), methods and computer program products according to various implementations of the present disclosure. Each block in the flowchart and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in the flowchart and/or block diagrams, may represent a module, segment, or portion of code, which comprises one or more executable computer program instructions for implementing the specified logical function(s)/act(s). These computer program instructions may be provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the computer program instructions, which may execute via the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus, create the ability to implement one or more of the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks or combinations thereof. It should be noted that, in some implementations, the functions noted in the block(s) may occur out of the order noted in the figures (or combined or omitted). For example, two blocks shown in succession may, in fact, be executed substantially concurrently, or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon the functionality involved. 
     In some implementations, these computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer-readable memory that can direct a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to function in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readable memory produce an article of manufacture including instruction means which implement the function/act specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks or combinations thereof. 
     In some implementations, the computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series of operational steps to be performed (not necessarily in a particular order) on the computer or other programmable apparatus to produce a computer implemented process such that the instructions which execute on the computer or other programmable apparatus provide steps for implementing the functions/acts (not necessarily in a particular order) specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks or combinations thereof. 
     Referring now to the example implementation of  FIG. 1 , there is shown slice process  10  that may reside on and may be executed by a computer (e.g., computer  12 ), which may be connected to a network (e.g., network  14 ) (e.g., the internet or a local area network). Examples of computer  12  (and/or one or more of the client electronic devices noted below) may include, but are not limited to, a storage system (e.g., a Network Attached Storage (NAS) system, a Storage Area Network (SAN)), a personal computer(s), a laptop computer(s), mobile computing device(s), a server computer, a series of server computers, a mainframe computer(s), or a computing cloud(s). As is known in the art, a SAN may include one or more of the client electronic devices, including a RAID device and a NAS system. In some implementations, each of the aforementioned may be generally described as a computing device. In certain implementations, a computing device may be a physical or virtual device. In many implementations, a computing device may be any device capable of performing operations, such as a dedicated processor, a portion of a processor, a virtual processor, a portion of a virtual processor, portion of a virtual device, or a virtual device. In some implementations, a processor may be a physical processor or a virtual processor. In some implementations, a virtual processor may correspond to one or more parts of one or more physical processors. In some implementations, the instructions/logic may be distributed and executed across one or more processors, virtual or physical, to execute the instructions/logic. Computer  12  may execute an operating system, for example, but not limited to, Microsoft® Windows®; Mac® OS X®; Red Hat® Linux®, Windows® Mobile, Chrome OS, Blackberry OS, Fire OS, or a custom operating system. (Microsoft and Windows are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States, other countries or both; Mac and OS X are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. in the United States, other countries or both; Red Hat is a registered trademark of Red Hat Corporation in the United States, other countries or both; and Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds in the United States, other countries or both). 
     In some implementations, as will be discussed below in greater detail, a slice process, such as slice process  10  of  FIG. 1 , may partition, by a computing device, resources between a plurality of central processing unit (CPU) cores. A logical block address (LBA) space of a user may be divided into a slice with an affinity to a CPU core of the plurality of CPU cores. IO flow processing may be processed by the CPU core of the plurality of CPU cores associated with the LBA space divided into the slice. 
     In some implementations, the instruction sets and subroutines of slice process  10 , which may be stored on storage device, such as storage device  16 , coupled to computer  12 , may be executed by one or more processors and one or more memory architectures included within computer  12 . In some implementations, storage device  16  may include but is not limited to: a hard disk drive; all forms of flash memory storage devices; a tape drive; an optical drive; a RAID array (or other array); a random access memory (RAM); a read-only memory (ROM); or combination thereof. In some implementations, storage device  16  may be organized as an extent, an extent pool, a RAID extent (e.g., an example 4D+1P R5, where the RAID extent may include, e.g., five storage device extents that may be allocated from, e.g., five different storage devices), a mapped RAID (e.g., a collection of RAID extents), or combination thereof. 
     In some implementations, network  14  may be connected to one or more secondary networks (e.g., network  18 ), examples of which may include but are not limited to: a local area network; a wide area network or other telecommunications network facility; or an intranet, for example. The phrase “telecommunications network facility,” as used herein, may refer to a facility configured to transmit, and/or receive transmissions to/from one or more mobile client electronic devices (e.g., cellphones, etc.) as well as many others. 
