Abstract:
A computer-executable method, system, and computer program product for managing a data storage system, wherein the data storage system includes a cache and a data storage array, the computer-executable method, system, and computer program product comprising receiving initialization information, analyzing the initialization information to determine which portions of the data storage array related to the initialization information, and managing the data storage system based on the determined portion of the data storage array.

Description:
A portion of the disclosure of this patent document may contain command formats and other computer language listings, all of which are subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever. 
     TECHNICAL FIELD 
     This invention relates to data storage. 
     BACKGROUND 
     Computer systems are constantly improving in terms of speed, reliability, and processing capability. As is known in the art, computer systems which process and store large amounts of data typically include a one or more processors in communication with a shared data storage system in which the data is stored. The data storage system may include one or more storage devices, usually of a fairly robust nature and useful for storage spanning various temporal requirements, e.g., disk drives. The one or more processors perform their respective operations using the storage system. Mass storage systems (MSS) typically include an array of a plurality of disks with on-board intelligent and communications electronics and software for making the data on the disks available. 
     Companies that sell data storage systems and the like are very concerned with providing customers with an efficient data storage solution that minimizes cost while meeting customer data storage needs. It would be beneficial for such companies to have a way for reducing the complexity of implementing data storage. 
     SUMMARY 
     A computer-executable method, system, and computer program product for managing a data storage system, wherein the data storage system includes a cache and a data storage array, the computer-executable method, system, and computer program product comprising receiving initialization information, analyzing the initialization information to determine which portions of the data storage array related to the initialization information, and managing the data storage system based on the determined portion of the data storage array. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       Objects, features, and advantages of embodiments disclosed herein may be better understood by referring to the following description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. The drawings are not meant to limit the scope of the claims included herewith. For clarity, not every element may be labeled in every figure. The drawings are not necessarily to scale, emphasis instead being placed upon illustrating embodiments, principles, and concepts. Thus, features and advantages of the present disclosure will become more apparent from the following detailed description of exemplary embodiments thereof taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which: 
         FIG. 1  is a simplified illustration of a data storage system, in accordance with the present disclosure; 
         FIG. 2  is a simplified illustration of a data storage system being initialized, in accordance with the present disclosure; 
         FIG. 3  is an alternative simplified illustration of a data storage system pre-loading data, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure; 
         FIG. 4  is a simplified flowchart of a method of managing a data storage system, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure; 
         FIG. 5  is an alternative simplified flowchart of a method of managing a data storage system, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure; 
         FIG. 6  is a further alternate embodiment of a data storage system, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure; 
         FIG. 7  is an example of an embodiment of an apparatus that may utilize the techniques described herein, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure; and 
         FIG. 8  is an example of a method embodied on a computer readable storage medium that may utilize the techniques described herein, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. 
     
    
    
