Patent ID: 8019965

Claim:
A method for managing the storage of data in a computing system including a data processor and local physical storage, comprising: mapping a local storage pool to the local physical storage and mapping a remote storage pool to physical storage at a remote site; defining a virtual storage volume for access by the data processor, wherein the virtual storage volume presents a single virtual disk to the computing system, and wherein the virtual storage volume is overallocated from the local storage pool to represent more storage capacity than is available at the local storage pool, wherein total size of the virtual storage volume comprises a total storage capacity of the local storage pool combined with at least a portion of a total storage capacity of the remote storage pool; writing data received at the virtual storage volume to the local storage pool during usage of the virtual storage volume, wherein the virtual storage volume is not mapped to an extent in the local storage pool until the extent is written by the computing system; and migrating data between the local storage pool and the remote storage pool according to a defined migration policy, wherein the defined migration policy is configured to enable data migration from the local storage pool to the remote storage pool before the total storage size of the local storage pool is consumed, and wherein the virtual storage volume is not mapped to an extent in the remote storage pool until the extent is migrated to the remote storage pool.