     In some implementations, computer  12  may include a data store, such as a database (e.g., relational database, object-oriented database, triplestore database, etc.) and may be located within any suitable memory location, such as storage device  16  coupled to computer  12 . In some implementations, data, metadata, information, etc. described throughout the present disclosure may be stored in the data store. In some implementations, computer  12  may utilize any known database management system such as, but not limited to, DB2, in order to provide multi-user access to one or more databases, such as the above noted relational database. In some implementations, the data store may also be a custom database, such as, for example, a flat file database or an XML database. In some implementations, any other form(s) of a data storage structure and/or organization may also be used. In some implementations, slice process  10  may be a component of the data store, a standalone application that interfaces with the above noted data store and/or an applet/application that is accessed via client applications  22 ,  24 ,  26 ,  28 . In some implementations, the above noted data store may be, in whole or in part, distributed in a cloud computing topology. In this way, computer  12  and storage device  16  may refer to multiple devices, which may also be distributed throughout the network. 
     In some implementations, computer  12  may execute a storage management application (e.g., storage management application  21 ), examples of which may include, but are not limited to, e.g., a storage system application, a cloud computing application, a data synchronization application, a data migration application, a garbage collection application, or other application that allows for the implementation and/or management of data in a clustered (or non-clustered) environment (or the like). In some implementations, slice process  10  and/or storage management application  21  may be accessed via one or more of client applications  22 ,  24 ,  26 ,  28 . In some implementations, slice process  10  may be a standalone application, or may be an applet/application/script/extension that may interact with and/or be executed within storage management application  21 , a component of storage management application  21 , and/or one or more of client applications  22 ,  24 ,  26 ,  28 . In some implementations, storage management application  21  may be a standalone application, or may be an applet/application/script/extension that may interact with and/or be executed within slice process  10 , a component of slice process  10 , and/or one or more of client applications  22 ,  24 ,  26 ,  28 . In some implementations, one or more of client applications  22 ,  24 ,  26 ,  28  may be a standalone application, or may be an applet/application/script/extension that may interact with and/or be executed within and/or be a component of slice process  10  and/or storage management application  21 . Examples of client applications  22 ,  24 ,  26 ,  28  may include, but are not limited to, e.g., a storage system application, a cloud computing application, a data synchronization application, a data migration application, a garbage collection application, or other application that allows for the implementation and/or management of data in a clustered (or non-clustered) environment (or the like), a standard and/or mobile web browser, an email application (e.g., an email client application), a textual and/or a graphical user interface, a customized web browser, a plugin, an Application Programming Interface (API), or a custom application. The instruction sets and subroutines of client applications  22 ,  24 ,  26 ,  28 , which may be stored on storage devices  30 ,  32 ,  34 ,  36 , coupled to client electronic devices  38 ,  40 ,  42 ,  44 , may be executed by one or more processors and one or more memory architectures incorporated into client electronic devices  38 ,  40 ,  42 ,  44 . 
     In some implementations, one or more of storage devices  30 ,  32 ,  34 ,  36 , may include but are not limited to: hard disk drives; flash drives, tape drives; optical drives; RAID arrays; random access memories (RAM); and read-only memories (ROM). Examples of client electronic devices  38 ,  40 ,  42 ,  44  (and/or computer  12 ) may include, but are not limited to, a personal computer (e.g., client electronic device  38 ), a laptop computer (e.g., client electronic device  40 ), a smart/data-enabled, cellular phone (e.g., client electronic device  42 ), a notebook computer (e.g., client electronic device  44 ), a tablet, a server, a television, a smart television, a smart speaker, an Internet of Things (IoT) device, a media (e.g., video, photo, etc.) capturing device, and a dedicated network device. Client electronic devices  38 ,  40 ,  42 ,  44  may each execute an operating system, examples of which may include but are not limited to, Android™, Apple® iOS®, Mac® OS X®; Red Hat® Linux®, Windows® Mobile, Chrome OS, Blackberry OS, Fire OS, or a custom operating system. 