     Like reference symbols in the various drawings indicate like elements. 
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Typically, data storage systems are relied upon to provide high performance data storage solutions. Traditionally, high performance solutions mean that a data storage system is fast, reliable, and efficient in their use of data storage resources. Generally, performance of a data storage system is affected by where, within the data storage system, data is stored. Conventionally, being able to improve the performance of data storage systems may be beneficial to the data storage industry. 
     Traditionally, data storage systems warm cache to improve performance of the data storage system. Generally, warming cache involves a data storage system determining which portions of data to cache based on an application&#39;s I/O requests for the data. Typically, warming cache within a data storage system takes a long time as a data storage system manages data in response to I/O requests. 
     In many embodiments, the current disclosure may enable improved performance of data storage systems by preloading cache. In various embodiments, preloading cache may include providing a given logical address range of a given source device. In certain embodiments, preloading cache may include providing a location of data on a data storage array which may be predetermined to be anticipated “hot” data for a given application. 
     In many embodiments, the current disclosure may enable creation of a data management module for a data storage system. In various embodiments, a data management module may be enabled to manage use of cache within a data storage system. In certain embodiments, a data management module may enable users and/or administrators to prepare a data storage system to run a specified application. In some embodiments, a data management module may enable an application to run an initialization process to warm cache of a data storage system. 
     For example, in many embodiments, a data storage system may execute periodic applications, such a payroll application. In various embodiments, a user and/or administrator may be enabled to use a data management module to predict data storage usage based on previous application usage. In certain embodiments, a user and/or administrator may be enabled to use the data management module to pre-load data stored within the data storage array to cache to improve performance of the data storage array. In many embodiments, a data set needed for an application may be well known by the administrator. In various embodiments, a data management module may enable an administrator to pre-load a data set to cache to enable an application to run much faster and more efficiently. 
     Refer to the example embodiment of  FIG. 1 .  FIG. 1  is a simplified illustration of a data storage system, in accordance with the present disclosure. Data storage system  100  includes host  110  and data storage array  140 . As shown, host  110  includes data management module  120  and cache  130 . In this embodiment, data management module  120  is enabled to manage data stored on data storage system  100 . Application  105  is enabled to store data on data storage system  100  in data storage array  140 . As shown, data management module  120  is enabled to cache data on cache  130  to enable faster access of data by application  105 . In many embodiments, cache may be flash cache. 
     Refer to the example embodiment of  FIG. 2 .  FIG. 2  is a simplified illustration of a data storage system being initialized, in accordance with the present disclosure. As shown, data storage system  200  includes Host  210  and data storage array  240 . Host  210  includes data management module  220  and cache  230 . In this embodiment, application  205  initializes data storage system  200  using message  207 . As shown, message  207  includes references to portions of data storage array  240  that application  205  utilizes while executing. 
     Refer to the example embodiment of  FIG. 3 .  FIG. 3  is an alternative simplified illustration of a data storage system pre-loading data, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown, data storage system  300  includes Host  310  and data storage array  340 . Host  310  includes data management module  320  and cache  330 . In this embodiment, data management module  320  has been initialized by application  305 . 
     Data management module  320  directs cache  330  to pre-load data from data storage array  340  using message  312 . Cache  330  requests data from data storage array  340  using message  332 . Data storage array  340  responds to data request in message  334  and cache  330  caches data included in message  334 . 
     Refer to the example embodiment of  FIGS. 2 and 4 .  FIG. 4  is a simplified flowchart of a method of managing a data storage system, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown, data storage system  200  includes Host  210  and data storage array  240 . In this embodiment, application  205  sends initialization information (Step  400 ) to data storage system  200  using message  207 . In many embodiments, initialization information may include which portions of a data storage array may be used by a given application. In various embodiments, initialization information may specify one or more locations within a data storage array that may be cached by the data management module during initialization. In some embodiments, initialization information may be sent to a data storage system by a user and/or administrator. In other embodiments, initialization information may be sent to a data storage system as part of messages from an application during initialization of the application. 
     As shown, data management module  220  analyzes initialization the initialization information (Step  410 ) to determine an optimized and/or efficient configuration for storing data on the data storage system. Data management module  220  manages data stored on data storage system  200  based on the analysis (Step  420 ). Data management module  220  caches portions of data stored on data storage array  240  to cache  230 . 
     Refer to the example embodiments of  FIGS. 3 and 5 .  FIG. 5  is an alternative simplified flowchart of a method of managing a data storage system, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown, data storage system  300  includes host  310  and data storage array  340 . Host  310  includes data management module  320  and cache  330 . In this embodiment, data storage system  300  receives initialization information from application  305  (Step  500 ). Data storage system  300  utilizes data management module  320  to analyze the received initialization information (Step  510 ). Data management module  320  determines which portions of data storage array  340  to place into cache  330 . Data management module  320  pre-loads cache  330  using message  312  (Step  520 ). Cache  330  requests data from data storage array  340  using message  332 . Data storage Array  340  sends requested data using message  334 . In this embodiment, once portions of data storage array  340  are cached in cache  330 , data management  320  confirms to application  305  that data storage system  300  is ready for processing (Step  520 ). 
     Refer to the example embodiment of  FIG. 6 .  FIG. 6  is a further alternate embodiment of a data storage system, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. In this embodiment, data storage system  600  includes host  610  and data storage array  640 . As shown, administrator  615  is enabled to manage applications  605 A,  605 B. Administrator  615  is enabled to initialize data storage system  600  to process both application  605 A and  605 B. In this embodiment, Administrator  615  initializes data storage system  600  to pre-load portions of data stored on data storage array  640  to cache  630 , wherein the pre-loaded portions of data relate to applications  605 A,  605 B. In many embodiments, an administrator may be enabled to prepare a data storage system to run one or more applications simultaneously and/or in series. 
     The methods and apparatus of this invention may take the form, at least partially, of program code (i.e., instructions) embodied in tangible non-transitory media, such as floppy diskettes, CD-ROMs, hard drives, random access or read only-memory, or any other machine-readable storage medium. 
       FIG. 7  is a block diagram illustrating an apparatus, such as a computer  710  in a network  700 , which may utilize the techniques described herein according to an example embodiment of the present invention. The computer  710  may include one or more I/O ports  702 , a processor  703 , and memory  704 , all of which may be connected by an interconnect  725 , such as a bus. Processor  703  may include program logic  705 . The I/O port  702  may provide connectivity to memory media  783 , I/O devices  785 , and drives  787 , such as magnetic or optical drives. When the program code is loaded into memory  704  and executed by the computer  710 , the machine becomes an apparatus for practicing the invention. When implemented on one or more general-purpose processors  703 , the program code combines with such a processor to provide a unique apparatus that operates analogously to specific logic circuits. As such, a general purpose digital machine can be transformed into a special purpose digital machine. 
       FIG. 8  is a block diagram illustrating a method embodied on a computer readable storage medium  860  that may utilize the techniques described herein according to an example embodiment of the present invention.  FIG. 8  shows Program Logic  855  embodied on a computer-readable medium  860  as shown, and wherein the Logic is encoded in computer-executable code configured for carrying out the methods of this invention and thereby forming a Computer Program Product  800 . Program Logic  855  may be the same logic  705  on memory  704  loaded on processor  703  in  FIG. 7 . The program logic may be embodied in software modules, as modules, as hardware modules, or on virtual machines. 
     The logic for carrying out the method may be embodied as part of the aforementioned system, which is useful for carrying out a method described with reference to embodiments shown in, for example,  FIGS. 1-8 . For purposes of illustrating the present invention, the invention is described as embodied in a specific configuration and using special logical arrangements, but one skilled in the art will appreciate that the device is not limited to the specific configuration but rather only by the claims included with this specification. 
     Although the foregoing invention has been described in some detail for purposes of clarity of understanding, it will be apparent that certain changes and modifications may be practiced within the scope of the appended claims. Accordingly, the present implementations are to be considered as illustrative and not restrictive, and the invention is not to be limited to the details given herein, but may be modified within the scope and equivalents of the appended claims.