     In some implementations, one or more of client applications  22 ,  24 ,  26 ,  28  may be configured to effectuate some or all of the functionality of slice process  10  (and vice versa). Accordingly, in some implementations, slice process  10  may be a purely server-side application, a purely client-side application, or a hybrid server-side/client-side application that is cooperatively executed by one or more of client applications  22 ,  24 ,  26 ,  28  and/or slice process  10 . 
     In some implementations, one or more of client applications  22 ,  24 ,  26 ,  28  may be configured to effectuate some or all of the functionality of storage management application  21  (and vice versa). Accordingly, in some implementations, storage management application  21  may be a purely server-side application, a purely client-side application, or a hybrid server-side/client-side application that is cooperatively executed by one or more of client applications  22 ,  24 ,  26 ,  28  and/or storage management application  21 . As one or more of client applications  22 ,  24 ,  26 ,  28 , slice process  10 , and storage management application  21 , taken singly or in any combination, may effectuate some or all of the same functionality, any description of effectuating such functionality via one or more of client applications  22 ,  24 ,  26 ,  28 , slice process  10 , storage management application  21 , or combination thereof, and any described interaction(s) between one or more of client applications  22 ,  24 ,  26 ,  28 , slice process  10 , storage management application  21 , or combination thereof to effectuate such functionality, should be taken as an example only and not to limit the scope of the disclosure. 
     In some implementations, one or more of users  46 ,  48 ,  50 ,  52  may access computer  12  and slice process  10  (e.g., using one or more of client electronic devices  38 ,  40 ,  42 ,  44 ) directly through network  14  or through secondary network  18 . Further, computer  12  may be connected to network  14  through secondary network  18 , as illustrated with phantom link line  54 . Slice process  10  may include one or more user interfaces, such as browsers and textual or graphical user interfaces, through which users  46 ,  48 ,  50 ,  52  may access slice process  10 . 
     In some implementations, the various client electronic devices may be directly or indirectly coupled to network  14  (or network  18 ). For example, client electronic device  38  is shown directly coupled to network  14  via a hardwired network connection. Further, client electronic device  44  is shown directly coupled to network  18  via a hardwired network connection. Client electronic device  40  is shown wirelessly coupled to network  14  via wireless communication channel  56  established between client electronic device  40  and wireless access point (i.e., WAP)  58 , which is shown directly coupled to network  14 . WAP  58  may be, for example, an IEEE 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11n, 802.11ac, Wi-Fi®, RFID, and/or Bluetooth™ (including Bluetooth™ Low Energy) device that is capable of establishing wireless communication channel  56  between client electronic device  40  and WAP  58 . Client electronic device  42  is shown wirelessly coupled to network  14  via wireless communication channel  60  established between client electronic device  42  and cellular network/bridge  62 , which is shown by example directly coupled to network  14 . 
     In some implementations, some or all of the IEEE 802.11x specifications may use Ethernet protocol and carrier sense multiple access with collision avoidance (i.e., CSMA/CA) for path sharing. The various 802.11x specifications may use phase-shift keying (i.e., PSK) modulation or complementary code keying (i.e., CCK) modulation, for example. Bluetooth™ (including Bluetooth™ Low Energy) is a telecommunications industry specification that allows, e.g., mobile phones, computers, smart phones, and other electronic devices to be interconnected using a short-range wireless connection. Other forms of interconnection (e.g., Near Field Communication (NFC)) may also be used. 
     In some implementations, various I/O requests (e.g., I/O request  15 ) may be sent from, e.g., client applications  22 ,  24 ,  26 ,  28  to, e.g., computer  12 . Examples of I/O request  15  may include but are not limited to, data write requests (e.g., a request that content be written to computer  12 ) and data read requests (e.g., a request that content be read from computer  12 ). 
     Data Storage System 
     Referring also to the example implementation of  FIGS. 2-3  (e.g., where computer  12  may be configured as a data storage system), computer  12  may include storage processor  100  and a plurality of storage targets (e.g., storage targets  102 ,  104 ,  106 ,  108 ,  110 ). In some implementations, storage targets  102 ,  104 ,  106 ,  108 ,  110  may include any of the above-noted storage devices. In some implementations, storage targets  102 ,  104 ,  106 ,  108 ,  110  may be configured to provide various levels of performance and/or high availability. For example, storage targets  102 ,  104 ,  106 ,  108 ,  110  may be configured to form a non-fully-duplicative fault-tolerant data storage system (such as a non-fully-duplicative RAID data storage system), examples of which may include but are not limited to: RAID 3 arrays, RAID 4 arrays, RAID 5 arrays, and/or RAID 6 arrays. It will be appreciated that various other types of RAID arrays may be used without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. 
     While in this particular example, computer  12  is shown to include five storage targets (e.g., storage targets  102 ,  104 ,  106 ,  108 ,  110 ), this is for example purposes only and is not intended limit the present disclosure. For instance, the actual number of storage targets may be increased or decreased depending upon, e.g., the level of redundancy/performance/capacity required. 
     Further, the storage targets (e.g., storage targets  102 ,  104 ,  106 ,  108 ,  110 ) included with computer  12  may be configured to form a plurality of discrete storage arrays. For instance, and assuming for example purposes only that computer  12  includes, e.g., ten discrete storage targets, a first five targets (of the ten storage targets) may be configured to form a first RAID array and a second five targets (of the ten storage targets) may be configured to form a second RAID array. 
     In some implementations, one or more of storage targets  102 ,  104 ,  106 ,  108 ,  110  may be configured to store coded data (e.g., via storage management process  21 ), wherein such coded data may allow for the regeneration of data lost/corrupted on one or more of storage targets  102 ,  104 ,  106 ,  108 ,  110 . Examples of such coded data may include but is not limited to parity data and Reed-Solomon data. Such coded data may be distributed across all of storage targets  102 ,  104 ,  106 ,  108 ,  110  or may be stored within a specific storage target. 
     Examples of storage targets  102 ,  104 ,  106 ,  108 ,  110  may include one or more data arrays, wherein a combination of storage targets  102 ,  104 ,  106 ,  108 ,  110  (and any processing/control systems associated with storage management application  21 ) may form data array  112 . 
     The manner in which computer  12  is implemented may vary depending upon e.g., the level of redundancy/performance/capacity required. For example, computer  12  may be configured as a SAN (i.e., a Storage Area Network), in which storage processor  100  may be, e.g., a dedicated computing system and each of storage targets  102 ,  104 ,  106 ,  108 ,  110  may be a RAID device. An example of storage processor  100  may include but is not limited to a VPLEX™ system offered by Dell EMC™ of Hopkinton, Mass. 
     In the example where computer  12  is configured as a SAN, the various components of computer  12  (e.g., storage processor  100 , and storage targets  102 ,  104 ,  106 ,  108 ,  110 ) may be coupled using network infrastructure  114 , examples of which may include but are not limited to an Ethernet (e.g., Layer 2 or Layer 3) network, a fiber channel network, an InfiniBand network, or any other circuit switched/packet switched network. 
     As discussed above, various I/O requests (e.g., I/O request  15 ) may be generated. For example, these I/O requests may be sent from, e.g., client applications  22 ,  24 ,  26 ,  28  to, e.g., computer  12 . Additionally/alternatively (e.g., when storage processor  100  is configured as an application server or otherwise), these I/O requests may be internally generated within storage processor  100  (e.g., via storage management process  21 ). Examples of I/O request  15  may include but are not limited to data write request  116  (e.g., a request that content  118  be written to computer  12 ) and data read request  120  (e.g., a request that content  118  be read from computer  12 ). 
     In some implementations, during operation of storage processor  100 , content  118  to be written to computer  12  may be received and/or processed by storage processor  100  (e.g., via storage management process  21 ). Additionally/alternatively (e.g., when storage processor  100  is configured as an application server or otherwise), content  118  to be written to computer  12  may be internally generated by storage processor  100  (e.g., via storage management process  21 ). 
     As discussed above, the instruction sets and subroutines of storage management application  21 , which may be stored on storage device  16  included within computer  12 , may be executed by one or more processors and one or more memory architectures included with computer  12 . Accordingly, in addition to being executed on storage processor  100 , some or all of the instruction sets and subroutines of storage management application  21  (and/or slice process  10 ) may be executed by one or more processors and one or more memory architectures included with data array  112 . 
     In some implementations, storage processor  100  may include front end cache memory system  122 . Examples of front end cache memory system  122  may include but are not limited to a volatile, solid-state, cache memory system (e.g., a dynamic RAM cache memory system), a non-volatile, solid-state, cache memory system (e.g., a flash-based, cache memory system), and/or any of the above-noted storage devices. 
     In some implementations, storage processor  100  may initially store content  118  within front end cache memory system  122 . Depending upon the manner in which front end cache memory system  122  is configured, storage processor  100  (e.g., via storage management process  21 ) may immediately write content  118  to data array  112  (e.g., if front end cache memory system  122  is configured as a write-through cache) or may subsequently write content  118  to data array  112  (e.g., if front end cache memory system  122  is configured as a write-back cache). 
     In some implementations, one or more of storage targets  102 ,  104 ,  106 ,  108 ,  110  may include a backend cache memory system. Examples of the backend cache memory system may include but are not limited to a volatile, solid-state, cache memory system (e.g., a dynamic RAM cache memory system), a non-volatile, solid-state, cache memory system (e.g., a flash-based, cache memory system), and/or any of the above-noted storage devices. 
     Storage Targets 
     As discussed above, one or more of storage targets  102 ,  104 ,  106 ,  108 ,  110  may be a RAID device. For instance, and referring also to  FIG. 3 , there is shown example target  150 , wherein target  150  may be one example implementation of a RAID implementation of, e.g., storage target  102 , storage target  104 , storage target  106 , storage target  108 , and/or storage target  110 . An example of target  150  may include but is not limited to a VNX™ system offered by Dell EMC™ of Hopkinton, Mass. Examples of storage devices  154 ,  156 ,  158 ,  160 ,  162  may include one or more electro-mechanical hard disk drives, one or more solid-state/flash devices, and/or any of the above-noted storage devices. It will be appreciated that while the term “disk” or “drive” may be used throughout, these may refer to and be used interchangeably with any types of appropriate storage devices as the context and functionality of the storage device permits. 
     In some implementations, target  150  may include storage processor  152  and a plurality of storage devices (e.g., storage devices  154 ,  156 ,  158 ,  160 ,  162 ). Storage devices  154 ,  156 ,  158 ,  160 ,  162  may be configured to provide various levels of performance and/or high availability (e.g., via storage management process  21 ). For example, one or more of storage devices  154 ,  156 ,  158 ,  160 ,  162  (or any of the above-noted storage devices) may be configured as a RAID 0 array, in which data is striped across storage devices. By striping data across a plurality of storage devices, improved performance may be realized. However, RAID 0 arrays may not provide a level of high availability. Accordingly, one or more of storage devices  154 ,  156 ,  158 ,  160 ,  162  (or any of the above-noted storage devices) may be configured as a RAID 1 array, in which data is mirrored between storage devices. By mirroring data between storage devices, a level of high availability may be achieved as multiple copies of the data may be stored within storage devices  154 ,  156 ,  158 ,  160 ,  162 . 
     While storage devices  154 ,  156 ,  158 ,  160 ,  162  are discussed above as being configured in a RAID 0 or RAID 1 array, this is for example purposes only and not intended to limit the present disclosure, as other configurations are possible. For example, storage devices  154 ,  156 ,  158 ,  160 ,  162  may be configured as a RAID 3, RAID 4, RAID 5 or RAID 6 array. 
     While in this particular example, target  150  is shown to include five storage devices (e.g., storage devices  154 ,  156 ,  158 ,  160 ,  162 ), this is for example purposes only and not intended to limit the present disclosure. For instance, the actual number of storage devices may be increased or decreased depending upon, e.g., the level of redundancy/performance/capacity required. 
     In some implementations, one or more of storage devices  154 ,  156 ,  158 ,  160 ,  162  may be configured to store (e.g., via storage management process  21 ) coded data, wherein such coded data may allow for the regeneration of data lost/corrupted on one or more of storage devices  154 ,  156 ,  158 ,  160 ,  162 . Examples of such coded data may include but are not limited to parity data and Reed-Solomon data. Such coded data may be distributed across all of storage devices  154 ,  156 ,  158 ,  160 ,  162  or may be stored within a specific storage device. 
     The manner in which target  150  is implemented may vary depending upon e.g., the level of redundancy/performance/capacity required. For example, target  150  may be a RAID device in which storage processor  152  is a RAID controller card and storage devices  154 ,  156 ,  158 ,  160 ,  162  are individual “hot-swappable” hard disk drives. Another example of target  150  may be a RAID system, examples of which may include but are not limited to an NAS (i.e., Network Attached Storage) device or a SAN (i.e., Storage Area Network). 
     In some implementations, storage target  150  may execute all or a portion of storage management application  21 . The instruction sets and subroutines of storage management application  21 , which may be stored on a storage device (e.g., storage device  164 ) coupled to storage processor  152 , may be executed by one or more processors and one or more memory architectures included with storage processor  152 . Storage device  164  may include but is not limited to any of the above-noted storage devices. 
     As discussed above, computer  12  may be configured as a SAN, wherein storage processor  100  may be a dedicated computing system and each of storage targets  102 ,  104 ,  106 ,  108 ,  110  may be a RAID device. Accordingly, when storage processor  100  processes data requests  116 ,  120 , storage processor  100  (e.g., via storage management process  21 ) may provide the appropriate requests/content (e.g., write request  166 , content  168  and read request  170 ) to, e.g., storage target  150  (which is representative of storage targets  102 ,  104 ,  106 ,  108  and/or  110 ). 
     In some implementations, during operation of storage processor  152 , content  168  to be written to target  150  may be processed by storage processor  152  (e.g., via storage management process  21 ). Storage processor  152  may include cache memory system  172 . Examples of cache memory system  172  may include but are not limited to a volatile, solid-state, cache memory system (e.g., a dynamic RAM cache memory system) and/or a non-volatile, solid-state, cache memory system (e.g., a flash-based, cache memory system). During operation of storage processor  152 , content  168  to be written to target  150  may be received by storage processor  152  (e.g., via storage management process  21 ) and initially stored (e.g., via storage management process  21 ) within front end cache memory system  172 . 
     As noted above, modern Storage clusters are generally based on multiple central processing unit (CPU) core hardware architecture. Regular IO processing flow may typically involve multiple synchronization/locking actions to provide consistent operations on different common resources/objects. Such multiple synchronization activity may cause lock contention (e.g., waiting for a resource to complete the IO operation before being allowed to perform another IO operation), thereby causing overall cluster performance degradation. Thus, as will be discussed below, the present disclosure may enable a unique address space slicing with strong CPU core affinity, thereby minimizing the burden of locking in multiple core hardware based storage clusters, hence improving its performance. 
     The Slice Process 
     As discussed above and referring also at least to the example implementations of  FIG. 4 , slice process  10  may partition  400 , by a computing device, resources between a plurality of central processing unit (CPU) cores. Slice process  10  may divide  402  a logical block address (LBA) space of a user into a slice with an affinity to a CPU core of the plurality of CPU cores. Slice process  10  may process  404  IO flow processing by the CPU core of the plurality of CPU cores associated with the LBA space divided into the slice. 
     In some implementations, slice process  10  may partition  400 , by a computing device, resources between a plurality of central processing unit (CPU) cores. For example, in some implementations, slice process  10  may partition  400  system resources/objects (e.g., physical resources and objects such as memory pools, data pages, metadata pages, etc. and/or logical entities such as logical unit number (LUN) addresses) between CPU cores (wherever possible). As a result, this may enable access to the resources without locks in a “regular” scenario (e.g., with the exception of resource stealing, when the resource should be taken from another core because of certain imbalances) and may also optimize the memory access from the non-uniform memory access (NUMA) perspective. Generally, NUMA may be described as a method of configuring a microprocessor cluster in a multiprocessing system, thus enabling them to share memory locally, improving performance and the ability of the system to be expanded. Typically, NUMA is used in a symmetric multiprocessing (SMP) system. 
     In some implementations, slice process  10  may divide  402  a logical block address (LBA) space of a user into a slice with an affinity to a CPU core of the plurality of CPU cores. For example, in some implementations, slice process  10  may divide  402  a user&#39;s address space into slices (e.g., 256 slices) and each slice may have a strong (arithmetic) affinity to the specific CPU core (discussed more below). That is, an IO request, related to the given address (LBA) is always routed to and processed by the same CPU core, defined by the deterministic function from the target address/slice. This function provides even slice distribution between cores in general cases to provide the balanced burden. 
     In some implementations, slice process  10  may process  404  IO flow processing by the CPU core of the plurality of CPU cores associated with the LBA space divided into the slice. For example, most of the physical objects involved in IO flow processing (e.g., data and metadata pages) may be a function/derivation of the target address LBA. As such, once the LBA is always processed by the same core, all accesses (read/write) to metadata pages related to the LBA will be processed  404  from only that core as well. As a result, it will not require lock protection. 
     In some implementations, LBA addresses of the LBA address space involved in a same processing IO flow of the IO flow processing may relate to the slice, and the LBA addresses of the LBA address space involved in the same processing IO flow may relate to the slice when the LBA addresses of the LBA address space are related to a same leaf. For example, all addresses involved in the same (big) IO will generally relate to the same slice with high probability (otherwise the IO should be split between cores). A “big” IO may be an IO greater or equal to 1 MB, whereas a “normal” sized IO may be around 4k. Since all addresses related to the same leaf should relate to the same slice, this means that this leaf may always be accessed from only the CPU core associated with the corresponding slice. 
     In some implementations, dividing  402  may include ignoring  406  a pre-determined number of bits of at least one LBA address of the LBA addresses of the LBA address space. For example, consider for example purposes only a “big” IO of 2 MB. In the example, the above discussion may be taken to mean that the function calculating the slice number from the LBA should ignore some number of bits (e.g., the right 12 bits) of the LBA, responsible on offset inside the 2 MB address space for which the one leaf page is responsible. For example, the good slicing function of slice process  10  would be skipping (ignoring) 12 right (LSB) bits of the LBA and using the next, e.g., 6-10 bits of the LBA as a slice number. 
     Therefore, the present disclosure may nearly (or entirely) guarantee that access to most of the resources and data/metadata pages (e.g., specifically pages that have the above-noted arithmetic affinity with the target LBA) will always be done only from the same core (associated with the corresponding slice). As a result, the present disclosure may not require any synchronization/locking, and may also optimize the memory access as a result of NUMA awareness. 
     The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular implementations only and is not intended to be limiting of the disclosure. As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. As used herein, the language “at least one of A, B, and C” (and the like) should be interpreted as covering only A, only B, only C, or any combination of the three, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises” and/or “comprising,” when used in this specification, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps (not necessarily in a particular order), operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps (not necessarily in a particular order), operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof. 
     The corresponding structures, materials, acts, and equivalents (e.g., of all means or step plus function elements) that may be in the claims below are intended to include any structure, material, or act for performing the function in combination with other claimed elements as specifically claimed. The description of the present disclosure has been presented for purposes of illustration and description, but is not intended to be exhaustive or limited to the disclosure in the form disclosed. Many modifications, variations, substitutions, and any combinations thereof will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the disclosure. The implementation(s) were chosen and described in order to explain the principles of the disclosure and the practical application, and to enable others of ordinary skill in the art to understand the disclosure for various implementation(s) with various modifications and/or any combinations of implementation(s) as are suited to the particular use contemplated. 
     Having thus described the disclosure of the present application in detail and by reference to implementation(s) thereof, it will be apparent that modifications, variations, and any combinations of implementation(s) (including any modifications, variations, substitutions, and combinations thereof) are possible without departing from the scope of the disclosure defined in the appended claims.